Nothing ages quite so poorly as technology, but ‘80s-arcade fans are bound to feel nostalgic yearning for some of the 30 games in Midway Arcade Origins.
Fire up Gauntlet or its sequel with three friends, and you’ll relish how magical those early dungeon crawls are. The same goes for simpler fare like Defender’s blasting, Rampage’s building-bashing, and Spy Hunter’s road rage. Youngsters raised on glossy modern consoles will wonder why anyone would bother, but aging joystick jockeys will be entranced. Super Sprint’s racing is comparatively primitive, and Smash TV’s dual-stick shooting mayhem remains mindless, but they’re still piles of fun. You’ll even find oddball diamonds-in-the-rough, like Rampart’s quirky blend of construction and cannon fire, and the twisting, over-the-shoulder shooting galleries of Xybots.
One of our favorites, Xybots crams all the action into a tiny space.Not every oldie’s a winner. Twitchy steering ruins A.P.B.’s top-down driving, while overpowered analog-stick momentum amounts to cheating in Marble Madness. And good luck finding anyone who thinks Wizard of Wor’s stiff controls and grating computerized voice have aged well, or that Pit-Fighter wasn’t pure crap the day it appeared.
The biggest bummer for retro enthusiasts is this package’s complete lack of special features. Hoping to ogle close-ups of the cabinet artwork, or pore over scans of the original sales fliers? Looking for save-anywhere functionality, like in the recent Sega Vintage Collection releases? You’ll find none of that here. For $30, you get a slapped-together, bare-essentials collection of ancient games — a solid value, but hardly fan service.
Toobin’ is a bright river ride around obstacles and through point gates.PUBLISHER: WB Games • DEVELOPER: Backbone Entertainment • ESRB: Teen • MULTIPLAYER: 4 in sequence, on same screen, or in split-screen mode, depending on game • ACHIEVEMENTS: Arbitrary • COST: $30 • RELEASE DATE: November 6, 2012
+ Substantial collection of enjoyable classics, most of which look sharp and control well.
– A few titles hobbled by poor controls; includes some bad eggs that always stank.
– Lacks basic emulation functionality like save states; almost no vintage artwork.
? Where are Gorf, Discs of Tron, and NARC?
