I do like a good shoot ’em up and when it comes to arcade classics, Irem were king. Publisher ININ Games has repackaged a trio of shooters with Irem Collection Volume 3.

“ININ is back with Volume 3 of the IREM Collection, delivering a trio of fantastical shoot ’em ups! This time, it´s magic, machines, and mayhem.”

I think I’ll review these three games in reverse order of my liking, so I’ll start with Mystic Riders. Now, I’m not saying that Mystic Riders is bad, quite the opposite, I really enjoyed it. It’s just that of the three titles in this collection, it’s the one I’ll be coming back to the least. Playing as a witch (or a wizard if playing two-player), you sit on your broom and shoot down all manner of whimsical enemies. This one features a very basic weapon system, with only two to pick from (fire and lightning). You pick up gems from defeated enemies to level the weapons up and if you die you drop down a level.

Mystic Riders is a decent shooter, but maybe a tad on the easy side. Really nice and colourful graphics, big boss fights and such. There are a few other features, such as throwing your broom to hit enemies and bullets, plus there is a dodge/roll move that helps you out of a tight spot. But overall, Mystic Riders is quite light in terms of gameplay and as I said before, it’s on the easy side. Well, the first run is. When you get to the end, you are tasked to play through the game again, this time it is harder. Honestly, this harder mode did make the game far better, but the limited weapon options still make this one the lesser of the three in this collection.

Next up is Mr. Heli (AKA Battle Chopper). This one has so much more going on. While still a classic shoot ’em up, you have eight way scrolling, more open and (slightly) explorable levels, decent weapons and so much more to lose yourself in. There’s a weapon selection that you purchase by “mining” crystals hidden behind destructible blocks. The little cute, orange helicopter has a lot of personality and can not just fly, but also walk on the scenery.

Mr. Heli is a tough challenge, but not to the point being unfair. Enemies and bullets fly in from all directions and you really need to keep an eye on everything all at the same time. There’s a lot going on here with some really inventive level design, alternate routes, secrets to find and such. For something like a shooter, this offers up a lot to do an it is crammed with gameplay. I may as well point out that you also get Mr. Heli’s Great Adventure included. This is the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 port of the arcade game. I found this one far easier to play than the original arcade version. This port does suffer from some slowdown and graphics clashing, but it’s still a pretty playable version.

Finally, and my favourite game of the trio, Dragon Breed. I used to play this a lot back in the day and getting back into it with this collection has been a joy. Mr. Heli has the really amazing level design, but for pure shoot ’em up action, Dragon Breed is supreme. The graphics are bold and big, and the action is frantic. It plays very similar to another Irem classic, R-Type (one of my favourite shooters ever)… but you sit on a dragon. And let’s be honest, sitting on a dragon will never not be awesome.

While your dragon is pretty huge, it is only the rider who can be killed, so you can use the dragon to block bullets and even take out enemies. The weapon selection is good with several different projectiles to pick from, and they can be powered up via picking up multiples of the same weapon. Dragon Breed is just a really great and well balanced shooter that typifies what arcade shoot ’em ups were all about back then. Definitely the best of the three games here.

Irem Collection Volume 3 is going to set you back around £20 on the consoles. The overall package doesn’t offer up anything much outside of the three games. You get all the usual screen options (make it look like an arcade monitor, CRT, etc), there’s the standard rewind and fast forward. Two play modes for each game. You get Classic, which is the pure arcade experience and you can’t change the options. There is Casual, which lets you choose the difficulty, add extra lives, use save states and even apply cheats (no achievements/trophies though). All of the games can be played in the original Japanese or Western releases… and that’s about it.

As with collections like this, I would’ve liked to have had some history on the games, how they were developed, artwork, etc. If you are going to preserve and celebrate gaming history, then do it with some respect. You just get the three games and all the standard options, but is that really worth £20? We’ve had similar and bigger collections in the past, like Irem Arcade Hits (18 games) which give you a lot more for your money. As good as the games may be, £20 for three shoot ’em ups and not much else is not great value for money for several decades old titles. I did enjoy Irem Collection Volume 3, but I think there are better options out there to play these classics. Maybe wait until this comes down in price, as it surely will.