Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)

For the Sega Saturn game, see Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits (Saturn).

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Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Williams Entertainment (US), THQ (Europe)
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Licensor: Williams Electronics Games
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Developer(s) of original games: Williams Electronics
Game total: 5
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad
Genre: Compilation
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code US 1996-09-15 T-97126 EU 1996 T-97126-50 UK 1996-11 £39.9939.99 T-97126-50 BR 1997-07 042790
Non-Sega versions Super NES

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits is a compilation of arcade games released in 1996 for the Sega Mega Drive. 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 game in Europe as Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits.

Gameplay

In total, five games are available for play in this compilation. Unlike most games that use six button control schemes by default when a Six Button Control Pad is detected, the  MODE  button must be pressed during gameplay to enable the six button controls for Defender II and Robotron 2084.

	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.

Production credits

The Digital Eclipse Design Team

• 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

Source:

In-game credits

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Williams Entertainment Inc. Team

• Print Design and Production: Debbie Austin, Steve High, Shawn Murphy, Dave Young, Jon Mongelluzzo
• Lead Tester: Jason Shigenaka
• Williams Entertainment Testing: Sunny Chu, Dallas Nunn, Jason Barnes, Jeff Truax, Benjamin Larkin
• Special Thanks: Jim Flaharty, Brian Lowe, Justin Heber, Mike Rubinelli

Source:

US manual

Magazine articles

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

Promotional material

Print advert in Next Generation (US) #22: "October 1996" (1996-09-17)
also published in:

• EGM² (US) #29: "November 1996" (1996-xx-xx)

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #89: "December 1996" (1996-xx-xx)

Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #183: "February 1997" (1997-01-10)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average
Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 40 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 80 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 48 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 90 Sega Power (UK) PAL 64 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 60

	64
Based on 6 reviews

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US (Black & White Manual)
Cover
Cart Manual Manual Back

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, BR
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits (Mega Drive)/Technical information.