''Taito Legends'' is a compilation of 29

arcade games An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

released for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

, and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

. The games were originally developed by

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

. The

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an release was published by Empire Interactive, who had licensed the games from Taito and developed the compilation. Although they did not get official credit for it in the American versions,

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

published the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n releases. Extra features include interviews with some of the

game designer Game design is the art of applying design and aesthetics to create a game for entertainment or for educational, exercise, or experimental purposes. Increasingly, elements and principles of game design are also applied to other interactions, in ...

s, original sales flyers, and

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

art. Two follow-up compilations were issued; ''

Taito Legends 2 ''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 Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. As the former collection, it has been derived from the Japan exclu ...

'' for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC and the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

exclusive ''

Taito Legends Power-Up ''Taito Legends Power-Up'' is a compilation of classic Taito video games released for the PlayStation Portable system. Patterned after the '' Taito Memories'' series for PlayStation 2, ''Power-Up'' marks the first release of the franchise on a p ...

''.

Games

While the Western ''Taito Legends'' consists of 29 arcade games, the Japanese ''

Taito Memories ''Taito Memories'' is a series of video game compilations published by Taito in Japan. A total of five collections were released from 2005 to 2007 — four on the PlayStation 2, and one on the PlayStation Portable. The PlayStation 2 entries each ha ...

'' includes only 25 arcade games per volume, omitting ''Jungle Hunt'', ''Colony 7'', ''The Electric Yo-Yo'', ''Zoo Keeper'' and ''Tube It.'' Between 2005 and 2007, in total four similar compilations had been released by Taito for the PlayStation 2 in its home market of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

: * * * * The games on this compilation are emulations of their respective arcade originals; however, the software lacks

light gun A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games, typically shaped to resemble a pistol. Early history The first light guns were produced in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensing ...

support for ''Operation Wolf'', ''Operation Thunderbolt'', and ''Space Gun''. These games place a gun cursor on the screen, which the player can move around with the analog stick (console versions), or mouse (PC version). The games that had to be altered due to licensing issues are ''Jungle Hunt'' and ''Rainbow Islands''. Elements of ''Jungle Hunt'' had to be altered such as the design of the

Tarzanesque Tarzanesque (in French: ''Tarzanide'') is a term created by Frenchman Francis Lacassin used to describe characters in comic books inspired by Tarzan. A tarzanesque character resembles Tarzan in his physical resourcefulness, within a line of acti ...

character and the signature Tarzan yell due to licensing issues with

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

estate. ''Rainbow Islands'' had to alter its music for the re-release due to licensing.

Reception

''Taito Legends'' received slightly positive reviews with a score of 74.06% for the

version, 71.68% for the

version, and 75.17% for the Windows version on

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

praised the collection for a superb presentation, as well as the large amount of bonus material, but criticized some titles in the collection as "worthless filler". Other criticisms are the lack of online leaderboards, the omission of ''

Arkanoid is a 1986 block breaker arcade game developed and published by Taito. In North America, it was published by Romstar. Controlling a paddle-like craft known as the Vaus, the player is tasked with clearing a formation of colorful blocks by deflect ...

'' and ''

Chase H.Q. is a vehicular combat racing game, originally released as an arcade video game by Taito in 1988. It is sometimes seen as a spiritual successor to Taito's earlier '' Full Throttle''. The player assumes the role of a police officer named Tony Gib ...

'', the lack of light gun support for ''Operation Wolf'', ''Operation Thunderbolt'', and ''Space Gun'', the lack of control configuration, and for the controls being "flipped", making it potentially uncomfortable and unnatural to many, less-adaptable players. Only the Windows version fixes the error regarding the collection's control scheme.

References

External links

*Xplosiv pages
PS2
*Empire support pages
PC (xplosiv red)PC xplosivPS2 XplosivXbox EmpireXPLOSIV UNVEILS TAITO LEGENDS LINE-UPEmpire Interactive announces the much-anticipated Taito Legends
{{Taito Legends series 2005 video games Square Enix video game compilations Video games developed in the United Kingdom PlayStation 2 games Square Enix franchises Taito games Taito video game compilations Sega video games Windows games Xbox games Empire Interactive games Video games developed in Japan