Taito Legends [PS2]

Taito may not be a household name to casual gamers, but it still deserves respect. After all, the company is responsible for one of gaming's first great achievements, Space Invaders. Taito's been no slouch since, developing many solid releases. However, history is written by those who control the present. Taito was recently sold to Square Enix, though curiously Sega and Empire are putting out this budget-priced compilation. That mish-mash doesn't make for the best odds for an epic collection, and while the name says Legends, very few of the 29 games here fit into that category.

There are some definite gaming icons, however. Obviously, Space Invaders is as vital in a real gamer's library as The Odyssey is for literature fans or Black Sabbath's We Sold Our Souls For Rock & Roll is for rock aficionados. It shows its age, but you'll still find yourself engulfed in addictive alien warfare. The Bubble Bobble series was another feather in Taito's cap, and its 100 levels of dino-bubble fun are here -- as is the semi-sequel, Rainbow Islands. Elevator Action will bring back fond memories, though its lack of actual progression can be a bummer (Donkey Kong never kicked you back to the start of the same stage once you reached the top). Anyone who's played Ultimate Qix knows how brilliant and entertaining that game is.

Other gems are more obscure. Tube-It is a really clever puzzle, mixing falling blocks with a pipefitting mechanic. New Zealand Story is a charming, cute, and inventive platformer released for the Genesis exclusively in Europe that rivals anything with a hedgehog or plumber. Thunderfox melds shoot 'em ups with Contra-style action to great effect, with nonstop excitement and good, crisp visuals.

And really, that's about it. Those eight titles are the bulk of Taito Legends' value. There are some games worth checking out more for spectacle, though. The Double Dragon-esque Ninja Kids is one of the most unintentionally funny games you'll play -- and not just because you battle "the Satan." Great Swordsman is a fencing title similar to Karate Champ.

Almost everything else is a dud. Operation Wolf and the handful of other gun games are useless without a peripheral. There are a bunch of Space Invaders clones that offer little innovation over the original. Then you have many games that are just rip-offs of better, more known games -- Zookeeper is sort of like Donkey Kong, Jungle Hunt resembles Pitfall, and Plump Pop is like a bad Circus Atari, which in turn is a Breakout wannabe.

The vast amount of throwaway inclusions here makes the obvious forgotten titles that much more conspicuous. Number one on that list is Bust-A-Move, arguably the second most popular puzzle game franchise behind Tetris. That alone would've likely added five hours of playtime to Taito Legends. Chase HQ, Arkanoid, and the Darius shooter series also aren't represented. You're telling me putting Exzisus, Electric Yo-Yo, and Plotting were higher priority? Balderdash!

The finger can likely be pointed at Taito Legends' budget price. Everything about it screams low-rent: The packaging is lame, the instructions are seven pages long, and there's little if any interesting art or sound effects included. Compare this to Activision Anthology, which licensed 80s music to play in the background and featured unlockable graphical variations to use during games. Even the PSone Namco Museum titles had a first-person section of Pac-Man wandering through a virtual museum.

That's not to say there are no extras in Taito Legends. You'll get some interviews with programmers of the bigger titles, and be able to view the sale sheets for everything else. However, it pales in comparison to the extras in Midway Arcade Treasures, for example. Of course, extras in games are even less likely to be watched than special features on DVDs, so maybe this is a moot point.

What is worth noting, though, is that Taito Legends doesn't seem like a lovingly compiled selection of hits. The emulation is solid, and games look and sound like they did back in the day, but the effort stops there. If these were all great games, that would be enough. Since the majority of them are barely worth the quarter it would take to play them in the arcade. We'd have to put Midway Arcade Treasures, Atari Anthology, Capcom Classics, and Activision Anthology higher on your to-buy list than this mediocre medley.