Namco Museum

• Release Date: July 25, 2000
• Genre: Compilation
• Style: Multi-Genre Compilation
• Similar Games: Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits: Vol. 1 (Dreamcast), Atari Anniversary Edition (Dreamcast), Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits: Vol. 2 (Dreamcast)

Game Description

Namco's second game for the Dreamcast is a classic compilation in the same vein as the Namco Museum series released on the PlayStation. Six different coin-op games of the 1980s are featured in this ode to oldies, including Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Pole Position and Dig Dug.

All featured games retain the same look as they did during their run in the arcades, so players should not expect 3D graphics, different modes of play, or revamped sound effects. Yet there are a number of custom "tweaks" players can perform as if they were owners of the original machines; each game offers dip switches that can alter the number of starting lives, change time limits, and increase or decrease bonuses used to receive extra lives.

For those who have never experienced the games in their original forms, the styles of play can be broken down into three areas: racing, maze action, and shooting. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, two of the biggest successes in the history of the coin-op industry, both star pie-shaped characters doomed to eat everything in their path.

Fortunately for them, there are plenty of things to eat in mazes filled with dots, bouncing fruit and Power Pellets. Only one thing is standing in their way (actually four): ghosts that chase them throughout each maze. Eat all of the dots within a maze and play will resume on a faster board with a different layout!

Galaga and Galaxian are derivatives of Taito's Space Invaders in that the object is to move a ship from side to side as you shoot aliens that fly into rows at the top of the screen. Only there's one small catch: these aliens will periodically dive at your blaster in an attempt to ruin your chances at success. The object is to keep shooting until all of the creatures are eliminated from the screen or you lose all of your blasters.

Rounding out this anthology are Pole Position and Dig Dug. Pole Position involves first completing one lap to qualify for a race before competing against computer-controlled drivers in a series of four laps. Keep up the pace and cross the finish line before time runs out or the game is over! Dig Dug is a maze game variant that involves digging below a garden's surface instead of following a fixed route. Various creatures are lurking beneath the ground, and Dig Dug must use his retractable pump to inflate and then "pop" his enemies.

Namco Museum supports the VMU accessory to save high scores for each game as well as custom settings. Namco Museum also includes a VMU mini game called PACit for some retro action on the go. Players will be able to adjust the sound effects and music volume, choose from three screen sizes, and toggle the original start-up sequences for each of the six games. Having a little trouble figuring out how to play a certain game? Each coin-op also offers some hints to boost your scores and keep you racing, chomping, pumping and blasting for as long as possible!

Review: Overall

When it comes time to long for yesteryear, a gamer's interests will most likely turn towards the '80s when Atari ruled the home and the arcades. Of course, they weren't the only company hard at work back then. Not with companies like Namco cranking out megahits like Pac-Man.

Namco Museum helps those of us who don't think the PlayStation is the beginning of gaming to recapture that little bit of nostalgia gained through playing these games at the local pizza parlor, the roller rink and other places that really don't have quite the same sway now that they did back then. This particular collection is especially nice on the Dreamcast thanks to Namco bundling some of their most high profile titles into one set. It's stuff we've all invariably seen before, but since it's smartly assembled with solid classics like Dig Dug, both major versions of the Pac-Man games, and longtime quarter suckers like Galaga, this collection is saved from being an also ran.

As you'd expect, the Dreamcast is more than up to the task of reproducing these coin-op classics perfectly. You get every tune, every control quirk and every level from the full arcade versions right down to the dip switch settings. The default Dreamcast controller works well with the games, and in the case of Pole Position, the defacto analog control options allow for a smooth and authentic experience. If you have a VGA box, you'll even be able to play using the crisp resolution of a computer monitor.

The presentation is nice albeit spartan. Each game is selectable from a simple main menu that is reasonably easy to navigate around once you realize it's there. On the other hand, exiting games and returning to the main menu isn't quite as intuitive as starting up the games.

If you're into games of the past, and you're obsessed with high scores in games that otherwise go on forever, this is one of the better collections available. Give it a look, you fossils you!

Review: Enjoyment

These games are all classics. They're simple to pick up and play at any time, and they have a dangerously addictive quality to them as well.

Review: Graphics

Hard rating to apply to games that haven't been high tech for 15-20 years as of this writing, but they are faithfully reproduced. The menu is not the most exciting way to move between each game however.

Review: Sound

Each game has its full score of sound effects and whatever music the programmers managed to cram in back then. Nice title theme too.

Review: Replay Value

Just one more game...

Review: Documentation

Tells you how to play the games and use the menus that let you tweak each game.

Production Credits

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