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Midway ships complacent compilation

Oh, the '90s arcade. How many mindless, derivative games populated American malls through the decade? For every game you can remember, there are probably ten others that never made it big (and "big" is extremely subjective). Thankfully, game companies that have survived the fall of arcades are repackaging their old cash cows into convenient multi-game compilations.

The latest to come off the line is "Midway Arcade Treasures 2." The most notable titles included in the compilation are the first two sequels from the Mortal Kombat series. Filling out the roster is "Primal Rage," "Pit Fighter," "NARC" and "Rampage World Tour."

There are 14 others available, but they're buried in the compilation for a reason folks.

Most of the aforementioned arcade classics have not aged well. "Pit Fighter" was barely cool 10 years ago, and once "MK" came around and revolutionized digitized graphics, it was shoved aside. If you're trying to picture it, it's the game some sorry kid would play when "MKII" was being overrun.

"Primal Rage" features Claymation dinosaurs picking each other apart. It was the '90s man, everyone needed a "Street Fighter" and the sooner the better. Once the initial wow-factor of seeing poorly animated clay reptiles wears off, the game just isn't too fun. Also, the blood in this emulation seems to be sporadic, flowing in some instances and completely disappearing in others. There are plenty of fighters, and some decent finishing moves, but hey, we're all here for the Kombat.

And how well are the two marquee titles treated? Pretty good, though it does seem like the difficulty has been altered. On the original console versions you could crank it up or turn it down; here it feels like there's no difference between easy and normal.

Graphically both "MKII" and its goofy sequel, 1995's "Mortal Kombat 3," look arcade perfect. The visuals and animation are rough by today's standards (hell they almost were back then) though most will appreciate having 100% faithful ports of the former arcade giants.

And with accurate ports comes all the inherent problems. Each fighter has only a few special moves and there's no interaction with, well, anything, so battles are very much one on one. When fighting the computer, the throw becomes impossible to pull off yet it you're computer counterpart will toss you around incessantly. Just try to trip any of the female characters. They'll jump into a throw before the sweep animation is even over.

Cheap little things like that annoyed back in the day, but now are just infuriating.

It's widely accepted that "MKII" was the pinnacle of the series, and the third just took it too far. Then came "Ultimate MK3," "MK4" and "MK Gold." Midway wanted a lucrative franchise, and it got one, but the games slid after "MK3." It's nice to have, but unless you are still a diehard fan you won't be back often.

At some point you'll check out the other options on the disc. Prepare to wonder what the hell half of them are. Ever played "APB" or "Timber?" No? Well surely you remember "Arch Rivals" and "Total Carnage." If so, pray your expectations aren't too high...because none of these titles have held up.

One delightful inclusion is "Xybots," a psuedo-3D maze crawl from the arcades. It was ported to Atari's long gone Lynx handheld, but the arcade version blew it away. And, remarkably enough, it's just as fun today as it was in 1992. Obviously dated, but a fun little excursion nonetheless.

As for the rest of the games on "Treasures," let's just say they're not solid gold. Some, like "NARC" stick out at first but are so repetitive it's hard to believe anyone over the age of 18 will even bother. But many are multiplayer (such as "Gauntlet II) and the continued games are unlimited.

So for $20 it's a nostalgic bargain probably too good to ignore.

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