Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits

Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits
Nintendo 64 cover art of Volume 1
Developer(s)	Digital Eclipse
Publisher(s)	Midway
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance Nintendo 64 Dreamcast
Release date(s)	Dreamcast NA June 27, 2000 EU July 28, 2000 Nintendo 64 NA November 14, 2000 Game Boy Advance NA November 22, 2001 EU November 30, 2001
Genre(s)	Arcade compilation
Mode(s)	Single player
Distribution	Cartridge, GD-ROM

Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits is an arcade game compilation released for the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and Game Boy Advance.

Volumes and Games included

Two volumes were released. The first volume was released for the Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance. All versions of the game included Defender, Sinistar, Robotron: 2084 and Joust. Two exclusive games were included for the Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 versions. Spy Hunter and Root Beer Tapper are unique to the Nintendo 64 version, while the Dreamcast version has Defender II and Bubbles instead. The Game Boy Advance version has none of these four exclusive titles.^[1][1][2]

The second volume has only been released on Sega's Dreamcast^[3] and featured Moon Patrol, Paperboy, 720°, Spy Hunter, Rampage and Gauntlet. There was originally planned to be a third volume for the Dreamcast, but was later cancelled.^[4]

Version differences

Sinistar

Sinistar was altered from its original arcade form for the GBA version. The antagonist's eyes no longer glow and his mouth never moves during gameplay. He only says "I am Sinistar!" at the title screen. Occasionally during gameplay, he will say "Run! Run! Run!" Upon receiving a game over, he will say "Beware! I live!" Otherwise, he says nothing.

Reception

All versions of the compilation received generally mixed to negative reviews, with a 64.00% for the first volume of the Dreamcast version,^[5] a 70.00% for the second volume of the Dreamcast version,^[6] a 63.43% for the Nintendo 64 version,^[7] and a 54.50% for the Game Boy Advance version^[7] from video game aggregator GameRankings. The first volume of the Dreamcast version,^[8] the Game Boy Advance version, and the Nintendo 64^[9] was criticized for poor sound and visual emulation, especially the Game Boy Advance version, which has been developed by Pocket Games, rather than Digital Eclipse (the developer for the console titles), which has missing voice samples and "shrunk" visuals in Sinistar, glitchy collision detection in Joust and intense slowdown in Defender.^[10]

References