Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced

Arcade Advanced is a multicart compilation of popular Konami action arcade games from the 1980s. From a selection screen, the player can choose one of six games. The collection comprises Frogger, Scramble, Time Pilot, Gyruss, Yie Ar Kung-Fu, and ''Rush'n Attack. The games feature new elements, such as enhanced graphics and multiplayer modes via the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable. The Konami Code can be used to access enhanced aspects of each game. For example, new stages are available in Time Pilot and Gyruss whereas Frogger and Scramble'' can be played with improved visuals. Frogger is a 1981 action video game developed by Konami for arcades. The game tasks the player with navigating a frog safely across a busy road and river with dangerous obstacles. Frogger includes a timed competitive two player mode that can be played with either one or two cartridges. The enhanced version allows the player to select the type of ship to fly. The game also includes a multiplayer mode where two players compete to obtain the highest score. Gyruss is a tube shooter released in 1983 and created by the designer of Time Pilot. It includes a new hidden Black Hole level accessed by the Konami Code. The new multiplayer mode pits two players against each other. Its multiplayer mode allows two players to cooperatively play the game together. == Development ==

Arcade Advanced was developed and published by Konami. A team of four programmers, led by director Minoru Toyota, spent six months creating the game. Three of the programmers were each instructed to focus on the single player mode of two specific games. Jimi Ishihara programmed Frogger and Yie Ar Kung Fu. Yuji Yoshiie was assigned Scramble and Gyruss while David Mantzel worked on Time Pilot and ''Rush'n Attack''. Masaki Sugimoto served as the lead artist with several individual artists assigned to certain games. The audio manager was Jun Funihashi. Toyota developed the overall system and the multiplayer modes. While the team referenced Nintendo's sample program for multiplayer, they created their own system tailored to the collection's titles. Toyota considered developing the multiplayer component very challenging, specifically keeping the ROM file size small enough to implement single-cartridge multiplayer. Large adjustments were made to Yie Ar Kung Fu and ''Rush'n Attack in order to reduce their respective file sizes. Konami announced that the game shipped early in North America near the end of March 2002. Arcade Advanced'' was released on a 32 megabit Game Boy Advance Game Pak. The company promoted the game at its booth in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May 2002. The next month, the game was released in the European region. Majesco released a plug and play version in 2004. == Reception ==

''Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN''s Craig Harris remarked on the conversion's accuracy when previewing the game. The reception in European media was more mixed. A reviewer for German magazine Club Nintendo praised the European release, calling it a bargain. They recommended the anthology to players that like fast-paced games but commented that nostalgic fans would enjoy it more. While they acknowledged the titles were not on par with contemporary games, the reviewer felt the collection was entertaining nonetheless. Jeuxvideo staff was more critical, stating that the nostalgia did not compensate for the poor and dated audiovisuals. While they called the gameplay intuitive, the reviewer wrote that the games are uninteresting and most will forget about Arcade Advanced. Commentators have praised the compilation retrospectively as well. Harris considered it among the fifteen best games for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. He called Arcade Advanced one of the best compilations of classic arcade games, citing the "near-perfect renditions" and the features unique to these conversions of the titles. While highlighting the single-cartridge multiplayer capability of the system in 2004, Harris remarked about the technical challenge to using the feature and commended Konami for going "all out" with the feature's support in Arcade Advanced. In 2006, IGNs Mark Bozon considered the title one of the hidden gems of Game Boy Advance. ==See also==