Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection

Genre: Compilation / Shmup

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection is a collection of 8 classic Konami arcade games, most of them Shmup games. Here are my thoughts on each of them, in the order they are presented (release order):

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Scramble	Shmup	1	C+
tl;dr This is a decent old-fashioned Shmup, but it’s a bit basic and monotonous by today’s standards.
Twinbee	Shmup	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	C
tl;dr Another decent old-fashioned Shmup, but the ship movement is frustratingly slow.
Nemesis	Bullet Hell Shmup	1	B
tl;dr Also known as Gradius, this is a great classic shmup, giving players the option to decide what upgrades to equip their ship with. However, the difficulty level of this game is absurdly hard.
Life Force	Bullet Hell Shmup	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	B
tl;dr This spin-off of the Gradius series drops the series’ ability to choose upgrades, but brings with it a slightly more reasonable challenge level. Slightly – it’s still damn difficult.
Typhoon	Shmup	1	C-
tl;dr This game combines regular shmup levels with pseudo-3D shooter levels. The shmup levels are decent enough, but the pseudo-3D levels have terrible problems with perspective making it difficult to gauge where your ship is in relation to enemies.
Haunted Castle	Action-Platformer	1	D
tl;dr This game is an adaptation of sorts of the Castlevania franchise to the arcades, but the gameplay here is stiff and sluggish, and it retains none of the charm or nuance of the console games.
Vulcan Venture	Bullet Hell Shmup	1	B+
tl;dr The second official mainline title in the Gradius series, this game expands on the players’ ability to select their ship’s upgrades by choosing one of several potential loadouts before starting. It’s an improvement for the series, but still punishingly difficult.
Thunder Cross	Shmup	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	B+
tl;dr While not technically a game in the Gradius series, this Shmup incorporates features from that series, as well as adding a few of its own that would influence later titles. While it lacks the adaptability of the Gradius games, it has an overall much more tolerable challenge level.

All in all, out of eight games, only two of them are sub-standard, and many of them are quite good. However, most of them are extremely difficult, and while this game does have an “insert coin” button, after using up a few continues, the game inexplicably boots you back to the title screen, even if you have credits. And of course, you can abuse the save state feature this game adds into all of the games, but given the nature of this sort of game, you’ll undoubtedly be using this feature a lot. This makes for an annoyance that will frustrate anyone who plays this.

On the positive side of things, rather than just including the games and calling it a day, this collection actually goes a few steps farther. In addition to the save states, the game offers multiple display settings, and control settings.

On top of this, this collection includes a digital “Bonus Book” that includes art, interviews, and lots of behind-the-scenes materials detailing the making of each game in this collection, as well as music sheets for some of the games’ themes. This was a completely unnecessary inclusion, and its presence here is definitely a nice touch.

In the end, Arcade Classics Collection has a pretty good lineup of games, although many of them are overly difficult. However, there’s still plenty of quality gameplay for those who enjoy the Shmup genre, and there’s also a good amount of bonus content here. Fans of difficult Shmups will still find plenty to like here.

tl;dr – Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection is a collection of mostly Shmups that includes eight games that are mostly pretty good (and also mostly punishingly difficult). This collection gives players a wealth of options and bonus content, and on the whole this is a solid collection of games for Shmup fans

Grade: B-

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