Retro Arena: Arcade Classics Pt3

[Leon Retro]

R-Type - 1987
After Burner - 1987
Super Hang-On - 1987
The Ninja Warriors - 1987
Thunder Blade - 1987
Vigilante - 1988
Galaxy Force II - 1988
Powerdrift - 1988
Ghouls 'n Ghosts - 1988
Altered Beast - 1988
Splatterhouse - 1988
NARC - 1988
Chase HQ - 1988
Dragon Ninja - 1988
Double Dragon 2 - 1988
Forgotten World - 1988
RoboCop - 1988
P.O.W. - 1988
The New Zealand Story - 1988
Shadow Dancer - 1989
Willow - 1989
Strider - 1989
Stun Runner - 1989
Special Criminal Investigation - 1989
Golden Axe - 1989
Toki - 1989
Super Off Road - 1989
Hard Drivin' - 1989
Final Fight - 1989
Pang - 1989
Beast Busters - 1989
TMNT - 1989
Smash TV - 1990
Pit Fighter - 1990
Alien Storm - 1990
Mercs - 1990


Even more arcade classics. Choose 5 that you like the most.

[wheelaa]

Could happily play any of them for hours and hours, tough choice, such fabulous output for that 30 month period.

Splatterhouse
Mercs
R-Type
TMNT
Stun Runner

(Edit, wait more than 30 months, R-Type '87 no?)
(Edit 2 - and some more from '87 too..After Burner to Thunder Blade?)

[Colin]

Easy -

R-Type

Brilliant from the day it was released and always will be. Never gets old for me, I could play it every day of the week.

[Leon Retro]

Could happily play any of them for hours and hours, tough choice, such fabulous output for that 30 month period.

What an amazing time to be a gamer. Most of them were cutting edge games that really were something special at the time. I think a lot of them stand the test of time pretty well for arcade experiences.

Splatterhouse
Mercs
R-Type
TMNT
Stun Runner

I'm a fan of most of those. I've never liked Stun Runner though. Splatterhouse is my favourite from that bunch.

(Edit, wait more than 30 months, R-Type '87 no?)
(Edit 2 - and some more from '87 too..After Burner to Thunder Blade?)

I had '1988' on the brain. It was because a lot of the games are from that year.

Easy -

R-Type

Brilliant from the day it was released and always will be. Never gets old for me, I could play it every day of the week.

Yeah, it's a timeless shooter. And it's much better than a lot of shooters from that period. I always enjoy playing through it.

[Team Andromeda]

1) Power Drift - This was something else in the Arcades and it still plays, looks and sounds great today

2) Golden Axe - In co-op mode this was so much fun, one of my most played games in the home and Arcades

3) Ghost N Ghouls - One of the best and most perfect platform games ever made

[Leon Retro]

1) Power Drift - This was something else in the Arcades and it still plays, looks and sounds great today

Yeah, it looked pretty incredible at the time. It's still nice to watch, but I've always thought it feels a bit fiddly to play. Although you can get good at it.

2) Golden Axe - In co-op mode this was so much fun, one of my most played games in the home and Arcades

I'll never forget how stunning the graphics looked at the time. And the overall design and vibe of the game really appealed to me. I get a huge nostalgia rush whenever I go back to it.

[Anpanman]

Didn't play any of them in the arcade but if they were out on the Amiga I had them ...ahem.

None of them really made a massive impression if I'm being truthful though - must be the home conversion compared to the arcade experience, pick of them would be Hang-on for me.

[QualityChimp]

Another tough one, LR.
Took some real whittling, but I've got down to see six.

R-Type - 1987
Just amazing. From the moment the R9 blasts into Bydo Empire space, you know you're onto something special, but sussing out the various power ups and how to use the pod is thrilling. Oh and the music!
The stage where the whole level is just one boss is inspired.


The Ninja Warriors - 1987
A pair of ninjas walk into enemy territory carrying nothing but a few shurikens.
They mash up countless soldiers, dogs, dwarves and even chuffin' tank!
Wait! What's that glinting under their ninja shozoku? Are they? Holy moly, they're not just ninjas, they're robot ninjas!

Also, seeing that triple-screen cab in the arcades was jaw-dropping.


Splatterhouse - 1988
What a crazy ass game! You run around looking like Jason Voorhees beating up some horrible enemies with some serious gore.
I think the thing I love best is the selection of strategies to beat the game, like duck-kicking to the first boss to juggle the shotguns and never let that chainsaw-handed bastard near you or where to stand in the room with haunted furniture or maggots bursting from corpses on noises.
Yeah, it's pretty wrong, but so satisfying as you throw a crystal ball at an enemy with a "whump" or use a plank to home run them into a splat on the background wall.


Dragon Ninja - 1988
"I'm bad!"
Such a great game and a nice mix of weapons and moves. Some memorable bosses too like Karnov or the duplicating ninja. Not too tough, so it made you feel hella tough.


Strider - 1989
Ker-shing shing shing!
So much content in here, it's like they squeezed in a new moment every few seconds.
Take stage 1. Hang glide onto the rooftops of a future Moscow, beat a loads of robots up, find a drone, slide down a slope, avoid the drills, fight a muscly guy, dodge the fire, break into a dome, beat the lasers, descend the stairs and fight the council members as they merge into a giant robot centipede.
As you do.


TMNT - 1989
Turtle mania had hit me hard in '89.
Seeing the cab in an arcade was a real experience, with the volume turned up to 11.
Just putting a coin in was intense - "Cowabunga!" (Thrillhouse).
Yeah, it was a cash-guzzler, but it was the cartoon in playable form, but even more distilled.
"Say yow pwayers, toitles!"

[DeathAdder]

Golden Axe and Final Fight top for me. I used to play side-scrolling fighters more than most other types of game as I got more play time for my money than, say, a checkpoint-based racer, which I was crap at.

Final three - probably Thunderblade, Super Hang On (home ports, not arcade) and Alien Storm.

I can't get into Shadow Dancer at all - for me, it lacks all the charm and fun of Shinobi.

Golden Axe is by far my favourite on this list. I love the setting, the music, the little touches, like the villagers running away and, most of all, riding the beasts. Such a shame the sequels (apart from the arcade-only one, which I've never played) were so disappointing.

[Leon Retro]

Didn't play any of them in the arcade but if they were out on the Amiga I had them ...ahem.

Some of the ports to the Amiga were pretty good: R-Type; Super Hang-On; The New Zealand Story; Golden Axe; Toki; Super Off Road; Pang.

I enjoyed the Amiga version of all those games. It's a shame Splatterhouse didn't get ported, as I'm sure it could have been really good.

Also, seeing that triple-screen cab in the arcades was jaw-dropping.

Yeah, it was a stand out cab that caught people's attention. Also a cool looking game.

Splatterhouse - 1988

What a crazy ass game!

It was such an awesome game for people who liked B-movie horror movies. There was nothing else like it at the time. I also think it plays really well, so I go back to it quite often.

Dragon Ninja - 1988
"I'm bad!"
Such a great game and a nice mix of weapons and moves. Some memorable bosses too like Karnov or the duplicating ninja. Not too tough, so it made you feel hella tough.

I used to play the arcade version quite a bit because the manic action and detailed graphics really impressed me. I was disappointed with the Amiga version because it doesn't play very well.

Strider - 1989
Ker-shing shing shing!
So much content in here, it's like they squeezed in a new moment every few seconds.

Yeah, such a rollercoaster ride of awesome creativeness. I've always thought it feels a bit clunky, but the overall design makes it a brilliant game.

TMNT - 1989
Turtle mania had hit me hard in '89.
Seeing the cab in an arcade was a real experience, with the volume turned up to 11.

Yeah, a really great game for fans of the cartoon. And far better than the terrible console/computer game that I truly hated.

Golden Axe and Final Fight top for me. I used to play side-scrolling fighters more than most other types of game

I used to play scrolling beat 'em ups a lot in the arcades, as they were always far better than what you got in the home. Golden Axe and Final Fight really showed off the arcade tech of the time. Both great creations full of creative flair.

[Asura]

I have very fond memories of Chase HQ. I know exactly why, too; back in the 80s/early 90s, my family and I used to do the Spanish beach holiday thing. Not every year (we weren't wealthy) but probably 2-out-of-3 (we actually did it more in the earlier years and less in the later ones, when we realised it was better to go fewer times, but to better quality places). I think, like a lot of families that were doing their best to remain financially stable in the 80s, both my parents worked and my father worked a lot, which meant that holidays were the only time I really got to spend a consistent, extended period of time in his company.

So in August in maybe 1989, we were in an airport (I actually don't remember which one!) waiting for a plane to somewhere; probably Palma, and our plane was delayed... For 23 hours. The tour operator guys scrambled to do something, eventually managing to find a projector and a VCR from somewhere, and it looked like they ran to the nearest video rental shop and just grabbed everything they could reasonably put on. Mainly British sitcoms, some tapes of Star Trek, a few kids' movies.

The airport had an arcade, but it was overnight, and the shutters were down. There were several machines sitting directly on the concourse outside of the shutters, and the tour operator guys turned them on, but only one seemed to work - Chase HQ. My dad and I put a load of change in it, and we must've rinsed it countless times. Bored out of our minds, we'd come back every 2-3 hours and play it again and again, because there was nowhere to sleep. I remember when we got home, we bought the Amiga version, which was playable enough, but it was never quite the same. He didn't have time for it and I wasn't wired due to having been awake for over 24 hours.

Still, it's a fond memory; I doubt whoever designed it at Taito, if they're still alive, could even imagine that it would mean something like this to someone on the other side of the world.

[Team Andromeda]

Yeah, it looked pretty incredible at the time. It's still nice to watch, but I've always thought it feels a bit fiddly to play. Although you can get good at it.

The game is ace, but it was best played in the Arcade sitdown cab. It was most probably by fav SEGA hydraulic coin up at the time. I spent a fortune in cooper coin Arcade down in porthcawl and even had a telling off mum, after spending some £80 of my hoilday money durning the 1st two days of our hoilday in Porthcawl, just in the Arcades; Most of which was spend, just on the full cab Power Drift.

I'll never forget how stunning the graphics looked at the time

It was just the pure fun gameplay, that won me over. I used to love knocking the AI's on their head (it never gets old even now) The other great thing, was how the game was in every Arcade and local chip shop going in my aera at the time, it was everyhwere and all my mates loved it

I remember how sometimes me and a gang of friends would pretend to go off and catch the school bus, wait for my mum to go to work and then mitch off school playing the likes of Golden Axe, John Madden on the MD.

Fab days

[Neon Ignition]

Hmm, more nostalgia led for me this time.

-New Zealand Story
-After Burner
-Power Drift
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
-Ghouls n Ghosts

There's only really the first two there I'm that fond of to a degree, a lot of childhood memory fuels the choices. GnG was fine enough, TMNT I remember strong but the fourth entry beats it, Power Drift visually always appealed but I didn't find it fun to play

[Leon Retro]

I have very fond memories of Chase HQ.

I also have fond memories of seeing the sit-down cab in arcades -- it looked so exciting back then.

I remember when we got home, we bought the Amiga version, which was playable enough, but it was never quite the same.

I was quite gutted with the Amiga version: small sprites, a lack of speed, and grimy graphics. It could have been quite a bit better.

Most of which was spend, just on the full cab Power Drift.

Sega love you.

I remember how sometimes me and a gang of friends would pretend to go off and catch the school bus, wait for my mum to go to work and then mitch off school playing the likes of Golden Axe, John Madden on the MD.

I'd pretend I missed the bus sometimes, so I could stay home playing games, or go out to buy the latest C&VG. Even at school, I'd mostly talk about computers/consoles and read all my magazines.

-New Zealand Story


There's only really the first two there I'm that fond of to a degree, a lot of childhood memory fuels the choices.

I've always liked NZS. The only bad point is the same tune playing throughout the game. I wonder why Taito decided one tune was enough for NZS and Rainbow Islands? I like each world of a game to have a unique tune.

[Team Andromeda]

I'd pretend I missed the bus sometimes, so I could stay home playing games, or go out to buy the latest C&VG. Even at school, I'd mostly talk about computers/consoles and read all my magazines.

It was so easy with me, having an older brother and being brought up by a single mum (both working full time) All I had to do was wait for both to go to work and the house would be all mine all day, untill my gran would call in at 3PM with food ready for when I came home from school. So I'll just pretend to get ready for school and latter before my gran came in, I'll walk around the block, with school bag and knock the door to be let back in lol.

Used to be great playing the likes of Golden Axe, John Madden, Jimmy White Snooker/Speedball II (both on the Amiga) and Wonderboy II all day long with a gang on friends on the mitch from school.