Oh Capcom, you are spoiling us

Arcades may be dead, but many of the top manufacturers from back in the day are striving to reinvent and rejuvenate their old franchises for modern systems and new players. And arguably, of all the old guard to try to keep their games relevant, Capcom has been the most successful. As well as porting classics with their Arcade Cabinet collection and giving us numerous remakes, such as Bionic Commando Rearmed and 1942: Joint Strike, they've also brought a number of franchises back to life, most notably Street Fighter IV. And this month, they've teased us arcade throwbacks with two new treats. Check out the videos below:

I skipped the last update for SSFIV, but I'm rather looking forward to Ultra, not least because Elena was one of my favourite new characters in Street Fighter III. And as for the Strider remake, I'm getting quite a Shadow Complex vibe from it, but that is by no means a bad thing, as Shadow Complex was awesome, but we'll need to wait for that one until next year.

Top 10 sports games

It's a scorching summer here in the UK, so it seemed like the perfect time to talk about Arcade Throwback's top 10 sports games.

Track & Field/Hyper Sports

Here I go, starting the show with a show stopper! Konami's Track & Field series is legendary and there are more games in the series than most people remember. In 1984, a year after Track & Field, there was Hyper Sports, which is the first one I played. Then there was Konami '88, International Track & Field (1996) and Negano Winter Olympics '98, as well as numerous spin-offs on home consoles. For most people, myself included, it's those first two games, that kick started the whole button mashing sports genre, that really stay with us. 

Tecmo World Cup '90

There were no football fans in my family, so first time I got into the beautiful game was during Italia '90, when I was 15. And what England fan didn't caught up in the moment when Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne's emotions got the better of him during our semi-final game against Germany? Even my mum watched it! Anyway, the football game to play that summer was Tecmo's World Cup '90. The simple controls made for a fast paced game that anyone could pick up and play and it remains one of my favourite video game interpretations of the sport.

F1 Grand Prix

Video System Co. Ltd's F1 Grand Prix could have gone in my top 10 driving games, but as one of the few properly licenced arcade racers I could remember, I thought I'd save this excellent top-down racer for the sports list. The game features all the teams and drivers from the early 90s, including such legends as Nigel Mansell, Jean Alesi, Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost and of course Ayrton Senna, all beautifully drawn and instantly recognisable. And while F1 begs to be made into simulators as opposed to arcade games, the top-down perspective works brilliantly, like a helicopter cam, letting you get a birds-eye view of all the jostling for position.

Side Pocket

If there was one sport that was on the telly in my house as a kid, it was snooker. I can't remember any snooker games in the arcades, but there were a few pool games, many of which came from Data East, including the dubious Pool Gal series. However, Side Pocket is the game I remember from the arcades I visited. With its top-down view, the mechanics were greatly simplified, but as always that suited the arcade.

Punch-Out!!

Nintendo's Punch-Out!! is perhaps better known for the NES and Super NES versions, but it did start out in the arcade in 1984. I remember it being a technically impressive game for the time, with the player's green-haired character (later known as Little Mac) appearing as a transparent wireframe model, so that you could get a better view of your opponent. And what a cast of characters they were! Glass Joe, Piston Hurricane, Dragon Chan, they were all brilliantly drawn and full of personality. The simply controls provided enough variety that you didn't just mash the buttons and the opponents' combinations of attacks, blocks and feints kept you on your toes. Nintendo resurrected the franchise in 2009 on the Wii and it's a brilliant update of the game.

Wind Jammers

You can look at SNK's Wind Jammers one of two ways: either you can disregard it because its a made-up sport or you can play it and enjoy one of the best one-on-one video games ever! The premise is simple, mix a little tennis and squash, but played with frisbees and add in special movies that wouldn't look out of place in a King of Fighters game. This is definitely one of those games that's easy to pick up, but very hard to master. Doing the special's is easy enough, but countering your opponent's specials and send them back at him with deadly force is much harder and also much more satifying.

Pigskin 621AD

Okay, if you thought I was pushing my luck with WWF Super Stars, you'll think I'm way over the line with Pigskin 621AD, but you won't deny it's a riot to play! This crazy medieval version of American football is almost as much a beat 'em up as a sports game. The field is also full of traps, like ponds, muddy puddles and boulders, which prevent you from zig-zagging wildly down the field in an attempt to avoid being clobbered by a mace-wielding warrior-jock. Unlike many other football games, you only control one player, the team captain, Thor Akenbak, but you can control the tactics (in a basic way) of your team mates by pressing the red button. When the player's team is in possession of the ball you can swap between "Block" and "Scatter", and when your opponents have the ball you can swap between "Get Ball" and "Man-to-Man". In either situation you can also set your team to free-for-all by selecting "Bad Attitude" — assuming you have enough time to think that far ahead in all the chaos!

Hit the Ice

Ice hockey is fast and frequently violent and so it's perfect for translation to video game. Few versions of the sport are as manic as Taito and William's Hit the Ice. Take control of a goalie and one member of either the Reds or the Blues, then skate, pass, shoot and, if need be, punch your way up the rink to score a slot shot. There are plenty of quite serious ice hockey games out there, but Hit the Ice is a bit like Pigskin in that it takes neither itself nor the sport it's based on too seriously. The result is a game that's full of comedic violence, like hitting your opponents in the head with the puck and making them see stars.  

Virtua Tennis

When it comes to tennis, us Brits have never had so much to celebrate, with Andy Murray winning just about every grand slam he enters and several young stars, like Laura Robson, doing us proud as well. For gamers, there is no finer tennis game than Sega's Virtua Tennis series, which was developed for their Naomi system (which shared its guts with the Dreamcast console). The game manages to be both accessible and authentic in equal measure, allowing players to feel like they could take on the grass courts of Wimbledon as well.

Neo Turf Masters

All the other games in this list are based on fast, action-oriented sports, but Nazca's Neo Turf Masters for the SNK Neo Geo masterfully adapts the sedentary pace of golf to the rapid-fire world of arcade gaming, without sacrificing the core elements of the sport. For lives you get a strict stroke limit, meaning that you can only progress if you can stay under par, meaning you can be facing the game over screen as quickly in this game as any other in this list. And thank God for one of my school mates showing me Microprose Golf on the Commodore Amiga back in the early '90s, because otherwise I might have totally overlooked this gem, which remains one of my all time favourite arcade games.

MTW

Nostalgia Trip - My Arcade Garage

We've all dreamt about it, but Penny Arcade's Mike "Gabe" Krahulik has only gone and done it, he's built his own arcade garage. He turned this:

into this:

He apparently has room for seven machines and he's chosen:

• Pac Man
• Dig Dug
• Donkey Kong
• Super Mario Bros
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Gauntlet Dark Legacy
• A Neo Geo

You can read about his journey here:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2013/07/01/my-garage-arcade

It's a fascinating read and he's clearly put a lot of effort into the project. It got me thinking, if I had the time, space and money to build my own garage arcade, what seven cabinets would I put in there. This is my list:

• R-Type
• Space Harrier
• Golden Axe
• The Machine: Bride of Pin*Bot (although a new machine from Stern or Jersey Jack would probably be more reliable)
• Super Street Fighter IV
• Tron
• Pac-Man Arcade Party (which contains all the Pac-Mans, Xevious, Galaga, Dig Dug and a bunch of others).

(A Geo Geo would be my number 8 if it was a top 10, but these are Gabe's rules, not mine.) So come on, what seven would you guys choose?

Classic of the Month - Defender Stargate

Manufacturer:	Vid Kidz/Williams
Genre:	Shoot 'em up
Board:	6809-based board
Year:	1981

Few people would refute that Williams' 1980 side-scrolling shoot 'em up, Defender, is one of the all-time classic arcade games, but it's easy to forget the following year Williams brought out a sequel. Known as Defender II, Defender Stargate or just Stargate, it was developed by Vid Kids, a small 3rd party studio formed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar, both of whom worked on the original. And eagle-eyed Arcade Throwback followers may have even noticed it on the banner of our Facebook page and Twitter account, so   this month it's our classic in focus.

Gameplay is much the same as the original, except things get busy much more quickly, with a greater variety of enemies out to get you from the very first level. Thankfully your ship has a few more tools at its disposal this time, with the inclusion of the Invisio units, which allows you to turn invisible (and therefore evade hunters) while you keep the button held down. There are also the stargate themselves. These square portals are dotted throughout the landscape and effectively work like a fixed and more predictable hyperspace, allowing you to now only avoid danger but also deal with snatchers on the far side of the level.

Whether you can remember this sequel or not (I can't), one thing remains from its predecessor: IT'S ROCK HARD! To alleviate some of the difficult Vid Kidz added the option to pay extra at the beginning to get more lives, bombs, hyperspace jumps and Inviso units, but you'll still struggle to clear more than the first few levels.

So why is it so few of us can remember this game? It plays well enough and in many ways it's a better game than Defender -- it certainly tries harder to keep the player going. I suspect the answer is in my introduction: Defender is in the absolute top tier of arcade classics; the reputation it has the the respect fans have for it is up there with the likes of Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong. Quite simply, the original overshadowed it.

MW

Worth a Look - June 2013

I didn't do a Worth a Look last month, so here's a bit of a catch up.

Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

Developer:	Techland
Publisher:	Ubisoft
Platforms:	Xbox 360 XBLA/PC/PS3 PSN
Price:	Around £12
Demo available:	Yes

On the face of it, Gunslinger is a cut down slice of Techland's so-so Call of Juarez first person coyboy shooter series, however, after 5 minutes any arcade throwback will be reminded of classic shooting gallery games, like Operation: Thunderbolt or Time Crisis. The game does give you the freedom of movement you'd expect from a FPS, but the maps are quite small so you frequently find yourself pinned down behind some barrels or an abandoned cart or the shattered frame of a window. The game also has some really fun mechanics, like the ubiquitous bullet time, which comes in two flavours. Kill enough enemies and you can trigger Concentration Mode, which is your traditional slow-down-to-shoot sort of bullet time. Then there's Sense of Death, which triggers automatically and lets you can dodge incoming bullets. It's a fun little game and definitely blurs the line between modern and classic gameplay.

Pinball FX 2

Developer:	Zen Studios
Publisher:	Microsoft Game Studios
Platforms:	PC/Xbox 360 (Android/iOS/PS3 PSN as Zen Pinball)
Price:	Platform dependant
Demo available:	Yes

Pinball FX2 (also known as Zen Pinball) is not a new game, however it only came to Steam last month and for many PC owners when it comes to digital downloads, Steam is the only platform that matters. Each version of this game has a different selection of tables and none have as many as the Xbox 360 version, however they all seem to have the Marvel tables and the recently released Star Wars trilogy. As much as I love what Farsight Studios are doing with Pinball Arcade's collection of real tables, Zen have become masters of the video pinball genre. It's just a shame there's no cross platform purchases (not even between Xbox 360 and Xbox Games for Windows Live). PC gamers, get on this.

Thunder Wolves

Developer:	Most Wanted Entertainment
Publisher:	BitComposer Games
Platforms:	PC/Xbox 360 XBLA/PS3 PSN
Price:	Around £12
Demo available:	Yes/No

Back in the 1980s, there were two big helicopter TV shows (one of which was also a movie), Blue Thunder and Air Wolf. There was also a series of helicopter games by Sega called Thunder Blade. Now we have a modern game, brimming over with 80s kitsch called Thunder Wolves. Coincidence? I doubt it. As a retail product it's rather lacking in quality and polish, but if you fancy spending 3-5 hours blowing sh*t in spectacular style, then you'll probably get a kick out of this one. Like all the games I include in these round-ups, this one would be a perfect fit in a modern arcade.

Usually I include a trailer, but for Thunder Wolves I'm going to include Demonik Mayem's Never Player video review, because he's very funny. I can't decide if he's being sarcastic or he really did enjoy it as much as he appears to, but either way his enthusiasm is infectious.

MTW

Top 10 platformers

They're usually cute and almost always fun, this month's Top 10 is all about platformers. It's a genre that doesn't get much love these days, but in the 80s and 90s it was a giant. Believe, cutting this down to 10 has been tough!

Donkey Kong

Before Mario was Mario, he was Jump Man and before he was saving Princess Peach from Bowser, he was rescuing his ex Pauline from the simian grasp of Donkey Kong atop what appears to be a half-finished building. This single-screen platformer was the real start of Nintendo's rise to power and it's still a brilliant game to play today.

Wonder Boy

Before Sonic and even before Alex Kidd, Sega's platform hero was Wonder Boy. Later games ventured into action role-playing territory, but this first game had the sense of speed and timing the later Sonic games would become famous for.

Rod Land

On the face of it, I have no business liking Rod Land, as it's not just cutesy, it's positively girlie, but I can explain myself. Firstly, much of my time spent in arcade was also spent with my niece, who's 5 years younger than me. One of the games we used to play was Rod Land, as it had a good two-player co-op mode; secondly, there's nothing cute about the way Tam and Rit batter monsters. If you've never played this game before, I'll sum up your attack with two words: wand suplex!

Ghosts 'n' Goblins/Ghouls 'n' Ghosts

I'm cheating here by including Ghosts 'n' Goblins and the sequel Ghouls 'n' Ghosts together. That's mainly because I can happily swap between the two, but also because in the middle of the action, it's difficult to tell them apart. As a kid, I was attracted to these games as much because you ended up in your pants when you took damage — a gimmick that remained in the sublime Maximo games for the PlayStation 2.

Bomb Jack

I almost put Bomb Jack in the Top 10 Puzzle Games article, because this single-screen platformer has the same element of quick thinking strategy as many puzzle games. Whichever genre to pigeon hole it, Bomb Jack is a fast and fun little game that I don't think gets the props it deserves.

Toki

I first played Toki on the Amiga (I think it was a free gift with a subscription to Zero magazine), but it was originally an arcade game. It may not be the most well known platform game out there, but I have fond memories of playing it.

Mr Do's Castle

Let's be honest, in the case of a lot of arcade games it was difficult to really tell one game in a series from the other. The fact I often put whole series in as one entry in a top 10 (a la Ghosts 'n' Goblins and Ghouls 'n' Ghosts above) is proof of this. Then you get a game like Mr Do's Castle, Universal's sequel to the 1982 classic Mr Do, which appear in my top 10 maze games a month ago. The game didn't just change mechanics, it changed genre! To be honest, Mr Do's Castle is a remake of Universal's 1980 title Space Panic, but things had come a long way in those three years. MDC not only looks better, it plays better too. This is also much more than a platformer, it's also one of the best puzzle games out there too.

Bubble Bobble

First, OMFG how cute is Bubble Bobble? This adorable single-screen platformer inspired a wide-ranging series of sequels and spin-offs, some of which have appeared in this and other Arcade Throwback Top 10s.

Rainbow Island

This sequel to Bubble Bobble actually bears almost no resemblance to the original game, but the rainbow climbing mechanic and vertical platforming also set it apart from other games in the genre. For me, this is one of the most intelligent and downright playable platformers going.

New Zealand Story

I have a deep love for New Zealand Story. I can't really explain why, I just think it's brilliant. That little kiwi sure knows how to kick ass and with maze-like levels, strange forms or transport and some even stranger animal boss fights, this game kept me enthralled for years.

MTW

Classic of the Month - Qix

Manufacturer:	Taito
Developer:	Taito
Genre:	Puzzle
Board:	Dedicated board
Year:	1981

During the early 80s there were a number of games that were based on painting, including Q*Bert, Amidar and this month's classic, Qix. The idea behind the game was very simple: using a diamond-shaped device to draw borders on the play field, you must trap the game's titular Qix (which looks a bit like the Mystify screensaver on Windows) and/or take possession of at least 75% of the territory. Contact with the Qix or if the Qix touched your cutting line, took a life and so claiming territory was about how cunning or brave you could be. To give the player even more to worry about, patrolling the edge of the game field were one or more Sparx. Like the Qix, contact with these critters is fatal, which means sometimes you are forced into the play field — even if you're not ready to move. What's more, once you create a border the Sparx can then negotiate those lines too, making the game even more challenging. Do you just go for it and try to carve out as much of a border in one go as possible or do you do it piece meal, dragging out the game, but also providing the Sparx with more lines to negotiate and therefore decreasing the chances they will come straight for you? The game also gives you two drawing speeds, fast and slow, the latter of which gives you more points, only adding to the player's dilemmas.

Like many games from that era, Qix is very sparse, but it also manages to offer game play that can be fast-paced or full of deliberation and tactics, depending entirely on how you want to play from one moment to the next. To go along with the sparse looks were sound effects that sound more like static than anything else. That wasn't uncommon in 1981 and in the case of Qix those primitive sounds suit the game perfectly.

Taito produced a number of sequels, including Qix II-Tournament and Super Qix, before taking the concept to create sci-fi themed Volfied a decade later. A number of home versions have been produced over the years, most recently Qix++ for Xbox Live Arcade (and no, I can't explain the C reference in the title), which added collectables and different shaped Qixes.

As early arcade games go, Qix inspired very few clones. The only ones I know of are Kix on the BBC Micro B, Styx for MS-DOS, Fortix on PC and Light Fish on Xbox Live Indie Games. Perhaps the most famous (or should that be infamous?) clone is the Gals Panic series by Kaneko, in which claiming territory reveals drawing of a scantily-clad Japanese girls and generic female anime characters. It's a shame that such a rock solid concept got used for such salacious purposes. So let's forget about that for now and see the original in action:

MTW