Another update:
1. Ys Book II: Ancient Ys Vanished - The Final Chapter
PSN Vita2. 3D Streets of Rage 2
3DS eShop3. 3D Gunstar Heroes
3DS eShop4. 3D Sonic the Hedgehog 2
3DS eShop5. 3D OutRun
3DS eShop6. Mugen Senshi Valis II: The Fantasm Soldier
PCE CD7. Mugen Senshi Valis III: The Fantasm Soldier
PCE CD8. Bomberman
PCE CD9. Rocket Knight Adventures
Mega Drive10. Trax
Game Boy11. Panic Bomber
Virtual Boy12. Arcana Heart 3: Love MAX!!!!!
Vita13. Super Monkey Ball
Gamecube14. Lost Kingdoms
Gamecube15. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle
Gamecube16. 1080° Avalanche
Gamecube17. Bubble Ghost
Game Boy18. Catrap
Game Boy19. 3D Thunder Blade
3DS eShop *NEW*
20. 3D AfterBurner II
3DS eShop *NEW*
21. 3D Fantasy Zone II W: The Tears of Opa-Opa
3DS eShop *NEW*
3D Thunder Blade
Like many of the games in the 3DS 3D Classics series by Sega and M2, this is a port of one of Sega's old super scaler arcade games. If you've ever played Super Thunder Blade on the Mega Drive, you might be inclined to avoid this one - but lets clear this up right away - the Arcade version of Thunder Blade is significantly better than the god-awful home console port.
Thunder Blade consists of 4 scrolling levels where you fly a helicopter against a bunch of enemy tanks, planes and choppers. It's big gimmick is how it changes the perspective - at some points you'll be flying into the screen dodging enemy attacks as they come at you. At other points you'll be shown a top-down perspective and shoot down at targets on the ground.
As well as shooting normally, you can also fire missiles which target enemies in the in-to-screen perspective, and travel across the ground in the top down. You can speed up and slown but this isn't too useful.
Like most of these 3D Classics ports, there are some bonus features. The main one here is an unlockable mode which powers up your missiles so they explode bigger and which rewards you with a ton of extra lives at the end of a stage based on how many enemies you missiled. It's OK, but it's basically easy mode, so kinda dumb you need to beat the game for it.
Thunder Blade is OK, but it's not great. Of the shooty shoot super scaler games, I prefer Galaxy Force to this, and probabl Space Harrier too, even if I don't love that game. I think the Super Scaler racers are generally better though - they feel less cheap and awkward.
3D Afterburner II
Aaaaand here's another super scaler shooter port. Afterburner 2 features you flying a cool jet and shooting down other cool jets and stuff. It's fast and action packed. I also think it's kinda meh.
In Afterburner, as well as shooting, you can scroll your targeting reticule over enemy planes to lock on and then shoot a homing missile at them. This is kinda awkward though, as the reticule is super twitchy and the planes come at you pretty fast. They tend to shoot missiles at you too, which are hellish to avoid. I died a lot. Enemies also approach from behind and crash into you or shoot you there too. I died an awful lot.
Missiles are the better method of attack, but they are limited. You can get them refilled every couple of stops when you make a pit stop or connect to a refuelling plane.
The problem with Afterburner is that everything comes at you way too fast and way too often and your method of attack is really kinda awkward to connect with and your giant ass plane blocks your view and you get hit with a missile and die a lot. The game doesn't change up often (a few levels where you fly between a cliff and shoot at the ground) and I got tired quickly.
If it sounds like I hated Afterburner, that;s not true. But I certainly didn't love it. For my money it's one of the weakest in the 3D Classics series. You could get i for completion, but there are so many better games in the series to pick up first.
3D Fantasy Zone II W: The Tears of Opa-Opa
3D Fantasy Zone II W is a very interesting entry in the 3D Classics series. The original Fantasy Zone 2 was created solely for Master System, rather than being an arcade port. However, when Sega released it's series of SEGA AGES PS2 remaster bundles, M2 decided to recreate the game on system 16 arcade hardware, using real arcade hardware, before emulating that for the PS2 game. In addition, they refined and changed some of the elements, such as making the warp gate system the core of a light/dark mechanic instead of having individual areas to shoot in. This System 16 version is what M2 have based this game from here.
Fantasy Zone 2 plays much like the first, complete with weapon shops, a wide selection of items to use and cool screen filling bosses. To fight the bosses, much like the first game, you must take out all enemy bases in a side scrolling area where you can freely move left and right, like in Defender. New to Fantasy Zone 2 are warp gates - they switch you between the light side (easier enemies and less money) and the dark side (harder but more lucrative). Bases in one side stay destroyed on the other. Whichever side you're on after the last base is blown up determines whether you fight the easy light side boss or difficult dark side boss. One of my favourite things about this game is that nearly all the power ups feel useful - Opa-Opa is slower and less twitchy, and unlike the first game where only the big wings were worth buying in terms of speed upgrades, you might prefer faster engines here. Upon dying on a boss you're allowed to buy a new engine too, so no dying to bosses because you're too slow!
This dual mechanic is part of a morality system that determines your ending - defeating all the light side bosses makes you fight all the dark side bosses in a boss rush on the second last level. You then become dark opa-opa, and upon beating the game you get the bad ending. This is the first one I got. You have to beat all dark mode bosses to get a light side boss rush, and become light opa-opa for a better ending. There's also a best ending for being light opa-opa and using the special 'teardrop' weapon on the final boss once defeated.
The 3DS port looks lovely in 3D, and offers a bunch of cool new features - maybe the most of the whole 3D Classics collection. A coin bank saves up all the coins you collect so that you can start off with more coins in a future run. You can also choose to start from any level previously reached, but you will be dark opa-opa if you do. Hitting certain milestones in the coin bank unlocks rewards such as infinite weapon time, extended weapon time and double coin drops. It's good stuff. In addition, there is a special high score mode called Link Loop Land available that is a unique experience all to itself and can be quite addictive.
3d Fantasy Zone 2 is really something special. I love the original Fantasy Zone (and I'm working on the 3D port now, but it's pretty tricky!) but this one is even better. It's more refined, it plays smoother and it feels fairer. The 3D port is brilliant. This is one of the best entries in the 3D Classics series, and everyone should go and pick it up.