Compilation/Classic XBL Suggestions?

[horseradish]

So I inherited my brother's unused Xbox360 a few years back and I've only recently started playing it.

I've got some modern titles (Splatterhouse, which I think is fantastic, Streetfighter X Tekken, and a few others) but I've found myself discovering some games that I missed out on through the Xbox live store.

 

Some good, Sonic CD (which is absolutely incredible and has almost instantly become my favorite Sonic game), Doom and Doom II, Capcom Arcade Collection, and some not so good, Sonic Adventure (i've heard people really love this game, and while it definitely has some charm, the controls are really awkward).

 

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here has any recommendations.

 

I'm looking at Radiant Silvergun and one of the King of Fighters or Virtua Fighters games.

 

Which KOF or VF game would you guys recommend and what other Classic titles or classic compilations would you suggest. I already have the Genesis collection (which is great) and the Namco one (also great but strange menu).

 

Also, how are the ports of Nights and the other Dreamcast games on there?

Edited April 9, 2016 by horseradish

[Flojomojo]

The SEGA ports are all great, and they're pretty much the same whether you play them on PS3 or Xbox. I haven't hooked up my Dreamcast or Saturn in ages, because I don't really feel the need anymore with these games at hand. You could drop some serious money since you are arriving late to the game. It didn't seem so bad when it was just ten bucks here, ten bucks there.

 

Daytona and VF1 are based on the arcade games, but in higher resolution to fit your modern screen. There are later versions of Virtua Fighter but they aren't flat polygons so they don't quite have the same retro charm. I'd go straight to VF5 Final evolution or whatever it's called if you want a modern game. You should be able to get Namco standbys Tekken 7 and Soul Caliber 5 or 6 for cheap as well.

 

Outrun was beautiful, I think it was Xbox exclusive in the US, and might not be available any more due to the Ferrari license. Sega Rally was not like the arcade games, and may no longer be available. Afterburner is the same story.

 

Ikaruga, Rez, Space Channel 5 Part 2, Virtual On, Crazy Taxi, Soul Calibur (that last one is like the Dreamcast game but not from Sega) -- all worthy of getting.

 

There are a few Saturn things on there too. Radiant Silvergun, Fighting Vipers, Sonic the Fighters, and Nights are all at least as nice as the originals because of the higher resolution and good controls.

 

I don't much care for the Genesis or King of Fighters games here, but they're not bad, especially if you're having fun with 2D Sonic.

 

I also liked the old arcade ports of Atari, Midway, Namco, and Konami games. They're all pretty good, just go with your favorites. You could also just get the Midway collection from the store, it has lots of Atari Games and Williams classics on there.

 

XB360 was/is a fine retro console.

[Atariboy]

Raiden Fighters Aces and Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection are both great (There's also its digitally distributed successor, Pinball Arcade).

I also liked the old arcade ports of Atari, Midway, Namco, and Konami games. They're all pretty good, just go with your favorites. You could also just get the Midway collection from the store, it has lots of Atari Games and Williams classics on there.

I second the suggestion for Midway Arcade Origins. And the Midway XBLA downloads were delisted years ago with the death of Midway, so don't bother to go looking for them since I don't think Warner ever had any relisted.

Many of those Konami XBLA classics saw retail XBLA compilation releases a few years ago spread across two volumes. Although Time Pilot sadly didn't make the cut for a disc release, they represent a much better value than paying $5 a download off XBLA. And Game Room saw a lot of Konami classics like Juno First, but I guess it's delisted these days.

I was of the opinion that the Atari XBLA releases were poorly emulated, such as Asteroids missing its iconic background audio. And Battlezone is delisted now due to the selling off of that IP (And Game Room is dead which also saw several Atari arcade and 2600 classics like Food Fight and Asteroids). So in the place of XBLA for classics from Atari's catalog, I recommend the backwards compatible Atari Anthology for the original Xbox. This is the best running original Xbox game I've played on the 360 and is a much better value for your money than paying $5 each for the few flawed XBLA ports.

It actually was one of a handful of HD enabled Xbox 1 titles and it really shines when you see how crisp the vector arcade games are on your HDTV. And it has arcade borders when playing in 16:9 that fill the sides of the screen with the bezel artwork that originally surrounded the monitor. When this one still had online leaderboard support, it could've easily passed for a full fledged 360 release.

All it was missing was a slate of Xbox 360 achievements.

The SEGA ports are all great, and they're pretty much the same whether you play them on PS3 or Xbox.

 

I've actually seen a fair bit of criticism of the Dreamcast remasters. Issues that leap to mind as common complaints when they first appeared included many not running in 16:9 and the replaced soundtrack in Crazy Taxi.

 

And a good number of people seemed to think that they didn't live up to their memories for another potential issue. In particular, the Sonic Adventure titles seem to have aged poorly for many. And Crazy Taxi is a fine arcade game and a good fit for XBLA with its convenience of not running off a disc, but isn't something that holds your attention for a significant length of time which some held against it when the port appeared.

 

I don't think a arcade game needs to hold your attention for hours on end every time you fire it up, but if you're of that mindset, Crazy Taxi might not be for you these days.

Daytona and VF1 are based on the arcade games, but in higher resolution to fit your modern screen. There are later versions of Virtua Fighter but they aren't flat polygons so they don't quite have the same retro charm.

 

The original Virtua Fighter isn't on XBLA. It's VF2 with its texture mapped polygons that saw a port and release here.

 

And if Horseradish wants Daytona USA HD, I'd suggest grabbing it soon. It's bound to follow Sega Rally Online Arcade, Outrun Online Arcade, and Afterburner Climax one of these days in disappearing when the license from International Speedway Corporation expires for the Daytona USA name.

Sega Rally was not like the arcade games

 

Sega Rally Online Arcade actually was basically a home release of Sega Rally 3 from the arcade, which confusingly got a related full fledged home counterpart when new that was titled Sega Rally Revo.

 

I've never seen let alone played a SR3 cabinet, but as I recall from when I've seen it explained, Sega Rally Online Arcade is a straight conversion of the arcade game with its exclusive track configurations and the bonus desert course from the original game, but with Sega Rally Revo vehicles in place of the original arcade car roster. That allowed Sega to eschew paying additional licensing fees for vehicles that they didn't originally license for home console use when SR3/SRR were first being developed.

 

And it runs at 30 fps instead of the arcade's 60.

 

Edit: Here's a good write up explaining all of this in more detail.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Atariboy

[Flojomojo]

Oops, you're right, it's VF2, not vF1, derp. Activision Anthology is indeed a better value. Same goes for Intellivision Lives vs the standalones, if in fact it's still available.

 

As for the subjective complaints about the new versions of old games, everything you say is true, but I don't think that there's anything so wrong with them that prevents them from being FUN. horseradish is so late to this, I'm not sure he/she will care. At least there should be demos for most of this to try before buying.

[Atariboy]

Are you talking the "evolved" versions of the 7-8 Atari coinops on XBLA that were taken from Atari Classics Evolved for the PSP?

 

I never spent much time with those, but Battlezone showed some promise and I intend to return to it someday (Although like I said, it's now delisted so he won't be able to buy it now). And I recall enjoying the evolved mode for Lunar Lander on the PSP, but that one didn't make the jump to XBLA for some reason. And I vaguely remember enjoying Tempest, but the other evolved modes are drawing complete blanks right now since they were so forgettable.

 

But sadly, the original mode left some to be desired with these at times and at least in the case of Warlods, it's a title that just doesn't work with a 360 controller and is sort of a waste of money since it's virtually unplayable. So if accurate emulation and more bang for your buck matters (~90 or so 2600 and arcade games), give Atari Anthology a try.

 

Plus it gives you an excuse to try backwards compatibility out.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Atariboy

[horseradish]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm gonna dig through them and come out with some gems.

Especially encouraging to hear that Space Channel 5 and Ikaruga are worth getting.

 

I didnt think, and maybe I read this wrong, that there was an activision anthology for the xbox 360.

I've considered getting the GBA one.

 

​And thanks for the Atari Anthology suggestion. I didnt realize it was backwards compatible so I'll definitely look that up.

[phoenixdownita]

I enjoyed Guardian Heroes for XBLA, I enjoyed more the Saturn version thanks to a cheat device, i can tell you the story gets very very surreal, I will not spoil it for you but Japanese like to mix sacred/profane and all kinds of mythologies all at once

 

Wrt Space Channel 5 I have the PS2 version, it's brutal as you progress and it is a rhythm game so you better like those ("chou, chou" ... the heck).

 

Another XBLA is Radiant Silvergun, yet another Saturn title, once more I had to resort to a cheat device to advance deep into it and once more the story/background gets a little intense ....

[Atariboy]

I didnt think, and maybe I read this wrong, that there was an activision anthology for the xbox 360.

 

Sadly, there isn't.

 

What we were talking about was Atari Anthology for the original Xbox. I mentioned how well it worked on the Xbox 360 in backwards compatibility mode and Flojomojo mistakenly then referred to it as Activision Anthology when he responded.

 

There was a prototype created for the original Xbox after Activision Anthology was well received on the PS2, but Activision sadly passed it over and it was never released. So the only official way to enjoy many of these Activision classics on the Xbox 360 was via Xbox Live Arcade's Game Room app.

 

But sadly, the developer behind it encountered trouble and Microsoft closed shop rather than hire a new contract developer for what was supposed to be their answer to Nintendo's Virtual Console. And while I never personally confirmed this, others have reported being unable to purchase additional titles in recent years in Game Room, which means it's a non-option for you now.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Atariboy