The first thing you will notice is that when you put the UMD into your PSP and the Game menu recognizes it, your background will change and a variety of remixed classic Namco music will play (Pac-Man, Galagage, etc). This is a nice welcome and is indicative of the variety of gaming you can have with this one UMD. I came into it feeling somewhat skeptical, but walked away feeling very happy about my purchase.
Menu
The main menu is split up into two, the original versions and the new 'arrangements'. The left column has Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Rally-X, NEW Rally-X, DigDug and Game Sharing. The right column has Pac-Man, Galaga, NEW Rally-X and DigDug, all in 'Arrangement' version. Loading up games is nearly instant, but going from a game back to the main menu takes 3 or so seconds.
Nihonjin ja nee ka
An obvious concern for some of you is whether the game requires Japanese proficiency. As you can imagine, this game requires none. There is a smattering of Japanese about, but you don't need a translation of "Original" on the left side and "Arrangement" on the right side to understand that the right column houses the new renditions of the classic games. Even most of the games have menus that are in English, so you should have no problems.
Pac-Man Arrangement
This game is almost entirely in English, down to the options menus. The only Japanese that I found was in the 2nd screen when you select 'Start Game', you are asked whether you want to start from the beginning (the first option) or from a save (the second option). This menu system is the same on all of the Arrangement games, so once you learn one, you'll immediately understand the rest, leaving you to enjoy the gaming. Gameplay is split up into a traditional stage format (1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4). There are some new twists as well, including speed up pads that thurst you forward (think F-Zero), Warp zones, bridges and... well, I won't spoil it for you, needless to say it's not entirely your classic Pac-Man game. I must say, even though I played and enjoyed Atari Pac-Man when it came back out in the early 80's, I haven't been interested in it since. I'm happy with this new version and getting back into it. The different features and varied gameplay brings life back into the game and it's quite fun to play.
Galaga Arrangement
The arranged version of Galaga bumps up the ante by giving you a few different weapons to obtain and a variety of levels to go through. Levels are split up into 5-6 stages with the right-hand of the screen showing you your progress in the current level. stages 1-4 are the main fighting, stage 5 is a boss and stage 6 is the bonus round. Complete all those and you move on to the next level with harder baddies, faster action and more all around fun.
NEW Rally-X Arrangement
I've never played this game before, though it looks to be the same driving game you can access in Ridge Racers. The Arranged version has spiffed up graphics, but the gameplay appears to be entirely the same and in the capture-the-flag genre. Each round is dedicated to a certain take on capturing flags with the right part of the screen dedicated to showing you where the flags, evil cars and goals are. Unfortunately, the mission is given out in Japanese. However, this isn't a problem as the missions repeat and follow the same pattern.
In round one you simply have to get all the flags. Round 2 consists of getting all the flags and making it to the goal marker which will be clearly indicated on your radar once you've collected all the flags. To spice things up, round 3 forces you to not only get all the flags but also to steal the flags that the evil cars are carrying, this can be accomplished by the use of your smoke screen (X button). The final round before is another capture the flags and get to the goal round. Once you've done those 4, you get to a new map but the goals follow the same order (capture flags, capture flags+goal, etc).
Of course, along the way you'll find a variety of obstacles, jumps, boosters and more. In no time you'll be a master of turning your car back/forth until you can smoke out the evil cars. I'm not crazy about this game and can't imagine I'd play it very much, if at all, but it does slowly get a little more appealing as you get a feel for the controls.One thing that's in your favor is that you don't have to start round over if you run out of lives, you simply continue and just get the remaining flags. This is nice as some stages get pretty nasty.
Dig Dug Arrangement
This is another title that I don't have any experience with. Think of Dig Dug as glorified pest control. The objective of your character is to dig in the ground, get to the baddies and pump them up with so much air that they explode. Well, realistically they just pop, they don't explode, but it certainly is a nasty way of dealing a death. Each level is split up into 7 stages, with the 7th being the boss stage. After you've beat the boss, you go on to the next level which has a new map and slightly ramped up difficulty. Along the way you will find a host of power ups that boost your speed and air pumping capabilities. Simple to learn and simple to play.
I was incredibly surprised to discover how fun the classic versions of the games were. Part of this has to do with the fact the screen is so tiny, this gives the games a very fast and modern feel. Since the original games were obviously made to fit arcade screens, not PSP screens, the size is quit small, with Namco Museum graphics padding the left and right of the screen. There is an option to rotate the screen in some games, allowing you to play it in faux tabletop mode using just the D-pad. Furthermore, there is a 'ratio' option that allows you to have the game fit to screen or be in it's original size. As you can imagine, the blurryness from anti-aliasing causes the games to look quite ugly, but some of you may appreciate the more filled out view.
I didn't do much arcade gaming in the early eighties so I'm not first-hand experienced with most of these games. Being skeptical that I would play the classic versions, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the pixelated graphics on such a tiny screen actually appealed more to me than the redone Arrangement modes. Gameplay feels faster on the classic versions because of this as well. Furthermore, and I could be showing my age even more, but the classic music is beautiful. Dig Dug in particular is quite innovative as the music only plays when you move. The graphics and music are a nice change of pace, and Namco puts it all together in a beautiful and fun package. Namco Museum is definetly one to get for those moments when you need a quick burst of gaming.
I have been wondering whether this was going to be a good one - was a bit worried about the japanese. Thanks for the review, sounds like its premium classic gaming - I thrashed dig dug back in the arcade days.. and along with galaga and pacman, seems like an ideal little combo. Will head over to lik-sang and order now :-)
Nice review, Captain.
This is an interesting title. And, I like how Namco is using the game share feature. Now, let's just wait and see what Sony can cook up.
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