Taito Legends 2

[DJ Incompetent]

I really hate games I can play out of the box.



I also wish cases came with more security labels. 3 is never enough. And I want to buy the game inside those bulletproof security boxes where they keep the high risk goods....wrapped in those weird twisty lock things with the special magnet key to get out. I demand the entire package be encased in cement. But I'm HaRdCoRe IgN so I buy the special edition version where they use carbonite and the boxart is printed in invisible ink.

[shinsage]

Played Cleo's Fortune for the first time, made it to level 35 I think and got like 775,000.
I regret passing the PS1 version so many times years ago.

[BrianC]

IGN's Review

Here's a funny comment regarding the lack of unlockables, interviews, etc...

"This time, Taito decided the numbered list of ports -- that you can reorganize if you like -- would suffice, and it's a painful blow to the overall product. Although "Gotta catch'em all" Gamers are going to pick up Legends 2 just to complete their collections, folks browsing the local EB or GameStop (the only places to get Legends 2) would be wise to pass this option-less compilation over for one of the other fleshed-out arcade experiences on the rack."


Yes, so remember folks... don't buy this game, because there are no interviews that you'll only watch once, or unlockable artwork that you'll only glance at. 39 games in one compilation just isn't enough to warrant a purchase, especially since they didn't make any of them unlockable.




...

Is it me, or are some game reviewers trying to bring the overall IQ level down for gaming websites?

At least it's better than Gamespot's horrid review. Still, the review is a bit hypocritical. It recommends and tells you not to buy the game in the same review. The review also complains about the lack of difficulty options, despite how they are in game, only on the same screen as the control config. I also found the sound rating a bit insulting. Another "bleeps and bloops" comment? Same reviewer who reviewed Raiden III. What's the point of handing him yet another arcade game review? It's not his forte...

[The Coop]

IGN's Review

Here's a funny comment regarding the lack of unlockables, interviews, etc...

"This time, Taito decided the numbered list of ports -- that you can reorganize if you like -- would suffice, and it's a painful blow to the overall product. Although "Gotta catch'em all" Gamers are going to pick up Legends 2 just to complete their collections, folks browsing the local EB or GameStop (the only places to get Legends 2) would be wise to pass this option-less compilation over for one of the other fleshed-out arcade experiences on the rack."


Yes, so remember folks... don't buy this game, because there are no interviews that you'll only watch once, or unlockable artwork that you'll only glance at. 39 games in one compilation just isn't enough to warrant a purchase, especially since they didn't make any of them unlockable.




...

Is it me, or are some game reviewers trying to bring the overall IQ level down for gaming websites?

At least it's better than Gamespot's horrid review. Still, the review is a bit hypocritical. It recommends and tells you not to buy the game in the same review. The review also complains about the lack of difficulty options, despite how they are in game, only on the same screen as the control config. I also found the sound rating a bit insulting. Another "bleeps and bloops" comment? Same reviewer who reviewed Raiden III. What's the point of handing him yet another arcade game review? It's not his forte...

To be sure.

And yeah, I'd hardly call the sound and music for Metal Black, Darius Gaiden, G-Darius, and a bunch of other games in the collection "bleeps, bloops, groans and simplistic tunes". I have a feeling he only played the two games he mentioned at the beginning of the article. That, or his hearing aids are in dire need of new batteries.

[JoshF]

Fucking corporate game journalists and their obsession with unlockables. I guess 42 games on a disc doesn't provide enough replay value. I despise these gamers who think the object of an game is to get from point A to point B, watch the ending, and shelve it. You beat Strider 2 in 37 credits? Great, now try doing it in 1 with the fastest time possible and collect all the hidden items. Of course these games aren't going to be deep if you ignore it's form of depth (puzzle games must be excruciatingly shallow.) What's worse, these are the same people who think getting to play through a game in an unlockable jester's cap is depth and replay value.

[Bloodreign]

That's why I never listen to dildos like that (IGN and Gamespot 'journalists'), they have no idea what the hell they are reviewing, likely never having lived these games the first time around in the first place. With games these good on the collection, you don't need interviews (the first Legends used it mainly to introduce us to the two biggest programmers for two very important games for Taito, Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble, and as filler) and 500 pieces of artwork to make a great collection, after all isn't it all about the games.

If I listened to their takes on games, I'd be too scared to buy any games.

[Shatterhand]

No

I am talking about Arkanoid 2: Revenge of Doh

http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?let ... me_id=6917

This one that got a PS1 release, unless there's some Arkanoid game I don't know, is Arkanid Returns. This one is a LOT easier than any other Arkanoid game, and is actually one of the very few games I've seen my girlfriend playing and enjoying

I remember Arkanoid 2: Revenge of Doh. Used to play it a lot on the Amiga. The mouse control made it a lot easier than nowadays console's control pad. The port of the original Arkanoid by discovery software was awesome and almost arcade perfect (i.e. no tate mode).

Yeah, played it a lot on Amiga too, though my first contact with it was with the MSX version... which was also very good (made by Taito itself). except it also was no tate, and it slowed down a lot when you get the "15 balls" power-up.

Actually, I had played the MSX version so much before playing the Amiga (And later the arcade one), that when I got the Amiga version, I got shocked when the game actually DID NOT SLOWDOWN when I got that power-up. I thought that was a "feature" of the game, not a technical problem

(In an off-topic note... the same happened with Elite. I had played the MSX version for so long, when I got the Amiga one, I just went like "WTF? Why is this so goddamn fast? It's nearly unplayable!" . After years playing the Amiga version, I tried the MSX again and then I went "Goddamn, how I could manage to play this? It's sooo sloooow..." .. heh )

[Gorecki]

The reviews for this collection are diabolical and completely miss the point. I paid £10 for my PAL copy and I absolutely adore it. I would happily have paid £40. Although to be honest, many of the games I've only played a handful of times as I'm obsessed with G-Darius.

I used to read Gamespot (found the writing a bit flat but they're good for news) but I think I'll steer clear of them from now on.

[shinsage]

I don't mind the reviews too much because the people who are going to buy it will buy it regardless. It's just one of those games.

[Damocles]

So...I finally got around to picking this up.

Good god, man...the games that aren't shooters are mostly large pieces of crap. It seems to me like Taito had some great ideas but couldn't nail the details.

Puchi Carat(ot), whatever. Great idea. Breakout mixed with Puzzle de Bowling. Wonderful. Too bad the controls are screwed and the system is flawed. Yaya...originally analogue...

Growl. Wow...no quick grab move. It's like they looked at previous games in the genre and decided that since it was fun to pick up the occasional gun it would obviously be much more fun to make them the primary type of weapon. ...the whip is cool though.

As for the shooters...if for nothing else than to keep this on-topic.

G-Darius. No complaints. Still hard as hell to see some bullets. It's also damn hard to stand after playing the hardware enhanced version on Epsxe in VGA.

Darius Gaiden. Good stuff. I wasn't expecting rapid auto-fire so it wasn't a letdown.

Raystorm. As with G-Darius, I didn't see what killed me half the time. Not an issue with the port, however.

...and really, do we need 3 more version of Space Invaders? Mind you, '95 is friggin brilliant...

For the most part, the puzzle games are fine and the shooters are fine. It's just that everything else in-between is crap.

[BrianC]

So...I finally got around to picking this up.

Good god, man...the games that aren't shooters are mostly large pieces of crap. It seems to me like Taito had some great ideas but couldn't nail the details.

While there are some less than great non-shooters (Chakan Pop and Nastar, I'm looking at you), I highly disagree. I found there to be more than enough quality with games like Elevator Action II (despite the input and slowdown issues), Arabian Magic, Qix, Kiki Kaikai, Liquid Kids, Football Champ (though it has input issues), Don Doko Don, Bonze Adventure, and Cameltry. There are also games like Dungeon Magic that are flawed, but aren't piles of crap either.

Puchi Carat(ot), whatever. Great idea. Breakout mixed with Puzzle de Bowling. Wonderful. Too bad the controls are screwed and the system is flawed. Yaya...originally analogue...

The controls in Puchi Carat aren't screwed if the accelerate button option is turned on. With it off, the analog controls are hard to get used to. Puzzle de Bowling came out after Puchi Carat.

Darius Gaiden. Good stuff. I wasn't expecting rapid auto-fire so it wasn't a letdown.

It's important to note that it has added slowdown. Sometimes there's virtually none, but the game slows to a crawl in spots. The middle of Zone E and Neon Light Illusion are good examples of this. For this collection, I prefer G-Darius. No added slowdown like in Darius Gaiden and I found the visibility to be fine for a TV screen.

...and really, do we need 3 more version of Space Invaders? Mind you, '95 is friggin brilliant...

Three Space Invaders games that are vastly different. I feel we need them, especially since the older Majestic Twelve ports aren't 100% accurate and Akkinvader/Space Invaders '95 hasn't been ported much outside of Japan. Majestic Twelve is brilliant too, especially the bonus round with the cows.

For the most part, the puzzle games are fine and the shooters are fine. It's just that everything else in-between is crap.

Again, I disagree. Bust-A-Move Again with music that sometimes doesn't play at all is not fine. Metal Black still plays well, but that beam error, which should have been corrected, is most definitely not fine. As I said before, I feel the majority of the non-shmups aren't crap. I found some of the earlier games like Lunar Rescue to be fun too.

Also, some good news. It looks like the PC version is coming to the US. http://www.ebgames.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=640005

[Bloodreign]

Hopefully they didn't bring over the UK's version with the Star Force copy protection, sure there's work around, but I'd rather not have to go through the trouble of trying to get around Starforce.

[BIL]

To be sure.

And yeah, I'd hardly call the sound and music for Metal Black, Darius Gaiden, G-Darius, and a bunch of other games in the collection "bleeps, bloops, groans and simplistic tunes". I have a feeling he only played the two games he mentioned at the beginning of the article. That, or his hearing aids are in dire need of new batteries.

Anyone who'd honestly apply that "bleeps and bloops" description to Darius Gaiden and Metal Black's OSTs should probably just jump in front of a bus for the good of all humanity.

[louisg]

Anyone who'd honestly apply that "bleeps and bloops" description to Darius Gaiden and Metal Black's OSTs should probably just jump in front of a bus for the good of all humanity.

When I read game reviews, I'm always under the impression that some inexperienced kid is writing them, and that much of the time they don't play the game for very long... oh well.

I don't know if this has been asked in this thread yet.. but.. do the japanese versions have tate?

[MJR]

I finally got fed up with Taito legends 1 & 2 's reluctancy for digital controllers and sold them.

I will buy Taito memories 1 and 2 instead from play asia. I trust that japanese don't screw things up.

[BIL]

When I read game reviews, I'm always under the impression that some inexperienced kid is writing them, and that much of the time they don't play the game for very long... oh well.

I don't know if this has been asked in this thread yet.. but.. do the japanese versions have tate?

Same here (though you wouldn't know it from my regrettably vitriolic post). I doubt that "criticism" was anything more substantial than a stock cliche for the reviewer's convenience. These reviews aren't written for those of us who consider these games more than novelties, I suppose. That particular comment irritated me, though. It doesn't just say it's bad music, an opinion I would respect; it says it's mindless music. There's a huge difference, and it's insulting. More lazy stereotypes from "professional" reviews.

I was wondering about tate as well, particularly for Raystorm. Apparently MAME has a minor glitch (neuters the ST3 miniboss's twin lasers) that's been fixed in the Legends & Memories discs. I'd probably switch over to ensure I'm not given any more unwanted slack by MAME, if tate was possible.

[Icarus]

I was wondering about tate as well, particularly for Raystorm. Apparently MAME has a minor glitch (neuters the ST3 miniboss's twin lasers) that's been fixed in the Legends & Memories discs. I'd probably switch over to ensure I'm not given any more unwanted slack by MAME, if tate was possible.

No TATE for anything, which really sucks.
Raystorm was always in the vertizontal format, if I remember correctly.
To be honest, I only have Taito Memories for the near-perfect G-Darius. Everything else is a novelty, or I have the shootemups on some other format.

[BIL]

Damn, I meant Rayforce. Got my Rays mixed up. 0-0; Raystorm is yoko by default, you're absolutely right. That's a shame about the lack of tate... ah well. G-Darius is a huge draw for me too, so I'll still be getting its disc at the very least.

[Icarus]

Damn, I meant Rayforce. Got my Rays mixed up. 0-0; Raystorm is yoko by default, you're absolutely right. That's a shame about the lack of tate... ah well. G-Darius is a huge draw for me too, so I'll still be getting its disc at the very least.

if you can live without TATE then go for it, it's definitely worth it. There's quite a fair bit on the packs, and they're all translated over decently.
G-Darius, Raystorm and Gun Frontier sold the pack for me. Although I do occasionally play some of the other games, just to indulge in nostalgia.

[Skyknight]

The IBM version IS here (I just saw one in Gamestop for $20). Does it have the same nettles as the PS2 version (e.g. Darius Gaiden slowdown, Newalone beam in Metal Black stuck at wide-range, etc.), or have those been Dealt With? (Considering that it apparently has the same exclusives as the PS2--read, no Cadash or Rayforce--I'm not completely optimistic...)

I just hope it'll also work just fine with BootCamp...

[BrianC]

The IBM version IS here (I just saw one in Gamestop for $20). Does it have the same nettles as the PS2 version (e.g. Darius Gaiden slowdown, Newalone beam in Metal Black stuck at wide-range, etc.), or have those been Dealt With? (Considering that it apparently has the same exclusives as the PS2--read, no Cadash or Rayforce--I'm not completely optimistic...)

I just hope it'll also work just fine with BootCamp...

The PC version that came out in Europe didn't have the same exclusives as the PS2 version, so I would be surprised if the US version did. It didn't have the same nettles as the PS2 version (no input glitches or slowdowns that weren't in the arcade). It was mentioned earlier in this very topic. Also mentioned was Star Force, a copy protection software that can kill CD-Rom drives. It's in the EU version, but I'm not sure if it's in the US one.

[-Bridget-]

If the PS2 can handle all the games in Capcom Classics and previous Taito discs, then it can handle any of the above through emulation. What hogwash. Just your typical cross platform ploy here.

These games are pretty much all older titles, arent they?

I think then, it's safe to assume the PS2.... or any current console.... could handle them just fine.


This is just Taito trying to make extra via an EA-style evil scheme.....

[BrianC]

If the PS2 can handle all the games in Capcom Classics and previous Taito discs, then it can handle any of the above through emulation. What hogwash. Just your typical cross platform ploy here.

These games are pretty much all older titles, arent they?

I think then, it's safe to assume the PS2.... or any current console.... could handle them just fine.


This is just Taito trying to make extra via an EA-style evil scheme.....

It was more like a case of the PS2 Taito Legends 2 games being a lazy port of the JP Taito Memories with some extra glitches added to some games. From what I heard, the slowdown in Elevator Action Returns/II and Darius Gaiden (and maybe a couple others) is a carry over from Taito Memories.

Those Capcom collections used tricks like a separate engine for the sound rather than being full on emulation. I'm guessing that's the case with the US/EU PS2 Taito Legends 1, but I'm not completely sure.

[MJR]

Best thing about Taito memories -compared to Taito legends - is that you can remap the insert coin button. Which is a real joy when your PS2 is wired to an 3-button arcade cabinet!
For some reason, Taito legends 1 & had obligatory insert coin and start buttons, both at stupid places. I could not start the game until I swapped controller wires to PS2 pad, and what usually happened after that was that I could not use arcade cabinet controls unless I rebooted - back to square one.

That made me sell taito legends 1 and 2.

Taito memories 2 joukan and gekan have both TATE, I've heard.

[Mikey]

Reading the reports here it looks like these are just lazy emulator and ROM packs. So why buy them? You get the same or better with MAME on your PC. It's only worth buying these things if they're actually 'ported' to the console.

They don't even use the low resolution video modes on PS2, and the PAL versions don't even run at 60HZ! It's obvious these packs are compiled by novice programmers who only barely know what they're doing.

[MJR]

Reading the reports here it looks like these are just lazy emulator and ROM packs. So why buy them? You get the same or better with MAME on your PC. It's only worth buying these things if they're actually 'ported' to the console.

They don't even use the low resolution video modes on PS2, and the PAL versions don't even run at 60HZ! It's obvious these packs are compiled by novice programmers who only barely know what they're doing.

Most likely is that they are done really quickly. The reason for me to buy them is to play them via cabinet - they are definitely more playable, when your joystick is stuck into a cabinet that weighs 100kg - not to mention easy tate. Sometimes, many times, they also play smoother than MAME, which still does not quite give the best feeling for me.

But if you're really for the high score, you should get the PCB.

[Bloodreign]

It's worth buying because someone's making money off the games again.


I recently picked up the US Taito Legends 1 and 2 PC ports, I have a crack of 2, and am not willing to install either one because I know the first has StarForce, the second likely the same, maybe someone can verify if the second game has the Drive killer.

[Ghegs]

Taito memories 2 joukan and gekan have both TATE, I've heard.

You've heard correctly.

[Shatterhand]

Reading the reports here it looks like these are just lazy emulator and ROM packs. So why buy them? You get the same or better with MAME on your PC. It's only worth buying these things if they're actually 'ported' to the console.

They don't even use the low resolution video modes on PS2, and the PAL versions don't even run at 60HZ! It's obvious these packs are compiled by novice programmers who only barely know what they're doing.

Most likely is that they are done really quickly. The reason for me to buy them is to play them via cabinet - they are definitely more playable, when your joystick is stuck into a cabinet that weighs 100kg - not to mention easy tate. Sometimes, many times, they also play smoother than MAME, which still does not quite give the best feeling for me.

But if you're really for the high score, you should get the PCB.

Playing Cleopatra's Fortune both in Mame and Taito Legends 2, I just feel the game is a lot more smooth in TL2.

And how fast does Raystorm and G-Darius run in your Mame setup?

[louisg]

Playing Cleopatra's Fortune both in Mame and Taito Legends 2, I just feel the game is a lot more smooth in TL2.

No doubt! Though, it looks like AdvanceMAME can pull it off-- check it out if you need the fluidity. I used that one for a little with VGA framebuffer mode on Linux, and the 60hz games seemed work nicely. Some of the games like Elevator Action II seem like they could run a bit better than they do.. however, the majority seem to be the correct resolution (at least scaled by an integer multiple) and fluid. It is a huge cut above a true lazy emulation pack (like the Midway collections).

And how fast does Raystorm and G-Darius run in your Mame setup?

There were both Win9x and PSX versions of those you could run; I believe the PS2 version is not emulated... imo the PS2 version of Storm is a lot better than the PSX one (sharper 3d, no vertical ripping).