Midway is no stranger to mooching off their classic gaming history. They have the rights to several classic arcade games by Williams' and Atari's arcade corporations, although not the likes of such classics as Asteroids or Tempest. Still, they have a bevy of titles to revamp for such collections as Midway Arcade Treasures, and there's plenty to like here. 20+ games have been thrown into this collection, and they are as follows: Spy Hunter, Defender, Defender II, Gauntlet, Joust, Joust 2, Paperboy, Rampage, Robotron 2084, Smash TV, Bubbles, Roadblasters, Blaster, Rampart, Sinistar, Super Sprint, Marble Madness, 720 Degrees, Toobin', Klax, Splat!, Satan's Hollow, Vindicators, and Root Beer Tapper.

These games each have playability to offer in their own right, even such obscure titles as Rampart and Splat!. My personal favorites on the disc that are stand-outs include Smash TV, a contest where two players enter a number of arenas and blast every enemy in sight while collecting goods; Roadblasters, a fast and furious arcade racer where you blast enemies while driving at high speeds; and long-lost favorites like Blaster and Joust 2, which didn't receive much arcade recognition at all. They came and went like a light. This collection allows you to play them in all their glory, thanks to top-notch emulation by the folks at Digital Eclipse. They handled Midway's previous Arcade's Greatest Hits releases for PlayStation.

The game controls, however, are a bit strange for some of these. The handling of your vehicle in Roadblasters is too touchy for its own good, and takes time to get used to. Otherwise, you're driving all over the road. Furthermore, games that require both analog sticks, like Toobin' and Vindicators, take time to master, thanks to the odd set-up. Fortunately, you can use the D-pad for general movement, which is fine. Generally, the controls are good, but customizing options would have been really nice here.

Along with the games, you also get little history pieces on the games themselves, either interview clips with the programmers, trivia pieces that challenge your mind, or sell sheets from yesteryear, talking about the cabinet design or marketing or other cool little items you thought didn't exist. However, I have a HUGE complaint about the video clips. While informative, they're obviously ported over from previous Arcade's Greatest Hits releases, and the video quality is piss poor. There's also nothing substantially new here, unless you've never played any of Midway's arcade collections before. The trivia questions are the same, and so are the sell sheets. This was kind of a let-down, as these are described as DVD contents on the case.

I also have another complaint about the selection of particular games in this collection. Splat! is so obscure I have no idea what it's really doing here. Also, what's the deal with Moon Patrol? Here was a classic game that was included on previous Midway releases but not here? This is a substantially good game and really should have been included. I suppose they're trying to save it for Midway Arcade Treasures II. Sad that I have to wait for so long.

But the collection definitely has its values. You can challenge your friends in a number of these games, like some four-player action in Gauntlet, or three player action with the likes of Rampage, Super Sprint, and Rampart. And let's not forget the two-player insanity that exists with Marble Madness and Smash TV. If that's not enough, Midway was also gracious enough to include Xbox Live compatibility in terms of posting your high scores to an online scoreboard. This is great, as you can see where you rank across the globe with other players. Granted, online play would've been good, but it didn't exist then for these games, so I can see why it wouldn't exist now. And, finally, the game is only $20, which is a tremendous deal considering that it could have gone for $40.

Midway Arcade Treasures could've been produced a bit better in some areas, and it'll take a long time to get over the lack of being able to get my Moon Patrol groove on again. However, it certainly has its merits and offers hours of fun with classic games to whet your whistle, and its features, while not exactly polished in presentation, should keep you entertained. Let's hope a sequel comes around.