Overall, the two-volume set that honors the NAMCOT brand is worth a go, especially if you revel in 8-bit history. It’s a neat departure from the usual Museum releases, but there are certainly some forgettable titles amongst the bunch.
I’m old. I like old games. For years, stretching all the way back to the birth of the PlayStation in 1995, I have been forever addicted to Namco Museum games. They harken back to a simpler time, where video game development budgets didn’t balloon in the millions, and when smoke-filled arcades were where parents dropped you off to go shopping still existed. Maybe that last part was just me, but I would like to think it was common.
Anyway, memories of questionable parenting aside, this month BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment has released another set of Namco Museum Archives, volume 1 and volume 2, which focuses on the ye olden days of 8-bit mania. When I say ‘mania’, I mean games that released on the Nintendo Entertainment System and Famicom, which were pretty much the only option from mid-to-late 80s. Were the games arcade accurate? Not quite, sometimes not even close. Better than nothing? Hell yes! The industry was just trying to get back on its feet in America and enjoying/thriving the video game movement in Japan. And trust me, the industry in America had a lot of ‘proving’ to do to warm the cockles of retailers and consumers, so bringing some classics home was one way to do it.
Welcome to the wonderful world of NAMCOT, a console division of Namco that ran from 1984-1995, which is the driving point of these recent Namco Museum releases.
Namco Museum Archives Volume 1
The first volume of the Namco Museum Archives is something I’ve seen many times, at least the titles included. Here’s what you get with the first volume:
• Galaxian
• Xevious
• Mappy
• Dragon Buster
• PAC-MAN
• Dig-Dug
• The Tower of Druaga
• Sky Kid
• Dragon Spirit: The New Legend
• Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti
• PAC-MAN Championship Edition
This volume is filled with classic titles, especially Mappy, Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, and Xevious. Personally, I have expectations of these titles and what they should look like, sound like, and how they play. Believe me, the 8-bit version of them falls short, but not Atari 2600 short. Pac-Man and Dig-Dug specifically look like a lower version of their arcade counterparts, which should be expected in this collection, but hard to get over. The essence of the collection shows signs of how the industry did its best to bring the arcade experience home, which it did to an extent.
The NAMCOT version of Pac-Man is a step above the Atari 5200 release, but certainly a bit raw when compared to the arcade version. The sounds and how the fruits/ghosts look and act aren’t as smooth as the arcade, but that is the compromise you make when you bring it home an 8-bit machine. It is visually and audibly a step-down, but not a major one, as it is better than the Atari 2600 Pac-Man. The 2600 version is an abomination and should be killed with fire. I can’t even begin to tell you how terrible it is. It’s just the worst. The controls of this version of Pac-Man included with the volume one is good enough to still play. It still ‘feels’ like Pac-Man, but it’s just a bit off. In short, it is fine, but not perfectly translated.
The gem in this collection, in my humble opinion, is Mappy. That is the closest to its arcade counterpart out of the bunch, and it does a good job of replicating nearly everything perfectly. While the graphics of the fun mouse are certainly a bit more pixelated than the original, it still pushes the same music, the same antagonist (cats — go figure), and level visuals. The music is perfectly pushed, which is what made the game so much fun to play. If you are familiar with the arcade version, then you won’t have an issue getting into this one.
Those arcade classics aside, the first volume features some pretty unique additions that haven’t made it over in North America before. The first stop is the most obvious one, Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti. I had no idea this game existed, which makes sense considering it never came to America. It was a Famicom exclusive and pre-dated the TG-16 version of Splatterhouse, yet it was its sequel. Yep, they are of the same family, but Wanpaku bears no resemblance to its brethren. It’s a weird game that is a more playful version of the TG-16 title. It’s neat to see, especially when Dracula is doing the thriller dance.
This collection also includes Pac-Man Championship Edition. No, not the one you played on the PS3 or the sequel that arrived on the PS4, rather an 8-bit port of the current and last generation first release. It’s oddly constructed, as you go through an endless 8-bit level that doesn’t break much from its form. It still maintains the core of the original game, where gathering points in a certain amount of time to establish a high score is still the goal. Sure, it’s ugly as sin and simplified in its visuals, but it works. It’s a nice little extra charm to make volume one something cool and special.
Anyway, the rest of the collection is cool but very 8-bit.
Namco Museum Archives Volume 2
The second volume of this two-part collection is something to behold. It’s full of sequels and oddities. Here’s what you’re looking at in this volume:
• Battle City
• Pac-Land
• Dig Dug II
• Super Xevious
• Galaga
• Rolling Thunder
• Mappy-Land
• Legacy of the Wizard
• Dragon Buster II
• Mendel Palace
• Gaplus
Galaga might be the most arcade accurate of this bunch, which is sad considering I had so much hope for Rolling Thunder. The latter has good music, but those graphics are tough to watch in motion when compared to the arcade version of Rolling Thunder. What originally looked like a cool anime, is just 8-bit choppy. The core gameplay design is still there, though, just not as smooth. Anyway, there are a few gems in here, which aren’t named Mendel Palace. MP is like this weird fighting game that is also some board game, but mostly it’s a fighting game. Yeah, I don’t know how to describe it, so I apologize. What I do know is that it’s the least enjoyable in this volume.
GEMS! There are some gems here in volume two. The first big one is Gaplus. You’re probably thinking to yourself, “What in the hell is that? It sounds like a noise you would make as you sneezed.” Technically, you wouldn’t be wrong. BUT! It is the actual and honest-to-God sequel to Galaga. Right? I thought it was Galaga ’88 as well, but it isn’t, which is just odd. It’s not as odd as Galaga ’88 not being made in 1988, which I thought was the case as well, as it was actually made in 1987. Yep, they probably inspired EA Sports to name their games a year ahead (ex. Madden NFL 21…that releases in 2020). Sorry, that’s not true at all, but it would be funny. Getting back on topic, Gaplus is an interesting sequel to Galaga, as it brings new bugs with better details, includes an already captured ship in each level, and will restart a level from scratch when you die. That last part is odd because in the original Galaga the fallen group of enemies will still be onscreen after you died and you would revive to continue your onslaught. Gaplus seems a bit more vibrant and animated compared to Galaga, which helped make it different from the original. Gaplus is a cool game and something to behold.
Another odd gem in this volume is Dig Dug II, which is a top-level (meaning you’re no longer underground) game that features all the same characters you’re used to seeing and all the mechanics the original game brought (attach hose, inflate to burst enemies), but Bezerk-like walls placed around countless islands to make it more of a strategic effort. Honestly speaking, if you wanted to change Dig-Dug up a bit, then this is the way to do it. Although, it was changed up enough when the hyphen was dropped in the sequel’s title. What is up with that? It doesn’t matter, it’s still a fun game.
The rest of the volume is hit or miss, which is typical for revisits and re-releases of classic titles.
As for both volumes, I think it’s fascinating that Bandai Namco Entertainment took a chance to bring back NAMCOT titles in their 8-bit forms. A lot of history enthusiasts, such as yours truly, love seeing games in their original forms. Sometimes they are a reminder of how innovative and creative older games could be. Sometimes they are a reminder that some games might take the E.T. route and best be buried in the desert and forgot about (I’m kidding, just E.T. belongs there). Regardless, they are all history, good or bad, and should garnish some level of respect given to them from the game community.
Bandai Namco Entertainment did some neat things with this set of volumes, outside of bringing some odd titles that didn’t make it to these shores before, they added some descriptive history to each one to give you some background on them. As you scroll through games, you get a logline for each title that tells you what it is and what made it special. This adds just a little bit of literal museum flavor to the volumes. They also included a snapshot saving system that strangely resembles the snapshot saving system of the TG-16 Mini. At any point during your gameplay you can save the game and come back to it. Regardless, it’s a useful saving system that makes revisiting difficult games much easier. I used the hell out of that same feature on Dracula X on the TG-16 Mini and it was a Godsend.
Overall, the two-volume set that honors the NAMCOT brand is worth a go, especially if you revel in 8-bit history. It’s a neat departure from the usual Museum releases, but there are certainly some forgettable titles amongst the bunch.
