Oh man, so here’s the deal with this Irem Collection Volume 3 thing. It’s like taking a nostalgic rollercoaster ride back to the late 80s and early 90s, where arcade games were all the rage. And yeah, this collection’s dropped digitally, which is kind of cool because who even has space for all those cabinets anymore, right?
Okay, so diving in, we have Mr. Heli first. This thing’s from 1987 and it’s like, well, one of those “cute ’em ups” — yeah, an actual genre! Picture this little helicopter with legs. It’s weirdly cute, but also packing serious heat. Loads of scrolling action, which I guess was a big deal back then. Also in the mix is Mystic Riders from 1992. This one’s got wizards on broomsticks. Really. You’re casting spells and chucking boomerangs at sky turtles and demons. Total chaos but in a good way.
And Dragon Breed? Think R-Type but with dragons. You’re basically riding this enormous dragon, torching foes left and right. Sounds epic, right? But man, these games were meant to drain your pockets. Like, “Insert Coin Here” forever kind of vibe.
Okay, side note — the visuals. They’ve been jazzed up with filters and whatnot. CRT vibes if that’s your jam, or maybe shake it up a bit. Options galore. Also, there’s this whole leaderboard thing now — so if you fancy seeing how you stack up against someone in, I dunno, Tokyo or wherever, you can. Global bragging rights, baby!
And oh, before I forget — controls. They’ve made tweaks so it’s comfy on modern consoles. Remap those buttons however you like, and thank the arcade gods they added autofire. Your thumbs will thank you later.
Don’t sleep on the quick save/load features either — saves you from those moments of utter arcade despair. You can even rewind and pretend you’re not that bad. Trust me, you’ll need it.
Wrapping this mess up, you can snag this whole bundle on Xbox One and Series X|S. And hey, if you missed Volumes 1 and 2, those are floating around digitally too. Dive in, explore, get frustrated, trust me, it’s part of the charm.
