The Taito Milestones series has already witnessed two collections (the '3' at the end of the Taito Milestones 3 is a bit of a giveaway), but the odd thing with this series is that the quality has arguably improved with each offering, rather than diminishing as the best games are featured early on.

As we noted with the first Taito Milestones, the selection was somewhat disappointing, but it improved with the second release, which boasts the likes of The NewZealand Story, Metal Black, and Darius II.

That sense of progression continues with Taito Milestones 3, which has perhaps the best selection of Taito games seen so far. It's actually remarkable that solid-gold classics like Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, and Rastan have been held back until the third volume, but here they all are; in fact, you get the entire Rastan saga in this collection, including the sublime Warrior Blade, which uses the same ultra-wide screen setup as Darius II.

Elsewhere, the likeable action RPG Cadash is well worth a spin, while 1990's environmentally-conscious fighter Runark (AKA Growl) is so hilarious that it simply has to be experienced at least once in your lifetime. It's hardly in the same league as Final Fight, Golden Axe, or Streets of Rage, but it's still a lot of fun—especially with a second player involved.

Also from 1990 is Thunder Fox, a pretty typical run-and-gun shooter with Arnie-styled heroes and lots of stuff to blow up. The arcade original is vastly superior to the Genesis / Mega Drive port that most people will have played, even if it's not quite up to the standard of, say, Contra or even Green Beret.

1992's Dead Connection is a title that didn't really make much of an impression in arcades but is something of a hidden gem in Taito's back catalogue. A top-down shooter that pits you against the Mafia in 1950s America, it's a fantastic game that deserves another chance at fame.

Finally, we have Champion Wrestler, a grappler from 1989 that features Rastan as a playable character. It's perfectly serviceable but pales when compared to later examples of the genre such as WWF Superstars (also from 1989) and WWF WrestleFest (1991).

All of the games featured here are worthy of your time, then, making this one of the best retro collections you can get on Switch right now. As we've previously noted with the other Taito Milestones collections, however, many of the games included here are already available individually as part of Hamster's Arcade Archive series—the exceptions being Thunder Fox and Dead Connection.

If you've already picked up some of these, then you might want to think twice before double-dipping, but if you've held off, Taito Milestones 3 represents superb value for money, especially when you take into account the cost of picking up each game on its own.

Related Products

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.