J-bot6

Yet another developer in the long tradition of lazy devs packaging and configuring retro classic games.

This should have been a no-brainer for anyone with a sense of pride in both these landmark games and their own work.

Despite the control options that are provided, all of the breakout style games are rendered pretty much unplayable due to a strange delay in both the analog and digital controls. This also plagues Missile Command.

Then there's the horrendous treatment of one of the most cutting-edge vector games of all time -- Major Havoc. This version runs much faster than the real arcade machine (which is inexcusable since the XBOX console is a fixed and predictable platform and there were videos showing real arcade footage of this game on YouTube at the time the devs were working on this compilation). Add to that how they inexplicably butchered the audio. It sounds like it was sampled using an old 8-bit computer, played though a stylophone, and then cranked to insane levels of distortion. Clearly the developers had no idea what this game was and didn't care. Another, "Take your pay check and call it a day dial-it-in special of a translation job."

Then there are the vector graphics glow filters. Two of the three look totally unnatural and one of them looks like someone smeared Vaseline all over the display.

Next we have the config menu system that doesn't even bother to distinguish between vector and raster games. You've got raster settings on the vector games and vector settings on the raster games. Seriously! And this is after all the latest updates have been downloaded (as of October 2025).

Other nice-to-haves could have been included but weren't. Like an invert axis for Red Baron. Or how about accessing some of the DIP switch settings for the arcade titles?

The last item on here to mention is the obvious sheer lack of play-testing to even attempt to get these to respond anywhere close to the original games.

Conclusion: This is a half-baked compilation that is sure to turn away yet another generation from games that were fun in their original presentation. Kind of like replacing the engine of a Lamborghini with one from a Pinto and handing the keys to a teenager and saying, "Hey kid. This is what high-end sports cars from 1979 were like!"

Embarrassing and certainly one to avoid.

I recently rewatched this and really enjoyed it. Obviously it's a low-budget B-flick. However, the writing's actually really good and there are some big-name actors in here.

Are the effects top-notch? No.

The cool ideas are there though. The performances are wild. And the film has heart. Even the score is quite good.

You can tell that, if the people who put this together had a larger budget, they'd be able to give us something much more grand. Regardless, they really tried to give the film a sense of style -- especially with the opening sequence.

If you want something a bit different that the usual slop, this is worth checking out.