Play Williams Arcade Greatest Hits Online

Five arcade bangers in one cart—flap knights off birds in Joust, panic-rescue humans in Defender, and try not to jump when Sinistar growls at you. They even made Robotron’s twin-stick madness work with shoulder buttons.

Developer: Williams Entertainment Inc.

Genre: Compilation

Released: 1996

File size: 513 bytes

Game Overview

Williams Arcade Greatest Hits is one of those SNES cartridges that feels like a time capsule. You get five classic arcade games—Defender, Defender II, Joust, Robotron, and Sinistar—all crammed into one. It’s not just a lazy port either; they actually tweaked the controls to work with a SNES pad, which helps a lot, especially in Robotron where the dual-stick chaos translates surprisingly well to shoulder buttons.

Joust is still weirdly addictive, flapping around on that ostrich and knocking knights off their birds. Defender’s a nightmare at first (that radar takes some getting used to), but once it clicks, you’ll be rescuing humans and blasting aliens like it’s 1981. And Sinistar? That deep, growling "BEWARE, I LIVE" still gives me chills.

It’s not perfect—Sinistar’s missing its voice in some versions, which is a crime—but for a quick hit of arcade nostalgia, this collection holds up better than most.