Konami Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection brings some classics home, while also reminding us how absolutely insane and brutal the arcade age was in its heyday.
I cannot fathom how many quarters I spent as a kid in arcades. I’m sure it would have bought me a car, maybe even been enough for a down payment on a house. Regardless, it was probably a lot of quarters. My point with all this rambling? Revisiting some Konami arcade classics has not only shown me some perspective on the genius these arcade classics were back in the day but also how intricately they were designed to munch on your quarters.
So, let’s get right into it.
Konami has been revisiting its past since last month. They’ve sprung on us the Castlevania Collection, as well as the Contra Collection. Both series deserve their own collection, as both are most certainly Konami classics that put the company on the map, just like the Metal Gear Solid series. Not to erase the early days, Konami came up with the idea that introducing its arcade classics in a single collection (not all the classics, just mostly their shooters) would shed some light on their early years as an arcade developer/publisher. Shed some light they did, and sometimes even a harsh spotlight that hurt being under.
The Arcade Collection consists mostly of shooters, and unforgiving ones at that, as well as a Castlevania, inspired title, though not officially under that moniker. Here’s a complete breakdown of what you’re getting with the collection, and an opinion to go along with each one:
– Scramble (1981) — So, if Moon Patrol, Defender, and Zaxxon had a baby, it would be Scramble. Scramble is an interesting early game that borrows a lot from pre-existing shooters and does nothing really forward thinking to push ahead in an arcade environment that was littered with similar 2D mechanics of the time period. You simply traverse your spaceship through rough looking terrain, while enemies either fire at you or get in your way. While you’re trying to bring down the enemies, you also have to worry about the fuel consumption of your ship, which you can only be replenished by bombing fuel tanks (and that is not easy at all, as your bombs tend to do a nice arc downward). I think Konami was feeling their way through the arcade world at this point with Scramble. The concept was easy enough, but the multiple worries (enemies/fuel) kept the game from being too much fun, even for an early 80s shooter. When you take your player’s attention away from ‘fun’, then you’re just asking for a game that is, at best, so-so. Honor the classics, though.
– Twin Bee (1985) — While there were certainly arcade games between Scramble and Twin Bee, Twin Bee was a helluva lot more fun than Scramble. You can play one or two players in this game, you go through a 1944 north/south shooter design, where the world is a mixture of cute anime and fun shooter. Along the way, you pick up power-ups from clouds, which pop out of the clouds in the form of bells (and other objects) that expand and make your ship more powerful. The interesting part of the bell, other than ‘what the hell is a bell doing in the sky’ is that you can continually shoot the bell and change its color, which equals out to different power-ups (gold for points, blue for ship expansion, white was…err…something). It’s one of the more enjoyable shooters in this collection that makes it worth the price of admission. I could have played this game a long time had I not needed to move on with the review.
– Nemesis (A.K.A. Gradius — 1985) — This game was designed to be beautiful (and it was), as well as hectic and deadly (just as much as it was beautiful). While it was later named Gradius, Nemesis packed a punch with what is going on during the game (they throw everything at you — enemies large and small), as it is just a screen full of calamity. There is less focus on level design in Gradius and more focus on chaos, which is fine. From that chaos comes a challenging charm, which might be the reason that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The charm comes in the form of having the ability to use multiple special weapons at the same time, which I can’t recall existing in any game prior to Gradius. It also allows you to choose the weapons you want to upgrade your ship with, all in real time, which means you don’t have to go in a predetermined order of operation for upgrades. That’s a huge deal for the shooter genre, which probably also separated Nemesis/Gradius from the rest of the shooter crew.
– Lifeforce (1986) — I think this literally took a page from Gradius to the point that you get the same ship architecture, but with smoother controller response time. The backdrop of being inside of some organism also helps to sell and separate the story from Gradius, which makes Lifeforce a force of its own (see what I did there). It’s a fast-paced game that features a voice that leads you all the way through it. Seriously, you get a voice over through it. While certainly badass for its time, it’s charming at best right now. I could just see how cool the devs thought it would be to feature voice in a 1985 arcade game. Epic for its time. Voice aside, Life-force is a classic nonetheless, and some solid progression in the shooter genre.
– Typhoon (1987) — Built and released the same year that You Suzuki’s classic After Burner was launched, Typhoon tried to take the “3D” shooter concept that made After Burner so cool (and eventually R360) and turned it slightly on its head…literally upside down. The concept and movement of the game was definitely a different take, as the first level was a nose-dive to a ship, though honestly, it was running on the same concept as After Burner with how its mechanics worked. The controls might have been a bit more loose-y goose-y than intended, as you have some slight give to the targeting, which slides a bit when you stop moving the ship. It was neat seeing a different style of an F-14 shooter, so you should commend Konami for this particular game. Did it work as well as After Burner? Ehhhhhh…no, but again it was a different take, which is better than another clone.
– Haunted Castle (1988) — Just when you thought Ghost ’n Goblins was the hardest game to ever arrive in the arcades, or on the Super Nintendo, you have the Castlevania arcade adaption that is potentially the most difficult game ever. The game was designed for you to fail at it. It wants your quarters. It needs your quarters. All of them! Enemies come at you sporadically, while you are given Castlevania hearts that do no replenish your health. It’s so incredibly irritating. Like Mario Lost Levels irritating. Like trying to win an argument with Steve Schardein irritating. Still, it’s something to behold.
– Vulcan Venture (1988) — The sequel to Gradius (cleverly titled Gradius II in ‘medica), it features the exact same gameplay structure of Nemesis/Gradius, while upping the ante with gorgeousness (the sun dragon level is just to die for). The intensity of the game is also upped in this version of the game, so enjoy trying to find a comfortable place to rest during gameplay. It is a worthy follow-up of Gradius, which makes it understandable why it made it to this collection.
– Thunder Cross (1988) — This game falls in the same vein as the rest of the shooters, but focuses more on level design than anything else. It’s brutal on level design. It wants you to bump and crash. It tightens your alleyways and sends unfair enemies at you in waves. It’s tough as hell! But hey! It has continues, so everything is great…except if you played this in arcades, then you’re poor. It’s a fun game, though, and fits right in with the rest of the Konami family.
While I would have loved to see Rush ’n Attack in there somewhere, having some really brutal, yet classic shooters at your disposal makes this arcade collection worth having. Out of the bunch, I will say that Haunted Castle is an odd bird in the collection, but I’m sure some sick Dark Souls fan out there is going to have a blast with it.
Overall, Konami Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection brings some classics home, while also reminding us how absolutely insane and brutal the arcade age was in its heyday.
