IGS Classic Arcade Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

IGS Classic Arcade Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab IGS, or International Game System Co., Ltd — not to be confused with ’90s Japanese developer IGS (Information Global Service) — is a dedicated arcade developer hailing from Taiwan. Still going strong after 25 years in the industry, it maintains an incredibly strong foothold in both Taiwan and China, producing successful racing game series like Speed Driver, now on its fifth entry, and various light gun and redemption machines. IGS’s development of the Polygame Master (PGM) hardware in 1997, and its acquisition of the DoDonpachi license from shooting game Goliath, Cave, was significant. ROMSLAB.COM Best Switch Games

IGS Classic Arcade Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

After seeing IGS’s DoDonpachi II: Bee Storm in 2001, Cave was not only convinced to stay in the market, but went on to license the PGM hardware to produce DoDonpachi DaiOuJou and Ketsui. This Switch collection is based on that hardware, ignoring the PGM2 and PGM3 that succeeded it. In the IGS Classic Arcade Collection package are eight titles: Knights of Valour: Super Heroes, Knights of Valour Plus and Knights of Valour 2: Nine Dragons; Oriental Legend and Oriental Legend: Spooky; The Gladiator, Martial Masters, and the eminent Demon Front.

“Galaxy Wars” – a space shooter game where players control a spaceship and battle against enemy ships.

For those of you who aren’t aware of IGS, this company was a pioneering Taiwanese outfit. Established in 1991, it had the goal of competing with the then-giant of the Asian game market (Japan) through a combination of high-quality games and its own arcade boards. It really hit its stride around 1996, when it created the PolyGame Master (PGM) arcade board – at that stage the only Asian arcade tech not owned by a Japanese company – and started releasing a series of side-scrolling brawlers that would become the company’s most iconic properties. These included Oriental Legend, Knights of Vakor, and The Gladiator. Those games, their sequels and spinoffs comprise the bulk of the Classic Arcade Collection. Valis COLLECTION Switch NSP

IGS Classic Arcade Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

IGS is still around and producing arcade games for a dying market. However, the heyday was definitely back when it was dropping these brawlers on the market. Most of them are quite decent, too, with Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Journey to the West being recurring themes through them. The Knights of Valour series, now nine episodes strong, can still be found in almost every Taiwanese and Mainland China arcade. Based on the famous 14th-century Chinese historical work Romance of the Three Kingdoms, its beat-’em-up profile draws heavily on Capcom’s 1989 Dynasty Warriors – also inspired vicariously by the Three Kingdoms story.

“Alien Invaders” – another space shooter game where players must defend Earth from an alien invasion.

Where Knights of Valour impresses is in its ability to better Capcom’s effort in many ways. The initial game features a whopping eleven playable characters, each with a broad variety of moves. Beginning with a stunning flaming ship assault, it follows the Three Kingdoms tale fairly closely with cutscenes and voiceover narration, beautiful locations, and appropriate enemy progression. Graphically it’s a knockout, with stunning animation, gorgeous colour casting, and fantastically exotic backgrounds. It’s only superseded by Knights of Valour Plus, a reworking that changes the cast slightly but rebalances and improves the game with new objects, scenes, items, and play structures. Valis: The Fantasm Soldier Switch

IGS Classic Arcade Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

It’s a long affair, working best with multiple players, and requires concerted dedication. But, as period scrolling beat ’em ups go, it’s remarkably well done. What really impressed me, having never played these games before, was how many characters there were in some of them. With most brawlers you expect four, five or even six characters to choose between, but not twelve. It was more common for fighters of that era to have rosters that large. Each character plays substantially differently in each brawler, and the PGM technology was capable of rendering some really nice animation and environments.

“Street Fighter II” – a classic fighting game where players select a fighter and battle against other fighters.

However, all the weaknesses and limitations of brawlers in that time period are also apparent thought this collection. Far too apparent. As arcade titles, the brawler genre was designed to guzzle down the coins, and consequently, difficulty spikes can be huge. This is especially true of the bosses. I like the way brawlers play, but the arbitrary approach to difficulty, just so you can drop another coin has always turned me off it. IGS certainly had that problem in its own games. In spades. Worse, with this collection, there’s almost no relief from it. There are just two titles that belong to other genres. One is Demon Front, which is a cheap clone of Metal Slug.

IGS Classic Arcade Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

The other is Martial Masters, which is a fighting game that history has largely forgotten for a reason. Other than that this collection is entirely one note, and every game is designed around you not getting very far between “coins”. The quality of porting and emulation is good, technically. The screen can get busy with characters in some of these titles, but it remains smooth and playable. The developers have included the ability to save anywhere and adjust the difficulty level yourself. This alleviates some of the issues that I have with the genre as a whole and have mentioned above, if only slightly. However, aside from those two features and online play, there’s very little else done for this collection. Valkyria Chronicles Switch NSP

Add-ons (DLC): IGS Classic Arcade Collection Switch NSP