Midway Arcade Treasures

"It's a great collection if you're old enough to appreciate it."

Okay. Why on earth would someone who did not love at least one of the games on this disc even bother to buy it? And then to complain about it because it has graphics from the 1980s? Well, isn't that the point????

These games are terrific BUT only if you liked one or more of the games in their original form. If your first games included Pokemon then you're probably too young to appreciate this collection. But if you've ever gone to an arcade where ALL the games took only a single quarter per play, there will be (at least) a game or two on this disc that will bring back memories.

Of course, there's really no point in discussing whether or not you should buy this collection because if you've ever played any of these games in the arcades, you already own this disc. And if you have not, spend your 20 bucks on a yu-gi-oh collection 'cause you won't appreciate this.

If you look at the graphics from today's perspective, they would be a 2/10, but if you look at them as a replica of the original, they're an 8/10.

The sound is accurate. If you want to listen to music, buy a CD. If you want the original squish, pop or splat sounds that came from the arcade machines, you got it. (Play Bubbles... if you've ever played it in the arcade, you'll know exactly what I mean.)

Replayability? If you have any friends, spark up Gauntlet and see how many hours pass before you go to the washroom. What about Joust? Will you ever go back and play it again if you beat it (oh, hey, can you actually beat it)? Perhaps, perhaps not, but if you've played ANY of these games in their arcade forms, you'll get at least 20 hours of play out of the whole collection and that makes it well worth 20 bucks.

Don't buy it expecting to like all the games on it. Nobody could do that (there were some really bad games out in the 80s) but if there's a game on there that you loved (Defender anyone?), you'll be getting a true port of it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/20/05