I've bought this collection before...
What I liked was:
- You can adjust the graphics. Each game has the option to select sharp, clean or smooth. For most games, I went for the smooth option as the games looked better on my 480p TV. For same games, the smooth looked great (Super Off Road) and for some, I didn't really see a difference (Satan's Hollow). On Gauntlet, the game cropped a tiny bit on the right side but other than that, everything looked okay.
- Every game is playable. Usually you get one or two games that are just impossible to play. Marble Madness is the most difficult but I can't see myself doing well at the game over time. The two Sprint games are okay, if annoying, you just have to master the gas and the d-pad to do well. Rampart, one of my favourites is playable, although it would have been nice to be able to adjust the speed of the joystick on that game and a couple others, like Spy Hunter.
- You can reconfigure most of the controls. The buttons can be re-mapped, although for some things like shifting in Spy Hunter, you're stuck with the right stick.
- The price. For $30.00, you can't really complain. The way I looked at it, if you were to drop a few quarters for each game in an arcade, that would almost cover the cost of the entire collection.
What I didn't like:
- Cyberball 2072 only uses about 1/4 of the screen. The top and bottom are black, the middle is split between your game screen and another useless screen. If you have a big TV, this probably won't be a problem, but on my 32" TV, it was pretty hard to see the action and I wish they'd given a option to enlarge the actual game area. Xenophobe does the same thing, using just 1/3 of the TV and again, a larger playing area would have been nice.
- There could have easily been more games included. Taito Legends on the PSP had 25 games. There's no reason why this collection couldn't have had more - I'd have paid more for it and I bet so would anyone else who is into these kind of collections.
- There's no manual. It would have been nice to have some info on these games, even if it's just the info you'd find on Wikipedia. Who created Root Beer Tapper, what else did they create, how did the game sell, what versions where there, etc. Some details like those would have been nice in a manual or within the game.
I only found that one game, for me at least, was a complete throwaway, that being Spy Hunter 2. What a dud but it was nice that you got it, if for nothing else than to see what it was like.
I saw one reviewer on TV speak poorly of Bubbles as a throwaway but I like that game.
Some of the games will take getting used to controlling, like Vindicators 2, where you have to use the trigger buttons to turn, but you get used to it.
I thought Pit Fighter would have aged poorly but I still had fun with it.
Overall, it's a decent collection and I don't really have too many problems with it. If you like this kind of thing, check it out.