I unwrapped Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the DS the other night and played for about an hour, and I just finished spending another hour or two with it.
Before I get into the games themselves, I'll briefly mention the options:
You can change standard attributes such as amount of lives, difficulty level, whether to use rapid-fire or not, etc. There are apparently more complex changes you can make by going into the dip-switches, but I haven't really played around with any of that yet.
Most of these games had a vertical display in the arcade (but not all - Gradius, Track & Field, and a couple of others are the exception). So, uh-oh, how do they translate to the DS? Well, if you opt to turn on TATE mode, perfectly. Yes, you can turn the DS to its side and play these games in their original aspect ratio, using one of the two screens. I am still trying to get used to holding the DS this way. It still feels a bit clunky, but that could be because I'm using an older DS "Phat." In any case, you can hold the DS any way you want, and you can use whichever of the two screens you prefer. The designers went all out to let you customize the viewing options to your exact liking.
Of course, if that doesn't work for you at all, you can hold the DS normally and have the game fill the DS screen horizontally. Even though that isn't faithful to the original aspect ratio, it still looks great.
The one thing you can't do is split the game over both screens - but that might've just made everything awkward and messy anyway.
Here are the games in this collection:
- Contra
- Gradius
- Time Pilot
- Scramble
- Rush'N Attack
- Horror Maze (Tutankham)
- Pooyan
- Roc'N Rope
- Track & Field
- Circus Charlie
- Basketball (Super Basketball)
- Road Fighter
- Yie Ar Kung Fu
- RainbowBell (Twinbee)
- Shao-lin's Road
Here's what I've tried out so far:
Contra: This was the first game I fired up, and I still love it. NOTE: This is the ARCADE version, NOT the NES port. Yes, there are differences! No 30-man Konami code, for one. Still, it's an absolute blast to play, and it's neat seeing some of the graphical enhancements that couldn't make it over to the NES.
Gradius: Again, this is the arcade game - not the NES port. Whereas some might prefer having the NES version of Contra, I don't think anyone will argue against having the arcade version of Gradius in this collection. For one thing, it's absolutely gorgeous. Aesthetics aside, this is still the same great gameplay you've always loved. And, yes, it's still every bit as difficult as you remember it being.
Rush'N Attack: One of my all-time favorites. It could be my imagination, but this version feels much different than the one on the Konami GBA collection? Maybe that one was an NES port? Who knows. In any case, this is still every bit as much a classic as it was when I first played it at an ice cream shop in 1986.
Track & Field: Definitely one of the highlights of this compilation. As with every game here, this is the arcade version - not the NES port you're probably more familiar with. But truth be told, it's been so long since I've played the NES game that I can't point out what differences there are, if any. So far, I've only experienced two events: the 100-yard dash and the long jump. I still haven't gotten past the latter. I used to love these types of games as a kid, and I still love them even now. As per usual with this genre, you'll be pushing buttons like a madman. You can turn on auto-fire though, but I haven't tried that yet.
Circus Charlie: WOW! Talk about a MAJOR surprise. Think a weird combination of Pitfall and Jungle Hunt, but in a circus setting. You play a stuntman who has to jump through obstacles (such as rings of fire). Simple but highly addictive. I love it!
I briefly tried out Twin Bee, Tutankham, and Super Basketball, but only for a couple of minutes each, so I don't really have strong impressions to give of those yet. Yi Ar Kung-Fu was on the previous GBA collection, but I bought that mainly for Rush'N Attack and barely played any of the other games, so I'll have to refresh my memory of it here.
I have a feeling I've played the cream of the crop from this compilation already, but who knows, more surprises along the lines of Circus Charlie could be just around the corner? I'll keep you updated.
Definitely a must-buy.
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