Namco Arcade Classics TV Games System accuracy?

[Zaxxon]

Has anyone here tried this out yet? I think this is by the same people who did the 2600 and INTV units. Did they miss the mark like they did with those others? How freaking hard can it be to make it arcade accurate? You just stick in an off the shelf Z80, the same sound chip etc. and you should be able to run the actual arcade code.

[Arcade Antics]

I haven't tried it out yet, but have heard that the games are not emulated - they're all ports. I understand that all the sounds are messed up and there's no voice in Bosconian. Also heard that the collision detection in Dig Dug is messed up, and other details are botched in all the games. I know it's second hand info, but it was enough to make me put off buying it until it hits the bargain bin.

[Raccoon Lad]

It's been a few months since I tried it, but it was pretty good. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than most of those game-in controller retro-packs that've been released lately.

[Neil Koch]

How was the control? The stick kind of looks flimsy to me.

[Captain Wrong]

Side note...BOSCONIAN????? WTF were they thinking??? No Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, etc, but we got Bosconian? Huh? Does anyone even remember seeing Bosconian in an arcade back in the day? I don't. And Rally X, whoo hoo!!!!

Sorry, I was a bit underwhelmed by the selection of games. Switch Galaga for Galaxian and Ms. Pac Man for Bosconian and we might have a deal.

Honestly though, is there anyone here who doesn't already have these games in some "arcade perfect" (yeah, right) form or another?

Interesting idea but I'll pass.

[NE146]

Side note...BOSCONIAN????? WTF were they thinking??? No Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, etc, but we got Bosconian? Huh? Does anyone even remember seeing Bosconian in an arcade back in the day? I don't. And Rally X, whoo hoo!!!!

I think Bosconian is a great choice, and yeah I saw it in arcades back in the day.. And ironically enough there's a local arcade here at the mall that still has one up! LOL I should friggin take a picture :P

But anyway, the point is moot since they messed it up anyway. Apparently the joystick they put in does NOT all you to move diagonally in the game.. Which pretty much fouls up the entire game. I mean why'd they even BOTHER x_x

And yep, even at this point where if we didn't own the actual arcade cabinet, we have it on our PC's or Xbox's via Mame or in some other nice port like the GBA versions etc. I'd still be interested in checking it out. I don't mind that the conversions aren't "arcade perfect" (they're not). But it'd be interesting for me to own a little battery powered joystick that plays ports of these games. Good little shelf item I think.

[Tom61]

I got one recently. Pac Man plays really well thanks to the 4 way stick, probably worth it for just that if you don't have Mame machine or control panel with a 4-way stick. Pretty much an arcade perfect port (it's still a port, since the scores are on the side)

Galaxian, Dig Dug, and Rally-X play well, they got a few of the sounds wrong, but nothing major.

Bosconian sucks. 1. Bosconian is designed for an 8-way stick, the joystick is 4-way, so you can't go diagonal! 2. The level layouts are messed up (according my brother who likes the game much more than I) 3. There is no speech synthesis!

All in all, buy it for Pac-Man, get 3 games as a bonus, and forget about Bosconian.

[digitalpress]

Side note...BOSCONIAN????? WTF were they thinking??? No Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, etc, but we got Bosconian? Huh? Does anyone even remember seeing Bosconian in an arcade back in the day? I don't. And Rally X, whoo hoo!!!!

Oy! Back off of Bosconian!

We had a Bosconian machine in my college, I played the game to death back in the day. I still love playing the game on MAME. No comment on the question at hand - like Dave, I was put off enough by the early reviews to hang in there for the discounting that's bound to happen very soon.

[Zaxxon]

Where are you guys seeing these in stores? I can wait for them to be discounted but I don't want to wait too long if they're already scarce. Kmart is supposed to carry them but I didn't see any there.

I should buy a bunch, stick them in a cabinet with TV and coin door and charge $3500 for it like Namco.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I'd still like to get one of these, just to keep it at work for downtime.

And I'll second the props for Bosconian. I love that game. And I can probably kick your butt on it too. ALARM! ALARM!

[Achika]

The first one that I had the "right" on the joystick wouldn't work. Well, it would, I could turn any of the characters "right" three times then have to either wiggle it right until they moved or turn the unit off then back on. I was too frustrated to test out the second unit....so it sits in a drawer.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

If anyone's got a working one they don't want, let me know - I'd be willing to do some kinda trade or just buy it off of ya.

In case nobody could tell from my recent review of the Intellivision 25-game TV gadget, I don't really ask for these to be picture-perfect exact reproductions. Just close enough for government work, and fun.

[Zaxxon]

I'm curious as to what kind of hardware this runs on. Did they just use a scaled down NES board or something completely new and original specifically for this. I wonder if other game roms could be added/substituted.

[NE146]

ALARM! ALARM!

Is that what the dude is saying? When I was a kid I thought it sounded like he was saying "A LIE! A LIE!" LOL But recently people told me it was "Alert Alert" :P but now that you bring that up.. maybe it is "Alarm" :hmm:

By the way someone on RGVC commented about this a while ago.. here's what he said:

From: Jason Petersen (borg64@hotmail.com)
Subject: Namco TV Games - more inconsistencies
Newsgroups: rec.games.video.classic
Date: 2003-08-26 18:52:35 PST

Though on the whole I'm happy with my Namco TV Games unit, I've found a couple of differences from the original game versions:

Rally-X: When starting the bonus level, the text on screen says Charanging Stage No. 1".
http://thisoldcomputer.com/images/rallyx_charanging_stage.jpg

Galaxian: The starfield drifts upward instead of downward. Also, the
"shot fired" sound effect is off.

Interesting eh O_O

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

"Charanging" stage!? LOL Oh dear. Engrish!

[Arcade Antics]

Bosconian is awesome! I never had the chance to play it at an arcade :( , but when it first came out on the old PSX compilation, I logged in about three hours per day playing it. :) For about a year straight.

[Tom61]

Where are you guys seeing these in stores? I can wait for them to be discounted but I don't want to wait too long if they're already scarce. Kmart is supposed to carry them but I didn't see any there.


I got mine for $20 at Wal-Mart. It was in the electronic toys aisle. They said on X-Play that these cost $40, so I guess they're already being discounted


I'm curious as to what kind of hardware this runs on. Did they just use a scaled down NES board or something completely new and original specifically for this. I wonder if other game roms could be added/substituted.

If it's anything like the Atari joystick (haven't taken this apart yet), forget about roms or figuring out what it runs on. The Atari joystick just has two chip 'blobs' (bare chips covered in black epoxy).

[Arcade Antics]

I got mine for $20 at Wal-Mart. It was in the electronic toys aisle. They said on X-Play that these cost $40, so I guess they're already being discounted.

Not discounted just yet, the X-Play quote might have been MSRP or something. Every store has sold them for $20 or $25 since they came out.