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Namco Museum

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Namco Museum (ナムコミュージアム, Namuko Myūjiamu) refers to the series of video game compilations released by Namco for various consoles released in the 5th generation and above, containing releases of their games (mostly arcade games) from the 1980s and early 1990s. Namco started releasing compilations with the "Namco Museum" title in 1995 and continued for a decade and a half with the last release being in 2010 with the exception of re-releases of previous compilations.

The series began on the PlayStation with the tentatively named Namco Museum Volume 1, indicating Namco's intent to make further installments of the series. The series ran until Volume 5 on the PlayStation, covering various games from the late 1980s, before moving onto the Nintendo 64, all of the major sixth generation and seventh generation consoles, and Windows PC.

Namco Museum (PlayStation Series, 1995-1998, 2013-2014)

There are six different volumes available for the PlayStation, including one (Namco Museum Encore) that was released only in Japan. Each volume has five to seven games; all of these were ported from the original arcade version's source code — some of the games such as Galaga and Pac-Man allowed for an alternative screen mode to compensate for the lack of vertical monitor, whereby the scoreboard was located on the left of the screen, or rotated the image 90 degrees if the user possessed a vertical monitor or was willing to risk placing the television/monitor on its side.

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 this compilation by Namco's neGcon joypad.

Each package with the exception of Namco Museum Encore also had a "museum" mode where the player could walk through a virtual museum containing various curiosities surrounding the games including images of the mainboards, marketing material and conceptual artwork (all from the Japanese releases; none of the volumes contain any American materials). For this reason, the games themselves are based on the Japanese releases, although for the U.S. the games retain their U.S. changes (i.e., Pac-Man is still "Pac-Man", as opposed to "Puckman"; the ghosts still have their U.S. names, etc.).

Namco Museum Volume 1

Namco Museum Volume 1
Developer(s)Now Production
Publisher(s)Namco
Platform(s)PlayStation
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

This was the first in the series for the PlayStation and contains:

Namco Museum Volume 2

Namco Museum Volume 2
Developer(s)Tose Co., Ltd.
Publisher(s)Namco
SCEE
Platform(s)PlayStation
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

The second installment of the PlayStation series features:

  • Bomb Bee (1979) - a hidden game; only in the Japanese version
  • Cutie Q (1979) - although only playable in the Japanese version, its code can be found on the American release.
  • Super Pac-Man (1982) - not in the Japanese version
  • Xevious (1982)
  • Mappy (1983)
  • Gaplus (1984) - the Galaga sequel
  • Grobda (1984) - a Xevious "spinoff"
  • Dragon Buster (1985)

There is a glitch in this volume where in Dragon Buster the high score is not saved properly. It is shown in the record book, but does not appear in-game. The default hi-score is 10,000.

Namco Museum Volume 3

Namco Museum Volume 3
Developer(s)Now Production
Publisher(s)Namco
SCEE
Platform(s)PlayStation
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

The third PlayStation volume contains:

The majority of the included games were well-known worldwide but Phozon and The Tower of Druaga were relatively unknown. Two unique versions of The Tower of Druaga were also hidden in this volume: one called "Another Tower", and the other called "Darkness Tower". Both are harder than the original and require different methods to beat the game.

Namco Museum Volume 4

Namco Museum Volume 4
Developer(s)Namco
Publisher(s)Namco
SCEE
Platform(s)PlayStation
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

Volume 4 for the PlayStation features:

Namco Museum Volume 5

Namco Museum Volume 5
Developer(s)Tose
Publisher(s)Namco
SCEE
Platform(s)PlayStation
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

Volume 5 for the PlayStation features:

Namco Museum Encore

Namco Museum Encore
Developer(s)Namco
Publisher(s)Namco
Platform(s)PlayStation
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

It was released exclusively in Japan and it was the only Namco Museum compilation without a Pac-Man game other than the Japanese version of Namco Museum Volume 2. It features seven titles:

PlayStation Store

All six volumes were added to the Japanese PlayStation Store as PSOne Classics. Volumes 1 to 4 were released on December 11, 2013 while Volume 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 (1999-2010, 2014-2015)

Virtual museums are absent in all these games despite keeping the "Namco Museum" title. Instead, the compilations feature regular menus.

Namco Museum 64 (N64) & Namco Museum (DC, GBA, Wii U Virtual Console)

Namco Museum
Namco Museum 64
North American Nintendo 64 cover art
Developer(s)Mass Media
Publisher(s)Namco
Platform(s)Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Wii U Virtual Console (GBA version)
Release'Nintendo 64'Dreamcast'Game Boy Advance'Wii U Virtual Console
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player

Namco Museum 64 for Nintendo 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance share five games in common, while the Dreamcast version and Namco Museum 64 also include Pac-Man. Out of the six titles, half are from Namco Museum Volume 1 and the other half are from Namco Museum Volume 3:

Both Namco Museum 64 and the Dreamcast version of Namco Museum were only released in North America but the Game Boy Advance version of Namco Museum was released worldwide.

The Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Advance versions lack a saving feature built into the cartridge. For this reason, the Game Boy Advance version cannot save high scores and the Nintendo 64 version can only do so with a separate Controller Pak. In contrast, the Dreamcast version uses GD-ROM discs, so games for that system such as Namco Museum require a VMU for saving progress. The Dreamcast version also features an extra mini game titled Pac-It that can exclusively be played on the VMU; the gameplay of Pac-It is similar to Kaboom!. The Game Boy Advance also received a Pac-Man-themed compilation with a similar interface to the GBA version of Namco Museum called Pac-Man Collection. Both the GBA version of Namco Museum and Pac-Man Collection have also been released on the Wii U Virtual Console with an added ability to save high scores thanks to the Wii U Virtual Console's "Restore Point" feature.

IGN gave Namco Museum 64 a mediocre 5.5 out of 10 overall with little criticism about the presentation of the game saying "'Museum' is a code word for 'old' in this case. Nothing neat or extra about it besides the title song".[1]

Namco Museum (PS2, Xbox, GameCube)

Namco Museum
Developer(s)Mass Media Ltd.
Publisher(s)Namco Ltd.
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube
ReleaseDecember 4, 2001
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

The PlayStation 2 in 2001, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube in 2002 were host to yet another edition of the series.
The collection on these consoles include 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 made-for-console game (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 "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.

Namco Museum Battle Collection

Main article: Namco Museum Battle Collection

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 PS2 and 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 extra games: Dragon Spirit, Motos Arrangement and Pac-Man Arrangement Plus.

Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary

Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary
Developer(s)Digital Eclipse
Publisher(s)Namco
Platform(s)PlayStation 2
Xbox
GameCube
Windows PC
GBA (scaled down version)
ReleaseAugust 30, 2005
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player (Not on the scaled down GBA version)

This title refers to Namco's 50 years as a company that originally manufactured toys in 1955. It was the second "Namco Museum" compilation to be released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube (the scaled down version on Game Boy Advance was also the second "Namco Museum" compilation for the GBA). It was also released on Windows PC.

The versions on PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, and Windows PC include 16 games:

This is the first edition of Namco Museum with true arcade game emulation using the original game ROMs. Also, the Nintendo GameCube version allows the player to insert a limited number of credits, about 5 or 6, by repeatedly pressing the Z button when the game first starts, but then players can only exit to the main menu during game play. The PS2, Xbox, and PC versions allow the player to exit a game at any time, but skips 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.

This collection (except for the scaled down GBA version) includes five songs from the 1980s:[2]

The Windows PC version was negatively received because it contains StarForce protection and it does not run on Windows 7 or higher.

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.

The scaled down version on Game Boy Advance includes five games:

Like Namco Museum for the Game Boy Advance, this version does not save high scores.

Namco Museum DS

Main article: Namco Museum DS
Namco Museum DS
Developer(s)M2
Publisher(s)Namco Bandai Games
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

This edition of Namco Museum for the Nintendo DS was released in late 2007.
This DS game card has 10 games:

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.

Namco Museum Remix

Main article: Namco Museum Remix

This game was released on October 23, 2007 for Wii.
This compilation has the original arcade versions of:

It also had "Remix" versions of certain games:

When played on multiplayer, the Miis are used. Galaga Remix on this compilation is not the same as the Galaga Remix iOS application.

Namco Museum Virtual Arcade

Namco Museum Virtual Arcade
North American Xbox 360 cover art
Developer(s)Namco Bandai America
Publisher(s)Namco Bandai
Platform(s)Xbox 360
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

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 set 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 second set includes Museum games; these are the ones accessible directly from the disc. 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.

Xbox Live Arcade Games

Museum Games

Arrangement Games

  • Dig Dug Arrangement (2005)
  • Galaga Arrangement (2005)
  • Pac-Man Arrangement (2005)

The Arrangement games are placed in the same menu as the Museum games, and are the same as they were on the PSP's Namco Museum Battle Collection, although New Rally-X Arrangement is not included in this collection. 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.

Because of licencing issues, Pole Position II does not have either Japanese permanent circuit (Suzuka Circuit or Fuji Speedway).

Reception: The compilation received mixed reviews, the collection was praised for its inclusion of XBLA games, but is harshly criticized for its disappointing presentation and lack of bonus features.[citation needed]

The Tower of Druaga in this compilation has glitches not found on any other version of the game resulting in numerous negative reviews from Japanese consumers.[3]

Namco Museum Essentials

Namco Museum Essentials
Developer(s)Namco Bandai
Publisher(s)Namco Bandai
Platform(s)PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network)
Genre(s)Compilation
Mode(s)Single player, multi player

Namco Bandai released a downloadable Namco Museum on the Japanese PlayStation Store with the name Namco Museum.comm on January 29, 2009 - the ".comm" is thought to stand for communication. They then released the downloadable Namco Museum compilation in North America on July 16, 2009,[4] and in Europe and Australia on April 1, 2010, under the name Namco Museum Essentials.
It includes:

PlayStation Home included a virtual arcade space with sample versions of the games.
The PlayStation Store also has a free trial version that only includes the first at the few levels of:

Namco Museum Megamix

Main article: Namco Museum Remix

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.

Arcade Games

Remix Games

  • Grobda Remix (2010)
  • Pac-Motos (2007)
  • Pac 'n Roll Remix (2007)
  • Galaga Remix (2007) (completely different from the Galaga Remix iOS application)
  • Rally-X Remix (2007)
  • Gator Panic Remix (2007)

Other Namco compilations

Japan-only compilations

Reception

Aggregate review scores
As of June 29, 2013.
Game GameRankings Metacritic
Volume 1 74.33%[5] N/A
Volume 2 65.50%[6] N/A
Volume 3 66.20%[7] N/A
Volume 4 57.00%[8] N/A
Volume 5 55.00%[9] N/A
Namco Museum (64) (N64) 73.43%[10]
(DC) 56.63% [11]
(GBA) 72.08%[12] 		(GBA) 79[13]
Namco Museum (Xbox) 63.57%[14]
(GC) 69.29%[15]
(PS2) 72.95%[16] 		(Xbox) 59[17]
(GC) 62[18]
(PS2) 72[19]
Namco Museum Battle Collection 74.02%[20] 73[21]
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary (Xbox) 64.05%[22]
(GC) 63.43%[23]
(PS2) 59.85%[24]
(GBA) 60.19%[25]
(PC) 48.00%[26] 		(Xbox) 62[27]
(GC) 60[28]
(PS2) 61[29]
(GBA) 60[30]
(PC) 52[31]
Namco Museum DS 68.61%[32] 67[33]
Namco Museum Remix 55.05%[34] 49[35]
Namco Museum Virtual Arcade 68.94%[36] 63[37]
Namco Museum Essentials 66.25%[38] 64[39]
Namco Museum Megamix 60.33%[40] 53[41]

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."[42] 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?"[43]

See also

References

  1. ^ IGN Reviews Namco Museum 64 (N64)
  2. ^ Caie, Martin (2005-06-30). "Classic soundtrack to accompany 50th anniversary games compilation". Gameplanet. Retrieved 2014-12-12.
  3. ^ [1] Namco Museum Virtual Arcade on Amazon Japan
  4. ^ "IGN: Namco Museum Essentials Preview". IGN.
  5. ^ "Namco Museum Vol. 1 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  6. ^ "Namco Museum Vol. 2 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  7. ^ "Namco Museum Vol. 3 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  8. ^ "Namco Museum Vol. 4 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  9. ^ "Namco Museum Vol. 5 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  10. ^ "Namco Museum 64 Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  11. ^ "Namco Museum Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  12. ^ "Namco Museum Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  13. ^ "Namco Museum". Metacritic. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  14. ^ "Namco Museum Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  15. ^ "Namco Museum Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  16. ^ "Namco Museum Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  17. ^ "Namco Museum". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  18. ^ "Namco Museum". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  19. ^ "Namco Museum". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  20. ^ "Namco Museum Battle Collection Reviews". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  21. ^ "Namco Museum Battle Collection". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  22. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  23. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  24. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  25. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  26. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". GameRankings. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  27. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  28. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  29. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  30. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  31. ^ "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary". Metacritic. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  32. ^ "Namco Museum DS". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  33. ^ "Namco Museum DS". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  34. ^ "Namco Museum Remix". GameRankings. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  35. ^ "Namco Museum Remix". Metacritic. Retrieved June 28, 2013.
  36. ^ "Namco Museum Virtual Arcade". GameRankings. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  37. ^ "Namco Museum Virtual Arcade". Metacritic. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  38. ^ "Namco Museum Essentials". GameRankings. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  39. ^ "Namco Museum Essentials". Metacritic. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  40. ^ "Namco Museum Megamix". GameRankings. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  41. ^ "Namco Museum Megamix". Metacritic. Retrieved June 29, 2013.
  42. ^ "Review Crew: Namco Arcade Classics". Electronic Gaming Monthly (82). Ziff Davis: 34. May 1996.
  43. ^ "Maximum Reviews: Namco Museum Volume 1". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (5). Emap International Limited: 157. April 1996.
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