Taito Legends

Infobox VG
title = Taito Legends


developer = Taito Corporation
Empire Interactive
Atomic Planet Entertainment
publisher = nowrap|Empire Interactive (Europe/Americas)
Sega (Americas)
designer =
engine =
released = flagicon|EU October 14, 2005
flagicon|US October 25, 2005
genre = Compilation
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: Teen
PEGI: 7+
platforms = PS2, Xbox, Windows
media = CD-ROM, DVD-ROM (Xbox)
requirements =
input =

"Taito Legends" is a compilation of 29 arcade games released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC in October of 2005. The games were originally developed by Taito Corporation. The European release was published by Empire Interactive, who had licensed the games from Taito and developed the compilation. The North American and South American releases were published by Sega, even though it is not mentioned anywhere in the actual CD-ROM. Similar compilations had been released earlier by Taito in its home market of Japan, under the names of "Taito Memories Vol. 1" and "Taito Memories Vol. 2".

The games on this compilation are emulations of their respective arcade originals; however, the software lacks light gun 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).

Extra features include interviews with some of the game designers, original sales flyers, and arcade cabinet art.

Two follow-up compilations were issued; "Taito Legends 2" for the playstation 2, Xbox and PC and the PSP exclusive Taito Legends Power Up.

Games

"Taito Legends" consists of the following 29 arcade games:

* "Space Invaders"
* "Space Invaders Part II" (initially released as "Deluxe Space Invaders" in the U.S.)
* "Bubble Bobble"
* "Elevator Action"
* "Rastan" (aka "Rastan Saga" outside the U.S./Europe)
* "New Zealand Story"
* "Plotting" (aka "Flipull")

(Note: The seven games listed above have also appeared on the Japanese "Taito Memories" collections. The games listed below were previously exclusive to this collection, but with the exception of "Jungle Hunt", "Colony 7", "Electric YoYo", "Zoo Keeper", "Tube It", and "Tokio", are now featured in the Japanese "Taito Memories 2" collections. [ [http://www.taito.co.jp/csm/title/2007/taito_memories2/ Taito] ] )

* "Jungle Hunt"
* "Operation Wolf" (Note: lacks light gun support)
* "Operation Thunderbolt" (Note: lacks light gun support)
* "Rainbow Islands"
* "Phoenix" (originally designed by Amstar and released by Centuri in the U.S.)
* "Colony 7"
* "Electric YoYo"
* "Zoo Keeper"
* "Great Swordsman"
* "Gladiator" (edited version of "Ougon no Shiro" ["Golden Castle"] )
* "Exzisus"
* "Plump Pop"
* "Super Qix"
* "Battle Shark"
* "Continental Circus"
* "Volfied"
* "Ninja Kids"
* "Space Gun" (Note: lacks light gun support)
* "ThunderFox"
* "Tube It" (known as "Cachat" in Japan)
* "Return of the Invaders"
* "Tokio" ("Scramble Formation" in Japan)

Criticism

Some individuals have criticized the fact that not only is there no way to configure the control options, the controls set for all the games have X (A on the XBox) as the "attack" button, while square or circle (X or B on the XBox) are the "jump" button. This is the opposite of the layout for most control setups based on the Super Nintendo button layout, so in essence the controls are essentially flipped, making it largely uncomfortable and unnatural to most players.

This is remedied in Taito Legends 2, as well as the PSP collection Taito Legends Power Up. Unfortunately, only the Windows version of Taito Legends fixes this error.

References

External links

* [http://www.sega.com/games/game_temp.php?game=taitolegends "Taito Legends"] (U.S.)