A few years ago, I was at a local game shop not too far from where I live. I saw this bad boy for around $5-10 used. With a few dozen or so arcade games included, I couldn't resist. I started playing the games on this compilation again after a while, so a lot is new to me again.
Back in the 80's and 90's, Taito was just one of the many big companies out there that made arcade games along with Namco, Capcom, Konami, etc. Besides Bubble Bobble, Space Invaders, and Puzzle Bobble, a lot of their arcade games aren't as popular as say, Konami's or Capcom's, but many of them are pretty good to this day.
Whereas the first Taito Legends only goes up from the 70's/80's and into the very start of the 90's, Taito Legends 2 goes from the late 70's to the mid and late 90's. The later games such as Gekirindan, Puchi Carat, and G-Darius are the highlight of the collection.
There's a total of 44 games, but only 39 are on each version of the game. The PS2 version has Balloon Pop, Syvalion, Raystorm, and G-Darius. The Xbox and PC versions have Cadash, Rayforce, Bubble Symphony, and Pop'n Pop. It's a bit strange, but emulation issues may have something to do with it. Even so, there's so many games on here that the people behind this compilation made it so that you can make a favorites list if you want.
In terms of genres, there's quite a few represented. Sports, Puzzles, Platformers, Beat Em' Ups, and Shmups, the last of which is unsurprisingly Taito's specialty. There's no driving games though and the one fighting game included (Violence Fight) isn't that great.
So, how good are the games? I haven't really played any of the ones on this collection from before 1985 so I don't know about them. However, the games from the mid and late 80's are a mixed bag. Cameltry, Raimais, and Don Doko Don are enjoyable, but Kuri Kinton and Violence Fight aren't very fun to play. I have mixed feelings about Syvalion, it has great graphics and awesome music (courtesy of Zuntata), but it's very frustrating when your huge dragon-ship thing gets surrounded by small enemies and you have little time to react.
Unlike the mid-late 80's games, the 90's games are mostly enjoyable. Growl and Dungeon Magic are enjoyable Beat Em' Ups, but they only support up to 2 players, which hampers the enjoyment somewhat. Metal Black, Grid Seeker, Space Invaders DX and 95', Darius Gaiden, Gekirindan, and G-Darius are all awesome. The only 90's games in this compilation that I don't like is Gun Frontier and Majestic Twelve (it's a Space Invaders remake). Cleopatra Fortune and Puchi Carat are pretty good too.
All in all, if you're even remotely a fan of arcade games (especially shmups), pick this collection up. You won't be disappointed. In part 2, I'll talk about a few of the better games that make this collection worth owning.
