Taito Legends - Xbox

Read the little Taito Legends and it’s clear that this game is another of those retrospective compilations of classics from the early days. It’s a good one too, with the collection, brought to you on Empire’s Xplosiv label, featuring a lot more than Space Invaders.

One of Taito’s first creations is still arguably their most famous, and the 1978 version Space Invaders is here, accompanied by two of its spin-offs, Space Invaders Part 2 and Return of the Invaders. Nobody, surely, would argue that that particular horse has been flogged harder than most over the years, but cast your eye down the list of featured games and you’ll there are plenty of classics to recommend this compilation.

First person perspective shooting classic Operation Wolf is here, as is its two player sequel Operation Thunderbolt, and the later extraterrestrial shooter, Space Gun. Platformers are represented by such superb examples as Rainbow Islands, The New Zealand Story and the legendary Bubble Bobble, if that counts as a platformer.

There are scrolling 2d shooters like Excizus and Tokio, puzzle games like Super Qix, Plotting and Volfied, fighting games like Gladiator and Great Swordsman. The most striking thing about this collection, other than the range of games on offer, is its generosity, with 29 games in total and a budget price point. The other games featured which we haven’t mentioned are: Battle Shark, Colony 7, Continental Circus, Electric Yo Yo, Elevator Action, Jungle Hunt, The Ninja Kids, Phoenix, Plump Pop, Rastan, Thunder Fox, Tube It and Zoo Keeper.
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