I am a 50 something woman,not much of a gamer, but got a DS for Christmas, and have become addicted to these games, especially Pacman and Galaxian. Playing them was exactly like back in the good ole days...and even my 10 year old niece enjoyed them, but of course she didn't have to read the instructions like I did.the graphics are good, if you liked it back in the 80's, you'll enjoy this game. Namco Museum
Maybe it's a result of my getting older but I recently felt a wave of nostalgia for the 80's and one of my fondest memories was playing arcade games. The arcades from my youth have all long since closed but I still have feelings for games like Crystal Castles, Pengo, Marble Madness and so on. A little while back I bought the DS version of Bubble Bobble containing a spot on translation of the classic game. Despite being over 20 years old Bubble Bobble is still loads of fun. After searching for some more classic games on the DS I discovered that two I have particularly warm memories of were being released in the new Namco collection. These included Xevious and Mappy. I wasn't sure why Namco was releasing Galaxian since it's almost exactly the same as Galaga except not nearly as good. So is it worth the investment?
I must say that none of these games compare to Bubble Bobble but in their defense they were all released prior to Bobble. The first thing I noticed is how shallow these games are. The wonderful memories I held for Mappy were soon replaced by the boredom of the games repetitiveness. Xevious has more variety but I found the game bloody hard and difficult to see on the small screen. You can set up the game to play tilted at 90 degrees and it looks far better but then you're holding the DS at an extremely awkward angle. Most arcade games were built with a tall screen but the DS screens are built wide so either you play the games with black bars on either side or tilt the system. Neither is a great solution. Galaga is fun but it just doesn't feel the same without a big chunky joystick controlling your fighter. I only played Dig Dug II briefly because it's junk compared to the original Dig Dug.
I have to give Namco credit for trying its best to recreate the arcade experience on a handheld system. Games have simulated mother boards with dip switches that can be set as if the player were an arcade owner. Players can even play with known bugs on or off. The kicker for me was the inclusion of a faux screen burn on Xevious. Now THAT is the sign of a loving crafted game.
Some people have complained about the selection of games and although I would have swapped out Dig Dug II, Towers of Druaga and Galaxian others have complained about the inclusion of Mappy so for each his own. The main problem with the games is that the DS screen dimensions differ significantly from the original arcade games but there's not much Namco could do about that. Something that Namco COULD have done something about was the inclusion of continues. I mean if you're trying to recreate an arcade experience players should be able to simulate popping in another quarter. Unfortunately every game gives you a quarters worth of play and Xevious is damn hard. At 20 bucks it's a bargain game but I must confess that I lost interest faster than I expected. Still, it's fun to have many of these games available in portable form.
I picked this up on the strength of Pac-Man Vs. last week, and was more surprised by the additional content than anything else. It's a simple collection, Pacman, Mappy, Galaga, etc. but the options are nearly endless.
In all of the old 'coin op' games, you can change up many many options; continues, number of lives, speed, difficulty, etc. You can even play with the dip switches as you would to adjust settings on a real arcade cabinet. I was shocked by the sheer number of choices available to the gamer, within each individual title.
For $15, this game is worth it for Pac Man Vs. alone. For the uninitiated, its a multiplayer PacMan, where one player plays regular old PacMan, but all of your friends play the part of the ghosts. The ghosts are given a very limited view, and the game plays like normal, Power pellets will kill ghosts, but its the basis for an excellent game of cat-and-mouse.
I would recommend this title to children or adult fans of the original titles. Due to the wide variety of difficulty and gameplay options, the player can choose just how challenging they wish the game to be.
My only real knock is that the selection is a bit limited. I would have appreciated a few more titles, or a few less duplicates. But again, for the price, you can't go wrong.
This game has 7 classics, all from 1979 to 1985, Including Galaxian(4/5), Pac Man(5/5), Galaga(5/5), Xevious(4/5), Mappy(4/5), The Tower of Druaga(2/5), and Dig Dug II(5/5). I like it how if you press START, SELECT, START while holding R, you can have a 2 player game on a single DS. And then there's a wireless/download game: Pac Man Vs.
How to operate Pac Man Vs.: Select Pac Man Vs.; In the middle of the touch screen you'll se a circle that says Wireless Vs. Touch it or select it with the A button. Then you'll see Create Room, Find Room, etc. I got stuck on the circle part and thought it was searching for opponnets. And I thought it was lousy because it wasn't working. So make sure you select Wireless Vs.
Anyhow, Pac Man Vs. is fun, and for the first time ever, you can be a ghost trying to catch Pac Man!
I would recommend this game to anybody, especially old games fans.
I bought this game for my children because the games were favorites of mine in the 80's. They love playing them. Dad has a good time with them to, but wishes he had a joystick for more manueverablity. Good 80's fun.
As I love the old school games, I find them hard to play on the DS. My daughter who I actually purchased the game for, just refuses to play them. She is 10 and said it is just not that much fun and finds is hard to use the buttons for this particular game. Oh well, win some and lose some. I'm not sorry I bought it... just will play once and a while. - Nintendo Ds Games - Video Games - Classic Games - Nintendo Ds Lite'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
