Is it really worth your quarters?
Handmark has done a great job of capturing the look and feel of these 80s arcade games. They all looked just as I remember them from my youth -- though smaller. I must confess, I really didn't care for Defender II, Joust, or Sinistar. In all fairness though, I didn't like them in the arcade either. They just aren't my type of game and I had issues with their control interfaces.

All of the games have configurable controls and all support the 5-way Navigator. I had trouble, though, with Defender, Joust, and Sinistar. I think their playability would benefit from a joystick gameface. I just found it difficult to control the movement and firing at the same time using the buttons and Navigator.

Joust in particular was hard, as it requires you to rapidly and repeatedly press a button to flap your mount's wings for lift. I foresee this causing a problem with the hardware on your handheld by damaging the buttons from over use.

I'd have to give Midway Arcade Classics from Handmark a 3 out of 5. Although all of the games looked and played like the originals, I had problems with the controls on three of them that I think could be solved with a joystick gameface. But I think the flapping requirement in Joust will eventually cause hardware problems.

I didn't really see anything wrong with Root Beer Tapper or Spy Hunter and I truly enjoyed playing those two.

OUR RATING: 3 of 5

James Booth is a self-taught PC and Palm device user that dabbles in graphics and photography. He can be reached at lizardworks@mchsi.com.