When Konami’s 50th anniversary came around, the company celebrated the occasion by releasing anniversary collections for their classic games such as their arcade classics. To take a look at the arcade collection, we will be playing these games in a retro blitz style. This means we will be briefly commenting on each game after a few moments of play. Lets get started.
Scramble 
An old school shooter that reminds me of Defender if done in a linear style. Scramble sees you shooting at enemies while trying to pick up fuel to keep your ship going. Its fine, but doesn’t appeal to me. I am sure other retro gamers will like it, but I do not feel it holds up all that well. There are multiple distinct levels, which was a big deal at the time, but the visuals just bother me and I could not keep playing. I have seen other gamers enjoy it far more, and have tried to give it more time, but I feel that while it is a nice start, later games were far better.
Twinbee
Excellent music, a nice pace and a good system for getting powerups make this an easy one to call great. This shooter is much less serious than some other games on this collection, but is a relaxing experience that is a blast. Twinbee is easy to learn, fun to play and a great game to just pick up for a few minutes at a time. While not technically one itself, Twinbee was the progenitor of the Cute Em Up style of shooters, and thus laid the groundwork for many great games to come like Parodius. Its worth checking out and enjoying for yourself.
Haunted Castle 
I wanted to like this one, I really did. Haunted Castle was the first Castlevania arcade game and is easily the worst game in the series bar none. The game has sluggish controls, poor hit detection and a punishing level of difficulty that make this simply not fun to play. The difficulty would not be an issue if you could keep continuing like with most quarter munchers, but Haunted Castle only gives you a few tries before making you start over. This is a baffling decision and I cannot understand some of the decisions Konami made. Yes it has excellent music and visuals, but the gameplay just drags it down. This game has earned its infamous reputation.
Nemesis
Nemesis is the first game in the Gradius series, a series that is legendary among shoot em ups. While the series would go on to great things, it is clear that Nemesis was a rough start. It is still good, but feels fairly generic at times. For all those faults though, I can say that Nemesis has actually held up pretty well as an overall experience. The game has good music, and while the action takes a little while to kick in, the overall experience is a good one. You can see where the series would go from here, and how the foundation was laid for a great series.
Life Force
Another entry in the Gradius series, this time a spinoff. Life Force plays like a much more fleshed out version of Nemesis. The gameplay has been greatly expanded and there are new powerups, new enemies and so on. This is not even mentioning the voiceover effects which, although primitive by today’s standard, add a nice touch to the game. Life Force is just an overall better experience and one I enjoy going back to repeatedly when I have the chance. The game’s world is more fleshed out and the action feels a lot more fulfilling, not to mention the enemy design being much more varied and fitting. This is another great game on the collection and a must play.
Vulcan Venture 
Vulcan Venture is the localized name for Gradius II and carries on the gameplay from the first but with some changes inspired by Life Force. You can now choose between different weapon and shield configurations, the powerups are much more useful and varied, and the enemy design is much better than in the first game. The voiceover effects from Life Force are here again, but this time they sound much better. The enemy AI is also improved, and gives you more of a challenge and makes the experience much more satisfying to play. The bosses are better overall, and this game also introduces a boss rush level to enjoy. It may not the best game in this collection and I may enjoy Life Force more, but it is a very good game and very much worth playing.
Thunder Cross 
The latest game in the collection, Thunder Cross is an absolutely amazing game. It is a 2D side scrolling shooter, but is very polished when compared to the roughness of the previous games. What we have here is a finely tuned shooter with precise controls, and a forgiving amount of lives and sub weapons. The powerups almost feel like a second thought compared to the level of strategy you can put into Thunder Cross. Unlike some of the earlier games, there is no limit on the amount of continues as long as you have credits, and that is a relief. The game still has a challenge to it, but experienced players will have a good time here. I daresay this is even better than many shooters on the Neo Geo that came later.
Typhoon
Also Called A-Jax, Typhoon is easily my favourite of this collection. I can acknowledge Thunder Cross as being a better game, but I got more joy out of Typhoon. There are two main sections of play in the game, a vertically scrolling section where you play as a helicopter pilot, and a rail scrolling stage with a jet fighter. The game is not ad advanced as Thunder Cross but is simply a lot more fun. The difficulty is high, especially is the jet fighter sections, but that just adds to the excitement. No matter how many times I died, I just wanted to keep going. This game just feels unique and like two distinct styles of shooters were mashed together perfectly. This is one I urge everyone to play for a while.
Bonus Book
Konami has included a large amount of bonus material detailing what went into these arcade games. Concept art, initial designs and so on are included, along with interviews with the developers and more. There are discussions of what made the games so impactful and it is so neatly organized and well put together that I urge you to read through at least once.
Overall Thoughts: This is a magnificent collection and Konami outdid themselves. Not every game was good, but the ones that were good were outstanding. I recommend this game to any retro fan.
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