Analysis of the Irem Vol 1 collection

Relive the ship shooter genre with Irem Collection Vol.1

Nothing else, but in the 90s, we suffered in our flesh. a widespread invasion of ship games. Whether in its domestic or recreational version, this rise of the genre has left us with some very fun and spectacular proposals and at the same time other boring titles without pain or glory. One of these companies that committed to developing this type of title (among others of course) was Irem, a Japanese developer responsible for very good releases in arcades and on home consoles such as Famicom or PC Engine. Now we can memorize or discover part of its catalog thanks to Irem Collection Vol 1. Ready to save the world from the alien threat?

Let the engines roar

All titles belonging to Irem Collection Vol. 1 They have a common denominator: the desire to eradicate the aliens that appear on the screen. To do this, we will have to arm ourselves with courage and pilot our ship through a series of missions across the three games that make up this pack. But be careful, because it’s not just three matches, since on several occasions We will have different versions, with very significant changes as we will discuss below.

The space raid begins

From the beginning we can enjoy Image Fight, Image Fight II and X-Multiply. And although they are shooters belonging to the same genre, we find distinctive features in each of them. The first and most important is Image Fight, which is also the one with the most versions. We will be able to enjoy its recreational version (American and Japanese), its release on NES and also on PC Engine. The recreational version and the PC Engine version take the best part. On the other hand, the version for Nintendo’s 8-bit console has no name…

Beyond graphics, we are faced with an extremely well-managed proposal, although it was launched 35 years ago. We are not facing a hell like the one we know today, but We will need to know the pattern of the enemies who come to hunt us down. on each screen. To make the eradication of threats as satisfactory as possible, we will have the help of some mini-turrets that will support us on both sides of the ship, and we will have shot modifiers which will be essential at certain moments of the adventure, in particular against the final bosses which await us at the end of each level.

tanker

Irem Collection Vol.1 does not stay anchored in its saga masterpiece, but we will have Image Fight II. A sequel which, in my opinion, shines less. Besides the fact that it was only released on PC Engine (the main attraction for playing it), it has slower and heavier ship control. Here we need to be well aware of each alien ship’s attacks if we want to successfully exit each trifurcation. Despite its flaws, At least visually it’s quite up to par, with models of ships and enemies of an excellent level for the era we are dealing with.

Eventually, The Odd Parent comes with X-Multiply. We will leave here the exterior space of previous deliveries for fully enter a human body. Yes friends, you read that right. It’s like “Once Upon a Time in the Life…” but much more difficult and bloody. On this occasion we will completely change the parchment, move from vertical to horizontal movement. And although the turrets so characteristic of the saga are no longer so direct, we will have the help of robotic arms that will have several functions, each more useful. We are faced with a playable style that greatly reminiscent of the R-Type, which, in fact, was also developed by the same company.

Choose your own challenge

Every game in there Irem Collection Vol.1 has an arcade mode and an adventure mode. The difference, beyond the lives and consequences that each one can have, lies in the difficulty and the rewind option. Despite these new features, I’m missing more extras like a remastered version, or even a little more history on its creation or development, which would help add additional importance to the collection.

All this means that, as on other occasions, we are talking about a product designed by and for the fan of these games. There are currently many different (and better) proposals, although speaking of nostalgia, those who enjoyed these jewels as children may want to get this pack. Could other Irem gems have been included? Well yes. But at least between the versions and game modes, we will have fun for a few afternoons save humanity from a fateful fate.

Conclusion of the Irem Collection Vol.1

Inin Games is happy to announce a pack that will delight retro gamers. This collection includes Image Fight, Image Fight II and X-Multiply, each of these installments with their respective versions and game modes. Fortunately, whatever happens shooter Let’s just say that they are all very pleasant today despite the time they have.

We are not before bullet hell current and frenetic, but it is true that each title requires prior study of the phase and knowledge of the enemy pattern. And if we don’t want to waste so much time, we can always use rewind, I’ll leave it at that. We’re missing a few games, or a remaster that makes it more appealing, but with what we have in the pack we’ll be able to entertain ourselves for hours in front of the TV.