Midway Arcade Treasures

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Midway Arcade Treasures
Midway Arcade Treasures Coverart.png
Original cover art.
Developer(s)Digital Eclipse
Publisher(s)Midway Games
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Microsoft Windows
ReleasePlayStation 2
  • NA: November 17, 2003
  • EU: February 6, 2004
Xbox
  • NA: December 2, 2003
  • EU: February 6, 2004
GameCube
  • NA: December 17, 2003
Microsoft Windows
  • NA: August 31, 2004
  • EU: October 22, 2004
Genre(s)Various
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Midway Arcade Treasures is a video-game compilation of 24 arcade games, emulated from the original PCBs. The overall release was developed by Digital Eclipse and issued by Midway Games for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and Microsoft Windows.

Midway followed up the Arcade Treasures with successive compilations featuring different games: Midway Arcade Treasures 2 in 2004, Midway Arcade Treasures 3 in 2005, the portable Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play, and the Windows-exclusive Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition in 2006.

After Midway's bankruptcy, Warner Bros. owns the rights and released another arcade compilation called Midway Arcade Origins in 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, which includes 29 select games from MAT 1 and 2 plus Super Off Road from 3. It also contains Vindicators Part II which replaced the original Vindicators from Midway Arcade Treasures.

The compilation was later re-released as Midway Arcade Treasures 1, the title and packaging being changed slightly to match the succeeding volumes. However, the lineup of games remained the same.

Features[]

The compilation plays similarly on all three consoles; however, the Xbox version has the extra 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. This compilation is a combination of the games included in Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits, Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits, and Arcade Party Pak for the original PlayStation and PC and each contain exactly the same extras from those collections. Additionally, there are eleven more games included that are not found in those collections.

While the PlayStation 2 and GameCube versions can be played on the earliest models of the PlayStation 3 and Wii respectively (due to their backwards compatibility), the Xbox version is not Xbox 360 compatible.

Games[]

Re-release cover art, designed to match that of the later volumes in the series.

The collection consists of the following 24 arcade games:

Titles in the series
Title Released
720° 1986
Blaster 1983
Bubbles 1983
Defender 1980
Defender II (a.k.a. StarGate) 1981
Gauntlet 1985
Joust 1982
Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest 1986
Klax 1989
Marble Madness 1984
Paperboy 1984
Rampage 1986
Rampart 1990
RoadBlasters 1987
Robotron: 2084 1982
Root Beer Tapper 1983
Satan's Hollow 1982
Sinistar 1982
Smash TV 1990
Splat! 1982
Spy Hunter 1983
Super Sprint 1986
Toobin' 1988
Vindicators 1988

Reception[]

Midway Arcade Treasures received mixed, but generally positive reviews from reviewers at GameRankings with a 75.31% of the GameCube version, 73.86% of the PlayStation 2 version, and 75.02% of the Xbox version. Criticisms are the poor menu layout, slowdown in Smash TV, for the documentaries and interviews having video quality that is grainy and unrestored, as well as the documentaries and interviews being rehashed from previous Midway collections.

Midway Arcade Treasures also received mixed and positive reviews from review aggregator Metacritic, with a score of 76 for the PlayStation 2 version, a score of 74 for the Xbox version, and the lowest being a score of 72 for the GameCube version. The reviews were mostly the same as GameRankings, stating the games positive and negative points. Many of the complaints were based on the DVD content having poor, and stuttering quality, the menu being not pleasant to look at, and some of the games being difficult to control (with Vindicators as the main point of focus). Reviewers did say the collection was worth getting, even if the games didn't entice you at first.

The compilation sold more than 1 million units by August 2005.[7]

Similar Collections[]

Game Center USA: Midway Arcade Treasures[]

A similar collection of Midway arcade games was also released exclusively in Japan by Success under the title Game Center USA: Midway Arcade Treasures, which compiled 32 select games from the original Midway Arcade Treasures and Midway Arcade Treasures 2 was released for the PlayStation 2 on September 21, 2006.[8]

The included games are 720°, A.P.B., Arch Rivals, Bubbles, Championship Sprint, Cyberball 2072, Gauntlet, Gauntlet II, Hard Drivin', Joust, Joust 2: Survival of the Fittest, Klax, Kozmik Krooz'r, Marble Madness, Paperboy, Pit-Fighter, Rampart, RoadBlasters, Robotron: 2084, Root Beer Tapper, Satan's Hollow, Splat!, Spy Hunter, Spy Hunter II, Super Sprint, Toobin', Total Carnage, Vindicators, Wacko, Xenophobe, and Xybots.

Midway Arcade[]

In 2012, another similar collection was released: an application called Midway Arcade. Available for iOS, it is the first of the series to be published by Warner Bros. which acquired all the assets due to Midway's bankruptcy. The compilation only includes 5 games from the original Midway Arcade Treasures, Defender, Joust, Rampage, Root Beer Tapper, and Spy Hunter, as well as Arch Rivals from Midway Arcade Treasures 2.

The compilation also included four traditional arcade games: Air Hockey, Arcade Basketball (themed after Arch Rivals), Pool, and Roll Ball, a redemption center where players would purchase prizes using tickets, and a jukebox that allowed players to play music from their iTunes library.

Two packs containing three additional games were also purchasable from the App Store: the Action Game Pack contains A.P.B., NARC, and Total Carnage from Midway Arcade Treasures 2, while the Adventure Game Pack contains Gauntlet from the original Midway Arcade Treasures, as well as Gauntlet II and Wizard of Wor from Midway Arcade Treasures 2.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "GR_PS2". GameRankings. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  2. ^ "GR_XBOX". GameRankings. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  3. ^ "GR_NGC". GameRankings. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  4. ^ "MC_PS2". Metacritic. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  5. ^ "MC_XBOX". Metacritic. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  6. ^ "MC_NGC". Metacritic. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  7. ^ Dickerson, Justin (August 17, 2005). "Old-school video games move to the head of the class". USA Today. Retrieved August 19, 2021.
  8. ^ "The Game Center of USA: Midway Arcade Treasures". Play-Asia.com. Retrieved 10 September 2013.

External links[]

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