Nintendo 64: Namco Museum 64
February 26, 2008 - 11:52 am - Posted by Sean R.
Can you really call yourself a ”gamer” if you haven’t played Pac-Man? What about Ms. Pac-Man or Galaga? Have you ever played Dig Dug or Pole Position? Galaxian?
If you haven’t played any of these then you’ve missed out on some of the milestones in gaming.
Namco Museum 64 represents some of the most successful arcade games of all time and anyone who dares to claim the title of a true gamer should have at least played these games.
If you haven’t played them yet, now is the perfect time. While this compilation is mainly geared towards the retro fanatic (like me), this cart has something for everyone.
Pac-Man:
Take a whole pizza and remove one slice and you have the world’s mightiest pellet gobbler.
Pac-Man’s simple premise of eating pellets and avoiding ghosts kept many a player popping quarters into arcade slots 20 or so years ago and to this day, the game is still fun to play with the levels getting harder as you progress.
This probably would have been the king of the Pac-Man games if Namco and Midway didn’t release the excellent Ms. Pac-Man.
Ms. Pac-Man:
It’s pretty rare that the star get’s out shined (Luigi has never had a leg up on Mario) so it’s kind of surprising that Ms. Pac-Man one-uped her husband in this very fun game.
Ms. Pac-Man plays very much like Pac-Man, but with a few alterations that give the Misses an edge over her hubby who should be the one wearing the pants in this family.
Unlike Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man has ghosts that don’t move in patterns, making them more unpredictable and mobile fruit instead of the stationary stuff from Pac-Man.
These two key differences make Ms. Pac-Man more challenging than Pac-Man and is probably the reason this version racked up so many quarters.
Galaxian:
Use your slow moving ship to kill all the alien fighters and move on the the next level.
Remember how a lot of your shots would fly between the enemies? Well, that frustration is retained here. Galaxian pales in comparison to Galaga, but it’s still fun.
Galaga:
Even by today’s standards, Galaga is one of the best shooters ever. With an addiction factor that’s off the scale and life-risking gameplay elements, Galaga alone is easily worth the purchase of Namco Museum 64.
Just like Galaxian, you shot the alien ships to progress to the next level, but your craft moves faster and the enemies act even more like a wild bunch of kamikazes.
Along with the bonus stages, one of the best aspects of Galaga is letting the enemies capture one of your ships. As long as you have enough lives, a rescue unit is sent to retrieve the captured ship.
If you successfully rescue the captive ship (by shooting the enemy that has the ship) you’ll be rewarded with doubles, adding more fire power to aid you against the alien fleet. Galaga is a precious gem that every gamer should own.
Pole Position:
Race well to see if you qualify for the big race using the up shift and down shift to increase your speed.
Try not to hit anything or you’ll blow up while the other cars pass you without a care. Not the best game of the bunch but a nice addition anyway.
Dig Dug:
Dig Dug digs underground using his pump to inflate his enemies with air and kill them. You can also use rocks to get rid of your foes. That’s really all there is to Dig Dug. It’s not better than Ms. Pac-Man or Galaga, but it’s a lot of fun.
Game play:
Each game lets you set the number of lives and difficulty. These are very nice touches to games where you originally only started with two or three lives or thought the games were a little on the steep side in the arcades years ago.
While the back of the the box states that these games are ”exact arcade translations,” they aren’t 100 % authentic.
Music/Sound:
Some of the music and sounds in some of the games are a little off. Some of the games even suffer from slight slowdown but only the most hardcore retro fanatics will really notice.
Unlike so many rebirth games of Pong and Galaxian where the games are given pretty visuals but the original gameplay has been marred, Namco Museum 64 keeps the fun alive with these classics.
Final Thoughts:
This cart is easily one of the best compilations ever simply because what can be found here. Retro gaming junkies are going to love this game to death but there’s fun to be had for newbies as well.
I’m sure if you don’t already have this game for your Nintendo 64, you can find it on eBay or at a local gaming shop for under $25.00 and for a price like that it’s really hard to complain with what you’re getting here: some of the best games of all time.
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