Namco Museum (1995-1998)

Namco Museum is a series of video game compilations developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation. The series is split into 5 (or 6) volumes including classic arcade games from Namco's history.

Volume 1

 * 1) Pac-Man (1980)
 * 2) Galaga (1981)
 * 3) Bosconian (1981)
 * 4) Pole Position (1983)
 * 5) Rally-X (1980)
 * 6) New Rally-X (1981)

Volume 2

 * 1) Cutie-Q (1979) (Japan-only, replaced by Super Pac-Man (1982) in international versions)
 * 2) Xevious (1983)
 * 3) Mappy (1983)
 * 4) Gaplus (1984)
 * 5) Grobda (1984)
 * 6) Dragon Buster (1985)
 * 7) Bomb Bee (1979) (hidden game) (Japan-only)

Volume 3

 * 1) Galaxian (1979)
 * 2) Ms. Pac-Man (1982)
 * 3) Dig-Dug (1982)
 * 4) Phozon (1983)
 * 5) Pole Position II (1983)
 * 6) The Tower of Druaga (1984)

Volume 4

 * 1) Pac-Land (1984)
 * 2) The Return of Ishtar (1986)
 * 3) Genpei Tōma Den (The Genji and the Heike Clans in English) (1986)
 * 4) Ordyne (1988)
 * 5) Assault (1988)
 * 6) Assault Plus (1998) (hidden game)

Volume 5

 * 1) Metro-Cross (1985)
 * 2) Baraduke (1985)
 * 3) Dragon Spirit (1987)
 * 4) Pac-Mania (1987)
 * 5) Valkyrie no Densetsu (The Legend of Valkyrie in English) (1989)

Encore

 * 1) King & Balloon (1980)
 * 2) Motos (1985)
 * 3) Sky Kid (1985)
 * 4) Rolling Thunder (1986)
 * 5) Wonder Momo (1987)
 * 6) Rompers (1989)
 * 7) Dragon Saber (1990)

Why It Saves Quarters

 * 1) The idea of having a collection of arcade games sounds interesting, and this collection proves it. Arcades were starting to decline in 1995, so Namco knew they had to do something about it.
 * 2) Several classics appear in this series, such as Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Galaxian, and Pole Position, in addition to games that never hit America such as Phozon and The Legend of Valkyrie.
 * 3) The emulation is near arcade-perfect for all games.
 * 4) You can explore a 3D museum and walk through game rooms containing information, trivia, memorabilia, about the games.
 * 5) Namco's neGcon is compatible with all volumes in the series.
 * 6) The series also includes games that are considered underrated, such as Metro-Cross and Dragon Buster.
 * 7) Each game has a dip switch, allowing the player to change difficulty, number of lives, etc. Each game also has a test screen when you start the game just like the real arcade machines!
 * 8) There is also a library and theater in each game. The library holds artwork of games, Namco's old Namco Community magazines, and Namco's history. The theater allows the player to look at the game's graphics and listen to the game's sounds and music.
 * 9) Although Volume 5 was conceived as the last volume in the series, Namco later released Namco Museum Encore, housing a few more games.
 * 10) Volume 3 has a guidebook for The Tower of Druaga, which helps players find the items necessary to beat the game.
 * 11) There are a few secrets hidden within some of the volumes.
 * 12) Encore had a limited edition that came with a box that holds all the volumes.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Use of the D-pad for movement is mandatory as the volumes were made before the DualShock 1 was released. While this isn't a big problem for 2 or 4 direction games like Pac-Man, Galaga, and Pole Position, it does make Bosconian and Rally-X's controls clunky since they use 8 directions. Namco did release an arcade controller which integrated the D-pad functionality into its joystick but these are now very expensive.
 * 2) Emulation isn't always perfect as games can occasionally glitch such as in Pac-Man where he can pass through ghosts without dying or Pole Position and Pole Position II missing announcer voices.
 * 3) Long loading times for museum exhibits which contain information that can now be quickly found on the internet with more expansion on the subject.
 * 4) Later volumes starting with Volume 4 included more obscure and below average games in the compilations. (Pac-Land is a great inclusion however)
 * 5) Encore was only released in Japan.
 * 6) Nowadays, while the North American versions of Volume 1 and 3 are common and easy to find, the other 3 are hard to find (especially Volume 5).