Holy shit, this game is addicting. Imagine Puzzle Bobble (trying to drop block combos), but you're doing the Arkanoid-style paddle thing instead, either in 1p survival or VS. Both are insane. It looks slower than Arkanoid, but once you miss, the lines start flying down and...well, normally you die. I've probably put at least 10 hours into this already. Can't do much in 1p mode survival mode (I got it down to 51 lines once), but I can beat Vs mode in less than 5 credits now (not bad, considering how quickly matches are). Best game I've played in years. And the music isn't half bad either.

Other than that, there's been some hits and some misses. Darius Gaiden looks and plays sweet, but it's pretty hard. I normally stop playing because I realize how many credits I'd have spent in a real arcade, keeping myself alive. Elevator Action Returns is awesome in a mindless-arcade-game style (that's a compliment). Space Invaders 95 is a great update (DX is kind of lame). Lunar Rescue and Alpine are great, considering they were out before I was born. Arabian Magic has potential, but I get the feeling it works better as a TMNT/Simpsons brawler with more than one player in. Cleopatra's fun, but it gets too fast too soon...I have to play with it some more. Only lame thing is Puzzle Bobble 2 doesn't seem right...The dinosaurs aren't there and the music cuts off abruptly. Luckily I kept my PS1 game of it. That, and endless credits are cheap...but oh well. Self moderation helps.

And that's just scratching the surface...Too much Puchi Carat for anything else. Best $20 ever spent.

I haven't played too much Puchi Carat yet (maybe 20 minutes or so) but it is really damn good. I've only done 1p Survival so far... haven't really tackled the VS mode. It's definitely one of the gems in the collection. Bust-A-Move Again is a bit of a disappointment for the reasons you mentioned. It's listed as Puzzle Bobble 2 on the back, but it's not; there's a friggin' hand moving a wheel instead of Bub and Bob! Talk about soulless. The bubble-poppin' still feels the same, but it's not as good BAM2 on the PSX.

Here are my thoughts on some of the other games that I've spent some time with:

Cameltry - I got hooked on this for a while. Something about the illusion of free falling and spinning things all over the place. I use the analog stick (it spins faster than the D-pad) and I like to see how long I can play without having the ball touch the walls.

Crazy Balloon - Hard as hell. Nick said I should check this out, but it broke me.

Darius Gaiden - My favorite game on here currently. It's pretty difficult, and I abuse the hell out of that select button for putting in "credits", but the way I see it is that I already dropped my $20 and that gives me the right to spend $20 in fake money just trying to finish the damn game! What a good shooter, though. I've already gone through the game several times going down different routes, and they're all pretty rewarding and fun to play.

Dungeon Magic - Cheesy 4P arcade action game with a weird isometric vantage point. But is it good? Absolutely. I love leveling up and beating the crap out of werewolves. I think I would have preferred a standard (or even slightly tilted) viewing angle, but what's there works well enough.

G Darius - I don't like this as much as Darius Gaiden, but the enemy steal system is really awesome. Almost beating a mid-boss and then sucking it toward your ship to use as a sub-weapon is brilliant.

Gekirindan - Awesome 2D, top-down shooter. I spam free play on this one too, but it's a blast.

Growl - Beating the shit out of chicks in short skirts to protect animals is something I would do for a living if I could.

Liquid Kids - I only played this once, but it has a lot of potential to be fun. It's on my list of games to dig deeper with.

Majestic Twelve - Old Space Invaders with newer shooter elements and a NASTY last boss? Thumbs way up.

Metal Black - I was kind of disappointed in this, probably because I expected more. Collecting all those atoms to leve up your weapon all the time is a pain in the ass. I'd skip this and go with Darius Gaiden or G-Darius for horizontal shooters.

Ray Storm - Decent. The lock-on system is cool, but is the only real standout part of the game.

Violence Fight - Pit Fighter without the hilarious "live" sprites.

All in all, definitely worth the $20, especially if you're a shooter fan.

I have this (Memories incarnations) but can never get into compilations.  I always just want to break out the original game on its parent system when possible because the experience just isn't the same (like emulation, which it basically is).

What's sad is I can't play on my arcade stick, because the controls are set funny (for the "insert coin" and "start") and I don't have the right buttons on mine. This compilation just makes me sad to see how far arcades have fallen. I'd have gladly thrown away $10-$20 away each week on Puchi Carat alone (and that'd be with alternating various fighting games).

Zane: If you thought Majestic Twelve was awesome, get to Space Invaders 95. It may be a little Otaku-heavy (that's an understatement), but that was my favorite SI variant by far. I liked Majestic, but it's really hard to hit the little fuckers once you reach the end of a board. I kept getting landed on constantly. The shields in that one are great.

Dungeon Magic sounds a lot better off than Arabian Magic was (AM didn't have levels). Think I'll give that one a whirl tonight.

SO. MANY. GAMES. *drool* If only Bubble Symphony were here...

What in the world is the draw of Bubble Symphony it seems to have to everyone?

They should have had Arkanoid 2 instead...

-Joshua

You can't have enough of that classic Bubble Bobble gameplay. Why wouldn't people want to play it? My problem with Bubble Bobble is I played the NES version so much, I can play through parts of it with my eyes shut.

Taito wouldn't license the Arkanoids apparently because of a suit with Atari (remember Breakout?). Frankly, I'm happier with Puchi Carat as the ball-and-paddle star of this collection...Arkanoid was downright unfair. The only thing I miss are the power-ups.

Speaking of Bubble Bobble, has Taito ever re-released Parasol Stars?  I saw that the original Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands were on the first Taito Legends (and I have my Saturn versions to tide me over), but I don't know if Parasol Stars was ever re-done.  That might have been my all-time favorite HuCard, especially for the 2P action.

You're not still using the buttons to move the balloon, are you bro? I use the d-pad! Sure, it's not as authentic an experience but it's hells easier and it's the only on way I could win at it. I can get to level 7 now!

Crash: Nope, no Parasol Stars. I don't think it's been a part of any of the Memories collections either (Japanese only).

Crazy Balloon = Pain. Took me 5 tokens worth of credits to get to level 2. I'll practice this one on and off. Fun, but sadistic.

"I have this (Memories incarnations) but can never get into compilations.  I always just want to break out the original game on its parent system when possible because the experience just isn't the same (like emulation, which it basically is)."

I feel you there... as long as I have the original system or even a port, I still like it more then a compilation.  However, for games I don't have, like the Genesis Sonic ones, it is undoubtedly nice.

I haven't played any of the Memories packs yet (though I'd love to pick up the one with Akkanvader and Ray Force), but Ray Storm is just a piece of garbage.  The game requires 100% perfect memorisation, and not so in 'Oh, a laser will come in this area, I'd better be prepared," but "Oh, a laser will come in this area, I better DODGE IT FIVE SECONDS IN ADVANCE because it'll KILL ME IN A BLINK OF THE EYE."  Seriously, half the time you don't even know what kills you in the game.  Thats from the Playstation version too, the AC version might even be worse!

Is Ray Crisis on these packs?  I absolutly love that game.

Nope, no RayCrisis.  What aggravates me most about comps is vertical shooters never include TATE, deeming them worthless.  Like Capcom Classics Vol. 2 had a great selection of games, and with TATE it would have been perfect.  The Treasure comp was really good too and even included the GG version of Gunstar, though the sound emulation in the games was pretty weak.

Hmm... I'm surprised.  I heard the Capcom Classics games were just repackaging of the Capcom Generation packs on the PSX/Saturn, and those have TATE...

Vol. 1 was essentially that (Vol. 2 has a ton of exclusives), but it still lacked TATE.  I'm just convinced US companies are afraid of lawsuits when lil Jimmy turns his TV on its side and it crashes to the floor.