PepsimanVsJoe
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http://www.ebgames.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=65247
Goodness Griefness what is the deal here? One of the finest arcade compilations of all time now going for the price of 14 microwave burritos. I would hope that everyone owns this already cause come on this is just absolutely fucking ridiculous.
Seriously let me run down the list of games.
Alpine Ski - You ski and dodge stuff while trying to score a lot of points. It's kind of shitty but who cares let's move on.
Arabian Magic - A very nice hack & slash featuring as you can imagine a bunch of characters from famous 1,001 Arabian Night tales. Gameplay stays fresh as all manner of traps and varying locals help you keep your mind off the hundred or so guys you kill every stage. Great music.
Balloon Bomber - Shoot and destroy bombs dropped from a bi-plane. Okay that's just the description. I didn't play this game..moving along.
Bonze Adventure - This sort of semi-reminds me of games like Pyros/Wardner and Ghouls & Ghosts. Granted it's not as good as either of them but hey it's competent.
Cameltry - This is listed as one of the 50 best arcade games of all time(and I know it's right because it's my list). You've got a ball in a maze, tilt the maze to lead the ball into the goal. It rules.
Crack'N Pop - Stars a bunch of characters from Bubble Bobble...and that's it. In fact go ahead and tell this game to fuck off cause it's really boring.
Cleopatra Fortune - Another one of my 50 best arcade games of all time. Falling Block puzzler where mummies, gems, and whatever whatever keeps things from being a mere Tetris clone. Fantastic.
Crazy Balloon - Guide a swinging balloon to the goal. Yeah late 70s/early 80s Taito was really dull.
Darius Gaiden - Okay this port of DG is riddled with slowdown and is admittedly the worst thing about this compilation. Luckily you can get this game on the Saturn(which is neigh-perfect) for less than the cost of this set.
Don Doko Don - Kind of like Bubble Bobble except instead of playing as two cute dinosaurs that turn enemies into fruit you play as two old men with hammers who hit things over the head and throw them around. Not nearly as fun even though the stage design is a bit better.
Dungeon Magic - Quasi-sequel to Arabian Magic except this time it's all medieval with kobolds, orcs, and an isometric perspective instead of a sideview. Game runs like molasses most of the time though(it's the same way on the Taito Memories version, what the heck Taito?)
Elevator Action Returns - Yet another game from my Top 50 arcade games of all yeah yeah okay whatever. Choose your operative and go on a bloody special effects-laden murdering spree as you take down some wacky eco-terrorist or something.
Football Champ - Yay Soccer Yay!... ....
Front Line - I don't feel like playing it but it looks and sounds like Commando..so it's probably worse.
G Darius - Unlike Gaiden this version is near arcade-perfect. An incredible game all-around and worth the $7 by itself.
Gekirindan - Wacky time traveling won't keep this vertical shooter from mediocrity but you could probably do worse.
Grid Seeker - Speaking of worse check out this little number. This is one of those shooters that's great up until you die, then it just goes all to shit. If you're a fan of bombs though this could be for you as they're rather plentiful.
Growl - Play as Indiana Jones and kill hundreds of evil poachers along with their king who looks something like a clown and an alien. Unfortunately neither this version nor the Taito Memories edition has the gore intact, which actually takes a lot out of this game(since bodies are constantly getting exploded, ran over, and well...just blowing up for no good reason. Otherwise it's a competent beatemup with a fairly brisk pace and it's like 10 minutes long. Nowhere near a classic but eh it's dumb fun.
Gun Frontier - Some could consider this the precursor to Raizing's Battle Garegga and to be honest I wouldn't doubt it for a second(Same director possibly?). In the far future there's a gold rush on a distant planet. People eager to start a new life spend all their savings due to oppressive government taxes or something. In fact these people are so poor now they have to live like they're back in the Wild West. It's a completely nonsensical and wonderful story thanks in part to the great intro(Taito Arcade games have some of the best). Anyway since we're in the Neo-Wild West expect to see lots of ships with revolving cannons, saloons to blow up, and bosses loaded with six-shooters. Like Battle Garegga you gain bombs by collecting pieces of gold(?) from destroyed tanks and such and though you can bomb as soon as you have a single piece the results will suck. Thus to get huge devastating bombs you gotta collect lots of gold. Other than that it's stylish and very impressive for an early 90s shooter. Garegga is better though.
Insector X - A horizontal shooter with lots of bugs...errh I mean real bugs...or really futuristic bugs or..ah fuck it.
Kiki Kaikai - Consider this the prequel to Pocky & Rocky. It's charming sure but eh I dunno. Most will consider it a classic along the lines of Space Invaders. Well I think Space Invaders kind of sucks so oh well.
Kuri Kinton - Yikes this really isn't very good at all.
Liquid Kids - Another one of those puzzler platformers. This time you're a furry creature throwing balls of water at everything...yeah
Lunar Rescue - Ancient game where you you dodge asteroids to rescue an astronaut, then destroy aliens while taking him to safety...woo.
Metal Black - For fans of game design and art direction in games this is the title to check out. Really I won't say much more because this is just one of those games I could devote an entire thread to. Absolutely amazing.
Nastar - Sequel to Rastan...well actually it's a prequel. So since it's a prequel let's pretend Nastar came out before Rastan so Taito learned from their mistakes instead of ohhh screwing everything up. The music is awesome though.
Puchi Carat - I admit I've been consistently un-fair to this game but after spending about 5 hours straight last night playing it I gotta say it isn't too horrible. This is another falling block puzzler but it's switched by including a bit of Breakout(or maybe I should say Arkanoid cause that's Taito) In order to score a lot of points and/or kill your rival quickly you have to hit the ball so it'll break orbs at the top of the screen. You can do serious damage by destroying pieces connecting blocks of orbs and your opponent can do the same. Also interesting is that if you miss the ball as it comes back to you(thus letting it hit the ground) the blocks on your screen will scroll downward three lines. Granted this can be all kinds of bad but on the other hand you can do some seriously damaging combos if your aim is true. Then again I dunno, I ran through story mode like four times and I can't imagine this being anywhere near Puzzle Fighter/Baku Baku/whatever. Battles are over in like 14 seconds and all they usually take is a good setup and your opponent is screwed so bad they might never recover. Well at least there's puzzle mode..which is the standard so many lines, so little time. I suck at this mode but that doesn't seem to stop it from killing the crap out of my free time.
Puzzle Bobble 2 - Puzzle Bobble fucking sucks..next
Qix - This is one of those games that's been re-done, re-made, and just all-around re-everything that there's re-ally no point in playing the original anymore.
Raimais - Looks like a Pacman clone, probably is, I avoided it.
Ray Storm - Nowhere near as good as the phenomenal Ray Force(or one of the thousand other names it goes by...like Layer Section) but it's in 3D so that's good for something I guess.
Space Invaders '95 - I still think Space Invaders sucks but when Taito changes everything around so that it still resembles the original but is ten times more fun well...it ain't so bad. 95' is just that. First you can fire not one but TWO bullets at a time. Good lord what is this a Cave shooter? Afraid not I guess but damn if it isn't charming and fun. '95 is just straight wacky with goofy boss fights(second boss is a sushi-plate full of familiar Darius bosses) Granted overall this isn't Space Invaders Extreme but you can see where they were going with this.
Space Indvaders DX - The original classic game(nay) and arranged versons(yay).
Super Space Invaders 91- I think this is also called Majestic 12 or something. Anyway Space Invaders but much better. Boss fights too..neat.
Syvalion - Interesting but shitty corridor shooter where you try to control a dragon. Yuck
The Fairyland Story - Yet another Bubble Bobble-esque game. Turn enemies into chocolate cake and push them off ledges so they suffer a horrifying death(you can also drop cakes on unsuspecting enemies which is completely inexplical but worth way more points).
The Legend of Kage - I heard the DS remake is nice. This on the other hand isn't. I guess they were going for those Ninja movies where everyone is jumping through trees shurikening the shit out of each other. Admittedly that's a cool premise but there's only so much you can do with mid-80s arcade technology.
Violence Fight - This is a bad bad game but it's so good I can't bring myself to hate it. Underground fight clubs in the 1950s! The Mafia! Wreckless Drivers! General businessmen! Dogoon!? Wonderful stuff.
Wild Western- Shoot varmints before they rob the train. Hell I don't know.
Okay now maybe this isn't a list of bonafide classics but dammit there's still more than enough game here to satisfy any arcade fan.
Final score= Too high to be a real number out of 10.
Goodness Griefness what is the deal here? One of the finest arcade compilations of all time now going for the price of 14 microwave burritos. I would hope that everyone owns this already cause come on this is just absolutely fucking ridiculous.
Seriously let me run down the list of games.
Alpine Ski - You ski and dodge stuff while trying to score a lot of points. It's kind of shitty but who cares let's move on.
Arabian Magic - A very nice hack & slash featuring as you can imagine a bunch of characters from famous 1,001 Arabian Night tales. Gameplay stays fresh as all manner of traps and varying locals help you keep your mind off the hundred or so guys you kill every stage. Great music.
Balloon Bomber - Shoot and destroy bombs dropped from a bi-plane. Okay that's just the description. I didn't play this game..moving along.
Bonze Adventure - This sort of semi-reminds me of games like Pyros/Wardner and Ghouls & Ghosts. Granted it's not as good as either of them but hey it's competent.
Cameltry - This is listed as one of the 50 best arcade games of all time(and I know it's right because it's my list). You've got a ball in a maze, tilt the maze to lead the ball into the goal. It rules.
Crack'N Pop - Stars a bunch of characters from Bubble Bobble...and that's it. In fact go ahead and tell this game to fuck off cause it's really boring.
Cleopatra Fortune - Another one of my 50 best arcade games of all time. Falling Block puzzler where mummies, gems, and whatever whatever keeps things from being a mere Tetris clone. Fantastic.
Crazy Balloon - Guide a swinging balloon to the goal. Yeah late 70s/early 80s Taito was really dull.
Darius Gaiden - Okay this port of DG is riddled with slowdown and is admittedly the worst thing about this compilation. Luckily you can get this game on the Saturn(which is neigh-perfect) for less than the cost of this set.
Don Doko Don - Kind of like Bubble Bobble except instead of playing as two cute dinosaurs that turn enemies into fruit you play as two old men with hammers who hit things over the head and throw them around. Not nearly as fun even though the stage design is a bit better.
Dungeon Magic - Quasi-sequel to Arabian Magic except this time it's all medieval with kobolds, orcs, and an isometric perspective instead of a sideview. Game runs like molasses most of the time though(it's the same way on the Taito Memories version, what the heck Taito?)
Elevator Action Returns - Yet another game from my Top 50 arcade games of all yeah yeah okay whatever. Choose your operative and go on a bloody special effects-laden murdering spree as you take down some wacky eco-terrorist or something.
Football Champ - Yay Soccer Yay!... ....
Front Line - I don't feel like playing it but it looks and sounds like Commando..so it's probably worse.
G Darius - Unlike Gaiden this version is near arcade-perfect. An incredible game all-around and worth the $7 by itself.
Gekirindan - Wacky time traveling won't keep this vertical shooter from mediocrity but you could probably do worse.
Grid Seeker - Speaking of worse check out this little number. This is one of those shooters that's great up until you die, then it just goes all to shit. If you're a fan of bombs though this could be for you as they're rather plentiful.
Growl - Play as Indiana Jones and kill hundreds of evil poachers along with their king who looks something like a clown and an alien. Unfortunately neither this version nor the Taito Memories edition has the gore intact, which actually takes a lot out of this game(since bodies are constantly getting exploded, ran over, and well...just blowing up for no good reason. Otherwise it's a competent beatemup with a fairly brisk pace and it's like 10 minutes long. Nowhere near a classic but eh it's dumb fun.
Gun Frontier - Some could consider this the precursor to Raizing's Battle Garegga and to be honest I wouldn't doubt it for a second(Same director possibly?). In the far future there's a gold rush on a distant planet. People eager to start a new life spend all their savings due to oppressive government taxes or something. In fact these people are so poor now they have to live like they're back in the Wild West. It's a completely nonsensical and wonderful story thanks in part to the great intro(Taito Arcade games have some of the best). Anyway since we're in the Neo-Wild West expect to see lots of ships with revolving cannons, saloons to blow up, and bosses loaded with six-shooters. Like Battle Garegga you gain bombs by collecting pieces of gold(?) from destroyed tanks and such and though you can bomb as soon as you have a single piece the results will suck. Thus to get huge devastating bombs you gotta collect lots of gold. Other than that it's stylish and very impressive for an early 90s shooter. Garegga is better though.
Insector X - A horizontal shooter with lots of bugs...errh I mean real bugs...or really futuristic bugs or..ah fuck it.
Kiki Kaikai - Consider this the prequel to Pocky & Rocky. It's charming sure but eh I dunno. Most will consider it a classic along the lines of Space Invaders. Well I think Space Invaders kind of sucks so oh well.
Kuri Kinton - Yikes this really isn't very good at all.
Liquid Kids - Another one of those puzzler platformers. This time you're a furry creature throwing balls of water at everything...yeah
Lunar Rescue - Ancient game where you you dodge asteroids to rescue an astronaut, then destroy aliens while taking him to safety...woo.
Metal Black - For fans of game design and art direction in games this is the title to check out. Really I won't say much more because this is just one of those games I could devote an entire thread to. Absolutely amazing.
Nastar - Sequel to Rastan...well actually it's a prequel. So since it's a prequel let's pretend Nastar came out before Rastan so Taito learned from their mistakes instead of ohhh screwing everything up. The music is awesome though.
Puchi Carat - I admit I've been consistently un-fair to this game but after spending about 5 hours straight last night playing it I gotta say it isn't too horrible. This is another falling block puzzler but it's switched by including a bit of Breakout(or maybe I should say Arkanoid cause that's Taito) In order to score a lot of points and/or kill your rival quickly you have to hit the ball so it'll break orbs at the top of the screen. You can do serious damage by destroying pieces connecting blocks of orbs and your opponent can do the same. Also interesting is that if you miss the ball as it comes back to you(thus letting it hit the ground) the blocks on your screen will scroll downward three lines. Granted this can be all kinds of bad but on the other hand you can do some seriously damaging combos if your aim is true. Then again I dunno, I ran through story mode like four times and I can't imagine this being anywhere near Puzzle Fighter/Baku Baku/whatever. Battles are over in like 14 seconds and all they usually take is a good setup and your opponent is screwed so bad they might never recover. Well at least there's puzzle mode..which is the standard so many lines, so little time. I suck at this mode but that doesn't seem to stop it from killing the crap out of my free time.
Puzzle Bobble 2 - Puzzle Bobble fucking sucks..next
Qix - This is one of those games that's been re-done, re-made, and just all-around re-everything that there's re-ally no point in playing the original anymore.
Raimais - Looks like a Pacman clone, probably is, I avoided it.
Ray Storm - Nowhere near as good as the phenomenal Ray Force(or one of the thousand other names it goes by...like Layer Section) but it's in 3D so that's good for something I guess.
Space Invaders '95 - I still think Space Invaders sucks but when Taito changes everything around so that it still resembles the original but is ten times more fun well...it ain't so bad. 95' is just that. First you can fire not one but TWO bullets at a time. Good lord what is this a Cave shooter? Afraid not I guess but damn if it isn't charming and fun. '95 is just straight wacky with goofy boss fights(second boss is a sushi-plate full of familiar Darius bosses) Granted overall this isn't Space Invaders Extreme but you can see where they were going with this.
Space Indvaders DX - The original classic game(nay) and arranged versons(yay).
Super Space Invaders 91- I think this is also called Majestic 12 or something. Anyway Space Invaders but much better. Boss fights too..neat.
Syvalion - Interesting but shitty corridor shooter where you try to control a dragon. Yuck
The Fairyland Story - Yet another Bubble Bobble-esque game. Turn enemies into chocolate cake and push them off ledges so they suffer a horrifying death(you can also drop cakes on unsuspecting enemies which is completely inexplical but worth way more points).
The Legend of Kage - I heard the DS remake is nice. This on the other hand isn't. I guess they were going for those Ninja movies where everyone is jumping through trees shurikening the shit out of each other. Admittedly that's a cool premise but there's only so much you can do with mid-80s arcade technology.
Violence Fight - This is a bad bad game but it's so good I can't bring myself to hate it. Underground fight clubs in the 1950s! The Mafia! Wreckless Drivers! General businessmen! Dogoon!? Wonderful stuff.
Wild Western- Shoot varmints before they rob the train. Hell I don't know.
Okay now maybe this isn't a list of bonafide classics but dammit there's still more than enough game here to satisfy any arcade fan.
Final score= Too high to be a real number out of 10.
