Taito Legends

"You Will Be Servants of "The Satan"! Or Just Hopelessly Addicted to Space Invaders..."

Taito Legends is a collection of 29, count 'em, 29 old school arcade games from the company who brought us the famous Space Invaders, among many others. Yes, you read right, 29 games included. Other game compilations could learn a thing or two from Taito Legends.

Graphics and sound are, from what I gathered, the same as they were in the arcades. The main menu is simple but looks nice, with a horizontal-scrolling line of games which, when selected, display the arcade cabinet of the game. Speaking of the main menu, the remixed Space Invaders song when choosing a game is catchy as heck and enhances the old school feel. Access times are super fast, both going to the game and returning to the menu.

Controls vary with each game, of course, but all seem to work just fine. Each game allows you the choice between the joystick or D-Pad as well. Purists may scoff at the lack of light gun support for games that used them (or something similar) in the arcades, like Battle Shark, Operation Wolf & Thunderbolt, and Space Gun, but the joystick or D-Pad works surprisingly well and is just the right scrolling speed for shooting a mass of enemies at once.

As for the gameplay, if you're an old school fan, you'll love it. The games included are (in alphabetical order): Battle Shark, Bubble Bobble, Colony 7, Continental Circus, Electric Yo-Yo, Elevator Action, Exzisus, Gladiator, Great Swordsman, Jungle Hunt, The New Zealand Story, The Ninja Kids, Operation Thunderbolt, Operation Wolf, Phoenix, Plotting, Plump Pop, Rainbow Islands, Rastan, Return of the Invaders, Space Gun, Space Invaders 1 & 2, Super Qix, Thunderfox, Tokio, Tube It, Volfied, and Zoo Keeper.

The most fun games on here are, obviously, Space Invaders 1 & 2. Even today, the tension as you blast the aliens into oblivion and their pace gets faster and faster coming towards the bottom of the screen is still effective. Also fun are The New Zealand Story, a fun 2D platformer starring a kiwi bird; Space Gun, Operation Wolf, and Operation Thunderbolt, which put your first person shooting skills to the test; Continental Circus, a formula racing game similar to Pole Position only better; Electric Yo-Yo, a puzzle game where you clear the screen while avoiding enemies; Zoo Keeper, another puzzle game where you must run around a square perimeter and avoid animals outside the cage while keeping the rest in; Rastan and Thunderfox, two sidescrolling hack n' slash platformers, and of course, Elevator Action, the classic platform shoot-em-up. Honorable mentions include Bubble Bobble, which hasn't aged well but is still reasonably fun, Colony 7, a Missile Command-style game, and Tokio, a vertically scrolling shooter marred by rather bland graphics.

Truthfully, however, not all the games on here are classics. Stuff like Gladiator, Great Swordsman, and Phoenix aren't very good, Rainbow Islands pales in comparison to Bubble Bobble, and I've never been a big fan of the Qix series or Tube It. Even so, the good games outnumber the bad, and with nearly 30 to choose from, there's a lot of variety, which is something many current compilations lack.

In addition to the actual games, there are also a few video interviews with the Japanese creators, a history on each game, and flyer art, plus some customizations here and there. The sound during the interviews is pretty quiet and it's all subtitled so if you hate those things, stay away, but the rest of the special features/options are worth checking out.

You can get this compilation for $20. If you don't abhor games more than ten years old and are itching for some trigger finger action, Taito Legends may be worth your while.

P.S.: The title of the review comes from the game The Ninja Kids, included on this disc. It's full of Engrish translation errors like that, many of which are hilarious.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/06