Customer Reviews

Arcade Legends Space Invaders

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm not sure if a kid would like this toy, since the graphics are crude and the gameplay is simple bordering on boring. As a 34-year-old recovering video game addict, however, it's great. Most of these old arcade games haven't been seen at home outside of emulation collections. The emulation of "Space Invaders" is spot on, with no extra distracting variations to keep you from shooting rows and rows of advancing aliens. "Phoenix" is also decently represented here, stretched to fill the TV's horizontal screen but otherwise looking, sounding, and playing just like the arcade game. Also present is "Qix," a seldom-seen abstract game, which looks and sounds good but seems to have some speed issues. Lunar Rescue and Colony 7 round out the collection. I don't remember them from the old days, but they're simple enough to learn and discover. Both are playable in their own simple ways, but there seems to be some sounds missing from the Lunar Rescue game. The joystick requires a few AA batteries and is relatively sturdy for an inexpensive item. Unlike many of the other standalone machines like this, there are two sets of fire buttons so you can play left- or right-handed. If you like old games or want an inexpensive way to have an arcade at home, this set is worth checking out.

I admit, if I could go back in time to 1980 and hand this to my youthful self, I would NEVER leave the house. I'd be a dumber person today as I would have neglected school work to play these games. (Note to self: Only go back in time when summer break begins to give cool toys.)

I love the "arcade panel" look and feel of this controller. Buttons for lefties and righties is a plus. Though, you may want to use it on a table top or other flat surface. The 6v plug adapter will save lots of batteries. Take to your local Radio Shack to get fitted with an a/c adapter and proper sized tip.

Though these games are simple graphically, I would prefer an s-video cable to sharpen the image to be more akin to arcade monitors. Though the original Space Invaders had a moon background (paper moon and reflected graphics on a mirror), it is absent here.

The translations are pretty much on the mark. I especially like Qix. These games entertain as they frustrate. You can get sucked in and hours may pass before you know it.

Great unit to have in the car or mini-van with a TV screen to keep the kids busy when they get tired of DVD's. Great stocking stuffer to any video-phial 30 and over. But the younger generation seems to love them too.

I recieved this as a gift and its a nice flashback to when video games were a new phenomenon. Amazing to think these classic games ran on very primative .75 or 1 megahertz processors, but are still fun to play after 20+ years.

The control panel and joystick control is better and less bulky than the Jakks Pac-Man games, and having 4 nicely spaced action buttions along with a jack for a AC power converter (not included) so you wont have to use batteries are nice extras too. If you have freinds who are left handed they wont have any problems playing this game.

My major gripe is the version of Space Invaders is nothing like the original arcade version. The invaders are spaced wider apart, look nothing like the originals and the sound effects are different too. It reminds me more of the Nintendo NES version than anything else. Its a fun game, but not the same as the arcade. If youre looking for the original, do a google for mame roms.

On the other hand, the versions of Phoenix and Qix are just like the old arcade games. Phoenix is one of the most overlooked shoot-em-ups of the early 1980's and still a challenging and entertaing game, love the music too. Qix knocked me out back then with its inventive but super-addictive game play. It's a tricky game to learn but once you figure it out you wont be able to put it down.

The only other problem was Taito wasnt that successful a video game company like Midway or Atari. They released a truckload of unsucessful games that usally wound up in the back of the arcade, convenience stores in the bad part of town or converted with bootleg rom kits into unlicenced versions of Pac-Man, Galaxian and Donkey Kong. Lunar Rescue and Colony 7 have attractive graphics but just arent great games. Taito had better games like Elevator Action, Zoo Keeper, Stratovox, Zarzon and even Space Invaders Deluxe that would have been better choices than the ones they picked here.

Despite these gripes I still reccomend buying picking it up when its on sale. Its a sweet blast from the past.

I'm 34, so I remember seeing and playing the original Space Invaders, QIX and Pheonix in the arcades. I love that very early era of videogames (late 1970's) when graphics were still crude and mostly black and white, but the whole idea of being able to control images on a TV screen was new and exciting. So I think most of the appeal of this stick will be to people of my age, rather than younger players who won't have the nostalgia factor to help them overcome their prejudice towards the crude graphics and simple game play.

I was both impressed and disappointed in the Radica TAITO Space Invaders stick:

Dislikes:

The arcade ports are *close* to the originals, but there are some glaring omissions/inaccuracies. The sad thing is that with only a little extra effort RADICA could have made these ports arcade perfect (and therefore really appeal to the target nostalgia market). For instance: the font used in the Space Invaders game is NOT the original TAITO thin font, but similar to the Nintendo fat font (a la Donkey Kong). This is really unforgivable considering that the proper TAITO font IS used for Lunar Rescue (which is one of the few games in this stick that really feels 1970s arcade-perfect). Also the graphics for Space Invaders are slightly off (remind me more of the NES version than the arcade version). The sound is fairly good for Space Invaders but again, just 'slightly' off. The demo screen for Space Invaders is missing the little invader that marches out and replaces the letter "Y" (come-on, how hard would it have been to add this!). All these little details could have been added so easily and would have really have given these games a faithful 'arcade' feeling. As they now stand, the ports are pretty good but feel like home conversions that fall *just* short of the ultimate goal.

I might just be mis-remembering things, but I thought that the original Space Invaders used a rainbow like overlay to simulate colour on the screen. This is missing on the RADICA conversion (except that the shields and laser cannon are tinted green). Perhaps my memory fails and I am thinking of Deluxe Invaders...anyway, this rainbow overlay IS used in Lunar Rescue.

Another nit-pick is that most of the games are stretched to fit the horizontal aspect of home TVs. I would rather that they had taken the JAKKS approach and put a score/status bar on the right, and left the game action on the left in a tall window. This would more closely mimic the actual arcade screen-aspect (note: Space Invaders does do this somewhat, but not enough).

Because of this I still think that the VIC-20 version "VIC AVENGER" (despite using lesser invaders) is closer to the arcade version than this RADICA port. If they could accomplish that on the VIC-20 in 1983, then RADICA should have had no problem doing it in 2004.

The fact that this RADICA joystick reverts back to the main five-games-menu when all of your men are killed is unneccesary - especially when there already is a reset/menu button on the control panel. I like the fact that the JAKKS units stay in the game you have currently chosen until you exit to the main menu. Sometimes it's nice to watch the 'demo' mode loop over and over - like a real arcade machine would behave.

Likes:

I was impressed by the quality of the controller. It feels well made (It sounds like there are actual micro-switches in the joystick). The controls approximate the feel of arcade controls (although more mushy). I also like the fact that the base of the controller is broad and heavy enough that it can be used on a table top without sliding around. That is very nice. The inclusion of a jack by which one can use a 6V adaptor to power the unit was also considerate.

Overall, I would recommend this stick to early 1980s video games fans who enjoy the early TAITO titles and are willing to overlook some small inaccuracies in game-play.

When I found this game in the store I was so excited since I'd only seen it available on line.
What a let down! Those who reviewed this game and gave it such a great rating, are either delusional or they obviously didn't spend much time playing Space Invaders in the arcade or on the old Atari's for that matter!! Space Invaders was one of my favorite arcade games and this "plug & play" is nothing like the arcade game. The graphics are just awful. I could live with the fact that the controller is mediocre but the graphics have to be on the money and theyr'e not. The stupid barricades are so big that you can't get around them to shoot at the aliens and when you do finally shoot a little hole through the barricades, the aliens are just about ready to crush you. It wouldn't be so bad if the barricades actually protected you, but they don't. They only get in your way and are yet another dissapointment to this game.
I have purchased the "plug & play Pac Man" and "Ms. Pac Man" and they're great. I love them. Theyr'e just like the arcade games us kids of the 80's knew and loved. Even the "plug & play Pinball" is pretty good which is what I
exchanged the Space Invaders for. I only had to play that Space Invaders game once and I decided it was going
back to the store. It surely wasn't worth my $20 and I really would have been mad if I'd ordered it on line and had to pay the shipping on the dumb thing. Just awful! I'd rather bust out my old Atari 2600 and play Space Invaders on that. It's way better than the plug & play version. If I could give this game a rating of zero, I would.
Take heed....this game is a major disappointment and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The shipper was prompt and great packing. I love the game. It is an easy plug and play that works just like the arcade game.

Some reviewers here are complaining about title screens, slightly off sound effects and not exact arcade translations. For the price and convenience, this product is more than worth it. Space Invaders" is indeed a great translation here, with near spot-on sounds and great nostalgic game play that is challenging, if primitive. "Phoenix" is also a blast! For these games alone, it's worth the purchase for this retro-gamer.

First off, to 80sGameFan: only certain versions of the arcade game did so, mostly through a cellophane overlay if the game was in pure black-and-white. The original color version had a small portion of the top being red, the majority of the middle as white, and from the shields on down as green. Now onto the review:

Gameplay: gotta say this was a surprisingly well-built joystick. The stick itself has the usual Japanese-style ball top (with little indentations to make it sort of like a moon, or reminiscent of a golfball), and a very nice "clicky" feel to it due to microswitches. The buttons are a tad mushy, but still respond fairly well when firing (or drawing in the case of Qix). I don't think I've seen a better-constructed joystick for a unit like this (though I need to try out the wireless Ms. Pac-Man stuff).

Games: The game descriptions that others here listed don't need to be repeated, but I'll throw in a few notes on each of them:
in general - There's no two-player mode for any game, so this will hurt the playability a bit if you have friends over.

Space Invaders - The sound effects are about a note or two lower than the arcade, but are otherwise spot-on. Radica also happened to keep the original game's difficulty level intact (I still can't make it past the 8000 point mark, despite a lot of fancy dodging and shooting). Spectacular conversion.

Phoenix - The difficulty seems to have been lowered somewhat, since I seemed to be going through wave after wave with not too much trouble. It still keeps the sound, graphics, and music intact (yes, the original had short interludes from classic composers like Chopin).

Lunar Rescue - A bit wierd, since you have to rely on the jets, and have to fly up into the middle of the mothership when you transport someone back. Not my kind of game.

Colony 7 - A bit boring for me, and was somewhat difficult like Imagic's "Atlantis" for the Atari 2600.

Overall, I'd have to say Radica hit the nail on the head with this one. Now if they can just come out with a new Taito Arcade Legends that supports two players with a few of the 80s games (Bubble Bobble and such), they could have a winner on their hands.

It's a nice game, except for the controls. The joystick control which moves the tank left and right is not precise enough to play the game well. The arcade game used buttons for left and right, recognizing the importance of timing to dodge the incoming missiles.

If you were disappointed with the Pac Man TV Game or the Ms. Pac Man TV Game this one is for you. Radica makes a much better quality joystick than Jakks Pacific. The conversion of this game is almost 100% to the arcade. Missing the moon in the sky, that is all I could notice. Much better than the Atari 2600 version, and very close to the arcade version. Also there are 4 other good games besides Space Invaders on this TV game.

I wore a Ms. Pac Man TV Game out in 2 days, the joystick is terrible on Ms. Pac Man by Jakks Pacific, the game is converted very close to arcade but the joystick is terrible and you die all the time because Ms. Pac Man does not go where you want her to. And Pac Man by ToyMax is nothing like the arcade version, the Pac Man joystick I thought was ok, just the game was not converted well at all and is nothing like the arcade Pac Man.

Space Invaders by Radica is a must have TV Game.