- Namco Museum
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Namco Museum refers to the series of video game compilations released by Namco for various 32-bit and above consoles, containing releases of their games (mostly arcade games) from the 1980s and early 1990s. Namco has continued releasing compilations spanning over a decade (1995 to 2010).
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 sixth generation and seventh generation systems, and PC.
Namco Museum Volume 1
Namco Museum Volume 1 Developer(s) Now Production Publisher(s) Namco Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) November 22, 1995 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) This was the first in the long series for the PlayStation and contains Pac-Man (1980), Rally-X (1980), New Rally-X (1981), Galaga (1981), Bosconian (1981), Pole Position (1982), and Toy Pop (1986), which was relatively unknown.
All of the games were ported from the original arcade version's source code — Galaga and Pac-Man allowed for an alternative screenmode 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 six of the games were well preserved. Since the PlayStation's analog controller was not available at the time, and analog control for Pole Position is only supported in this compilation by Namco's neGcon joypad.
The package also featured 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; neither this nor the others 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 2
Namco Museum Volume 2 Developer(s) Tose Publisher(s) Namco Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) February 9, 1996 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) The second installment of the PlayStation series features Mappy (1983), Xevious (1982), Galaga sequel Gaplus (1984), Grobda (1984) (a Xevious "spinoff"), Dragon Buster (1984) and Super Pac-Man (1982). It enjoyed similar success to the original, and contained a similar "museum" mode. The Japanese version also features Cutie Q (1979), which replaces Super Pac-Man as well as a hidden game Bomb Bee (1979). Although Cutie Q is only playable in the Japanese version, its code can be found on the American release of this compilation. 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 Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) June 21, 1996 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) The third PlayStation volume contains Galaxian (1979), Dig Dug (1982), Pac-Man sequel Ms. Pac-Man (1981), Pole Position II (1983), The Tower of Druaga (1984) and Phozon (1983). The first four were well-known in the U.S., but the latter two were relatively unknown. It contained the now-customary museum mode. 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 Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) November 8, 1996 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) Volume 4 for the PlayStation features Pac-Land (1984), Assault (1988), Ordyne (1988), the sequel to The Tower of Druaga known as The Return of Ishtar (1986) Genpei Tōma Den (1986), and Assault Plus (1988) as a hidden game. The usual museum mode was included. Genpei Tōma Den was renamed "Genji and the Heike Clans" in this collection.
Namco Museum Volume 5
Namco Museum Volume 5 Developer(s) Tose Publisher(s) Namco Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) February 28, 1997 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) Volume 5 for the PlayStation features Pac-Mania (1987), Dragon Spirit (1987), Metro-Cross (1985), Baraduke (1985) and Valkyrie no Densetsu (1989), as well as the standard museum mode. Valkyrie No Densetsu was renamed "Legend of the Valkyrie" in this collection.
Namco Museum Encore
Namco Museum Encore Developer(s) Namco Publisher(s) Namco Platform(s) PlayStation Release date(s) October 30, 1997 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer This title was released for the PlayStation only in Japan and was the only one not to feature a Pac-Man game. It features seven titles: Dragon Saber (1990), Wonder Momo (1987), Rompers (1989), Motos (1985), Sky Kid (1985), King & Balloon (1980), and Rolling Thunder (1986).
Namco Museum 64 (N64), Namco Museum (DC)
Namco Museum 64/Namco Museum Developer(s) Mass Media Publisher(s) Namco Platform(s) Nintendo 64, Dreamcast Release date(s) November 29, 1999 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) Main article: Namco Museum 64Both Namco Museum 64 for Nintendo 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast feature the same six games. Although the Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast did not get multiple volumes of Namco Museum like the PlayStation did, Namco picked out the most popular games (in the west) from the PlayStation's Namco Museum Volume series and included them in a single compilation. Both Namco Museum 64 and the Dreamcast's Namco Museum featured Pac-Man (1980), Ms. Pac-Man (1981), Galaga (1981), Galaxian (1979), Dig Dug (1982), and Pole Position (1982), but no museum mode as with the PlayStation's Namco Museum Volume series. Both Namco Museum 64 and the Namco Museum on Dreamcast are available only in North America.
Namco Museum (Game Boy Advance)
Namco Museum for Game Boy Advance was released by Namco Hometek and Mass Media, it featured the games: Ms. Pac-Man (1981), Galaga (1981), Galaxian (1979), Dig Dug (1982), and Pole Position (1982). All of these games appeared in Namco Museum 64 and in the Namco Museum for Dreamcast. This compilation does not save high scores. A Pac-Man-themed compilation with a similar interface, Pac-Man Collection, was released a month after.
Namco Museum (PS2, Xbox, GC)
Namco Museum Developer(s) Mass Media Ltd. Publisher(s) Namco Ltd. Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube Release date(s) December 4, 2001 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) 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 the Dreamcast's Namco Museum plus Pac-Man Arrangement (1996), Galaga Arrangement (1995), Dig Dug Arrangement (1996), Pac-Attack (1993), Pac-Mania (1987), and Pole Position II (1983). Pac-Attack and Pac-Mania must be unlocked by scoring 25000 in Pac-Man, and 20000 in Ms. Pac-Man respectively. This edition of Namco Museum marks the first collection in the series to include a non-arcade game (Pac-Attack, originally released on Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo 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 & Vol. 2. The pitch of the audio in Pac-Man Arrangement and Dig Dug Arrangement have been changed slightly from their original aspect, the pitch sounds higher than it did in the arcade versions. This collection is available only in North America.
Namco Museum Battle Collection
Main article: Namco Museum Battle CollectionThis 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 cooperative 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 the arcade's Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, instead, 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, PC Release date(s) August 30, 2005 Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) This title refers to Namco's 50 years as a company which originally manufactured toys in 1955. It was the second collection to be released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and the Nintendo GameCube. It was also released on the PC and includes sixteen games: Pac-Man (1980), Ms. Pac-Man (1981), Galaga (1981), Galaxian (1979), Dig Dug (1982), Pole Position (1982), Pole Position II (1983), Rolling Thunder (1986), Rally-X (1980), Bosconian (1981), Dragon Spirit (1987), Sky Kid (1985), Xevious (1982), Mappy (1983), Pac-Mania (1987), and Galaga '88 (1987). Both Pac-Mania and Galaga '88 are locked initially and require 15000 in Pac-Man, 20000 Ms. Pac-Man and then 40000 in Galaga to unlock.
This is the first edition of Namco Museum to feature 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 PC version of the collection.
This collection also features five songs from the 1980s: "Come on Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners, "Working for the Weekend" by Loverboy, "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals, "Talking in Your Sleep" by The Romantics and "Joystick" by Dazz Band, which are played in the game selection menu. As in the previous collection, there is no actual museum content.
The PC version was negatively received because it contains StarForce protection, and it does not run on Windows 7.
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.
There is also a scaled down version of the collection for the Game Boy Advance which includes five games: Pac-Man (1980), Ms. Pac-Man (1981), Rally-X (1980), Galaga (1981), and Dig Dug (1982). Like the original Namco Museum for the Game Boy Advance, this version does not save high scores.
Namco Museum DS
Main article: Namco Museum DSNamco Museum DS Developer(s) M2 Publisher(s) Namco Bandai Games Platform(s) Nintendo DS Release date(s) Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E (Everyone) This edition of Namco Museum for the Nintendo DS was released in late 2007. As well as the original Pac-Man (1980) it also features a remake of Pac-Man Vs., the well-received multi-player game that was only previously available on the Nintendo GameCube. There are also seven other games which are on this cartridge: Galaga (1981), Xevious (1982), Super Xevious (1984), Galaxian (1979), Mappy (1983), The Tower of Druaga (1984), and Dig Dug II (1985). 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.
Namco Museum Remix
Main article: Namco Museum RemixThis game was released on October 23, 2007 for Wii. This compilation features the original arcade versions of Cutie Q (1979), Dig Dug (1982), Galaxian (1979), Gaplus (1984), Mappy (1983), Pac & Pal (1983), Pac-Mania (1987), Super Pac-Man (1982) and Xevious (1982). It also featured re-vamps of certain games: Pac 'n Roll Remix, Galaga Remix, Pac-Motos, Rally-X Remix, and Gator Panic Remix. 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 
Developer(s) Namco Bandai America Publisher(s) Namco Bandai Platform(s) Xbox 360 Release date(s) - JP November 5, 2009
Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E10+ This collection was released for the Xbox 360 on November 4, 2008, in North America, May 15, 2009, in Europe, and June 3, 2009, in Australia. Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is made up of two sets of games. The first set includes nine Xbox Live Arcade games. While they do come with the disc, they are not actually accessible from the disc itself. Instead, it adds these to your 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.
Xbox Live Arcade Games
- Dig Dug (1982)
- Galaga (1981)
- Galaga Legions (2008)
- Mr. Driller Online (2008)
- Ms. Pac-Man (1981)
- New Rally-X (1981)
- Pac-Man (1980)
- Pac-Man Championship Edition (2007)
- Xevious (1982)
Museum Games
- Baraduke (1985)
- Bosconian (1981)
- Dig Dug II (1985)
- Dragon Buster (1984)
- Dragon Spirit (1987)
- Galaga '88 (1987)
- Galaxian (1979)
- Grobda (1984)
- King & Balloon (1980)
- Mappy (1983)
- Metro-Cross (1985)
- Motos (1985)
- Pac & Pal (1983)
- Pac-Mania (1987)
- Pole Position (1982)
- Pole Position II (1983)
- Rally-X (1980)
- Rolling Thunder (1986)
- Sky Kid (1985)
- Sky Kid Deluxe (1986)
- Super Pac-Man (1982)
- The Tower of Druaga (1984)
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 have "multiplayer" modes, but only online. 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.
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.
Namco Museum Essentials
Namco Museum Essentials 
Developer(s) Namco Bandai Publisher(s) Namco Bandai Platform(s) PlayStation 3 (PlayStation Network) Release date(s) Genre(s) Compilation Mode(s) Single Player, Multiplayer Rating(s) ESRB: E Namco Bandai released a new 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 have also released the downloadable Namco Museum in North America on July 16, 2009,[1] and in Europe and Australia on April 1, 2010, under the name Namco Museum Essentials. It includes Pac-Man (1980), Dig Dug (1982), Galaga (1981), Xevious (1982), Dragon Spirit (1987), and Xevious Resurrection (2009), a new game in the Xevious series.
PlayStation Home includes a virtual arcade space with sample versions of the games. The PlayStation Store also features a free trial version that only includes the first few levels of Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga and Xevious.
Namco Museum Megamix
Main article: Namco Museum MegamixAn 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 also adds a level select feature to all of the arcade games but the Mii feature is removed.
Arcade Games
- Bosconian (1981)
- Cutie Q (1979)
- Dig Dug (1982)
- Dig Dug II (1985)
- Galaga (1981)
- Galaxian (1979)
- Gaplus (1984)
- Grobda (1984)
- King & Balloon (1980)
- Mappy (1983)
- Motos (1985)
- New Rally-X (1981)
- Pac & Pal (1983)
- Pac-Man (1980)
- Pac-Mania (1987)
- Rally-X (1980)
- Super Pac-Man (1982)
- Xevious (1982)
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)
Table of Namco Museum games
This is a table of which Namco games are in which Namco Museum collections, not including Namco Museum Encore, which was only released in Japan.
Special Key
- U - Unlockable with the points shown for whatever game is shown.
- S - Secret, found a different way than unlocking by points.
- J - Included in the Japanese version only
- PI - Denotes that the main reason it wasn't included in Namco Museum (GBA) (The first Namco Museum compilation for Game Boy Advance) was because it was included in Pac-Man Collection (a compilation for Game Boy Advance with a similar interface) instead. (The "I" stands for instead)
- +GBAv - Denotes that it's included in the scaled-down Game Boy Advance version of Namco Museum 50th Anniversary as well as the home version.
- XBLA - On Namco Museum Virtual Arcade, instead of the games being accessed from the disc, they are added to your Xbox Live Arcade menu while the disc is in the Xbox 360.
Other Namco Compilations
- Microsoft Return of Arcade and Microsoft Revenge of Arcade - Two collections of Namco arcade games for Windows that were published by Microsoft.
- Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 - Two arcade machines, each one with of 3 Namco arcade games that also contain updated variants of each game.
- Arcade Classics (CD-i game) - A compilation for the Phillips CD-i that was released in Europe, but unlike the majority of Namco compilations, this one was not released in North America. This compilation contains ports of Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaga.
- Xevious 3D/G+ - A collection of 4 Xevious games for PlayStation.
- Pac-Man Anniversary Arcade Machines - Collections of Namco arcade games as arcade machines for Pac-Man's anniversary years.
- Pac-Man Collection - A collection of 4 Pac-Man games for Game Boy Advance.
- Namco Plug & Play games - A series of Plug It In & Play TV Games featuring Namco arcade games.
- Namco arcade games on the Wii Virtual Console - Namco released Gaplus, Mappy, and The Tower of Druaga on to the Wii's Virtual Console to help Nintendo introduce downloadable arcade games to the Wii Shop Channel.
- Galaga 30th Collection - To celebrate Galaga's 30th anniversary, it's an iOS application that's downloadable for free and comes with Galaxian, with more Galaga games available to buy as in-app purchases.
- Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions - A compilation game for Nintendo 3DS which includes two new games, Pac-Man Tilt and Galaga 3D Impact, as well as Pac-Man Championship Edition, Galaga Legions, the original Pac-Man and the original Galaga.
Japan-only compilations
- Namco Gallery - Collections containing Game Boy versions of Namco's arcade and console games, it is split into three volumes and they're all enhanced when played on a Super Game Boy.
- Namco History - A four-volume series of emulated arcade games for Windows.
- Namco Anthology - Two collections of Namco's older console games for PlayStation.
- Namco Collection (Windows) - A two-volume series of emulated arcade games for Windows released less than a year after the last volume of Namco History.
- Gunvari Collection + Time Crisis - A PS2 collection containing all 3 Point Blank games as well as the first Time Crisis, all using the Guncon 2.
- NamCollection - A PS2 collection of 5 PlayStation games that's celebrating Namco's 50th anniversary, but not to be confused with Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary.
- Namco Nostalgia - Two "Let's! TV play classic" devices with Namco games, each one contains two classic games and two new games using the classic sprites.
- Namco arcade games on the Japanese Wii Virtual Console - For the Japanese Wii Virtual Console, Namco released over 40 arcade games including Burning Force, Cosmo Gang the Video, Dragon Buster, Dragon Saber, Dragon Spirit, Finest Hour, Galaga '88, Knuckle Heads, Marvel Land, Pac-Mania, Phelios, Rolling Thunder, Sky Kid, Wonder Momo, Xevious, and many more.
See also
References
- ^ "IGN: Namco Museum Essentials Preview". IGN. http://ps3.ign.com/articles/994/994473p1.html.
- ^ "Gamespot: Namco Museum Virtual Arcade Hands-On". Gamespot. http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/namcomuseumvirtualarcade/news.html?sid=6200038&om_act=convert&om_clk=newsfeatures&tag=newsfeatures;title;2&mode=previews.
Categories:- Xbox 360 Live Arcade compilations
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