Before they were known for Dance Dance Revolution, Konami created some of the best arcade games of the Golden Age. From early crowd-pleasers like Time Pilot and Scramble to the fondly remembered Contra and Gradius, Konami had a vice-like grip on America's quarters. Konami Classics Series for Nintendo DS collects 15 of the company's arcade titles and, for the most part, presents them with the respect they deserve.
I found no issues with the emulation; each game is exactly as you remember it, for better or worse. The true hits of the library are the aforementioned shooters Contra and Gradius, along with the Cold War-era military action game Rush'N Attack. Of the earlier games, I became hooked on Circus Charlie, in which you play a clown running and jumping through circus performances.
But some of the games are -- to put it gently -- only interesting as historical footnotes. Yie Ar Kung Fu was the inspiration for Street Fighter, but it's not one-tenth as playable. And Track & Field, in which players frantically bash buttons to make their athletes run faster, is painful on the DS.
Arcade Hits' biggest issue is that the games were originally designed for a vertically-oriented monitor and thus never look quite right on the DS' wide screen. You can rotate the display and hold your DS sideways for a fuller view, but it's too uncomfortable to play. And what's up with the price? $30 is about ten bucks more than I'm used to paying for retro compilations.
__—__Chris Kohler
WIRED Nice presentation, lots of games
__
TIRED__ Aspect ratio is never quite right, several games are duds, high price
$30, Konami
Rating: 
