Bandai Namco has released a series of new compilations featuring classic NES versions of popular arcade titles from the 80s and 90s, appropriately dubbed the Namco Museum Archives. I have long been a fan of older Namco titles even if I haven’t played all of them to date, so these new collections intrigued me. With 22 titles being available, including some Japanese exclusive titles and a pair of new bonus games, there is a lot to get excited for here!
Gameplay
Each volume of the Namco Museum Archives features 11 titles, with 10 being classic releases and the 11th being a new bonus game created for that compilation. Before we get any further, this is the list of titles included in each volume so you can see if your favorites have made the cut!
NAMCO MUSEUM ARCHIVES VOLUME 1
Dig-Dug
Dragon Buster
Dragon Spirit: The New Legend
Galaxian
Mappy
PAC-MAN
Sky Kid
Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti
The Tower of Druaga
Xevious
PAC-MAN Championship Edition
NAMCO MUSEUM ARCHIVES VOLUME 2
Battle City
Dig Dug II
Dragon Buster II
Galaga
Gaplus
Legacy of the Wizard
Mappy-Land
Mendel Palace
Pac-Land
Rolling Thunder
Super Xevious
As you can see, there are a number of high profile classics included like Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, and Galaga.
If you have ever played these games in their 30 years of existence then you should be familiar with what to expect out of them in Namco Museum Archives. Each title has been meticulously handled by the experts at M2 to ensure they play as well now as they did back upon original release! From an emulation perspective, it does appear that things like sprite flicker and slowdowns have been eliminated. While this is technically less accurate to preserving the original titles, it should be more appealing to players overall, so I can understand the choice.
As expected from a retro compilation, features like save states and video options have been included in these releases. As an added bonus, sure to delight many who find some of the included titles excruciatingly hard, a rewind function has also been included for each title! With a simple press of the left bumper you get the prompt to rewind a short time. It isn’t the best implementation of the feature I have ever used but it gets the job done.
I have thoroughly enjoyed playing through a number of classics I am familiar with such as Pac-Man and Galaga but the true treat of the Namco Museum Archives for me came from playing titles I haven’t experienced yet. For games like Mappy, and Dragon Buster, this was the first time I had ever gotten to play them and I had a blast! The bonus 8-bit version of Pac-Man Championship Edition is an interesting experience, and while not as entertaining to me as the real version released on Xbox 360/PS3, it is a cool experiment to see in a what-if sort of sense. Gaplus is also a fun spin on the Galaga formula that I think fans are going to enjoy!
Visuals
M2 has done a good job with the visual look of each title in the Namco Museum Archives collections. The 8-bit visuals are sharp and the colors look splendid to my eye. A variety of display options are available to scale the image to the player's preference with 1:1, 4:3, fit to screen, and stretch modes. The picture can then have an antialiasing filter applied to smooth out the sharp pixels or scanlines to bring a more authentic look to each classic game. The scanlines look pretty good but I can’t bring myself to use such filters these days personally.
What It Could Have Done Better
Despite the great selection of games, the Namco Museum Archives are a bare-bones release when it comes to bonus content. There have been a number of ways to play most of these titles over the years so adding in some of the development material for them would have gone a long way in my mind. It also would have been cool to see leaderboard functionality get added into the included titles to increase their longevity.
Verdict
The Namco Museum Archives offer up 22 classic games (2 being new) across 2 compilations and do so at a reasonable cost. Games play perfectly thanks to the work of M2 and remove blemishes like slowdown and sprite flicker. Unfortunately, there is a lack of behind the scenes content and online leaderboards to really win over longtime fans who no doubtedly have another way to already play many of the included titles. Still, at only $20 per compilation, the Namco Museum Archives are well within impulse buy territory, and anyone who does so should be happy with the performance!
