Why did this game get an M for Mature rating? I am under 17 years old (but above 13), and have no objection whatsoever to the content in these games. Some of them aren't offensive at all (say, Timber). This game is rated M for Mature because of:

Blood and Gore
Intense Violence
Drug Reference

The only real "Blood and Gore" is in Mortal Kombat and Narc! Although there is a teeny tiny bit in Pit Fighter, if you watch carefully. I understand the "Intense Violence" bit. After all, there's a lotta violence, shooting, exploding bodies and what-have-you in Narc. And Mortal Kombat. But "Drug Reference"? Destroying the masssive drug lab in Narc is "Drug Reference"? HA!
Would the Power Pill in Pit Fighter qualify as "Drug Reference" too? I damn sure hope not. All it is is a green pill that is found in a breakable object and boosts your fighting abilities! Don't get me wrong here, but I'll eat my hat if that Power Pill doesn't have a freakin' trace of drugs in it. And go ahead parents, click that Yes button, hmm?

Okay, enough debating: The game(s) are extremely entertaining, especially considering you can view statistics for the game (i.e. sound support, joystick, 1 or more players, etc.), check out promotion posters, and even electronic press kits and interviews with the game's developers. It's double as much fun as the original Midway Arcade Treasures. So, is there any school like the old school? I certainly hope not.

And if you hit that No button, I don't blame ya. Let's face it: Why put an unofficial FBI sign on a game? I say this because, according to the game, Narc had so much violence and mature content that the game used the tagline: "Say NO To Drugs!", in a bizarre twist of irony. You can see it inscribed on the top of the cabinet, under the Narc logo. (And go ahead parents, make my freakin' day and hit that dang Yes button.)

When I heard that a compilation game featuring almost arcade- quality ports of MK2 and MK3 was being released, I had to have it- but I didn't have a PS2 to play it on. I now own one, and this compilation of old-school arcade favorites. Out of the 20 games, I've only tried 4, so I'll go through them here.

Championship Sprint- Old-School racing in the tradition of RC Pro-Am and Super Off Road; the camera is directly overhead of the track. Controls are very twitchy and I suspect you'd need a lot of practice before you can make it through a race without hitting the walls.

Hard Drivin'- A 3-D driving simulator; it's somewhat slow and choppy though. The stunt track is fun to drive on & destroy your car.

Mortal Kombat II- the reason I bought the game. It's not nearly as bad as a previous review has made it out to be- the characters are large, colorful and almost arcade quality, especially if you opt to enlarge the screen. Fatalities are easy to pull off thanks to the D-pad, even though you have barely enough time to type them out- and they're just as bloody and noisy as you remember them. Sure, there's some slowdown, and the AI is as cheap and unfair as ever (the computer can throw you even if its character is slipping on one of Sub-Zero's Ground Freezes), but this is as close as you're going to get to arcade-quality Mortal Kombat II without actually having the cabinet in your house.

Mortal Kombat 3- It's a good fighting game, but to me Mortal Kombat peaked with part 2. MK3 introduced the dreaded "dial-a-combo" system, which I admit I kinda liked when I first tried it but it quickly grows tiresome. MK3's fatalities were definitely lamer than its predecessor's as well. Finally, the emulation in this compilation is flawed- for example, the music played at the "Finish Him/Her" screen continues playing even after a fatality is performed.


I'm happy with this game- especially when I remember how psyched I was to be paying almost sixty dollars for the SNES version of MKII 10 years ago- with much smaller characters and vastly compromised sound effects compared with the arcade game.

Mortal Kombat 2 & 3 are the main highlight of this collection. Treasure one had better amount of good games but this one got better quality.

Sound quality for Mortal Kombat 3 is not so good IF you use TV speakers due to the DCS sound system but sounds great when you use amplifier system. There is some baffle noise during the short 'charcter icons on mountain' screen but not much or none during games. This is not Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, so there are only 14 characters... but this game is much better than Triology for PSOne. Graphics for both Mortal Kombat games are great, just like arcade. Rampage world tour is another great game, totally different and better than the original.

Mortal Kombat II - great game!
Mortal Kombat 3 - great!
Gauntlet II - great, unlimited quarter helps this game because it is meant to be a quarter sucking machine. In Gauntlet I master players can play forever with one quarter however this no longer possible in Gauntlet II.
Spy Hunter II - bad, split screen concept killed this game
Xybots - horrible! tiny screen during gameplay is lame
NARC - good, 2-D side scroll mayhem with stupid doors
APB - average...
Cyberball 2072 - below average but better than 10-yard fight
Timber - HORRIBLE! much worse than Tapper
Total Carnage - good game, similar to Smash TV but better
Pit Fighter - HORRIBLE! very cheesy, good for multi-player laugh
Wizard of Wor - HORRIBLE! Atari 2600 quality
Xenophobe - average game, small screen, meant to be 3 player game
Primal Rage - good game, clay dino fighting, kinda cool
Arch Rivals - decent game that quickly turns horrible and dusty
Rampage World Tour - great game, much better than first.
Kozmik Krooz'r - below average space shooter
Championship Sprint - good game, feels like radio control racing
Hard Drivin' - HORRIBLE! very slow, choppy and blocky
Wacko - HORRIBLE! A reject that never made its way into arcades.

If you have played or seen these games back in the days in arcades then you will feel like you own these machines, watching the demos is sweet. The variety of multi-players games is cool.

Overall this collection is decent. If you like MK2 and MK3 then buy it! BTW this game is on sale at Target and Toys R Us for $15.

...how the team at Midway felt comfortable releasing this compilation this way. It's as though they didn't even play-test it. But since we all know they did, it suggests a cheap, quick-and-easy effort in an attempt to cash in on the tail end of the nostalgia boom.

Lets get into this...

(As a side note, there is sound issues with almost all the games included.)

The Mortal Kombat titles are easily the strongest selling point of the game. I know its the reason I bought it! Both versions are very choppy with grizzled, pixelated graphics. The sound is equally horrible to the point where its practcally unbearable. Its like it was recorded with absolutely no bass at all with the treble turned up all the way. Trust me, you'll hate it after the first few seconds. If you were hoping for a clean translation with high expectations with the PS2, forget it. You will feel like you were playing on a SNES with crappier sound.

The other game I was interested in was Wizard of Wor. Again, a huge disapointment. There are problems with the sound being out of place with random bleeps and blips for no reason, and the gameplay itself is waaaaay faster than the original to the point where you will be button mashing instead of plotting out a course through the maze.

Next up, with frustrations rising, I tried Primal Rage. As before with the MK games, this had all the same problems listed. Another disapointment.

Forget about Pit Fighter. You will play it for a total of six seconds before you realize that the speed of the game is way too fast to the point where its unplayable. That's right - UNPLAYABLE.

The other games are to a lesser extent higher in quality of translation, but the problem is, most people - myself included won't be buying the game to play Xybots or Wacko.

And one other thing: Would it kill Midway to actually include a decent handbook with the game. I mean really, its common sense especially for the MK games. People are going to want to know how to do the moves. I guess a they were too cheap to include a few extra pages so players wouldn't have to go online and print them out.

Unlike most people, I didn't get this game for either MK games, rather for Total Carnage (Smash Tv is one of my all time favorites). That right there was worth my money. Then I relized something, "there are 19 more games to play, HOLY SH*T". Overall, anyone who wants a few multi-player games should get this, despite the FEW noticable flaws.