Taito Legends 2

Taito Legends 2

Front box art for the European Playstation 2 version
Developer(s) Taito
Publisher(s) Square Enix
Empire Interactive (EU)
Destineer (NA)
Platform(s) PlayStation 2
Xbox
Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)

PlayStation 2:

  • EU 2006-03-31
  • NA 2007-05-16

Microsoft Windows:

  • EU 2006-03-31
  • NA 2007-07-28

Xbox

  • EU 2006-03-31
Genre(s) Arcade games
Mode(s) PEGI: 7+

Taito Legends 2 is the sequel to Taito Legends and is a follow-up collection of 39 (or 43, see below) Taito arcade games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC. Like its predecessor, the Xbox version of the game is not compatible with Xbox 360. As the former collection, it has been derived from the Japan exclusive Taito Memories series.

In Europe and Australia, published by Empire Interactive, all three versions were released in March 2006. In the United States, published by Destineer, it was released for the PlayStation 2 on May 16, 2007 and for PC on July 28, 2007, with the Xbox version never being released in North America. However, the European PAL-based Xbox version works on the North American NTSC-based Xbox systems, without any modifications .

Controversially, eight of the 43 games - Balloon Bomber, Bubble Symphony, Cadash, RayForce, RayStorm, G-Darius, Pop'n Pop, and Syvalion - were split across the platforms due to porting issues,[1] requiring players to buy more than one version to get every game available.

Games

Taito Legends 2 consists of the following 43 arcade games, split across Xbox/PC and PS2 (the Xbox/PC and PS2 versions each have four exclusive games, for a total of 39 games on each):

Titles included in the various versions of Taito Legends 2
Title First release PS2 Xbox Windows Taito Memories Regional title
Alpine Ski 1982 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Arabian Magic 1992 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Bonze Adventure 1988 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1 Jigoku Meguri (Japan)
Cameltry 1989 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Chack'n Pop 1983 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Cleopatra Fortune 1996 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Crazy Balloon 1980 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Darius Gaiden 1994 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Don Doko Don 1989 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Dungeon Magic 1994 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1 Light Bringer (Japan)
Elevator Action Returns 1995 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1 Elevator Action II (USA)
The Fairyland Story 1985 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Football Champ 1990 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2 Hat Trick Hero (Japan)
Front Line 1982 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Gekirindan 1995 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Grid Seeker: Project Storm Hammer 1992 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Growl 1990 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1 Runark (Japan)
Gun Frontier 1990 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Insector X 1989 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
KiKi KaiKai 1986 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Kuri Kinton 1988 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
The Legend of Kage 1984 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Liquid Kids 1990 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2 Mizubaku Adventure (Japan)
Lunar Rescue 1979 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Metal Black 1991 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1 Gun Frontier 2
Nastar Warrior 1988 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2 Rastan Saga 2 (Japan); Nastar (EU)
Puchi Carat 1997 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Puzzle Bobble 2 1995 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2 Bust-a-Move Again (Western arcades): in PS2 release
Qix 1981 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Raimais 1988 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Space Invaders '95 1995 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2 Akkan-vaders (Japan)
Space Invaders DX 1994 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1
Super Space Invaders '91 1990 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.1 Majestic Twelve: The Space Invaders Part IV (Japan/US PS2 release)
Violence Fight 1989 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Wild Western 1982 Yes Yes Yes I Vol.2
Balloon Bomber 1980 Yes No No I Vol.2
G-Darius 1997 Yes No No I Vol.2
RayStorm 1996 Yes No No I Vol.2
Syvalion 1988 Yes No No I Vol.1
Bubble Symphony 1994 No Yes Yes II Vol.2 aka Bubble Bobble II
Cadash 1989 No Yes Yes I Vol.2
Pop'n Pop 1997 No Yes Yes N/A
RayForce 1993 No Yes Yes II Vol.1 Gunlock (Arcade), Layer Section (Japan), Galactic Attack (EU, USA)

The titles included in the Western release were taken directly from various volumes of the Japanese Taito Memories-series:

The only title not previously released in the Japanese Taito Memories-series is Pop 'n Pop. In addition, the North American PS2 version replaces Puzzle Bobble 2 (the original Japanese version) with Bust-a-Move Again, the game's North American equivalent. The only games not included on this collection are the color version of Space Invaders (not to be confused with Space Invaders Part II), PuLiRuLa, and a baseball game called Aa Eikō no Kōshien.

Reception

Taito Legends 2 received mixed reviews with a score of 67.60% for the PlayStation 2 version based on 15 reviews, 77.50% for the Xbox version based on 1 review, and 78.33% for the Windows version from GameRankings, based on 3 reviews.[3] Major criticisms include the large amount of obscure and "filler" titles, all of which are from the Japanese Taito Memories collections in which they are little known in the U.S., (with GameSpot quoting, "There's really nothing legendary about most of the old arcade games found in Taito Legends 2".),[4] as well as unresponsive, "flipped", and clunky controls. Kristan Reed of Eurogamer wrote a more positive response saying, "It's all but impossible to make an objective assessment that takes into account everyone's hugely varying tastes. What's definitely unarguable, though, that this particular package has much better presentation than the last one, with all games sorted into chronological order (a small but valuable point), and various useful options that make the experience far better than most retro collections."[5] Some reviewers also compared Taito Legends 2 unfavorably with the Sega Genesis Collection, writing the aforementioned Genesis Collection as superior,[6] and was also criticized for its lack of bonus content, (asides from instructions panels that can be viewed in the main menu and during gameplay).[7]

References

  1. "株式会社タイトー|". 株式会社タイトー. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  2. "Taito Legends 2". Gamerankings.com. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  3. Archived June 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. "Taito Legends 2". Eurogamer.net. 31 March 2006. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  5. "Taito Legends 2 Review". Psxextreme.com. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  6. "Taito Legends 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved 11 December 2014.

External links

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