Namco Museum Essentials is A MUST HAVE

[BHvrd]

Took a couple of weeks before I got it, but I have to say this is by far the best home or otherwise conversion I have ever experienced. It's as close to arcade perfect as can be without people yelling and the smell of bubblegum.

Galaga's bullets can be manipulated, Pac-man is the right speed and resolution, Xevious sounds just right and Dig Dug moves perfect. There is also Dragon Spirit which is flawless as well as Xevious Ressurection.

The leaderboards consist of who is on your friends list which makes it very personal and fun, it isn't like you have to get #1 in the world, just against your friends, lol.

This is the closest thing I have felt to being in an arcade in a long ass time and I recommend this to enthusiast's, purists and collectors, it nails everything and leaves any other "emulation" in the dust.

[TheDomesticInstitution]

What system is this on? Typing in "Namco Essentials" on Amazon yields no related results.

Ok so I check Metacritic and it has 1 listing for Namco Museum Essentials on the PS3... is this the version you mean? Also how does it differ from Namco Museum 50th anniversary on the Xbox (or other system)? Any new games?

A further edit...

It looks like it's download only? I can't be sure because there aren't many reviews. Also, it says there are only 5 games.

[BHvrd]

Yes it's a PSN download title.

It differs in the community aspect as it's now like a virtual arcade with high scores posted in real time across your friends list.

The visuals are crisp and have the same ambient feel as the originals, not muddy or blurry like many versions have been in the past and not pixelated like Mame can be before filtering is used. You get wallpapers to cover the rest of the screen around the game that really makes it where you are seeing nothing but game and cabinet art on the screen, it's more authentic and not generic, cheap or blurry looking. It focuses on the game.

It also has a reward system that links with Playstation Home so you can earn clothes and arcade units to decorate with, which brings it full circle into trying to bring community together, which is always good imo. If only they would bring back the blasted open mic chat to Home, like when it first came out (really cheesed about that).

I just can't stress enough how cool it is to login to see if one of your friends has beaten your hi-score, infinite replayability right there in that alone and the great presentation just tops it all off. Also as a side note is the ability to start on any level of the 5 games that you have beaten the game to. It doesn't count as a real play though and hi-scores are not saved, it's cool regardless imo.

[Neil Koch]

I DLed this mostly for Xevious/Xevious Resurrection and I agree it's worth the $10. More of the retro stuff put out on digital download should be done like this, rather than charging $5 (or more) for just one game...

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Here's some more details on the HOME aspect (if that kind of thing matters to you...and yes, I know I'm like, the only person here who enjoys Home).

By getting the in-game achievement stamps in the demo you unlock Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Galaga and Xevious arcade cabinets AND a multi game cocktail table for your personal home space. (And yes you can ONLY unlock these with the trial/demo version of the game.)

The full version of the game unlocks a Dragon Spirit cabinet and a gigantic Xevious Ressurection sit-down cab as well as tons of Namco clothing for your Home avatar and decorative statues.

And yes, you can use the "jump to level=x" to get the stamps/unlocks where applicable.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/Uploads%20via%20Pixelpipe/2009-08-23084603-1.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/Uploads%20via%20Pixelpipe/2009-08-23084641-1.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/Uploads%20via%20Pixelpipe/2009-08-23084709-1.jpg

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/Uploads%20via%20Pixelpipe/2009-08-23084738-1.jpg

These games are fully functional for you or any visitor to your home space that owns the full version of Namco Museum Essentials. Walk up to the cabinet and click play and you'll go right into a game and when you're done quit and you're sent right back to the home space you're in.

Or, if you don't feel like unlocking things for your private space, owners of the full version of the game can just use the arcade cabinets IN the "Namco Museum Arcade space" in Home.

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/994/994473/namco-museum-essentials-20090612032329123-000.jpg

Here's a breakdown of how to unlock everything for Home for anybody who's interested:

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3home&thread.id=721545&view=by_date_ascending&page=1

[FxMercenary]

I picked it up a few weeks ago too, and it is well worth it! There are a ton of unlocks in it for Playstation Home items as well shown above. Get it!!!

[kupomogli]

Here's some more details on the HOME aspect (if that kind of thing matters to you...and yes, I know I'm like, the only person here who enjoys Home.)

Does it keep your scores if you leave and come back? It only does that if you own the trial/demo version? They probably don't have that on PSN anymore do they?

[Kid Ice]

Is it worth it for Xevious Ressurection? That's the make it/break it item for me, and it's not in the demo.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Does it keep your scores if you leave and come back? It only does that if you own the trial/demo version? They probably don't have that on PSN anymore do they?

Yeah, all your high scores are stored network-level, it communicates with the server at the end of your game.

The demo is still up on PSN. Go git it.


Is it worth it for Xevious Ressurection? That's the make it/break it item for me, and it's not in the demo.

I think it's good, it doesn't "re-invent" Xevious the way that Pac-Man CE or Galaga Legions does, but it does add a ton of polish and a few boss battles.

Mike KillerSquirrel likes it as well.

[BHvrd]

The demo is still up on PSN. Go git it.


Keep in mind that the demo isn't nearly as good as the full version.

It is more pixelated, audio is a more muffled and the wallpapers are not nearly as good. The biggest offender is the way the ship shoots in Galaga, it's all fucked up in the demo, the speed is all wrong and honestly I wasn't going to buy the game cause of this, but found out it was tweaked to arcade perfection in the full version.

They really did quite a bit of fine tuning in between the demo and the full release. It really doesn't represent it that well.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Keep in mind that the demo isn't as good as the full release. It is more pixelated, audio is a tad more muffled and the wallpapers are not nearly as good.

They really did quite a bit of fine tuning in between the demo and the full release.

Ah. Good to know. Though, you'll need the demo to get the first 4 cabinets for home + the cocktail table (and a few other extras).