Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits
Encyclopedia
Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits, released as Konami Arcade Collection in Japan
and Konami Arcade Classics in Europe
and Oceania
, is a collection of 15 classic arcade games by Konami
for the Nintendo DS
.
When Tutankham and Super Basketball were released in the U.S., they originally kept their original names. "Horror Maze" and "Basketball" are names exclusive to this collection. It is unknown why the games' names were changed. This compilation also marks the first U.S. appearance of the original TwinBee arcade game in any form.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Konami Arcade Classics in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, is a collection of 15 classic arcade games by Konami
Konami
is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...
for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
.
Lineup
The compilation features the following games:- Scramble
- TutankhamTutankhamTutankham is a 1982 arcade game developed by Konami and released by Stern in the US. This game is also known as Horror Maze on Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the Nintendo DS...
(renamed as Horror Maze in North America) - PooyanPooyanis a classic arcade game manufactured by Stern Electronics under license from Konami in 1982. In it, the player controls "Mama", a pig whose babies have been kidnapped by a group of wolves.- Gameplay :...
- Time PilotTime PilotTime Pilot is a multi-directional scrolling shooter and free-roaming aerial combat arcade game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto, released by Konami in 1982, and distributed in the United States by Centuri...
- Track and Field (originally called "Hyper Olympic" in Japan, however, the Japanese release of the compilation uses the Track and Field name for this game)
- Roc 'N RopeRoc 'N RopeRoc 'N Rope is a 1983 arcade game developed by Kosuka and published by Konami. The player, impersonating a flashlight- and harpoon gun- equipped archaeologist had to ascend a series of rocky platforms in a Lost World scenario to reach a Phoenix bird, the object of his quest, along the way he had to...
- Super Basketball (renamed as Basketball in North America)
- Circus CharlieCircus Charlieis an action/platform game originally released by Konami in which you control a clown named Charlie. The game was a hit arcade game in 1984, which also had a successful release on the MSX in 1984, the Nintendo Famicom in 1986 by Soft Pro and on the Commodore 64 in 1987...
- Road FighterRoad Fighteris a car-based arcade game developed by Konami and released in 1984. It also was the first car racing game from Konami. The goal is to reach the finish line within the stages without running out of time, hitting other cars or running out of fuel...
- TwinBeeTwinbeeis a video game series composed primarily of cartoon-themed vertical-scrolling shoot-'em-up games produced by Konami that were released primarily in Japan. The series originated as a coin-operated video game simply titled TwinBee in , which was followed by several home versions and sequels...
(released as RainbowBell in North America) - Yie Ar Kung-Fu
- Shao-Lin's RoadShao-Lin's RoadShao-Lin's Road is a 1985 arcade game released by Konami. This game is also known as Kicker. The game was ported to several early home computers. It has also been featured in classics compilations: Konami Arcade Classics in 1999, Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits in 2007, and most recently as a...
(originally released as Kicker in Europe) - Gradius (originally released as Nemesis in Europe)
- Rush'n AttackRush'n AttackRush'n Attack, originally released in Japan and Europe as , is an action/platform arcade game released by Konami in 1985. Rush'n Attack is remembered for its Cold War setting and its reliance on the player using a knife to dispatch enemies...
(released as Green Beret in Japan and Europe) - Contra (released as Gryzor in Europe)
When Tutankham and Super Basketball were released in the U.S., they originally kept their original names. "Horror Maze" and "Basketball" are names exclusive to this collection. It is unknown why the games' names were changed. This compilation also marks the first U.S. appearance of the original TwinBee arcade game in any form.
Other features
- The compilations also includes extensive historical information and options for each game. Additionally, if the system's language is set to Japanese, all the games will run in their Japanese versions, although even then, Tutankham, Hyper Olympic, Super Basketball, TwinBee, and Green Beret still use the Horror Maze, Track and Field, Basketball, RainbowBell, and Rush 'n Attack names respectively. Menus and text will also be changed to Japanese. In addition, while the differences between the Japanese and international versions of most of the games are minimal (with Contra displaying its Japanese atejiAtejiIn modern Japanese, primarily refers to kanji used phonetically to represent native or borrowed words, without regard to the meaning of the underlying characters. This is analogous to man'yōgana in pre-modern Japanese...
-based logo in the Japanese setting), Gradius is the most notable exception. When the DS is set to any language other than Japanese, the European version (still called Gradius in this compilation) is seen, which features a different title screen, higher difficulty, lacks the separate "START" screen, and with "Option" renamed "Multiple". - The "Morning Music" can be heard during the intro. The "Morning Music" is the boot-up music for Konami's Bubble SystemBubble SystemThe Bubble System is an arcade system board designed by Konami and used across many arcade games in the early eighties.The Bubble System was supposed to have a unique new form of data storage for arcade-style video games. It used bubble memory cartridges, a sort of non-mechanical magnetic storage...
, which was a hardware Konami used for their arcade games in 1985. Gradius and TwinBee are the two games in this collection that originally ran on the Bubble System.
- While the original arcade version of Track and Field featured Chariots of FireChariots of FireChariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
by VangelisVangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, in this version, the theme is retained, but has been altered into a non-copyright infringing rendition presumably due to licensing issues. Additionally some music from Rush'n Attack has also been altered.