The Video Game Revue

Retro Game Mash-Up

It's been a while since I wrote an "out of the blue" kind of game rant, so I figured I would compare four retro game compilations for the PlayStation 2: Capcom Classics Collection Vol 1., Namco Museum 50th Anniversary, Taito Legends, and Midway Arcade Classics.

Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1

I've been a long time fan of Capcom games--particularly Street Fighter II, 1942, and Mega Man. This collection does not include any Mega Man games (you'll have to shell out extra for the Mega Man Collection and Mega Man X Collection compilations for that good stuff) but it does include Street Fighter II, 1943, Bionic Commando, Gun.Smoke, Final Fight, and Ghosts n' Goblins (also Ghouls n' Ghosts and Super Ghouls n' Ghosts) among other titles. Personally, I think these are fantastic games that are well worth any gamer's time. The original Street Fighter II is a classic, and although it really doesn't hold up that well against modern fighting games (2D and 3D alike), it's well worth playing for the sheer weight of influence that it had over the entire genre. Final Fight is a similarly classic street brawler genre game--arguably the apex of the genre--and 1943 (especially it's sequel, 1943 Kai) is far and away one of the greatest top-down shoot em' ups ever made. I find Bionic Commando (arcade version) to be inferior to the NES version overall, and I've always been frustrated by Gun.Smoke (a bit too frantic), but the Ghosts n' Goblins series games included on this collection are truly great (and really freakin' hard.) On the whole, it's a great compilation.

Namco Museum 50th Anniversary

This collection of arcade games includes the obvious Namco mainstays: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pole Position, and Xevious, amoung others. While these are definitely amazing games, there really isn't anything here beyond what you'd expect to get, and the only games here that really get me fired up are Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga. This collection is a decent value, but I wouldn't call it an especially good compilation.

Taito Legends

Taito Legends includes a large number of games, but really there are only a handful of truly worthwhile ones. Space Invaders, Jungle Hunt, and Bubble Bobble comprise the highlights, and if you're not really willing to buy this collection for these three games alone, I would take a pass on it. Other good games on here include Elevator Action, Zoo Keeper, and Operation Wolf, but Operation Wolf isn't any good with a gamepad (there's no lightgun support on here that I'm aware of.) Generally speaking, although I do appreciate the old school appeal of Taito's games, I don't think that most gamers would get much out of this collection. If you have the other three collections I talk about here and you still want more, though, this isn't a bad next place to look.

Midway Arcade Treasures Vol. 1

For the record, I'm not as big a fan of the arcade games published by Midway as I am of the games published by Capcom, Namco, or Taito. Be that as it may, I think that Midway's Arcade Treasures Vol. 1 is the best value out of any of these collections. Robotron 2084 is one of my all-time favourite games, and other games like Spy Hunter, Defender, Joust, Gauntlet, Paperboy, Rampage, and Smash TV make this a simply amazing compilation of classic arcade games. I was really excited to see Sinistar, 720 Degrees, and Rampart included here as well, but the emulated controls for these games didn't translate all that well from the original trackball controls provided in the arcades; still, they are playable, and definitely nice to have. In my opinion, this is a must have retro game collection that belongs in every gamer's home.

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As an aside, I've been playing a bit of Tourist Trophy, and my early impression is that it's a brilliant game for Gran Turismo fans. If you find that Gran Turismo 4 (or 3) was too technical and challenging, then you won't find Tourist Trophy to be much different. On the other hand, if you loved Gran Turismo 4 and the idea of a similar game that lets you race motorcycles sounds appealing, you should definitely give Tourist Trophy a try. I find that while Tourist Trophy doesn't have quite the dazzling array of game options provided by Gran Turismo 4, the gameplay itself is more entertaining in a lot of ways; the game feels faster and "looser" thanks to the handling characteristics of motorcycles versus cars, I guess. The overall difficulty of the game seems roughly on par with Gran Turismo 4 or maybe a bit easier, although it could be that my prior history of playing Gran Turismo games is finally starting to pay off.

I've also resolved (again) to polish off Disgaea in the near future. I played close to 10 hours of it this weekend which was enough to boost Laharl up to level 60 (or thereabouts) and get me to Chapter 14--the final chapter of the game. Right now I'm sitting at 49.5 hours of gameplay. I haven't forgotten about Digital Devil Saga, Final Fantasy IV Advance, or Xenogears, but for now I'm trying to focus on Disgaea. Except when I'm playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, that is.

I've been making slow but steady progress in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. With Harmony of Dissonance I just flew right through the game, but Aria of Sorrow is actually quite challenging and even moderately frustrating at times. It hasn't been too much to handle yet, but it is definitely taking me a while to get through it.

Sunny is squarely kicking my ass at Brain Age except for the sudoku puzzles, which I'm much better at--a fact that I attribute to my greater body of experience with sudoku. Part of the problem with Brain Age is that I have a hard time finding a good time of day to play it, especially during the work week. While it was certainly addictive at first, it's now starting to feel a little bit like homework. Most of the time I'd rather be playing Resident Evil DS, Tetris DS, Metroid Pinball, or Mario Kart DS, which are all fantastic. I can hardly wait for the new Super Mario Bros DS game that will be out in a couple of weeks.

More on all of this good stuff later.

posted by Parappa @ 11:10 PM