Customer Reviews

Midway Arcade Treasures: Deluxe Edition

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

 

 

This software product lacks background music in most of the games (MK1, MK2, MK3, etc). It also installs a resident driver on your PC for copy protection purposes. This software protection driver adds unecessary resources to your PC, and adds absolutely no beneift to you, or your machine. Because of the music issues alone, you do not get an accurate representation of the arcade games it tries to emulate. I absolutely recommend that you stay away from this product.

What a bunch of crap! No music in the games??!? And don't get me started on that copy protection spyware crap they installed on my machine. It messed up my internet connection settings and drained my resources. Didn't you guys learn from Sony et al that customers (or "consumers" if you want to treat us like cattle) don't stand for this crap?

Review Edit #4 (March 4, 2008)!

(A final addendum for edit #4: Midway has put up a few extra images on their website for download. You sadly can't read the MK1 comic book, but you get extra pictures for Wizard of War and Primal Rage. Officially, no new patches or extra content are forthcoming, only technical support on the existing product).

Third version of this review notes: Midway has released a second patch for MATDE, which now allows you to fight "Smoke" the secret character in Mortal Kombat II, by holding down and pressing Start when Dan "Toasty" Forden appears to deliver his signature line after an uppercut on the "Portal" stage. Previously this was impossible to do because pressing Start would only bring up the "pause" screen. This same patch also makes it possible to do the "Random Select" trick when picking your character in MK2, by holding up and pressing start when you are highlighting Lui Kang (player 1) or Reptile (player 2). Sadly, the patch does not yet fix any other bugs discovered in MATDE, such as random select not working in MK3 (for the same reasons it didn't work in MK2 before), or the wrong sound effect playing when you block Kitana's fan attack in MK2, or the glitchy shadows in MK2, or the background hum in San Fransisco Rush: the Rock, etc. Midway is making progress...

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Previous review:

The first revision of this review was on March 1st for this product which I previously gave 1 star on account of a terrible bug that was present in the shipped version. Before applying the recently released 80 megabyte patch (came out yesterday), the first disc of games had NO MUSIC. Now that this problem is fixed, I can evaluate the product much more fairly, and it truly is excellent overall, despite a few minor flaws.

What problems remain, specifically?

1) The shadows in MKII are somewhat glitchy, frequently flickering or disappearing altogether. Sounds minor, but it's annoying, since we know this game is emulated perfectly (or almost perfectly) elsewhere. Midway should have made sure this version was up to snuff! They suggested I update my video card drivers (I have an ATI All-in-Wonder 9600). I tried this, but to no avail. Others customers have reported the same problem.

2) In three games (Primal Rage, Mortal Kombat and Wizard of Wor) there are more than 3 images in the "Bonus" gallery section. The menu won't let you view any images beyond image #3. At first I thought these extra images needed to be "unlocked" but after racking up 47 wins and over 50 million points in MK (on normal difficulty), and even beating the game on another occasion, nothing has changed. This has to be a bug, and was not addressed in the patch!
EDIT (April 5, 2006): Midway now claims on their support page that these "extra images" were never intended to be included and it is simply a glitch. There is no new content to be found or unlocked.

3) NEW BUG DISCOVERED: In Mortal Kombat 2, when you are hit by Kitana (or Jade)'s "fan attack" you hear a certain sound effect play. When you BLOCK the attack you hear the same sound effect. This is incorrect, as the arcade version did not play the same sound effect in both cases.

4) NEW BUG DISCOVERED: The "Random Select" feature, while fixed in the latest patch for MK2, does NOT work for Mortal Kombat 3. Holding up and Start on the default characters is supposed to let you "random select" but you can't due to the way the pause function is mapped to the Start function.

5) During San Fransisco Rush: The Rock: Alcatraz Edition (on the MAT3 portion of this set), a strange droning "hum" sound can be heard in the background. I am not familiar with the arcade version of this game, but I've been told by fans of it that this is not normal, and rather distracting when they play it in MATDE.

I realize this set was delayed nearly 3 months, but it seems that it could have used another week or two's worth of work to get these other elements in where they belonged.

Another complaint about the set is the Starforce protection scheme. While not quite as overtly annoying as Namco Museum's taking you out of the game to load up the protection program, staring at a plain "LOADING" screen for almost a minute (on a 2 ghz, 256 mb sdram, 128 mb video card machine) is incredibly boring. Sure, I had to wait longer in line sometimes to play these games, but isn't that the point of the home market, to eliminate the lines? The Starforce thing is negotiable, but if not for the FIVE main problems above, I would have given the set a 5 star rating. Hopefully for the poor folks who can't download the huge patches over dialup, future versions will include the patch or else it will be made available as a magazine packin or disc you could order for free (or shipping charges only).

The lack of support for Windows 9x/ME may be a problem for some users who still have these discontinued Microsoft OS's, but it's not an issue for me. I just notice that most other "emulated retrogame collections" still support them.

The instructions are very sparse, though one realizes that many of these games were released on console or PC in the past and each of those games had a full length manual in its own right. Perhaps they just assume you'll go visit Gamefaqs for the move lists and secret codes? At least a little more instruction ought to have been included (unless I missed a txt doc or something on the four cd-roms this set comes on). Essentially each game gets a very brief introduction and we have some control stuff, but far from complete. This might also be a way to promote the selling of "strategy guides" from companies like Prima that substitute for manuals for some titles these days...

There is bonus material in the form of image galleries (retro ads and fliers) which are great fun, and some videos for certain games giving behind the scenes details or promotional fluff. Some of the history is tongue in cheek (did the original Mortal Kombat really have a "strong background story and well rounded characters"? This is probably meant to assume players all read the comic book (via the special time limited offer advertised in the first game), because in-game, the characters aren't really anymore developed than any other fighting game contemporary to this one (though they would become more developed later in the series). "Well Rounded" might also be interpreted as the fact that MK's characters all have the same basic moves, and different special moves, unlike a game like Street Fighter II in which they are much more different from one another.

The menus are simple enough for anyone to navigate. Interestingly, this is not actually one complete set, but more like two sets together in one box. Midway Arcade Treasures 2 is apparently the same as the console versions but with the addition of MK1 to the lineup. Midway Arcade Treasures 3 is a seperate installation on the last two discs and has its own menu, etc.

Some people were upset that no "DVD-ROM" version of this set was released, or that there was no integrated version with all the games. Certainly it would have been nice not to have to swap discs in order to play a racing title and then an action title or vice versa.

The interactive menus and bonus materials are a far cry from a set like Taito Legends, but it is definitely a huge step up from the virtually bare-bones Midway Arcade Treasures (part 1). Hopefully future sets continue to improve.


Note: I am grateful to Midway for releasing TWO patches to fix the most glaring of the bugs in the released version, the lack of music on half the games (MAT2: discs 1 & 2) and the missing MK2 secret features due to the Start/Pause function. I will update this review further if any other fixes are released to address the other issues.

game is real good and is being used in a game arcade in my home. the game was sent in a short period of time and works good

I think this compilation is better than MAT 2&3 on consoles on mat2 they left out Mortal Kombat 1 on console versions but the PC version have this game.

As a big fan of many of the coin-op classics in this collection, I couldn't resist picking up a copy of Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe. Many of the other reviewers who have reviewed this prouduct failed to mention that the games contained in this collection are near 100% coin-op authentic. Given that it's such a big selling point for nostalgic arcade fans, that's a fairly significant omission. It is worth noting that most console versions of these coin-op legends were in many ways inferior; often only vaguely resembling their coin-op parents. Consequently, many arcade fans were gravely disappointed in their console conversions. This often translated into mediocre console sales on games that made millions in arcades. Also noteworthy is that while most of these games are emulatable on MAME, and other emulators, many people feel that videogame emulation is the exclusive domain of advanced computer users because there can sometimes be a steep learning curve, prohibitive levels of complexity, and certain pre-requisites to surmount before you ever achieve any success. Aside from the questionable legalities (which by it's self is enough to dissuade allot of people), sixth and seventh generation console emulators like PCSX2 (PS2), and Dolphin (Gamecube and Wii) can demand a high end gaming computer to achieve satisfactory results. Without a minimum of an entry level gaming computer, achieving optimal results can demand additional peripherals allot of people aren't willing to purchase; like a fast video card, PC gamepad, or console gamepad converter. Emulation can also demand patience, determination, willingness to forgive, and troubleshoot glitches in the emulation, and in-depth computer knowledge many newbies, and computer novices lack. The lack of any one of these elements can make emulation impractical, or impossible. Most folks simply want to be able to stick a disc in their computer and play their game. They don't want to download and configure an emulator they feel you may need an enthusiast's computer to run at acceptable speeds, or a degree in computer science to setup and operate. Nor do they want to have to purchase additional peripherals, worry about the questionable legalities of downloading a BIOS or game, or deal with the hassles of downloading a game ROM/ISO from the torrent networks that could be rife with viruses and trojans, and take several hours, or even days to complete. Perhaps most dissuading of all can be that on any emulator except MAME, you're not getting the arcade game you so fondly remember; however enhanced it may be, you're still simply emulating the same tired, watered down console VERSION of that game that was such a disappointment to begin with. This can all lead the uninitiated to question the worthiness of emulation all together unless you're lucky enough to have a mentor. Thus, for many people, emulation is not always a viable option. Because of this, I believe arcade fans who were so disappointed with console versions of these games is the niche group this collection targets.

'Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe' for PC is essentially Arcade Treasures 2 and 3 bundled together. But given it's launch as a value title, it's not a bad deal. There were unfortunately, some significant bugs in the retail release which Midway has issued bug patches for. As previous reviewers have noted, the patches did not clear up all the issues, and four of the games still have some unsquashed bugs (an announcer's line is missing from Hydro Thunder, some shadows don't display correctly in MK2, and has some misplaced sound effects, random select doesn't work in MK3, and San Francisco Rush: The Rock: Alcatraz Edition has an odd humming noise in the background). While I won't deny that these flaws are annoying, I don't personally see them as deal breakers. These glitches aside, these games are coin-op authentic down the finest details. And that's what I think will matter most to the vast majority of nostalgic arcade fans. For me, after having been so disappointed with console versions of these games, just getting coin-op authentic versions of Hydro Thunder, Mortal Kombat, Off-Road Thunder, and both San Francisco Rush games was a thrill, and more than enough to justify my fifteen bucks. Also much appreciated was that Midway also added Mortal Kombat 1 to the Arcade Treasures 2 portion of this collection, which is worth mentioning as it was a fan favorite, and not included with console versions of Arcade Treasures 2. Copy protection scheme not withstanding, I can't see for the life of me what most editorial reviewers think is so awful about this collection. For me, the only reason the copy protection warrants a complaint is because it causes the game to launch slowly. And just for the record, and the sake of other reviewers who swear Star Force installs spyware, I have other games in my collection that use Star Force copy protection, it has never caused me a problem I could trace back to it being responsible for, and I have never found spyware associated with it on my machine (despite using a top 5 ranked spyware scanner). The game is affordable, and usually appears on the value rack. While it will inevitably look, and run better on gaming computers, the games' system specs are modest enough for it to run on most any modern computer, and in my experience, it runs well, seeming stable and well behaved. Heck, in the racing games, you even get rumblepad support. Rumblepad support is a neglected, and often absent feature in console ports, so I was grateful to see it included. Better yet, Arcade Treasures 3 doesn't even force you to switch between using your gamepad, and keyboard/mouse at the menus. This alleviates allot of frustration when playing the game on a TV using a gamepad.

Ultimately however, this all leads to the question of what incentive gamers have to pursue the PC version of this game collection as opposed to console versions. The answer is that consoles are rarely ever capable of running arcade/coin-op emulators (which is what these are) at full speed, and thus are not as likely to look, or perform as well on consoles as on the PC. While that may not be as true to X-Box 360, and PS3 since they're more powerful, this is an X-Box/PS2/Gamecube era game which did not originally launch on these more powerful platforms, and whether or not backwards compatibility will work relies on certain pre-requisites being met. X-Box 360 demands a hard drive (not included with base model 360's), and firmware update, and still may not guarantee backwards compatibility with all games, and only the earliest model PS3's are backwards compatible with PS2. Wii offers problem free backwards compatibility with Gamecube (provided you have your old Gamecube memory cards, and controllers), but being the weakest platform in terms of hardware, it is the most susceptible to performance problems. In short, while console versions of Arcade Treasures 2 and 3 are equally authentic (and sold seperately; Deluxe never came out for consoles), they are the most likely to exhibit performance problems. On the PC side, experiences will vary depending on whether or not you have the patches installed, have an entry level, mainstream, or gaming computer, whether you're playing with or without a gamepad, and whether you're playing on a monitor or a television. But the fact remains (despite being glossed over, or ignored by most reviewers) that the PC version's greatest strength is that short of emulating them on MAME, this collection is more true to the coin-op originals than any previous console version, and on PC is where you're the most likely to have the best looks, and performance.

All said and done, I think previous reviewers have been too quick to jump the gun in giving this excellent collection a bad review, or were simply unaware of the patches that correct most of their complaints. My single regret is that after seeing sales driven down by the bombardment of negative reviews by editorial reviewers, I seriously doubt we will see another chapter in the Arcade Treasures franchise containing other high profile Midway favorites (like San Francisco Rush, Mortal Kombat 4, Killer Instinct, Killer Instinct 2, War Gods, Area 51, Cruisin USA, Cruisin World, and Cruisin Exotica) not included in this release. My suspicion is that Midway probably intended to include these in another Arcade Treasures release, but probably anticipated poor sales after getting pounded into pudding with all the bad press on this installment. Speaking for myself, the only reason I gave it 4 star ratings instead of 5 is because some of the games in Arcade Treasures 2 are throw aways as far as I'm concerned, but that's just my own personal taste; other people may cherish them. Another minor scuff is that Midway could also have integrated the collection on a DVD instead of simply bundling Arade Treasures 2 and 3 together on four CDs. This would have saved allot of disc swapping, and been a minor concession to convenience, but these are more caveats than criticisms; I've yet to see a console port that gets everything right. Emulation fans may not see any point in purchasing this collection when most of these games are 100% authentic on MAME, but for all other nostalgic arcade fans, this collection is well worth consideration. With the exception of a handful of dud games in Arcade Treasures 2, I'm satisfied with this purchase, and don't see myself trading or selling it anytime soon. Overall, I wouldn't hesitate a minute to recommend this collection to any arcade fan who craves coin-op authentic versions of their old Midway favorites.

UPDATED EDIT: Because this game uses the Starforce copy protection system which installs a proprietary unsigned driver, it is NOT Windows 7 compatible. However, it should work with Windows Vista so long as signed driver enforcement is disabled.

The seller was super quick at getting this out & delivered. Good shopping experience, except for the two emails I received asking for a review - when for whatever reason, even AMAZON.com had assumed I'd moved on with my life.

The games themselves are fun & almost exactly like the arcade and perfectly well behaved in 1 player mode.

However, regarding two-player mode, if you want to play any of these games without an issue where two of the same gamepad interfere with each other & make play impossible.

Possible Work Arounds:
1.) I would suggest you get yourself a console and play it there (if available) instead of a PC - because I'm positive you wont have this problem. :)
2.) Just use two-three different kinds of gamepad.
3.) At least consider installing seperate drivers for each gamepad - just in case, matching & co-related seriel numbers between the drivers & pads themselves, might 'unconfuse' the PC. (Though this seems a logical course of action, I dont know if that works, I couldn't test it.)
4.) Definitely check for patches from the publisher, regarding the two-player issue, although I dont recall there being ... ANY ... patches for the set, at all. (We tried that, and as stated - there aren't any)

first of all, yes there is no background music on this comp, but my only guess is maybe they are trying to make it look like your in the an actual arcade joint (a place where there are arcades and I added two words which don't go together very often.), in which you can hear other arcade game sounds from other machines and maybe they didn't add music to these games because of that, and quite frankly, those arcade places can get noisy so maybe you can't always hear sound effects. One great thing is that they added MK1 to this collection (finally). It was supposed to be with Midway Arcade Treasures 2, but got removed so it can be on the collector's edition of MK Deception on PS2 and Xbox. not a smart move as that created an angry fanbase. I bought this for 10 bucks, and I mainly got it for The MK games. One thing I should add is that you should have a USB controller pad for this as a keyboard can be difficult to control. also make sure that the controller has a D-pad that can go 8 ways but on the controller itself shows the 4 way direction. for instance, playing this on my Logitech Dual Action Controller (a great controller for PC gamers alike but not for this specific game.), it's D pad has 8 ways so it's hard to perform a fatality when you might accidently jump instead of hitting that specific direction. the games play perfectly on my computer and it has only small requirements (like 1.4 GHz speed and a video card and all of that computer junk). don't let non existant background music make you ignore this game. it's recommended for any old school arcade player out there.