| paleface [sys=PS2; cat=Action_Variety; reg=NA] |
| | | A collection of 22 classic Capcom arcade hits--almost. Apparently (this was posted on the GameFAQs board by someone who seemed to be a Capcom USA employee), only the following games in the collection are the arcade versions:
Bionic Commando
Final Fight
Forgotten Worlds
Section Z
Trojan
Legendary Wings
The other 17 are ported from the PS1 "Capcom Generation" collections (see entry 36, entry 37, entry 38, and entry 39). Now, those were pretty decent ports to begin with, but it's too bad that Capcom USA didn't have Digital Eclipse, the dev team here, work from the arcade ROMs.
Still, port-wise, Digital E did their normal solid job. There are a couple annoyances, such as the regular buttons acting like Start during a "Continue" screen countdown, and not being able to remap the buttons separately for each player; there are also the now common graphical faux pas of not offering vertical screen mode for the games that were on vertically oriented screens in the arcade--even if they DID have vertical modes in the PS1 versions--and of anti-aliasing all the games, regardless of whether or not their graphics need to be rescaled to fit normal NTSC resolution. Bah! Bah, I say! For those two reasons, you'd be better off importing the PS1 versions of some of these, although you'd have to forgo the convenience of having them on a single disc.
Loading times are pretty good, and there are little factoids given for each game. Oh, and it saves high scores per game and per difficulty level, which is kinda neat. The paper cutout UI is rather ugly, but at least it's fast and functional.
Now, let's get down to the games. |
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"1942: Shootin' WWII planes is okay."
1942
A rather dated but still solid vertical shooter. No vertical screen mode, though, so you play it tiny-screen. Get Capcom Generations 1 (see entry 36) instead. |
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"1943: Ooh, big ships."
1943
Again, go with Generations 1 for the vertical mode. Much more involved enemies and graphics, the series started to look pretty modern here. Don't like the life meter. |
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"1943 Kai: Back to biplanes? Eh?"
1943 Kai
Bit of a remix of 1943, with busier but not necessarily better graphics, and increased difficulty, if I recall. Gen 1 version has vertical mode. :P |
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| | | Download added: 04_bionic_commando.gif (72158 bytes)
"Bionic Commando: The arcade version kinda sucks."
Bionic Commando
This is the arcade version, and it's interesting to see how different it is than the NES version. I think I played this way long ago, actually--I seem to remember something about those stupid bees that just pop out of the trees and kill you. Pretty stiff and unforgiving, and rather slow-paced. NES version was a classic; this isn't. |
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| | | Download added: 05_commando.gif (53227 bytes)
"Commando: Bit faded, but fun."
Commando
Decent, bit washed-out vertical run-n-gun, but Generations 4 (see entry 39) has vertical screen mode, and the CCC version doesn't. |
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"Exed Exes: Ugly."
Exed Exes
This vertical shooter didn't age that well, and lack of vertical screen mode isn't helping (Generations 3--see entry 38) had vert mode). Weird enemy patterns, but the sprites are all tiny, shoot pretty much the same way, and glide over ugly backgrounds, parallax or no. Annoying sound effects but rather soothing music. |
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| paleface 18:46:20 10/05/05 [relations updated] |
| | | Download added: 07_final_fight.gif (87421 bytes)
"Final Fight: Kick ass."
Final Fight
Yay, a real arcade port here! Good ol' Final Fight. People like to rip on it as being old and crusty, but man, it's still got plenty of whoop ass for me. But I'm simple, and as long as a game lets me hit guys with a pipe, I'm pretty happy. |
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| paleface 18:49:58 10/05/05 [relations updated] |
| | | Download added: 08_forgotten_words.gif (61955 bytes)
"Forgotten Worlds: This game is hard."
Forgotten Worlds
Another fine arcade port; DualShock dual analog control works great to simulate the rotating joystick of the original arcade version. This game always looked good and sported that unique, rotating flying-guy shooting gameplay, and none of that is lost here. Another fine reason for getting this collection. By the way, this game is difficult. |
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| | | Download added: 09_ghosts_n_goblins.gif (59145 bytes)
"Ghosts 'n Goblins: Spawning items in places you can't get them is just one of this game's charms."
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Capcom Generations 2 (see entry 37) has this in sharper, non-anti-aliased form. I'm not much of a fan of GnG anyway--too stiff and unforgiving, both in terms of the controls and of the respawning monsters, fast flying enemy patterns, and deadly moving platforms it sends at you. This game frustrates me if I try to play it, so I don't. |
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"Ghouls 'n Ghosts: Charging up spawns a clone so you can shoot both ways!"
Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Again, Generations--sorry, Generation--2 has this this without blurry anti-aliasing. You can aim up and down in this one, and the graphics are richer, so in general I like it better than the first, but that still isn't saying a whole lot. |
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"Gun.Smoke: I done been shot off my horse."
Gun.Smoke
Generation 4 (entry 39) has this with real vertical mode, so get that one. This is a great game though; awesome creative vertical gun-slinging Western shooter action. |
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| | | Download added: 12_legendary_wings.gif (76741 bytes)
"Legendary Wings: You want me to fly into WHOSE giant mouth?"
Legendary Wings
No vertical screen mode for this shmup arcade port, darn. Oh, but it also has horizontal scrolling levels--and these are really crappy. The vertical parts are okay, but nothing special, and actually I hate having to do two buttons for air shot and ground shot. |
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| | | Download added: 13_mercs.gif (73053 bytes)
"Mercs: Hop in your jeep and collect roast pigs."
Mercs
This is a cool vert shooter, with three-player support, I believe (game menu says 3, apparent typo in manual says 2), but Gen 4 (entry 39) had it in true vertical screen mode, which makes that version preferable. |
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"Pirate Ship Higemaru: Suck barrel, pirate!"
Pirate Ship Higemaru
Fun action puzzle game where you roll barrels over marauding pirates. But guess what: Generation 3 (entry 38) had it without blurriness. |
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| | | Download added: 15_section_z.gif (63262 bytes)
"Section Z: Beh."
Section Z
Kind of odd horizontal shooter with very stiff graphics. You have a button to flip your character to face left or right, for some reason. Didn't like how it constantly spawns things at you from the floor and ceiling. |
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"Son Son: I am always a fan of giant fruits."
Son Son
Generation 3 (entry 38) had this without anti-alias blurring. I like this running shooter; the multiple levels provide many ways to approach each enemy wave, and you get to collect plenty of giant fruits! Can't go too far wrong so long as a game has giant fruits. |
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| | | Download added: 17_sf2.gif (99361 bytes)
"Street Fighter 2: Sprite flicker made my fireball disappear!"
Street Fighter 2
It's too bad that this isn't the original arcade version, but the port from the Capcom Generation PS1 version (Gen 5, maybe? I don't have that one) seems pretty solid, if a little slow and limited in character selection (just like the arcade version).
With all of the SF2 versions on this collection, you can go to "Street Fighter Deluxe" from the Start menu, which lets you pit any fighter from any of the three games against another one in a 2-player match. Cute option, I guess, but chances are low I'll be using it. |
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| paleface 19:23:24 10/05/05 [relations updated] |
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"Street Fighter II Champion Edition:"
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
They sped things up a bit and made the four boss characters from the original SF2 playable, which increased the roster by 50%. This is a nice version.
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that you can up the speed on any of the three versions to a ridiculous rate, if you really want to.
I wouldn't take any of these over the DC SF2 (see entry 679), though, mostly because of the nice VGA output and all the tweaks you can do in that version (like turning off fireball slowdown). |
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"Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting: The colors got funny."
Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting
The increased speed is a shock after coming from Champion Edition, but you get used to it. Still have fireball slowdown and stuff, though. They kind of tweaked the sprite color in this version, and in ways that I don't think are really improvements. And Chun Li has that annoying fireball of hers now. |
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"Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts: Suckier than it looks."
Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts
Despite the unnecessary anti-aliasing, this version is actually an improvement over the Generation 2 version (see entry 37), which ran like complete ass; this one only runs half-assed, which is probably about how the SNES original ran. But it's still slow, and you can't shoot up and down now, and it is way nastier with spawning enemies in right under your feet. Oh, and the sound is icky. |
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| | | Download added: 21_trojan.gif (66776 bytes)
"Trojan: Not as much fun as a box of condoms."
Trojan
An interesting arcade port, in which you play a spear and shield-bearing fellow who cruises down the street, stabbing punks. That part is nice, but the attacks, both your own and those of the punks, are pretty abrupt, and I hate block buttons (that's what you do with the shield). The weird "Jump" strips on the sidewalk are noteworthy for their exceptional gamey-ness--you have to use them in order to jump high enough to kill the dynamite-tossers who appear in second-story windows.
I do like the style of the sprites, though, especially the larger bosses. |
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| | | Download added: 22_vulgus.gif (31853 bytes)
"Vulgus: About as weak as it looks."
Vulgus
Generation 3 (see entry 38) had this in correct vertical screen mode, but even that didn't really make it a fun game, so no big loss here. The backgrounds are ugly, the sprites excessively tiny, and boring, although they do have some crazy flight patterns. The orchestrated music, though, is surprisingly soothing. |
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| | | So, to wrap this up, while deploring the anti-aliasing, and even though most of the games are better in Japanese PS1 form, I would say that this collection is worth it simply for the arcade ports of Final Fight and Forgotten Worlds.
Rather looking forward to seeing what Capcom comes up with for the next volume--especially since they've run out of Generation ports to rehash. Hm! Volume 2 could be really kick-ass then, if it ever sees the light of day. |
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