My physical copy of Microshaft Winblows 98 will live in my box of important treasures until the heat death of the universe. While not everyone can appreciate a parody application from the 90s that I bought, with my own money, when I was a high schooler, it’s an heirloom to me and it will be protected at all cost. Some people develop attachments to things thanks to timing and placement, and that’s one of the beautiful things about the Irem Collection series. While you might know Irem for their classics like R-Type, 10-Yard Fight and Disaster Report, they did other games that you probably have never thought of in any capacity. How many, you may ask? Well, this is the third Irem Collection, and there’s at least two more on the horizon, so buckle up for a fistful of things you’ve never heard of before.

Oh, MR. Heli! I thought we were talking about Heli Jr, which just taught me about addition and subtraction.

While I’ve been interested in the Irem Collection, I was totally unfamiliar with the games within, which makes it a bit more fun. All of the ones in Collection 3 are side scrolling shooters, mostly arcade based with one exception. The titles are Mr. Heli/Battle Chopper, Mystic Riders and Dragon Breed, and I don’t know a single of these prior to my review. Battle Chopper and Mr. Heli are basically the same game, but Mr. Heli is the PC-Engine version, which affords it almost the same graphics but substantially better controls. Each title is what you would expect from this sort of genre and time: you’re a character who shoots stuff, you can collect powerups while dodging enemies, and there’s occasionally bosses.

As much as I have fondness for these classic era titles, I have to be blunt that you’re getting shortchanged when it comes to Irem Collection Volume 3. The three arcade titles have Japanese and world versions of the game, and each of the titles does have the option for playing in classic mode or casual, which is a fun perk. Classic mode gives you the straightforward gameplay, and casual lets you toggle a bunch of cheats (invincibility, full weapons) as well as rewind if you make a mistake. But, again, Mr. Heli and Battle Chopper are almost completely the same game, and Mystic Riders and Dragon Breed are cut from the same cloth. Mystic lets you fly around as a young wizard on a broomstick, and Dragon lets you fly on a…dragon. Collect charges to strike more powerfully, don’t get shot and try to max a high score.

The wall won’t fight back, but that doesn’t stop me from giving it my full ire.

For what it’s worth, the titles are done well. Battle Chopper is a legitimately fun and interesting take on a side scrolling shmup. The main character seems to have a lot of control over where to go, including the screen changing to scroll vertically and backwards at a time. Instead of enemies dropping powerups, you buy them by blasting gems out of the destructible landscape and paying for them. The result is an intriguing approach to calculated upgrades. You know where the paid items will spawn every time, so you can hedge your bets and save up to get better bullets or stronger bombs, or just purchase willy nilly and hope for the best. The downside is that you can get stranded with no easy way to upgrade upon death, so learning the right path forward is important.

Given that Mr. Heli’s Great Adventure is almost identical to Battle Chopper, you wouldn’t think there’s much change to the overall approach. However, since it’s a console and not an arcade port, the enemy difficulty and bullet density is better balanced, and the controls feel like they respond better since they originated in a control pad way instead of an arcade stick. While the zoomed in graphics aren’t as crisp as Battle Chopper, the overall effect of Mr. Heli was more enjoyable, and I got better longevity out of the game. Both have their merits, but, again, are virtually the same in content, so just go play Mr. Heli.

Trying to shoot while also dropping lightning on enemies made for a very confusing attack perspective.

I wanted to like Dragon Breed because I used to be a massive fantasy geek. The idea of riding on a dragon while blasting enemies out of the sky has been done many times over (the remake of Panzer Dragoon is good), so it’s not like there’s new territory to explore. Weirdly, the gameplay for this one was the most fascinating, as you play some schmuck who blasted a dragon out of an egg and then went on a joyride to mess up monsters while chiptune power tracks played in the background. The powerups you find change your dragon’s attack and color, but you have to keep using the same pithy blaster for far too long. There are other dragons that you fight, occasionally, but mostly it’s creepy horrors that you’d expect from a game made at the turn of the 1980s.

While the screen is huge and you get some good exploration, the limitations of Dragon Breed make it less fun. Without cheats turned on, there’s a lot of pressure to survive and perform in a limited amount of time; the inclusion of a countdown timer to punish you if you’re not blasting fast enough is a bizarre one. Additionally, there’s no incentive to keep picking up the powerups to increase the level: if you get the fire power, that’s it, it never gets better. So you end up with the screen being peppered with items that you don’t want or need, and trying to blast enemies who you might not even see if you’re too far up or down. Coupled with a rather boring landscape and a short playtime, and this one was, tragically, the worst of the bunch.

Meanwhile, over in a much better broom fight than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…

Mystic Riders, on the other hand, tries to do a lot more in terms of player engagement. As one or two wizards flying around and blasting stuff for no discernable reason, the three year jump in design and process from Dragon Breed to Mystic Riders is clear. The weapons are all much more engaging and powerful, not to mention a good variety in how you approach. Sure, you’ve got a blaster, but the ability to whip your broom at enemies to slay them is a fun visual every time. There’s a seemingly endless supply of gems and jewels to pick up and loot from treasure chests, and they provide nothing more than a better score every level. Which…hey, I was having fun, and that’s the most important part of the game.

Plus, Mystic Riders is very whimsical in all approaches. Instead of robotic drones like Mr. Heli or gothic nightmares like Dragon Breed, you’ve got black cats, flying slimes and a positively goofy looking grim reaper that you get to blast out of the sky. When you do well, there are fireworks that go off to illuminate the portrait of the player. The music is upbeat and poppy, and you just feel like you’re in a fun, relaxed place that happens to be catching fire continually. It was enjoyable when you’re playing on classic mode, and it’s “GTA with all the weapons” fun when you turn on casual. There were so many bullets from me on screen that the game started to lag, and that was really funny because I was in no danger whatsoever. It certainly wasn’t challenging this way, but not every game needs to be.

I assure you, this is the correct level of force to deal with something that maybe I saw moving on the screen.

Sadly, my biggest issue with Irem Collection Volume 3 is the collection itself. For whatever reason, the barebones way it’s held together makes it a chore to play. If you start a game one, you’re there for the duration: there’s no way to kick back to the menu to change to a different game or even change the game mode. The ports have, essentially, been sequestered in four separate chambers, and you need to completely exit the software and start it up again in order to change games. This lack of streamlining was very disappointing and made it a chore to want to explore the titles therein. I don’t understand the choice, but I hope it’s patched out in the future.

Overall, Irem Collection Volume 3 is charming and fun, but it really doesn’t bring anything groundbreaking to the table. These aren’t the classics you would recognize, nor would I call them undiscovered gems that never got localized. It’s a good preservation, but, after your curiosity is slaked, you may never find yourself opening them up to play again. But at least you have the option, and that, more than anything, is the purpose of keeping these titles alive.

Irem Collection Volume 3 is available now on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4/5.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Irem Collection Volume 3 was provided by the publisher.