I swear all those names just sort of blend together when listed like that.
"You got your Lightning Riders and your Sunset Fighters and your Road Piloters..."
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KONAMI Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection |OT| ↑↑↓↓←→←→BA Can't Help You Now!
- Thread starter Mega Man Zero
- Start date
I swear all those names just sort of blend together when listed like that.
"You got your Lightning Riders and your Sunset Fighters and your Road Piloters..."
Can confirm, Thunder Cross was my go-to shmup during my Blackpool years and it was essentially the same as the JP version.
For people who bought the Japanese version on the eshop, are all the menus and extra features in English if your system settings is set to English? I might pick up the Japanese version if the US is so bad, but I wont if all the extra features and interviews are in Japanese only. On the eShop it says that that language is Japanese only. Plus theres the price hike as well compared to the US which is also putting me off getting the jap version.
The two versions of the game are separate entities. Changing your system region won't affect the games themselves, so the Japanese version is all in Japanese, and that goes for the digital booklet too. It should be easy enough to memorize the game options if you don't know any Japanese, but you'll miss out on the booklet. It still has some cool art and sketches to look at though.
I'm a pretty diehard 80s Konami fan so I'll probably end up getting the US version too at some point down the road, but for now I just got the JPN version.
oh my, I'm glad you brought this up. I wasn't aware this was even possible. Now I'm not buying any version of these Konami collections. I'm so disappointed in how this turned out.
Thanks, I think Ill go for the US version then as its much cheaper and has all the extras thatI can read.
What a complete fuck up by Konami though, I wonder if people were more vocal about this they would patch in a region option?
I kinda doubt it, honestly. With Konami these days you get what you get. It just sucks that there was very clear precedent for region options (and vertical options too for goodness sake) in the Arcade Archives line but that came to nothing with this collection.
Great list, but it needs Mystic Warriors(1993) on there, it's basically Sunset Riders with ninjas and a health bar. As for Crime Fighters, I rather have it's superior sequel Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2(1991).
The eshop release is fine(I'm playing it), except yeah you're stuck with the crappy NA versions of the games.
Not at all, the emulation is perfect. It's just they only use the NA roms which makes it hit or miss for some games like Thunder Cross and Nemesis due to difficulty balancing that the US screwed up.
Wait, the US version of Gradius is harder than Nemesis?
Yeah FWIW the emulation for me was great only one of the games had noticeable slowdown, twinbee I think?
I just can't with the NA versions though. Steam originally gave me the option to buy a "Japan Only" version even though I'm in the US, but I don't see the option anymore.
Wondering if I should try to refund to see if I can get the option again? It really doesn't seem like they're going to add region switching so maybe I should just go for it? Mulling it over.
I just can't with the NA versions though. Steam originally gave me the option to buy a "Japan Only" version even though I'm in the US, but I don't see the option anymore.
Wondering if I should try to refund to see if I can get the option again? It really doesn't seem like they're going to add region switching so maybe I should just go for it? Mulling it over.
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Did anyone who bought it on the eShop look at its page on the Japanese eShop to see if you have the option to buy that one too? I know the buy option is greyed out on other games I've bought, just like on the US eShop.
US Gradius IS nemesis. It seems deceptively easy due to how much powerup spam they give you but then the enemy projectiles spam like mad to counter. The Moai stage is living hell due to how there's barely any free space. it's not as fun.
I did, and yes, the SKUs are different. If you bought them both you'd get two icons.
Ah, ok, and wow that's crazy, no wonder people would want the Japanese version.
An earlier post mentioned reaching out to Konami which unfortunately would be a waste of time. What folks should do is politely tweet at Hamster. Back in 2017 after the Switch launch there were serious video and audio issues with the initial ACA Neo Geo titles, fans tweeted at Hamster and they were very friendly and quick to respond and patched the issues. Different situation though as this is Konami but you never know, based on that it seems worth a shot.
Anyways, looking on the Japan eShop the Japanese version of the collection is 3,240 yen which works out to about $29 if you want proper versions of the games but then you miss out on most of the eBook features, ugh.
Flip Grip is amazing for playing games in TATE. The Hori stand is great too if you want a sturdy option to play TATE games in table top mode with adjustable height/angles. And Hamster's other vertical ACA games like Terra Cresta and others all include TATE mode so no excuse not to have it on Twin Bee, again guessing this is something Konami didn't allow them to include.
Anyways, looking on the Japan eShop the Japanese version of the collection is 3,240 yen which works out to about $29 if you want proper versions of the games but then you miss out on most of the eBook features, ugh.
Flip Grip is amazing for playing games in TATE. The Hori stand is great too if you want a sturdy option to play TATE games in table top mode with adjustable height/angles. And Hamster's other vertical ACA games like Terra Cresta and others all include TATE mode so no excuse not to have it on Twin Bee, again guessing this is something Konami didn't allow them to include.
True but at least you get an idea of how tp handle some sections of the game.
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Close, but no cigar. That art was used for pretty much everything Castlevania.
These are the Japanese Akumajou Dracula covers for the cart and disk versions.
These are what I've found on the Internet for Japanese Haunted Castle flyers.
Holy hell I never saw them until now. Well, I've already spent 20€ on this collection, at the moment I don't really want to give Konami other 7€.
I know the Japanese collection is a separate version with the actual Japanese games, but are the US & EU collections identical? I mean, same SKU and such.
FYI that the US ver. which is in the English release was made harder than the JP ver.
Do you guys think there will be any way to mod or hack the game to put the JP versions?
I still want to have the pack in my Steam library, i would just rather play Thunder Cross in a version that isn't the Lil Baby one for example, hopefully someone figures out a way to do that.
Now i feel like listening to episodes to see if you guys mention it or other Mindware games!
I still want to have the pack in my Steam library, i would just rather play Thunder Cross in a version that isn't the Lil Baby one for example, hopefully someone figures out a way to do that.
Wait, Retronauts knows about Heiankyo Alien's remake!?
Now i feel like listening to episodes to see if you guys mention it or other Mindware games!
I find it odd there were so many differences with arcade games back then based on different regions. I mean if you got these kind of changes today in modern games can you imagine the uproar? How things have changed with social media, internet etc.
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Jeremy mentions Heiankyo Alien like every episode. 🤣 It even came up in the Metroidvania episodes. I believe he's secretly competing against Bob to see if he can mention it more than Bob mentions Dark Souls. I think there's some kind of Dark Souls and Heiankyo Alien drinking game, too.
Really, i admit i haven't heard it in a while(alongside some other podcasts which i am becoming way behind on) but didn't recall that...well, i have been downloading every episode of Retronauts still, so maybe i should get back on that and listen to the episodes, and pay attention to hear the Heiankyo Alien references, still, no wonder he mentions it, i remember hearing some of the arcade episodes and they do seem to like arcade games, and Heiankyo Alien is a damn fine game on Steam.
Kinda makes me want to see a thread all about arcade-like games on Steam or score chasing ones at least, there are a couple of ones out there and not all of them are well known, though quite a few of them seem to be getting on Switch and other consoles and becoming more popular there, like Switch N Shoot or Super Weekend Mode.
It doesn't help that at the time, western media tended to treat arcade games as "mindless quarter-munchers". There were zero articles written about "one-credit clears", "No-Misses", and so on. Thus when Konami released games like X-Men & The Simpsons in the arcades, with healing items and/or point systems removed, it became something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It wasn't until 1994 or so that I was introduced to the idea of playing through an arcade game using only one credit. There was this guy at my local arcade who would always play D&D: Tower of Doom. He never continued, even if he got all the way to the final boss. At the time I thought that was crazy, because I was still credit-feeding through everything. Eventually, after playing titles like Aero Fighters 2, Twin Cobra, and Metal Slug 2 in that same arcade, I realized that sticking to just one credit (and playing better) was actually pretty damn cool.
Jeremy Parish brought up Heiankyo Alien so often that I contacted Mikito Ichikawa (the Mindware dev) and told him something to the effect of "You should probably message this guy. All he ever talks about is Heiankyo Alien."
I'm aiming to do a giveaway if possible. At least 2 key sellers are offering the game, but am waiting to see if the JP ver. gets keys sold for it before I grab this ;P
Playing Nemesis at the moment.
One of the hardest stages is stage 2. If you take the wrong paths, you can end up being blocked by a nearly impassable wall of bullets.
One of the hardest stages is stage 2. If you take the wrong paths, you can end up being blocked by a nearly impassable wall of bullets.
Vulture Venture is worse than Haunted Castle, I managed to get the two achievements here and quitted, it's really rage inducing and the only way to proceed in this game is save-scumming. This collection should be called "Arcade Save-Scum Collection", because those games are so hard you can't proceed without savescumming.
Yeah. Its strange because I dont remember them being THAT hard.
Even the easy modes kick my ass.
I def blasted through Nemesis rather easily as a teenager
I think there's also a difference between the US version and the EU one. Are you based EU? If so maybe you played the EU version which should be easier.
No rewind feature sadly, the options are rather miserable in this collection. I still appreciate if for the fact I was never able to play those games when I was a kid, but the decision to not include the japanase version in addition to the US one is just stupid, expecially when the Arcade Archives version of some of those titles has a region selection option.
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Was that you? We did get in touch, and I was supposed to meet with him last year after BitSummit, but I got REALLY sick and didn't have the energy to trek all the way out to some arcade in Kamakura or wherever he was demoing the arcade version. Still really bummed about that.
Also, last weekend at Midwest Gaming Classic, I delivered a 20-minute extemporaneous presentation on Heiankyo Alien. Between that and the Polygon best-of-GB list that just went up, I think it's out of my system.
We rented out arcade machines 25 years or so ago and one of them was nemesis.
I was a kid(or teenie) then so I dunno if that was an euro version or not. We had some imports from japan but they were mostly MSV stuff.
And, yes, I'm based in EU
OT Gatekeeper
Why isn't this info on the OT's op? Could you elaborate a bit on what the differences are?
Thanks so much for sharing this info, really appreciate it.
Thank god I couldn't find the game on the NOR store and came here to comb a bit the thread before buying it when I noticed the OP's was super light on info.
Listen guys I'm super thankful whenever a new OT pops up, I could never put the effort and time to do one's justice. So I don't create OTs.
I don't want to be rude but if you can't out the effort to write down basic info like filters/audio/versions available/emulator then you should let someone else handle it.
Rest assured there if there is interest, someone will definitely make a good OT sooner or later.
If you're in South America, consider getting the game off Gamesplanet
https://uk.gamesplanet.com/game/arcade-classics-anniversary-collection-steam-key--4012-1
There is a US gamesplanet website if you are able to buy from it.
https://uk.gamesplanet.com/game/arcade-classics-anniversary-collection-steam-key--4012-1
There is a US gamesplanet website if you are able to buy from it.
Still working on my review of this collection. I've just finished the write-up for Thunder Cross, and I'm about to start on Game #6 (TwinBee).
Man... The changes made to Thunder Cross in the West are absolutely ridiculous.
Man... The changes made to Thunder Cross in the West are absolutely ridiculous.
Looks like I'm gonna just bite the bullet and spend extra to get the Japanese Switch version. Anyone know a good site for buying Switch yen points? Seems like the ones I used to go to are defunct (and no you can't use a non Japanese credit card or US PayPal to buy Switch yen points).
Too bad there doesn't seem to be a way to buy a Steam JP key, and from what i understand, it's location based, like, it apparently looks at your location and if it's not Asia, say bye-bye to the JP versions, at least one key seller site has this to say:
NOTICE
This game is subject to regional activation restrictions. It will NOT activate from China, Vietnam and Japan.
If the US version doesn't work there, i assume their version won't work on other countries, so PC gamers that aren't from Japan will just have to deal with the US versions unless Konami's heart happens to grow three sizes someday.
NOTICE
This game is subject to regional activation restrictions. It will NOT activate from China, Vietnam and Japan.
If the US version doesn't work there, i assume their version won't work on other countries, so PC gamers that aren't from Japan will just have to deal with the US versions unless Konami's heart happens to grow three sizes someday.
I looked that up on Steamdb and it has some interesting details
https://steamdb.info/sub/358787/info/
For one thing, there is nothing there that says you CAN'T redeem a key of the JP ver. of the game if you were outside of Japan. This is why I am waiting to see what sites would be selling JP versions of the game. At least I could use a VPN to snag a key even if it is for $30 :P
EDIT: For reference, certain EU keys of Crash Bandicoot trilogy on Steam CANNOT be redeemed outside of their specified EU countries
https://steamdb.info/sub/271107/
One must redeem them via a VPN if they want.
