The title was created by Digital Eclipse, who developed a compiler to emulate the arcade games' source codes in order to recreate all aspects of the originals. Initially released for home computers in 1995 as Williams Arcade Classics, the compilation was ported to numerous console systems soon after.

The Story Behind Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits

Previously in 1994, Williams Entertainment's subsidiary Midway Games entered into an agreement with GT Interactive Software to distribute Midway's PC titles. Game testing was handled by Williams' team of testers.

GT Interactive Software Corp. published the CD version for Windows machines. An outside company, Midnight Design, handled the multimedia post-production for the Behind the Scenes portions. When selecting the titles to include, the developers focused on highly recognizable games that would catch consumers' attention and aid in sales.

How Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits Plays

Although the Dreamcast release includes the same content as the earlier PlayStation and Saturn ports, the Nintendo 64 version of Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 1 swapped Defender II and Bubbles for Spy Hunter and Root Beer Tapper. The anthology includes Defender, its sequel Defender II, Joust, Robotron: 2084, and Sinistar. Filner completed the port of Defender in two weeks, after which the company successively assigned him to convert Stargate, Robotron, and then Sinistar.

Joust is an action game featuring two-player cooperative gameplay that was released in 1982. The original arcade sounds were produced by a computer algorithm that fed data into a digital-to-analog converter. Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits received a mixed reception by gaming publications, with the earlier releases praised more and the later Dreamcast version receiving considerably less favorable reviews.

Why Players Still Load It Up

The company followed it with two additional compilation volumes. Sushi-X considered the collection a technical achievement and expressed excitement at the ability to play these arcade titles on the portable Genesis Nomad. GamesMaster magazine's reviewer Robin Alway criticized the Dreamcast release, commenting that the extra features were sparse and illustrated a lack of effort on Midway's part.

The publisher partnered with Digital Eclipse again in 2003 to release Midway Arcade Treasures, a multiplatform anthology of over 20 arcade titles, including the six games from the original Williams Arcade Classics. The magazine staff also reviewed the Macintosh release, rating it a point lower than its PC counterpart.

Hardware of this era was built to a price and a deadline, and the games written for it were shaped by both. What survives is the work of people finding room inside limits that were very real at the time.

Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits — Frequently Asked Questions