- Midway Arcade Treasures 2
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Midway Arcade Treasures 2 
North American cover art for PS2Developer(s) Digital Eclipse
Backbone EntertainmentPublisher(s) Midway Platform(s) PS2
Xbox
GameCubeRelease date(s) PlayStation 2 & Xbox
GameCube
- NA October 11, 2004
Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single-player
MultiplayerRating(s) Midway Arcade Treasures 2 is the second collection of classic arcade games published by Midway for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. This compilation includes 20 games that were not in the 2003 release of Midway Arcade Treasures or the 2005 release of Midway Arcade Treasures 3.
The game plays similar on all three consoles; however, the Xbox version has the exclusive ability to upload scores to an online scoreboard. The special features on each version of the game are the same. These include game histories, developer interviews, and other documents.
Contents
Games
The collection consists of the following 20 arcade games:
This collection was given an "M"-rating largely because of Mortal Kombat II and 3, Primal Rage, and NARC. With all the other games, the compilation would have received a rating of a "T" (for teen) or lower. Rampage World Tour is also featured as a bonus game in Rampage Total Destruction on GameCube and Wii, which is rated "E10+".
The compilation was planned to include all three Mortal Kombat titles, Steel Talons and S.T.U.N. Runner.[1] The first Mortal Kombat game was moved to the extras disc in the limited edition version of Mortal Kombat: Deception, while the other two games were omitted entirely because of developmental problems. Kozmik Krooz'r and Wacko were added instead.[1]
The first Mortal Kombat later appeared in other compilations from the Midway Arcade Treasures series: Extended Play for the PSP, and Deluxe Edition for the PC; while S.T.U.N. Runner appeared in Midway Arcade Treasures 3.
Reception
Reception Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 73%[2] Metacritic 74%[3] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B-[4] Electronic Gaming Monthly 7 out of 10[3] Game Informer 9 out of 10[3] GameSpot 7.2 out of 10[5] IGN 7.8 out of 10[6] Official Xbox Magazine 7.5 out of 10[citation needed] Play Magazine 75 out of 100[3] TeamXbox 9 out of 10[7] Midway Arcade Treasures 2 was given average to favorable reviews from game critics. On the review aggregator Game Rankings, the compilation has an average score of 73%,[2] while the average score is 74 out of 100 on Metacritic.[3] Criticisms are the weaker selection of titles when compared to the previous volume, minor and major emulation glitches, the omission of the original Mortal Kombat and for some of the interviews and documentaries for being grainy and unrestored.[8] GameSpot also criticized the inclusion of the original Mortal Kombat 3, as opposed to the superior Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.[9]
Emulation problems
Many of the games featured in this collection are emulated versions of the arcade games and not actually ports. It may be extremely difficult to emulate video games from one system fully accurate on another. As a result, some of the games (Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Pit-Fighter and NARC in particular) have some obvious sound and graphical glitches.
There are also certain other emulation issues in the PS2 and GameCube versions of the collection. The PS2 version contains a slower running Hard Drivin', a crackled sounding Mortal Kombat 3, and a faster running Pit-Fighter. These emulation problems are not present in the GameCube version. However, this version contains a few emulation issues in Wizard of Wor (which is the oldest game in the collection): every sound effect plays at the wrong times (for example the original shooting sound effect has become the original "enemy defeated" sound effect, and vice versa), and the game has a very inconsistent framerate, slowing down at almost all times. The game, Rampage: World Tour had missing voice samples from Dr. Betty Veronica when it comes to her talking to the phone on some scenes between levels. The Xbox version is often considered by critics to be the best version, as it has the fewest emulation problems and the ability to post scores on the Xbox Live.
Button mapping issues
The "start button" in this game has 2 functions: Starting a game or pausing a game. So unless the player has to start or continue a game, the "start button" will also work as a "pause button". This is where the problems come in for the Following two Mortal Kombat games:
- Mortal Kombat II and 3 utilized the "start button" to perform "random select" by pressing Up+Start at the character select screen. As a result the Arcade Start button combination was changed to X for PS2 version, and A for the Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions for Mortal Kombat 3 only, allowing for the ramdom select cheat in that game but not in Mortal Kombat II.
- In Mortal Kombat II, in order to fight the hidden character Smoke, the player had to press Down+Start at the Portal stage while getting a Dan Forden shouting out the: "Toasty!" message. As a result, Smoke cannot be accessed at all.
References
- ^ a b "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 lineup shuffled". GameSpot. 2004-08-03. http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/midwayarcadetreasuresii/news.html?sid=6104042. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ a b "Midway Arcade Treasures 2". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/919929.asp. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ a b c d e "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 game reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/midwayarcadetreasures2. Retrieved 2006-11-16.
- ^ "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 Review". 1UP.com. 2004-10-13. http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3135589&did=1. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 Review". GameSpot. 2004-10-11. http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/midwayarcadetreasuresii/review.html. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ "IGN: Midway Arcade Treasures 2 Review". IGN. 2004-10-06. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/554/554701p1.html. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ "Midway Arcade Treasures 2 Review (Xbox)". TeamXbox. 2004-10-11. http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox/812/Midway-Arcade-Treasures-2/p1. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
- ^ http://www.game-over.net/reviews.php?page=ps2reviews&id=300
- ^ http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/midwayarcadetreasuresii/review.html
External links
Categories:- 2004 video games
- Nintendo GameCube games
- Midway Games
- PlayStation 2 games
- Xbox games
- Video game collections
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