Whether you believe retro compilations are a perfect way for younger gamers to sample the delights of what us old timers grew up with, or that they're all cheaply put together cash-ins, you cant deny that the first Taito Legends was a quite sublime title. With the likes of Bubble Bobble, The New Zealand Story and Zoo Keeper included, hours were whiled away and new high scores were achieved.

But the few dissenting voices that could be heard above the almost universal praise by the video game press, was of the titles that were missing. Rather than instantly fall in love with Bub and Bob all over again, they couldn't help but merely scream and shout for a chance to play the likes of Qix, Darius Gaiden and Elevator Action Returns. So what have those kind chaps at Empire and Xplosiv done for us? Why, nothing less than offer us up another 40 (yes, forty) games from Taito's past.

For value for money, Taito Legends 2 offers something incredible. Shop around and you can get away with paying roughly £0.35 for each game in this compilation. The Saturn-exclusive Elevator Action Returns, for example, reaches usual prices of around £50 on eBay. But here, it's offered for 35p; about the same price as a Mars bar. Well, at least in the north of England anyway. But of course none of that would matter if the games offered up on this silver platter of a CD were pitiful. But there's certainly no need to worry about that. The disc itself spans 25 years of Taito action, from the likes of Lunar Rescue and Alpine Ski to G Darius and Puzzle Bobble 2. And despite the lack of inclusion of the 29 titles offered in the previous Taito Legends, there's still a phenomenal amount of unmitigated gaming genius.

With this second iteration of the Taito Legends brand encompassing a few more recent titles, you'd expect those to stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of visual and aural quality. And in most cases, you'd be right. The likes of Elevator Action Returns and the hectic shoot 'em up action of the two Darius titles do stand out as some of the best lookers, as well as some of the most enjoyable titles. But it's one of the older titles, Qix, that holds inside the greatest design both visually and gameplay wise. Though simple in premise (draw shapes, while avoiding the floating Qix) the few sounds that are emitted and the incredibly simple and clean visual style mean that it's one title in particular that shows little sign of aging.

Shooter fans are most certainly going to find a whole heap of pleasure from this collection. For starters, the likes of the two Darius titles (G Darius and Darius Gaiden) are included, and both are widely regarded as two of the most enjoyable shoot 'em ups of all time. But there's still another half dozen to discover, some of which have never been witnessed in PAL land before. In fact, quite a few games on this compilation will only be remembered by regular importers, and even they may be hard pressed to remember the likes of PuLiRuLa. But the titles that the 'PAL only' crew will remember with great affection are offered up in great abundance, with Puzzle Bobble 2, for example, standing out as one of the most addictive titles in the entire package. Even the likes of Football Champ, a 6-a-side football title, lacking the nuances and realism of today's Pro Evolution Soccer titles, manages to raise a big smile and an enjoyable half hour of gaming.

Taking Football Champ for example, it epitomises the old arcade football titles with absolute perfection. There's no wildly in depth tactical options, nor sublime AI that will tactically outwit your feeble mind. Instead, it's all about timing, crunching challenges and finding the sweet spot that guarantees a goal every chance you manage to create. It might lack the depth that Pro Evolution Soccer 5 serves up, but it still manages to remain incredibly addictive.

As for what should be the compilation's main poster boy, Elevator Action Returns, again simply has the old values of pure gameplay that virtually every title on the Taito Legends 2 branded disc has by the bucket load. It's simply a case of making sure you reach the end of each level fully intact, blasting away enemies and utilising your surroundings to keep out of way of their attempts to end your days a little too soon. It's a traditional 2D scroller at heart, but one that becomes ridiculously difficult to put down. If anything, it proves that the transition to 3D was made far too quickly, with titles only recently offering up similar standards of addictive gameplay.

It's difficult to judge who wouldn't get any kind of excitement out of this second Taito collection of gaming legends; perhaps those weaned solely on the likes of Grand Theft Auto might fail to see the appeal, with these titles' lack of licensed soundtracks and massive sprawling 3D landscapes. But for any gamer out there who just wants to sample true gameplay fun, across a multitude of genres, then you simply must go out and purchase both this and the first Taito Legends collection as soon as possible.

One important note however. Xplosiv have seen fit to include four exclusive titles for each console. On PS2 you have Balloon Bomber, G Darius, Ray Storm and Syvalion, while on Xbox and PC the exclusive titles are Bubble Symphony, Cadash, Pop 'n Pop and Rayforce. So if you really desire to sample every single title, you'll need to buy two of the three versions, pushing up the total cost closer to that of a recent release. While this seems like an obvious attempt to cash in on the good will of true completists who wish to sample it all, it was actually emulation issues that prevented every title being included on every format. Anyway, you can hardly begrudge this when you consider the value for money that this package provides.

And value for money is what best sums up Taito Legends 2. Like the first collection, this follow-up is just brimming with classic games of yesteryear, most of which still have as much simplistic gameplay appeal and charm as they did back in the day. So whether you're reliving your youth, or educating your, um, youth, this really is one bargain purchase that you cannot afford to miss.

Reviewed by AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).