Buy Now...

If you're bored with your latest Play Station games, frustrated that you've been playing the latest Harry Potter game since Christmas and still can't get to the end or even, like me, work out whether there is in fact an end - then help is at hand!

If you just hark back to a noisier time when video games could be played, and lost, in a matter of minutes with explosions everywhere and a complete lack of sublety, then help is at hand!

The Mega Arcade Action II video game gives you all this and more. The package comes with a games console with video, two hand controllers, a 'gun' for shoot-em-ups and two games cartridges. Note - cartridges - not two games! The first contains an amazing 101 of your favourite 80's games, and the second an even more amazing 118 games - covering just every game I can remember and a good few I don't.

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Some of the games aren't very good, but then they weren't in the arcades, and maybe some of the not so good games were actually your favourites. In my case there are great versions of Defender and Scramble, flying space-ship games where you shoot and or rescue little aliens and make your way through various levels.

Pac-man is also there if you prefer the little munching monsters!

And of course a good few Space Invaders variants.

In case you think these games just aren't going to appeal to the latest generation of Harry Potter fans, I have two daughters, 8 and 10 years old. They love this machine, despite having a PS2 and a raft of games. One of them can't get enough of Donkey Kong.

Now, let's be honest, the quality of the hardware isn't up to Sony standards, but then neither is the price. Combined there are 219 games and endless hours of fun. What more can I say?

There are other ways of getting your 80's games fix - there are programmes that you can run on PCs such as MAME that provide full hardware emulation of the original arcade machines. I've tried these and they are good..... but for each one I've spent a considerable amount of time getting it to actually work. The thing I love about this machine is you plug it in and it's there - no boot time - it's just there, presenting you with a menu of games that instantly start.

Highly recommended, for those that lived through the 80's and those that did not!