What fun! I must digress before sharing my impressions of Power Stone Collection to tell you that I bought a Dreamcast literally the day before it was announced that the system was being discontinued. Was I upset, or what? Upset enough to throw giant fireballs? No, that was when I was playing Power Stone or Power Stone 2 back in the day. Looking back only six years to 2000 and calling it old school tells you gaming is a young industry. Looking at the graphics on these games tells you that the Dreamcast was a cool system. I loved my DC, for games like this and others that were full of nice graphics and cool gameplay. The depth of this game in terms of visual presentation is unbeatable. There are miles and miles of neat details. It's like a shooting gallery where you notice those little targets you never saw before every time you play.

Power Stone Collection is a dream for fans since both original games are contained along with some extras. The offering in the original game was nice, but the second game took things to new levels. In the second game, there were multiple levels in each stage and the levels you battle in are interactive to the nth degree. The characters have incredibly over-the-top actions during battle and there is incredibly over-the-top narration and play-by-play action. The supercharged attacks from each character are incredible, but the best for my money is Rouge. She is a cool character in a shifty little Arabian outfit and when she charges up, you can spring an attack on your opponent that takes them off to a secret room for a little... knuckle sandwich!! The image of Rouge pounding the living daylights out of an opponent is just too funny. There are lots of cool attacks and some similarly supercharged music in the game. Whether you love or hate Power Stone Collection, you can't deny the unique look of the game. Presentation may not be everything but it's at least half the battle.

Luckily, Power Stone Collection is more than a pretty face. The fighting action in these games is tremendous. Unlike typical brawlers that followed the Final Fight or Street Fighter model, Power Stone was arena combat at its finest. Full range of motion, 3D environments and multiplayer frenzy all the way, baby. The environments are almost totally destructible, with objects phasing in again after being destroyed to prolong the fun. Kicking and throwing tables, chairs and barrels is only part of the fun. You can also pick up weapons or objects to use against your opponent. In the first game, item collection was pretty straightforward, but the second game used items to a much greater extent. There are also more variations in the style of play for the second game. Boss battles even come in to add variety to the single-player vs. action.

In Power Stone, you can choose between single-player battles or a vs. battle against a live opponent. Each character has a back story and special ending if you can complete all rounds. There is a nice training mode that lets you tweak different options and customize your opposition for practice battles. Beating the game opens up options and lets you access secrets or extras. The collection includes an entire mode dedicated to all the specials you can open up, like movies and mini-games. The mini-games are excellent and very, very old-school. In Power Stone 2, you'll find the same characters from the first game plus some new special characters. The action is the same but even more frenzied with incredible battle arenas and special items. The options are more varied this time around, with a special mode that lets you battle against three opponents. These can either be controlled by the CPU or by live opponents. There are options galore for customizing the CPU difficulty and this extends beyond the vs. modes into the main game. The second game has more variety but doesn't mess with the successful formula.

Power Stone Collection has highly customizable difficulty, so the single-player experience can be as simple or hard as you wish. There are many tweaks you can make to the style of play that affect how hard it will be, including things like respawning items, special attacks and the number of Power Stones in each level. The mini-games are actually pretty challenging. Choosing a character has a big impact on your style of play. I mentioned Rouge, who is like a mosquito compared to big, lumbering Gunjock. Depending on how you like to play, you'll find one or two characters that suit you best. Because there are quite a few characters to open up as specials, anyone should be able to find a fighter that fits their style.

Control in both games is fairly intuitive. There aren't so many buttons to remember that this becomes a big exercise in pulling off 10-button combos. The combos are simple and usually tied to no more than two buttons pressed simultaneously. There are buttons assigned for kicking and hitting, grabbing opponents and using special moves. The neat thing about these Power Stone Collection games is that there are little features unrelated to specific controls. You can dodge attacks or catch items being thrown at you from across the arena. Powered-up characters are almost invincible, but there are team attacks you can use in the second game to throw a fighter out of the powered-up mode. Hitting characters that have collected a Power Stone will send the stone flying. Power Stone ended up feeling a bit like a variation on Capture the Flag where there were multiple flags and you could use them all in combination to kick a lot of butt. The interesting thing about the games is how quickly the tide can turn if you get on a roll and collect that final Power Stone. There is a case to be made for these games as dreamy for button-mashers but there are real tactics for beating opponents. Like any fighting game, once you learn the different strengths and weaknesses of each character, you are better prepared to face off against them.

Power Stone Collection is a great compilation that allows multiple players to experience the fun all over again, sans Dreamcast. You can even use game sharing to send a copy to your friends who don't have their own UMD. The magic of these games can be taken on the road and both look great on the PSP screen. Even though it wasn't that long ago that these came out, many other games from this era would look really pale today. Somehow Power Stone Collection still has a magical quality about it, with novel gameplay and a distinctive visual style. This one's a keeper.