The Arcade Treasures Series

forever [Music] ing arcade games is where my journey really began with this hobby I can still feel the memories of raw excitement walking into my local movie theater and seeing games like Galaga and Pac-Man I wasn't there just to watch the movie on hand but also play the arcade games in the lobby hell half the reason to go to the movies back then was to see what new arcade games they had since your last visit and it was like that wherever you went that happened to have arcade games to be enjoyed to have the sights and sounds of an arcade game wash over me are some of my most powerful feel-good memories of being a kid and that's what this new series is all about the greatness of arcade games and their simple yet powerful ability to entertain us each volume of this series will contain 8 to 12 games that I think you need to absolutely play at some point in your life be it for their Visual and audio presentations their gameplay and content or all of the above I hope you guys enjoy arcade Treasures volume 1. [Music] in 1988 Data East would develop and publish RoboCop an arcade beat em up in Run and Gun hybrid that was based on the immensely popular movie of the same name it contains both elements of melee attacks and Gunplay depending on what point in the stage you are at as well as power-ups you can get to add things like a spreadshot to your weapons it was a Brash loud game in the arcade with lots of voice music and sound effects from the movie and you typically heard it before you saw the actual arcade cabinet RoboCop had a pretty profound effect on kids of the 1980s it was pure sci-fi but was set in a much more realistic and gritty world than the genre typically solved its hyper violence was a hell of a draw too leaving nothing to the imagination when it came to death scenes its appeal transcended its medium making the arcade game hear almost mandatory material for fans but it was more than that too because RoboCop was a damn good looking and sounding game for its day the aforementioned Sound and Music were excellent and drove the presentation damn near single-handedly that didn't mean the visuals weren't special though because they captured the look and feel of the movie in every way RoboCop himself was animated perfectly right down to getting his gun out and each stage looked just like something you'd see in the movie The gameplay was damn hard too it was a famous quarter muncher among my friends easily capable of robbing you in mere seconds of your precious lives you kept coming back for more however the appeal of seeing the next stage in boss so powerful you just had to sacrifice another coin to keep the experience going it was brought home in many forms to the computers and consoles of the era but none of them were arcade perfect making the original here still very much worth playing also in 1988 Namco released their horror themed beat-em-up Splatterhouse I can't tell you how shocked I was seeing this for the very first time most arcade games at this point had been squeaky clean forms of entertainment that barely ever treaded near the realm of Blood and Guts this was four years prior to games like Mortal Kombat and yet you could cut down your foes with weapons like a meat cleaver and splatter their broken corpses against the wall most of these elements are taken directly from popular scary movies of the 1980s everything from the look of the main character to the many enemies and bosses gameplay was little more than scrolling left to right on linear paths to get to an end of state's fight but there was a great feel to the world here and there were elements of Discovery with branching paths you could stumble onto not every boss battle was your typical giant enemy either one fight actually has you fighting a room inhabited by a poltergeist throwing chairs pictures and knives at you little touches like that added to the appeal of an already powerful theme it also happened to be a heck of a good looking and sounding game aside from the visually arresting violence it was really colorful and the setting was a varied mix of scenes with great details and a good mix of enemies it was also that rare arcade game where the challenge was much more than just feeding the machine another coin when you died here you had to go back to a certain point in the level and overcome the challenge this added a great replay value to it particularly later in the game a number of really good home ports of this would follow but it all started right here with this Unforgettable arcade classic [Music] foreign Namco was also the company behind 1994's nebulous Ray a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up it features extensive use of pre-rendered Sprites and backgrounds some of which have incredible animation it's a rare exception to my general dislike for this type of visual presentation mainly because the color and depth were excellent and really added to the appeal the way the screen sways left and right on some stages makes it almost look like it employs polygon elements but the nb1 arcade board on which it runs was mainly a 2d piece of Hardware running other Namco games like the classic light gun shooter Point Blank she's a good looking game for sure but it also has an incredible soundtrack to round out its impressive showing you can of course play it two players as well and there is a good variety of stages to fight on you'll go through genre Staples like an asteroid field various Planet types and of course Space Battles with giant ships each stage ends in a boss fight light and it does get quite challenging as the levels progress despite namco's close ties with Sony they never brought nebulous Ray out to the PlayStation not even as a Japanese exclusive Maine remains one of the few ways to play it and it's a great look at where 2D Graphics were headed right before the mainstream explosion of polygon games [Music] foreign [Music] was no stranger to the arcade Run and Gun and when they dropped aliens in 1990 my friends and I ran across it at the Terrace triple movie theater in Charlottesville Virginia we had been there to see Predator 2 but it was this game that commanded our attention it greatly benefits from the same appeal as RoboCop basically being attached to an immensely popular movie that was considered one of the best films of the 1980s thanks to the improved technology behind this later release Konami gave us a game that simply wasn't possible at the original 1986 release of the movie lots of great color animation and cool scaling effects are all over this one and it's surprisingly close to the flow of the source material as well what makes this stand out so much aside from its presentation is we really hadn't gotten much in the way of accurate Alien video games before this sure we had 8-bit console and computer games throughout the 80s but they never really captured the feel of the movies at all don't think Konami didn't take some Liberties here however there are winged aliens and even zombie humans among your enemies and some of the boss encounters were nowhere to be found in any of the films you still had to love what was here though to keep things interesting Konami made sure it had two-player Co-op and it had a bunch of weapon upgrades like flamethrowers and missile launchers to Aid you in battle it even has the exosuit construction loader to help you in the bigger fights movie licenses are tricky and Konami never brought this home for anything it's a pure arcade experience that was simply superb in every single way foreign [Music] games on the turbo Graphics so when I ran across the arcade version years later you can imagine my surprise because I never knew this existed while it looks similar in many ways to the PC engine and turbo Graphics games it plays very differently right from the start you can choose a bunch of different levels to begin the game these stages tend to be short and loaded with enemies Bonk still has the ability to attack with his head but now he can also collect smiley faces to add to his attack range and absorb enemy projectiles you have a life bar of three hearts similar to the console versions and can grab a sports ball such as a basketball or soccer ball to gain additional bonus points the end of each stage is marked with a goal that you must try and cross at its highest point once you play enough stages you then get to pick which ball she wanna face often a larger creature that has a pattern that must be followed to be defeated the arcade game doesn't particularly blow away the Turbo Games visually but it does have numerous improvements like two-player Co-op and much better animation sadly due to this later release the turbo never got a chance to get a version of it nor would anything else I prefer the console games overall but this is a nice distraction from the way those games played this one will likely never see a reissue but Maine plays it just fine [Laughter] in 1991 irob released blade Master a hack and slash beat em up similar in style to sega's Golden ax games it ran on the same M92 arcade Hardware that powered other irem Classics like gun force and in the hunt and had two-player co-ops should you want to partake I was always partial to this setting and type of game during that time I enjoyed the simple pleasure of taking on an army single-handedly and loved the fantasy setting and otherworldly creatures the gameplay is simple and fun consisting mainly of basic attacks jumps and special moves against various enemy types and boss creatures bases are scattered all over the world that contain bonus items and periodically even some health you can score this really could have been a killer game had it included a magic system or perhaps a few more special moves you can attack upwards there is a counter system and you can throw Fireballs along the ground but outside of the counters these other moves rarely help much and there are instances where mobs of enemies and bosses are just cheap as hell in their attacks on you it's not going to replace the better games in the genre but it's a good one to embrace for a few plays particularly with a friend [Music] [Applause] in 1992 Data East released one of the craziest horizontally scrolling shoot em ups I've ever played Boogie Wings this one is set a hundred years ago and you need to use your biplane to stop a group from using high-end technology to destroy the world damn near everything about this game sets it apart first is the gameplay of the plane itself you have a hook and toe that can grab bombs Vehicles crates and even enemy soldiers which can then be dropped or thrown as needed once your plane is shot down you aren't out of the fight just yet and then run along the ground and can continue to attack run and Gun style if you come upon another vehicle or animal it can be commandeered as your new weapon oh death and you can run with it until you take damage and that's how this crazy adventure flows every single time you play it lots of things to grab lots of things to drive and lots of things to blow up it's easily one of the most unique games in the genre and the kind of game you think would command some sort of reissue under a retro label for modern systems no such luck and this has only ever seen a single official release since the arcade and that's on the super retrocade from retro bit [Music] in 1991 video system released karate Blazers a four-player beat em up similar to Double Dragon most of what's here is pretty standard for these types of games the story is as straightforward as it comes as well martial arts master is killed his ancient techniques are stolen and his daughter is kidnapped you have basic punches and kicks jump kicks and a special maneuver that can clear out lots of enemies but aside from the excellent animation there isn't much here to set this apart from other games in the genre what it does it does do fairly well however the gameplay is lightning fast and there are loads of enemies to deal with you can kick enemies while they are down and there are grab attacks as well it's mostly for fans of the genre that still appreciate the simple joy of hero Revenge [Music] come on [Music] [Music] in 1988 I ran across an arcade game called Ninja Gaiden from Tecmo it was a simple beat em up of gameplay that was kinda slow and plotting the excellent Cinemas and cool attacks caught my attention though so I stuck with it and played it whenever I saw it of course right on top of this release came the NES game of the same name the immense popularity of that game drove me to want to play the arcade version even more though they were quite different in just about every single way the arcade game here is two-player Co-op and is mainly centered on melee attacks and throws you can get power ups like swords but these are much more rare than the standard gameplay seen in the home versions you can jump on and grab various things in the arcade game to Aid you in combat and most stages end in a large enemy encounter the stage layout is also quite different from the NES home release as is most the story and that's what makes this game so interesting for me and why I recommend playing it this came out at a time when our arcade versions often were different games sometimes these differences were minor and mostly because of the power differences in technology sometimes though a company would just decide to change a bunch of things about the property this led to some terrible consequences with some IPS but every so often it worked out for the best I advise giving this one a run to see which one you think is the better game foreign [Music] foreign [Music] with the creation of Mame in the late 1990s came with it a new discovery of lost arcade games never before had there been such access to the wonderful world of coin-operated video games and it was here that I discovered the Japanese exclusive Slap Shot released by Tito in 1994 it takes the fundamentals of air hockey and makes it into a video game experience akin to something like Windjammers it's essentially a pong knockoff where you must defend your goal from another player trying to score on you a power meter gives you access to power shots or attacks that make it much more difficult to keep the puck out of your goal it employs mechanics from games like breakout where you have to break blocks that defend the goal of your opponent this my friends is the kind of game that Maine was created to save if you would have known this game ever existed without its preservation this game is fun alone but it's an absolute riot with friends it looks very much like it would have been created for the Neo Geo right down to the visuals and sound the AI is challenging and the later opponents can be quite difficult it's set up kind of like a fighting game you fly around the world challenging various countries in one-on-one battle with each stage themed after that Nation if you enjoyed the previously mentioned Windjammers I guarantee you will love this as well fire up that main rig and give it a shot it deserves all the attention you can give it ready go [Music] [Music] in our first volume of arcade Treasures we looked at some coin op games that I really thought you'd enjoy and since most of you seem to have interest in that let's take a look at even more arcade games that I think are worth playing today these games range from run and gun shooters beat em ups and some really good vehicle-based shooter mops with great graphics and sound all of these games are available on main for you to try out and should you run across an actual cabinet in the wild do yourself a favor and drop a few credits into it I hope you guys enjoy arcade Treasures volume 2. [Music] Beirut or Bay route if you prefer is a 1989 Run and Gun developed jointly between Sega and Sun solved with contra out fresh in the arcade and home this was their attempt to capitalize on the Newfound love of the genre and for the most part they succeed there are multiple weapons to choose from power-ups for those weapons and the stages and enemies have some pretty good variety there are vehicle-based stages enemies that can hide and take cover and the challenge is real there are places where you need to practice numerous times before you pass it without eating a ton of deaths but that's okay because this game has the replay value and fun factor to Warrant it I would have loved to have seen this on the Genesis in 1989 and with the simple presentation that should have been more than possible a two-player running gun at the time would have been great great to have it was done on the system 16 arcade board and is well worth playing even today [Music] in 2000 a small Japanese software developer called visco Corporation released a vertical Shoot Em Up called vasara it mixes old and new technology in historical settings similar to many other Japanese shooter mobs you get the pretty standard choice of a few different characters here and each one has a Charged melee attack that does additional damage and can save you from enemy bullets the audio visual presentation here is Top Notch thanks to the Fantastic background detail great looking enemies and music that fits every scenario perhaps one of the best parts about these two games are that the story Cinemas are completely subtitled in English text meaning you can actually follow it even though it was released only in Japanese arcades it kind of reminds me a lot of the stuff that would appear on the Dreamcast and PS2 around that time though no physical Home Port was ever released the good news about these two games is that they are now available digitally on Modern platforms under the vasara collection so if these games strike your interest be sure to show some love to the license holders and support such retro releases [Music] okay [Music] some of you guys may remember twin Eagle a vertically scrolling Shoot Em Up from seta Corporation well that game actually saw a sequel not many people know about called twin Eagle 2 the rescue mission it's done in a similar mold as the original but now with much more detailed graphics and a ton more interaction in the background drop your secondary attack bombs and you can level entire city blocks here enemies on the ground need tending to as well and the entire thing just looks so impressive each stage starts with you choosing your path a b or c pads take you through each area how you want and a second player can buy in at any time much of what you see is pre-rendered in nature but nothing looks out of place and the animation really helps convey a great sense of scale there is also a fair amount of variety in the things you can blow up and as expected there is plenty a challenge here while the first game Saw an NES Port the sequel here has not seen a home version to my knowledge here in 1992 TOA plan released a sequel to the much beloved truxton it's a direct Sequel and follows the original game's story and events this one takes the approach that if it ain't broke don't fix it and much of what you loved about the first is back there are a handful of attacks that can be picked up satellites to give you extra Firepower speed bonuses and of course nukes to help you clear the screen out when you need it the visuals are quite similar overall as well particularly both the design and color usage I also really appreciated some of the music here it's funky and catchy all at once and somehow fits the Sci-Fi theme of the game perfectly you also get that famous Challenge and the death is rewarded with you being pulled back and having to redo an area you already cleared while the original truxton saw a few home ports truxton two here saw no such love to my knowledge it's only released physically on the FM towns thank God for Maine in 1991 desert assault was released by Data East this top-down run and gun shooter features up to four players simultaneous Co-op action and has a ton of weapons and vehicles for you to blow up till your heart's content in 2020 this is for all intents and purposes Team America the 2D video game without all the vulgarity everything from the characters bad guys music setting it just all resembles the classic movie to a T I kept expecting the chorus [Music] to come blasting out my speakers every time I played it it was that overwhelmingly familiar 1980s feeling that movies and games like Rambo and mercs gave you just now bigger louder and with a lot more on screen as a child of the 80s I found that undeniably appealing if nothing more than the Nostalgia trip grab some buddies and blow up it's what games like this were all about foreign [Music] [Music] 1989 the horizontal Shoot Em Up Saint dragon from Jellico was released in the arcade it was developed by nmk the same company they did Zed blade on the Neo Geo this is a slower more methodical shooter that prizes technique and patience over speed and reflexes it's visually nothing special and while the music is okay it's not going to blow you away either what is nice is the rather unique gameplay your cybernetic Dragon happens to have a tail that follows him around as he moves this can be used to block enemy attacks and to damage enemy ships and that's the draw to this one entirely the cool gameplay hook allows you to play this quite a bit different from most Shooters of the era I really appreciated that in a world where these kinds of games are a dime a dozen and often forgotten because they bring nothing new or different to the table it saw numerous ports to microcomputers of the day and there is a PC engine port on of it as well in 1996 Mitchell Corporation released Osman a side-scrolling action platformer that bears more than a passing resemblance to Capcom Strider and you know what I knew absolutely nothing about it I never saw this in the arcade one single time and it wasn't until years later that a YouTube video clued me into its existence the reason why it reminds you so much of Strider is because it was worked on by a bunch of former Capcom employees who wanted to do an unofficial sequel they changed around the setting and characters a bit and here we are and man does this game play great it retains many of the elements of Strider melee attacks climbing all over stuff being spun around stages and large boss fights the main character also has a power attack to help you out against the tougher enemies and boss fights the visual appeal is immediate and undeniable it's colorful well detailed and you just have to love those backdrops this is quite a bit more difficult than Strider when you first pick it up because you were always close to the enemies and they are appearing right on top of you it's easy to take damage once you get the feel though this one is a winner all the way around Maine Remains the only way to play it to my knowledge [Music] [Music] hahaha [Music] Sega wasn't the only company making super scalers in the arcade and we received Tito's night striker in 1989. this is another arcade game I knew nothing about until a home version showed up that being the 1993 Japanese Mega CD Port there were then ports to the Saturn and Playstation a few years later but being able to go back via maim and see this in its original form is what video game preservation is all about the arcade was done on the title Z system the same Hardware that did the chase HQ games this pretty much takes multiple elements from sega's games and combines it into one 3D shoot em up your armored hover car can stay on the road or fly high into the air but there were always enemies and obstacles to contend with the control and shooting aspects are almost a carbon copy of space area right down to the feel of it this is not a bad thing and combined with the excellent audio and visual elements make this a must play for fan of sega's work stage design gives you various environments to fight in and it has a progression system that allows you to choose your next stage if you are looking to play it at home the Saturn Edition called night Striker s is a great port and has additional content as well [Music] [Music] in 1990 taito also released the ninja kids a point-blank rip-off of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles right down to the gameplay of music no joke I'm actually somewhat shocked they weren't sued for this aside from that obvious imitation this is actually a fun multiplayer arcade experience much like the turtles you can play at four players at once and each color-coded ninja has his own weapons and Powers a doomsday cultist calling forth the dark lord Satan himself and only you and your ninja buddies can stop it gameplay is of the hack and slash variety and you do have screen clearing ninja powers to help you out this comes in the form of golden ax style magic that is often Elemental stages range from city streets r rooftops Office Buildings Construction sites and of course they all end in a boss fight it isn't top tier stuff necessarily but it can be fun to mess around with particularly if you enjoy beat-em-ups like this it's light-hearted doesn't take itself seriously and is a game you can play with your kids [Music] [Music] 1993's knuckle bash is a beat-em-up from TOA plan of all companies known mainly for their shoot em ups this was a rare Excursion away from that genre and was one of the last few games they produced before folding in 1994. what do you do when a corrupt group of known as The Mad Bull group shows up and starts messing around with your profession that's right wrestling fans you start beating ass all over the city this puts you in mind of stuff like final fight big characters and lots of punching kicking and grappling the visuals are very early 90s and look like something that should have been on the Neo Geo the sound is a bit disappointing overall particularly since this came out after Streets of Rage beat em ups need great tunes and the stuff here is just okay luckily the gameplay is solid enough to hold it all together you have your normal assortment of Combos and jump attacks and you get some wrestling moves to spice things up you also get some special moves that do additional damage enemies can grab you too so you risk damage whenever you go in for a grapple the animation is good as well and there is enough stage variety to satisfy a couple of dedicated play sessions this is not at the level of the greats of the genre but it doesn't have to be what it does it does with enough fun to make it well worth playing [Music] foreign [Music] arcade games as a kid was one of my favorite pastimes cab station indoor mall laundromat convenience store Pizza Hut you name it and I was always on the lookout for old and new games alike I was so enthralled with the sights and sounds of arcade cabinets I often found myself thumbing my nose up at home translations because they quite frankly weren't the same games they looked kind of similar they played kinda similar but it was kind of like a pinto sitting next to a Camaro both had doors windows and tires but driving them was night and day the arcade experience was the Pinnacle of the hobby of gaming crushing consoles and computers for years and straddled the bleeding edge of Digital entertainment just to be clear I was an arcade kid and I'm back with more games that you absolutely need to play from the days of cigarette-filled rooms change machines neon lights and getting your ass kicked in seconds I hope you guys enjoy arcade Treasures volume 3. [Music] in 1987 Data East released carnav in the arcade a brutally difficult Run and Gun platformer you take control of the titled character in his quest for Treasure this is without question one of the hardest arcade games I would play in my younger years it's a one hit and you're dead type of game and to counter the extremely short stages enemies come at you fast and aggressive car knob was a great looking game for its time there's an impressive variety of enemies and they move and animate well it also happens to have a really catchy tune that plays along to the action playing it here after years away was a sobering reminder of how hard a game could be it chewed me up and shut me out right from the first stage and couldn't have been a finer example of nostalgia from all those years ago this one is short difficult and a pure adrenaline ride of survival [Music] ever wanted to play Panzer Dragoon in 2D while Iron's 1989 arcade release dragon breed may be for you you are perched upon the back of a dragon that is impervious to damage in this horizontally scrolling Shoot Em Up great graphics and sound are your highlights in this unique game but I enjoyed the gameplay as well the dragon's body can be used as a shield to protect the rider creating many instances that set it apart from other Shooters of the time you also get powers like dragonflame tail guns and increased damage for your main shot the enemy AI is of the chase you down until you die variety so this is a really challenging game this saw a number of ports to various micro PCS but was surprisingly absent from consoles like the Mega Drive and PC engine it's a different kind of shooter that still holds up well today and presentation gameplay and challenge Ira made some great games back then and this one one stands out as one of its best [Music] in 1990 Tito released Space Gun a first-person rail shooter that features extensive use of sprite scaling you have responded to a deep space distress signal and discovered a spacecraft overrun by aliens and its crew taken hostage you must blast your way through the enemy threat and rescue as many humans as possible the gameplay here is familiar to anyone who loves light gun shooters aside from your normal rapid fire attacks you can collect more powerful weapons like flamethrowers and freeze bombs to clear out lots of enemies at once there is also the ability to use a retreat button which is actually a pedal in the arcade so you can have more time to deal with everything in front of you larger enemies need to be dealt with strategically often needing body parts blown away before you can actually permanently put it down visually it's a stunner for a 1990 game smooth Sprite scaling with both the enemies and environment convey a great sense of 3D space and there is no shortage of things to kill it came home from the Master System in 1992 but was severely paired back [Music] foreign 1990 taito also released thunderfox a mixed genre action game that was part beat em up part Run and Gun and part horizontal Shoot Em Up you're part of the dynamic duo of thunderfox an ass kicking anti-terrorist group out to rid the world of scum and villainry armed with your trusty nifo Doom you go to work to lay waste to hordes of bad guys picking up other weapons like flamethrowers grenades handguns and Bazookas along the way you won't only be fighting on foot either and will also encounter vehicle-based shooter stages to change up the action a bit thunderfox is a great looking game there is tons of Parallax scrolling environment set pieces and every scene is loaded with great color and detail this was the kind of game you went to the arcade for you just didn't see this level of detail animation and crazy stuff going on in the backgrounds on home systems very often better still the music was epic as well and essential part of any action-based arcade game this came home in a few different forms the Sega Genesis saw poured in 1991 and it was available on the title Legends release for the Xbox and PS2 [Music] technos Japan is famous for releasing Double Dragon in 1987 but they were back again in 1990 with the combat tribes a co-op based beat-em-up that continues the great tradition of gang-related Street Fighting this is for all intents and purposes the maturation of years of beat-em-up mechanics you can punch and kick as always but can now pick enemies up off the ground grab two enemies at once and even Stomp Them while they're down there are quite a few more moves here than a typical brawler of the era and you can play with up to three players at once visually it destroys most games of the time everything is ultra colorful there are tons of enemies at once and the animation goes well beyond what you'd expect it even sounds excellent it was the kind of game that immediately caught your attention in the arcade not just because of the way it looked and sounded but also because of the variety in the gameplay made you want to be a part of it there was a Super Nintendo version that was quite decent but the arcade is the way to play it proper [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Namco was responsible for 1995's the out foxies the weirdly named Arena fighter that pitched you not just against other Assassins but also against stages that could do just as much damage this game is absolute Insanity from the moment it starts as you do battle the arena begins to unravel and fall apart within each arena there are hazards flooding biting crushing burning and inflicting all other manner of damage to its combatants each fighter has a basic attack that isn't really worth a damn but you can pick up weapons and items during battle to help that out there actually isn't much special about the gameplay here it's pretty basic in terms of setup with the real strength being the stage variety and set pieces the arcade board it was on was designed to scale and rotate Sprites heavily making this game a visual stunner if you appreciated the effect it's often cited as The Unofficial inspiration for the Smash Bros other games but at the time it wasn't a big success for Namco and was only released in Japanese arcades I didn't Discover it until years later myself and definitely recommended for its visual prowess and unique gameplay [Music] all right capcom's arcade beat em ups came Swift and often in the early to mid 90s it seemed every time I visited an arcade they had something new out while they were all good games it was 1993's The Punisher that I want to cover in this episode based on the Marvel Comics character and story you are Frank Castle out to avenge the death of your family Nick Fury joins you as a second player for Co-Op play as you both hunt down the notorious Kingpin using the basic formula of other Capcom beat-em-ups like final fight the goal here is to whoop ass and side-scrolling stages until you meet a boss to end the level gameplay is both classic fisticuffs and grapples as well as periodic gun play you also have the ability to grenade enemies with special attacks that help clear out large mobs this was done on the CPS Dash arcade system and is a wonderful looking game lots of large highly detailed characters flood the screen and there are no shortages of items and weapons to pick up and clean house with the animation is brilliant as well and even the sound is pretty good it was brought home only for the Sega Genesis and while that version was fun this is the one you want to play [Music] huh Capcom was also responsible for 1990s Carrier Air Wing a horizontal Shoot Em Up that allowed you to pick from three popular jet fighters to stop the expansion of an aggressive military state that just attacked Japan I always thought of this as a 2d equivalent to afterburner it has great takeoff and Landing sequences limited missiles and bombs as well as both air and ground targets to worry about it has the usual assortment of power-ups and you can buy additional Weaponry from an in-game shop with your earned monies you have a fuel gauge in this one that depletes over time and when you take damage once gone you lose a light the presentation is great for the most part though there is a fair amount of repetition in the enemies I do like the animations from the explosions and there are some Parallax effects on a few of the stages it very much reminds you of un Squadron another shooter from Capcom so if you enjoyed that this one here should appeal as well foreign [Music] hit a grand slam home run in 1993 with the awesome metamorphic Force this two to four player beat em up had you choosing an ancient warrior capable of morphing into powerful beasts to stop the Revival of an evil King hell-bent on ruling the world this is what I imagine Altered Beast 2 would have been had Sega made a sequel for the Genesis when in human form you can punch and kick and even hit your enemies on the ground but morphed into your Beast form you become an overpowered killing machine that is faster stronger and capable of much more Carnage this form only lasts until your gauge runs out so you need to do as much damage as possible while you have it metamorphic force is a great looking game huge Sprite smooth animations and lots of little touches like scaling items and exploding enemies punctuate the brilliant presentation I recommend you play the Japanese version of the arcade due to its much more fair life bar implementation and the final stage the US release sees you lose life without taking damage over time and the last stage is a Boss Rush that just eats quarters [Applause] foreign Cosmo game the video in 1992 a shooter very similar to the Galaga series of games you move screen to screen in a bid to rid the Earth of the Troublesome Cosmo game irritating little alien bastards that are trying to destroy you each scene has the enemy flying in patterns from the left and the right and those that aren't destroyed continuing to attack from the center if you've played Galaga 88 you know exactly what to expect here the nice thing about this is that it's two-player Co-op adding some nice variety to the style of shooter you do get power ups like double blasters and Vortex bombs and there are bonus stages as well the graphics aren't anything to brag about but they are colorful and the enemies are drawn well it has an excellent soundtrack that really helps too this one is more for the Golden Age arcade fan sort of an upgraded take on a style of game that has been around for three decades there is a super famicom Port of it if you want to play played at home but the arcade still looks and sounds better [Music] [Music] oh no we are back with another episode of arcade Treasures here you will find a collection of games that really made an impression on me sometimes it was the graphics and sound other times the GamePlayer difficulty many of the 10 games I have chosen here never came home faithfully and some of those likely never will due to license issues these games are from industry juggernauts like Capcom Namco Atari and taito some of the best and most prolific game makers of the 80s and 90s this is going to be a good one folks let's get started [Music] please in the summer of 1989 Capcom released the Run and Gun platformer for its cps1 arcade system based on the movie Willow like most of capcom's arcade games at the time it's loaded with great animations color and plays like a dream you have the ability to play as the titled character Willow as well as his Warrior companion both having very different attack types the visuals here are incredible for a game made in the late 80s particularly the amount of stuff on screen the size of the bosses and their sheer level of detail it was a beautiful game for sure and it even has some very decent music to go along with the action Capcom brought the property to the NES as well but it's an entirely different game this particular version has never seen a home release of any kind making maim a necessity for the vast majority of you to actually play it I highly recommend that you do it's one of the very best license games of the era foreign [Music] [Music] in the summer of 1987 Capcom released black tiger an action platformer with a ton of features you normally didn't see in this type of game it has a store you can access by rescuing people in each stage which grants you access to upgrades to your life defense attack power and more this elevates black tiger well above the typical fare you'd see back then and heavily contributes to its replayability today I always kind of saw this as capcom's version of rastan and similar to the title classic black tiger here is extremely challenging there are dangers everywhere and many will spawn right on top of you believe it or not the Japanese version of this is even harder if you'd like to play this at home you're in luck it was released on a bunch of the micro PCS of the era and has seen in inclusion in a few of capcom's arcade compilations for systems like the PS2 and Xbox 360. it's not for those that anger easily but safe states can make it a bit more tolerable shockingly this was all done on an 8-bit arcade system that was driven by the same type of CPU and sega's Master System foreign [Music] ever wondered what sega's gun Blake New York would have looked like as a super scaler well Namco actually answered that question well before you had it in early 1991 with steel Gunner this shooter puts you in pursuit of an evil terrorist group trying to destroy the world while Sega may have been well known for its incredible super scalers the Namco system 2 plus here was no slouch just look how fast and efficient this game moves around Sprite it was definitely a looker in its day and still holds up well now like most gun games the gameplay is straightforward mow down everything trying to kill you across its four stages it's very much in the same vein as traditional arcade Shooters like operation wolf just now with some grade A scaling effects thrown in for Good Men measure you have missiles to clear the screen every so often and there are of course boss fights here to rob you of your life precious she's a winner and there is even a sequel to it if you want more of the same [Music] [Music] in 1996 taito released another entry in the Bubble Bobble series called Bubble memories this third effort plays very similar to the other games but now employs much larger characters new power ups and a new Super Bubble attack for even more bonus points the story here is simple twin brothers have been turned into bubble dragons and must now climb the rainbow Tower to undo the spell it's got 80 levels to contend with so you'll need some serious skills to see the quest through I always enjoyed the simple nature of these games and the two-player Co-op it employs the visuals and sound are as chipper as ever and the increase in character size from time to time adds a cool new Dynamic to the mix this version came home in the PS2 game title memories 2 volume 1 arcade perfect and of course you also can access it thanks to Maine if you need a go-to game to play with your kids this is definitely high on the list of recommendations [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] Namco also did the 1989 air bike shooter burning Force this one I didn't discover actually had an arcade variant until years after I played the Sega Genesis Port so I was quite curious to see how it fared sure enough it's Namco gold taking a ton of cues from games like space area you get two forms of gameplay here one is on your air bike where you can move left to right and gain power-ups while you take down enemies coming at you similar to other super scaler type games you then get powered up and can move anywhere on the screen you want granting you far more mobility and killing power I always love the scrolling effect of the water and ground here it's done on the same Hardware as still Gunner Namco system 2 and it's a great looking game overall it kind of puts you in mind of what a Panzer Dragoon game may have looked like if it was a super scaler Namco also nailed the music here stuff that is worth listening to outside the game The Genesis version is decent but the arcade is where this one truly shines foreign [Music] Capcom released some damn fine beat-em-ups in the arcade but the CPS Dash powered Cadillacs and dinosaurs is perhaps one of their very best based on the comic and animated series the crazy story has you battling poachers and dinosaurs in the future you get to choose from four playable characters with their being Co-op for up to three of them simultaneously like many of capcom's beat em ups before it you can punch kick grab throw and dash attack until your heart's content you also get weapons like knives and guns to Aid you in your quest this one very much reminds me of the Punisher in many ways so if you enjoyed that you just gotta play this the animation in detail in the visuals is typical Capcom excellence and I even enjoyed the music here it's much more Dynamic than capcom's earlier work and there tends to be much more happening on screen at once the license of course prevents this from an easy Revival today but luckily name is here to the rescue every beat-em-up fan should have access to this great game foreign [Music] unlike many of you I was not a big fan of atari's arcade games what many people remember fondly I simply remember as being substandard next to the stuff Namco and Sega were doing at the same time I have to give props where it's due however because I absolutely loved Road Riot four-wheel drive it's done super scalar Style with a great 3D feel to it basically you are running races with your dune buggy that is capable of shooting other contestants to slow them down the visuals were great for a 1991 release and I really dubbed the off-road environments that often play differently depending on the surface it saw a few home ports to systems like the Super Nintendo and Atari Lanes but the arcade version is of course the vastly superior version it supports two players encourages crashing into things and is a hell of a good time had your paper red [Applause] in 1991 irem released the much underappreciated lethal Thunder this vertically scrolling Shoot Em Up very much put you in mind of a mix of games like truxton and Ryden your ship comes equipped with a power-up system based on how rapidly you press the fire button once charged up you keep it there with continued rapid fire and have the ability to launch your charged option as a power attack this resets your power level and must be charged again various weapon types appear as you play often with new stages giving you a completely different weapon I really enjoyed the gameplay system here and while it doesn't win any awards for its visuals it's still a solid looking game I also love the music as it has that hard Edge sound that many games on the Genesis are known for it doesn't have an accurate home version that I know of which is likely the reason so few people actually know it exists if you are a fellow lover of shoot em ups though this is an arcade treasure for sure foreign [Music] [Music] ever wanted to see a property like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but with cows well that's exactly what wild west Cowboys of mu Mesa was mutated cows are out to keep the peace in this 1992 game that plays almost exactly like Sunset Riders Konami is at the helm and as you'd expect they did a fantastic job with this run and Gun Shoot Em Up hybrided much of the game sees you in side-scrolling levels running and jumping while you blow away bad guys and you also get the odd stage that allows you to fly around and shoot like a traditional horizontal Shoot Em Up there is four players simultaneous Co-op here and of course it all looks exceptional the color and animation are up to the standards of other Konami games at the time and even perhaps a little bit better unfortunately it was attached to an animated series of the same name meaning that it ever being re-released is about as probable as Sega doing anything significant with their classic arcade IPS if you haven't played this weirdly wonderful game maim emulates it perfectly [Music] [Music] too crude or crude Buster was a 1991 Data East beat em up that felt a bit similar to Bad Dudes New York has been wrecked by a nuclear weapon and your job is to go in and pacify the group responsible the two-player co-op gameplay is heavily reliant on weapons that are often strewn all over the stage including the ability to pick up and use enemies as bludgeons and projectiles this here my friends is one of the most infuriating arcade games I've ever played enemies are merciless in their efforts to stop you and it employs many cheap tactics to rob you of your precious health I love this gameplay however it was really challenging sure but it gave you so many items and so many ways to attack you just had to appreciate it it didn't have the refinement of some of the better beat-em-ups at the time but what it lacked there it more than made up foreign variety it's been brought home a few times including a Sega Genesis port and in the compilation Data East Classics for the Nintendo Wii no awards are won here for sound or visuals but it is a challenging game with impressive variety [Music] oh one thing I always appreciated about arcade games was the fact that nothing stopped its technological rise every year was marked by Massive upgrades to sounds and visuals and we never got stuck with a certain platform for any length of time this also benefited gameplay with big jumps and Innovation happening almost at a Breakneck speed what started as simply knocking a ball back and forth quickly progressed to massive machines that used your body as part of the experience it's why I love the arcade in its Heyday it was a wild mix of technical Innovation amusement park rides and unique gameplay that home machines could never hope to keep Pace with and in Volume 5 of arcade Treasures we are gonna look at even more games that you just gotta play we have a great mix of genres in this one so let's get started [Music] foreign [Music] 1996 Tecmo released an all-female fighting game and no I'm not talking about dead or alive Toki didn't show Angel Eyes was a 2d fighting game with characters that were both hand-drawn and pre-rendered it features a nasty combo system where each hit amplifies the damage making some combos almost complete life bar destroyers it also has homing attacks that send you dashing straight into your foe to begin these killer combos the mix of art styles can be jarring particularly since the hand-drawn stuff looks so much better since it's Tecmo you of course have massive breasts shaking with every other frame of Animation a trademark they would continue with their 3D polygon games I really like how aggression and multiple consecutive hits are rewarded and the action is fast and fluid if you like 2D fighting games this one has enough going for it to have a look especially since it has a kick-ass soundtrack as well I actually first heard about this through its Japanese PlayStation Port that came out the following year and didn't discover the arcade version until Maine many years later neither version was released officially outside of Japan [Music] [Music] oh yeah in 1994 Tito released the weird and wonderful Chase bombers a Mario Kart clone that mixes 2D Sprite scaling with cart combat to some pretty special results when you start out you get to choose your vehicle each with their own set of strengths and weaknesses once on the road you have to defend yourself at every turn because the aggressive AI is constantly littering the road with things for you to crash into or things that'll blow you up fortunately you get a chance to do some damage yourself and you too can sling weapons of Destruction anytime you want the visuals here have that incredible sense of movement that only a good sprite scaler was capable of it's bright colorful and runs smooth as butter the gameplay puts an emphasis on track position and combat over speed and timing and it's a hell of a good time because of it the original arcade cabinet was dual screen and supported two players by default though finding one of these in the wild is pretty rare these days luckily Maine is here to help preserve these types of games and it plays well enough to capture some of the magic of the arcade original [Applause] [Music] Sammy released zombie raid in 1995 a 2d light gun shooter that had you doing battle with grave robbers werewolves zombies and a bunch of other classically themed monsters it was essentially like so many other gun games at the time you go to investigate some strange happenings and all hell breaks loose you must rescue a few people and Chase down the zombie infection to a castle and find its source you get the usual upgrades associated with these games like machine guns shotguns and extra help and of course there are boss fights to contend with this game also has a hell of a final Act where you must Place hidden crystals you find during the previous stages improper order to proceed if you missed one or more you are greeted to a bad ending that sends our hero to his death the only way to see the actual final stage and ending is to collect the crystals place them properly and live to tell the tale I really like the pace of this one and the stages are long and buried the 2D images are well animated and still look great now the arcade cabinet had mounted shotguns you actually had to pump to reload adding to the awesome Factor immeasurably bring a friend along and you have a nearly perfect multiplayer experience Maine plays it though getting the mouse calibrated is a huge pain in the ass in 1991 Data East released caveman ninja also known as Joe and Mack in the arcade it features Co-op run and gun gameplay where two cavemen are trying to rescue their women from a rival tribe you get access to weapon upgrades like boomerangs Wheels electricity fire and even Shadow attacks boss battles are here and usually fill the screen with some horrific monster trying to kill you I really dig the visuals here there's loads of stuff on the screen the color and detail were amazing at the time and there are tons of comical animations all over the place it's genuinely challenging too even in two-player mode I've seen a number of Home ports and versions in the years since and it even has modern digital representation on systems like Nintendo switch if you're the kind of player that enjoys a challenge and great graphics this should be right up your alley the Japanese version has an opening scene where the women are being kidnapped which was removed from other versions of the game it also has a few sequels out there if you enjoyed this one [Music] foreign Kinton is a strange 1988 release for a number of reasons first it wasn't released on any 8-bit console or computer at the time despite being a title game and being a beat-em-up which were crazy popular at the time no NES version no Master System version not even a port to the Amiga or c64 that I know of and second Curry Kenton is actually a Japanese dish of water chestnuts and sweet potatoes making me wonder where the heck the name came from the gameplay puts you in mind of Kung Fu Master though here you get mid bosses some platforming and it plays quite a bit faster the visuals are clearly inspired by popular 80s Japanese anime and I still think it looks good for being so old the story has our hero infiltrating an underground base trying to rescue a father and daughter being held captive of course you have a bunch of and capes showing up at the end of every level trying to stop stop you and some of these guys are crazy hard this did get an eventual release in the title Legends collections that hit the various machines some years later Maine plays it fine too so give it a go if you like the old school look and feel of games like this [Music] [Music] foreign 1989 the TOA plan developed Demon's world was released it's a side-scrolling running gun that has two Ghost Hunters trying to survive until they discover what is Unleashed hell on Earth it isn't too dissimilar from other running guns of the time enemies flood the screen and you need to run and jump to avoid them you do get access to a bunch of different power ups such as lasers spreadshots and bombs and these items really do make or break the difficulty of this title get stuck in an area or at a boss with something you can't use well and I guarantee you a trip to the continue screen multiple times thankfully the two-player mode is awesome the visuals are nice and the stage variety is excellent it's one of those games that really stands the test of time if you gain from this era and the challenge definitely keeps you coming back the only home version this saw back then was under its Japanese name horror story and it went to the PC engine but it got a pile of changes that still make the arcade version the one to play I really wish this had been released on the Genesis back in 89 or 90. I think it would have been an excellent addition if they kept that Co-op multiplayer intact [Music] irob released the horizontally scrolling Shoot Em Up Fire Barrel in 1993 also known as air assault this is another one I wouldn't have discovered if it wasn't for Maine I have never seen or heard of a Home Port of this and it was only while browsing my main list that I ran across it many years after its release the gameplay very much put you in mind of writing Trad including the power-ups nuke attacks and even the enemies the visuals are gorgeous with touches like wavy water Parallax scrolling and lots of little animation effects for destroyed Vehicles the gameplay is pretty simple but tried and true shooting action you have access to traditional power-ups like spreadshots wave attacks and lasers and of course you can bomb the screen when you get in trouble the real star here though is the killer soundtrack no freaking joke man I love the music in this game when a Shoot Em Up has great music to play to it elevates it to another level and it makes all the difference here it takes a competent experience and turns it into an exceptional one it also has two-player Co-op and the challenge to make that even more special you won't find many ways to play this one other than Maine another game preserved that would have otherwise been lost to the ravages of time [Music] [Music] speaking of games I discovered thanks to Maine finest Hour falls into this category as well this was a 1989 Run and Gun by Namco that was only released in Japan you pilot a Mech and side-scrolling action that puts you in mind of a mix of Target Earth and psychic killer taramaru you have jump jets that allow you to fly and boost around for a limited time and you have the ability to run by pressing twice in either direction quickly there's no life bar here instead you have a temperature gauge that must be kept in check as you take damage if you overheat your met crashes and burns ending your turn if you stay away from damage for a while your gauge will slowly cool down I like the look and feel of this one particularly the gameplay that very much mirrors the previously mentioned Target Earth quite a bit to my knowledge there are no home ports of this and thanks to its japanese-only release it isn't easy to come by outside of emulation I'm a sucker for running guns robots and in Parallax scrolling so this one was a win-win for me all the way around for all you battle gorega fans out there I highly recommend you take a look at 1999's Battle back raid by 80. it's another vertically scrolling Shoot Em Up with score and difficulty systems built in based on how you play the more aggressive you are the more you shoot the more you get powered up and the better you perform the harder the CPU Fights Back luckily this game has multiple modes for you to play and hone your skills including a training mode that lets you have easy access to the first four stages a normal mode that lets you play most of the game and an advanced mode that challenges the hell out of you with two additional stages there is also a Boss Rush mode For You Shooter savants you get to choose from up to nine ships with various weapon attributes some of which do need to be unlocked it has an option system that allows you to set how your secondary attacks are used which often is different ship to ship I really like this one not just for towards visuals and gameplay but it's another one where the music really elevates it many of the tracks are excellent and worth listening to outside the game it's an all-around exceptional title that proved that even in 1999 these games had so much to offer fans of the genre [Music] iroom was one hell of an arcade game maker in 1989's Legend of hero tonema is up there as one of their best this action platformer features heavy Run and Gun elements and a vicious difficulty there's never a break here and enemies constantly flood the screen hell-bent on killing your little ass you have to collect keys to get past doors to get deeper in the stage but luckily there are power-ups along the way to assist you it's a great looking game for the time period of its release and it was brought home to the PC engine the following year both the Wii and Wii U Got digital Virtual Console releases as well it has two-player Co-op to ease the difficulty a bit but this is still one tough game overall it kind of reminds me of capcom's Willow arcade game and that's no bad thing foreign [Music] the episode with double axel a title game that was released in 1990 this featured monster trucks and is one of my favorite games from them being a big fan of giant trucks as a kid you can imagine my excitement of being able to Pilot one of these behemoths best part of this game was that you had four types of races to choose from you had a cross-country race that was pretty much just like your other standard racing titles at the time a mud bog race which was harder with more obstacles a freaking demolition derby which had you basically running over everything under the sun to gain score and an ice Road Race that was really difficult thanks to the terrain being so hard to navigate everything about this game was my 15 year old self's dream come true they use a Sprite scaling to convincing 3d effect the different modes adds tons of variety and it focused on the thrill of speed and destruction my two favorite things as a kid most of the cabinets I found in the wild were single player but there are two player sit-down models as well if you run across either one park your ass and give it a whirl I guarantee you that any fan of this type of game will absolutely love it I always thought this would have made an excellent Sega CD title but it never came home on any thing at the time Maine doesn't emulate it a hundred percent but it's good enough to have a solid play session [Music] one thing I try to do with these types of videos is stress the importance of projects like maim there are thousands of video arcade games out there from the 70s 80s and 90s and only a small percentage of them have been preserved with modern variants most have been utterly forgotten and if it weren't for emulation they'd be gone forever while I do not have much sympathy for software Pirates stealing games you can still easily buy today this is a case where ROMs and emulation are an absolute necessity some of these titles offer up simple but endearing gameplay that reminds me of a time when software didn't need voice acting massive budgets or polygons to have a good time all you needed was some responsive gameplay some catchy chiptunes and a desire to see the end with with a little hard work I'm confident that there is something here for everyone and hopefully you enjoy these episodes as much as I enjoy making them I'm sigalord X thank you guys for watching and I will catch you next time [Music]

Channel: Sega Lord X

Views: 221,841

Keywords: arcade, arcade games, hidden gems, segalordx, sega lord x, sega saturn, sega genesis, sega dreamcast, mega drive, megadrive, game gear, 32x, mega cd, genesis, saturn, master system, sega, sega cd, gameplay, review, movies, retro games, retro gaming, video games, ps4, xbox, wii, nintendo, gamecube, n64, ps1, ps2, ps3, psp, vita, switch, atari

Id: YF84--RgvYU

Length: 88min 16sec (5296 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 14 2022