Taito was a force to be reckoned with in arcades back in their heyday, as they are the ones who created Space Invaders after all.  And now here’s another batch of their games that you can play on Nintendo Switch.  Rastan fans would be especially interested in this one, as it has pretty much every game in that series on here!  So let’s take a look at all the games.

Bubble Bobble

I freaking love Bubble Bobble.  It’s a single screen maze game where you play as a bubble blowing dragon and must encase enemies and pop them.  There are tons of power-ups and that repetitive yet catchy theme song.  This collection is worth it for this game alone.  I have so many good memories playing this game with my brothers when they were little.

Rainbow Islands

This is one of three games that claim to be the sequel to Bubble Bobble!  Here you play as one of two boys who can create rainbows that they can climb on.  They’re supposed to be the human forms of the dragons from the first game.  Anyway, you must use the rainbows you make to defeat enemies and make it to the top of vertically scrolling levels.  Like Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands has tons of power-ups and secrets.  I don’t like it as much as the original, but it’s still fun.

Rastan Saga

You can tell this game was made during the barbarian movie craze of the early 80s.  You play as Rastan the barbarian as you travel through side scrolling areas hitting enemies with your sword.  I think it’s an all right game.  I know it’s really popular although I’ve only seen it in arcades a couple of times.

Rastan Saga 2

The sequel features bigger graphics and sound, but it’s also slower and clunkier and not as good as the original either.  In some places I think the game is also called Nastar, which is Rastan spelled backwards.

Warrior Blade

Instead of a 2D platform hack and slash, the third game in the Rastan series is a side scrolling beat ‘em up.  You can tell this was riding on the coattails of Golden Axe, but it did have an extra wide double screen view that other Taito games at the time used.  It’s still really fun and the graphics are great, but I don’t ever remember seeing this in arcades either.

Champion Wrestler

I only put this below the Rastan games because one of the wrestlers you can pick from here is Rastan.  Or at least his name is just Rastan.  I don’t really get into wrestling games so that’s all I have to say about that.

Cadash

Oh man, I am so glad this game is on here.  Cadash is a 2D side scrolling hack and slash, kind of like a spiritual successor to Rastan.  But it has a surprisingly large amount of RPG elements for an arcade game.  You can pick from four characters: Fighter, Mage, Priest, and Ninja.  And you can level up your stats and even get a password to start back where you left off, which was unheard of in the arcade!  I remember when my best friend and I first saw this in an arcade, we thought it would be cool to play it together if it ever came out on the NES.  Sadly, it only came out on the TG-16, which we didn’t have.  I was also sad when Taito Legends came out and this was only an exclusive on the Xbox version, which I also didn’t have!  So I’m glad I can finally play it here.

Runark

I remember seeing this a lot in arcades, but it went under the name “Growl” at least in the US.  It’s a side scrolling beat ‘em up with a ‘save the animals’ theme because this was the early 90s.  It’s fun, but man there are way too many enemies on screen and they can really crowd you!

Thunder Fox

This one combines elements from games like Rolling Thunder and Kung Fu Master mixed with military themes from games like Rush N Attack.  I like that the first boss is a tank and you can just punch it.  Actually I think you have to use grenades to defeat it, but I still think it’s funny you can do that.  It’s an all right game.

Dead Connection

And finally, I don’t think I have ever heard of this game until now.  I think it might’ve been Japan only since a lot of the text is in Japanese anyway.  So this one has a 1930’s gangster theme and you run around shooting people in an overhead perspective.  A lot of the background elements are interactive and it’s a pretty interesting title.

And those are all the games!  Really the only problem I have with this collection is the lack of content.  I mean, when Taito Legends came out on the PS2, it had more games on it than the first three volumes here combined!  With that said, at least most of the games on here are really fun.

Kid Factor:

Taito Milestones Volume 3 is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood and Gore, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, and Violence.  Some of the games have splashes of pixelly blood and guts, and some of the female characters wear scantily clad outfits, especially in the Rastan games.  I didn’t notice any alcohol or tobacco use, but I bet it’s in the gangster game.  But I grew up playing most of these games and I turned out OK.

Don’t forget to check out my other Taito Milestones reviews!

Taito Milestones Vol. 1

Taito Milestones Vol. 2

Tags: Game Reviews