by Branden Barrett

Created on: September 27, 2007

GameTap is something of a marvel. For years, several players would watch as their favorite games fade into obscurity, with nothing they could do about it. Try as they like, most of the systems that house these games would eventually break, ending any chance they had of playing their classics. It wasn't until the arrival of the XBox Live Arcade that players had the chance to purchase and download earlier titles. Since then, Sony and Nintendo have provided services of their own. Taking a nod from them, GameTap, owned by Turner Broadcasting System, decided to provide a service to old-school gamers by offering a service in which to download some of their favorite forgotten games, spanning systems from the Atari 2600 to the Dreamcast. However, is the company at the point where it is worth looking into?

Look ahead to find out.

Now, of course GameTap doesn't have modern hits like Halo 3 or Bioshock for purchase, but there is more than enough here to play around with. For a fee of $9.95 a month, you have hundreds of classic titles at your disposal, from 1942 and Deus Ex to Toy Commander and Grandia II. Role playing, action, sports, puzzle, FPS, no matter what you are into; GameTap should have what you are looking for. Of course, there are some limitations though. If you do not have a monthly subscription, you will only have a few dozen free games to play around with, which mostly consist of low budget arcade titles. Also, if you are looking for any games from the Sony or Nintendo platform, forget it. There is always the Virtual Console or Sony Store for those though.

Nevertheless, it was quite the nostalgia trip to go back and play through some of my favorite titles from the 80s and 90s. Mega Man X3, Sonic Mega Collection Plus, Tomb Raider III, Crazy Taxi, Deus Ex, EverQuest, and several more of my early non-Nintendo favorites were all there for the taking. It doesn't just end with games though; GameTap also has several music and television options as well. Examples being Sealab 2021 and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, with the latter still receiving new episodes exclusive to GameTap. Every Thursday the GameTap crew updates their roster of games and episodes, with well over 1400 total media options available as of today.

I suppose the only negative that the site has going for it is the fact that several of the titles offered on it can be purchased for pocket change at used game shops. Especially titles for the Dreamcast, Genesis, and 8 bit systems. Also, a broadband connection is required in order to play the games you download, so if you happen to still be on dial up - forget about it. Requirements are needed to play games from GameTap, but they are pretty minimal. Pentium 4, Windows 2000 or better, and US/Canadian Residence are really the only guidelines you have to worry about, but odds are 9 out of every 10 people meet all three of these requirements.

All in all, GameTap is a service for those who want to acquire classics from primarily the Arcade and Sega platform. The purchase of games or movies from GameTap is 100% legal, so if you always skipped out on the illegal Emulator route then good for you. They may not have every single title you are looking for, primarily because they have only been around for a couple of years. However, if you are a fan of arcade classics, role-playing games, or fighting games, GameTap is the company to go with. So grab a broadband connection and ten dollars, and be apart of a service that is reliable and well worth the investment. It's only too bad that something this convenient didn't come around until this decade.

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