Capcom are one of three truly massive Japanese coin-op makers - the others being Taito and Sega. Starting with the otherwise banal Black Tiger, all recent Capcom coin-ops have used the CP graphics chip which has made possible some of the most spectacular, colourful and highly detailed graphics in the arcades. All eight games below used the chip, but some programming teams extracted the core gameplay to make for great C64 conversions, others didn't...

One of the stars of the show, Ghouls 'N Ghosts (96%. Issue 57) is the very successful sequel to the classic Ghosts 'N Goblins. Yet again, King Arthur dons his armour to rescue his beloved Princess Hus. Five incredibly varied and imaginative levels are filled to the brim with loads of different baddies trying to strip Arthur to his underwear and worse. Exceptionally tough but immensely playable, this cracking conversion also boasts nicely detailed graphics and a truly gorgeous Tim Follin soundtrack - one of his best ever, in fact.

Another top-notch Software Creations conversion, LED Storm (94%, Issue 47) has you zooming through nine vertically scrolling levels at the wheel of a futuristic sports car. Roadhogs get in your way and drain your energy on contact, but can be destroyed by jumping on them. You also need to jum to clear the occasional gaps in the sky-high road. It's a simple concept, but the fast-paced racing action is instantly addictive with lots of nice touches including huge juggernauts and the frogs which grab onto your bumper to stop you jumping - waggle to shake them off! Not to mention the great presentation, parallax scrolling and another classic Follin soundtrack!

Though also a Sizzler, Forgotten Worlds (93%, Issue 50) was surely vastly overrated by the then Zzap crew. It's a decent enough conversion but not *that* special. One or two players are armed with guns which can be rotated by holding down fire and len right to blast alien all corners on six horizontally scrolling worlds. Zenny coins can be collected to buy power-ups in one of the shops which occasionally appear. It's straightforward no-nonsense blasting fare with the heavy attack waves marred by lots of flicker.

Another mindless blast-'em-up, UN Squadron (67%, Issue 70) similarly features horizontally scrolling, simultaneous two-player action. This time, though, the players are flying tiny fighter planes contending with an endless onslaught of military hardware. It's playable for a few goes, but soon gets repetitive.

Dynasty Wars (62%, Issue 63), on the other hand, is repetitive and boring from the word go. Crude gameplay has the horse-mounted hero fighting foot-soldiers and other cavalry in Ancient China. Each of eight levels consists of several single-screen combat zones where all the enemies must be destroyed to scroll onto the next area. Certainly not the best of Capcom coin-ops it offers very little gameplay or graphical variety.

By contrast Strider is one of the most imaginative, spectacular and playable of the Capcom coin-ops. An athletic, cartwheeling hero flashes his laser sword through battlegrounds including downtown Moscow, the chilly Siberian wastes, a jungle scene populated by Amazon women and finally the battleship Ballog. Unfortunately Tiertex got their hands on the C64 conversion, throwing ninety percent of gameplay and graphics away to make a truly tedious game, Strider (42%, Issue 57). Two entire levels are missing, while the remaining levels lack the vast majority of the creatures and even simple soldier sprites rarely appear. It there were reasonable time limits you could complete it all on your first go; as they're not and collision detection is poor it might take you a bit longer, but why bother? This must rank as one of the most pointless arcade conversions of all time.

Strider II (62%, Issue 69) is the only title here not based on a coin-op, with Tiertex having created their own original sequel. It doesn't bear serious comparison with the Capcom game, but is more suited to Tiertex's limited talents. Despite featuring blocky sprites and largely monochromatic backdrops, it's marginally more playable than its C64 predecessor, although exploring the labyrinthine levels gets repetitive. The only innovations are the hero's laser gun and his end-level transformation into a sluggish armoured robot.

Just as conventional, Last Duel (72%, Issue 49) is a standard vertically scrolling blaster with you controlling a car (which can leap over obstacles) and space fighter on alternate levels. Technically it's no great shakes with basic sound, blocky sprites and jerky scrolling, but it plays much better than it looks so it's not too bad at all!

An awful lot of filler and only two really good titles, one of which (LED Storm) has already appeared on budget. Also, four of the titles (Ghouls 'N Ghosts, LED Storm, Forgotten Worlds and Strider) were featured on the Platinum collection so think about this compilation before parting with your dosh. We warned you.