Taito Milestones Review (Switch / Switch eShop)
A small message “Powered by Arcade Archives” is in the corner Milestones of Taito dual purpose title/game selection screen, subdued quality seal to let players know the emulation inside is up to the same standard we’ve come to expect from the prolific Hamster game series, with all the usual features (and even the exact same interface) present and correct. In practice, this means that the digital recreations of classic arcade games found here fall somewhere in between the extravagance (and expense) of M2’s extravagant work and the less desirable old effort “mostly works as it should”; quiet solid releases where the games themselves are always the main attraction.
So it’s good that the ten titles selected for this collection span an impressive range of genres, offering everything from scrolling beat ’em ups and single-screen platformers to good old sci-fi shootouts and abstract land grabs. There’s definitely something here for everyone (provided they have a taste for the 80s); no matter their mood, the arcade origins of these games naturally make the quick, casual bursts of effortless play enjoyable. Anyone hoping to spend more time with an old favorite will be happy to hear that every game supports online leaderboards, so if you can crush everyone on Skiing or devoted his life to mastering fairy stories then you will finally be able to demonstrate your amazing skills to the whole world. Those who are attentive to details can spend time admiring ninja warriors specialized screen settings, perfectly retaining the value of the game’s three monitors widescreen display with settings that go beyond scanlines and resizing, instead of aiming to replicate the original arcade cabinet’s more honest (if disjointed) advanced monitor/mirror setup, complete with additional offsets screens and inappropriate tinting.
As nice as it sounds, the Taito Milestones suffer from inevitable problems; anyone interested in the games named above already knows that they have these features as they are all available for purchase separately from the online store since at least 2020. In fact, seven of the ten included games are already available for purchase separately. In the online store, wherever you live: skiing, elevator action, wild western, Front line fairy story, Halley’s Comet, and The Ninja Warriors are all Taito stages you can buy right now from the comfort of your Switch, adapting your classic Nintendo-powered arcade games to suit your budget and tastes. Three exclusives – provided they are not released separately at a later date – Six, Space Seeker as well as Chuck’s Pop. Even if you’re one of the few who thinks these three essential purchases, no one should live without (the Qix fans among us are happy to admit “We are dozens!’ GIF may grossly overestimate our numbers), it’s still a meager set of fresh reissues for a premium package, well behind the more lavish Taito collections available for older hardware.
Why are these games milestones anyway, in Taito’s story? Unfortunately, this collection doesn’t tell us that, as there is no context in the pack, no fascinating pieces of arcade history, fun facts, or even a simple gallery of arcade flyers to feast your eyes on at your leisure. Something as simple as the reason why The Ninja Warriors uses such a strange widescreen display is left to be explained in a simple text box in the game’s settings menu, without any reference to other games that used the same setting or why it was so attractive. while. There are no features or add-ons to help you better understand why these games – some of them nearly four decades old – are still worth playing today; the accompanying digital manuals are more about basic instructions than why Monsta and Maita’s appearances in Chack’n Pop have any historical significance. Sol of the Cross The DLC database includes more arcade history than this and it’s a brand new shmup just referencing an older series rather than a dedicated retro collection.
And if you don’t need this information because you know all about Taito’s influential past, then the holes in this package seem annoyingly obvious: Where space invaders, an arcade hit so successful that it shaped all games, and the effects of its revolutionary ideas are still being felt today? How not worthy to be Taito Milestone’? The inconvenient fact is that it’s not here because it’s already included in the Invincible collection of space invaders so you need to buy that as well. Fascinating fish spawning series Darius missing for the same reasons – why would they give it away here when you can shell out (no pun intended) for Space Collection instead?
The bold name only raises questions and criticism, most of which could have been avoided if it had been called “Taito Early Collection” or “Taito 80s Pack”. Modest selection, not even including all relevant Taito games already archived and ready to buy (Legend of the Kage, Ray as well as Kiki Kaikai are clearly absent), not to mention similar bubble-float, rainbow islands. Arkanoid, History of New Zealand, or Laserdisc 1985 Time Gal is a game that was ported to iOS/Android a few years ago and since then has consistently fallen out of the schedule of all arcade releases.
Conclusion
There may not be many games here, but they cover a wide range of genres and most of them are still fun to play. It’s a shame that Switch owners have had access to most of them with exactly the same features for years now. The blatant lack of any extra features makes it hard to appreciate the value of more obscure or simple titles unless you’re ready to go off and do some homework, and there are some very obvious milestones missing for no reason other than it allows Taito to make more money by splitting games. for multiple collections.
