Official Website

Platform: PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC CD-ROM

Genre: Retro Gaming

Number of Players: 1 - 2

You might be wondering, Taito . . . are they worthy of being labeled legends? Absolutely, and I spend the better part of my childhood playing video games in the arcade with Taito’s name stamped on them. The company’s humble beginnings are a simple importer and distributor of vending machines soon changed to pinball machines during the 1960’s before helping to fuel what we become a revolution in 1978 with the release of Space Invaders, and the rest of course is history. Many of these games haven’t been seen in years save for the dusty corners of bars and a few retro arcades, but now the games are all included in one handy collection containing some of the best and most influential games that Taito created.

Twenty-nine games is a lot to take in, but the video games of the late 70’s and early 80’s, even those seen in the early 90’s, were quite basic in their design, but fun nonetheless. What you will find is the best of the bunch, and that starts with none other than Space Invaders (1978) as well as Space Invaders Part II (1979), but not some fancy redesign, but the original look at feel, though Return of the Invaders (1985) actually is a full-color version of the classic game. The idea behind the game is simple: you have a laser cannon that you can move left or right on the bottom with four bases that you can hide behind. From the top to the screen, aliens begin to work their way down, dropping bombs as they march closer and closer to your position. All you need to do is destroy them, and they will be replaced by another wave . . . then another . . . there’s no end. Similar to psace invaders is Plump Pop (1987), though here you will have to bounce a cat (or a dog, or a pig) into the air and burst blocks that look like UFO’s.

In the early days of video games, Space Invaders wasn’t the only successful title, but Asteroids and Missile Command proved to be huge money makers. Tatio attempted to cash in on the success of Missile Command with Colony 7 (1981) which featured the same style of gameplay; defend parts of your city of invading ships (not bombs) to progress to the next stage. While not nearly as good as what Missile Command is, Colony 7 still isn’t a bad game, though not nearly as addictive.

Space Invaders isn’t the only shooter found on the disc however, and there are many other games found here. Operation Wolf (1987) and Operation Thunderbolt (1988) and were light gun titles in the arcade, though the home console release doesn’t support this option. Like any light gun game, you simply need to shoot each and every enemy that you see on the screen. Phoenix (1980) plays just like another popular retro arcade game, Galaxian and was actually one of the first full-color video games released. Yes, if you’re too young to remember, there was a time when games were black and white, comprised of vector graphics without any three dimensional gameplay. We even had only one button, or none in some cases, like Pong, but we liked it that way.

The light gun action is also seen with Space Gun (1990) though the enemies here are aliens while Battle Shark (1989) is a more interesting twist on the shooter where you command a submarine and fire torpedoes at enemy craft. However, side-scrolling shooters also proved to be a popular arcade genre and Taito’s Exzisus (1987) which plays much like R-Type or Gradius, two of the most popular names in the sub-genre. Tokio (1986) is a vertical side-scroller where the player pilots a bi-plane over Tokyo, shooting down enemies and grabbing power-up’s along the way.

The main attraction for me to this collection however is Bubble Bobble (1986), a game that kept me from attending a number of my classes in high school. Yet another simple idea lies at the core of this game, and you’ll play as either Bub or Bob, two cute little dragon’s on a quest to rescue their girlfriends. With one hundred stages to play through, the game can keep you playing without realizing the time you’ve spend. Catch enemies in bubbles, pop them, collect bonus items and try and avoid making enemies angry, that’s what this game is all about, and it’s still just as addictive. Bubble Bobble was followed later by Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2 (1987) though it was drastically different as you will find in this release. No more dragons’, just a boy, his magic rainbows, and now you need to make it to the top of the screen to exit. Of course, we all known that Bub, Bob, and the rest of the Bubble Bobble game would be seen in Puzzle Bobble, or Bust a Move, and they have been keeping fans playing ever sense.

Action games of course are another big part of retro arcade games, and Jungle Hunt (1982) was an attempt to recreate the success of Pitfall, but with a huge difference. You must swing across vines, avoid hungry crocs, jump over boulders all in an attempt to rescue your girlfriend from hungry cannibals before she ends up in a boiling pot of water. Another of Taito’s legendary games found here is Elevator Action (1983) where, as Agent 17, you must make your way from the top of a building to the bottom, grabbing intel along the way, avoiding other spies out to kill you, and using the building’s elevators as well as escalators and lights to make a clean getaway.

If cute and cuddly is your thing, The New Zealand Story (1988) might be just the thing as you control a kiwi bird as he searches for his captive friend while a host of baddies try and make your adventure shorter than necessary. Zoo Keeper (1982) isn’t the game that many have seen today, but a platform game where you must keep the animals at the zoo from escaping. Rastan (1987) however is yet another Taito game that took a number of my quarters in the arcade, and the side scrolling fighter is still a classic after all these years.

Fighting might be your game, and Great Swordsman (1984) might be just your thing. This title is much like Karate Champ, though here you will be fencing. Gladiator (1986) is a side-scrolling fighting game involving knights and magic, but out of all the games included on this release, it may very well be one of the weakest games of the bunch.

Tetris wasn’t the first game that made puzzles big business, and Taito had their share of thought provoking games as well. Plotting (1989) has you trying to shoot out bricks of the same type before time, or your bricks run out, whichever comes first. Tube-It (1993) came after Tetris, but that doesn’t make it just a run of the mill copy. Here you must connect tubes from horizontally across the screen without any breaks in them in order to eliminate them, and this game can get incredibly difficult as you progress further in stages.

Super Qix (1987) is the follow up to the popular game with the game idea. You must try and cover a percentage of the screen while avoiding enemies. However, here you will uncover a picture and grab letters to spell out the theme for each level to score bonus points. The Electric Yo-Yo (1982) is a more interesting game where you have to collect dots while avoiding enemies, but it’s not like Pac-Man like it may sound.

Each of the games included in this collection also includes bonus material such as the history of the game, a look at the original release material, tips and cheats, even interviews with the designers in some cases. So, it’s not just about playing the game, but also learning more about them, things you may not have known, or getting familiar with the history of games that may be well beyond your years. The Taito Legends Collection is a definite must have and probably one of the best retro video game collections that has been released in some time. Yes, the ideas behind many of these classics may be simple, but it’s what started a revolution that continues to this day and you may find that the classic games are in many ways superior to what developers are coming out with today.

-mike-