Taito's 1983 Western Shooter The Tin Star Is This Week's Arcade Archives Release

No I won’t be adding this to my library.

Colony 7 or bust.

Interesting. Qix, please (another Taito title).

Side note, is it pronounced ‘kicks’ or ‘quicks’? I say the former.

It'd be great if every once in awhile Hamster, M2 or other publishers releasing these games would do compilations. Sure there's an appeal in choosing exactly which titles you want to pick up, but I'd imagine a lot of these old games are languishing in terms of eShop purchases. Eight bucks is frankly a lot to ask for many if not most of these titles, not just due to their age and visuals but also because they tend to be short, repetitive experiences originally designed for quick arcade sessions. Compilations tend to bring more interest and exposure since they (typically) offer more value per dollar.

I have been really losing interest in these ACA games, been a long time since I last bought em. This one looks kinda interesting though, but quite old.

I actually love the graphic style of some of these old games. The screaming greens and odd color palettes. I’d buy them for the ‘keepsake’ value alone, but to echo other’s sentiments, I’d do such things for $4 or $5 not $8....

Thanks but, no thanks.
I draw the line at 16 bit.

No disrespect to this game whatsoever, but I’m looking forward to Konami Sunset Rider for the arcade archives.

This is a weird way to reveal the release date of Sunset Riders

@Tandy255 According to the JP Game Boy boxart (might that be the only console version released over there? Aside from emulation-based compilations, surely one of the many Taito compilations has included it.), it's "quicks".

Sunset Rider is going blow this arcade game out of the water.

SUNSET RIDERS NOW!!!

Well, not interested in this one, but there are 8 more in the queue, including Wrecking Crew and Sunset Riders, so it's going to be 6 more weeks tops before those two really good games get released.

Totally overpriced! This should cost max 40$ for 40 games in one package!

You guys are all a bunch of curmudgeons. This is a game I played in an arcade back in the early eighties, and I can guarantee you that it's a good game. It looks and plays like a Nintendo title, and the gameplay is original. Also, this is the first time it has been released on a home system. I'm definitely getting this! I'm glad that occasionally the Arcade Archives people put out a game that hasn't already been released on a million other systems.

@Tandy255
It's pronounced Kicks, but I call it Quicks anyway, because it isn't a football game.

@TheWingedAvenger

How long ago was that ?
Cause most of the time nostalgia doesn't live up to reality.

As for me 8bit games tend to be too janky and unforgiving and i draw the line at 16 bit.
Got too many games, to be pouring untold hours in one game hoping it will end up being "good".

@KitsuneNight
You draw the line at 16-bit? That's silly. And with music, do you draw the line at a certain point in history? Maybe you don't listen to music that came out before synth and electronics were added to music?

The NES has a better library than any 16-bit console. My first console was the Atari 2600, and I could understand if you drew the line at 8-bit games, because 4-bit games were usually shallow, ten-minute experiences at most. But the NES had long, engaging adventures like Zelda and Dragon Quest, in addition to Super Mario Bros 3, Super C, Mega Man 2, Castlevania 3, and others which were better than any 16-bit attempts to compete with them in the same genre.

What you say about nostalgia is pointless. If the game is really good, then it holds up later. If it was never good to begin with, then it won't hold up. That's obvious. Having read your post, I would not advise you to buy The Tin Star, since you probably don't even have the legendary classic games. I mean, if you don't have Pac-Man, don't buy any other old games either.

@TheWingedAvenger

Riiight that's quite some baseless assumptions you make on my behalf sport.

The idea that 8 bit is better then 16 bit is risible.
16 bit games tend to have better graphics, Better music, better controls and are generally considered to move games forward.

You might like 8bit games better, but that doesn't make 8 bit games technically better.
16 bit was a massive jump forward

And kindly don't bother with the true scotsman fallacy
" I started with so and so console, se i know what I'm talking about. You bloody younguns don't know jack."
Its a straw-man and doesn't work

Nostalgia is best left in the past.
But if you don't believe me by all means replay all those 90's games that have been left in the dust by quality of life improvements we are all used to by now.

Goldeneye is showing it's age.
Spyro is getting ropey.
Crash is infuriating
Final Fantasy is a grind fest.
Dragon Quest even more so.
Why don't SMB 2 and 3 have a save features ? The Japanese versions did and so did the all stars version ( hey 16 bit improvements )
Zelda 1 is cryptic as hell.
Zelda II has a massive difficulty spike.
Castlevania II is not just cryptic, it's badly translated and delights in being obtuse.
Caslevania III is infamous for being the hardest of them all.

16 bit on the whole improves on almost every aspect and that's why i draw the line there.

But do go on and ignore the sequels, to all the games you mentioned. that were released on 16 bit hardware.

And this might shock you, but different people like different games.
In different era's no less.

Oh, and yes I do draw the line with listening to music.
Because shock and horror, I don't like certain genres.
But if you are in to Tibetan throat warbling, that's fine just don't expect me to be in to it either eh ?

That music analogy was really silly and I am not sure what point you were trying to make there.

Now if you wil excuse me I got some 16 bit games to play
( Secret Of Mana And Seiken 3 )

@KitsuneNight
I'll answer each point separately.

"Riiight that's quite some baseless assumptions you make on my behalf sport."

You say I make baseless assumptions about you, but you conveniently fail to mention even one. Good job!

"The idea that 8 bit is better then 16 bit is risible."

Why is it risible that 8-bit is better than 16-bit? I'm sure some people say that the Beatles were better than any of today's pop artists, and no one laughs at them. Technical progress doesn't equate to talent.

"16 bit games tend to have better graphics, Better music, better controls and are generally considered to move games forward."

I agree on the graphics and moving games forward. The other points depend on the game. There are lots of 5-star games in both eras. I'm just saying that the NES and SMS had more great games when you stack them up against the SNES and SMD.

"You might like 8bit games better, but that doesn't make 8 bit games technically better. 16 bit was a massive jump forward."

I agree. So what? I'm talking about quality, not number of bits. I don't care how many instruments a bad song has - it's still bad.

"And kindly don't bother with the true scotsman fallacy
'I started with so and so console, se i know what I'm talking about. You bloody younguns don't know jack.' Its a straw-man and doesn't work"

Well, congrats: you've just used the straw-man tactic. You put words in my mouth that I didn't write, and then you attacked those instead of attempting to attack my real argument. If you'd like to know what I was really saying, here it is. Since you had said "most of the time nostalgia doesn't live up to reality", I wanted to show you where my nostalgia really lay: in the 1970s. I wanted to assure you that when I played The Tin Star, I was not wowed by having my first videogame experience. I was also in part answering your question "How long ago was that?". You were referring to my having played The Tin Star in an arcade, and you obviously had an interest in getting a time context. I gave it to you. Now, lots of younger people hear a guy say "I was around when the Jimi Hendrix was doing concerts" and assume that he's saying that to bash the music they like. You guys need to get a healthy dose of self-confidence.

"Why don't SMB 2 and 3 have a save features?"

I'll answer your all your comments on the technical aspect of these old games by agreeing with you, and also by asking you why you would play them without saves states. Do you not like technological advancements? Are you stuck in the past? You do know that in 2020 these games can be played with save states, right? I would never go back to playing them the way I did back in the eighties. (And I promise that when I say that I played games in the 80s, I do not in any way intend to harm your feelings.)

"Zelda 1 is cryptic as hell. Zelda II has a massive difficulty spike."

Yeah, those games are excellent and not hard at all. I beat them when they were new. (Again, I hope you don't take any positive comments I make about myself as negative comments about you.) Castlevania III is the best game in the series. The IV game on SNES added the useless ability to flip the whip in any direction, but the graphics were ugly as hell.

"And this might shock you, but different people like different games. In different era's no less."

Really? Thanks for telling me that. I didn't know.

"Oh, and yes I do draw the line with listening to music. Because shock and horror, I don't like certain genres."

Neither do I. But actually I was making the music analogy to point out that you probably don't pick music on the basis of the number of megabytes each song takes up.

And a word of advice: Secret Of Mana And Seiken 3 are garbage. You're much better off playing the game they're hopelessly trying to imitate: A Link to the Past. In Zelda games, you never have to worry about some useless hanger-on who fights with you but isn't controlled by you. Zelda clones usually fail because they add stuff that ends up being more annoying than anything else. They also eliminate exploration (see Secret of Mana and Densetsu 3). A good Zelda clone is Golden Axe Warrior.

@KitsuneNight
Only Doki Doki Panic had a save feature and that was because you needed to play the game 4x to see the ending (which was later removed in the rereleased version, Super Mario USA).

Famicom version of SMB 3 did not have any save function either.

But, it should be noted that the lack of a save function isn't just an 8 bit problem. There were SNES, Genesis, a few PlayStation games and even GBA games that lacked a save function .

@TheWingedAvenger I haven’t heard of this game. Thanks for speaking up for it. I also appreciate lesser known titles coming out. However, I don’t know if I would pay full price (I would pay half). Arcade Archive games just don’t go on sale often. I think I did buy Crazy Climber at half price.

I’ll add this to the wish list.

@Tandy255
I bought Crazy Climber too! It was ported to very few home systems, but it never had good controls at home until it came out on Switch, which fits the game perfectly. It's an original game that really stood out in the early 80s. I agree, the Arcade Archive games are definitely priced too high.

@KitsuneNight
Also odd that you mention difficulty as a detriment to 8 bit design when most of the hardest NES games were ports of 16 bit arcade games: Ghosts n' Goblins, Contra, Commando, etc.

This looks sweet! Will look into this further.

This is definitely worth a look. I hadn't played it before, so didn't know what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised.

Each stage is a single screen, with the goal to kill a certain number of enemies. It controls like a twin stick shooter, but is slower than most games in that genre since your enemies take cover so you can't just rattle off shots. Add in some amusing animations for some things and level design that means you can't just weave between bullets as things are in your way, and you have a fun - and surprisingly polished - game.