Taito empties its vault with the U.S. release of Taito Legends Power Up for PSP. Despite a few lame-duck choices, it presents first-rate retro flavor for $20.
Familiar favorites include Space Invaders, Elevator Action and The Legend of Kage. However, the compilation has a few lame ducks, such as Kuri Kinton (a strange Dragon Ball Z-esque brawl-a-thon), Crazy Balloon and Ki Ki Kai Kai. While some of these games may grow on the import-friendly community, most people will skip to the good stuff. Taito should have stuck with more recognizable entries, like the goofy fighting game The Ninja Kids or selections from the Darius shooting series. Also, why no love for Cadash or Ninja Warriors? Those were two favorites back in the arcade hey-day.
Along with the regular games (with over 20 to choose from), Taito threw in four "remixed" games: Crazy Balloon, Balloon Bomber, Cameltry and The Legend of Kage. All four feature revamped graphics and other improvements. While the Balloon games don't impress, Cameltry and Kage shouldn't be missed.
In addition, Power Up includes some cool options, like the ability to change the size of the display, either leaving it at its original aspect ratio or stretching it out to fit the entire screen. Lives and difficulty can also be adjusted and high scores can be saved and loaded up on the memory card to show others.
Power Up includes Game Sharing, but aside from that, players have very few online options. The manual states that the game supports both Wi-Fi and Infrastructure, but only a handful of games support two-player action.
Even with lackluster online goodies, Taito Legends Power Up warrants a purchase, as it provides many hours of retro bliss. For $19.99, everyone should give it a look.
Final Score: 7 (out of 10)
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