Konami Antiques MSX Collection (Sat)

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 6:49 pm

Was thinking of hunting this one down...since it has a TON of shmups on it...Gradius, Gofer's Ambition, Salamander, Time Pilot, etc....but I was just wondering is this worth owning besides for nostalgic value? I'm not familiar with the differences between the arcade or MSX versions of these shmups....

Zach Keene · Post by **Zach Keene** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:26 pm

The graphics suck and the scrolling is jerky. If either is going to be a problem for you, bail out now.

But if you can get past that, there are some gems here, especially for Gradius fans. The version of the original Gradius here isn't arcade perfect, but has an extra level and several hidden bonus stages. The other four Gradius titles included are totally unique (well, except for Gradius 2 which got a remake on the equally obscure X68000.)

Here's some Japanese sites with some screens:

Gradius 2
Gofer no Yabou Episode 2
Salamander

Oh, and Knightmare > all.

I'm not really familiar with the arcade originals of Twinbee and Time Pilot to really compare; haven't played them much on this collection either.

Sky Jaguar is a pretty generic vertical shmup; oddly it reminds me of 1942 for some reason although the theme is completely different and there's not much gameplay similarity beyond the obvious.

Super Cobra in the arcade was Scramble with a helicopter, and that's pretty much what you get here though the level designs are different.

My main complaint with the collection is the odd omission of games like Gryzor (Contra), Metal Gear, and Vampire Killer. Hell, they should have thrown Quarth on there too. One can never go wrong with Quarth. An autofire option for the shmups would have also been nice.

(And off on a tangent, if for some strange reason Scramble is considered a Gradius title according to the Galaxies intro or the Breakdown DVD, why not Super Cobra as well?

)

8 1/2 · Post by **8 1/2** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:32 pm

I can't add much to what Zach already wrote, but I can say that I owned this collection at one point and wound up selling it. It was the scrolling that killed me. I could have handled the graphics as there a lot of NES shmups that I still play, but I just couldn't get used to the movement. Supposedly it's quite rare, but I got it for super-cheap on ebay. Those guys at videogameimports.com act like there's only a handful of them in existence but I think that's bs.

Get it only if you are a completist and want to see all the versions of some of your favorite games.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:38 pm

this is one i'm looking for as well. i want an MSX but that won't be for a while so this will pass the time. PS owners got burned though. the collection was released in two full-price installments on PS, and one collection on SAT. from the way the prices look, the ps versions seem rarer.

Zach Keene · Post by **Zach Keene** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:57 pm

eight&ahalf wrote:Supposedly it's quite rare, but I got it for super-cheap on ebay.

I don't think it's that rare at all. http://www.mcvans.com still claims to have the Saturn version new for $10. It's where I got mine a couple of years ago.

captain ahar wrote:PS owners got burned though. the collection was released in two full-price installments on PS, and one collection on SAT.

Worse; it was three volumes (and I believe the Gradius titles got split up among all three.)

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 11:43 pm

Here's a stupid fact for everyone. This is one of those games that costs more (2x as much about) in Japan than it does in the states. I"ve never seen it go over $19.99 on Ebay...even sealed. Used in Japan is 3500 yen and up.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:04 am

Zach Keene wrote: My main complaint with the collection is the odd omission of games like Gryzor (Contra), Metal Gear, and Vampire Killer. Hell, they should have thrown Quarth on there too. One can never go wrong with Quarth. An autofire option for the shmups would have also been nice.

Those were MSX2 games, not MSX1 games like the rest on the collection. Maybe they intended to release a seperate MSX2 collection later, or maybe it would have been too much effort to write an emulator that emulates the MSX2.

Zach Keene · Post by **Zach Keene** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:11 am

Blue Lander wrote:Those were MSX2 games, not MSX1 games like the rest on the collection.

And thus my ignorance of MSX hardware is demonstrated.

I'd noticed that all of the games on the collection were MSX1 but for some odd reason I'd thought the others I'd mentioned were too.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:13 am

anyone else used mcvans.com before? i want this game hard and that price is damn-hell-ass low!

Zach Keene · Post by **Zach Keene** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 12:15 am

I bought from them because a few folks had vouched for them on the old forum in a previous topic about the collection. I can't remember who though and obviously can't direct you to those posts anymore, so hopefully they'll chime in again.

I didn't have any problems for what that's worth.

nullstar · Post by **nullstar** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:09 am

Zach Keene wrote:Worse; it was three volumes (and I believe the Gradius titles got split up among all three.)

That's my recollection, too...which was why I bought the Saturn version vs. bother tracking down the three PSX releases. (Or maybe it was because they would have cost me three times as much for the same set of games.)

And I agree: Knightmare is rockin'.

My take: to the die-hard Gradius fan who didn't hear of the MSX before coming to shmups.com, this is a must-have collection. If the herky-jerky bothers you, though, it's not gonna be worth it unless you want it for Knightmare and find it real cheap (<$10).

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 1:14 am

i posted somewhere else on the forums, but this screenshot of Nemesis 3 (as it is called on Xenocide) was the deal-clencher

hopefully, in the next couple months i'll have a chance to get the real deal (MSX2 prob), because nothing beats playing a game on its actual format.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:42 am

I actually like some of the games on there. Pretty much all the shmups suck except for Knightmare, but I find myself playing the Arctic Adventure games more than others.

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:44 am

So Gofer no Yabou 2 = Nemesis 3?

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:46 am

^ i have no idea. i'm am quite confused about Gradius releases on MSX.

LoneSage · Post by **LoneSage** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:52 am

captain ahar wrote:^ i have no idea. i'm am quite confused about Gradius releases on MSX.

None of the Gradii on this MSX collection are really exact ports, just bits and pieces of the game.

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:55 am

tehkao wrote:So Gofer no Yabou 2 = Nemesis 3?

yes. Gofer no Yobou Episode II MSX is called Nemesis 3 in Europe.

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:42 am

captain ahar wrote:anyone else used mcvans.com before? i want this game hard and that price is damn-hell-ass low!

Yes, MCvans is a very reliable company. Bought from them 2 times (ordering by phone, calling from the Netherlands and they took their time and where friendly). Packages arrived fast and hassle free. I ordered my copies of the MSX collection their for $10 at the time, and if it's still there I recommend getting it for the price.

They are only MSX1 games and emulation isn't flawless, but it has 30 games and some very good ones too (Penguin Adventure - the sequel to Antarctic Adventure - actually being the best and worth the price alone imho).

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:59 am

A question: does the Saturn emulation in this game beat that of the best MSX emulators on the PC?

theevilfunkster · Post by **theevilfunkster** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 2:02 pm

Yes, MCvans is a very reliable company. Bought from them 2 times (ordering by phone, calling from the Netherlands and they took their time and where friendly). Packages arrived fast and hassle free. I ordered my copies of the MSX collection their for $10 at the time, and if it's still there I recommend getting it for the price.

sweet! i just ordered my copy.

how long did MCvans take to post to europe?

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 6:00 pm

Like Super Laydock said, the whole thing is worthy for Penguin Adventure alone, which is an awesome game.

There are some games with unperfect emulation, let me fire it up and check out...

llabnip · Post by **llabnip** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 6:08 pm

I love the Saturn MSX Collection to bits! 30 games - many of them very playable and fun. The scrolling doesn't bother me and I'm an an Atari guy so the graphics are downright lush as far as I'm concerned.

The shooter fan has a lot to be happy with here... Especially the Gradius/Nemesis fan. There is a Gradius here which is basically its own game built for the console - not a port of any existing game and it retains wonderful qualities all on its own. Plenty of vertical shooter action in Twinbee and Sky Jaguar (which I love - I got the homebrew Colecovision version last year). Knightmare is a blast. There are a few platformish games here that are also quite good. For the price, it's a ton of classic games - even if you only find a few that are to your liking, it's still a good deal.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 6:19 pm

Konami's Boxing - Flawless emulation
- That's the worst game in the pack IMO

Yie-Ar Kung-fu - Flawless
- This one is really nice.. it's like the NES version, not the Arcade one

Konami's Ping Pong - Flawless
- Great, great game. It has a few differences from the arcade version, but it's nearly identical

Road Fighter - Flawless
- Very inferior to the arcade ,but still enjoyable

Hyper Sports 2 - THere's a problem with this one. Yes, the emulation is flawless, but because of this, the wight lifting event is IMPOSSIBLE to get past. I mean, waggle a JOYSTICK is easy, but try to do it with a JOYPAD. You will burn your finger and still won't be able to do it. Very unplayable unless you have a stick.
- It has 3 events: Skeet SHooting, Archery and Weight lifiting, all identical to the arcade ones.

Sky Jaguar - Flawless
- Very old school shmup. Nice for a while, but no big deal.

Mopiranger - Flawless
- I never liked this game, but it has its fans. It's a sort of pacman where you can shoot and push stones...

Gradius - It has heavy speed issues. In the beggining, the game is running at a BLAZING speed. When the first enemies appear, the game gets a little slower... but still it's a lot faster than the MSX original. Then the speed gets a lot inconsistent, but it never gets slower than the MSX version. IMO this is not all that much annoying, it's even fun to play the game so fast.....
- Like it has been said before, that's a boged down port of the arcade one. The SCROLL is not smooth, but the game runs smoothly as hell, and once you get used to the scroll, the game plays superbly. Konami made such a feat to port this game in an MSX 1.

Antarctic Adventure - Flawless
- Fun for 5 minutes. With its sequel, Penguin Adventure, also on disk, this gets boring too quickly

Gofer no Yabou 2 - Flawless
- Shame it's not the MSX 2 version... yet this game is amazingly good too.

I'll post more later.

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 8:07 pm

LoneSage wrote:
captain ahar wrote:^ i have no idea. i'm am quite confused about Gradius releases on MSX.
None of the Gradii on this MSX collection are really exact ports, just bits and pieces of the game.

wait. i know they are not ports of the arcade games, but they are trimmed of what they were on MSX?

BrianC wrote:
tehkao wrote: So Gofer no Yabou 2 = Nemesis 3?
yes. Gofer no Yobou Episode II MSX is called Nemesis 3 in Europe.

my confusion has disappeared

Super Laydock · Post by **Super Laydock** » Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:36 pm

captain ahar wrote:
LoneSage wrote:
captain ahar wrote:^ i have no idea. i'm am quite confused about Gradius releases on MSX.
None of the Gradii on this MSX collection are really exact ports, just bits and pieces of the game.
wait. i know they are not ports of the arcade games, but they are trimmed of what they were on MSX?

No, of course they are the exact same full games!

@ theevilfunkster: if I am not mistaken it took just over a week (was some time ago though o I don't remember exactly...

)

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:02 pm

that's very nice. i am no longer unclear about the details. next week... it will be mine!

Post by **Shatterhand** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 7:26 pm

Like I said in the above post, Gradius 1 has some speed issues in this compilation.

I remember other games also had some speed issues, where they go too fast in some spots.

Which is better than the PSX one, which is slow all the time

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:15 pm

Shatterhand wrote:Like I said in the above post, Gradius 1 has some speed issues in this compilation.

I remember other games also had some speed issues, where they go too fast in some spots.

Which is better than the PSX one, which is slow all the time

The PSX one is also on multiple discs that cost all cost more than the Saturn version's one disc.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 3:33 pm

eight&ahalf wrote:Supposedly it's quite rare, but I got it for super-cheap on ebay. Those guys at videogameimports.com act like there's only a handful of them in existence but I think that's bs.

It is indeed BS. At a local game shop I saw 2 copies priced at $10 each. I purchased one of them just yesterday.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 12:34 am

I didn't realize McVan's did business online... I got mine at one of the physical store locations.

Is it possible to go back to the menu screen without having to restart the Saturn every time? My Game Shark's starting to go, and I have a lot of trouble running it in the first place sometimes.

shmups.system11.org

Konami Antiques MSX Collection (Sat)

Konami Antiques MSX Collection (Sat)

Re: Konami Antiques MSX Collection (Sat)