Namco Museum Battle Collection

Namco Museum Battle Collection
File:Namco museum battle collection cover.jpg
Developer(s)	Namco Tales Studio
Publisher(s)	Namco SCEE (Europe)
Platforms	PlayStation Portable
Release date(s)
Genre(s)	Action Compilation
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer, Game Sharing

Namco Museum Battle Collection is a collection of Namco arcade games such as Dig Dug, Pac-Man and Galaga and was developed by Namco Tales Studio Ltd.. It was released for the PlayStation Portable in Japan on February 24, 2005 and contained eleven classic games from Namco's game history. The North American version contained an additional ten games and was released on August 23, 2005. The Europe version, which was published by SCEE, was released on December 9, 2005 and was again as a Platinum and PSP Essentials hits on May 6, 2009 and April 8, 2011 respectively.

The compilation also contains four variants of several of Namco's more well-known properties, known as Arrangements. These games (Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaga and New Rally-X) have an updated presentation and also introduce a number of new gameplay concepts to each arranged title.

The classic games have the option to rotate the screen by ninety degrees to display the original arcade resolution alongside other size options typically not found in the Namco Museum series. The game also takes advantage of the PlayStation Portable's game sharing feature to allow other players who don't have a copy of the game to play any of the classic titles' first levels.

Additionally, the games in this collection are ports, rather than true emulations, denoted by the fact that in the original modes, the "waiting for start" screens (occurring after inserting a credit, but before starting the game) have been replaced by modern "console-style" options rendered in the style (font, etc.) of the original games. The options include "1P PLAY", 2P PLAY", and "OPTIONS". Also added is the ability to select any level that the player has already played. The only games without an added level select feature are The Tower of Druaga and Grobda due to the former's option to continue the last game on any level reached and the latter already possessing a stage select feature.

Games

Namco Museum Battle Collection contains the following games.

Arrangements

• Pac-Man Arrangement
• Dig Dug Arrangement
• Galaga Arrangement
• New Rally-X Arrangement

Each title has "Arrangement" as part of its name. However, these versions are unique to the PlayStation Portable and should not be confused with the original set of Arrangements (which also included Xevious and Mappy) released in 1995 and 1996 for arcades (See Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 & 2). In the arcade, New Rally-X Arrangement was Rally-X Arrangement. All Arrangements from this collection (except for New Rally-X Arrangement) received iOS re-releases with "Remix" replacing "Arrangement" in the name and are included in Namco Museum Virtual Arcade for the Xbox 360 (with the "Arrangement" names from the PSP versions), but these ports of the Arrangements removed all of the multiplayer features. The originals are also included with most of them for both ports. Pac-Man Arrangement from this compilation was also included in Pac-Man Museum which, like the iOS and Namco Museum Virtual Arcade versions, lacks the multiplayer features.

Original

• Galaxian (1979)
• Pac-Man (1980)
• King & Balloon (1980)*
• Rally-X (1980)
• New Rally-X (1981)
• Galaga (1981)
• Bosconian (1981)*
• Ms. Pac-Man (1982) (only in the Japanese and North American version)
• Dig Dug (1982)
• Xevious (1982)*
• Mappy (1983)*
• The Tower of Druaga (1984)*
• Grobda (1984)*
• Dragon Buster (1985)*
• Motos (1985)*
• Dig Dug II (1985)* (you can toggle between two versions of this game in this compilation)
• Rolling Thunder (1986)*
• Dragon Spirit (1987) (only in the Japanese version)

Regional differences

In Japan and Korea, the original release is known simply as Namco Museum for the PSP. It consists of the four arrangements and their respective games of origin, along with the original Rally-X, Galaxian, and in Japan, Ms. Pac-Man. The Japanese version was released on February 24, 2005 while the Korean version was released on May 2, 2005.

In the European (PAL) and Korean versions of this compilation, Ms. Pac-Man is not included. Also in the Korean version, Galaxian, Rally-X, New Rally-X and New Rally-X Arrangement are called Old Galaga, Banggor, New Banggor and New Banggor Arrangement respectively.

The second volume of Namco Museum for the PSP called Namco Museum Volume 2 was released on February 23, 2006 in Japan and on November 8, 2007 in Korea. Largely composed of the ten extra titles prepared for the International versions (denoted in the list above with an asterisk), Volume 2 also contains a port of 1987's Dragon Spirit as well as a brand-new arrangement of Motos and an updated arrangement of Pac-Man. Pac Man Arrangement Plus, as it is titled, bears no affiliation with Bally/Midway's Pac-Man Plus.

Both volumes of the Japanese version are available on the Japanese PlayStation Store.

Reception

IGN gave the game a 7.5 out of 10.

See also

List of Namco Museum compilations

External links

• Namco Museum Battle Collection guide at StrategyWiki