Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits

Developer: Konami	Publisher: Konami
Release Date: March 27, 2007	Also On: None

At long last, Konami is getting in on the game of releasing compilations of their old classics. They have started with a release on the DS containing fifteen of their arcade games from the mid-80s. Is this compilation one that the old-school gamer is going to want to have? Read on to find out.

Graphically, these games look like mid-80s arcade games for the most part, so I'm assuming they are fairly exact ports. Those games with which I am familiar with the console versions I could tell obvious graphical differences from those versions in the versions represented here. Obviously, by today's standards, these graphics are dated, and sometimes some things are hard to see because of how small the screen is, but overall, there is nothing to really complain about too badly here.

In terms of sound, the sound effects and the music fit the games that they come from and are probably very good approximations of the original arcade music. Once again, the sound effects and music are obsolete by modern standards, but exact porting of the original is a better choice than remastering in a game like this. The game even comes with a jukebox where you can listen to any of the sound effects or musical numbers, which is a nice touch, especially since you can plug in a pair of headphones and listen to the music with the system closed if you put it in a random loop. Overall, the sound options in this game are very good and the emulation seems reasonable as well.

In terms of gameplay, there are fifteen games in this collection, all varied in type of game, quality of game, and other things, so I'm just going to give a brief overview of each of the games in this collection by category.

For fans of space shooters, Scramble is a horizontal one in which the objective is to get as far as possible without getting killed. The fuel system is really the only thing that sets it apart from other horizontal space shooters of its day, but it is a decent game overall. Time Pilot is a horizontal and vertical space shooter in which your ship can travel in any direction and always fires in the direction its facing. While an interesting concept, the controls will take a while to get used to, although they work well. Pooyan is sort of a horizontal space shooter in which the objective is to defeat wolves by shooting the balloons that are holding them up. It is interesting in that you can only move up or down on the right side of the screen. Rainbowbell is a vertical space shooter in which you can gather bells for points or powerups, depending on the color, and is otherwise a fun, but generic, game. Gradius is a horizontal space shooter whose innovative feature is a graded powerup system where you collect powerups and can activate any number of them one to five, with more of them giving you a more powerful powerup.

For fans of action games, Yie Ar Kung-Fu is a barebones fighting game in which you battle a series of opponents. It has a very meager-seeming move set but is deceptively difficult nonetheless. Shao Lin's Road is an action game where you have to defeat all of the enemies in a certain environment. You can jump, you can change levels in the playing field, and you can kick, but the game is harder to play than it sounds, especially in higher levels. Rush'n Attack is a Contra-type game where your default weapon is a knife instead of a gun, but it is quite a fun game nonetheless. Contra is an action game where you can jump and you can shoot in any of eight directions on platformer-style levels to take out enemies and bosses. It is a very fun game, even in the arcade version.

For fans of platformers, Roc'n Rope is a game where the objective is to get to the top of the screen using a rope and a flashlight without running into monsters or falling too far. It's reasonably fun once you figure out what you're doing, but isn't really that great. Circus Charlie is a platformer where the objective is to reach the goal without hitting an enemy. Charlie can only run and jump. This game is a somewhat scaled-back version of Super Mario Bros. except you have to avoid enemies; jumping on them will not defeat them.

For fans of sports games, Track and Field is a very barebones track experience with an emphasis on button mashing to gain speed and timing on a different button for jumping in some cases. It isn't an overly exciting game by any means. Basketball is an offense-only basketball game where the objective is to score a certain amount of points within a time limit. You can pass and shoot, but you have to tap a button repeatedly to dribble, which I think is ridiculous. Still, it's a reasonable basketball game for a play through or two. Road Fighter is a racing game where the objective is to pass as many cars as possible without hitting the side of the road or certain vehicles which can damage your car. It's a pretty good game of that type though.

The last game is Horror Maze, a top-down game where you have to control a guy who can fire right or left to a goal. Of course, this is made complicated by the fact that your guy has to move up and down as well, but cannot fire in those directions, instead having to use a flash bomb if an enemy approaches him from those directions, numbers of which you have are limited. Still, this makes it a good strategy game.

In addition to the presence of all of these games, many of them can be played multiplayer through DS multi-card play or download play, although only by up to two people, even for those games that originally supported more than two. Also, you can play around with the settings to affect the difficulty level, the number of lives per credit, and things like that.

With all of these options to play with, what then is the downside? I'm glad you asked. First of all, in many cases, the arcade versions of these games are inferior to the console versions. For Contra in particular, the levels in the arcade version are significantly shorter than in the NES version, which was a disappointment to me. Secondly, many of the games have continue caps, meaning that you can't just keep putting in credits and keep playing to the end of the game. This, of course, adds difficulty to the idea of reaching the ends of the games, but that can be created by those who care to by people setting limits on themselves, while people like me who just want to play the games through to completion are left out in the cold, so to speak. Also, you can save replays of the games, but you cannot save progress in the games, although that's something where there's little reason why you would want to anyway, seeing as how short these games are.

What then is the conclusion? The number of games in this package and their overall diversity and generally good quality are certainly pluses for these games, but many of them do have better or as good console versions that will hopefully see a release someday. If you are a fan of the arcade versions of these games, there is no logical reason not to pick up this compilation. But if you were a fan of the console versions, you might get some entertainment value out of this compilation, but you'll likely be disappointed by the differences as well.

Graphics:	7
Sound:	8
Gameplay:	7
Creativity:	5
Replay Value/Game Length:	7
Final:	6.9
Written by Martin	Review Guide

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