This is a quick look at the second classic arcade compilation which I feel every gamer should own, or at least experience - Konami’s Arcade Classics.

I should point out that this disc has more filler than the Midway collection I talked about in Part 1 of this article. However, the strengths of four games here far outweigh the relative mediocrity also displayed by some of the lesser games. These four games, each one adding new elements of gameplay to existing genres, are: Yie Ar Kung Fu, Time Pilot, Gyruss and Pooyan.

The fighting game genre… started by games like Kung Fu and revolutionized by Street Fighter II in the early 90s. One game stands out as a bridge between the old and the new – Yie Ar Kung Fu. This was the first fighting game to offer truly dynamic, fast action. Your character could leap into the air, duck, jump and attack in lots of different ways. Most of the opponents each specialize in a certain weapon (and are in fact, named for their weapon of choice). The female called Star attacks with shuriken, for example. Learning the patterns of each fighter took skill and patience, but the fast and furious action is what makes this game a personal favorite and a well-deserved classic.

Another personal Favorite, Time Pilot, borrowed some ideas from Robotron 2084. Your ship can move in any direction, although it only fires straight ahead, and enemies attack from all sides, but also added plenty of ingenuity to make it different and refreshing. For example, although your ship remains centered on the screen at all times, each of the games historically-themed levels is huge – in fact, you can fly in any direction eternally without hitting a barrier. The feeling of progression through the ages of flight (from WWI era biplanes to futuristic UFOs) helped give the game a goal, although clearing the final stage only sent you back to stage one with a harder difficulty setting.

Gyruss worked on a similar concept as Time Pilot, but instead of placing your ship in the middle of the screen, its on an invisible, circular track around the edges, firing "into" the screen as enemy craft fly out from the center. Gyruss borrowed this "rotating around the middle" gameplay from the classic Tempest, which has also re-appeared over the years in updated forms.

Finally, Pooyan, a game about a lone pig archer trying to save his family from the evil wolves, is so original and different it deserves mention (and lots of play) in this article. Your bow-and-arrow armed pig is in an elevator car at the right side of the screen, opposite a cliff atop of which sits a balloon machine. At the bottom of the screen, your porcine relatives scamper to safety, while the wolves attempt to float to the ground and abduct them. Your job is to pop the wolves balloons before they reach the ground. Your movement is limited to up and down, and a wicked physics engine puts an arc on your arrows, making the task of balloon-popping all the more difficult.

Of the four games I’ve mentioned here, Pooyan is easily the most obscure, and it’s a niche game which won’t please all gamers. The others are a virtual history lesson in gameplay mechanics, however, and deserve recognition be all gamers.

I should also mention that the Konami disc includes the four games I’ve talked about in this article, plus the following: Scramble, Super Cobra, Circus Charlie, Shao-Lin's Road, Roc 'N Rope, and Road Fighter. Of these, Super Cobra and Shao-Lin’s Road stand the test of time better than the rest and are still fun today.