 Namco Museum vol. 1 PSX release Developer/US Publisher: Namco  Shortly
after the PSX took off Namco released a six-volume set of their classic
games for the system. The first of the six volumes, of course, included
the original Pac-man game. Since the Museum is essentially a hardware
emulator, the original arcade roms were actually used, so there is no new
Pac-man code on this disc per se, but it's being listed
anyway.Namco Museum vol. 2 PSX release Developer/US Publisher: Namco For the second Museum disc, Namco gave Ms. Pac-man a pass (for now) and went straight to Super Pac-man. Like Pac-man, this is the original game played on an emulator.  Return of
ArcadePC release Developer/US Publisher: Microsoft We all know how evil Microsoft is, they DO deserve credit for bringing us the first decent home version of Tempest in their Microsoft Arcade pack. This sequel to their successful title included Pac-man. I've never tried this version, though I assume it ran perfectly for people who owned 300MHz computers at the time. =P Ms. Pac-man Super NES release Developer: Digital Eclipse (?) US Publisher: Williams Hmmm... First of all, Midway's ties with Namco have been long but severed at this point. Second, this game is EXACTLY like the Genesis and GG versions, right down to the flashy title screen, and yet a different developer is credited. This may be why the game has been extremely hard to find, even online in ROM format.  Pac-man
VRArcade release Developer/US Publisher: Virtuality This is a rather hokey VR game you may find at Dave & Buster's or some arcades in Vegas. Like most VR games, it's too expensive and doesn't last very long. You get a time limit instead of lives. When ghosts touch you, you lose time, and when you eat them (which is almost impossible) you gain it. Still, it's worth playing once just to see what it must have been like for Pac-man. I've discovered this kind of thing is a lot harder when you can see in only one direction. ^^; Having the cord wrap around you when you try to make a complete turn doesn't help either...  Namco Museum vol. 3 PSX release Developer/US Publisher: Namco  Ms.
Pac-man, the most popular Pac game, finally got its turn at being emulated
on the PSX. I wonder what its museum entry was like?Namco Museum vol. 4 PSX release Developer/US Publisher: Namco Pac-man's gay romp through Pac Land gets emulated this time around. Namco Museum vol. 5 PSX release Developer/US Publisher: Namco And finally, Pacmania. So all five volumes in the collection have one Pac game each. How quaint.  Namco Anthology vol. 1 PSX release Developer: Namco US Publisher: none Yet another collection of Namco games! This one never got a US release, and is listed here because Pac Panic was one of the games included. Yup.  Revenge of
ArcadePC release Developer/US Publisher: Microsoft The third and (so far) final Microsoft Arcade pack included Ms. Pac-man. Namco History vol. 3 PC release Developer: Namco US Publisher: none Yes... it's a collection. This series was released by Namco for the PC, for Japan only. The games are probably emulated, and the difference between this and the PSX Museum series is that the games are categorized in groups this time. Volume 4 included all the Galaxian games, and this one includes all the Pac-man ones. Specifically, Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Super Pac-man, and Pac & Pal. Why, it's the first official home version of Pac & Pal!  Pac-man Game Boy Color release Developer/US Publisher: Namco With the advent of the Game Boy Color, Namco re-releases their Pac-man games, this time in.... color (woooo). I've also read in reviews that 2-player simaltaneous play is now featured on the Pac-man release, and was shocked to hear Namco actually made some kind of improvement to the game itself. They also packed an extra game on each cart to increase the value somewhat. In this case, Pac Panic was included. Ms. Pac-man Game Boy Color release Developer/US Publisher: Namco ...and in this case, Super Pac-man was included. But there is no 2-player simaltaneous option for either game. I guess Namco remembered that people are stupid enough to keep buying the same games over and over again whether they had improvements or not, and stopped bothering.  Pac-manNeo Geo Pocket release Developer/US Publisher: Namco ...and Neo Geo Pocket players don't even get 2-player play OR an extra game. Just a portable version of the original Pac-man. Nothing new, nothing remotely exciting... Just the same old fucking Pac-man yet AGAIN. Namco Museum 64 Nintendo64 release Developer/US Publisher: Namco  Namco took the more popular games from their 6-volume PSX series and emulated them on one N64 cart (ummm... looking at the pic Jess provided, maybe it WASN'T emulated. What the hey?). Again, this is JUST the original Pac (and Ms. Pac). There are no real additions. It doesn't look like we'll EVER get a home version of Pac-man Arrangement. Namco's just just trying to fill their goal of making Pac playable on EVERYTHING. I can't be the only one who's finding this a little tiring... Pac-man Desktop PC release Developer: Namco US Publisher: none Pac-related mini-games and desktops goodies from Namco, apparently. Can't say much else 'cause I don't live in Japan.  Pac-man World
20th AnniversaryPSX release Developer: Namco US Publisher: Namco Released a year before his 20th Anniversary, actually. Can't really review this one, being that there ain't a video store around me which seems to want to carry it as a rental. I hear it's not too bad, and it actually sticks to the formula better than, say, Pac in Time did. Hope I can find it eventually...
|
