Namco Museum


is a series of video game compilations developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for home video game consoles. The first title in the series, Namco Museum Vol. 1, was released for the PlayStation in 1995. Entries in the series have been released for multiple platforms, including the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and Xbox 360. the latest being Namco Museum Archives Vol. 2, released in 2020.
The Namco Museum name was originally used for a chain of retail stores in the 1980s, which sold merchandise based on Namco video games and characters. The compilations include video games developed by Namco for both arcade hardware and home game systems, including the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Some iterations use software emulation for the games, while others instead reprogram them from scratch. The collections typically include interchangeable game settings, online leaderboards or unlockable extras, such as games or promotional material. The original PlayStation series, with the exception of Namco Museum Encore, instead placed the player in a virtual museum that housed the individual games.
The Namco Museum series has been met with a mixed to positive critical response, some praising the emulation quality and unlockable extras while others criticizing the overall presentation and lack of updated features to the included titles. The franchise has sold a total of more than copies worldwide.

Games

''Namco Museum Vol. 1''—''Encore'' (1995–1998)

Six Namco Museum volumes were released for the PlayStation from 1995 to 1998, including one that was released only in Japan. When Namco unveiled Volume 5 at the November 1996 PlayStation Expo, it was announced that it would be the final volume in the series, hence the sixth volume's title, "Encore". The first five volumes pose a 3D virtual museum that players are able to walk around in, with each game being stored in an "exhibit" room. In these museums, players can view conceptual artwork, marketing material, arcade system boards, and other material relating to the included games. Encore replaces the museum with a standard menu system. The means by which Namco recreated the games for the PlayStation hardware is unclear; the arcade game conversions contain pieces of the original game data but none of the original source code, suggesting they are object-level recreations.
The control systems of each of the games were well-preserved. However, since the PlayStation's analog controller was not available at the time, analog control for Pole Position and Pole Position II is only supported in these compilations by Namco's neGcon joypad.
In Japan, Vol. 2 had a special edition box set that included replica promotional cards and the Namco Volume Controller. A limited edition of Namco Museum Encore was bundled with a case designed to hold the six volumes in the series plus a memory card. All six volumes were added to the Japanese PlayStation Store as PSOne Classics. Volumes 1 to 4 were released on December 11, 2013 while Vol. 5 and Encore were released on December 18, 2013. The five numbered installments were added to the North American PlayStation Store on September 30, 2014.

''Namco Museum 64'' and ''Namco Museum'' (1999-2002)

Namco Museum 64 for Nintendo 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance are the first compilations in the series to omit a virtual museum. The GBA version was released worldwide and was a launch title for the system in North America, while other versions were exclusive to North America. The following games, originally featured in Namco Museum Vol. 1 and Namco Museum Vol. 3 for the PlayStation, are included:
The GBA version does not retain high scores when powered off, which is also the case with its counterpart game, Pac-Man Collection. On the Wii U Virtual Console, however, the Restore Point feature saves scores for both games. The N64 version requires a Controller Pak with eight free pages and one free slot to save high scores and settings. The Dreamcast version requires a VMU with eight free blocks for saving progress, while also offering a mini-game that's exclusive to the VMU titled Pac-It, with gameplay similar to Kaboom!.
In the United States, Namco Museum for the Game Boy Advance sold 2.4 million copies and earned $37 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the third-highest-selling game for handheld game consoles in that country.
It was also the first time an entry had been released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube. It was first released in 2001 on PlayStation 2, followed by GameCube and Xbox in 2002.
The compilation on these consoles includes all the games from Namco Museum 64 and Namco Museum for Dreamcast plus:
This edition of Namco Museum is the first collection in the series to include a game that originated on home consoles. The version of Pac-Attack seen here also resembles the Genesis version, as opposed to the SNES version. This is distinguished by the music, which sounds like the Genesis version of the game.
The "Arrangement" games in the collection were originally on the arcade's Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. The pitch of the music in Pac-Man Arrangement and Dig Dug Arrangement has been changed slightly from the original: it is higher-pitched than in the arcade versions. This compilation was released only in North America on all three of the consoles on which it was released.

''Namco Museum Battle Collection''

This title was released on the PlayStation Portable in 2005. It contains over twenty of Namco's games such as Pac-Man and Galaga. In addition, new "Arrangement" variants are available for Pac-Man, Galaga, New Rally-X and Dig Dug, which have updated gameplay, graphics and can be played in a versus or co-operative mode using the PSP's ad hoc feature. Game Sharing, a feature that had not yet been used on the PSP, was introduced in this game. This allowed others PSPs in the area to download the first few levels of some of the games.
The "Arrangement" games in this compilation are not the same as they were on the arcade's Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. They are entirely new games that were designed to take advantage of the PSP's hardware and features.
The Japanese version is divided into two volumes, with the second containing three additional games: Dragon Spirit, Motos Arrangement and Pac-Man Arrangement Plus.

''Namco Museum 50th Anniversary''

A special edition that marks Namco's founding as a toy manufacturing company in 1955. It was the second Namco Museum compilation to be released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and the GameCube. The Game Boy Advance version was also the second Namco Museum compilation for the GBA. It was also released on Microsoft Windows. In Japan, this was released under the title Namco Museum Arcade Hits! for PlayStation 2 only, with Pac-Mania and Galaga '88 unlocked right from the start and different menu music.
This compilation includes 16 games, except for the Game Boy Advance, which only includes five games:
indicates the five games included in the Game Boy Advance version. This version is similar to the original Namco Museum for that console, which also includes five games and no score-saving capability. 50th Anniversary replaces Galaxian and Pole Position with Pac-Man and Rally-X.
This is the first edition of Namco Museum with actual arcade game emulation using the original game ROM images. Also, the GameCube version allows the player to insert a limited number of credits, about five or six, by repeatedly pressing the Z button when the game first starts, but then players can only exit to the main menu during gameplay. The PS2, Xbox, and PC versions allow the player to exit a game at any time, but skip being able to add credits. For Dragon Spirit, Pac-Mania and Galaga '88, the continue features from the original arcade versions have only been retained in the Windows PC version of the collection. It is also the last edition of Namco Museum to be released in North America by Namco as an independent company, before merging with Bandai later in 2006.

''Namco Museum DS''

Namco Museum DS was released on September 18, 2007.
The collection includes ten games:
This game also allows access to each game's DIP switches, but some arcade-exclusive options are left out such as the "Rack-Test" on Pac-Man. It was re-released as part of a "Dual Pack" bundle with the DS version of Pac-Man World 3 in North America on October 30, 2012.

''Namco Museum Remix''

Namco Museum Remix was released on October 23, 2007 for Wii. This compilation both the original arcade versions and "remix" versions of several games":
When played on multiplayer, the Miis are used. Galaga Remix on this compilation is not the same as the Galaga Remix iOS application.

''Namco Museum Virtual Arcade''

This collection was released for the Xbox 360 on November 4, 2008, in North America, May 15, 2009, in Europe, June 3, 2009, in Australia and November 5, 2009, in Japan. Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is made up of two sets of games. The first is Xbox Live Arcade, which includes nine Xbox Live Arcade games. These are identical to the digital Xbox Live Arcade versions but are present on the game-disc. These games can be selected from the compilation's menu or, only while the game disc is in the console, accessed directly from the Xbox Live Arcade menu. The next set is Museum, which also includes Museum games, although these are the ones accessible directly from the disc. However, they do not come with achievements or online play. Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is the first Namco Museum game to include Sky Kid Deluxe, while all of the rest were already or previously available on consoles. In common with other disc releases that include full Xbox Live Arcade games on-disc, installation of the game disc to the Xbox 360 HDD is disallowed.
;Xbox Live Arcade Games
;Museum Games
The Arrangement games are the same as they were on Namco Museum Battle Collection for PSP, although New Rally-X Arrangement is not included in this compilation. Additionally, on all games, the original 2-player modes from the original arcade versions do not appear here; all games are one-player only. The Xbox Live Arcade games do not have multiplayer either with the exception of Mr. Driller Online's online mode. The Xbox Live Arcade games can only be played when the disc is inside the system. The games must be downloaded from Xbox Live Marketplace for their regular prices in order for the games to be retained in the system's game library.