Capcom’s pedigree arcade games are back! Take on players from around the world in ‘score attack’ and even play together with online co-op! (Only for titles that support this feature.) Check out these classic games, now loaded with a ‘casual mode’ geared towards newcomers and other new features. Play the full game of ‘Black Dragon’ for free!

Remember all the fun you used to have at the Arcades when you were young? All the great games such as Ghost and Goblins, 1943 or Gunsmoke? Well, CAPCOM definitely remembers, and they’ve decided to give us a chance to enjoy their Arcade releases from the comfort of your homes! CAPCOM Arcade Cabinet is a platform with an idea similar to Zen Pinball 2: download the free demo of the game to have access to trial versions of the games before you decide to buy them.

The platform has been created with great care to detail, and you’ll be able to play the games just the way you want to. You can change the aspect ratio, add scanlines, apply a smooth filter to blend pixels, and even flip the display so that you can move your TV to a vertical position to enjoy an experience that is as close to a real arcade as you can get without buying one! You can also access a virtual Dip Switch set to change the difficulty, life count and several other settings, just like arcade operators used to do back in the day to suck down your quarters. To make it even more interesting, you can enjoy either local or online multiplayer to make the most of your purchase, and you can upload your highscores to the online leaderboards to show everyone how good you really are. And for those of you that had a hard time beating the games at the arcades, there is now a casual mode for ALL games in the collection and this mode adds new tweaks and twists that allow even the most inexperienced player to have a good time.

But wait, there is more! All games in this collection feature unlockable bonuses that you can trigger by completing specific levels or even the full game, playing for a long time, or by unlocking the PSN trophies for each game. These rewards go from the original arcade flyers or the art used in the actual arcade cabinet to the audio tracks for each game or even a special piece of bonus art created for this collection. If you think your really THAT good at a game, you can even upload replays directly to YouTube (which is a PS3 exclusive feature) so that others can comment on your skills.

Each game will be priced at $3.99 by itself, or at a special price in a bundle. The bundle lets you save $2 for every 3 game pack, and $3 for the first pack that includes 1943 and Avengers and unlocks the Black Tiger trophies. Here is a list of the packs and their tentative release dates:

Game Pack 1 – Available February 19/20 for $4.99
-Black Tiger
-1943: Battle of Midway
-Avenger

Game Pack 2 – Available March 5/6 for $9.99
-Ghosts ‘n Goblins
-Gun.Smoke
-Section Z

Game Pack 3 – Available March 19/20 for $9.99
-Side Arms
-Legendary Wings
-Trojan

Game Pack 4 – Available April 2/3 for $9.99
-Commando
-The Speed Rumbler
-Exed Exes (Savage Bees)

Game Pack 5 – Available April 16/17 for $9.99
-1942
-SonSon
-Pirate Ship Higemaru

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It is now time to review the second DLC pack available for the CAPCOM Arcade Cabinet platform, and now that I’ve played Ghosts ‘n Goblins, Gun.Smoke and Section Z, I have to say this will probably be the hardest pack you’ll buy in this set. If you didn’t get a chance to read my review for the 1987 pack be sure to check it out now! The 1985 Pack 1 is definitely going to be the hardest pack for CAPCOM Arcade Cabinet. Section Z is unforgiving and Ghosts’N Goblins and Gun.Smoke will really show you how good of a gamer you really are.

In Section Z, you play the part of an astronaut that must enter and destroy a space station from the inside before it is too late as it is actually the secret base of an alien army out to conquer Earth. You start in Section A and must reach the end at Section Z while shooting and dodging all sorts of aliens and their annoying space bullets and lasers which always find a way to annihilate you in a couple of seconds. Since what we now refer to as “twin stick” shooters were not a thing back then, controls in the Arcade were handled with one stick for moving your astronaut, one button for shooting, and one button for having your character change the direction he’s facing, thus allowing you to shoot in two directions. This makes some fast paced gameplay since you will constantly be attacked from all over the place and must also take into consideration new enemies that appear from off-screen and that tend to show up right at the one spot you were moving towards to avoid enemy fire.

Gun.Smoke takes you back to the wild, wild west and places you in the shoes of Billy Bob, a bounty hunter that one would think wants to retire from the business as soon as he manages to capture all 10 of the outlaws terrorizing the decent folk out there. The screen automatically scrolls up, and you must constantly move all over the screen to avoid, shoot and kill the regular outlaws (you know, the ones without a wanted poster) that you will find in every level. Controls are interesting since you move with the Stick but have 3 buttons for shooting… that’s right, 3 buttons for shooting! One is to shoot to the left, another one shoots to the center and the last one shoots to the right BUT if you combine one of the side buttons with the center button you will change the angle of your shots and can quickly target your enemies all over the screen. You can pick up power ups to speed up your walk (Boots), increase your firing speed (Bullets) or increase the range of your shots (Rifles) and every time you die you lose one level for all 3 stats until you’re back at square one. The one that is a true lifesaver is the horse since it allows you to move faster and acts as an armor since you can take 3 hits before losing the horse and, in a game where one shot will kill you, 3 extra hits are a huge advantage.

Ghosts’N Goblins… ah, Ghosts’N Goblins. A game so hard and so punishing that it demands that you complete it twice in order to finish your adventure. The game features a classic story of guy loves girl, girl loves guy, Satan kidnaps girl, guy goes out on an adventure to get her back. The game at least allows you to get hit twice before you lose a life, and you can even recover that extra hit by finding Arthur’s armor, but you are on a tight deadline to complete each level. Once you start you have 3 minutes to make it to the end, or you will be killed instantly when the sands of time have run out, and at least the game is not entirely evil since you can either restart at the halfway point of a level if you’ve made it that far before being killed. There are several weapons for you to pick along the way (if you get the Dagger be sure to keep it since it’s the fastest weapon and it will save you in more than once occasion) and one weapon in particular is needed if you are to beat the game.

The 1985 Pack 1 for CAPCOM Arcade Cabinet will provide you with a crash course on how arcade gaming used to be back in the day, and it will show you how arcade games were as hard they could get to try and make us part with all of our quarters. You’ll get 3 of the hardest arcade games CAPCOM has ever made as well as several unlockable images you can view in the gallery for each of the games. Remember that you can get the pack for $9.99 or buy each game separately for $3.99.

[review score=”80″ pros=”Great ports of the original games.” cons=”Huge difficulty spike from the last pack.”]

Disclaimer

This review is based on a PS3 copy of the 1985 Pack 1 for CAPCOM Arcade Cabinet provided by CAPCOM.