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Namco Museum
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Graphics & Sound:
As an older gamer, I have to admit that I still can't quite get past the Arcade Golden Age that was my youth in the 80's. Soon, I'm sure people will view the 80's in about the same vein that the 70's or 60's occupy currently. We'll have 'That 80's Show' on TV, and people will be sporting fat shoelaces and wearing Chess King outfits again. Honestly, I could leave most of the 80's behind. High-school sucked, Reagan sucked, the space shuttle blew up... The list goes on and on. But, one thing that most definitely did NOT suck was playing videogames. Sure, we didn't have much in the way of home entertainment, unless you count my Commodore 64, but every little restaurant, motel and gas station had a few arcade cabinets just waiting for my - well, really my parents' - hard-earned quarters. So, all that being said, I'm sure you can see my possible bias around Namco's Game Boy Advance launch title featuring a line-up of four classic Arcade hits. Namco Museum is a great way to enjoy some classics, with only a few reservations. One difficult thing about viewing these old games onscreen is a matter of size. Playing Namco Museum on a larger system with a big 19-inch TV felt like overkill on PlayStation, but even the incredible power of the GBA can't disguise the fact that the screen is really small and still not back-lit. So, while some games aren't hurt by being scaled down, others suffer. My favorite in this collection, Galaga, has a lot going on at any one time, and tracking the small ships and their lasers on the little screen can be tough. A smart compensation for this is how Namco built Ms. Pac-Man to either play in full-screen or scroll mode. Scrolling really solves the scale problem, but isn't available for the other titles included here. Beyond some frustration over not seeing more of this arcade-perfect goodness, there's no reason not to love the graphics. Even though these titles don't require the depth and color we have on our big consoles, you'll be knocked out by the brilliant color and detail present in every game. Sound is excellent, and brings every nuance you remember from the arcade out, especially with headphones. Whether it's Dig-Dug's stuttering musical steps or the sound of dot-munching or the droning of Galaga squadrons in flight, you'll relive more than a few aural memories with this compilation. |
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Gameplay:
Looking at the package for Namco Museum it is not immediately evident that there are actually 5 titles here. Galaga, Pole Position, Dig Dug and Ms. Pac-Man make 4, plus Galaxian. If you can't quite pull Galaxian out of the memory banks, it's because Galaga tends to be what has endured in most arcades. The choice of games will obviously leave some people saying, 'Why didn't they choose my favorite?!' Hopefully, we can expect a second and third release of Namco Museum to satisfy every old-skoole gamer out there. Far be it for me to try and explain the gameplay of these classics, but if you're too young to know, I'll at least give a quick summary. Ms. Pac-Man is the pastel cousin to Namco's chart-topping success, Pac-Man. The goal is to eat dots and avoid ghosts, racking up points and clearing level after level. I mentioned that a scrolling or full-screen version is included, but it's nice to see the cut-scenes intact and with music I can still hum from memory after 10+ years. Higher levels move quick, quick, quick and ghosts don't stay eatable for long when you eat power-up dots, so the frantic pace you knew in the arcade isn't hampered one bit by converting Ms. Pac-Man to the GBA. Dig Dug is a strange game that I never played much in the arcade, but am growing more and more fond of in this handheld version. Its simple presentation is a nice fit for the small screen, and the gameplay doesn't take much figurin' to master. Basically, you tunnel around underground and blow up monsters with an air-gun until they pop. Monsters won't wait for you to come to them, and will float through the ground to gang up on you. They can hide in the ground, but are exposed in tunnels, so build smart and use a quick trigger! Pole Position is a maddeningly hard racing game that has never pulled any punches or sacrificed on action just because of dated technology. The behind-the-car perspective and scrolling landscape looks great, and the Lo-Hi clutch system you may remember from the arcade lives on in the top buttons of the GBA! It's a smart, tough game that looks excellent in this format. Galaga and Galaxian are related titles, the former being an evolved version of the latter. Galaxian is right out of the Space Invaders mold, but has more advanced graphics and gameplay. Most of the core elements of Galaga are here, but the creeping pace and clunky firing action makes this little more than an interesting piece of history. Galaga was a game that I usually had to wait in line to play, circa 1981 or '82. It took all the basic thrill and action of Space Invaders, but added a more aggressive alien force that spiraled into formation and then took turns diving from above to spray laser bolts and try to ram your ship. All the pieces of this game are here, including Challenge Stages and Boss Galaga ships that suck up your fighter and let you plan a dual-ship attack. I love this game, but having some variety is nice, too. The titles here are solid, and if you don't find your favorite, I expect you won't have long to wait. |
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Difficulty:
Nobody would deny that these games were challenging back in the day, and they are no less difficult here and now. The really cool thing about this compilation is the option to change settings, as you would in an emulator. Most games will give you something to change, such as extra lives, lower bonus requirements, and such. While there aren't invincibility codes (yet), it is nice to be able to adjust things like the qualifying times in Pole Position if you just can't get under the clock.
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Game Mechanics:
Since these games didn't require much more than one button and a joystick to play, most of the GBA's 'special' features get little attention, but I was impressed that Pole Position does utilize the shoulder buttons to shift gears. The rest of Namco's offering really requires only a single button to fire weapons and the D-Pad to move. Moving out of a game once you've chosen it from the main menu is as simple as pressing Start and going back to the selection area. Pressing Start also lets you access special options or game tips. The tips are nice, and make this a real 'pick up and play' cart. Unless you never dropped a quarter in an arcade before, these games will feel immediately friendly. Various peculiarities show up, which probably come straight from the arcade version, such as a funny feel to Dig Dug's motion and the slowness of the firing action in Galaxian. Most times, we attribute these things in modern games to shoddy programming or a less-than-perfect engine, but in the old days it was endearing that games had quirks you had to master. The shooting trick in Galaxian is that you can only fire one shot at a time, and you don't get another chance until that shot goes off screen or hits another ship. So, accuracy counts, just like it did in the arcade. Nothing about the control is adjustable, but how much would you change if you could? Basically, the straightforwardness of these titles is exactly why you love them in the first place. The only sad part of this cart is that there aren't more games. I've heard people dissing because there aren't more titles represented here, but Namco's gotta make money like everybody else. While I find myself coming back to Galaga again and again, I never knew how much fun Dig Dug was or had much tolerance for Pole Position when my precious quarters were on the line. Having and holding means a lot for these old games, and I couldn't imagine a better platform for my retro gaming. Somehow, buying them for PlayStation seemed a bit of overkill, but having these babies in a portable (and a high-end portable at that) is a great deal. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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