The full game list includes (deep breath) 720, Arch Rivals, Championship Sprint, Cyberball 2072, Defender, Gauntlet, Joust, Klax, Mortal Kombat, Marble Madness, Mortal Kombat II, Mortal Kombat 3, Paperboy, Rampage, Rampart, Sinistar, Spy Hunter, Toobin', Wizard of Wor, Xenophobe, and Xybots. There is a genuinely decent amount of titles on this compilation, although if you're a fan of Midway compilation games then the obvious omission is Robotron: 2084 and we're not really sure why this game was left out of the package. We also have to question exactly why Mortal Kombat III was included rather than Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, which is better; maybe the game wasn't enough of a treasure?
Can't compare to Tony Hawk.
The entire package is relatively basic. You're dropped into a small menu and select a game from the list. After this you view the controls and then start the game. One of the best additions to this game is the wireless multiplayer support. Mortal Kombat is still a lot of fun via wireless, and it's certainly the best asset that this compilation has. For some reason the gameshare feature isn't supported (these games aren't exactly large) which is a little disappointing, so everyone needs to own a copy of the game to take advantage of the multiplayer.
The emulation in the package is a little bit hit-and-miss. Some games run fine, whereas others feel like they suffer from poor emulation. Some of the games are stretched to fit onto the PSP's widescreen, and as a result the games look rather hideous, Paperboy in particular hardly looking like a treasure in widescreen. It's possible to change the games back to a more eye-pleasing resolution though by holding L1 and pressing square at the pause menu.
The biggest drawcards for the whole game are the Mortal Kombat titles. Unfortunately all three of these titles have suffered from some kind of problems in the transition to the PSP. Mortal Kombat II and III are a little more intense and as such the frame-rate often crawls along and there are often backgrounds missing in the game. This is a huge disappointment as these titles could have been the supreme reason for getting the game, but now both feel like a missed opportunity. The original Mortal Kombat runs with a slower frame-rate as well.
What people did before Gran Turismo 4
The poor emulation isn't the only issue with the game though, for the load times are atrocious. The game doesn't really have to load much detail, so we're baffled as to why it takes so painfully long to actually get into the game, but it's really disheartening when a portable game takes so long to get going. Due to the fiddly menus you need to wait for the title screen to load, then select a game and endure more loading, which is then followed by a bout of a little more loading. This means that you're unlikely to just play this game in short, five minute bursts because it takes so long to actually get into the game.
We weren't expecting much from the visuals of the game for obvious reasons, though it appears that the developers haven't exactly strained themselves. Stretching the games just looks hideous and it would have been good if an option to rotate the screen around was included. As we mentioned Mortal Kombat II doesn't look as good as it could because it is missing some backgrounds, while the rest of the games look basic, though we appreciate this is to be expected. Nobody goes into a compilation expecting astounding visuals.
The audio in the game hasn't been handled very well and feels rushed. Most of the samples are off and sometimes even delayed and distorted. There are instrument effects missing from Paperboy, which makes the soundtrack sound even blander. This is the type of game that would have benefitted from custom soundtrack support. It's really disappointing that the sound has turned out so poor though.
Paperboy, a classic but not necessarily a treasure
It's lucky then that the game contains so many titles, otherwise it wouldn't last very long at all. We didn't find ourselves playing the Mortal Kombat titles as much as we anticipated, which could be because the emulation has turned out to be so poor. The multiplayer should definitely extend the replayability of the game, although it's severely disappointing that the game doesn't support a game share option, especially considering the games aren't exactly mammoth in size and content.
Midway Arcade Treasures Extended Play could have been the ultimate Midway compilation pack. Unfortunately, the emulation is off and very few of the games have actually been emulated faithfully without missing out on at least something. The package itself is very bare bones and the loading takes away from the advantage of being able to play the game whenever you'd like. If the games in this compilation were emulated well then this could have been a fantastic compilation, if only because of the Mortal Kombat titles, but this game isn't likely to keep you enthused for too long and it's likely you'll be longing to go back to the original games before they suffered from distorted audio and lengthy load times.
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