It’s time to go on the straight and narrow and stop kidding yourself that you ‘own’ those games you play in MAME. Why not play legitimately, even if they’re titles you have never heard of? Why would you do that?! Because it’s right, and the VISCO Collection is a good party/arcade collection.
As a gamer with heritage, I can arrogantly refer to lots of old-school titles you perhaps have never heard of nor would ever play. Seriously, you’re missing out if you haven’t played Pyjamarama on the ZX Spectrum. Still, what the heck is Bang Bead? Should I be applying my VPN?
VISCO Collection boasts a whopping seven games for the price of one. Collection is in the name, and there’s a good selection here for the price. Don’t expect anything that’ll keep you awake at night to binge through the stories or learn complicated button combinations, as each game shows the controls.
VISCO Collection
For the collector, there are side-scrolling and vertical shmups, two variations of a future sport that mixes pinball with Speedball but one vs one, a Musashi Shinobi-like platformer, one racing game, a lollipop, a slice of salami, and a footy (soccer pfft!) game. The food references are from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. My apologies.
My first point of call was the football game, one of my favourite genres. Goal! Goal! Goal! is similar to Virtua Striker and opts for the South American style of passion when putting one in the back of the net. Note the title; that’s what they say. Presentation-wise, as is the theme here, it’s gaudy, but this is precisely the type of game I used to play back in the day. Good job, VISCO Collection. I mean, QUbyte Interactive.
Unfortunately, the dribbling in this game is poor, which means doing frequent circles around the ball. Ok, let’s try everyone’s favourite sword saint, Miyamoto Musashi, in Ganryu. Wait up… I DO know one of the games as I reviewed the sequel, Ganryu 2. Much of the same here – very difficult, like Shinobi, but with a Bionic Commando claw thingy.
And Flip It
Flip Shot has players rebounding a ball like a side-facing Arkanoid into the other players’ stash. Once all of the items have been hit, you win. It’s a weird one as it’s almost like a one vs one fighter, only you don’t have direct contact with the other player, and instead, hit the ball with deflects and charges. Surprisingly, it was a lot of fun, if a little predictable, on who would win. Me. Bang Bead is the same game, so we won’t go there.
Next up in the VISCO Collection is side-scroller Andro Duonos, which is like a lower-budget version of R-Type. It’s not a bad thing, but you know where you stand the minute it begins – unlike Captain Tomaday. Despite its cute Attack of the Killer Tomatoes front-facing window, this was far too tough to coax in the kids for a two-player with their old man. Likewise, it was hard and hectic, and I didn’t enjoy this one.
Drift Out is a pretty tough…. isometric(?) rally game. It’s arcade through and through, and I have the funniest feeling that I played this back in the day, but it never resonated as it was so bloody hard. It didn’t win me over this time either, but again, variety is the spice and all that jazz.
Scanlines!!!
Finally, the personal touch: the VISCO Collection features one of the best features any retro arcade game should have – scanlines. I absolutely love this aesthetic, and it’s probably the same as Mom’s homemade apple pie, only in the arcades; the scent was mostly BO and Cheetos. The screen can be in the standard 4:3 setup with cool bezel artwork, widescreen, or a CRT skewed look. The menu system is also similar to <ahem> Hyperspin. It sets it off and is the cherry on top of nostalgia.
The question is, should you get it? These aren’t as well known as other arcade games of the 90s, so you may find that you haven’t a Scooby on some of these titles. That said, the variety is good, and if you want an extension to 198X without the story, this might be your next port of call. Andro Duonos is a standout Goal! Goal! Goal! is one for footy fans, and Flip Shot/Band Bead is a fun pick-up and play one vs one party game.
