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Midway Arcade Treasures Announced

Posted by simoniker on from the much-much-retro-goodness dept.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to The Magic Box's item indicating that Midway are publishing a PS2/Xbox/GameCube title called Midway Arcade Treasures this fall. According to the site, "..the compilation will contain the following classic arcade games: Spy Hunter, Defender II, Gauntlet, Joust, Paperboy, Rampage, Marble Madness, Robotron 2084, Smash TV, Joust 2, Bubbles, Road Blasters, Rampart, Sinistar, Super Sprint, 720, Toobin', Klax, Splat!, Satan's Hollow and Vindicators. In addition, the compilation will include interviews with the creators and developers of these games."

57 comments

  1. Controller problems by GreatDrok · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I bought the Atari Anniversary playstation disc a while back thinking it would be great to be able to play the games included such as Missile Command. However, the PS controller is simply not suited to these games and made them all but unplayable. I hope in these conversions they do a better job. I expect you really need an arcade style controller to play these games properly.

    --
    "I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
    1. Re:Controller problems by AvitarX · · Score: 1

      My problems with the Atari anniversery edition (drem cast)were two fold.

      1) the resolution change caused most games to be unplayable (I could not see the lines well enough). I was playing through a TV card on a monitor, so that could have been some of it.

      2) The technology was just too old. Only a few of the games were playable at all.

      Of course I am a youngun so I had no nastalga for these games.

      That said, I have Midway volumes 1 and 2 for the Dreamcast, and they are great. I still play them often, and will quickly snatch this package up even though I have most if not all of these games already. I can't trust my little brother with the dreamcast (he can' quite read yet and deletes memory cards accidentaly), and playing these games with him is usually a lot of fun. Spy Hunter on our NES is the most played game at home.

      Some of the games suffer a little from the controler, but a collection like this will have enough that doesn't to be worth the price. Well, assuming it is reasonably priced of course.

      --
      Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
    2. Re:Controller problems by xTown · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how Marble Madness makes the transition; I remember that game as being pretty challenging with the trackball. I can't imagine what it will be like without it.

    3. Re:Controller problems by secret_squirrel_99 · · Score: 1

      However, the PS controller is simply not suited to these games and made them all but unplayable. I hope in these conversions they do a better job

      Some of these games do not translate well to the Ps style controllers but some, Robotron 2084 in particular will translate especially well I think, using each of the analog controllers to simulate the 2 joysticks from the machine version.

      Other like SpyHunter and RoadBlaster will probably translate well, provided they are set up for them, to steering controllers.

      Personally I can't wait as this disc includes many of my favorite games from my teen years that I've only been able to access via MAME until now.

      --
      If privacy had a tombstone it would read "We did it for your own good" . -- John Twelve Hawks
    4. Re:Controller problems by 2Flower · · Score: 1

      Agreed -- I'm getting this BECAUSE of the PS2 controller. MAME is good and all, but it's really difficult to play a game like Roadblasters with the arrow keys or your mouse, and dual analog control of Robotron sounds too sweet for words. (It'd also mean less frenetic wear 'n tear on my X-Arcade.) They're offering more than the usual four or five games, done properly on a real game controller, and with bonus materials. As long as it's not fifty bucks, I'm sold. This sounds as groovy as the Activision Anthology disc.

    5. Re:Controller problems by iainl · · Score: 2, Informative

      Get yourself to Lik-Sang or an equivalent sharpish, if thats why you're interested. Lots of online places do PS2 to USB converters; there are even ones that will allow you to use up to four PS2 pads as four joysticks on the PC.

      The enhancement this brings to playing the likes of Gauntlet are pretty immense, obviously.

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    6. Re:Controller problems by exick · · Score: 1

      Apparently you never tried playing it with a NES controller. *tears hair out*

  2. Great! by WuWarrior · · Score: 1

    This is excellent! Finally a good compilation that is worth spending money on. Most others only include a few games. Midway has done a good job of providing a variety of games from the early 80's to 1990. Smash TV on the PS2 DualShock controller will be so much fun!

  3. Lord, no I don't want a stack of oldies CDs by Rares+Marian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I want 200 on a CD dammit. Otherwise I'll be paying for copies of the same shit on different CDs. Or I'll have to buy 7 discs just to get one game from each that I want.

    Since when is the game industry as stupid as the recording industry?

    --
    The message on the other side of this sig is false.
    1. Re:Lord, no I don't want a stack of oldies CDs by Penguin · · Score: 1

      The article mentions:

      "Midway announced a new compilation disc for .."

      Please read the article. At least before accusing people of being stupid.

      --
      - Peter Brodersen; professional nerd
    2. Re:Lord, no I don't want a stack of oldies CDs by Rares+Marian · · Score: 1

      Yeah where is it?

      There's nothing at the link.

      --
      The message on the other side of this sig is false.
    3. Re:Lord, no I don't want a stack of oldies CDs by Penguin · · Score: 1

      The article has a link to: http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm

      This page mentions: "- Midway announced a new compilation disc for PS2, GameCube and Xbox called Midway Arcade Treasures .."

      --
      - Peter Brodersen; professional nerd
    4. Re:Lord, no I don't want a stack of oldies CDs by Rares+Marian · · Score: 0, Troll

      Um but does that let me choose the games?

      I didn't think so. Which was the core of all my complaints.

      You see it's like the carnival, always the same games same rides. I don't want the next compilation disc to have some cliche'd game on it, yet again just because it's supposedly popular. Tell me how many web sites have you seen that all have a tetris clone? I'm afraid they'll do this with thegames also.

      --
      The message on the other side of this sig is false.
    5. Re:Lord, no I don't want a stack of oldies CDs by Orne · · Score: 1

      Wait a minute, they're getting you to pay 7 times, aren't they?

  4. Rampart! by Hank+Reardon · · Score: 1

    I'm thinking that Rampart alone will justify the purchase of this one... Mmmmm...Castles...

    --
    There's so little difference between politics and jihad lately...
    1. Re:Rampart! by MilenCent · · Score: 1

      Oh my god.

      I have played *EVERY* home version of Rampart ever produced. They are:

      * NES (surprisingly good, though the sound could be better)
      * Famicom (second NES-hardware version, by Konami, Japan only!, strange version without ships. In one whole difficulty level your "castle" is freakin' Little Red Riding Hood!)
      * Gameboy (Also strange in that Japanese way. No ships. You choose a character at the start and fire your cannons at knights and "siege towers.")
      * Gameboy Color (different version) (Reasonably good port, but is the only Gameboy game I know of that doesn't play perfectly well on a Gameboy Advance -- it messes up the extensive digitized sound effects.)
      * SNES (The only game on this list that could be considered to have improved the arcade version in any way. **Music is almost perfect.** Even so, while the basic game is the same the many little nuances that make Rampart so tricky are different. Very good and fun, very polished, but seems like a different game at times. I'd still rather play the arcade.)
      * Genesis (Good graphics and that's about it. I only played it once and it didn't impress me.)
      * Game Gear (Avoid.)
      * PC (Closest to the arcade. Only home version with a three-player mode. Has a couple of the enhancements in the SNES version.)
      * Lynx (Reasonably decent port.)

      That's NINE PORTS, more, I'm pretty sure, than even Marble Madness. It deserves every one of them, but each port adds and subtracts little things from the game. The arcade game was so exquisitely balanced that if you change even one thing you make the game almost different. The NES version, for example, has fire craters that stick around much longer than they should, often making castles impossible to recapture in later levels. The SNES version has no level select, never more than one ship ever moves at a time, and has a rather strict turn limit. The Famicom version changed a great deal. And the Sega ports just aren't worth it.

      Only the PC version was close enough to the arcade gameplay to be acceptable, and unless you have three mice it's tough to get an acceptable multiplayer game going.

      In short: if this is an emulation of the arcade version of Rampart then yes, this is worth full-price just for that. No one since has done multiplayer puzzle/strategy/combat goodness as well as Rampart. Add in Marble Madness, Gauntlet, KLAX, Smash T.V., Toobin', the little-known Joust II, and oh-my-double-god *Robotron*.... Note that many of these "Midway" titles are actually arcade games from Atari's later period, when they made games that were just as incredibly good as the previous couple of generations, but were increasingly overlooked by the core arcade demographic (teenage boys) in favor of Yet Another Japanese Fighting Game, may they all burn in 2600-E.T. Hell. In an alternate universe not too far removed from our own Nintendo never captured the 8-bit console market and we're all still playing Atari games.

      Shame they had to call Stargate "Defender II," by the way. The arcade game was called *Stargate*, and deserves the name infinitely more than any brain-dead movie or slightly-good television show released since.

  5. Run, mortals, run! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Beware, I LIVE!

    Sinistar. Woohoo!

  6. It's about time... by neostorm · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Someone mentioned this not having enough games on it to warrant a purchase, but I have to point out that the majority of these useless "classics" CDs have usually been equipped with no more than 5-8 games, tops. This is a huge improvment over that.

    I'll just go back to my 3000+ MAME collection now...

    Now that I think about it. Maybe classic game publishers should try setting up a central game portal where old ROMs cam be downloaded for $1 each or some-such. They would probably make a bit more profit, and they woulnd't have to screw people over continuously with these repeated re-releases of 10-20 year old games.

    It worked somewhat for the music biz... Somewhat.

  7. Thank Activision Anthology by Kris_J · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Before that classics were released in "sets" of maybe four or five. Now we're seeing collections of 20 to 40. Mind you, most of the titles listed have been made available in recent compilations

    1. Re:Thank Activision Anthology by bmnc · · Score: 1

      C'mon though, 21 games is good, except when you consider that they are likely to be about 1Mb each, and a DVD can typically hold 5Gb. I'm being quite serious here, I want the compilation to have 5000 games on it (essentially every game for the old old school platforms). I'd pay, I dunno, US$250? for a compilation like this. Think about it. 1DVD with ALL of your old favourites on it. These 21 game are old and cool, but not really worth getting when you consider that there are other means of acquiring them (I bet I could get them all within an hour if so inclined). The reason to buy a compilation like this is so you dont have to go to "effort" to get them, and to get a nice GUI that allows you to easily sort and use your favourite games. They'd better have a realy nice gui, and a price of US$10 IMO.

    2. Re:Thank Activision Anthology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As much as you and everyone else might want that. The games are not owned by one central company and just because they were put out on one system or all put out in the arcade does not mean the companies could just put them all together.

  8. Where's Pac Man? by Hellraisr · · Score: 1

    Didn't they also make Dig Dug and Mr. Do? I think they should offer a complete set of games instead of this (although I would be very happy to play these anyway).

    1. Re:Where's Pac Man? by PapaZit · · Score: 1

      Pac Man and Dig Dug both appear on the Namco Museum compilation (along with Galaga and Pole Position).

      --
      Forward, retransmit, or republish anything I say here. Just don't misquote me.
    2. Re:Where's Pac Man? by secret_squirrel_99 · · Score: 1

      Pacman as well as MsPacman and all the Pac variants like PacWorld and Pacman pinball are available as part of the pacman world 2 disc available for PS2 and Xbox. Pacman world is a pretty cool platform game as well and is cheap (

      --
      If privacy had a tombstone it would read "We did it for your own good" . -- John Twelve Hawks
  9. Best comp. ever. by CashCarSTAR · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Seriously. That is too much old-school goodness in one package. Everything from Gauntlet to Rampart to Smash TV.

    Hell, I'd buy it for those games alone.

    Now, 20 games in one package. I'm glad that someone got serious about re-relesing their games. With any luck, this will bring on a storm of quality packages of older games, rather than the 4 game stupidness.

    1. Re:Best comp. ever. by WinDoze · · Score: 1

      Smash TV, on a GameCube, where you have one stick to move and the small C-stick to fire... Where do I sign up? That alone makes me want it.

    2. Re:Best comp. ever. by Riff10111 · · Score: 1

      Agreed, provided that you can pump in as many "quarters" as you please. If you only get a certain number of continues, I'll never even get past the first boss...

      That's what these reissues are really for, so you can finally beat all the games you would've needed a US Mint's worth of quarters to beat when you were a kid...

      --
      "When I smile, I have a mouth full of teeth; when I frown, I'm not even here."
  10. smash tv mod by paradesign · · Score: 1
    what we need is a smash tv mod for Quake / HL / Unreal. same top view camera, same gameplay, same everything that made the original a classic, just updated with a new graphics engine.

    i hate it when companies ruin classic games by changing the fundamentals of what made them work, this is especially evident in 2d - 3d 'transitions'. certain games were just better suited to 2d, like platformers. a big part of mario died when it went to 3d. but zelda on the otherhand was enhanced (since it was really a 2.5d all along).

    im awaiting the return of classic game styles. a rebirth of side scrollers and 2d. maybe itll come to pass, but who knows?

    --
    I want 2D games back.
  11. Warrior needs food -- BADLY! by Bklyn · · Score: 1

    Gauntlet ought to be fun especially multi-player, but c'mon, where's StarGate?

    1. Re:Warrior needs food -- BADLY! by Mogomra · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's there. Stargate's name was changed to Defender II for home versions. The KLOV entry is here.

  12. Mod parent up! by Randolpho · · Score: 1

    A Smash TV mod is a killer idea!

    --
    "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
    -Marilyn Manson
  13. You will never be happy then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your complaint is not a good business model. The only way you'll get to choose what games you want is if they put one game per disk. Then you'll complain they cost too much because of production costs. And it's impossible to package all of those games you probably want because most of them are probably owned by separate companies.

    Companies can't cater to every individual. I'm happy they're willing to combine this many games. At least it's a step in the right direction as opposed to 4 games of which I would only play one for example.

    Stick to roms. It's the only way you'll be happy.

  14. Contra did it well. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I loved the new Contra.

    The funny part is that people complained that it and the GBA ones were too hard. Big deal. I went back and played the original after a good break and despite the fact that I used to beat the game on the original life, I now have difficulty because I've forgotten some of the patterns. The fundamantal didn't change, just a switch to some really nice 3-d character models and nice effects.

  15. Drool.... by HomeGroove · · Score: 1
    Until I can get around to building a MAME cab., this is the next best thing.

    By the way, if you're looking for more great retro gaming on your PS2, get the Activision Anthology (go to that site and you'll have "The Safety Dance" stuck in your head all day). Plus, I think it's dirt cheap now. Over 45 games, classic commercials. Tons o' fun.

    --

    ----
    Spam subject of the moment: Offshore account secrets -nashville disrupt

    1. Re:Drool.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Until I can get around to building a MAME cab., this is the next best thing.
      You should get started on that MAME cabinet or it'll never get done. I planned mine for quite a while, but could have cut the project time to just a fraction if only I had started work instead of just planning/dreaming about it.

  16. On second thought... by Tink2000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Unfortunately, the cynic in me makes me wonder if this revival is not just an attempt to make more money off of something that is ~20 years old, but also to discredit the abandonware theory, and also to crimp the style (and sharpen the legal axe) of MAMErs...

    --
    Why do I M2 everything negatively?
    1. Re:On second thought... by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

      But it is not appropriate that since this is being distributed commercially, it reaffirms that these particular games are again viable commercial products and should be respected as such?

      I'm not saying that their emulation needs to be ripped out of MAME, but it would seem appropriate to discontinue distributing these ROMs. As long as the copyright holder is distributing them, it is improper for others to do so.

      I can think of no reasonable justification for continuing to infringe on the copyrights of these particular games (for a suitably low threshold definition of "reasonable", considering it was indeed illegal anyway).

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  17. Beautiful!! by Saige · · Score: 1

    I will so definitely be picking this up for my Gamecube! I bought the original Midway Arcade Classics for the PC back when it came out, with the 6 games it has on it, and played it a lot.

    This does so much better, with so many more games, and the Gamecube control should work wonders with most of these. Even Marble Madness should be decent, since we've already seen what can be done in that vein with Super Monkey Ball.

    Absolutely lovely - I look forward to an evening of Robotron on a 27 inch TV with the stereo cranked up!

    --
    "You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
    1. Re:Beautiful!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Absolutely lovely - I look forward to an evening of Robotron on a 27 inch TV with the stereo cranked up!

      You bet! I still remember all the voices:

      • Chicken! Fight like a robot!
      • Stop the humanoid! Stop the intruder!
      • Intruder alert! Intruder alert!

      Nice to see a fellow robotron fan on slashdot!

      Woot!

    2. Re:Beautiful!! by Saige · · Score: 1

      That's Bezerk, not Robotron.

      Robotron had no voices.

      However, Sinistar did, and they could be downright eerie at first, especially since the game always makes you feel like you're fighting an unwinnable battle. (Yes, you are, like most games of that era, but still...)

      --
      "You know your god is man-made when he hates all the same people you do."
  18. Marble madness 2? by BiscuitTheCat · · Score: 1

    Who cares about those game? They've been sitting on Marble Madness II (Marble Man) since 1991.

    Why don't they release *that* ROM on the disc?

    http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8619 &l etter=M

    --
    The ZX Spectrum Book 1982-199x
  19. GBA? by Winterblink · · Score: 1

    I'd much rather have these games for my Gameboy Advance rather than for a sit-at-home console. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my PS2 and GC, but I'd rather have a cool collection of arcade games for a mobile form factor.

    --
    "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
    -Hoban Washburn
  20. APB and Roadrunner by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I thought Atari made most of those games mentioned. In any case, they should add these two classics!!

  21. Re: Elf shot the food! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...you bastard!

  22. MAME, anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'd buy this if I didn't already download all of this stuff for free!

  23. Uhmm.. by Kwil · · Score: 1

    ..how are they screwing people over?

    You don't want it, don't buy it.
    You want it, well hey, they certainly should be allowed to profit off of that by providing it.

    Personally, I won't be purchasing this but only because I don't have a console system. Now if they released it for PC, I'd be dropping my money on this collection in a heartbeat.

    Yeah, I can get all the MAME's, but that's not the point. The point is using your dollar to encourage quality.

    --

    That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze

  24. Discs of Tron by vraxoin · · Score: 1

    This is an excellent collection, but I wish Midway would/could include "Tron" and/or "Discs of Tron".

  25. How can they forget 1942? by bauernakke · · Score: 1

    1942, the best arcade airplane shooter ever... It was Midway right?

    1. Re:How can they forget 1942? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      im pretty sure 1942 was capcom... not completley sure though.

      - matt w

    2. Re:How can they forget 1942? by OneEyedJack · · Score: 1

      It was made by Capcom.

      What you are confused with is the subtitle was "1942: The Battle of Midway"

      --
      -Jon in Canada
  26. Must Haves! by jasko · · Score: 1

    Oh, wow! This is probably the first "museumware" disc I've ever really wanted - The big names are all there...Joust, Robotron2084, Defender 2 (uh...isn't that...Stargate?) and little known classics like Toobin' (loved it in HS) and Roadblasters and Vindicators! Bring it on!