Title: Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics
Genre: Action, Arcade
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Platform(s): Xbox One, PS4, Switch PC [reviewed]
Release: Apr. 18, 2019
Price: $19.99
Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics is a terrible name (it’s a collection of Konami games) for a pretty exciting product, at least on paper. This collection brings together eight Konami arcade classics from the 1980s in one cleanly presented package. It’s sure to grab the attention of anyone that remembers the days of the arcades, or over the age of 40. But sometimes going back to the past isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.
Reviewing a package like this is a really difficult prospect for a number of reasons. Chances are that you’ve probably missed a few of these games in the arcades and mostly know them from their NES counterparts or that you totally missed some as Typhoon isn’t what I’d call a classic. There’s also the fact that because they were designed for the arcade, they are designed to take your quarters, something we’ve long since done away with.
And when playing the eight included titles I really questioned myself as to what I originally saw in these titles. In the interceding decades many of these titles have earned legendary status in my mind and the minds of others. I’ve seen people online craving to go back to the past in terms of gameplay and style but I’ve always railed against that line of thinking because, like with any medium, video games have evolved, and playing this collection I realize that more than ever.
These games on home consoles were smartly adjusted. The idea of making money no longer matters when the user paid for a cartridge. That means developers needed to provide a reason to keep coming back as they aren’t dropping more quarters every time they play so they’d go and buy another cart from them. Games were streamlined, they had the difficulty toned down and level design was altered for a better home experience.
Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics ignore all that to keep each game as a faithful representation of the arcade original, for better or for worse. This means the games are brutally hard, and while you do have the option to pump in quarters, many of the games will take you back to the start of a stage on a continue. But this also means the games look and play like you remember in the arcade. For me, this was great as plugging in an arcade joystick made for as close to perfect experience as you can get.
But because these are arcade perfect, or as close as possible via emulation, the issues from those titles rear their ugly head here. Life Force on the NES is a beautiful experience, but the arcade version is a mess and at points nearly unplayable at times as the slowdown when things get busy is unbearable. The same thing happens with Gradius, and this shift of speeds makes enjoying these games a real challenge.
What’s worse is that many of these games have been released in other packs and solo in several forms over the years. Most of these releases go out of their way to fix the slowdown issues, or at least allow you to turn off slowdown for a better gaming experience. I would have loved those sorts of options in this package. If you want to play the arcade perfect ports you can, but if you want to have fun and enjoy the game you could turn off slowdown and such.
Included in the Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics you get eight titles including: TwinBee, Scramble, Thunder Cross, Life Force, Vulcan Venture, Nemesis, Typhoon and Haunted Castle. These games might not sound familiar but that’s probably because all the localization name changes over the years. Nemesis is Gradius and Vulcan Venture is Gradius 2, while Typhoon is A-Jax and Haunted Castle being Castlevania. If you are an old-school shooter fan then you’ll have a blast here (I did as Typhoon was new to me), but most people I think are here to check out Haunted Castle which I never saw in arcades here in the West .
The problem is that Haunted Castle isn’t a good game, at least not in its arcade form. That’s because Castlevania was never intended to be an arcade title. It’s a classic NES series and when you try to add in the quarter-munching style of the arcade you end up with a crappy gameplay experience. The NES Vs. arcade version of Castlevania is a better experience because it’s just the NES in arcade form. Haunted Castle looks really nice with updated graphics and all, but other than that its a dud and ignored in the overall Castlevania lineage.
The whole package here just feels rushed together to make a few bucks. You can easily snag all these games on an emulator, so this seems a way to help stamp down on that as I’m against emulation if said titles are being sold in some fashion. Konami does not have the best reputation, so I will not put it past them if they use this as an excuse to shutdown ROM sites down the line. But that brings up a whole new problem as serious fans of these games are already playing them on emulators with a decade or more of updates and tweaks.
To draw in those players you need to offer more than just a slapped together pack of a few games already on their computers via MAME. In this regard Konami actually offered less in many respects. There is no online multiplayer, something many emulators offer out of the gate. The are no save-state functions (you can save scrub but it’s a chore) and aside from screen stretching and some difficulty options, you get nothing. The only thing that makes this package worth a look is the included Bonus Book that I spent a lot of time reading through.
It includes a lot of never before seen design sketches and interviews with the people behind many of the game in this pack. You get descriptions on each game with tons of art which is a real treat for fans of these games. I do wish this book was available outside of the game, but as people would then share it online I understand why that’s not an option. To be honest with you, I’d rather of spent the $20 on a the book in print form than buy this package.
I think the real problem with the Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics is the lack of content in general. All you get a few shmups, making Haunted Castle really stick out, but you wish it included more games. We’ve seen so many collections over the years that offer tons of games, or at least the cream of the crop from a developer. Sega’s Sonic’s The Ultimate Sega Collection on PS3 being what I compare everything else too with it’s huge game list and tons of content. Even other arcade collections from Atari and Capcom with Street Fighter offer a lot more in terms of gameplay and options.
Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics isn’t a terrible collection at only $20, even if it has a terrible name. I’d say go with the Nintendo Switch version if you can only because you can play on the go. Still, all versions are just pretty devoid of options to allow you to tailor the gaming experience to you liking. If you feel bad playing these games on an emulator or if you loved these games in the arcades with all their flaws, I’d easily recommend this. If you are someone that loves options or don’t care about the legality of emulation, steer clear until it drops in price.
Pros:
Arcade perfect ports
Bonus book content
Cons:
Lack of options
Lack of games
Only one non-shooter
Gameplay issues
Better collections out there
“Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics is as bare-bones as a collection can get.”Final Score
2.5
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