Tecmo Classic Arcade Featuring Tecmo Bowl
Posted October 5, 2005
When it comes to gaming, retro is hot right now. If you need proof, check out your local game retailer and count he number of classics collections in the shelves. Collections aren't just limited to the console games either, and Tecmo has provided an Xbox exclusive anthology with Tecmo Classic Arcade.
If you grew up in the golden age of arcades, chances are high that you've thrown plenty of quarters into at least one of the eleven games in this collection. Spanning a decade, you're sure to find something here that will bring back some memories of the loud arcades of yesteryear.
Writing a review for compilations is a little tricky, so I'll discuss each game separately and then give overall thoughts on the package as a whole.
Gameplay:
1981 - Pleiads: This was the first arcade game released by Tecmo. It was a vertical shooter in the same vein as Yars' Revenge and to an extent Galaga. The graphics are extremely simple and the sound effects equally so. I actually don't recall seeing this game in the arcades, and actually it's not really noteworthy and I found myself tiring of it quite quickly.
1982 - Swimmer: This was an interesting game, and quite surprising in how much difference one year can make as far as graphics. This game has you as a swimming up a stream infested with logs, turtles, and fruit. The goal is to make it upstream while not being nailed by any of hte floating debris, all while collecting fruit. Defitely a quarter muncher, as you get the feeling that you can always make it a little further next time, and hey since it's not costing you a shiney two-bits here, who cares.
1983 - Senjyo - This title has you in the role of a tank which is centered on a three dimensional screen where you task is to take out other tanks on the horizon before they can nail you. The screen has a full 360 degree movement range, so you'll always be on the lookout for enemies. I didn't particularly enjoy this title, as the controls seemed a little off with the control stick, even though the arcade version did use an 8-way joystick. The graphics and sound effects actually were quite good by '83 standards.
Two games from 1984 make it on the list. The first is Star Force, a top down shooter similar to Xevious in its blocky graphic design and gameplay mechanics. Not a terrible throwback to top down games of old, it was entertaining for a short while, but like most other games on this collection, grew tired quickly.
The second game from 1984 is the entertaining Bomb Jack. This title pits your character, a guy who can jump and float his way across a single room full of baddies collecting bombs that are floating in mid air. Each level was a nice background of some exotic local like Russia or Egypt, and the sound was decent for the timeframe. This was one of the more entertaining titles on the collection, and I found myself migrating back to it more often than not.
1985 also features two titles, the first being Tecmo Cup, a top down soccer simulation. This title in the arcades was a lot of fun, but that was probably due in part to the control scheme, which was a trackball. Obviously trackballs aren't available for Xbox, so the controls and therefore some of the enjoyment in this game were slightly sluggish and didn't quite pack the fun factor in like it could have. But overall, still a decent title.
1985 was also a year for Pinball Action, a simulated pinball game. Now I am not sure why someone would choose to go to an arcade and play a digital version of pinball when the real thing would be very close by, but who am I to judge. I found the flipper controls to be muddy, and very unresponsive in this title, and as a result it didn't get much play time. Plus, I prefer my pinball to actually have the shiny metal balls that impact and crush the targets, not a pixelated version of the same.
Rounding out probably the best double release year is 1986, with two great titles that are a lot of fun and are very well emulated here, Solomon's Key and Rygar. Both of these games are classics in my mind, with the edge going to Rygar mainly because this game (along with Altered Beast) ate a lot of my quarters when I was a young chap. Using your razor sharp disc as both shield and weapon, you fight your way through 27 packed levels that are sure to beg for your quarters (or in this case, presses of the X button).
Solomon's Key is an entertaining and addictive puzzle game which has you being able to create and destroy blocks at will to try to collect a key and other items, then escape each screen without being captured. This one gets a lot of playtime around my place for its pure puzzling action.
I'll skip forward to 1991 for Strato Fighter, probably the best reason to own this collection. It's a 2D side-scroller that plays very similar to R-Type, and is almost as enjoyable. The game looks great for being 13 years old, and still plays well. You collect different weapon upgrades and fight your way through multiple levels either by yourself or with a friend. This is one very enjoyable shooter for fans of the genre.
Now for the biggest disappointment award that will also be the main reason people will by the title, Tecmo Bowl. As the title of the collection states, this is an ARCADE collection not Tecmo Classics, so the version of Tecmo Bowl you play is actually the 1987 arcade version which is dramatically different from the NES version that we all love. It's a side scrolling football game with very basic and limited controls, and almost no choice for playmaking aside from on the fly choices to pass or run the ball.
Before starting each game, there were options to tweak like when to award an extra life, or the difficulty of the game. Also you could view the instructions for each title, which essentially amounted to press X to insert quarters, A as the main button, etc.
Aside from the games, a gallery of artwork, one-sheets, and other snippets about each game was included. While this was neat to look at for historical reasons, chances are very good you'll do this once then sit back and wish they stuck Ninja Gaiden on this collection too.
Graphics:
In almost all cases, the emulation was top notch on every title I played. One exception is Strato Fighter which tended to have some slowdown when many enemies were onscreen at once, whether or not it was like this in the arcades I cannot remember. But overall, the graphics were very good for this title.
Because of the resolution differences between home TV sets and arcade monitors, each game allows you to zoom in or out the onscreen action to better fit your TV, but chances are you'll leave things as the default to get the same aspect ratios that the arcades had. In the cases where the required graphics did not fit on the screen, Tecmo has added some background image to help fill the screen and it actually kind of gives it more of and arcade feel because of the border around the monitor that almost all arcade games have.
Audio:
Similar to the graphics, the emulation of all the sound effects was done very well. Voice samples came through clear and all the sound effects were sharp and crisp.
One cool feature that deals with the audio is on the game selection screen, when you fly over the game you are thinking about playing, the sound effects change to include snippets from that particular game, as well as the overall background music.
Conclusion:
I do applaud game companies for putting out classic collections to help bring the new generation of gamers back and see where it all began, and also for the experienced players to sit back and remember why they fell in love with games in the first place. But why leave off some games that make a huge impact on the gaming world, like Ninja Gaiden...I know it's playable on the latest NG release, but still it would have been nice to have on this arcade collection.
The collection that we have here is a decent look at a decade in the life of Tecmo, with some omissions. It's not a stellar collection as only a couple games will really keep you coming back for more, the rest are basically filler; because of that reason, I can only recommend you rent this title before thinking about buying it.
If you grew up in the golden age of arcades, chances are high that you've thrown plenty of quarters into at least one of the eleven games in this collection. Spanning a decade, you're sure to find something here that will bring back some memories of the loud arcades of yesteryear.
Writing a review for compilations is a little tricky, so I'll discuss each game separately and then give overall thoughts on the package as a whole.
Gameplay:
1981 - Pleiads: This was the first arcade game released by Tecmo. It was a vertical shooter in the same vein as Yars' Revenge and to an extent Galaga. The graphics are extremely simple and the sound effects equally so. I actually don't recall seeing this game in the arcades, and actually it's not really noteworthy and I found myself tiring of it quite quickly.
1982 - Swimmer: This was an interesting game, and quite surprising in how much difference one year can make as far as graphics. This game has you as a swimming up a stream infested with logs, turtles, and fruit. The goal is to make it upstream while not being nailed by any of hte floating debris, all while collecting fruit. Defitely a quarter muncher, as you get the feeling that you can always make it a little further next time, and hey since it's not costing you a shiney two-bits here, who cares.
1983 - Senjyo - This title has you in the role of a tank which is centered on a three dimensional screen where you task is to take out other tanks on the horizon before they can nail you. The screen has a full 360 degree movement range, so you'll always be on the lookout for enemies. I didn't particularly enjoy this title, as the controls seemed a little off with the control stick, even though the arcade version did use an 8-way joystick. The graphics and sound effects actually were quite good by '83 standards.
Two games from 1984 make it on the list. The first is Star Force, a top down shooter similar to Xevious in its blocky graphic design and gameplay mechanics. Not a terrible throwback to top down games of old, it was entertaining for a short while, but like most other games on this collection, grew tired quickly.
The second game from 1984 is the entertaining Bomb Jack. This title pits your character, a guy who can jump and float his way across a single room full of baddies collecting bombs that are floating in mid air. Each level was a nice background of some exotic local like Russia or Egypt, and the sound was decent for the timeframe. This was one of the more entertaining titles on the collection, and I found myself migrating back to it more often than not.
1985 also features two titles, the first being Tecmo Cup, a top down soccer simulation. This title in the arcades was a lot of fun, but that was probably due in part to the control scheme, which was a trackball. Obviously trackballs aren't available for Xbox, so the controls and therefore some of the enjoyment in this game were slightly sluggish and didn't quite pack the fun factor in like it could have. But overall, still a decent title.
1985 was also a year for Pinball Action, a simulated pinball game. Now I am not sure why someone would choose to go to an arcade and play a digital version of pinball when the real thing would be very close by, but who am I to judge. I found the flipper controls to be muddy, and very unresponsive in this title, and as a result it didn't get much play time. Plus, I prefer my pinball to actually have the shiny metal balls that impact and crush the targets, not a pixelated version of the same.
Rounding out probably the best double release year is 1986, with two great titles that are a lot of fun and are very well emulated here, Solomon's Key and Rygar. Both of these games are classics in my mind, with the edge going to Rygar mainly because this game (along with Altered Beast) ate a lot of my quarters when I was a young chap. Using your razor sharp disc as both shield and weapon, you fight your way through 27 packed levels that are sure to beg for your quarters (or in this case, presses of the X button).
Solomon's Key is an entertaining and addictive puzzle game which has you being able to create and destroy blocks at will to try to collect a key and other items, then escape each screen without being captured. This one gets a lot of playtime around my place for its pure puzzling action.
I'll skip forward to 1991 for Strato Fighter, probably the best reason to own this collection. It's a 2D side-scroller that plays very similar to R-Type, and is almost as enjoyable. The game looks great for being 13 years old, and still plays well. You collect different weapon upgrades and fight your way through multiple levels either by yourself or with a friend. This is one very enjoyable shooter for fans of the genre.
Now for the biggest disappointment award that will also be the main reason people will by the title, Tecmo Bowl. As the title of the collection states, this is an ARCADE collection not Tecmo Classics, so the version of Tecmo Bowl you play is actually the 1987 arcade version which is dramatically different from the NES version that we all love. It's a side scrolling football game with very basic and limited controls, and almost no choice for playmaking aside from on the fly choices to pass or run the ball.
Before starting each game, there were options to tweak like when to award an extra life, or the difficulty of the game. Also you could view the instructions for each title, which essentially amounted to press X to insert quarters, A as the main button, etc.
Aside from the games, a gallery of artwork, one-sheets, and other snippets about each game was included. While this was neat to look at for historical reasons, chances are very good you'll do this once then sit back and wish they stuck Ninja Gaiden on this collection too.
Graphics:
In almost all cases, the emulation was top notch on every title I played. One exception is Strato Fighter which tended to have some slowdown when many enemies were onscreen at once, whether or not it was like this in the arcades I cannot remember. But overall, the graphics were very good for this title.
Because of the resolution differences between home TV sets and arcade monitors, each game allows you to zoom in or out the onscreen action to better fit your TV, but chances are you'll leave things as the default to get the same aspect ratios that the arcades had. In the cases where the required graphics did not fit on the screen, Tecmo has added some background image to help fill the screen and it actually kind of gives it more of and arcade feel because of the border around the monitor that almost all arcade games have.
Audio:
Similar to the graphics, the emulation of all the sound effects was done very well. Voice samples came through clear and all the sound effects were sharp and crisp.
One cool feature that deals with the audio is on the game selection screen, when you fly over the game you are thinking about playing, the sound effects change to include snippets from that particular game, as well as the overall background music.
Conclusion:
I do applaud game companies for putting out classic collections to help bring the new generation of gamers back and see where it all began, and also for the experienced players to sit back and remember why they fell in love with games in the first place. But why leave off some games that make a huge impact on the gaming world, like Ninja Gaiden...I know it's playable on the latest NG release, but still it would have been nice to have on this arcade collection.
The collection that we have here is a decent look at a decade in the life of Tecmo, with some omissions. It's not a stellar collection as only a couple games will really keep you coming back for more, the rest are basically filler; because of that reason, I can only recommend you rent this title before thinking about buying it.