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 exclusive Taito Memories series.

Taito Legends 2
Box art
Developer(s)Empire Interactive (Xbox, PC)
Mine Loader Software (PS2)
Publisher(s)Empire Interactive (Europe)
Destineer (North America)
Platform(s)Xbox, PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows
ReleaseXbox
  • EU: 31 March 2006
PlayStation 2
  • EU: 31 March 2006
  • NA: 16 May 2007
Microsoft Windows
  • EU: 31 March 2006
  • NA: 10 July 2007
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

All three versions of the game were simultaneously released in March 2006 in Europe and Australia and published by Empire Interactive. The United States received the PlayStation 2 version on May 16, 2007 and the PC version on July 10, 2007 with publishing by Destineer. For unknown reasons, the Xbox version was never released in North America. However, the European PAL-region Xbox version is entirely compatible with the North American NTSC-based Xbox systems without any modifications.

The PlayStation 2 version uses the same layout and engine as the Taito Memories series, while the Xbox & PC versions uses the layout and engine of Taito Legends, with additional content on some games.

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 when combined whilst each version contains 39 games. Balloon Bomber, G-Darius, RayStorm and Syvalion are exclusive to the PlayStation 2 version whilst Bubble Symphony, Cadash, Pop’n Pop and RayForce are exclusive to the PC and Xbox versions.

Titles included in the various versions of Taito Legends 2
Title First release PS2 Xbox Windows Taito Memories Regional title
Lunar Rescue1979YesYesYesI Vol.1
Balloon Bomber1980YesNoNoI Vol.2
Crazy Balloon1980YesYesYesI Vol.2
Qix1981YesYesYesI Vol.2
Alpine Ski1982YesYesYesI Vol.1
Front Line1982YesYesYesI Vol.2
Wild Western1982YesYesYesI Vol.2
Chack'n Pop1983YesYesYesI Vol.2
The Legend of Kage1984YesYesYesI Vol.2
The Fairyland Story1985YesYesYesI Vol.1
KiKi KaiKai1986YesYesYesI Vol.1
Bonze Adventure1988YesYesYesI Vol.1Jigoku Meguri (Japan)
Kuri Kinton1988YesYesYesI Vol.1
Nastar Warrior1988YesYesYesI Vol.2Rastan Saga 2 (Japan); Nastar (EU)
Raimais1988YesYesYesI Vol.2
Syvalion1988YesNoNoI Vol.1
Cadash1989NoYesYesI Vol.2
Cameltry1989YesYesYesI Vol.1
Don Doko Don1989YesYesYesI Vol.1
Insector X1989YesYesYesI Vol.2
Violence Fight1989YesYesYesI Vol.2
Football Champ1990YesYesYesI Vol.2Hat Trick Hero (Japan)
Growl1990YesYesYesI Vol.1Runark (Japan)
Gun Frontier1990YesYesYesI Vol.2
Liquid Kids1990YesYesYesI Vol.2Mizubaku Adventure (Japan)
Super Space Invaders '911990YesYesYesI Vol.1Majestic Twelve: The Space Invaders Part IV (Japan/US PS2 release)
Metal Black1991YesYesYesI Vol.1Gun Frontier 2
Arabian Magic1992YesYesYesI Vol.2
Grid Seeker: Project Storm Hammer1992YesYesYesI Vol.1
RayForce1993NoYesYesII Vol.1Gunlock (Arcade), Layer Section (Japan), Galactic Attack (EU, USA)
Bubble Symphony1994NoYesYesII Vol.2Bubble Bobble II
Darius Gaiden1994YesYesYesI Vol.1
Dungeon Magic1994YesYesYesI Vol.1Light Bringer (Japan)
Space Invaders DX1994YesYesYesI Vol.1
Elevator Action Returns1995YesYesYesI Vol.1Elevator Action II (USA)
Gekirindan1995YesYesYesI Vol.2
Puzzle Bobble 21995YesYesYesI Vol.2Bust-a-Move Again (Western arcades): in PS2 release
Space Invaders '951995YesYesYesI Vol.2Akkan-vaders (Japan)
Cleopatra Fortune1996YesYesYesI Vol.1
RayStorm1996YesNoNoI Vol.2
G-Darius1997YesNoNoI Vol.2
Pop'n Pop1997NoYesYesN/A
Puchi Carat1997YesYesYesI Vol.1

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

The only title included in Taito Legends 2 that was not previously included in the Japanese Taito Memories series is Pop 'n Pop, though an earlier standalone PlayStation port of the game was released in Japan. 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. It also has a loading times during RayStorm and G-Darius. G-Darius uses full motion video on intro, ending and some of the cutscenes of the game.

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]

gollark: To create RAM kittens, all you need to do is `ADD` the ASCII value of each character into a temporary register, `POKE` them into the right memory location (using the per-instruction `POKE` offset, probably), and then do that in a loop.
gollark: I should probably implement arithmetic instructions then a basic assembler, I guess, because hand-writing machine code is unpleasant.
gollark: What? No. This doesn't really need jumps, except possibly to run it repeatedly.
gollark: Well, it would just be a bunch of POKEs at consecutive memory addresses.
gollark: So, hmm, what instructions should I add... other than basic arithmetic and bitops I guess.

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