Midway Arcade Treasures

"One of the best classic arcade collections ever at a price you can't refuse"

INTRO: These classic arcade collections seem to come out all the time. They come out, usually with a small amount of games(especially in relation to modern console memory capacity), maybe 2 or 3 that you'd actually want, and to make matters worse at a standard modern day price. This game however has 24 games total, most(not all) are true classics IMO, and at $19.99 truly a small and worthwhile investment for your PS2 library.

GENERAL: As a collection, I think this is truly one of the best that has ever been released. As I touched on earlier, in many of some of the earlier collections released, a lot of really obscure titles can abound. This is usually a result of licensing issues and other things of this nature. Well it seems that Midway now has access to nice library of great old games(a lot of the old Atari and William's games among their own), because I think anyone that went to arcades fairly regularly during the 80's and early 90's will know most of these games. Lets talk about the the individual translations themselves.

720: The original skateboard game. I can't say I was a huge fan of this game back in the day, but it seems to be a dead on conversion. Control may not be as tight as it could have been but, its really not too bad. All in all well done, and good choice for the collection IMO. Still holds up reasonably well too.

BLASTER: One of the more obscure titles in the collection. Its an old flight sim style space shooter. This is one of the few games on the disc that I can honestly say I had never seen before. That said it would seem to be pretty dead on graphics and sound wise, and control is great. Doesn't hold up terribly well, but its certainly worth a try.

BUBBLES: Another obscure one. Your a bubble trying to soak up stuff without getting popped. I have a very vague recollection of this one, but it seems to be another perfect port graphics and sound wise. If my memory serves, this was a trackball game, but I didn't have any problems with controls. All in all a strange yet pretty addictive game.

DEFENDER and DEFENDER II: Certainly 2 of the most(if not THE most) popular titles on the disc. The original free scrolling space shooter and its sequel are perfectly reproduced graphics and sound wise, and control just fine. Time to get addicted to Defender all over again.

GAUNTLET: Another popular classic. The original monsters and mazes quarter gobbler. Its pretty much flawless in every category as a reproduction. Doesn't hold up terribly well in my opinion because this game never ends. It was designed solely to take away quarters. Good for walking down memory lane, but with infinite continues your gonna get bored at some point. Still, Multiplayer is worth your time

JOUST and JOUST II: In the same league as the Defender games on the classic popularity scale. The games that taught us all about the FLAP button. To be honest I was never a fan of the first Joust or its somewhat rare sequel. This was mostly because I was just never very good at them. But they are both reproduced perfectly graphics and sound wise, and control perfectly as well. If your a former Joust junkie I'm sure you'll be in heaven.

KLAX: Atari's answer to the Tetris and puzzle craze of the late 80's early 90's. I never liked this game way back when and still don't. But, its as good as it was in the arcade in virtually every category, if you like that sort of thing. I'll still take the original arcade version of Tetris over this any day of the week though.

MARBLE MADNESS: Many people have fond memories of this game where you must guide a marble down crazy obstacle courses. I can't say I'm one of them, but it was and still is a really novel game a decent addition to the collection.
Graphics and sound are pretty much perfect, and control is decent enough. If your fan of this game I think you'll be pleased.

PAPERBOY: One of the great Atari games of the mid 80's. This is probably the best translation of this game that I've played. Graphics and sound wise its perfect. Some people may have a hard time getting used to the control with the right analog being the pedal and the left analog being the handlebars, but once you get used to it its actually pretty nice. Still a blast to play too.

RAMPAGE: Another popular classic that was one of my favorites as a kid. 3 ordinary people turned giant monsters are out to destroy every major city in the USA. A pretty much perfect translation in every category. Like Gauntlet however, with infinite continues and no end it gets boring. Destroying the cities in your state can be fun though. Also, Multiplayer is definitely worth trying

RAMPART: Not sure if I'd really call this a classic. Never really saw a ton of people playing this back in the day, but its still a fun and challenging mix of puzzle, strategy, and action. Another game thats perfect graphics and sound wise. Control is also good despite the fact that this was a trackball game. Multiplayer rocks.

ROADBLASTERS: This is one of my all time favorites. Its a shooter and a driving game all in one. Perfect graphics and sound wise. Control like Paperboy(and all other games here that had a steering wheel and pedal in the arcade) may be awkward at first, but good once you get the hang of it. Still a blast to play.

ROBOTRON 2084: Dual joystick blasting is back! Another old school Williams classic. Graphics and sound are perfect. Control is OK. In this and the other dual joystick games on the disc the d-pad or the left analog move your character and the right analog fires in eight directions. Movement is fine, but sometimes I find that I'll get stuck firing diagonally if I don't have the analog stick in its perfect up, right, left or down position. Now maybe this is something that can be corrected through practice, or maybe its my control pad, but either way I'd have to say that control is somewhat less than perfect. Still a fun game to play though.

ROOT BEER TAPPER: Another obscure game on the collection, that I remember only vaguely from back in the day. You play a bartender trying to serve people on 4 different bars at the same time. It would seem that this is a perfect port in all categories, and its fun little game too.

SATAN'S HOLLOW: Yet another one of the more obscure games on the disc. Its an early style shooter similar to Galaga or Galaxian but with a button for force shield. I remember this game somewhat well, and its a perfect port. Holds up as well as Galaga in my opinion, and very challenging too.

SINISTAR: The popular free roaming classic shooter. I never really got into this game back in the day, but like most games from its era on the disc, its perfect in every category. I'd say it holds up as well as Defender and Robotron, but I'd rather play the other two personally.

SMASH TV: TOTAL CARNAGE! I LOVE IT! The game that brought dual joystick action back for the 90's. This is one of my absolute favorites, and one of the biggest, baddest, goriest quarter munchers of all time. Sadly, its somewhat imperfect and seems somewhat rushed onto this collection. There is some weird slowdown in between rooms, and sometimes the music cuts out for no apparent reason(and I don't remember this happening in the arcade). Control wise, it has the same analog related problems as with Robotron. But to be honest, all these things are really pretty nitpicky kind of stuff, and this is still a really good translation of the arcade game. Multiplayer Mayhem.

SPLAT A weird and obscure dual joystick game that tackles food fighting. Graphics and soundwise, its perfect, and controls as good as Robotron. Didn't play it much way back when, and have played it much now either.

SPY HUNTER: Another favorite of mine from way back when thats just as good today in my opinion. Graphics and soundwise it has been recreated perfectly. Control wise, like other driving games on the disc its a little awkward at first, in fact the sheer amount of buttons used make it the most awkward of all of them. But, I can now say that I've mastered the controls(default) and am just as good now as I was back then(if not better). Still a blast.

SUPER SPRINT: I never really got into this game back in the day. I was a much bigger fan of its counterpart Super Off-Road(which hopefully will be in the next collection). Still, its a perfect port, and is still good fun multiplayer action.

TOOBIN: Probably the only game ever made about the sport of whitewater tubing. Didn't play this much back in the day, but its a perfect port in all categories. Its still fun once you get the hang of it. Fun Multiplayer too.

VINDICATORS: Another game I rarely played back in the day. But, I must say that this game was all over the place back then. Another perfect port in the area of graphics and sound. Control is OK with the analogs or L and R buttons, but still not great. Good enough though.

EXTRA FEATURES: Each game has a section for additional info featuring interviews with the designers, trivia, a gallery, and history. However, you'll quickly find that some games are much more detailed than others when it comes to this stuff. In fact, all a lot of games have are a couple of cabinet photos in the gallery section. Still the stuff that is there as far as the extra features go is interesting stuff, and definitely worth checking out if you want to learn more about behind the scenes kind of stuff from the old days of video gaming.

OVERALL: I said it earlier and I'll say it again, this is one of if not the best classics collection I have ever seen. Even if you only like 5 games on the whole disc, at $20 dollars, I still say its worth a purchase. But if your like me, and you grew up feeding quarters into most of these games, then for $20 you have to get this game. There is just really no reason not to.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/04