The retro gaming movement has been in full swing for quite some time now and remains as popular as ever, so it’s no surprise that older companies continue to put together compilation after compilation.  The latest is Midway Arcade Treasures 2, a collection of 20 different arcade games from Midway’s storied past.  Much like last year’s release this collection has its share of hits and duds, although there are fewer duds than before.  This time the collection includes:

Obviously, the stars of the pack as far as Midway is concerned are Mortal Kombat II & 3, Gauntlet II, Spy Hunter II, and NARC.  If you don’t believe me, just look at the prominent positioning they’re given on the box (listed first on the back and pictured on the front).  However, I would also strongly recommend checking out Arch Rivals, Cyberball 2072, Total Carnage, and Xybots as well.  Arch Rivals is a classic arcade basketball game that predates NBA Jam (and the one I probably played most as a kid), Cyberball 2072 is a sort-of futuristic football with robots and an exploding ball, Total Carnage is the successor to Smash TV and another frantic shooter, and Xybots is an innovative (for its time) 3D shooter.  There are a couple of real stinkers in the collection (either unplayable or didn't age well), including Kozmik Krooz’r, Wacko, Timber, and Pit Fighter among them.

Since these games are emulated, not every conversion is 100% accurate.  The sound in several games is a bit distorted, and there are a number of minor graphic irregularities.  For some reason Pit Fighter runs super-fast (I’ve heard it’s twice as fast as the original, but can’t verify that), to the point where it really isn’t even playable.  On the whole however, Digital Eclipse did a good job of emulating the original hardware on PS2.  Like Rampart in last year’s version, a few games also suffer from having to use the PS2 controller.  Championship Sprint in particular is very hard to control, as the analog stick is extremely sensitive and the slightest press can result in hitting the wall and/or getting turned around completely.

Obviously the graphics in most of these games won’t even compete with what’s on the GBA these days, but since most of these games are newer than in the first installment they hold up a bit better.  Aside from a few minor glitches they’re identical to the original game, which is really what matters most here.  The same can be said of the music and sound effects.

My primary complaint with the original was the presentation, and for the most part that’s been fixed in this installment.  The interface is much better than before, with a cleaner look and easier to read text.  The bonus content includes a short history on each game, a gallery for each game (usually just sell sheets), and in many instances bonus video interviews with the original developers.  However, most of these videos were obviously filmed years ago and the audio quality is extremely poor in them.  For the next installment I’d really like to see Midway get creative with the bonus content (more behind-the-scenes, conceptual artwork, MP3s, etc.) as well as film some new stuff exclusively for the collection.

HIGHS:

LOWS: