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HARK BACK, IF YOU can, to the heyday of video games, when the best source of fun for teens in the '80s and '90s was to be found at the arcades. Each coin-op cabinet with its softly glowing screen offered a brief respite from your day-to-day worries and the chance to rise above your station. A proficient gamer never failed to draw an admiring group of onlookers, especially if their game of choice was beyond the skills of your average Joe (or Josephine).

Twenty-odd years later, and the few remaining video arcades have changed dramatically, with many games requiring more physical input than your basic button mashing of days gone by; dancing, shooting hoops (or decomposing zombies), riding, skating, squashing little animals with big mallets… it's enough to send an old school gamer scurrying for the shops in search of a play-at-home retro arcade fix.

Unsurprisingly, such compilations have proven extremely popular with gamers, and there are many products on the market, filling the retro niche. One of the players is Midway, and to date it has released three titles for PC and consoles in its Midway Arcade Treasures series, and it was really only a matter of time before a PSP version made an appearance.

Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play is a selection of games from the first two titles, and there is a good mix of genres to be found. Crammed onto the tiny UMD are:

- Spy Hunter
- Sinistar
- Defender
- Paperboy
- 720

Multiplayer Wireless:
- Klax
- Joust
- Marble Madness
- Toobin'
- Rampage
- Gauntlet
- Rampart
- Wizard of Wor
- Xybots
- Championship Sprint
- Arch Rivals
- Cyberball 2072
- Xenophobe
- Mortal Kombat
- Mortal Kombat 2
- Mortal Kombat 3

Before we go any further it is important to realise that Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play is a compilation, and a 'no frills' one at that. There's no glitzy intro or innovative extras; you won't find any re-vamped versions of the classic Midway coin-ops... just the games, which are as close to arcade original as developers Digital Eclipse could deliver. Initially they appear somewhat diminished without their faux woodgrain cabinets and backlit, plexiglass signage, however seeing the line-up of so many golden oldies is enough to bring on a huge rush of nostalgia.

Control instructions for each game are displayed at the loading screen, and on the whole these are simple to use and fairly responsive. For several games, however, the controls proved uncooperative and fiddly to operate; some of this could be attributed to the user's level of ability, but certainly not all of it. Mortal Kombat and Marble Madness are two names which immediately spring to mind, when it comes to control issues.

Aside from the compilation's high nostalgia factor, its best feature is the wireless multiplayer support for up to four players, which covers most of the games on the menu. Joust, Wizard of Wor, and even the original dungeon hack-n-slasher, Gauntlet, enjoy a new lease on life when played with a bunch of your mates.

There's not a whole lot to say about the graphics and sound other than they are reasonably accurate reproductions. If you remember the arcade originals you will instantly recognise the tunes and images. Most have been stretched to fit the PSP screen dimensions, but this doesn't detract from play. It's not documented in the manual, but you can change the screen dimensions (instructions below), which should keep the purists from complaining.

Those who actually played these arcade classics in their original format will probably find themselves in hog heaven. Younger gamers whose earliest recollections of Mortal Kombat were of the console versions may be somewhat disappointed at the dated sound and graphics, and control issues. Whatever your expectations, Midway Arcade Treasures: Extended Play is a portable slice of gaming history and is perfectly suited for brief sessions of play, for which the PSP was designed.

To Change Screen Ratio:

1. Press "Select" to pause your chosen game.
2. Hold the D pad in the Down position and tap Square to cycle through the screen size options.
3. Resume your game.