Awesome artwork by Bob Wakelin for some of the home ports of the game.
The New Zealand Story is a 2D scrolling platformer. You are Tiki, a Kiwi chick out to save his girlfriend Phee Phee and others from a Leopard Seal. You shoot arrows at other creatures that drop fruits and items like bombs or a laser gun that you can then use. Sometimes you can pick up flying vehicles from an enemy that lets you fly around the level.
This game was cute and colorful and challenging to play. Not unfairly though. You’re ability to get a vehicle to fly around was a pretty neat feature. I was a mean mother Kiwi flying around blasting crabs with a laser gun giving a break to my bad ass sneakers.
Just the basic first level that I played.
This speed run shows some crazy ass warp points you can reveal, sending you to later levels.
A remake called New Zealand Story Revolution is out on DS. That went on my wishlist right away.
I've always thought that i wanted "BAD MOTHER FUCKER" stitched into my wallet because of Pulp Fiction, but now I know I should go with "BAD MOTHER KIWI" instead.
I was thinking of a Bubble Bobble tattoo of tiny dragons Bub and Bob blowing bubbles but now I'm thinking of the New Zealand Story Kiwi, Tiki, flying a UFO and blasting a bat out of the air with a laser gun.
Don't let that cute exterior fool you! New Zealand Story is a tough as nails game! Kind of violent, too! If your character gets hit by a projectile, like an arrow or a throwing axe, the weapon will just stick in his head as he does his 'wah-wah, wah-wah' death dance!
When I first got Taito Legends, my brother Jeff was determined to beat it. With limitless continues, he thought he could. But the game had other plans. He found a secret door that took him to a special cloud level, and once he reached the top, he saw a cutscene of the Kiwi bird being held by some kind of goddess, and she said, "Kiwi, you made it to Heaven. You can rest now." And then he got the Game Over screen! I never even knew about that! It really happened!
The New Zealand Story Revolution game on DS is pretty much the same game as in the arcade, just with some added control options like being able to aim your arrows. The DS Taito game you really should look into getting is Arkanoid DS. And maybe Space Invaders Extreme.
I read about the Heaven area. If you beat it you get to go back to the main game.
That speed run really shows all the crazy complexity of the game. There are warp points that are completely invisible. How you would know to bomb and area to reveal one is beyond me.
I got Arkanoid DS on my wishlist.
I hadn't played this game at all. 
Niether had I. There's a lot of strange stuff out there.
A Kiki Chick with sneakers, playing in what looks like a Mega Man like world? I would play this. You're really selling me on Taito Legends
I surprised myself at liking so many games on this collection. I think the last time I played it I didn't try every game like I did this time. I went through each game and gave it a fair shot. I only quit if I got really frustrated or bored with it. I guess I have to partially thank backloggery for this since I really wanted to make sure I tried everything before removing them from my list.
Another fun-looking game I hadn't heard of before.
It was kind of weird that I played this when I did because I was also reading a book that talked about New Zealand at the same time: The Monkey's Voyage by Alan de Queiroz.
Looks very fun. I think this will convince me to get Taito legends then. Yours is the Xbox version right?
Yea, I have the first one on Xbox and the second one on PS2. I actually went to my local retro store looking for the Xbox version of TL2 because I like having all my collections on Xbox, but no luck.
this was a game? I never knew this game ever exisited.
Neither did I, and it was weird that I played it when I did, because I was reading a book that talked about New Zealand alot.