I love the classics and more specifically I love compilations that showcase a number of games that are unfamiliar territory for those gamers too young to remember them when they stole many a quarter in the arcades. How else could a hardcore gamer get a good history lesson in the spy-smashing, alien zapping, newspaper delivery or monster-bashing red elf-style? Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play for the PSP is a portable version of its collection series that console gamers have been enjoying and not a bad way to give your thumbs a good old-fashioned workout on the go.

With a lineup of 21 games, Extended Play doesn’t offer a brief history of each game with the exception of what year they came out in the arcades. The compilation moves from Midway’s earliest offerings like Defender and Joust down to 1990 classics like Mortal Kombat 3. It’s clear that Midway’s contributions have become the stuff of legends and many of the classics have even inspired new versions (e.g. Spy Hunter, Gauntlet and the various Mortal Kombat games). This compilation covers a number of genres from sports, fighting, shooting and guiding a little red marble around a series of mazes in a little game called Marble Madness.

Remember Joust, the game that has a knight (complete with lance) riding what appears to be a flying ostrich while attempting to knock down other knights off their birds? Do you remember delivering the daily newspaper on Easy Street in Paperboy while avoiding the neighborhood’s various dangers or ramming spy cars off the road in your sleek and tricked out spy car in Spy Hunter? What about pulling off some mean tricks in 729 or sprinting your racing car in Championship Sprint? Then there’s the vicious game of basketball that is Arch Rivals as well as the hard-hitting futuristic football game that is Cyberball 2072. You can take to space in your ship and destroy enemies in Defender or Sinistar or clear areas of alien infestation in Xenophobe.

While five of these games were made specifically for one player, the rest of the games on the list were meant to be played as multiplayer games. Rampage, for example, is a game where you play a monster that destroys city after city and the best part is that up to four friends can join in on the destructive goodness. Then there’s Gauntlet, a game with four different characters and hordes of monsters to take down. There’s not one Mortal Kombat game but three of them that were meant to be played against a friend. Thankfully, the games that support up to four players are handled perfectly and thanks to the wireless connection, the games move smoothly.

Unfortunately, all is not well with Extended Play. Many of these classics are classics for a reason and they do hold up well despite their age like Joust or Rampage. Then again, some games are just fun for a few minutes before you realize that it’s the same thing repeatedly like Paperboy or Championship Sprint or even Wizard of Wor. That does not mean these games are bad, it just means that it might not be as fun as it was when you first played it or, if you’re like me and are playing the earlier ones for the first time, might not be as impressive as it was when it was first introduced to gamers. Then there’s the problem with the screen size. Games like Defender and Sinistar look tiny while games like Xybots look like they were stretched to fit the screen’s size.

The various games vary in the graphics department. Obviously, games like Joust, Defender and the puzzle game KLAX won’t win any graphics prizes today but that’s understandable. There are some good-looking games here, though. Paperboy is a colorful game with a lot to look at, as is Rampage (with its tiny armed forces) and Xenophobe. Even Mortal Kombat 3, with its interesting attempt to merge real-life models in the rendered backdrops look pretty good for its age. As I mentioned above there are a few screen size problems that are too hard to ignore.

Sound-wise the games offer very little in terms of tunes. Unlike Namco’s collection filled with familiar tunes for Pac-Man and Dig Dug, there are very few games with music you’ll instantly recognize unless you count Paperboy, Spy Hunter or Marble Madness. There’s not even much to listen to during the main menu! There are a number of sound effects each game possesses, though. Whether it’s the announcement that red wizard needs food badly in Gauntlet to the too-synthesized-to-make-out ramblings of the skull in Sinistar the games won’t let you down. This could have been a lot better, though.

Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play is a love letter to the classics old-school gamers grew up with and thanks to the power of the PSP; it’s also a great way to take these games along with you. Unfortunately not all of the games translate well on the system while a very few of them feel the sting of old age. Still, with this said, this is a compilation gamers new and old should at least check out as a rental.

Gameplay: 7.0
Many of the games will feel familiar to those who have played them in the arcade while those of us who are experiencing them for the first time will relish their simplicity. The games move smoothly enough but some games, like Sinistar, have been reduced to a tiny size that requires a magnifying glass to play.

Graphics: 6.0
In all fairness, most games as old as Defender and Joust really don’t look great but when we get to Rampage, Xenophobe and Mortal Kombat 3 we see some nice changes. Some of the game fit snuggly into the PSP’s screen while others look too stretched out or too small.

Sound: 5.5
The game’s sound is just one of many of the compilation’s weakest aspects. For starters, the main menu is devoid of all sound, leaving you to pick the games in almost absolute silence. Secondly, many of the games seldom have much of a soundtrack to begin with, although it’s great to hear Spy Hunter’s opening main theme music and Paperboy’s music. The rest of the game is composed of some decent sound effects and a few awful ones as well.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Some games are just not as challenging as they seem like Arch Rivals or Championship Sprint while the ones that look easy like Paperboy and Marble Madness are really challenging. Some, sadly, are challenging because they look way too tiny on the PSP screen (yeah, Sinistar and Defender, I’m looking in your direction).

Concept: 7.0
Midway has collected a large number of gaming classics that are sure to bring back memories of the golden age or arcade gaming goodness. Much like Namco’s solid collection of hits, Midway has is masterpieces (Spy Hunter, Mortal Kombat 2 and Joust) and its not-so-shining moments (Wizard of Wor, Rampart and Xybots). Still, if you’re a hardcore gamer, these 21 coin-op classics are worthy of a look.

Multiplayer: 7.5
The majority of these games were meant to be played with other gamers, such as Arch Rivals, Rampage, Gauntlet and the three Mortal Kombat games. With 16 games that support wireless multiplayer there’s plenty of games to burn through with a friend.

Overall: 6.9
Even if you have the fondest memories of playing these games in the arcades, not every game in Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play translated well on the PSP. It’s not that the games no longer hold up the way they use to but rather it’s the poor way in which some of the game are fit into the PSP’s screen. Yet if you’re like me and are experiencing some of these for the first time you may want to rent this game. It’s the best history lesson in games you’ll get - trust me.