Back in the 80s, video games were one of my favorite things to spend my money on; it didn’t matter if it was on cartridges for my Atari 2600 and Nintendo or pumping quarter after quarter into games at the arcade or local pizza joint. Some were classics (Super Mario Bros., Zelda), some I couldn’t figure out how to play (Yar’s Revenge) and some were just fun (the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game).
Others were just awesome, like Konami’s Contra. So when I heard about Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the DS, I had to check it out.
These compilations are usually pretty good: for the price of one game you get 15. Now not all the games would be worth buying on their own, but in a compilation, if you have more than two or three games worth playing, the rest are just gravy.
So check out what Konami has to offer: Contra (woo hoo!); Gradius, Time Pilot, Scramble, Horror Maze, Pooyan, Roc’N Rope, Track & Field, Circus Charlie, Basketball, Road Fighter, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Rainbow Bell, and Shao-lin’s Road. And then I saw it, one of my all-time favorite arcade games, a game that ate up countless quarters – Rush ‘N Attack!
The game is as fun as I remember it, plays exactly how I remember it, but the graphics have improved tremendously. Even though back in the day Nintendo blew Atari’s graphics out of the water, now in 2007 on the light little DS, Rush N’ Attack’s GI Joe-like heroes and villains are cleaner and crisper as they jump out at you. I couldn’t put it down for hours. The same went for Contra; it was nostalgic bliss.
I played Gradius and Time Pilot for a bit and had fun; I’m not a sports guy so Track & Field and Basketball aren’t really my cup of tea, so I passed on those. I tried Pooyan, this seems like a game skewed for younger players which means that both my kids will probably like it.
Even though all of the games weren’t winners, just for Contra and Rush ‘N Attack, this game is worth getting. The bottom line is this compilation has something for everyone. Even after one game is beaten, you have over a dozen more to play, and since you can choose the level of difficulty the possibilities are endless.
Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) by the ESRB.
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