Midway Arcade Origins

[cimerians]

Anyone hear about this?

 

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/19/midway-arcade-origins-puts-classic-coin-ops-on-xbox-and-ps3/

 

I'm wondering what the game list is. I have copies of these games already in various forms but these should include achievments/trophy support and I would buy it because of that.

 

I wonder if online multiplayer co-op or competitions will be implemented like Game Room. I doubt it.....

[Gabriel]

I wonder if online multiplayer co-op or competitions will be implemented like Game Room. I doubt it.....

 

The article I read after searching for one that wasn't blocked by my employer said that it will be local multiplayer only.

 

The article I read also had an author who questioned why this disk needed to exist since "most of the games are available on PSN and XBLA".

 

I'll probably pick it up. The key games (Defender, Joust, Robotron) are good enough to buy over and over again and still be cheaper than all the quarters I spent on them back in the 80s. Plus, despite what the article author I read stated, these games don't exist on PSN.

[cimerians]

The article I read after searching for one that wasn't blocked by my employer said that it will be local multiplayer only.

 

The article I read also had an author who questioned why this disk needed to exist since "most of the games are available on PSN and XBLA".

 

I'll probably pick it up. The key games (Defender, Joust, Robotron) are good enough to buy over and over again and still be cheaper than all the quarters I spent on them back in the 80s. Plus, despite what the article author I read stated, these games don't exist on PSN.

 

That's what I was thinking. I'll probably pick a copy up for PS3 since most of them are not on PSN although it says they will have "new" achievements. I wonder if it would be worth it on the 360 if they are new? I'm not so sure since I have a lot of them on XBLA.

 

Still kind of wish they would do a Game Room type thing. Which shows the arcade machines and you can challenge someone etc.

 

Oh well, currently I'm looking for a listing of games on the disc...

[onlysublime]

I wonder if this is just a rehash of the titles that were pulled off of Xbox Live due to the licensing issue when Midway went kablooey. It seems like a cheap money grab off of titles that were already done and now just need to be reissued following licensing acquisition.

 

I always did want a faithful Tournament Cyberball 2072 with 4 player online support. They did release a Cyberball with 2 player co-op support but it's the versus that keeps people loving the game. And the game was removed before I ever had a chance to buy it.

 

And I wonder if these games are just emulated. Meaning that's why there isn't any online multiplayer support for them. If that's the case, I'd just stick to MAME. Heck, with Kaillera, I can play these emulated games over the Internet!

[Spoon]

Just heard about it today. Really excited about it. Especially if each game will have their own small set of achievements. Hoping for Timber, Domino Man, Joust 2, and Satan's Hollow.

[onlysublime]

here's the trailer. pretty slick:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PloTfIt5dew

[+DamonicFury]

Here's the list of games. Looks pretty sweet!

• 720°
  
• A.P.B.
  
• Arch Rivals
  
• Bubbles
  
• Championship Sprint
  
• Tournament Cyberball 2072
  
• Defender
  
• Defender II
  
• Gauntlet
  
• Gauntlet II
  
• Joust
  
• Joust 2
  
• Marble Madness
  
• Pit-Fighter
  
• Rampage
  
• Rampart
  
• Robotron 2084
  
• Root Beer Tapper
  
• Satan’s Hollow
  
• Sinistar
  
• Smash TV
  
• Spy Hunter
  
• Spy Hunter II
  
• Super Off Road
  
• Super Sprint
  
• Toobin’
  
• Total Carnage
  
• Vindicators Part II
  
• Wizard of Wor
  
• Xenophobe
  
• Xybots
  

From: http://www.examiner....-arcade-origins

Edited September 19, 2012 by sdamon

[Gabriel]

Here's the list of games. Looks pretty sweet!

• 720°
  
• "A.P.B."
  
• "Arch Rivals"
  
• "Bubbles"
  
• "Championship Sprint"
  
• "Tournament Cyberball 2072"
  
• "Defender"
  
• "Defender II"
  
• "Gauntlet"
  
• "Gauntlet II"
  
• "Joust"
  
• "Joust 2"
  
• "Marble Madness
  
• "Pit-Fighter"
  
• "Rampage"
  
• "Rampart"
  
• "Robotron 2084"
  
• "Root Beer Tapper"
  
• "Satan’s Hollow"
  
• "Sinistar"
  
• "Smash TV
  
• "Spy Hunter"
  
• "Spy Hunter II"
  
• "Super Off Road"
  
• "Super Sprint"
  
• "Toobin’"
  
• "Total Carnage"
  
• "Vindicators Part II"
  
• "Wizard of Wor"
  
• "Xenophobe"
  
• "Xybots"
  

From: http://www.examiner....-arcade-origins

 

Hmmm. I would have liked a better emulated Narc. But if Pit Fighter is playable this time instead of being insanely sped up, then that will be cool.

 

There was a Vindicators Part II? I didn't know that.

 

It largely looks like Treasures 1 and the oldies from Treasures 2 smooshed together into one package. That's good enough for me.

[Austin]

Sounds like this is basically a combination of Midway Arcade Treasures Volumes I and II, albeit minus the awesome fighting games. Too bad I already have those games.

[ComputerSpaceFan]

Here's the list of games. Looks pretty sweet!

 

Sinistar

 

 

Anyone happen to know if this rendition of Sinistar will correctly emulate the orginal hardware's 49-way joystick? Or did the developers just assume (like so many ports) that Sinistar was played using an 8-way joystick?

[Atariboy]

Always pictured an HD Midway compilation collecting everything from the MAT trilogy, addressing emulation issues here and there, and giving us 8-12 additional games new to their compilations to get people to double dip. So it's with mixed feelings that I read this thread just now. I'm happy to be getting a new compilation and it looks to have potential, but the game list is a bit of a diisappointment. I know Mortal Kombat already recieved a dedicated compilation and that Hydro Thunder went to Microsoft so I won't focus on those losses (Not even a MK fan or a fan of the genre, so it's not too hard to ignore that part).

 

But I'm assuming Warner bought most all of the other titles missing here and that list is a fairly lengthy one. So that leaves me confused on why things like Timber are absent here that they've emulated and released in the past, especially since this compilation is coming from the same development studio as all of those past Midway releases (Although I wonder how many emulation wizards still work there these days). It's especially curious since I really doubt they're planning ahead for a sequel these days like they would've been back around 2003 or so. It's not like the retail compilation business is booming these days as a reason to leave games off a collection to give fodder for a future sequel...

 

Gone from Midway Arcade Treasures are Blaster, Klax, Paperboy, Roadblasters, Splat, and Vindicators. Gone from Midway Arcade Treasures 2 are Hard Drivin' (Ashame now that both consoles have several wheel options and many wheel owners), Kozmik Krooz'r, Mortal Komat II, Mortal Kombat 3, NARC, Primal Rage, Rampage World Tour, Timber (The main reason I bought MAT2), and Wacko.

 

Missing from Midway Arcade Treasures 3 is everything except for Super Off-Road (And no mention of the Track-Pack being included). Several games there that would've benefited from wheel support like Race Drivin', it would've been a chance to do better justice to S.T.U.N Runner (Slowdown and very inconsistent frame rate) and San Francisco Rush (Control issues due to not translating well to a gamepad and the entire soundtrack was replaced), and Rush 2049 would've looked great on a HD console (No Hydro Thunder of course). And heck, the Xbox and PS2 builds routinely corrupt their own saves so that's another reason it's sad to see most everything from it missing here since the GCN version that does properly save had some performance issues not there on the other two (Like Super Off-Road slowing to the single digits on a particular track).

 

At the very least I'd of expected all this material with a handful of exceptions to be here. And the only thing new here is the rare Vindicators sequel (If you can even call it a sequel, sounds extremely similar in its KLOV description). Still missing in compilation form are the original Cyberball (Not a huge loss with a better version of it here but it seems easy to include it just the same when they're already including the expanded version), Domino Man (Always hoped that one would see release but I'm guessing the word Domino is trademarked), Solar Fox (Great arcade game and a game I think many 2600 fans would love to see in arcade form), Robby Roto, Steel Talons (Planned for MAT2 but dropped due to emulation issues supposedly), the unreleased Marble Madness sequel, Two Tigers, Blasteroids (I'm assuming this would require a license from Atari due to the obvious relationship with Asteroids?), and many others. Many of which have no obvious obstruction preventing their rerelease.

 

I hope at least Wizard of Wor is done properly (Although I fear they're just going to be porting over the work done years ago and won't be addressing issues that existed). And it seems as if there were similar crticisms for Satan's Hollow as I recall.

 

I'll happily buy it but it sure is far off from how I pictured this release in my mind over the past 5 years.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Atariboy

[onlysublime]

most of these Midway games were by Atari Games!

 

you brought back memories. Would've loved to see T-Mek. That was an awesome game that would've gotten more notoriety if it was released by a Japanese company as many kids thought the best games came from Japan due to the explosion of Street Fighter II and companies like Sega. The Atari arcade games were viewed as quaint and out of touch.

[Austin]

I would love to see compilations with later Midway/Atari games like The Grid, WAR and the arcade Gauntlet Legends & Dark Legacy. Awesome, awesome games that would make for excellent online multiplayer experiences.

[onlysublime]

after all this talk, I'm pretty sure I can wait for these to go to bargain bin. None of them scream out for ownership.

 

All it takes is one great game in the compilation to make you pull the trigger and that game for me would've been 4-player online Tournament Cyberball 2072.

 

If this is just a rehash of emulated games with no online multiplayer, it's dead to me.

[boog]

I hope this has online leaderboards... I wouldn't be chasing the top scores overall, but it'd be neat to compare scores against people on your friends list.

[cimerians]

I hope this has online leaderboards... I wouldn't be chasing the top scores overall, but it'd be neat to compare scores against people on your friends list.

 

Yeah I think it does.

 

Thanks to sdamon for finding the games list. It's a bit of a letdown, I have all of these games in some form or another but I'll be picking this up for the PS3 since I get a little tired of digging out the old PS2 compilations and the trophies support is another thing I'm looking forward to.

 

Backbone Entertainment....have they done well in the past?

 

Also, who owns the rights to Moon Patrol? I love that game.......

Edited September 20, 2012 by cimerians

[+DamonicFury]

Also, who owns the rights to Moon Patrol? I love that game.......

 

I believe that one still belongs to Irem. If you really want to play it on your PS3, the PS1 compilation "Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Midway Collection 2" has it. Strangely enough, it also has Burgertime, which belongs to Data East.

[Atariboy]

...trophies support is another thing I'm looking forward to.

 

Hopefully they're not pitifully easy but I also hope they're not out of reach for mortals. Very few people are going to ever 1 credit Smash TV or finish 99 waves in Robotron 2084 (Both of which were achievements on the standalone XBLA releases). Would be nice if this had a challenging achievement set (Unlike the Genesis collection) but with the possibility of earning all of them after a few dozen hours of time.

 

But if they're set up like those early XBLA releases, 700 or so will probably be the upwards limit here and they're going to lose a lot of sales to those gamers that are compulsive about their trophies/achievements.

 

...Backbone Entertainment....have they done well in the past?

 

It's mixed but I think most would give them somewhere around a B+ to an A- for their efforts. And I suspect some of the areas they've done less than spectacular in were just due to tight timelines. If you pay any attention to these things, the time between a publisher green lighting a classic compilation and the release deadline always seems to be a tight one when you read an interview with a team member and such.

 

But if you own any classic compilations from before this generation or some of the standalone classic game digital releases from the early days of this generation, you more than likely own something they've programmed.

 

Their Digital Eclipse studio was once the go to team if a publisher wanted to rerelease their classic content. They probably represented half the work in this area over the past 15 years and they pioneered this entire concept of classic game collections.

 

Also, who owns the rights to Moon Patrol? I love that game.......

 

Like already said, it's Irem.

 

I believe that one still belongs to Irem. If you really want to play it on your PS3, the PS1 compilation "Midway Presents Arcade's Greatest Hits - The Midway Collection 2" has it. Strangely enough, it also has Burgertime, which belongs to Data East.

 

Once upon a time, Midway felt strongly enough about these type of releases to even license games. That's how these two games were included and that's how Midway was able to publish collections of pre Atari Games material like Battlezone that they never owned.

 

Incidently, Moon Patrol also was included on Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits Volume 2 for the Sega Dreamcast. No Burgertime in that release though.

 

I hope this has online leaderboards... I wouldn't be chasing the top scores overall, but it'd be neat to compare scores against people on your friends list.

 

In that link posted in this thread, it says it does.

 

One of the biggest reasons I was sad to see the original Xbox go offline was the loss of that feature on the Xbox versions of the MAT trilogy. I enjoy online leaderboards in these things far more than online multiplayer.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Atariboy

[cimerians]

Hopefully they're not pitifully easy but I also hope they're not out of reach for mortals. Very few people are going to ever 1 credit Smash TV or finish 99 waves in Robotron 2084 (Both of which were achievements on the standalone XBLA releases). Would be nice if this had a challenging achievement set (Unlike the Genesis collection) but with the possibility of earning all of them after a few dozen hours of time.

 

It's mixed but I think most would give them somewhere around a B+ to an A- for their efforts. And I suspect some of the areas they've done less than spectacular in were just due to tght timelines. If you pay any attention to these things, the time between a publisher green lighting a classic compilation and the release deadline always seems to be a tight one when you read an interview with a team member and such.

 

But if you own any classic compilations from before this generation, any of the early XBLA/PSN releases of Sega content, or own any of the Midway XBLA/PSN releases that are now delisted, the Konami XBLA releases, you more than likely own something they've programmed.

 

Their Digital Eclipse studio was once the go to team if a publisher wanted to rerelease their classic content. They probably represented half the work in this area over the past 15 years and they pioneered this entire concept of classic game collections.

 

 

Ok nice bit of history. Not the biggest fan of the old Digital Eclipse stuff. Thought controls and speed were not really accurate on some titles.

 

Also, I'm hoping the achievements/trophies are somewhat simple. I'm not into the difficult and ridiculous ones.

[Atariboy]

They certainly have a bit of a mixed record, but the vast majority of their work has been excellent. Always seemed to be very few complaints with their pre Midway Arcade Treasures work and sometimes they even gave us some unexpected bells and whistles like support for the Playstation track-ball in several releases, the already mentioned licensed games, and of course new bonus material (Something you can be all but assured of not getting in this upcoming collection).

 

From there onwards, their compilations seemed to start gaining more and more issues. But that's sort of understandable when you go from coding for six 1980's era games on a single compilation for 1 or 2 platforms to twenty or more games on a single compilation that's going to be on 3 or more platforms that includes more recent games that are likely much more difficult to emulate (And in the case of MAT3, several games that had to be ported over instead of emulated). It's amazing that most of the included games still ran very well when you realize the scale of their job in something like Midway Arcade Treasures 2. Just had to learn to avoid the ones that didn't turn out well like Wizard of Wor.

 

And their Genesis work on Sega Genesis Collection and standalone releases on XBLA and PSN had a few audio issues but nothing that seemed to bother most people. So I'd give them a A or A- where that part of their business was concerned.

 

And their standalone digital arcade releases were excellent from the early part of this generation. The only version of Root Beer Tapper with perfect sound was the now delisted XBLA release for an example.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Atariboy

[Jess Ragan]

Wish it would have been Code Mystics instead, to be honest. Digital Eclipse lost that lovin' feelin' after the Foundation 9 acquisition.

[Atariboy]

Yeah, all their soul and inspiration seemed to leave after that happened.

 

Wonder how many former Digital Eclipse guys work at Code Mystics. Jeff Vavasour of course is at least one, but I'm betting he brought much of that talent with him over to Code Mystics.

[Cybergoth]

Wish it would have been Code Mystics instead, to be honest. Digital Eclipse lost that lovin' feelin' after the Foundation 9 acquisition.

 

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix?

[cimerians]

I'm also kind of wondering about Tapper. Was there ever a home version or compilation that included the BEER Tapper and not Root Beer Tapper? I don't think I've seen the bud version on home systems. I cant rememeber but I may be wrong.

[Atariboy]

For obvious reasons, Budweiser Tapper was an arcade exclusive even 30 years ago.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Atariboy