Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)

From Sega Retro

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WAGH title.png

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Saturn
Publisher:
Sega Mega Drive
Williams Entertainment (US), THQ (EU)
Sega Saturn
Midway
Developer:
Developer(s) of original games: Williams Electronics
Game total: 6
Genre: Compilation

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
US
T-97126
Sega Mega Drive
EU
T-97126-50
Sega Mega Drive
UK
£39.9939.99[2]
Sega Mega Drive
BR
042790
Sega Saturn
US
T-9703H

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive) is a compilation of arcade games released in 1996/1997 for, among other systems, the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Saturn. The Mega Drive version was published by Williams Entertainment in North America, which, following restructuring and buyouts in the mid-1990s, became part of Midway Games, who published the European Mega Drive and Saturn versions as Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits.

Arcade's Greatest Hits contains a selection of arcade games originally released by Williams Electronics in the early 1980s. The ports were handled by Digital Eclipse, who would go on to produce numerous re-releases of this nature (such as Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1). Though the Saturn versions are nearly identical to their original arcade forms, on the Mega Drive slight alterations exist to accommodate the differing hardware. The Saturn version also has extras, such as videos and artwork.

The Sega Dreamcast game Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1 is much the same as this release, although features higher quality emulations.

Gameplay

WAGH Defender.png Defender (1980)
Defender is a 2D side-scrolling shoot-'em-up, in which the objective is to shoot aliens, avoid projectiles and obstacles and protect humans from being captured. It was unique for its day for allowing the player to move both left and right, the maps "looping" to create a "circular" playfield. It is also the primary influence for the Sega classic, Fantasy Zone.

Configurable options: ships to start, bonus at, difficulty increase, maximum difficulty, waves per planet.

WAGH DefenderII.png Defender II (Stargate) (1981)
Defender II is the sequel to Defender, though curiously was never known as Defender II in the arcades, instead opting for the title of Stargate on grounds of legal issues (Defender II being reserved for the NES and older Atari 2600 ports). Defender II is much the same as the first game, but introduces new enemies, a cloaking device and similar minor gameplay additions.

Configurable options: ships to start, bonus at, difficulty, inviso time per ship, men to warp, last wave for warp.

WAGH Joust.png Joust (1982)
Joust is a single-screen 2D "platform game", in which players control a man riding a "buzzard", who needs to hit the heads of enemies, similar to traditional jousting.

Configurable options: lives to start, bonus at, difficulty.

WAGH Robotron2024.png Robotron 2084 (1982)
Robotron 2084 is a dual-joystick top-down shoot-'em-up, in which you attempt to save the last surviving human family from robots. This game traditionally causes problems on systems with less than four face buttons (like the Mega Drive), as without a means to emulate the dual joysticks, eight directional firing is hindered, making the game significantly harder.

Configurable options: lives to start, bonus at, difficulty, controller angle.

WAGH Sinistar.png Sinistar (1982)
Sinistar is a top-down shooter similar to Atari's Asteroids, however as well as shooting enemies, players need to locate sinibombs to prevent the creation of the extremely powerful Sinistar.

Configurable options: ships to start, first bonus at, extra to next bonus, difficulty, rapid fire.

Bubbles (1982)
Bubbles is unique to the Saturn (and PlayStation) versions. Players control a bubble and need to clean a sink. Bubbles was less well received than the other games in this compilation back in 1982, so until this compilation emerged, did not see any home ports.

Production credits

Mega Drive version

  • Lead Programmer and Game Translations (except Joust): Dan Filner
  • Joust Translation: George Phillips
  • Sound Translation: Terry Coatta, Peter Phillips
  • Producer: Andrew Ayre
  • Special Thanks: Wes Gale

Magazine articles

Main article: Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

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Print advert in Next Generation (US) #22: "October 1996" (1996-09-17)
also published in:
  • EGM² (US) #29: "November 1996" (1996-xx-xx)[3]
Logo-pdf.svg
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Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #89: "December 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
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Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #183: "February 1997" (1997-01-10)
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Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
90 №51, p76/77[2]
Sega Mega Drive
90
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
40
[4]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
80
[5]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
48
[6]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
90
[2]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
64
[7]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
60
[8]
Sega Mega Drive
64
Based on
6 reviews

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)

Mega Drive, US
WAGH MD US BoxBack.jpgWAGH MD US BoxSpine.jpgWAGH md us cover.jpg
Cover
WAGH MD US CartTop.jpg
WAGH md us cart.jpg
Cart
Williams Arcade Greatest Hits MD US Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
WAGH md eu cover.jpg
Cover
ArcadesGreatestHits MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, BR
WAGH MD BR Box.jpg
Cover

Saturn version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
70 №69, p80
80 №23, p72/73[9]
Sega Saturn
75
Based on
2 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Sega Saturn
N/A
Based on
0 reviews

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)

Saturn, US
Wagh sat us backcover.jpgWAGH sat us cover.jpg
Cover
WAGH Saturn US Disc.jpg
Disc
Wagh sat us manual.pdf
Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 d68e9c00
MD5 0e1cbc28671b781b174693d234a5a446
SHA-1 8c648318fdd54e2c75c44429a72c1c1a846e67cb
512kB 1996-09 Cartridge (US)
Sega Mega Drive
 ?
CRC32 c0dce0e5
MD5 c8f4f5adc64fb344ca091982b60334af
SHA-1 97e35e8fbe1546b9cf075ab75c8f790edcd9db93
512kB 1996-11 Cartridge (EU)

References

  1. File:GamesMaster UK 047.pdf, page 11
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 File:MeanMachinesSega51UK.pdf, page 76 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega51UK.pdf_p76" defined multiple times with different content
  3. EGM², "November 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 107
  4. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 263
  5. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "December 1996" (US; 1996-xx-xx), page 96
  6. GamePro, "February 1997" (US; 1997-xx-xx), page 89
  7. Sega Power, "January 1997" (UK; 1996-12-19), page 37
  8. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 222
  9. File:SSM_UK_23.pdf, page 72