Namco Museum is a series of video game compilations developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for home video game consoles. The first title in the series, Namco Museum Vol. 1, was released for the PlayStation in 1995. Entries in the series have been released for multiple platforms, including the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, and Xbox 360. The latest title so far, Namco Museum Archives Vol. 2, was released in 2020.
The Namco Museum name was originally used for a chain of retail stores in the 1980s, which sold merchandise based on Namco video games and characters."Namco Product Catalog". Namco Ltd. 1984. Retrieved 20 July 2019. The compilations include video games developed by Namco for both arcade hardware and home game systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Some iterations use software emulation for the games, while others instead reprogram them from scratch. The collections typically include interchangeable game settings, online leaderboards or unlockable extras, such as games or promotional material. The original PlayStation series, with the exception of Namco Museum Encore, instead placed the player in a virtual museum that housed the individual games.
The Namco Museum series has been met with a mixed to positive critical response, some praising the emulation quality and unlockable extras while others criticizing the overall presentation and lack of updated features to the included titles. The franchise has sold a total of more than copies worldwide.
Games Namco Museum Vol. 1—Encore (1995–1998)
Six Namco Museum volumes were released for the PlayStation from 1995 to 1998, including one (Namco Museum Encore) that was released only in Japan. When Namco unveiled Volume 5 at the November 1996 PlayStation Expo, it was announced that it would be the final volume in the series, hence the sixth volume's title, "Encore". The first five volumes pose a 3D virtual museum that players are able to walk around in, with each game being stored in an "exhibit" room. In these museums, players can view conceptual artwork, marketing material, arcade system boards, and other material relating to the included games. Encore replaces the museum with a standard menu system. The means by which Namco recreated the games for the PlayStation hardware is unclear; the arcade game conversions contain pieces of the original game data but none of the original source code, suggesting they are object-level recreations.
The control systems of each of the games were well-preserved. However, since the PlayStation's analog controller was not available at the time, analog control for Pole Position and Pole Position II is only supported in these compilations by Namco's neGcon joypad.
In Japan, Vol. 2 had a special edition box set that included replica promotional cards and the Namco Volume Controller. A limited edition of Namco Museum Encore was bundled with a case designed to hold the six volumes in the series plus a memory card. All six volumes were added to the Japanese PlayStation Store as PSOne Classics. Volumes 1 to 4 were released on December 11, 2013 while Vol. 5 and Encore were released on December 18, 2013. The five numbered installments were added to the North American PlayStation Store on September 30, 2014.
+ Volume Release date Games included Japan North America Europe Namco Museum Vol. 1 November 22, 1995 August 7, 1996 August 17, 1996 Pac-Man (1980) Rally-X (1980) New Rally-X (1981) Galaga (1981) Bosconian (1981) Pole Position (1982) Toy Pop (1986) Namco Museum Vol. 2 February 9, 1996 October 25, 1996 November 22, 1996 Cutie Q (1979) Xevious (1983) Mappy (1983) Gaplus (1984) Grobda (1984) Dragon Buster (1985) Bomb Bee (1979) Namco Museum Vol. 3 June 21, 1996 February 20, 1997 February 12, 1997 Galaxian (1979) Ms. Pac-Man (1982) Dig Dug (1982) Phozon (1983) Pole Position II (1983) The Tower of Druaga (1984) Namco Museum Vol. 4 November 8, 1996 July 17, 1997 August 18, 1997 Pac-Land (1984) The Return of Ishtar (1986) Genpei Tōma Den (1986) Ordyne (1988) Assault (1988) Assault Plus (1988) Namco Museum Vol. 5 February 28, 1997 November 26, 1997 February 26, 1998 Metro-Cross (1985) Baraduke (1985) Dragon Spirit (1987) Pac-Mania (1987) Valkyrie no Densetsu (1989) Namco Museum Encore October 30, 1997 King & Balloon (1980) Motos (1985) Sky Kid (1985) Rolling Thunder (1986) Wonder Momo (1987) Rompers (1989) Dragon Saber (1990) indicates a hidden game. In addition, Bomb Bee is unavailable outside of Japan.
Namco Museum 64 and Namco Museum (1999–2002)
Namco Museum 64 for Nintendo 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance are the first compilations in the series to omit a virtual museum. The GBA version was released worldwide and was a launch title for the system in North America, while other versions were exclusive to North America. The following games, originally featured in Namco Museum Vol. 1 and Namco Museum Vol. 3 for the PlayStation, are included: Pac-Man (1980, not in the GBA version) Ms. Pac-Man (1982) Galaga (1981) Galaxian (1979) Pole Position (1982) Dig Dug (1982)
The GBA version does not retain high scores when powered off, which is also the case with its counterpart game, Pac-Man Collection. On the Wii U Virtual Console, however, the Restore Point feature saves scores for both games. The N64 version requires a Controller Pak with eight free pages and one free slot to save high scores and settings. The Dreamcast version requires a VMU with eight free blocks for saving progress, while also offering a mini-game that's exclusive to the VMU titled Pac-It, with gameplay similar to Kaboom!.
In the United States, Namco Museum for the Game Boy Advance sold 2.4 million copies and earned $37 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the third-highest-selling game for handheld game consoles in that country.
It was also the first time an entry had been released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. It was first released in 2001 on PlayStation 2, followed by GameCube and Xbox in 2002.
The compilation on these consoles includes all the games from Namco Museum 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast plus: Pac-Man Arrangement (1996) Galaga Arrangement (1995) Dig Dug Arrangement (1996) Pac-Attack (1993) – hidden game Pac-Mania (1987) – hidden game Pole Position II (1983)
This edition of Namco Museum is the first collection in the series to include a game that originated on home consoles (Pac-Attack, originally released on the Genesis and the Super NES and also previously included in the Japanese-only Namco Anthology Vol. 2, and Pac-Man Collection). The version of Pac-Attack seen here also resembles the Genesis version, as opposed to the SNES version. This is distinguished by the music, which sounds like the Genesis version of the game.
The "Arrangement" games in the collection were originally on the arcade's Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. The pitch of the music in Pac-Man Arrangement and Dig Dug Arrangement has been changed slightly from the original: it is higher-pitched than in the arcade versions. This compilation was released only in North America on all three of the consoles on which it was released.
Namco Museum Battle Collection
This 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 co-operative 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 and Vol. 2. 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 additional games: Dragon Spirit, Motos Arrangement and Pac-Man Arrangement Plus.
Namco Museum 50th Anniversary
A special edition that marks Namco's founding as a toy manufacturing company in 1955. It was the second Namco Museum compilation to be released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameCube. The Game Boy Advance version was also the second Namco Museum compilation for the GBA. It was also released on Microsoft Windows. 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 and different menu music.
This compilation includes 16 games, except for the Game Boy Advance, which only includes five games:
indicates the five games included in the Game Boy Advance version. This version is similar to the original Namco Museum for that console, which also includes five games and no score-saving capability. 50th Anniversary replaces Galaxian and Pole Position with Pac-Man and Rally-X.
This is the first edition of Namco Museum with actual arcade game emulation using the original game ROM images (although voice sounds in Rolling Thunder, sounds for both Pole Position games and Xevious are stored in .wav files). Also, the GameCube version allows the player to insert a limited number of credits, about five or six, by repeatedly pressing the Z button when the game first starts, but then players can only exit to the main menu during gameplay. The PS2, Xbox, and PC versions allow the player to exit a game at any time, but skip 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 Windows PC version of the collection. It is also the last edition of Namco Museum to be released in North America by Namco as an independent company, before merging with Bandai later in 2006.
The Windows PC version was negatively received because it contains StarForce protection and does not run on Windows Vista or newer.
Namco Museum DS
Namco Museum DS was released on September 18, 2007.
The collection includes ten games:
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. It was re-released as part of a "Dual Pack" bundle with the Nintendo DS version of Pac-Man World 3 in North America on October 30, 2012.
Namco Museum Remix
Namco Museum Remix was released on October 23, 2007 for Wii. This compilation contains both the original arcade versions and "remix" versions of several games:
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