Irem Collection Volume 3 Review

Irem Collection Volume 3 is the latest chapter in Irem’s re-releases of games. Calling this a collection is a bit far fetched considering it only has three games (again). This time around, we’re getting three more shoot’em ups: Mr. Heli (a.k.a. Battle Chopper), Mystic Riders and Dragon Breed.

First up is Mr.Heli, a cute shmup where players need to navigate treacherous levels, earn money, kill enemies and dodge projectiles on their way to fighting the end level boss. The game does allow a bit of non-linearity in each level. You shoot forward and backward (by turning around) along with firing missiles above you and drop bombs on the ground. This one first debuted in Japanese arcades in 1987.

Next up is Mystic Riders, a 1992 fantasy smhup where players ride a broomstick across levels and shooting projectiles for defense. While shooting, the broom emits a light blue fire flame that destroys whatever it touches. You can pick up a fire or lightning power up which can be upgraded as you pick up red gems. Every time you die after a hit, you lose a level of upgrade of your firepower.

Lastly we have Dragon Breed, originally released in arcades in 1989, is another smhup where you ride a dragon called Bahamoot who can help with movement and take down the waves of never ending enemies baring down your way.

Each game is offered in the original Japanese and Worldwide arcade versions, with Mr. Heli also including the PC Engine version. The arcade versions allow you to proverbially put in unlimited coins so you’ll basically never game over. But the PC Engine version of Mr. Heli has limited lives instead. For the arcade versions, you can fast forward and rewind to avoid certain death.

The games look great and are a faithful representation of their original arcade counterparts; bright, colors and the old school arcade pixelated visuals. Again, on the soundtrack side of things, nothing really problematic, it sounds like arcades.

My main gripe with this (and previous entries) is the greedyness attached. While I do enjoy reliving or discovering classic arcade games, offering three games with absolutely no replay value for 18 GBP feels a bit steep. Especially when you remember companies like Midway, Taito or even Capcom’s recently fighting collections, you definitely got/get more bang for your buck. All of these three collections (and I assume there’s more coming), would’ve been a more substantial offering as a single bundle, with a slightly higher price point. You also have to quit the game in order to change games.

Irem Collection Volume 3 is just another partial collection of games that I feel should be released as a bigger package; more games for a slightly higher price or let players pick and choose what they want to buy. There’s nothing inherently wrong in terms of gameplay; all games are easy to pick up and play, the PC Engine version of Mr. Heli is the star on the bundle. But there’s to replay value unless you want to beat your score. Unless you’re riding the nostalgia wave, definitely wait for a sale.