It was hitting that time period where Snatcher was released, which featured some great light gun shooting mechanics. Things appear on the screen, you shoot said things. It’s an interesting concept that probably looked good in the late 80s. It works well for an early baseball game, but won’t turn heads in the long run.īeast Busters (1989): Where’s a light gun when you need it? This game was built for either a mouse or a light gun, more than likely the latter because it’s an arcade title. The best baseball game wouldn’t arrive until the NEOGEO hit the market in the early 90s, but this game was priced at a more reasonable under $200 price tag. It felt like Nintendo’s baseball game that released in the first batch of NES games, though Baseball Stars’ graphical upgrade definitely made it visually better. This features fast and furious arcade baseball gameplay that didn’t age so well in the long run. Athena is a fun game that deserves its spot in this collection, and the arcade version is hard as hell.īaseball Stars (1989): Well, it’s no Bases Loaded, which Jaleco brought out a year prior to this 1989 release. Incredibly progressive for the time period. It played a lot like Kid Icarus, which was released the same year, but did something that I hadn’t experienced before - it was led by a female hero. It was fun, impressive, but more of the same when it came to the shooters that were out in the arcade world at this time.Īthena (1986): This was my very first NES game, if you can believe that, folks. Don’t get me wrong, SNK certainly knew what worked, and made it work a little bit smoother and more exciting, but it feels and plays like exactly like Xevious, though one can argue that the power-ups were certainly more flashier with the ship being built upon during flight. SNK brings this 1985 shooting classic that featured a heavy amount of Namco’s Xevious (1982) in it. That said, here’s what you get with the collection as it relates to the actual arcade games included:Īlpha Mission (1985): I am under the firm belief that the majority of 1975-1986 consisted of developers that only knew how to make top-down shooters. I get pretty judge-y in the next section, so I wanted to start with positives. That guy is nuts about music in games.Īnyway, the extras seemed like a good place to start before we begin to discuss the actual gaming content. This section alone would be enough to warrant a purchase for video game music fanatics, and co-editor for this site, Steve Schardein. These simply aren’t songs of the main theme, rather they are honest to God soundtracks that have multiple tracks listed with timecode. On top of the museum material, you also are provided with game soundtracks. I was unsure of the guide world before EGM arrived on the scene. I had no idea that arcade guide books existed, but apparently they did. That extra material includes a museum of sorts featuring behind-the-scenes concept art, old advertising material for arcade machines, old newsletters, and, this might be my favorite, arcade guide books. Not only do you get the arcade games, which we will get to momentarily, from various years, but you get some extra material that you wouldn’t have known existed, if not for this collection. While it has taken me a while to get to this review, mainly because this time of year has been hectic leading up to E3 next month, I think that maybe SNK nailed what people wanted out of their arcade collection experience. Arcades and old games will always have a place in my heart, no matter their difficulty and what frustration spring from them. If you had the “honor” of reading my review for the Konami Arcade Collection posted a week or so ago, then you know my love for old arcade experiences.
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