Namco is almost always the first thing to pop into my mind when I hear someone say “arcade
game.”
The company has produced more great arcade titles than just about anyone.
From Galaga to Pac-man, Xevious and Dig Dug, Namco dominated the arcade age with some of
the best games ever made.
Now recently, Namco’s best success has been as a publisher, with titles like Dark Souls
under the Namco Bandai label.
That’s not to say that they haven’t developed some great titles like Tekken or the too-harshly
critiqued Star Fox Assault, but Namco’s best games were released many years ago, and
they aren’t afraid to point it out with their Namco Museum games.
This is Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary for the GameCube.
Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary is a really simple title.
When you start it up, you’re immediately greeted with your choice of Namco arcade game.
Pretty much anything you could think of is available.
Both Pac-man and Ms. Pac-man, Dig Dug, Galaga, Galaxian, Xevious, Pole Position 1 and 2,
Rally-X, Mappy and several others.
Now, I just reviewed an Atari arcade collection the other day, and although that was on a
handheld console and this isn’t, the amount of content is just stunning.
I was trying to think of any games they missed, and I just couldn’t.
In fact, the only thing about the collection that I didn’t care for was that Galaxian
was included.
Galaga is a game that bested its predecessor in every way, and it’s always curious to
me why Namco always chooses to include both of them on these collections.
While the amount of content on the disk is incredible, the GameCube’s controls do not
do the games any favors.
Pac-man and Pole Position are especially tricky, as neither the analog stick or d-pad seem
to want to cooperate.
It really depends on the game, though.
While titles like Rolling Thunder and Bosconian feel a little sloppy with the GameCube’s
controls, Dig-Dug, Rally-X and Xevius all play excellently.
It’s strange to see, as the issue doesn’t even seem connected to particular genres.
At museums, some people like to sit back and enjoy how well art has stood up over time.
That’s what makes things classic, and why the items are in the museum in the first place.
For the most part, these games do just that.
With a few, personal exceptions that I won’t mention, as they are just my own tastes, every
game on this disk is just as much fun as when it first came out.
My favorite Namco game is Dig-Dug, and blowing guys up with that pump is still a blast.
The visuals of the original arcade games also remain unchanged in this collection.
Every game looks exactly as you’d remember it, and the game audio also stays the same.
It’s kind of charming to hear how Namco used some similar sound effects in different
games to accomplish different things, and just because your brain sees something different
happening, it doesn’t sound the same.
Namco was the king of arcade games back in the day, and Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary
is a terrific collection of the best Namco had to offer.
Maybe even get your older siblings or parents to give it a try and see which games they
remember.