PKDuckman

I hope the Switch can get the updated versions of 98 and 2002 as well. The Arcade Archives versions are great but lack online multiplayer and the added characters.

I hope it comes with in-game mods for the PS1 and N64 versions. IIRC the PS1 version has smaller levels and two new enemies, while the N64 version has different lighting and comes with a more ambient soundtrack.

DD 1-3 seems to be the ones already on the eshop, which are available both via the Kunio Kun Collection and standalone.

And I hope they add the ability to select the Japanese versions, because the Return of Double Dragon is far superior than Super Double Dragon.

An easy skip for me, as someone who owns the previous two collections.

*PC88 Valis 1 is considered to unplayable today, unless you enjoy maze like levels, stuff jumps that doesn't let you change directions, constantly respawning monsters that rush you, and using HP as upgrades.

• Valis 1 Famicom tried to turn the game into an action RPG with quite a few NPCs, but suffers from confusing and dull levels.
• Valis 2 MSX2, Valis 3 Genesis, and Super Valis 4 are largely inferior to their PC Engine counterparts. The latter is also on SNES NSO.

A shame the X68000 version of Valis 2 isn't included, since that's considered to be the best version. Otherwise you're better off with the other collections since they contain the superior PC Engine versions.

The bosses in the game are rather ridiculous and doesn't even fit the early 20th century settings, which makes it great. The final boss is a complete surprise.

As someone who owns the HD version on Steam and DE on Switch, I'd say that this rerelease added very little for old players. All the new content amounts to changed portraits (with no option to go back to the old ones), a new hero for the Sylvan faction, DLC included in the base game, and one or two QOL features like the ability to change your units and equipment before battle. There also seems to be some animation lag on single player maps. I'd wait for a hefty discount if you already played the game before.

The annoying thing is that all of the portraits were redrawn from the previous versions, making it a little too anime-ish.

And I was hoping that the new version included retro graphics options from the DS version. There is something really charming about the deformed characters that the newer versions failed to capture.

@JackieCMarlow Yep, these are the guys who thought the Bill & Ted NES game counts as a "classic".

@MontyCircus Not to mention that they also screw over digital customers and importers by convincing Japanese developers to remove their English translations and delaying games such as Batsugun so their digital release come out the same day as the physical release months down the track.

@JakedaArbok Actually, buying the desired versions individually via the Capcom Arcade Stadium is the cheapest option. The first one comes with World Warrior, Hyper Fighting, and Super Turbo, and the second one comes with the first SF, Hyper SF2 and all three Alpha games.

@Beefcakeyamato Yep ININ are really scummy with their double dipping. They also did the same with Space Invaders and Turrican, offering a stripped down version initially then the "complete" version down the line, and not even informing customers and not offering loyalty discounts. Seems like they wanted to the same with the Rayz collection but relented and offered both the complete and stripped down versions due to backlash.

As for City Connection, I'm really annoyed with them since they delayed the Batsugun digital rerelease because LRG wanted it to be released the same day as the physical, even though it's already out in Japan and screwing PC and Xbox owners too as they aren't even getting the physical release to begin with.

@Chocobo_Shepherd Seems like Konami is really half-assed with their physical collections. The TMNT Cowabunga Collection got one really quickly, but the Castlevania Annivesary Collection only got one years later via LRG, and the Contra Anniversary Collection remain digital only.

@HammerGalladeBro It technically has all 3 games, but VC requires the complete download and 3 and SA only comes with half the data, requiring you to download the rest.

@Vyacheslav333 In the West, Taito Switch games are mostly published by ININ so usually they go on sale at the same time. It's currently on sale at the EU region.

I also recommend Darius Gaiden via the Darious arcade collection, and M2 added several nifty widgets plus a training mode that lets you practice the stages. I don't recommend the Darius console collection however since they're mostly console ports from back in the day and seem to have extra input lag

@Spanky84 You have to go to your Nintendo account on a PC or smartphone, and change your region to Japan. When you log on to the eshop on Switch it will ask you to reenter your password, and once you have done so you're logged into the Japanese eshop. Same process if you want to switch back. The easiest way to buy stuff is to get a Japanese eshop card from Play Asia, but be warned once you decide to switch back to your original region you'll lose all your unspent balance.

@Spanky84 Yep. And you can even download it again from the same redownload list without needing to switch regions or to another account.

@Spanky84 The other option is to change the region of your current eshop account to Japan, buy the games, and switch back. That's how I got Esp Ra De, and the annoying thing though is that if you have any leftover balance it's all erased when you switch.

Seems to me ININ tried to repeat their old strategy of releasing an incomplete version first (HD Collection), then a more expensive complete version a year later (Arcade Chronology), but received some of critical backlash and reversed course. They previously did it with the Space Invaders, Turrican, and Wonder Boy compilations, and worst of all, if you own the cheaper collection on eshop you aren't even offered a discount to upgrade to the better version.

@Bunkerneath Still a better name than that of Crusader of Centy's protagonist, which is Corona.

Whoever is in charge of the NSO need to fix up Shinobi 3 for Genesis. The controls options are completely removed from options menu and you're stuck with the defaults. The Japanese version of Genesis NSO and Sega Genesis Classics don't have this problem.

@ZeldaFan83 These people are scammers IMO. They know they cornered a niche market in the Western world so they're resorting to incredibly underhanded tactics to stop people from importing the Japanese physical versions or buying the digital releases. Like pressuring devs to delay the digital release date (Batsugun Saturn Tribute) and removing English translations (Valis Collection).

That's the problem with Switch carts. They're more expensive to produce than Blu-ray, and with the wider availability of high speed internet, publishers would rather save money by using the low capacity ones and have the purchaser download the rest of the data.

Interestingly, the eshop page says the collection is 1.7 GBs, whereas the Vita version that comes without MGS1 is at 3.3 GBs. I assume either the size is a placeholder or Konami seriously compressed the assets.

Funnily enough, it's being released on the same day as Raystorm X Raycrisis HD, which seems to be barebones and lack M2's extra polish.

A big shoutout to the scammers at LRG for causing the digital release to be delayed at the last minute to match the unknown physical release date, which includes the Xbox version that isn't even getting a physical release to begin with. Creating FOMO and now screwing with the majority of people who purchase it digitally, everything wrong with the gaming industry today.

For the last question, I also recommend Blade of Darkness, another PC game of the same era that's like a proto Dark Souls. You can buy the Switch port for half the price of Enclave too.

@AcridSkull He said it's the first one HE PLAYED, not the first one ever created.

Unsurprised considering the manufacturing costs of Switch cards. The physical Mega Man Legacy Collect 1+2 release only came with the first collection on card, with the second as DLC. Currently Sonic Origins is 3.7 GB on Switch, I assume the DLC pushes it pass 4 GBs and that makes it more expensive if Sega go for the 8 GB one.

@JJtheTexan The devs just dropped an update which added 4:3. Still no options to disable the soft filter though

I'd buy it if they add more tracks, particularly Singing Mountain, which was removed from the SNES version but added back in the DS remaster.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RooECSbuLro

From the rumors I've heard, this happened due to some dispute between Disney and Aspyr, with the former not being happy about the latter supposedly labeling user created mods as official Star Wars content.

Still waiting for Rastan and Cadash. Not even Arcade Archives have them.

I also find it funny that the reviewer of the second game on VC said it's not as good as the first game and complained about features being removed, completely opposite of this review.

https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/2007/04/shockman_virtual_console

Shockman is such a strange series. According to this article all three of the PC Engine games play completely differently. For instance, the second game aka Shockman removed the sword attacks, world map, hostage rescues and item upgrades, and play more like Mega Man. The third game brought back sword attacks but also dumbed down the platforming. I just hope the sequels get brought over as well.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/schbibinman/

I don't know why the Genesis games aren't included outside of licensing issues with Sega. Even the Disney games collection eventually added the SNES version and that was from Capcom.

At least this solved one of the biggest headaches with the SNES version of JP. You could actually save.

@Serpenterror Agreed although I'd say that M2 or Hamster are better when it comes to ports of retro games.

A correction. The 1989 Capcom game is named "Dynasty Wars", not "Dynasty Warriors", which is made by Koei although based on the same source material. Also Knights of Valor is more influenced by its sequel Warriors of Fate, as the original is more of a standard action game than a beat em up.

The problem is that Aspyr completely removed the Commando vs Trandoshan multiplayer mode from the rerelease. While it's nothing spectacular it's still missing content.

Disgusting anti-consumer behaviour from ININ/LRG. This isn't the first time they've split up game collections so they could rip off both digital and physical purchasers with FOMO. Darius, Space Invaders, Turrican, Wonder Boy, and now this. And that's not mentioning the times they pressured Japanese publishers to remove English language options from their domestic versions so foreign games are left with LRG's own expensive bare bones collections. They should be boycotted not rewarded.

@MetalKingShield Knights of Valour 1 & 2, Oriental Legend, and The Gladiator are beat em ups, and there seems to be multiple versions. Oriental Legend is based on Journey to the West but it's the developer's first game and the graphics are rather amateurish. The Knights of Valour series are considered to be their best, is based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and is inspired by Capcom's beat em ups like Warriors of Fate along with some fighting game moves. The Gladiator is like a spiritual sequel to Knights of Valor but has an original wuxia inspired story.

@Fighting_Game_Loser All of the games except The Gladiator and Demon Front has online support. Last time I checked quite a few people were playing Knights of Valour. However the current servers seem to be hosted in China so if you're playing in the USA you'd get severe lag unfortunately.

@ComfyAko They were quite well known for the Knights of Valour beat em up games, which were huge in the late 90s/early 2000s arcade scene in East Asian countries. Think Capcom's Warriors of Fate up to 11, and the first game alone had multiple versions including a port to the PS4.

It's also out in Australia! Just bought it for $42 and it runs pretty good so far. Martial Masters and The Gladiator are classics, and Knights of Valour is a great beat em up series too.

I wish Digital Eclipse could fix the Genesis version of Tournament Fighters. The game has great stages and character design, ruined by some of the weirdest controls for a fighting game, where strong attacks have to be pulled off by forward+normal attack. Maybe allow us to rebind the controls to a single button.

Next up, the same devs should buy the rights to Metal Warriors and christen it "Assault Suits Gideon".

@UltimateOtaku91 Most Xbox fans don't even like JRPGs in general, so I don't know what you're on about.

@whitespy12 The X68000 version of Valis 2 is generally considered the best, right? Pity it's not included here.

Also there is a Famicom version of Valis 1 that included some RPG elements. Knowing the publishers they'd probably release a third collection with the two aforementioned games plus the Genesis version of 3 and SNES version of 4.

@EarthboundBenjy "Super" Valis 4 on SNES NSO is actually heavily cut from the original PCE version, which had three playable characters, better designed levels, and whole sets of animated intros. Part of the appeal of the original is to utilise all three characters to see which fits the situation, whereas the SNES port combined them into one character and made their standard attacks into subweapons. It's pretty much comparing Castlevania Dracula X to Rondo of Blood.

@John_Deacon ININ is the only other publisher that love to overprice their retro collections: Darius, Space Invaders, Turrican, Wonder Boy etc. They also have a ridiculous habit of releasing a cheaper but incomplete collection digitally, and another more complete collection for Limited Run, and release the latter digitally a few years later, screwing those who bought the cheaper collection. IIRC the last Wonder Boy collection they release cost $50 US, more than double the price of the TMNT collection where I live.

@shonenjump86 The SNES version of Valis 4 sucks and the PC Engine version included is much better, as it includes extra playable characters. But the Genesis versions of Valis 1 and 2 included aren't as good as the PC Engine ones in the other collection.

Also the original MSX Valis is considered to be one of the worst games of all time - imagine stiff Castlevania 1 style jumps, constantly respawning monsters, and large but boring maze like levels.