Deserving arcade games...

[Leo_A]

So what classic arcade games would you like to see finally escape the vault? Here's my list of games that I'd love to see make it home finally in arcade perfect form, many of which never even saw a watered down home conversion back in the day.

19XX; The only arcade entry in Capcom's 194X series yet to have a home conversion.



Viper Phase 1; A spin-off from the popular Raiden franchise that sadly has been all but forgotten.



Gorf; A gem from the early Bally Midway library that plays like a greatest hits collection of everything that made the genre created by Space Invaders so great.



Berzerk & Frenzy; Two classics from the golden age by Stern, with Berzerk one of the most popular arcade releases from that era that has yet to see at home in arcade perfect form.





Donkey Kong Jr. & Mario Bros; At least Donkey Kong snuck through via inclusion in Donkey Kong 64, but gamers are still left waiting for arcade perfect home renditions of these two popular pre-NES Nintendo classics.





Pepper II; Great Colecovision effort which makes me want an arcade perfect version of the original all the more.



Turbo Outrun & Outrunners; Two excellent arcade entries from the classic Sega series that have never been done justice at home (With the obscure exception of a solid port of Turbo Outrun in Japan for the FM Towns Marty). Turbo Outrun almost made it in the last round of 3D Classics releases for the 3DS, with Puyo Puyo somehow sadly winning out over it at M2.





Jr. Pac-Man; An unauthorized arcade game from Namco's American licensee Midway. Unlike Ms. Pac-Man which was in a similar position, Jr. Pac-Man seems to not be recognized as "canon" by Namco and has been ignored in the compilation era. Best known for its scrolling mazes and the highest difficulty of the series.



Strikers 1945 Part III; The only one of the four games in this series with no home conversion. One of the last shooter franchises before the bullet hell craze hit and changed it all.



Sega Super GT/Scud Race; The greatest arcade racer of the late 1990's and still sadly absent at home.



Daytona USA 2; An excellent follow-up to what was the most popular arcade racer of the first half of the 1990's.



Turbo; Perhaps the last major unlicensed Sega arcade game from the goldena age that hasn't been seen at home in arcade perform form from the Sega Saturn onwardsas Sega slowly has released their library from this time. Excellent Colecovision port back in the day, but hardly arcade perfect.



Domino Man; From Bally Midway and the same team that created Tapper & Timber. Sadly has been forgotten while those two earlier classics are often amongst the highlights when we receive a Midway compilation.



Solar Fox; The Atari 2600 home conversion was my first videogame. Always wanted to have this one brought to a modern console even though the 2600 game actually is the better of the two in my eyes.



Hydra; Essentially a speedboat take on Roadblasters and every bit as good as that one was.



Golden Axe: Revenge of Dead Adder; Many a Sega fans' holy grail and still absent to this day at home.



And while hardly a classic arcade game, it's criminal that H20verdrive has yet to appear on home platforms.

[Edmond Dantes]

X-Multiply did get obscure console releases in Japan but still could use more love.

R-Type Leo only ever got a digital download release, a problematic one at that (in fact the entire pack it was in, "Irem's Arcade Hits," was considered problematic for many reasons, though the games played pretty well for the most part).

I can't be the only one who thinks that the arcade Lode Runner games (ironically also by Irem) are the best version of Lode Runner to exist. Yes the levels are largely remixes of the original Apple II levels, but the artstyle and music and play control sell me in a way the older comp versions just don't. We need not just a home port of all four games, but also a home port with a level editor (because traditionally Lode Runner ALWAYS has a level editor, plus it would allow fans to port all the missing levels into this engine).

Ninja Baseball Batman, that is all.

[JeremiahJT]

Hydra on the Lynx is pretty good and I think a fairly accurate port.

[celerystalker]

I'll second Ninja Baseball Batman. I have a legit pcb for that one, and more people deserve to enjoy that.

Another couple of pcbs I have that never got good physical releases:

WWF Wrestlefest. I know it's basically impossible at this point, but damn.

Time Soldiers. The Master System port is a fun game, but doesn't come close. The rotary controls make it tough as well.

Gondomania. Fun shooter with rotary controls.

Windjammers. It had Neo CD and AES versions, but nothing mainstream.

Sunset Riders. I don't recall ever seeing a proper 4 player release.

Some other good ones:

Lucky &Wild-a light gun/driver. Awesome.

GI Joe-Konami's sweet 4 player gallery shooter.

The Punisher-the Genesis version sucks by comparison.

Cowboys of Moo Mesa-a fun take on the Sunset Riders formula

Buck O'Hare-super fun shooter/brawler.

Dangun Fever-on-cool disco shooter.

Crackin' DJ-after all the Guitar Hero, Beatmania, DJ Hero, Rock Band, etc., I STILL can't play it anymore.


Lots more, but I'm at work.

[Emperor Megas]

Dangun Fever-on-cool disco shooter.

I FUCKING LOVE Dangun Feveron (and just about any game that has a hype man talking crazy shit in the background). According to GameFAQS, it's supposedly being released in Japan for the PS4 in the 4th quarter of this year.

[celerystalker]

I FUCKING LOVE Dangun Feveron (and just about any game that has a hype man talking crazy shit in the background). According to GameFAQS, it's supposedly being released in Japan for the PS4 in the 4th quarter of this year.

As in physical disc? I might finally have a reason to buy one if that's the case!

[SparTonberry]

Time Soldiers. The Master System port is a fun game, but doesn't come close. The rotary controls make it tough as well.

PSP Mini release. From what I read, the entire line of non-NeoGeo SNK arcade games on PSP was taken from a (sadly now kind of expensive, from the looks) Japanese compilation disc that got pieced out and sold a la carte digitally in the west.
Though using L/R for rotary control is a bit awkward but I don't know if you could do much else, really.

I'd like to see Cowboys of Moo Mesa too but I'm sure that's not happening, being just one of many good games Konami made based on obscure licenses. (I never saw Bucky O'Hare and I don't hear anyone talking about it except to talk about the NES game, maybe.)

[Leo_A]

PSP Mini release. From what I read, the entire line of non-NeoGeo SNK arcade games on PSP was taken from a (sadly now kind of expensive, from the looks) Japanese compilation disc that got pieced out and sold a la carte digitally in the west.

One sports game from SNK Arcade Classics Volume 0 never made it over thanks to SNK losing faith in the PSP Minis program, leading to that one and Safari Rally as casualties and possibly others as well that we never knew were planned.

And there were several additional titles added to the Minis lineup that weren't on that earlier compilation, including the original Vanguard and SNK's very first videogame, Ozma Wars.

Though using L/R for rotary control is a bit awkward but I don't know if you could do much else, really.

As for the LS30 games, they should've used the 4 face buttons of a PSP or PS3 controller for 8 way independent aiming with those buttons also mapped to the primary fire button of each game with the emulator set to auto-fire. That way aiming is intuitive and each time you aim, your primary weapon also fires automatically negating the need for a separate fire button. A shoulder button could be used for your secondary weapon.

Minus auto-fire, that's how the same developer handled it on Data East Arcade Classics for Heavy Barrel, another LS30 stick game. The right analog stick of a Classic Controller or GameCube pad allowed 8 way independent aiming and it then controlled like a twin stick shooter like Robotron, minus the need to hit a shoulder button for your fire button.

Instead they're basically unplayable with the configuration that G1M2 went with.

[rmaerz]

So what classic arcade games would you like to see finally escape the vault? Here's my list of games that I'd love to see make it home finally in arcade perfect form, many of which never even saw a watered down home conversion back in the day.


Berzerk & Frenzy; Two classics from the golden age by Stern, with Berzerk one of the most popular arcade releases from that era that has yet to see at home in arcade perfect form.

Donkey Kong Jr. & Mario Bros; At least Donkey Kong snuck through via inclusion in Donkey Kong 64, but gamers are still left waiting for arcade perfect home renditions of these two popular pre-NES Nintendo classics.

Pepper II; Great Colecovision effort which makes me want an arcade perfect version of the original all the more.

Jr. Pac-Man; An unauthorized arcade game from Namco's American licensee Midway. Unlike Ms. Pac-Man which was in a similar position, Jr. Pac-Man seems to not be recognized as "canon" by Namco and has been ignored in the compilation era. Best known for its scrolling mazes and the highest difficulty of the series.

Berzerk: Atari 5200
Frenzy: Atari 7800 or ColecoVision
DK Jr: NES or C64
Mario Bros.: NES
Pepper II: ColecoVision
Jr. Pac-Man: Atari 7800

I see nothing wrong with those home versions.