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IT'S ALL
BEEN DONE BEFORE
MIDWAY
ARCADE TREASURES
Written By Shaun McCracken
I'm a sucker for these kinds of games (deja vu), where you get a whole
slew of classic games on one disc. Midway pretty much pioneered this
type of genre back in 1995 with the first arcade compilation dubbed
"Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits", where you would get 6 games on one
disc (or cartridge). Each year or so after that. Midway would release
another collection with 6 or 7 games in one pack. While it's great to
get into each set of classics at first, there's always the realization
after a day or so that you only have six games, and they are pretty
much older and archaic then the offerings available on consoles at that
time. Many critics and even people have wondered why we haven't seen a
large collection of games on a disc, seeing how disc based media can
hold so much. Well, after about 5 or so compilations, Midway has
finally outdone themselves by providing the biggest collection they've
ever published. Midway's Arcade Treasures contains 24 classic games
from Midway and the now-defunct-but-now-acquired-by-Midway, Atari
Games. While we've seen most of these games in past collections (there
are a couple of new additions), we have never seen them together in one
package.
Oh, and what games are in the package you ask? Well, here's the list:
Spy Hunter, Defender, Defender II, Gauntlet, Joust, Joust 2, Paperboy,
Rampage, Robotron 2084, Smash TV, Bubbles, RoadBlasters, Blaster,
Rampart, Sinistar, Super Sprint, Marble Madness, 720, Toobin', KLAX,
SPLAT!, Satan's Hollow, Vindicators, and Root Beer Tapper. A very solid
and diverse collection, indeed, but I'm still pissed that they have not
included S.T.U.N. Runner in one of their collections! Midway does hold
the rights to it, why must I still be tormented? Maybe next time in
another collection, and hopefully bring along some other games such as
Hard Drivin', APB, Cyberball and even Mortal Kombat (hard to believe
it's over 10 years old!).
Okay, let's get something out of the way here; it's hard to review a
compilation package. I think I've said this before when reviewing Sonic
Mega Collection. Seeing how these kind of games are not up to par with
current generation graphics, sound and even depth, it's tricky on how I
could evaluate this type of game. So I'll have to really base
everything on how good the emulation is, as well as the presentation
and even the collection itself. I will also have to consider current
generation technology, even though it seems unfair in some way.
The most important thing about a compilation is the emulation. These
games were originally developed on unique and different arcade boards,
so each game requires special attention so that they would work
correctly in the collection. Past Midway collections have suffered from
varying quality. For example, Midway Collection 2 for the PS1 back in
1997 was fairly consistent in quality and stability. But 1998's Atari
Collection 2 for the PS1 had glitches that made the sound strange, and
even trigger spontaneous pauses (mainly in Marble Madness). But Arcade
Treasures seems to be the most tuned and consistent collection to date,
where every game pretty much runs at full speed with out odd glitches
and look as they should. Some games do have some volume issues (some
games are louder than others), but all games do sound like they should,
even better than how they were in past collections (RoadBlasters is one
game in this collection that has seen an improvement over the last time
it appeared in a previous collection).
Now, even though the emulation may be right, how does it play on a
Gamecube controller? I was a bit concerned that some games wouldn't
translate well onto this system control-wise, such as Smash TV or
Robotron 2084, due to the GC's button layout. But Digital Eclipse did a
suprisngly good job on adapting all of the games to suit the needs of
the player. The two games I mentioned earlier (Smash TV and Robotron
2084) are mapped appropriately to the controller, by having character
movement with the main analog stick, and firing with the C-stick. I
think it's even truer to the arcade versions that way, since I believe
those two games might of had two arcade sticks originally. Maybe I'm
wrong on that, but the point is it fits. Some games are mapped in a way
I would have never thought of, but make sense. RoadBlasters is one of
them. Here, Digital Eclipse mapped the gas function on the R-trigger.
Again, they've made great use of what's there. But some games in the
collection are more of a hassle than they should be control-wise.
Vindicators is one of them, as you don't have control of the vehicle as
one whole part (like a car), but you use one stick to move one tread
and the other stick to move the other tread. It takes some getting used
to, but the game is playable. Toobin has some of the same problems as
Vindicators when it comes to control, but instead of treads, it's
paddling. Spy Hunter has way too many functions to memorize, and the
special weapons seem to be tossed anywhere on the controller. The
current version of Spy Hunter was easier to play than this emulated
version. Then there are some games that just don't seem to control
right at all, maybe due to perspective. 720 and Paperboy seem to be the
trickiest to control for me. Paperboy in this collection just never
seems to enable you to reach your quickest speed or brake quickly to
avoid obstacles. It's playable, but it's a bit trying in doing so. 720
seems to suffer the most in terms of control. The skater never can
really reach full speed, I can't get him pointed anywhere where he's
supposed to go, and the trick system is a bit unresponsive. I remember
having the same problem in a past compilation, but it's even worse
here. Most will handle correctly, just take note that some games will
be trickier to play than others, either due to a more complex scheme or
just bad controls.
Graphics. What can we say about them here? Nothing is in 3-D (some
games such as Marble Madness fake it by perspective, but it's still 2-D
since you only see one side), and nothing much really surpasses what we
see on the Game Boy Advance. I guess it's safe to say that most of the
games are very much how they did look in the arcades. Some games, such
as 720 and Paperboy do suffer from a bit of washed out color, but most
games do look pretty sharp. None of the games really suffer from
slow-down. I heard that the PS2 and X-Box versions of MAT had some
slowdown in Smash TV, but I have not at one time seen slow down in the
GC version. It seems like whatever kinks arise in the graphics of the
previous versions of MAT have been ironed out in the GC version (of
course, the GC version was delayed, too). Some games still do have a
certain charm to their look, that even with today's technology, they
still seem to look good. Marble Madnesss, RoadBlasters, Klax, and Smash
TV are some of them. Then other games were never that great. Rampage
being the biggest disappointment, not because of emulation, but because
of how it looked originally. This game was made in 1986, but looked
like something from 1983. It looked so archaic and simplistic even for
that time.
The sound is pretty much a duplicate of what you heard in arcades. All
the sound effects and music are there, and it's pretty clear in almost
every game. The weird crackly sound in the music of RoadBlasters in
Atari Collection 2 has been cleared up this time around. Some games do
operate at different volumes for some strange reason. Klax will be
loud, but I had to turn up the sound for Sinistar. Other than that,
there's not much to complain about.
Final Thought
Even though these games are over 15 years old, they still have a lot of
great game play to offer. That being said, Midway's Arcade Treasures is
a great value. Even though we've seen most of these games in past
collections, they're finally here all in one package, and at a very
reasonable price of $19.99. You may not like all of the games, but I
bet a lot of people will find at least 6 or more games that they will
like out of here. Plus, it does offer something for everyone of all
ages. What's also great is that some of these games have multiplayer
functionality, such as Gauntlet, Rampage, Super Sprint, Smash TV and a
few others. I am, however disappointed that there isn't a whole lot new
in this collection. Vindicators, Rampart and Satan's Hollow are new and
never have been in previous collections, but to me that's not enough.
I'm still waiting for S.T.U.N. Runner to appear in one of these
compilations, and it wouldn't hurt to see Hard Drivin, Cyberball, APB
and even Mortal Kombat in the compilation. It also would have been nice
to toss in a unique game in each version of this game. Seeing how
Nintendo and Midway had a joint venture in Cruisn' USA back in 1994,
that would have been a great exclusive to see in this package. But
that's just me. I always want more. As it is, Midway's Arcade Treasures
is one of the best compilations to come around in quite some time. It's
not perfect, but it still has a lot of timeless game play to offer.
.
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Published
By :
MIDWAY
Developed
By:
DIGITAL
ECLIPSE
Year Published :
2003
Players :
1-3
ESRB Rating:
TEEN
OVERALL
SCORE
8.0
VISUALS |
7.0 |
AUDIO |
7.0 |
GAMEPLAY |
8.5 |
REPLAY
VALUE |
7.8 |
INNOVATION |
7.5 |
Almost every game here has been seen on previous collections, but it's
nice to have everything on one disc, and for only $20. There's a lot of
solid hits to warrant a buy.
Sega
Smash Pack
Sonic Mega Collection
Namcomusem 50th Anniversary Collection
Sega Classics Collection
Sonic Gems Collection
Midway
Arcade Treasures 2 and 3
Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1
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