Namco Museum Battle Collection – Sony PSP

Retro games are good, but when they are done right, they can be great. This is easily the greatest arcade compilation I’ve ever played. Not only can you play these classic arcade games in the palm of your hand, but you can enjoy the best collection of them all in one. 20 games, including “redone” games of Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga and RallyX.

The quality of each classic is amazing and they play nearly exactly to the old arcade cabinets from the retro 80’s, graphics, music, sound FX and all. The bestest of the best is clearly Galaga, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man, RallyX and DigDug. But it doesn’t stop there. There are 4 new Arrangement games of those 4 classics, I like to view them as remixes. They are are redone, upheavels in levels, gameplay, sound and graphics. The arranged Galaga is very addicting and you’ll be hooked instantly. Dig Dug remade is basically the same game with better graphics and new enemies. RallyX, which was a decent game in the 80’s, is redone and very fun to boot. These “arranged” games could have been sold seperately and probably most would have been pleased with them.

The originals are as fun as you remember them and just as challenging. Getting to that “key” in Pac-Man is still no easy task. But for novice gamers, never threat, you can continue from where you left off on many of the old games. Some of the other titles included like Grobada, Motos, Bosconian, DragonBuster and Galaxian are very obscure, but amazingly, they still do offer some fun factor. The rest you may not spent much time with in the past and most you might not play much, but you’ll be happy with it overall.

Some might be a bit “squinty” eyed playing some of the old games like Pac-Man, the ratio of the originals were made for horizontal screens, so it’s very small on the widescreen PSP, but thankfully they offered a “stretch” option for most of the titles. It looks a bit weird all stretched out, but it’s better than playing on the little playing field.

Overall, this is clearly the best PSP game to buy, especially if you like classic arcade gaming, this is how it all began, no quarters needed…

The Namco Museum Battle Collection is living proof that the past will always catch up with today’s advances, adding fuel to the argument that it’s all in the gameplay. Namco Museum showcases the founding concepts of most modern gaming, but, in essence, the sum of these games is all about the numbers. That, however, doesn’t change the fact that all of today’s games can trace their DNA to any one of these titles.

And gameplay is what you get with this collection. The PSP has been virtually retrofitted to give you a healthy dose of all your favorites from the early days of gaming, beginning of course with the immortal Pac-Man, the always imitated Galaga/Galaxian, and right on through to some little known but nonetheless engaging titles such as Rolling Thunder, Bosconian, and Xevious.

The four “arranged” versions (Pac-Man, Rally-X, Dig Dug, and Galaga) are sure to please a great many gamers with overhauled versions of their respective originals, but with a maximum six attainable levels in each of these games, sometimes the experience just seems a little short. The original versions, on the other hand, sometimes offer more challenge than their descendants, being impeded only by the fact that the only way to get the most of the PSP’s screen is to stretch the gameplay screen to fit and thus distort the original screen ratio.

If you’re the type of gamer who’s into the PSP mainly for its portability, Namco Museum could give you many hours of quick, satisfying casual gaming. Just pop it in and rack up those high scores.

However, if you have a PSP because you believe in its capability to equal its older brother and are on the lookout for seriously immersive, big-scale gaming, Namco Museum could do in a pinch, but it won’t rock your mind the way GTA:LCS, SOCOM, or any other hardware-maxing title is currently out there.

Namco Museum is seriously fun and worth a look. It may, on the whole, be old, but don’t dis this granddaddy just yet. There’s gold in them thar games.

This version of Namco classics is a must buy for PSP owners. Even if you have the 50th Anniversary version for the PS2. For one thing you get the more games and you get to have all those great games on the go. Once you get it the game, play Galaga Arrangement and put it on the easy level so you can play through the whole game. If you’re a pro at Galaga, you should be able to finish the game on your first try. The whole point of this is to check out the graphic power of the PSP. The background graphics in this game are awesome and show you what a powerful device the PSP actually is. To bad Namco didn’t put this game on the 50th Anniversary version for PS2 but hey they did it to make money. This Galaga Arrangement is actually different from the one on the Museum collection. The Galaga Arrangement on the PSP is more fun then the Museum version on the PS2. This game is must buy for all those Galaga fans owning a PSP. You’ll definitly enjoy it.