The Namco Museum name was originally used for a chain of retail stores in the 1980s, which sold merchandise based on Namco video games and characters.[1] The compilations include video games developed by Namco for both arcade hardware and home game systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Some iterations use software emulation for the games, while others instead reprogram them from scratch. The collections typically include interchangeable game settings, online leaderboards or unlockable extras, such as games or promotional material. The original PlayStation series, with the exception of Namco Museum Encore, instead placed the player in a virtual museum that housed the individual games.
The Namco Museum series has been met with a mixed to positive critical response, some praising the emulation quality and unlockable extras while others criticizing the overall presentation and lack of updated features to the included titles. The franchise has sold a total of more than 14 million copies worldwide.
Games
Namco Museum Vol. 1—Encore (1995–1998)
Six Namco Museum volumes were released for the PlayStation from 1995 to 1998, including one (Namco Museum Encore) that was released only in Japan. When Namco unveiled Volume 5 at the November 1996 PlayStation Expo, it was announced that it would be the final volume in the series,[2] hence the sixth volume's title, "Encore". The first five volumes pose a 3D virtual museum that players are able to walk around in, with each game being stored in an "exhibit" room. In these museums, players can view conceptual artwork, marketing material, arcade system boards, and other material relating to the included games. Encore replaces the museum with a standard menu system. The means by which Namco recreated the games for the PlayStation hardware is unclear; the arcade game conversions contain pieces of the original game data but none of the original source code, suggesting they are object-level recreations.[3]
The control systems of each of the games were well-preserved. However, since the PlayStation's analog controller was not available at the time, analog control for Pole Position and Pole Position II is only supported in these compilations by Namco's neGcon joypad.
In Japan, Vol. 2 had a special edition box set that included replica promotional cards and the Namco Volume Controller.[citation needed] A limited edition of Namco Museum Encore was bundled with a case designed to hold the six volumes in the series plus a memory card.[4] All six volumes were added to the Japanese PlayStation Store as PSOne Classics. Volumes 1 to 4 were released on December 11, 2013 while Vol. 5 and Encore were released on December 18, 2013. The five numbered installments were added to the North American PlayStation Store on September 30, 2014.
Namco Museum 64 for Nintendo 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance are the first compilations in the series to omit a virtual museum. The GBA version was released worldwide and was a launch title for the system in North America,[8] while other versions were exclusive to North America. The following games, originally featured in Namco Museum Vol. 1 and Namco Museum Vol. 3 for the PlayStation, are included:
The GBA version does not retain high scores when powered off, which is also the case with its counterpart game, Pac-Man Collection. On the Wii UVirtual Console, however, the Restore Point feature saves scores for both games. The N64 version requires a Controller Pak with eight free pages and one free slot to save high scores and settings. The Dreamcast version requires a VMU with eight free blocks for saving progress, while also offering a mini-game that's exclusive to the VMU titled Pac-It, with gameplay similar to Kaboom!.
In the United States, Namco Museum for the Game Boy Advance sold 2.4 million copies and earned $37 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the third-highest-selling game for handheld game consoles in that country.[9]
It was also the first time an entry had been released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. It was first released in 2001 on PlayStation 2, followed by GameCube and Xbox in 2002.
The compilation on these consoles includes all the games from Namco Museum 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast plus:
This edition of Namco Museum is the first collection in the series to include a game that originated on home consoles (Pac-Attack, originally released on the Genesis and the Super NES and also previously included in the Japanese-only Namco Anthology Vol. 2, and Pac-Man Collection). The version of Pac-Attack seen here also resembles the Genesis version, as opposed to the SNES version. This is distinguished by the music, which sounds like the Genesis version of the game.
The "Arrangement" games in the collection were originally on the arcade's Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. The pitch of the music in Pac-Man Arrangement and Dig Dug Arrangement has been changed slightly from the original: it is higher-pitched than in the arcade versions. This compilation was released only in North America on all three of the consoles on which it was released.
This title was released on the PlayStation Portable in 2005. It contains over twenty of Namco's games such as Pac-Man (1980) and Galaga (1981). In addition, new "Arrangement" variants are available for Pac-Man, Galaga, New Rally-X (1981) and Dig Dug (1982), which have updated gameplay, graphics and can be played in a versus or co-operative mode using the PSP's ad hoc feature. Game Sharing, a feature that had not yet been used on the PSP, was introduced in this game. This allowed others PSPs in the area to download the first few levels of some of the games.
The "Arrangement" games in this compilation are not the same as they were on the arcade's Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. They are entirely new games that were designed to take advantage of the PSP's hardware and features.
The Japanese version is divided into two volumes, with the second containing three additional games: Dragon Spirit, Motos Arrangement and Pac-Man Arrangement Plus.
A special edition that marks Namco's founding as a toy manufacturing company in 1955. It was the second Namco Museum compilation to be released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameCube. The Game Boy Advance version was also the second Namco Museum compilation for the GBA. It was also released on Microsoft Windows. In Japan, this was released under the title Namco Museum Arcade Hits! for PlayStation 2 only, with Pac-Mania and Galaga '88 unlocked right from the start and different menu music.
This compilation includes 16 games, except for the Game Boy Advance, which only includes five games:
† indicates the five games included in the Game Boy Advance version. This version is similar to the original Namco Museum for that console, which also includes five games and no score-saving capability. 50th Anniversary replaces Galaxian and Pole Position with Pac-Man and Rally-X.
This is the first edition of Namco Museum with actual arcade game emulation using the original game ROM images (although voice sounds in "Rolling Thunder", sounds for both "Pole Position" games and "Xevious" are stored in .wav files). Also, the GameCube version allows the player to insert a limited number of credits, about five or six, by repeatedly pressing the Z button when the game first starts, but then players can only exit to the main menu during gameplay. The PS2, Xbox, and PC versions allow the player to exit a game at any time, but skip being able to add credits. For Dragon Spirit, Pac-Mania and Galaga '88, the continue features from the original arcade versions have only been retained in the Windows PC version of the collection. It is also the last edition of Namco Museum to be released by Namco as an independent company, before merging with Bandai later in 2005.
Super Xevious and the old version of Dig Dug II are hidden games that must be found by browsing the menus for Xevious and Dig Dug II, respectively.
This game also allows access to each game's DIP switches, but some arcade-exclusive options are left out such as the "Rack-Test" on Pac-Man. It was re-released as part of a "Dual Pack" bundle with the DS version of Pac-Man World 3 in North America on October 30, 2012.
This collection was released for the Xbox 360 on November 4, 2008, in North America, May 15, 2009, in Europe, June 3, 2009, in Australia and November 5, 2009, in Japan. Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is made up of two sets of games. The first is Xbox Live Arcade, which includes nine Xbox Live Arcade games. These are identical to the digital Xbox Live Arcade versions but are present on the game-disc. These games can be selected from the compilation's menu or, only while the game disc is in the console, accessed directly from the Xbox Live Arcade menu. The next set is Museum, which also includes Museum games, although these are the ones accessible directly from the disc. However, they do not come with achievements or online play. Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is the first Namco Museum game to include Sky Kid Deluxe (1986), while all of the rest were already or previously available on consoles. In common with other disc releases that include full Xbox Live Arcade games on-disc (like Xbox Live Arcade Unplugged for example), installation of the game disc to the Xbox 360 HDD is disallowed.
The Arrangement games are the same as they were on Namco Museum Battle Collection for PSP, although New Rally-X Arrangement is not included in this compilation. Additionally, on all games, the original 2-player modes from the original arcade versions (where applicable) do not appear here; all games are one-player only. The Xbox Live Arcade games do not have multiplayer either with the exception of Mr. Driller Online's online mode. The Xbox Live Arcade games can only be played when the disc is inside the system. The games must be downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace for their regular prices in order for the games to be retained in the system's game library.
PlayStation Home included a virtual arcade space with sample versions of the games. The PlayStation Store also had a free trial version that only includes the first at the few levels of:
An updated version of Namco Museum Remix for the Wii, which was released on November 16, 2010 in North America only. It adds additional arcade games and an additional "Remix" game. It adds a level select feature to all of the arcade games except Cutie Q.
Simply titled Namco Museum, it was developed for the Nintendo Switch and released on July 28, 2017 on the Nintendo eShop. Much like Namco Museum DS, the game includes a remake of Pac-Man Vs.. It contains the following games:
Namco Museum Mini Player is a dedicatedhandheld console shaped like a miniature arcade cabinet developed by My Arcade that includes 20 Namco games and was released by Bandai Namco Entertainment on June 24, 2019.[15] While it includes some games that originated on home consoles, the games included that did originate in arcades are based on their original arcade versions. The games included are:
In August 1996, Namco claimed accumulated sales of 600,000 units for the Namco Museum series in Japan alone.[40] In the United States, The NPD Group in 2010 listed Namco Museum among the all-time top ten best-selling video games in the United States.[41] The franchise has sold a total of at least 14.087 million copies worldwide.[n 1]
The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Volume 1 an 8.125 out of 10, citing the excellent quality of the emulation and the interesting virtual museum content. Mark Lefebvre summarized that "Namco has given gamers what they've always been asking for: old titles."[50]Next Generation likewise complimented the emulation quality and the virtual museum, and concluded that for those interested in retro compilations, "this is as good as this sort of thing gets." They scored it four out of five stars.[51]Maximum gave it three out of five stars, reasoning that "On the one hand, this is a collection of six indisputably classic games, three of which rank among the most influential titles in the history of videogames. On the other hand, all the games on the disk are over ten years old, and influential or not, they're definitely well past their sell by date. Pole Position may have revolutionised the racing genre in 1982, but would you really choose to play it over Ridge Racer Revolution in 1996?"[52] While GamePro found that all of the games save ToyPop remained great fun, the reviewer criticized the absence of the voice samples from Pole Position and compared the 3D museum unfavorably to the bonus content in Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits. He concluded the compilation to be worth renting at the least, and a must-have for retro gaming fans.[53]
Reviews for Volume 2 were also mixed to positive, though most critics found the selection of games weaker than that of Volume 1. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Volume 2 a 7.125 out of 10, with all four remarking that the compilation had two or three genuine classics, with the remaining three or four games being mediocre and overly obscure. However, they disagreed on which games fell into which group; for example, Dan Hsu said that "Super Pac-Man stinks", while Crispin Boyer called it "the best reason to buy NM2" and "the height of the yellow pellet-eater's evolution."[54]Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot similarly commented, "While Mappy, Xevious, Gaplus, and Super Pac-Man are infinitely playable, the lesser-known Grobda and Dragon Buster are mediocre at best." He gave the compilation a 7.1 out of 10, praising the charm of the antiquated graphics and sound effects and the still potent gameplay.[55]Next Generation picked Grobda, Dragon Buster, and Mappy as the mediocre games in the compilation, reasoning that "all are examples of game genres that have evolved way beyond these originals, and with good reason." They scored it two out of five stars.[56] In direct contradiction to GameSpot and Next Generation, GamePro said that of the six games, "Super Pac-Man's weak control makes it the biggest disappointment, while Dragon Buster's action/adventure swordplay and Grobda's rapid-fire tank shooting hold up the best." They recommended the compilation for "those who enjoy simple, classic gameplay".[57]
Volume 3 continued the trend of increasingly mixed reviews for the series. Jeff Gerstmann and Next Generation both commented that Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaxian are genuine classics, Pole Position II is good but suffers from the absence of the voice clips from the arcade version, The Tower of Druaga has aged poorly, and Phozon was a terrible game to begin with. However, while Gerstmann concluded the collection to be "a real letdown" after the first two volumes and advised gamers to skip it, giving it a 5.6 out of 10,[58]Next Generation concluded that "the number of true classics on Volume 3 outweigh the ones that never should have been unearthed", and gave it three out of five stars.[59]GamePro approved of both the entire set of games and the quality of the emulation, and deemed Volume 3 "must-have arcade fun".[60] Though Electronic Gaming Monthly never reviewed Volume 3, they named it a runner-up for "Best Compilation" (behind Street Fighter Collection) at their 1997 Editors' Choice Awards.[61]
Volume 4 saw a particularly steep decline in the series' critical standing, with most critics agreeing that of the five games included, only Ordyne and Assault were at all worthwhile.[62][63] Gerstmann gave it a 4.5 out of 10, and said the collection "is just plain depressing. It contains five games, and most of them are little known games that were little known for a reason."[62]Electronic Gaming Monthly's review team gave it a 5.75 out of 10. The team was evenly split: Shawn Smith and Crispin Boyer, each voting a 6.5 out of 10, found the interesting museum content and the two or three enjoyable games make the collection worthwhile, while Dan Hsu and Sushi-X both gave it a 5.0 and said it was a disappointment compared to the earlier volumes.[63] Both Gerstmann and GamePro commented that the first three volumes of Namco Museum had exhausted the series concept and Namco's backlog of genuine classics, and that Namco should have let the series end with volume 3.[62][64]
Namco Limited was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiung, and Shanghai Namco in mainland China.
Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them.
Galaga is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to Galaxian (1979), Namco's first major video game hit in arcades. Controlling a starship, the player is tasked with destroying the Galaga forces in each stage while avoiding enemies and projectiles. Some enemies can capture a player's ship via a tractor beam, which can be rescued to transform the player into a "dual fighter" with additional firepower.
Dig Dug is a maze arcade video game released by Namco in 1982. It was distributed in North America by Atari, Inc. The player digs underground tunnels to attack enemies in each level, by either inflating them to bursting or crushing them underneath rocks.
In video game parlance, a multicart is a cartridge that contains more than one game. Typically, the separate games are available individually for purchase or were previously available individually. For this reason, collections, anthologies, and compilations are considered multicarts. The desirability of the multicart to consumers is that it provides better value, greater convenience, and more portability than the separate games would provide. The advantage to developers is that it allows two or more smaller games to be sold together for the price of one larger game, and provides an opportunity to repackage and sell older games one more time, often with little or no changes.
The Tower of Druaga is a 1984 arcade action role-playing maze game developed and published in Japan by Namco. Controlling the golden-armored knight Gilgamesh, the player is tasked with scaling 60 floors of the titular tower in an effort to rescue the maiden Ki from Druaga, a demon with eight arms and four legs, who plans to use an artifact known as the Blue Crystal Rod to enslave all of mankind. It ran on the Namco Super Pac-Man arcade hardware, modified with a horizontal-scrolling video system used in Mappy.
Galaga '88 is a 1987 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published in Japan by Namco and in North America and Europe by Atari Games. It is the third sequel to Galaxian. It features significantly improved graphics over the previous games in the series, including detailed backgrounds, larger enemies and greater ship details. The game runs on Namco System 1 hardware.
Namco Museum Battle Collection is a 2005 video game compilation developed by Tose and published by Namco for the PlayStation Portable; the first Namco Museum since the PS1 series to be developed in Japan. It includes 21 games - four of these are brand-new "arrangement" remakes of older Namco games, while the rest are emulated ports of Namco arcade games from the 1970s and 1980s. These ports include an options menu that allows the player to modify the in-game settings, such as the screen orientation and number of lives. Players can send one-level demos to a friend's console via the "Game Sharing" option in the main menu.
Motos is an action arcade game released by Namco in 1985. It runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware but with a video system like that used in Mappy, The Tower of Druaga, Grobda and Dig Dug II.
Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 is a 1995 arcade game compilation developed and published by Namco. It includes three of the company's most well-known games from the early 1980s — Galaga (1981), Xevious (1983), and Mappy (1983) — alongside brand-new "Arrangement" remakes of these games that have updated gameplay, visuals, and sounds. The arcade originals are also modified slightly to end after a certain number of rounds. Super Xevious (1984) is also playable. It ran on the Namco ND-1 arcade system, being one of the first games to utilize it.
Namco Classic Collection may refer to:
Namco Museum Remix is a 2007 video game compilation developed and published for the Wii by Namco Bandai Games. The compilation includes nine Namco arcade games and five "remix" games made specifically for this compilation. A remake, Namco Museum Megamix, was released exclusively in North America on November 26, 2010; the game features nine other arcade games alongside the titles from the original, as well as an additional remix game based on Grobda.
Namco Museum DS is a 2007 video game compilation developed by M2 and published by Namco Bandai Games. The game features 7 arcade games previously published by Namco along with a Nintendo DS version of the Nintendo-developed title Pac-Man Vs.
Galaga Legions is a 2008 twin-stick shooter video game developed and released by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. It is the twelfth game in the Galaxian series, and the third developed for home platforms. The player controls a starship, the AEf-7 "Blowneedle", in its efforts to wipe out the Galaga armada. The objective of the game is to clear each of the five stages as quick as possible. Stages have a heavy emphasis on puzzle solving and chain reactions, which are necessary to clear out enemy formations. The Blowneedle has a pair of satellites at its disposal, and can place them anywhere on the screen to fend off enemies.
Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is a video game compilation developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. It was released in North America in 2008 and in Europe and Japan in 2009. Part of its Namco Museum series, Virtual Arcade includes 34 titles; nine of these are Namco Bandai-published Xbox Live Arcade games, and the rest are arcade games that are only accessible through the disc. Players can access the Xbox Live Arcade games through their dashboard if the disc is in the console.
Pac-Man Museum is a 2014 compilation title developed by Mine Loader Software and published by Bandai Namco Games under the Namco label. It is a compilation of 9 Pac-Man games, with additional features such as achievements and online leaderboards.
The Arcade Game Series is a line of downloadable Namco arcade games by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. They were all released on April 20, 2016.
Namco Museum is a 2001 video game compilation developed by Mass Media and published by Namco for the Game Boy Advance. It contains ports of five of their classic arcade games, Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position, Dig Dug, Galaga, and Galaxian.
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