Tecmo is a name that conjures up images of swift moves and ninja stars; a yo-yo with spikes; and characters with bounce. Their creations are legendary. Ninja Gaiden was the third game I remember buying. Dead or Alive is the best at what it does: complex fighting within a simple move set. Surely with a history so great and a future so bright, Tecmo is in a position to release a greatest hits collection. A compilation that would take us back to the golden days of low-tech gaming.

Tecmo Classic Arcade is that long-awaited collection. With all these games sitting around in the Tecmo vault it was hard to come up with any reason why they didn't put this compilation together sooner.

Then I played the featured titles.

Tecmo Bowl
The most well-known of the bunch, Tecmo Bowl was way ahead of its time. The side view hadn't been done before, and the pass-and-tackle gameplay gave gamers something to think about.

Rygar
One man. One yo-yo shield with spikes!. (It obliterates enemies with ease and retracts seamlessly.) Lots of walking, killing, and a fair amount of jumping and platforming.

Strato Fighter
R-Type's evil twin, Strato Fighter has power-ups, big ugly bosses, and a relentless stream of enemies that breed faster than rabbits.

Solomon's Key
Concrete blocks lead (and usually block) the path to grabbing the key. Wipe out weaker blocks with your magical powers and replace them with the snap of your fingers. Blocks need to be formed in order to navigate to the top of each level. Watch out though -- some blocks are impervious to your destruction and cannot be destroyed or replaced. You'll have to work around those.

Star Force
There's a shooter Star Force reminds me of but I can't quite nail it. This is another space shooter, but instead of scrolling from left to right you move upward.

Tecmo Cup
Top-down soccer with eight-way directional control. Reminiscent of the early hockey games.

Bomb Jack
You probably think this is going to be a Bomberman clone. I wish. Bomb Jack is a game where you are asked to collect all the bombs in any given stage to clear it. There's no throwing involved, no moment where enemies go boom. They can be turned into coins, but only by grabbing a specific power-up, which appears at random times.

Pleiads
More top-down, up-scrolling space shooting. Ever-so-slightly reminiscent of Centipede and Millipede.

Swimmer
A Frogger-ish game with fish and pond skaters.

Pinball Action
Attempts to emulate the real thing.

Senjyo
The last space shooter (and last game) Tecmo Classic Arcade has to offer, Senjyo is a primitive game that falls somewhere in between a first-person shooter and a lightgun shooter. Movement is stationary but you can move the crosshairs wherever necessary.

These titles add up to a lot less fun than presumed. The absence of Ninja Gaiden was forgivable – the unfortunate thing is that, if it's hidden as a bonus, I just don't have the desire to find it.

Pinball Action's fun factor dies a quick death. The overly cheap gameplay will ward off almost everyone. Those who aren't deterred will lose interest the minute they realize that they're looking at a small playing field with very little room to explore, or to bounce around for that matter.

Senjyo was a great idea that doesn't work too well, which explains why no one wants to develop a stationary shooter with modern technology. The same could be said for Pleiads and Star Force – not that they're great ideas, just that they're not the kinds of games people are looking to develop.

Bomb Jack is fun every now and then, but they should've chosen another object to collect. When I see a bomb I can't help but think of Bomberman, and thinking of Bomberman makes me want to throw something explosive. That said, who buys a game to have fun every once in a while?

Swimmer should swim back to where it came from and stay there.

Solomon's Key is... Well, it isn't horrible. Though I can't call it super fun either. I could see someone getting addicted to it for a short time, not much more than that.

Rygar's PS2 debut was met with many lost hours of sleep. I didn't remember playing the arcade original, so I was excited to have the chance. Who knew the original would be so basic? A couple attack moves, the ability to walk and jump – that's the gist of the game. Oh, and there's some platforming involved.

Tecmo Bowl was the leader of its time, but lacks the longevity of other sports classics (Ice Hockey, NBA Jam, etc.). Tecmo Cup isn't nearly as well known yet it's the game I want to go back to. The only game I want to go back to, and the urge isn't that extreme. It's more of a take it or leave it kind of thing. "If I have time," I say to myself, "after playing other games."

That's Tecmo Classic Arcade's biggest problem. The clones are just clones - you'd be better off with the originals. Rygar is too repetitive to be fun, at least by today's standards. And Tecmo Bowl, the leader of the pack, just didn't have what it takes to be as entertaining today as it was several years ago.

Gameplay: 5.3
Old school or just old? Tecmo Classic Arcade is a retro compilation that forgot to add the classic filling. Pleiads is Galaga clone; Swimmer is a Frogger clone; and Strato Fighter is an R-Type clone. Similarities are found throughout almost all of the games. In a game like this originality is hard to locate.

Graphics: 4.5
I didn't expect a remake, but these are some bad-looking games. I mean it – compare 'em to the games of their era and you'll discover that graphic quality has been an issue from the beginning.

Sound: 6.5
There are a few good, old school beats, but the rest is junk.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
How can a game that allows for a near infinite amount of continues be challenging?

Concept: 4.0
Two kids are playing outside. One goes inside to get some toys to take to the other kid's house. He goes into his room and grabs whatever's available. A Darth Vader action figure sits on a shelving unit; Hot Wheels are scattered on the floor. Both kids love playing with those toys, but that's not what he grabbed. Thus play time at a friend's house wasn't as memorable as it could've been.

Multiplayer: 4.5

Overall: 5.0
If you love (and are certain of that love) one of the games in this collection, the low MSRP doesn't seem too bad. Brand-new copies of these games are no longer being sold, therefore your best bet is a shiny new Xbox disc.

All things likely you don't have certain love. Chances are half the people who read this review won't even know what half these Tecmo games are. Sounds like a conundrum, one that you should avoid.