Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics Reviews

Any complaint I read boasted "the controls suck" or "look at this shitty UI" and my absolute favorite "arcade machines were huge no way they couldn't run games like this with whatever imaginary accuracy I have in my head." If you buy this game they play how they play. We're playing the coin grabbers right here. They're intentionally unfair and yes it controlled like that back then and NO that isn't emulated stutter; it's just the way the game looks. These are CLASSICS. If PONG at one point was an arcade cabinet that NEEDED to be that size just to operate then the idea of these games at one point in history needing an arcade cabinet to function is- I can't believe I have to explain this. This game is great! You get one save state, infinite coins, and access to easier and harder versions of the same game by changing the region. Also I have no idea how some one could claim there was some sort of delay or stutter besides them not knowing how arcade games used to play or used to thinks like dedicated action. I know we've evolved away from that but by buying this you're signing a contract to be exposed to that stress again. So if it's not for you that's fine but making false claims and falsely lowering a game's favorable score just because you're bad at the game is foul. I've done it in the past but man, that's some thing you do in highschool but I go on your accounts and read the other reviews you post. Ya'll lazy and bad at this game if you vomited one of the baseless claims being flaunted about and you go out of your way to do it to other games too and have done it for years. I acknowledge this is a bit of a Karen post but I am literally calling these people out for being the official Karen's of steam so I'll let you all make up your mind on the subject matter because I'm going to go ahead and never think about this again.

In the late 80s, SEGA was making AAA immersive sprite-scaling masterpieces. Hang-On, OutRun, Galaxy Force, the whole bit. When people are nostalgic for arcade games, they're nostalgic for these great games. In the late 80s, Konami was making these. These are not good games. I do enjoy 3 out of 8 of them, but the lack of curation in this collection is frustrating. [h2]GRADIUS 1 & 2 (NEMESIS & VULCAN VENTURE)[/h2] These are the killer apps in this package. These games are pretty good. They're not easy games, but they're made well enough. The upgrade system adds some interesting player choice. [h2]SALAMANDER / LIFE FORCE[/h2] Things start to go downhill quickly after Gradius 1&2. Life Force is a game about flying the Gradius ship through a human infected with alien microbes. In the third stage, you start flying through the digestive tract. The digestive tract has... big fire-y walls. Out of the fire walls, suddenly a dragon appears and covers 1/2 the screen with no time to dodge. The announcer calls out the emergence of the dragon, but it's not enough. The entire design feels simply rushed, reusing a lot of old assets and engines without enough new ideas. [h2]THUDNER CROSS[/h2] This is my personal favorite of the collection, mainly because it allows credit feeding. Also, note that the US version is much easier than the JP version. In the US version, you always have a couple extra drones with you that you can't lose when you die. In the JP version, you have to earn these drones through upgrades. [h2]TYPHOON / A-JAX[/h2] This is fine. It doesn't do much for me, but it's definitely in the top half of this collection. [h2]TWINBEE[/h2] This one doesn't feel good. There's something about the ship speed, the bullet speed, and the enemy patterns that makes this game not click for me. [h2]SCRAMBLE[/h2] This is a horizertical shmup. This is the worst aspect ratio I've ever seen for a shmup. Who thought this was a good idea? [h2]HAUNTED CASTLE[/h2] This is a bad game. You can jump and whip and... that's it. Controls aren't responsive.