Call it Midway Unnecessary Sequel Retrospective. Call it Midway Excessive Violence Anthology. Call it Mortal Kombat Anniversary Collection (now with bonus content!). With one exception, none of the games collected here are treasures, in any sense of the word. Midway has created a time capsule of games from a time when American arcades were troubled, dealing with home console usurpers. Midway flailed about with safe sequels and flawed experiments, until discovering the over-the-top violence that would carry them well into the demise of the US arcade market.

It doesn't make for much to remember, now. Many of the games that were once entertaining are no fun to actually play, now. NARC, one possible standout, suffers from rampant graphical glitches in the port. Rampage: World Tour and Gauntlet II are just pale imitations of the originals. Mortal Kombat II and 3 are fairly close to perfect, but they, too, don't stand the test of time.

It's clear that the Mortal Kombats are headlining this collection, but they inspired a number of very questionable inclusions. Pit Fighter, one of the early inspirations for Mortal Kombat, is overly sped-up and isn't even a tiny bit of fun besides. Primal Rage is one of the many, many Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat wanna-bes from the mid '90s, and dinosaurs and scatalogical humor can't make up for bad control and poor character balance.

Even the experimental games aren't much fun. A.P.B., one of the stated inspirations for Grand Theft Auto, is dated and burdened with poor control. Hard Drivin', an early 3D racer, is preserved with all of its showstopper glitches intact. Spy Hunter II was overambitious to the point of being unplayable. Even Wizard of Wor, with its early computer-speech capability, has both graphical and auditory glitches.

Wizard of Wor, a maze-shooter clearly inspired by Pac-Man, isn't the only odd inclusion, given the variety of flashy, violent shooters and fighters. Kosmik Kroozer and Xenophobe made little impression on arcades in the '80s when they were released, for good reason. Timber, a tree-cutting game, and Wacko a matching-pairs game, are clearly leftovers from the Pac-Man/Donkey Kong age.

For all the glitchy games, forgettable obscura, and would-be classics that don't stand the test of time, MAT2 does have one standout. Total Carnage, a gleefully over-the-top top-down shooter in the Ikari Warriors/Commando vein, is as fun as it ever was. The Iraq War plus alien invaders theme is as topical now as it ever was, and shooting swarms of enemies is still plenty of fun. The difficulty is still high, with cheap deaths in abundance, but infinite quarters with which to continue takes some of the sting away. The dual-stick controls are well-suited to this follow-up to Smash TV, helping it in its effort to single-handedly redeem this collection.

The extras are pretty much par for the course, offering little more than the opportunity to laugh at ten-year-old marketing materials. Case art, histories, and sell sheets (with ridiculously hilarious sales pitches) are available for most of the game. Mortal Kombat 3 has some extra making-of footage, as well - a nice tidbit for series fans.

If you have a desperate need to play any of these games, Midway Arcade Treasures 2 will fulfill that terrible craving. A rental may be in order, first; several of the games are glitchy or ill-suited to a PS2 controller. For everyone else, Mortal Kombat II and 3 and Total Carnage are the only gems in a pile of games mostly better off left in the dusty corners of the local arcade, unplayed and forgotten.