Taito Milestones Arcade Collection Doesn’t Set Any Landmarks
Nostalgia is as popular as ever, especially in the gaming industry. A lot of studios are doing their best to capitalize on this wave of popularity, but are some of these companies so focused on whether they can do something, that they never stop to ask if they should?
Case in point, Taito’s latest collection of arcade … “classics,” Taito Milestones.
For those unaware, Taito Corporation is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the Taito Trading Company, importing various wares into Japan.
Taito Milestones is a collection of arcade games including such classics as Elevator Action and Ninja Warriors, which are probably the only games any one has even heard of.
Meanwhile, the rest of the games on display here are either derivative overhead shoot ‘em ups such as Front Line, or blatant milquetoast rip-offs such as Chack’n Pop, which is a dollar store Bubble Bobble. But to be fair Bubble Bobble is one of their IPs, which is even more annoying
There are a few more obscure titles like The FairyLand Story, which is eerily similar in delivery to the Snow Bros. franchise. And then there’s Alpine Ski, and I couldn’t care less about it, because of my deep seething hatred of sports and sports video games.
Trust me, I don’t like comparisons of different games like this. But I struggled to get enough content for this review, which should be a testament to just how unremarkable this collection is.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the emulation is competent — nothing to write home about but not terrible.
I came into this one excited to relive some of my favorite memories digitally, but Taito Milestones really dropped the ball this time. Taito as a company is responsible for some of the greatest arcade games of all time, but you wouldn’t know with the lack of effort put into this collection. There are way better arcade collections with more polish to them.
I wanted to like this one, but it was exhausting to get through and I just didn’t have much time to invest in this. All I have left to say is that you are better off buying Ninja Warriors on the Nintendo eShop.
I give Taito Milestones a 2 out of 5.
