Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade for the Xbox 360

[Leo_A]

I see this came out this week. Looks like a nice collection with a large number of classics for a change in a Namco Museum release, including several rarely seen titles like Super Pac-Man and a few that have never been included in the past, such as the second Sky Kid title.

Also includes all of Namco's classic Xbox Live Arcade releases, and the updated takes on classics that have been released. So not a bad deal just to get disc copies of Mr. Driller, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and the new Galaga title.

Just thought I'd post about it, doesn't seem to be getting the attention it deserves at most places I visit. It flew under my radar somehow until a few days ago.

Nice to see a classic collection be released on next generation consoles. Looked like for a while there that services like XBLA had made them extinct, but hopefully sales of 25 year old arcade classics for $5-$10 a pop was disappointing enough where developers and publishers are reconsidering compilations.

The XBLA releases are installed and played from your hard drive. Their achievements are intact, plus you get another 1000 achievement points from the non XBLA releases.

CLASSIC GAMES

Pac-Man (XBLA)
Ms. Pac-Man (XBLA)
Galaga (XBLA)
Dig Dug (XBLA)
Motos
Galaxian
Rolling Thunder
Galaga 88
Pole Position
Xevious (XBLA)
Dig Dug 2
Pac Mania
New Rally-X (XBLA)
Baraduke
Dragon Buster
Dragon Spirit
Bosconian
Pac & Pal
Mappy
Grobda
Tower of Druaga
Metro-Cross
Pole Position 2
Sky Kid
Super Pac-Man
King & Balloon
Rally-X
Sky Kid Deluxe

XBOX LIVE ARCADE GAMES

Pac-Man Championship Edition
Mr. Driller Online
Galaga Legions

ARRANGEMENT GAMES

Pac-Man Arrangement
Dig Dug Arrangement
Galaga Arrangemen

[GrandAmChandler]

Moving this to Modern Gaming since it is for Xbox 360. Here is the info from wikipedia:

This collection is going to be released for the Xbox 360 on November 4th, 2008. The titles on this collection will be....

CLASSIC GAMES
Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man
Galaga
Dig Dug
Motos
Galaxian
Rolling Thunder
Galaga 88
Pole Position
Xevious
Dig Dug 2
Pac Mania
New Rally-X
Baraduke
Dragon Buster
Dragon Spirit
Bosconian
Pac & Pal
Mappy
Grobda
Tower of Druaga
Metro-Cross
Pole Position 2
Sky Kid
Super Pac-Man
King & Balloon
Rally-X
Sky Kid Deluxe

XBOX LIVE ARCADE GAMES
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Mr. Driller Online
Galaga Legions

ARRANGEMENT GAMES
Pac-Man Arrangement
Dig Dug Arrangement
Galaga Arrangement

The Arrangement games will the same as they were on the PSP's Namco Museum Battle Collection.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

This looks very tempting but I probbaly wont get it since none of these ever have an option to at least stretch the game screen. Games like Ms. Pac-man, Pac-Mania, etc. have such a relatively small screen compared to the full width of my tv screen. I know, I know..it's liek tht to preserve the correct aspect ratio....but i STILL want a chance to have it stretched to fill more of my screen dammit! *sigh* oh well.....

[Overbite]

Whats the price? I might get it if it's not $60

[swlovinist]

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3327219

$30....not bad at all

[Drexel923]

Whats the price? I might get it if it's not $60

$30

Must buy IMO...and I already have most of the Live arcade games too!

[kewlrabbit]

Let me get this straight... for $30 I get a whole bunch of classic games on a single disc plus the chance to earn 2400 gamerpoints? (I already have pac-man and P-M championship) I'm all over this.

[Leo_A]

Looks like we had the same idea, I edited that same list in just seconds before you posted. :)

I was debating where to place this, but decided for the classic gaming forum due to the content. I wasn't sure where was most appropriate.

I'll never understand why people would want to stretch their games, but it sucks for those that want it if it's not there.

Its a great deal at $30. I already own $40 worth of the XBLA games (Luckily I haven't bought Mr. Driller and Galaga yet at least), so its not as nice for me. But its still a nice deal, I'd have to pay $20 just to add those two XBLA games.

Your basically getting $60 in XBLA content, and a ton of free extra games, for only $30. It's a great deal in my opinion.

I wasn't able to pick this up today, but I'm curious what's there to prevent people trading this disc around and installing the XBLA titles to multiple consoles? Unless there are cd keys involved, it seems like there's absolutely nothing preventing that. I'm surprised they don't run off the disc (according to some who already have this at another board the XBLA releases get installed just like all your other titles). You just play the non XBLA titles from the disc.

My biggest issue with it so far is they're still doing the same old tricks, just on a larger scale. Several titles aren't on here that have been on recent Namco Museum releases. So if you want Gaplus, you have to buy the Wii version for example. It makes good business sense, but I'd love for a definitive Namco Museum release someday of at least their 80's classics with everything such as Jr. Pac-Man. They don't appear to have any intentions of doing their more modern titles like Midway started to do before giving up on their Midway Arcade Treasures line in favor of XBLA and PSN.

[boatofcar]

This is great news. May cheap arcade compilations live on forever!

[savageone]

I'm betting they are assuming a lot of the people that will buy this actually already own at least a couple of the XBLA titles that are on the disc. I have 4 of them (pac man ce, mr driller, galaga legions, and err new rally-x) and this still looks to be a freaking awesome deal.

This is sort of a double edged sword though.. Should I hold on some of those Capcom XBLA titles I haven't got yet just in case they release a 360 Capcom collection down the road? Honestly, this disc makes XBLA look like a rip off.

I am shocked that Pac Man CE, Mr Driller Online, and Galaga Legions are on there. Galaga Legions especially, that game is only ~2 months old.

The only way this could be better is if it refunded some microsoft points after detecting the games you've already purchased. :P

[GrandAmChandler]

I only have Pac-Mans CE, so this is a must buy for me.

[s1lence]

This needs a little bit of correcting.

The only games with achievements are the ones that where on XBLA in the first place. That means that Super Pac Man and others will not have achievements. Still, if you don't have the games its a good value.

As for installing on the HDD thats not what it does. It acts like the other arcade games that are on disc (Popcap Games Vol 1). It loads the game so it makes it look like the games are in your arcade library. As soon as you remove the disc when you are done the games disappear from your library.

I'll pick it up just because its a disc I don't have for the 360.

[Leo_A]

Even though that makes more sense, that's not what I've read from people saying they've played this. In fact, they're all saying the XBLA titles are installed to your hd and you can't even play them without exiting the game entirely when you select one when your ingame.

Looks like your right about the achievements, just the 1800 points from the XBLA titles on this disc.

Edit - IGN's review (Which was pretty sucky in my opinion) confirms your right. Guess no one at the boards I visit realized the reason they were still there was because the disc was in the drive.

Makes me regret having bought everything except Mr. Driller and Galaga Legions a bit less.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

I'll never understand why people would want to stretch their games, but it sucks for those that want it if its not there.


I'm surprised more people don't! These are great games to me but on my widescreen tv, the actual playing area seems so tiny on screen thus why I'd want to have it take advantage of more of the screen. Regardless, I think I will still rent this and see how it is...

[Leo_A]

You must have a pretty small widescreen tv, the viewing areas in 4:3 windows on the ones I've played blow away the size of the 4:3 screens I used to play these games on as a kid.

I'd rather see the games presented the way they were intended than distort them to get rid of black areas on both sides of a screen. I guess I just never felt obligated to use every inch of real estate on 16:9 displays like some do, especially if it means stretching stuff to fit and making it look terrible.

I can't imagine something like Xevious stretched to fit a 16:9 display, lol.

You might be interested in the new Sega Genesis Collection being discussed in another thread here, it does offer the option to distort the image to fill widescreen displays for those that prefer that.

[LiquidPolicenaut]

Actually, I have a "regular" sized 16:9 thank you very much ;) I also didnt mean to say the game screen should take up the whole 16:9 screen, mind you. I dont mind the borders on the sides (like a 4:3 sized window in a 16:9 screen) but in games like Ms. Pac Man, the window is a good deal smaller than a regualr 4:3 window...

[Leo_A]

Yeah I've noticed that, I don't like that either actually.

My widescreen display is only 24", pretty small compared to many people's. But its not much of a downgrade, if any, for 4:3 games. I've never owned a CRT bigger than 20", too deep to easily fit on any shelfs beyond that size.

I hope there's a option to at least make it fit 16:9 televisions vertically while maintaining the correct AR, I don't care about the arcade borders enough to lose viewing area. The borders should only be there to cover any areas the original 4:3 or 3:4 (If its vertical like Xevious) screen shouldn't cover, imo.

[Captain Wrong]

Was already in for Pac Man CE and Galaga Legions, but bought this disc without hesitation. The only thing is, man, this disc really brings home how crappy the 360 D-pad is. Wasn't there a mod you could do to improve it?

[VACRMH]

Where's Valkyrie no Dentetsu? :(

[c0ldb33r]

Hmmm, here's a question:

I've already purchased Galaga from XBLA and gotten the 200 points. Can I get them again from the disc version?

This sounds loads better than the Namco compilation shit I've purchased lately. I got a Namco collection for DS and Wii not long ago and was terribly disappointed with both.

[josekortez]

This compilation is a great deal and I'm just glad that it gives me another use for my Hori stick other than DOA 4 and Virtua Fighter 4. However, the original Pac-Man plays terribly with the arcade stick.

[Leo_A]

Hmmm, here's a question:

I've already purchased Galaga from XBLA and gotten the 200 points. Can I get them again from the disc version?

This sounds loads better than the Namco compilation shit I've purchased lately. I got a Namco collection for DS and Wii not long ago and was terribly disappointed with both.

No, its the same game and your profile won't distinguish between the two. They've done several nice recent ones. I thought their 50th Anniversary Collection from last generation had a nice lineup, as well as the PSP title. The Wii one is worthwhile for a couple of games like Gaplus, cheaper than hunting down the pricey PSOne version with it on it.


This compilation is a great deal and I'm just glad that it gives me another use for my Hori stick other than DOA 4 and Virtua Fighter 4. However, the original Pac-Man plays terribly with the arcade stick.


The stick sucks for games that require precise 4 way control. Great for a few games like Xevious though that require 8 way control.

[s1lence]

I haven't picked it up yet but I was wondering if the games that were not on XBLA that are included like Super Pac Man have online leaderboards?

[Leo_A]

I haven't noticed any, so I don't think so. I'll confirm when I play it tonight, I'm not sure I was online when I first played.

[Leo_A]

No leaderboards, and I discovered it isn't listed in my played games list.

[s1lence]

Thanks, thats what I needed to know. I heard it acted kinda like an original xbox 1 game when you load it. Bummer online leaderboards would have made it a must have.

[GrandAmChandler]

This is $19.98 just today at Amazon.com. These won't last long. A no brainer at $20, plus if you spend $25 it ships free. I made a purchase.

http://tinyurl.com/namcoamazon

-GAC-