The ongoing partnership between publisher ININ and legendary arcade developer Taito has been amazingly productive over the last few years. With ININ's help, Taito has opened its vault of classic — and not-so-classic — coin-op titles to a new generation that skipped earlier Taito anthologies from the PS2 days and/or missed the arcade scene entirely. The latest foray into the developer's past is Taito Milestones 2, a sequel to last year's middling collection of early arcade experiences. So, how does this follow-up compare against its predecessor, and to video game compilations in general?

Based on its line-up of games, Taito Milestones 2 tops the original. While Taito Milestones can claim an assortment of games more mechanically and thematically diverse, this latest anthology undoubtedly has a more playable — and replayable — roster. The top five titles, all of which hail from either the platformer or shoot-'em-up genre, are particularly good. That includes NewZealand Story (1988), a colorful, ridiculously cute action-platform game with easy controls and an interesting focus on air travel; the heroic Tiki can move vertically and horizontally on balloons and even UFOs. While the game suffers at times from its maze-like levels and constantly-spawning enemies, it represents a fun, challenging time.

Even better, arguably, is Liquid Kids (1990). Also known as Mizubaku Adventure, it follows the young hippo hero Hippopo as he water bombs his way to save his girlfriend and other friends. Due to its adorable characters, bright graphics, constant action, and missing-girlfriend storyline, it feels almost like a spiritual successor to NewZealand Story.

The other highlight from Taito Milestones 2 is a threesome of shooters from 1989-1991. Included among them is Gun Frontier (1990), a vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-up with a wild west motif and an intriguing bombing mechanic whereby players can not only upgrade the bomb's power level, but also redirect its blast left, right, or backward. Shinobu Yagawa, who programmed one of the most beloved shmups of all time, Battle Garegga, took inspiration from Gun Frontier — which says a lot. The collection also hosts Metal Black (1991), a horizontally-scrolling shooter with extraordinary graphical effects, atmosphere, and music. 

Perhaps the best shooter of the bunch is Darius II, due in part to its inherent greatness and in part due to its rarity. Yes, Darius II has been ported before, most recently (and most excellently) by M2 in Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade, but never before has the three-screen variant of the game left arcades. It's presented here in all its ultra-wide, cinematic glory, for the first time on home consoles.

While games like Darius II, Metal Black, and Liquid Kids elevate Taito Milestones 2 above its precursor, it suffers from a couple of duds — at least one of which is inferior to anything in Taito Milestones. That ignominious title is Dinorex (1992), a bonkers 1v1 fighting game set in a prehistoric world where humans and dinosaurs coexist. It's a clumsy, frustrating fighter that is engaging only in its novelty. Another 1v1 fighter, Solitary Fighter (1991), fares slightly better, thanks to arena stages where combatants can move in eight directions. It's still far more Street Fighter than Street Fighter II, though. 

Somewhere in between the hits and the duds are several middling to decent titles. First up is The Legend of Kage (1985), probably known better by its NES port. There's an incredible filmic quality to the game, which is great, but its moment-to-moment action feels random and out-of-control. Next is Ben Bero Beh (1984), a wacky action game where you control a superhero who fights fires. It's not half-bad. Finally, there's Kiki Kaikai (1986), part run-and-gun, part shoot-'em-up. A forerunner to Pocky & Rocky, it's a fairly entertaining adventure through the world of Japanese folklore. It's just too bad it doesn't deploy twin-stick controls.

Although the games available in Taito Milestones 2 are generally better than those in the first anthology, the presentation is the same: bare-bones. Essentially, the package is a compilation of 10 Arcade Archives versions of the original arcade games — no more, no less. In some ways, this is good news. The base Archives framework, developed by Hamster, offers many customization options and quality-of-life upgrades, including save data, configurable controls, display and scan line settings, game manuals, and online leaderboards. In other ways, especially when it comes to the dearth of bonus features, it's disappointing. The collection doesn't feel like an organized, curated celebration of Taito classics, but rather a collage of existing (and perhaps forthcoming) Hamster ports. Note that seven of the ten games are already available on Switch; only Darius II, Dinorex, and Solitary Fighter are new.

Compared to the first Taito Milestones, this second anthology scores higher marks, due to a better library of games. Taito Milestones 2 boasts several solid second-tier Taito shooters, along with two cute platformers worth your time and attention. However, due to a couple of duds and a handful of middle-of-the-road titles, in addition to missing special features and bonus content, it compares unfavorably to the better video game compilations on the market. If you love arcade shoot-'em-ups and platformers, or if you're a Darius super fan, think about investing in Taito Milestones 2. Otherwise, you might consider picking up a few individual titles à la carte from the eShop.