Midway Arcade Games

[acidbottle]

I like arcade games, grew up with them and played many classics on original cabs, great stuff indeed!

Now retro is all the rage these days, Capcom, Taito and even Irem recently getting on board with games for more modern systems and handhelds. Many of these comps are just rehashes of similar products on a previous gen but still.

However, there is a massive hole that is looking like it is never going to be filled, that is with all the old Midway/Williams arcade games.

I know WB acquired the rights to the Midway catalogue but it seems they only did so for the Mortal Kombat franchise, which they have flogged to death. What about Spy Hunter, Gauntlet, Robotron and Rampage WB?? Seemed a good shout to release some Rampage stuff when the movie hit but nothing arrived, not a drop of reference to the old classic. The Atari catalogue is just a massive mess with IPs sold to the highest bidder by Atari, god knows who owns the rights to half of those old games anymore.

Aside from old PS2/PSP/Gamecube and Xbox compilations, does anyone know of a modern release of these most prized of arcade classics? Oh, I know Lego Dimensions had them hidden as minigames but what a faff to access them!

[BigD]

Aside from old PS2/PSP/Gamecube and Xbox compilation

Treasure those compilations! You're right it was even a legal mess regarding the Atari IP back them with no Star Raiders etc available from the Jay Miner/Jack Tramiel era. I much prefer to play the newer Gauntlets/Rampages and stuff I missed rather than Missile Command for the millionth time!

[TCD]

WB released a Gauntlet title: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2...layer_Edition/ (9 years old by now though)

This might not be working anymore, but they sold some Midway arcade games on iOS: https://www.warnerbros.co.uk/games-a.../midway-arcade

[acidbottle]

Ahh your right, I bought that back in the day to, when mobile gaming wasn't a mess of f2p

It was actually a decent attempt to, to create an arcade feel, but they released a few games and then got abandoned. Remember Spy Hunter was near impossible to control!

The new Gauntlet game was okay, though not a patch on the original, which it only vaguely resembled.

Just hope Warner doesnt bury them in the sand forever, would be a massive waste. Am sure companies like Blaze (Evercade) and the New Wave Toys guys must have had conversation with them to acquire the rights, can only guess they were met with contempt and they hung up/threw them out the building!

[TCD]

I don't think WB wants to sit on IPs if they could sell them. It's most likely just a matter of how much.

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by acidbottle

I like arcade games, grew up with them and played many classics on original cabs, great stuff indeed!

Now retro is all the rage these days, Capcom, Taito and even Irem recently getting on board with games for more modern systems and handhelds. Many of these comps are just rehashes of similar products on a previous gen but still.

However, there is a massive hole that is looking like it is never going to be filled, that is with all the old Midway/Williams arcade games.

I know WB acquired the rights to the Midway catalogue but it seems they only did so for the Mortal Kombat franchise, which they have flogged to death. What about Spy Hunter, Gauntlet, Robotron and Rampage WB?? Seemed a good shout to release some Rampage stuff when the movie hit but nothing arrived, not a drop of reference to the old classic. The Atari catalogue is just a massive mess with IPs sold to the highest bidder by Atari, god knows who owns the rights to half of those old games anymore.

Aside from old PS2/PSP/Gamecube and Xbox compilations, does anyone know of a modern release of these most prized of arcade classics? Oh, I know Lego Dimensions had them hidden as minigames but what a faff to access them!

If we cannot redo the Williams games 1:1 we can redo the lousy clones: Major Motion as spy hunter, Dustman or wild west hero for robotron, Garrison for Gauntlet, thatone with the knights punching castle in guise of rampage; then there are cases like blaster that i have no clue on what to refer...

[str0m]

The Midway arcade treasures compilation for the PS2 is brilliant and sub £5! I play a lot of the cabs at various retro arcades and the home versions play well especially the twin stick ones

Don't start me on arcade games which have never left the arcade....Scud Race for example!

[TCD]

It's really a bit odd that WB doesn't throw the Midway arcade games on Steam/PS/XBox as Capcom does. The Capcom games seem to sell quite well.

[gimbal]

On the grand scheme of things it'd probably be peanuts for WB though so I can imagine it's not really on their radar. Just like Disney and Monkey Island it'd probably take some of the original crew and a lot of good will to really make it happen as a fan service.

Capcom is just a completely different company with a rich history in game development, it's more in their DNA to re-release their own games.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by str0m

The Midway arcade treasures compilation for the PS2 is brilliant and sub £5!

There are three Midway Arcade Treasures compilations. They are all worth getting IMHO! I even like Offroad Thunder even though the frame rate is rubbish! It's like a 3D Off Road Racing!

[acidbottle]

Best I can fathom out is WB owns all post 1984 Atari arcade rights (since 2009), while Atari SA has rights to all pre 1984 Atari games. Hence a bunch of compilations are released every couple of years with exact same material on them.

I did think Atari would own the license to Defender, the port they licensed from Williams back in the pre 84 times, yet never see that resurface anywhere either.

Light and Wonder is some shite gambling company who now owns the rights to Williams, so that's also unfortunate.

1 whole Gauntlet game, for example, since WB acquired Midway, is fairly pathetic. Think they do not care much, if at all, about these IPs.

[BigD]

I'm sure Defender is on one of the Midway Arcade Treasure discs!

[str0m]

Originally Posted by BigD

There are three Midway Arcade Treasures compilations. They are all worth getting IMHO! I even like Offroad Thunder even though the frame rate is rubbish! It's like a 3D Off Road Racing!

Yep I have them all


First one my favorite due to Paperboy, Robotron and Road blasters

[CCCP alert]

There have been many attempts to go beyond Gauntlet 1 and 2, either in the arcade or on home consoles, and sadly the only real success for me is Gauntlet IV on Sega 16bit consoles. I bought things like Gauntlet Legends for N64 and Seven Sorrows for PS2 etc but none really have the magic (pun intended!).

It just doesn't really work for me once you go isometric or full 3D. I don't know how you could even make a 3D Defender that works either.

[BigD]

I don't know how you could even make a 3D Defender that works either.

It's called Guardian and it's the best game in the CD32!

[acidbottle]

Yeah, Guardian was a very cool 3d clone of Defender, I must say.

Gauntlet Legends 3D was a fairly decent attempt by Midway to move the franchise away from overhead top down views, it played well and retained a gauntlet feel. Trouble is, as with many 3d games of that era, the visuals now look quite primitive and undercooked.

[TCD]

The 2014 remake of Gauntlet is quite well done. Certainly doesn't have the primitive and undercooked problem

[acidbottle]

I agree! It actually isn't a particularly bad game at all, just a shame the franchise kinda went into limbo after that. Not sure if it was as huge a commercial success for WB as they would have liked, so then gave up!

[TCD]

Seems like that is the case. The user reviews are quite positive and Moby has it at a 7.2 out of 10 score, so I don't think that was the problem. Most likely it just didn't sell that well.

[CCCP alert]

Originally Posted by BigD

It's called Guardian and it's the best game in the CD32!

Guardian, and G'Tok on PC are nowhere near the anabolic workout of a frenetic game of Defender in the arcade, that is what I meant by you can't easily recreate Defender if you move beyond 2D focussed, almost on rails, game area of the original. The tasks/goals may be the same but the game experience is nothing like laying down 20 lines of laser fire whilst accomplishing D.A.R.Y.L. levels of impossible to watch closely twitch gameplay. Take that away and it might as well be a different game done from scratch with no restrictions on game design rather than trying to drag games 4 decades into the future. YMMV but I can't see it happening.

Look at the disaster that is Missile Command 3D on Jaguar, horrible to play in 3D never mind different.