Konami Arcade Collection [NDS]

[professor ganson]

From what I read, the Dual DS option basically lets you use another DS as a separate controller for 1p modes.

Interesting. Is this done wirelessly?

[SFKhoa]

Yep.

[BrianC]

From what I read, the Dual DS option basically lets you use another DS as a separate controller for 1p modes.

Interesting. Is this done wirelessly?

Wireless is the only way to go with DS. No link port. Wireless is definitely better than using a link cable, but the lack of link port means that the link features in GBA games can't be used on the DS.

[sethsez]

This is one of the best classic game compilations I've ever seen. You can really tell a lot of effort was put into making this appealing to the hardcore, and it pays off. Between the ability to manipulate dip switches with the touch screen, being able to adjust the rate of rapid fire and having plenty of options for screen layout and controller configuration, this is a perfect example of what a classic game compilation should be. The ONLY thing I would have liked to see is some Wi-fi functionality, either for online multiplayer or the ability to trade replays, but it's a minor nitpick for an otherwise absolutely phenomenal product.

The only other collection I can think of with this much love and care put into it is Activision Anthology for the GBA. Any compilation that includes random prototypes purely for historical purposes (complete with documentation explaining their history) and actually throws in some homebrew titles as well deserves respect.

[BrianC]

This is one of the best classic game compilations I've ever seen. You can really tell a lot of effort was put into making this appealing to the hardcore, and it pays off. Between the ability to manipulate dip switches with the touch screen, being able to adjust the rate of rapid fire and having plenty of options for screen layout and controller configuration, this is a perfect example of what a classic game compilation should be. The ONLY thing I would have liked to see is some Wi-fi functionality, either for online multiplayer or the ability to trade replays, but it's a minor nitpick for an otherwise absolutely phenomenal product.

The only other collection I can think of with this much love and care put into it is Activision Anthology for the GBA. Any compilation that includes random prototypes purely for historical purposes (complete with documentation explaining their history) and actually throws in some homebrew titles as well deserves respect.

I agree. This is one awesome collection. The emulation quality seems to be well done too. The voices for all the games with voices are intact. I have been playing console versions of the original Twinbee for so long, I forgot the arcade one had voice. I also like how the screen can be changed from upper to lower and how the screen can be changed from sharp to smooth (though the default, sharp looks best, IMO).

The name changes to some of the games are odd. It appears that the games were unaltered otherwise, but the renaming is a bit uneven. Gradius is actually the EU "Nemesis" version when played with the DS set to English. When the DS is set to Japanese, it plays the original Gradius. The documentation seems to have been done by someone who likes using the find and replace feature in word processors and seems to simply replace references of the original name with the changed name. Despite the manual referring to the 1p ship in RainbowBell/Twinbee as Twinbee, the in game documentation actually calls the 1p ship "RainbowBell".

All of the games have their original sounds intact, for the most part (the exception is Track and Field, where Chariots of Fire was changed to a similar, but not quite song due to copyright reasons). Despite the terrible name change to Horror Maze, Tutankham still has all of its Egyptian style music intact. Oddly enough, Super Basketball still has the "Super Basketball" voice, despite being renamed to just "Basketball".

My favorite games in the pack are Gradius, Contra, and RainbowBell/Twinbee, but I like pretty much all of them, including the two sports games, Track and Field and Super Basketball. I also like how the game has more obscure titles like Pooyan, Roc 'n Rope, and Tutankham.

I agree that Activision Anthology is well done, though I don't like how some of the games are slowed down (this especially hurts H.E.R.O., where the slowed down game play makes it too easy). The developers did a nice job making sure everything is playable, though. They even included alternate controls with the L and R buttons for some games like Decathlon.

[szycag]

I seem to enjoy this more each time I play it, like yeah I haven't messed with the dipswitches for this game yet... etc. Always something to find, some unused music track you haven't listened to yet.

I really love Kicker, i.e. Shaolin's Road (right?) Kicker, he kicks things!!! Also Twinbee I never really gave ample time until I played this. It's pretty good.

[BrianC]

I checked the documentation for Gradius and it says the same thing as in the screen shots from the JP version, except "Nemesis" was replaced with "Gradius (USA)". They missed one, though. The description for Scramble in the US Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits still says "Nemesis".

In the US version, Rush 'n Attack is the US Rush 'n Attack when the DS is set to English or Japanese, right down to "Rescue the Prisoners of War" instead of "Rescue the Captives". From what I could tell, both Rush 'n Attack and Green Beret seem to be exact same otherwise, but it's a bit disappointing how the collection doesn't have both versions like the JP version. At least it has both versions of Gradius, which is more important anyway since Nemesis has some major differences like putting power up enemies at the checkpoints and the ability to continue.

Shao Lin's Road is Shao Lin's Road in the English mode of the US version. As far as I could tell, Kicker is exactly the same except for the title, so it seems Shao Lin's Road is the same in the US one in either English or Japanese.

One odd quirk with Contra is that it keeps the English title screen when the DS is set to English and the game is set to Japanese with the region dip switch. It does the reverse when the DS is set to Japanese mode and Contra has the Japanese title screen. I heard this happens on both the US and JP versions of Konami Arcade DS.

As I thought, Twinbee/RainbowBell still keeps its two player mode, just like in the JP version. IGN made a huge mistake.