Game Boy Advance

Namco Museum 50th Anniversary

Everything was a lot simpler in the 1980s; movies, music, and especially video games, which were just in their infancy at the time. Most people in their 30s can tell you a story about the old days of gaming, back when arcades were thriving for the first time. Soon after, the video game market crashed from over saturation and though the home game market flourished, the arcades never did recover fully (aside from a few years in the early 90s thanks to a little game called Street Fighter II).

Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection feels like the 50th time I’ve seen Namco re-release their classic games. That aside, it has been stuck in my GBA since it arrived, which in turn has been stuck to my hands. Dig Dug, Galaga, Rally X – who hasn't played these games a zillion times? I've never met anyone who hasn't heard of Pac-Man, one of the world's most influential arcade games. These classics, along with Ms. Pac-Man, have had their day and no longer own our pocket change.

Retro gaming is one of the hottest trends in the industry right now; every publisher is releasing compilation games packed with old-school classics. Namco Muesum 50TH Anniversary feels watered down compared to its console counterparts, but the games that made the cut are worth having in any collection. There are five games in all: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga and Rally X.

Four of the five games in Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary are already available on the GBA in previous Namco collections. If you already own the earlier cartridges, you're probably better off sticking with them. That's because this new compilation doesn't bring much in the way of improvements to the table, other than additional display and difficulty settings. For those of you who haven't yet indulged in Namco's back catalog, however, this is certainly a good place to start.

You would think that a game that celebrates a company's 50th Anniversary would be something special, something extraordinary, something that says, "Hey, check out what makes us so great!" But nope, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary is a pretty routine and basic compilation of games that barely scratches the historical surface of the gaming giant. It essentially recycles games that have already been on the Game Boy Advance platform since day one and repackages them with a new front end. That's it. Nothing special here, folks.

Jetzt schlägt auch Namco auf dem GBA mit seinem 50. Geburtstag zu und versorgt Retrofreunde mit fünf alten Spieleklassikern. Ist das ein Grund zum Feiern? Das kommt auf euer Alter an, denn die Titel haben schon einige Jahre auf dem Buckel: Pac-Man und seine bessere Hälfte Ms. Pac-Man, der Space Invaders-Verschnitt Galaga, Rally-X und Dig Dug. Aber vor allem der gelbe Pillenfresser und Dig Dug machen auch heute noch Freude. Optisch und akustisch gibt es keine Frischzellenkur. Ältere Semester schwelgen in Nostalgie, jüngere Spieler wenden sich schnell ab!

Fifty years. That’s a hell of a long time for a single company to be in business. To commemorate their golden anniversary, Namco decided to release a compilation of some of their most popular classic games on one cart. Making appearances in Namco Museum 50th Anniversary are Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Rally X, Dig Dug, and Galaga.

Namco is having its 50th birthday this year, and just about every system out there is getting a new collection of classic arcade games to celebrate. But if the consoles and PSP are getting one of those really cool store bought cakes with the super-rich frosting and a couple of Star Wars dudes or Matchbox cars on top of it, then the GBA is getting a crummy cupcake with a single, half-used candle stuck in it.

Avec 5 pauvres jeux qui jouent aux chaises musicales dont 3 sont des clones, Namco se paie le luxe de tenter le casse du mois en dévalisant les nostalgiques. Pensez donc à mettre vos alarmes en marche et prévenez la police si vous tombez sur une version de cette compilation.