Tecmo Classic Arcade

Written by Troy Matsumiya  on August 16, 2005

First Impressions: Relive the С80s without the big poofy hair or shiny suits.

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Compilations of golden oldies are popular for two reasons: first, they're a great way for publishers to squeeze additional profits from their old intellectual properties; and second, they give veteran gamers (which is a polite way of saying, Уold fogiesФ) a golden opportunity to relive their misspent video gaming youth.

Tecmo is the latest publisher to dig into their storied past and assemble a compilation of 11 classic titles; in fact, several of the games date back to the Tehkan days of the early 1980s. Tecmo Classic Arcade is similar to last year's Japanese PS2 exclusive Tecmo's Hit Parade collection, but this time Team Ninja is responsible for ensuring that the emulated games remain as close to the originals as possible. It's not as easy as it sounds; sure, the old games were created on ancient technology that even your cell phone blows away, but getting that old software code to work smoothly with modern technology is actually quite challenging Ц which explains why some compilations run with surprising sluggishness. But based on Team Ninja's history of high quality work, they should have no problem.

Unlike compilations by Atari, Midway and Namco, the games in Tecmo's collection may not be as instantly recognizable but they are still classic old schoolers that will bring back fond memories. The headliner is clearly Tecmo Bowl, the acclaimed 1987 side-scrolling football game that some gamers still swear is one of the best sports titles ever made. The original Tecmo Cup, which gave birth to their successful soccer franchise, is the baby of the bunch with a release date from the early 1990s.

Rounding out the compilation are: Bomb Jack, a platformer where you collect bombs while avoiding enemies; Pinball Action, which is Ц surprise! Ц a pinball game with some really funky backgrounds; the space shooter Pleiades which is also the senior citizen of the group, dating back to 1981; Rygar, a side-scrolling action game where you play a barbarian armed with the mighty yo-yo of death; the 1983 tank shooter Senjyo which featured crude but effective 3-D-like action; Solomon's Key, an adventure puzzler where you played as a wizard who could create or destroy blocks to trap enemies or open up pathways; Star Force, a top-down vertical-scrolling space shooter; Strato Fighter, a side-scrolling shooter; and Swimmer, 1982 a top-down vertical-scrolling swimming game where you have to avoid logs and enemies like crabs, turtles, and waterbugs (all of which, as a little trivia note, showed up as enemies the very next year in Mario Brothers).

Also included in the collection will be pictures of the original arcade cabinets, manuals and other pieces of artwork related to each game.