Some absolutely timeless classics featured on Data East Arcade 1, and though it’s surprising that it took Blaze so long to revisit the publisher’s classic arcade titles, Data East Arcade 2 is another welcome jaunt back into the 80s and 90s.

Of course, with 12 games on this cartridge, not all of them are masterpieces, but they’re all at the very least worth checking out, even just to see how far arcade titles progressed in such a relatively short time period.

Let’s take a look at three single screen platformers first. Peter Pepper’s Ice Cream Factory takes the star of earlier classic, Burgertime, and puts him to work on making desserts instead of the main course. It’s reasonably fun, but hasn’t aged as well as its spiritual prequel.

And then we have actual sequel, Super Burgertime, which is technically impressive in comparison to the original, but just seems to be overly punishing for the sake of it.

Though the original Burgertime is tough, and can feel ridiculously challenging, it doesn’t often feel unfair in the way the sequel does.

Platforming ninja cavemen Joe and Mac are up next, with a slight genre switch to single screen platformer, rather than a scrolling title.

Joe & Mac Returns is more akin to the Bubble Bobble or Snow Bros style of single screen platformer than something like Burgertime, and it’s really good fun.

Shoot ’em ups are pretty well represented on this cartridge too, with B-Wings, SRD: Super Real Darwin and Last Mission. I thought the latter was particularly enjoyable, given its unusual, multi-directional nature.

Mid-80s, Wild West run-and-gunner feels like it walked so Sly Spy could run, and third person target shooter, the aptly named Shoot Out, feels as if it would have worked better with a light gun (though of course it’s not quite a light gun shooter style game anyway).

Crude Buster, which was also known as Two Crude Dudes on various console conversions, is a hilariously daft beat ’em up with chunky sprites and the ability to pick up almost anything to throw at your enemies.

Midnight Resistance almost needs no introduction, being an absolute stone cold classic of the run-and-gun genre, though the arcade machine’s rotary joystick is definitely missed here.

Edward Randy is a mind-blowingly action-packed, Indiana Jones-style title with some astonishing sprite-scaling action sequences, and finally Trio the Punch: Never Forget Me is an utterly bizarre beat ’em up that needs to be seen to be believed.

It’s another really strong collection, with decent variety in its selection of games. In my opinion, Data East Arcade 2 is one of the best cartridges in the Evercade’s arcade range so far, and feels like an absolute must buy.

You can buy Data East Arcade 2 from Amazon.

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