Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few minutes make the pack’s intentions plain: this is about surviving chaos, learning enemy patterns, and coming back because you know you can do better. Commando has the cleanest hook. Its overhead action is direct enough to understand immediately, yet the constant fire and dangerous approaches stop it from becoming mindless. You move through hostile territory with little room to relax, which gives even a short run real bite.

Exed Exes asks for a different kind of concentration. As a vertical shooter, it turns the screen into a lane-management problem: keep firing, read incoming threats, and avoid drifting into trouble while your attention is fixed on enemies ahead. It is the least instantly approachable game in the set, but it starts to click once you stop treating it as a casual blast and begin respecting its rhythms. This is the one most likely to reward repeat sessions from a player who enjoys gradually cleaning up a messy run.

The Speed Rumbler is the welcome curveball. Trading a lone soldier for a combat vehicle gives its action a heavier, more reckless feel, and it breaks up the pack’s shooting with a different sense of movement and momentum. It is still tough in the old arcade way: quick failures can feel abrupt, and success comes from staying alert rather than simply holding down the attack. That blunt challenge is either its charm or its sticking point, depending on how much patience you have for repeated attempts.

As a three-game selection, the ordering works well. You can start with Commando’s plainspoken action, spend time chasing mastery in Exed Exes, then use The Speed Rumbler as a change of pace. None of these games is interested in easing you along, so newcomers should expect to lose early and often. If that sounds irritating rather than motivating, this pack will feel harsh fast.

Graphics

These are crisp, compact arcade pictures built around immediate recognition. Commando’s overhead battlefield view keeps the soldier and incoming enemies easy to pick out, Exed Exes fills a vertical playfield with targets and projectiles, and The Speed Rumbler puts its vehicle at the center of busy roadbound destruction. The visuals are simple by modern standards, but each game has a distinct silhouette and screen layout, so swapping between them never feels like playing the same game three times.

Story

Story is not the reason to load up this pack. Commando frames its action as a lone-soldier assault, Exed Exes turns to space-shooter urgency, and The Speed Rumbler puts you behind the wheel of an armed vehicle, but each game gets to the action quickly.

That stripped-down approach fits the era. You are not asked to track a cast or wait through long scenes; the context exists to put a gun, ship, or vehicle in your hands and let the danger start.

The result is refreshingly uncomplicated, though it also means there is no narrative payoff waiting beyond the next stage and a better performance. Come for the action and score-chasing tension, not for a story that ties the collection together.

Overall Experience

Capcom Arcade Cabinet: 1985-II Pack earns its place as a focused arcade bundle because the three games pull in different directions without losing their shared pick-up-and-play immediacy. Commando is the accessible anchor, Exed Exes is the sharper test of shooting-game discipline, and The Speed Rumbler adds enough mechanical contrast to keep the selection from feeling repetitive.

The frustration is real. These games come from an arcade tradition that expects you to learn through failure, and they do not soften their demands for a modern audience. Still, the payoff is there if you enjoy the moment when a crowded screen that once felt impossible begins to look legible and manageable.

Give it a chance if you want concentrated, demanding action in short bursts and enjoy returning to a game with a clearer plan each time. If you want a broader run through the series, the Capcom Arcade Cabinet: All-in-One Pack is the more natural next stop. On its own, 1985-II is a good, tough little trio rather than an essential package for everyone.

Retro Replay Score

7.1/10