Irem Arcade Hits for PC - R-Type Leo, Air Duel etc.

[spadgy]

I just got sent the press release below. I'm stacked at work as I write, so no time for a thorough investigation right now. I'm sure this release won't mean much to MAME users, but I guess at least it's a sign there's people out there prepared to put out Irem stuff (in fact there was a petition drive on this very thread to try and instigate an Irem comp EDIT: Here it is).

And here's the compilation's official website.

PARIS, FRANCE – 09 DECEMBER, 2010 – DotEmu released today IREM Arcade Hits™, the first ever collection of 18 hit arcade games from the ‘80s and ‘90s. IREM Arcade Hits players can enjoy an explosive, fast-paced mix of adventures, fights, bosses to destroy, and mysteries to solve. Submachine guns, bombs, and hammers – combined with player’s speed and skill – make these 18 games a great collector pack for all coin-op lovers, and today’s PC gamers looking for new challenges.

The first IREM Arcade Hits trailer, released today, can be viewed at http://www.irem-arcade-hits.com.



18 fun titles in one!
IREM Arcade Hits at http://www.irem-arcade-hits.com offers hundreds of hours of exciting gameplay reviving the heroic challenges that set the action standards for hit games of today. Titles include: Air Duel, Battle Chopper, Blade Master, Cosmic Cop, Dragon Breed, Gunforce, Gunforce2, Hammerin’ Harry, Image Fight, In the Hunt, Kung-Fu Master, Legend of Hero Tonma, Mystic Riders, Ninja Spirit, R-Type Leo, Superior Soldiers, Undercover Cops, and Vigilante.

IREM Arcade Hits titles are the best of the massive arcade games library offered by IREM, the leading coin-op game developer and publisher in the day. The collection runs on Microsoft® XP®, Vista®, and 7®. Minimum configuration requirements are a 1.5 GHz processor, 512 Mb RAM, 1 GB hard drive space, and a Direct™ X 9 or higher compatible video card.

IREM Arcade Hits is great entertainment for gamers of all skill levels from ages 7 to adult.

Gamers can purchase IREM Arcade Hits starting today exclusively on http://www.dotemu.com or http://www.irem-arcade-hits.com for $14.99 (9,99€).

[Observer]

In 2011, war was beginning.

Anyway, while I agree on the MAME comment, I'm actually not much of a fan of that thing. So if they promise me the game will work nicely and without horrid input lag... For that price it's very, very nice. And if it warrants more commercial PC shooters/stuff, I'm even more willing to support this kind of attempts.

It says "Download"... Is there going to be a boxed/retail edition?

[Despatche]

But wait, there's more!

There was also an "irem Retro Game Music Collection" from the same publisher released some months ago. All shmups.

[Ghegs]

I went and purchased the pack because I'm a sucker for Irem. And at least now I can legally play these games, woo.

The emulation itself felt pretty good, maybe the sound was a bit off, but this is just based on a quick comparison play between this collection and MAME, so I'm hardly the expert here. The frontend is nice to look at, but it's functionality could be a bit better - the game selection screen is a cylinder which you can only scroll one game to left and right alphabetically and it always starts at Air Duel, so if you want some Image Fight action you need to scroll past half the titles every time you start the frontend. Luckily this can be circumvented easily by just starting the corresponding game's .EXE file directly.

Now, the bad stuff: There's no autofire options. There's no TATE. Options don't save and the games for some reason always default to Very Easy or Easy difficulty so you need set those every time you start the game (maybe there's a way to do those via parameters with the game's .EXE?). Control settings are saved, though. But maybe worst of all, the games start with five lives (when the proper arcade default is three) and you can't change this anywhere.

I'm going to contact the DotEmu guys and see if they would fix those. Also, it's really weird to have an Irem collection and not have the original R-Type on it.

[Ghegs]

Oh hey, I got a response from them already:

Hi,

Thank you for your purchase and your comments :)

Yes, we are planning a 1.1 update since we were expecting users might point out some improvements.
Probably early January once we have gathered enough feedback.

R-TYPE was not included for some legal reasons (the game was not available for licensing on PC Platform).
The situation might change in the future, but nothing sure.

Thank you again for your feedback and your support !

I'm liking the sound of this, let's hope it all works out. I'll link this thread to them, as well.

[Observer]

That's awesome.

Maybe I'll contact them to see if this is getting a boxed release. Still, I'm seriously considering getting this soon.

[Limbrooke]

Oh hey, I got a response from them already:

Hi,

Thank you for your purchase and your comments

Yes, we are planning a 1.1 update since we were expecting users might point out some improvements.
Probably early January once we have gathered enough feedback.

R-TYPE was not included for some legal reasons (the game was not available for licensing on PC Platform).
The situation might change in the future, but nothing sure.

Thank you again for your feedback and your support !

I'm liking the sound of this, let's hope it all works out. I'll link this thread to them, as well.

It's good you emailed them and promising they were quick to reply. I'm pretty interested in obtaining this set for the price alone; it's an outstanding deal for such a large quantity of previously unconverted IREM games. I suppose it doesn't help the cause but if they do read this thread there are notes I will reiterate that you hit on:

1. Auto-fire - at least a couple auto-fire rates (frequencies) to choose from. Not horribly important but it's good to have in games like R-Type Leo and Air Duel.

2. Configuration/Option saving/tweaks - as Ghegs mentioned it's a good idea to have option saving rather than having to set up each and every time. The point of making all configurable aspects for a given game available to modify is also important (the 5 lives issue) for those who wish to duplicate arcade settings or perhaps practice/play with different lives/bombs/etc.. So long as the difficulty levels are aligned with those found in the arcade and are also configurable there should be no issues.

3. Option for a streamlined - "Light" game selection screen. Perhaps something akin to the Taito Legends/Memories formula (not PC, but PS2/XBOX versions). Here's what I mean: http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/1257/0912101003.jpg
Just a brief and easy to navigate menu which like Taito Legends/Memories could have more detail on each game (flyers, game info, etc..) once you go to that game. Not critical but it's something worth seeing.

4. Not a huge deal but having mentioned PS2, any plans to release this on different formats? A PS2 version or even PSP if it possible accuracy-wise would be really nice at least, an IREM collection of this nature would've been welcome on a home console much in the same fashion as Taito Legends.

Assuming they can work out the issues on the first points, I would definitely like to buy this after a patch comes out.

That's awesome.

Maybe I'll contact them to see if this is getting a boxed release. Still, I'm seriously considering getting this soon.

Good idea although perhaps it is DL only is for cost saving measures. I too would like the option of buying a physical disc copy.

[Klatrymadon]

Wow, this should be excellent! Best Christmas ever! Well, assuming the stated system spec is accurate and it'll run on any old bollocks; my PC's a knackered store-bought Dell thing from a few years ago, and has seen nothing in the way of gaming-oriented upgrades.

[Hibachi]

Just emailed them regarding a Mac port.

Again, very quick response.

"Yes, a Mac port is under consideration, depending upon initial feedback of customers and reviews."

I'm happy to wait and hope for a bit

[Klatrymadon]

Can anyone confirm which regional versions they've used? I'm hoping they've gone with the Japanese one for a quite few of 'em, especially Undercover Cops.

[Ghegs]

At least Undercover Cops is the World version, unfortunately. Maybe a licensing issue or they just wanted the games to have english text all around so people won't get confused? Perhaps it's possible they'll add the Japan versions in the update.

[Limbrooke]

At least Undercover Cops is the World version, unfortunately. Maybe a licensing issue or they just wanted the games to have english text all around so people won't get confused? Perhaps it's possible they'll add the Japan versions in the update.

This too is a good point as far as additions to the options or configurations are concerned. Selection of region is important and welcome, especially for games like R-Type Leo.

[mirkvid]

Never played undercover cops. Is it any good?

[BIL]

I would buy a console disc release of this like a motherfucker.

[Klatrymadon]

Never played undercover cops. Is it any good?

It's fantastic, aye. I've always found it a lot harder than most other beat-'em-ups, but it's well worth perservering with. The excellent graphics and music help, of course.

Cheers, Ghegs! That's a bit of a bummer, but as they're planning to continue working on it and stuff, we can at least hope...

[Jeneki]

There's no TATE.

Ick. That's usually an automatic no-buy for me. But there's enough non-tate stuff on here that appeals to me, so I'll still consider it.

[HamidoOs]

Have they added any leaderboards for these games?

[Despatche]

Never played undercover cops. Is it any good?

Yes. You will want to play the original worldwide version first because the Japanese version is basically v2.00. This version was released worldwide as "Undercover Cops Alpha - Renewal Version" but good luck finding it. Game got so popular in Japan as to instigate a spin-off and doujin material.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

This looks like a damn good collection but uh...Superior Soldiers?

That game is a complete shithouse.

EDIT: Still I'll buy in a bit.

Alright bought it. The games run well enough and aside from being limited by lack of tate and version differences(Undercover Cops really needs the JP version) it's not a bad set at all.
Well some other things like being able to set the proper options are really important(for example iirc you start Cops with at least two lives...not one).

Whatever the case I can always go back to Irem on MAME and feel slightly less guilty about it.

[MathU]

This is incredible. It's pretty much the Irem collection I've always wanted. The only thing it seems to be missing is Fire Barrel, which is interesting considering its MAME status. I'm guessing these all run on some sort of dedicated MAME derivative then? Perhaps you'll even be able to run it all through MAME like the games in Taito Legends 2. I would very much like some info about this from whoever happens to get this.

On another note, I would love if when developers are going to make compilations for the PC they would go that extra little step, for once, and support some basic netcode. It is so much fun playing games like R-Type Leo and In The Hunt with people over MAME netplay. And since they're clearly anti-DRM I don't see any piracy concerns holding that back.

[Lance Boyle]

It is so much fun playing games like R-Type Leo and In The Hunt with people over MAME netplay.

SO MUCH LAG.

So what does this compilation offer that MAMEing the games doesn't?

EDIT: And why would you feel guilty since maybe five bucks out of this (who knows) is going to Irem?

[Ed Oscuro]

Look at what's not on there...Thunder Blaster and Fire Barrel. Wonder why...

I would buy a console disc release of this like a motherfucker.

I just...egh, why?

[Drum]

Very, very happy about this - but very disappointed in the lack of X-Multiply. Any reasons given for that? Regardless, I'll be buying it.

[BIL]

I just...egh, why?

To avoid buying a Mystic Riders / Gun Hohki PCB. Ninja Spirit and Mr. Heli would be nice too.

Of course I'd expect the games to run acceptably before paying (I would've picked up SNK Arcade Classics PS2 for Shock Troopers, Metal Slug and Last Resort, but apparently it's a shoddy release in more ways than one).

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Is there a website or somewhere I can check out all of the regional differences between various Irem games?

[Despatche]

Better question: is there a website or someplace where I can check out all of the regional and version differences between video games, period?

[Austin]

It woud be good to see this on Steam and other digital download services.

[Ghegs]

DotEmu is a digital download service. Only they don't put DRM into the games, so it's better than Steam in that regard.

[Drum]

It doesn't have DRM but my virus checker was picking up Trojans like crazy - probably just a false reading. It is also a pretty staggeringly lame digital download service.

Just loaded it up for the first time and played Dragon Breed.
Runs slower than on MAME :/
I was always just gonna play them on MAME anyway, but that's terrible.
Didn't play anything else yet.

[Vyxx]

Very, very happy about this - but very disappointed in the lack of X-Multiply. Any reasons given for that? Regardless, I'll be buying it.

Me too, my favorite Irem game.