Excellent compilation package of gamings' golden era
1942: One of the most recognizable of the early Capcom games, this was at every arcade that I visited back in the mid-eighties, and for good reason, the play-control is very tight and ahead of its’ time. This is a pretty bare-bones and purist vertical scrolling shooter but the fun-factor is high nonetheless. Kind of a transition game from the Galaga/Galaxian era and to the more evolved games such as Twin Cobra or Fire Shark. The natural movement patterns of the common enemies were a game-design breakthrough for the time-period: 7.5/10
1943: Direct sequel to 1942, I actually don’t like to play this quite as much; the game introduced fuel-consumption to the game-play and I feel that it is an unnecessary addition, but that being said it doesn’t ruin the game as a whole either. Some improvements include larger and more intricately designed enemies to do battle with, as well as more backgrounds and the option of a super-weapon: 7/10
1943 Kai: Pretty much the same game as 1943, only with noticeably improved visuals across the board; you could consider it to be a remix of the original; the game appears to repeat a small handful of levels numerous times, which becomes repetitive: 7.5/10
Bionic Commando: Yes, as many would lecture, the NES version is indeed the better game between the two; the version on this collection is the arcade original and it is still good in its’ own right. The primary game-play element is using the main characters’ bionic arm to achieve the platforming purposes, otherwise is a standard but respectable side-scrolling action/platform game: 7.5/10
Commando: Set in the same fictional world as Bionic Commando, this prequel is set from an overhead and vertical perspective and is more of a simple blast-a-thon; like 1942, it was pretty popular in its’ day and age however the overall game quality is simply passable: 6/10
Exed Exes: One of the earliest Capcom games but their second vertical shooter, this is a minor step down from Capcom’s first effort, Vulgus, as the play-control on Exed Exes is a bit sluggish, when moving backwards in particular. You will have to be very passionate about the 2D shooter genre to give this game any extended amount of time, and I say that being a long-time 2D shooter traditionalist: 6/10
Final Fight: This side-scrolling brawler could very well be the high-point of the genre, where it evolved just enough to give a dynamic game-play experience, but before the developers went overboard with the genre by just mindlessly cramming sprites onto the play-field. The game-play is tight and the characters very likeable all-around; the visuals have a nice look to them as well: 9/10
Forgotten Worlds: This is one of the coolest games ever created, everything about it from the weapons, sound-effects, characters and enemies, environments, and of course the formidable bosses. The quirky intermissions just capture the 16-bit era of video-games perfectly, back when games were more tongue-and-cheek and didn’t try to take themselves so seriously. This side-scrolling shooter is just tons of fun and also provides good replay value: 9.5/10
Ghosts and Goblins: The first of a quality side-scrolling action/platform series, this is the weakest entry of the classic three but it gets credit for laying the groundwork for the series. It is a solid platformer for its’ time and features very twitch-based and challenging game-play: 7.5/10
Ghouls and Ghosts: The direct sequel to Ghosts and Goblins, and a big improvement in every conceivable way. One of the best action/platformers of the late-eighties, and also the best launch game for the Sega Genesis back in fall/winter of 1989. The version here is the premiere but more difficult arcade version: 9/10
Gun Smoke: Somewhat similar to Commando with the vertical perspective and shoot-em-up game-play, but a more interesting premise and much more varied content is to be found in this fine game: 7.5/10
Legendary Wings: An ambitious game for the time-period, it blended vertical 2D shooting with some side-scrolling levels on land and in the air. As is the case with most arcade games, it can be very difficult at times: 7/10
Mercs: You could call this an evolved version of the Commando/Gun Smoke game-play with again the same overhead blast-a-thon style, albeit with levels that feature multi-directional scrolling; released in the early-nineties, the visuals and game-intensity have both received a big make-over. This is a very good multi-player game featuring many opportunities for some cooperative game-play: 8.5/10
Pirate Ship Higemaru: This action/puzzle game entails the player to grab the surrounding barrels and clear the deck of the adversaries; I don’t find it to be especially stimulating to play, it doesn’t hold my interest in any notable way: 5/10
Section Z: The earliest incarnation of the Forgotten Worlds game-play concept, Section Z is a competent game that is good for an occasional play-through. A fun game when you are looking for some basic twitch game-play: 7/10
Son Son: The first platform style game from Capcom, it is forced scrolling left to right with multiple platform layers for the player to shift between; there is some fun-factor here but the game lacks any real lasting-power: 5.5/10
Street Fighter 2: The game that basically set all of the ground rules for the one-on-one fighter, back then it took a while to figure out that a fireball command was a quarter circle forward, that kind of joystick control and concept was uncharted territory until Street Fighter; still some of the best characters in all of fighting games: 8.5/10
Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition: Balances the characters out some and also allows access to the four boss characters that were previously unavailable, and some minor visual improvements, kind of a modest update to the original: 9/10
Street Fighter 2 Hyper Fighting: Implemented the turbo speed settings into the game, which was very popular with the Street Fighter die-hards. I think that it is a great game no matter what speed it is played at, another modest remix: 9/10
Super Ghouls and Ghosts: The most visually impressive of the original three games in the series, and it also features more elaborate game-play, but I still like the second game in the series the best, this one is still a very good game regardless, the only game on the collection that was not an arcade game, it was made exclusively for the SNES: 8.5/10
Trojan: As is the case with Bionic Commando, I prefer the NES version to the arcade version that is featured here, the play-control is more difficult for the arcade version, but the theme and premise are still cool enough for this basic side-scrolling action game: 6.5/10
Vulgus: This is Capcom’s very first published game and was not released outside of Japan, it is very modest but also is strangely compelling to play as Capcom got the play-control just right, just don’t expect the visuals to get your attention, they are adequate for gamers who can appreciate games from past generations: 7.5/10
Overall this is one of the best collection discs that is out there right now, if not the very best; really Capcom has so many great franchises from the classic era that they could release a second (Recently released) and third collection with absolutely no loss of quality; this retro pack is a great value and is recommended for all who like older and traditional games.