Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits

[Melf]

A slow week means it's time to go retro! The gems from the golden age of arcade gaming are indeed timeless, and perhaps the only criteria that's appropriate to use when reviewing Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits is how well they adapt to the Genesis control scheme. Read our full review (http://www.sega-16.com/2007/01/williams-arcades-greatest-hits/) and see how well this set holds up on our little black box.

[stalepie]

Robotron > Sega-16.com

[Melf]

Only if it's played with 2 analog sticks. ;)

[j_factor]

Two digital sticks sufficed just fine in the arcade version. ;)

But I definitely disagree with the review that Robotron hasn't aged well, or that it's not talked about today.

Also, I'm disappointed that the review fails to elaborate on how the games are controlled on Genesis. Joust and Sinistar are obvious, but the others had to have been changed significantly.

[Melf]

Two digital sticks sufficed just fine in the arcade version. ;)

Yipe! Yeah, that's what I meant. I''ve been playing a lot of Xbox Live Arcade lately, and I have analog on the mind.

I've never played this collection personally, but I can imagine that Defender got the biggest gameplay change. It had a lot of buttons back in the day!

[Zebbe]

I remember seeing this game, with a few others, on the shelves sold as new during the last sigh of the Mega Drive, when the PlayStation and Saturn had definitely taken over the video game market. And I was thinking: what is that game doing there? The games showing the last view of the awesome Mega Drive shouldn't be conversions of arcade games from the early 80s, it should be original Mega Drive games expressing its 16-bit power and greatness!

[Mega_Drive_Kid]

Thanks for the review. Good work!

When I play this, I only play Defender as the other guys are frankly, rubbish.

Is this game out for the SNES aswell?

[Zebbe]

Yes, and for Dreamcast, Game.Com, PlayStation, Saturn and PC.

[Mega_Drive_Kid]

Oh really? Wow, that's a lot.

[shinobimusashi]

ive got a 3 button ascii arcade stick with adjustable turbofire and it makes sinistar the s**t. the autofire is so fast its rediculous and it really adds to the gameplay value

[BrianC]

Also, I'm disappointed that the review fails to elaborate on how the games are controlled on Genesis. Joust and Sinistar are obvious, but the others had to have been changed significantly.

The review (and the replies to it for that matter) also overlooks that both Defender II and Robotron support the 6 button controller. It's not obvious since it's not activated automatically (it's activated by pressing the mode button during gameplay), but I'm surprised that it has gone unnoticed in many reviews, especially since it's essential for Robotron.

[Baloo]

I'm still looking for this game for Saturn. I really would love to play Defender I and II, Sinistar, and Joust at home.

[zetastrike]

How does Robotron work with the 6 button controller? I have this collection for SNES and Robotron works really well with that pad.

[goldenband]

But I definitely disagree with the review that Robotron hasn't aged well, or that it's not talked about today.
Agreed -- I can hardly think of a classic game that's aged better than Robotron. I don't think it's lost a thing, and if anything it was way ahead of its time. Still as hair-raising as ever. I haven't played this compilation so I can't say if the adaptation's any good, but the arcade original is pretty close to perfection.

[Ecco]

This compilation rules! At the very least SINISTAR is awesome, and Joust is a nice classic. I haven't spent much time on the other games, but it's cool to have those other ancient arcade games available for ur Genesis!

[Sega Genesis]

Thanks everyone for the bump. Never played this game. Heard about it and forgot about it years ago. Now I'll pick up a copy.

[shinobimusashi]

arcade robotron is in my top 10 favorite video games of all time, love it on the xbox "midway arcade treasures", plays great with the x box controller, but this port is terrible.

[BrianC]

arcade robotron is in my top 10 favorite video games of all time, love it on the xbox "midway arcade treasures", plays great with the x box controller, but this port is terrible.

Would you mind giving specifics on why you feel the ports are terrible? I'm not sure if you overlooked this since this post calls the Robotron port terrible without responding to the previous post, but I mentioned that the Robotron has an alternative control method (which felt similar to playing Smash TV with a SNES pad. No problems with diagonal shots, despite the look of the 6 button pad. It plays very nice this way, IMO) by pressing the mode button during gameplay in a previous post. I posted a reply to the Arcade's Greatest Hits Review that mentions the controls, as well.

Defender 2's six button support moves some functions to the extra face buttons (it sets one of the extra buttons to thrust, another to reverse, and one to bomb).

I did notice some slowdown in Robotron that I didn't notice with other versions (and I heard a couple others had slowdown), but it seemed minor (and from what I remember, mostly during the start up animations rather than during the main gameplay). Odd for Genesis ports of older games to have slowdown, though.

[iluvclassicgaming]

I've been playing this cart for many years and love Defender, Stargate, and Sinistar on the Genesis, especially with the Genesis controller. Joust and Robotron I reserve for the Atari 7800. The cart seems to me to be underrated by the Genesis community but we all have our own unique preferences, which is cool. But being a big Defender and Stargate arcade fan this format is my favorite.

Good review though!