Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play
Posted January 26, 2006
No stranger to Greatest Hits compilations, Midway releases yet another collection of 21 arcade titles this time exclusive to the PSP. Each title is a near duplicate of the arcade original with some sacrifices taken along the way to bring the title to Sony's handheld.
Rather than simply releasing the games as single player only, Midway has included the PSPs WiFi support and has included multiplayer support for a group of titles. The single player games included are: Spy Hunter, Sinistar, Defender, Paperboy, and 720; while the multiplayer games include: KLAX, Joust, Marble Madness, Toobin', Rampage, Gauntlet, Rampart, Wizard of War, Xybots, Championship Sprint, Arch Rivals, Cyberball 2072, Xenophobe, and Mortal Kombat 1, 2 & 3.
Gameplay:
Spy Hunter
Spy Hunter is one of the earliest quarter munchers I can remember. It was a really cool arcade game with some of the best ever theme music for a video game, and featured a built-in steering wheel, pedal and shift.
Unfortunately this is one of the weaker translations on the compilation. They chose to stretch the game to fill out the screen and it the game looks stretched all out of whack. This is for an 8-bit that didn't look that hot to begin with. It also controls very poorly as well being extremely unintuitive and resulting in being just clunky to play. The load times for this game are around 20+ seconds. Yes, 20+ seconds. And you will see this load time for almost every single game in this compilation. I found this to be inexcusable.
Defender
Ah Defender. How I love thee. I only played you on my Atari 2600 for hours and hours on end. Your gamplay featuring Aliens stealing humans and having to rescue them is simply genius. This is probably one of the all-time greatest games ever made.
Luckily this is one of the better games found in this compilation, especially for its age. It's easy to play, looks good, fills the screen without looking out of proportion. The gameplay is super quick to learn, and it's the perfect time waster for those 5 minutes you need to kill while you are waiting for something. Unfortunately, as mentioned above about 20 seconds of those 5 minutes will be consumed waiting for the game to load up. Nevertheless, Defender is a huge plus for this compilation, if you like it you will be happy here.
Paperboy
Dear Paperboy. You took my money. A lot. Your cute controller was unique and fun, and instead of having to actually deliver newspapers like most kids my ages, I could pay you to experience that without angry customers and evil bosses.
Paperboy here practically arcade perfect so be happy for that. However something just isn't right in this version. Paperboy is more about the experience of holding onto a bike steering grip and having a left and right button you press to throw your papers. That charm is lost in this version and it's just not as enjoyable. It also controls pretty poorly too. Oh yeah and the stretched the graphics on the screen again -- bad!
720
Unlike Paperboy, where any kid in his right mind doesn't want to be out delivering papers, 720 depicts the crazy skateboarding life. Yep, hot chicks on roller skates, dudes in shops selling you fancy knee pads... AND KILLER BEES WHOSE SWARM TAKES THE SHAPE OF STRANGE OBJECTS AS THEY TRY AND KILL YOU!!! Ah yes, the killer bees swarms that take shapes, how predictable!
This game was the ultimate skateboarding game back in the day. It featured a unique controller that you would spin around to do actual spins in the game. Here we have the actual arcade perfect version of 720 however without being able to control it, that doesn't mean much.
On the PSP, this game is nearly uncontrollable. You have to use the analog or digital pad to do your spins. Almost every spinning ollie (the main way to gain points) results in a fall. Even after spending half an hour trying to get used to it, I still fell and fell. This isn't a huge surprise considering how unique the original arcade gamepad is but considering that almost zero effort went into making this playable they get an F for EFFORT. Oh yeah they also stretched the screen again but it looks fine here.
Again, like Paperboy this game needs its own customized controller, it doesn't work on the PSP, however if they tried to change the gameplay and controls a lot, they might get it right in the future.
Joust
You can't screw up Joust, it's JOUST. JOUST! It's fine here except for the insane 20+ second load time it takes to start the game and then another 20 seconds to exit out. Love the Joust. Nothing bad to say about the Joust. Like Joust? Okay, get this game then.
Marble Madness
I remember this game looking a lot better in the arcade. Here it looks like garbage with the stretched screen and graphics. It's also not that easy to control, but it's not horrible. Possibly worth killing a little time with, but overall I don't think many people will enjoy it, I know I didn't.
Toobin'
Toobin' is the only game they actually put some thought into how to make it unique for the PSP. They take the game and have it run vertically down the side so you have to tilt 90 degrees it to play it. The game looks awesome, the best one in the whole compilation, but plays like crap. The PSP wasn't designed to be held like this and it doesn't work. Nice try, "A" for Effort, but "D" for being unplayable.
Rampage
Ah Rampage. I believe whichever monster you chose reflected on your personality. Maybe the game makers were in cahootz with the psychologists and used this game as a sort of secret personality test? Anyway I was always the ape and sometimes the lizard.
This game turned out really nicely for this compilation and is the best of the newer games found here. It controls REALLY nicely and you can play with others wirelessly (apparently you can with others too, but this is the only one so far that stands out as one that would be fun with more than one person). The controls are very simple, punch and jump, and it's fun to just jump in and destroy a city. There's something really theraputic about it.
Gauntlet
Gauntlet was the ultimate social experience at the arcade. Plop in a few quarters and someone else might joint you later on, and then another, and before you know it you have three new friends It was also one of the earlier RPG/Dungeon style games out there in the arcades. I always picked the guy with the axe even though he was slower. Playing four players at once here was always a blast.
The port is pretty good here. Arcade perfect, good graphics and there is a multiplayer mode that would make it even more fun.
Championship Sprint
Sprint doesn't come out that good here. The arcade was always a blast because of the crazy steering wheel that you could spin on a dime. The analog stick doesn't work as well as that wheel and they haven't tweaked the gameplay to overcome this. It just doesn't translate into a good handheld experience. Good translation of graphics and sound though, looks just like the arcade.
Arch Rivals
Ahhh Arch Rivals, the predecessor to NBA Jam without the fancy showboating dunks. Instead you just kicked and punched opponents. Works good here and just like the arcade and it controls really well. Multiplayer would be a blast. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Cyberball 2072
This game was tough to control at the arcade and it's no different here. It just doesn't work, the controls are horrible. Pretty unplayable. Good translation of the game though.
Xenophobe
Ahhh Xenophobe and its multi-screen arcadey goodness. Oddly enough this might be the best translation on this entire compilation. It's nearly perfect! They captured the fun graphics and the split screen gaming perspective perfectly. This will definitely entertain you if you liked the arcade original.
Mortal Kombat 1, 2, & 3
This is by far the biggest letdown of the entire compilation. These games control really poorly, it's tough to execute the split second moves on which the game so heavily relies. The graphics, however, look EXCELLENT so it's even more of a letdown considering it could have been much better.
The other games I tried out and none of them stand out in my mind as being that good, my apologies for not including them here. They include: Rampart, Wizard of War, Xybots, and Sinistar.
Graphics:
For the most part they used stretch screen for the games here. This is really bothersome since the games weren't redesigned or tweaked at all to look good in this stretched mode. For the most part it just makes the graphics look strange and out of perspective. Sometimes they are able to get away with it, but for the most part they should have kept the original resolutions of the games.
Audio:
The games sound fine, just like the originals. Every beep, theep, thwok, bong and wooop is found here just as it is found in the arcade.
Conclusion:
This compilation could have been a lot better. The load times found here are horrible. 20 seconds to just load a game and 20 seconds to exit the game. This is just unacceptable and really takes the quality of the game down a few notches. You are going to be gaming with these on the go and you don't have time to wait around for Defender to load up. That's absolutely insane. Then stretching the screens without changing a thing also hurts the games. Finally the poor controls that you will find in these games is the straw breaking the flying Joust camel's back.
Stay away from this compilation unless you absolutely must play Rampage, Defender, or Xenophobe.
Rather than simply releasing the games as single player only, Midway has included the PSPs WiFi support and has included multiplayer support for a group of titles. The single player games included are: Spy Hunter, Sinistar, Defender, Paperboy, and 720; while the multiplayer games include: KLAX, Joust, Marble Madness, Toobin', Rampage, Gauntlet, Rampart, Wizard of War, Xybots, Championship Sprint, Arch Rivals, Cyberball 2072, Xenophobe, and Mortal Kombat 1, 2 & 3.
Gameplay:
Spy Hunter
Spy Hunter is one of the earliest quarter munchers I can remember. It was a really cool arcade game with some of the best ever theme music for a video game, and featured a built-in steering wheel, pedal and shift.
Unfortunately this is one of the weaker translations on the compilation. They chose to stretch the game to fill out the screen and it the game looks stretched all out of whack. This is for an 8-bit that didn't look that hot to begin with. It also controls very poorly as well being extremely unintuitive and resulting in being just clunky to play. The load times for this game are around 20+ seconds. Yes, 20+ seconds. And you will see this load time for almost every single game in this compilation. I found this to be inexcusable.
Defender
Ah Defender. How I love thee. I only played you on my Atari 2600 for hours and hours on end. Your gamplay featuring Aliens stealing humans and having to rescue them is simply genius. This is probably one of the all-time greatest games ever made.
Luckily this is one of the better games found in this compilation, especially for its age. It's easy to play, looks good, fills the screen without looking out of proportion. The gameplay is super quick to learn, and it's the perfect time waster for those 5 minutes you need to kill while you are waiting for something. Unfortunately, as mentioned above about 20 seconds of those 5 minutes will be consumed waiting for the game to load up. Nevertheless, Defender is a huge plus for this compilation, if you like it you will be happy here.
Paperboy
Dear Paperboy. You took my money. A lot. Your cute controller was unique and fun, and instead of having to actually deliver newspapers like most kids my ages, I could pay you to experience that without angry customers and evil bosses.
Paperboy here practically arcade perfect so be happy for that. However something just isn't right in this version. Paperboy is more about the experience of holding onto a bike steering grip and having a left and right button you press to throw your papers. That charm is lost in this version and it's just not as enjoyable. It also controls pretty poorly too. Oh yeah and the stretched the graphics on the screen again -- bad!
720
Unlike Paperboy, where any kid in his right mind doesn't want to be out delivering papers, 720 depicts the crazy skateboarding life. Yep, hot chicks on roller skates, dudes in shops selling you fancy knee pads... AND KILLER BEES WHOSE SWARM TAKES THE SHAPE OF STRANGE OBJECTS AS THEY TRY AND KILL YOU!!! Ah yes, the killer bees swarms that take shapes, how predictable!
This game was the ultimate skateboarding game back in the day. It featured a unique controller that you would spin around to do actual spins in the game. Here we have the actual arcade perfect version of 720 however without being able to control it, that doesn't mean much.
On the PSP, this game is nearly uncontrollable. You have to use the analog or digital pad to do your spins. Almost every spinning ollie (the main way to gain points) results in a fall. Even after spending half an hour trying to get used to it, I still fell and fell. This isn't a huge surprise considering how unique the original arcade gamepad is but considering that almost zero effort went into making this playable they get an F for EFFORT. Oh yeah they also stretched the screen again but it looks fine here.
Again, like Paperboy this game needs its own customized controller, it doesn't work on the PSP, however if they tried to change the gameplay and controls a lot, they might get it right in the future.
Joust
You can't screw up Joust, it's JOUST. JOUST! It's fine here except for the insane 20+ second load time it takes to start the game and then another 20 seconds to exit out. Love the Joust. Nothing bad to say about the Joust. Like Joust? Okay, get this game then.
Marble Madness
I remember this game looking a lot better in the arcade. Here it looks like garbage with the stretched screen and graphics. It's also not that easy to control, but it's not horrible. Possibly worth killing a little time with, but overall I don't think many people will enjoy it, I know I didn't.
Toobin'
Toobin' is the only game they actually put some thought into how to make it unique for the PSP. They take the game and have it run vertically down the side so you have to tilt 90 degrees it to play it. The game looks awesome, the best one in the whole compilation, but plays like crap. The PSP wasn't designed to be held like this and it doesn't work. Nice try, "A" for Effort, but "D" for being unplayable.
Rampage
Ah Rampage. I believe whichever monster you chose reflected on your personality. Maybe the game makers were in cahootz with the psychologists and used this game as a sort of secret personality test? Anyway I was always the ape and sometimes the lizard.
This game turned out really nicely for this compilation and is the best of the newer games found here. It controls REALLY nicely and you can play with others wirelessly (apparently you can with others too, but this is the only one so far that stands out as one that would be fun with more than one person). The controls are very simple, punch and jump, and it's fun to just jump in and destroy a city. There's something really theraputic about it.
Gauntlet
Gauntlet was the ultimate social experience at the arcade. Plop in a few quarters and someone else might joint you later on, and then another, and before you know it you have three new friends It was also one of the earlier RPG/Dungeon style games out there in the arcades. I always picked the guy with the axe even though he was slower. Playing four players at once here was always a blast.
The port is pretty good here. Arcade perfect, good graphics and there is a multiplayer mode that would make it even more fun.
Championship Sprint
Sprint doesn't come out that good here. The arcade was always a blast because of the crazy steering wheel that you could spin on a dime. The analog stick doesn't work as well as that wheel and they haven't tweaked the gameplay to overcome this. It just doesn't translate into a good handheld experience. Good translation of graphics and sound though, looks just like the arcade.
Arch Rivals
Ahhh Arch Rivals, the predecessor to NBA Jam without the fancy showboating dunks. Instead you just kicked and punched opponents. Works good here and just like the arcade and it controls really well. Multiplayer would be a blast. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Cyberball 2072
This game was tough to control at the arcade and it's no different here. It just doesn't work, the controls are horrible. Pretty unplayable. Good translation of the game though.
Xenophobe
Ahhh Xenophobe and its multi-screen arcadey goodness. Oddly enough this might be the best translation on this entire compilation. It's nearly perfect! They captured the fun graphics and the split screen gaming perspective perfectly. This will definitely entertain you if you liked the arcade original.
Mortal Kombat 1, 2, & 3
This is by far the biggest letdown of the entire compilation. These games control really poorly, it's tough to execute the split second moves on which the game so heavily relies. The graphics, however, look EXCELLENT so it's even more of a letdown considering it could have been much better.
The other games I tried out and none of them stand out in my mind as being that good, my apologies for not including them here. They include: Rampart, Wizard of War, Xybots, and Sinistar.
Graphics:
For the most part they used stretch screen for the games here. This is really bothersome since the games weren't redesigned or tweaked at all to look good in this stretched mode. For the most part it just makes the graphics look strange and out of perspective. Sometimes they are able to get away with it, but for the most part they should have kept the original resolutions of the games.
Audio:
The games sound fine, just like the originals. Every beep, theep, thwok, bong and wooop is found here just as it is found in the arcade.
Conclusion:
This compilation could have been a lot better. The load times found here are horrible. 20 seconds to just load a game and 20 seconds to exit the game. This is just unacceptable and really takes the quality of the game down a few notches. You are going to be gaming with these on the go and you don't have time to wait around for Defender to load up. That's absolutely insane. Then stretching the screens without changing a thing also hurts the games. Finally the poor controls that you will find in these games is the straw breaking the flying Joust camel's back.
Stay away from this compilation unless you absolutely must play Rampage, Defender, or Xenophobe.