Namco Museum Vol. 4

"Retro gaming die-hards are probably the only ones who can appreciate this collection."

While Namco may have used up most of their familiar hits on the first three Museum compilations, that doesn’t mean they’ve run out of grade-A material. Namco Museum Volume 4 contains some of the more obscure titles from Namco’s vaults, some of which were probably never seen outside of Japan, but for those intrepid enough to really give this disc a chance, this collection can be a lot of fun. One thing that jumped right out at me when I looked at the lineup is that Namco has included only five games this time out (instead of the usual six): Pac-Land, Ordyne, Assault, The Return of Ishtar, and The Genji and the Heike Clans. I don’t know why they reduced the total number of games for Volume 4, but I’m not going to complain too much since overall this is a good collection.

The Museum portion of Volume 4 has undergone another renovation, but while everything looks and sounds different from before, there isn’t a whole lot that’s changed. The exhibits are all the same stuff that I’ve come to expect: motherboards, promotional materials in Japanese, How To Play and Tips screens, etc. Loading times have been reduced from the previous games, and that’s always appreciated. There’s a little bit more interactivity in the game rooms, and it can be fun to look for secrets and such in them.

Volume 4 contains quite a few more secrets than I’ve seen in the other editions, including a bizarre alternate intro that looks like a promotional video for The Genji and the Heike Clans. If anybody knows exactly what that is, I’d love to here about it. Perhaps the biggest secret is the addition of the Assault Plus game, hidden in the empty room to the left of the Assault exhibit. Some might count that as the sixth game in the collection, but I don’t since it’s an alternate version of Assault, with easier and harder modes of the original game. It’s a nice addition, though. (Take a gander at Richard Uyeyama’s FAQ for Volume 4 for more details).

The library and theater are on separate levels of the Museum this time, but they pretty much have the same sort of stuff in them as before. The library has concept art for all five games instead of just one or two, and some of it is quite interesting. There’s also another batch of NG magazine cover scans and the ever-incomplete game list as well as some other curiosities. Both the library and the theater are filled with characters from Namco games, and the theater also has Pic Pac, a robot rock band. Uh, it’s different. The theater is the only place you can hear the Museum music, because there are no redbook audio tracks on the CD for the first time in the series, and that’s kind of a bummer.

Namco made a couple of control changes for navigating the museum that I like. You can now strafe using the the L1 and R1 buttons, which is nice when you don’t feel like running into every single wall in the building. The designers also made it so that you don’t have to hold the “look up” button to keep your viewpoint skyward, and there’s another button for bringing your view back down. One other thing that deserves mention is that whenever you exit one of the games, you are presented a menu that allows you to skip to another game without having to go back to the museum or the title screen. Sure, these are little things, but they do help make getting around quicker and easier.

As for the games on Namco Museum Volume 4, I’ve got to be honest and say that I’d only ever seen and played one of these before in the arcades, and that’s Pac-Land. I’d heard of Ordyne and Assault, but I’ve never gotten my grubby mitts on them until I picked up this compilation. I suspect that’s true for plenty of other people out there, so the nostalgia factor for this disc is on the low side. Still, with the exception of one stinker, I really like the games on this collection:

Pac-Land
This is the oldest game of the five, dating back to 1984. Pac-Land is a side-scrolling platformer that predates the groundbreaking Super Mario Bros. by about a year. There are plenty of similarities between the two games: both feature prominent video game mascots, both have plenty of hop-and-bop gameplay, and both are filled with power-ups and other goodies in a fanciful world. The main difference is that Nintendo’s game just does it a whole lot better than Namco’s. That’s not to say that Pac-Land isn’t worth revisiting, though. There are five trips (read: worlds) to choose from to start with, each containing four rounds, and your goal in all of them is to return a lost fairy to Fairy Land. It wouldn’t be a Pac-Man game without those insufferable ghosts, so they’re all here to get in the way, along with numerous landscape hazards. The game’s graphics strongly resemble the Pac-Man cartoon series, and most of the characters from the show (and previous games) are present, including cameos by Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man. Pac-Man’s main power-up is the ever-present Power Pellet that temporarily turns the ghosts into blue snack treats. The other power-up is a pair of magic shoes that Pac wears on the fourth round of every trip; these allow Pac to fly by repeatedly hitting the jump button. I like Pac-Land, but I don’t like the game’s control, which is an odd setup for any game. Moving left and right, as with jumping, is handled by pressing buttons, so there’s no joystick. The speed with which you move left and right is determined by the number of button presses you make, and that’s also true when Pac launches off a springboard. Stopping Pac, and determining where he’ll land after a jump can be unnecessarily tricky. The whole thing is way more complicated than it needs to be, and getting used to it takes a while. Pac-Land does have some secrets hidden within, but none of them are on par with those in Super Mario Bros., and the overall level design isn’t too terribly imaginative when you compare the two. This game definitely has its quirks, but I enjoyed playing it again anyway.

Ordyne
Well, every Namco Museum has at least one shooter in it, and Ordyne fits the bill for Volume 4. This is the first game to appear in this series that has in-game loading in it, so the game is apparently too big for the Playstation to fit it and the Namco emulator in its memory. Ordyne is a side-scrolling shooter that fits in the same mold as classics like Gradius and R-Type. You control either Tomari Yuichiro, a scientist, or Sunday Chin, his assistant, and the goal is to shoot everything in sight on your way to rescuing Yuichiro’s fiancee as well as Ordyne, his atomic conversion device, both of which have been stolen by the diabolical Kubota. This game features some pretty wild enemies and obstacles, and the overall tone of the game is fairly lighthearted. The game’s soundtrack is terrific, sporting some wacky and up-tempo tunes that make a great backdrop for the action. This game may look like total kiddie fare, but the game’s difficulty is high, especially on the last level and a half, which are nearly impossible unless you have two players (and the infinite credits help, too). To help you, the game has power-ups that you purchase by picking up crystals and using them as money at the Airborne Inn, and there’s also a mini-game where you can acquire extra crystals and power-ups. Ordyne is an excellent game, providing a noisy, fun, and challenging experience.

Assault
Assault is a tank combat game from 1988 with some rather unconventional twists in it. The storyline is nonexistent, so all you have to worry about is blowing up all that’s in your way. To proceed from board to board, you have to eliminate the enemy fortress at the end of each level. The game’s control shares some similarities with that of Battlezone (which appears on Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1), with the d-pad controlling the left tread and the action buttons the right tread. The trigger buttons are used for firing shots, and your tank can also shoot grenades while, of all things, popping a wheelie; this move can be difficult to pull off, especially when you’re surrounded by enemy fire, and that will happen quite often. Grenades can also be fired after your tank has entered the Lift Zones and is in the air briefly. If these stunts weren’t enough, you can also have your tank roll to the left and right by pressing both treads in either of those directions. I’ve heard some complains about the control for Assault, but I didn’t have too much trouble with it, perhaps because I’d recently played Battlezone. My biggest complaint is that while this tank can take all that punishment from jumping and rolling around, the littlest shot from the weakest enemy is enough to take it out of commission. That didn’t seem right to me, and it makes the game substantially more difficult. The enemies are nicely varied throughout the game, and there are a whole lot of them everywhere. The game sticks you with a time limit on each level, and you really have to pay attention to it on the longer boards. All in all, I think Assault is a terrific game, and it’s easily better than the other tank game in the Namco Museum series, Grobda.

The Return of Ishtar
This game is a total disaster. I can’t think of a nicer way to describe how reprehensible The Return of Ishtar is. This is the sequel to The Tower of Druaga (from Volume 3), which ought to be enough to scare away most people from ever playing it. In this outing, you control both Gil and Ki, at the same time mind you, as they try to escape from the tower. The RPG overtones that were present in the first game are more prevalent here, but it doesn’t matter since the game is so remarkably unplayable. The control is bad enough, but the game is incredibly boring and ridiculously difficult. Ki has magic points for the spells she casts, but you’re never told how many she has, which isn’t exactly helpful. Gil is so pathetically weak that he’s useless, and if either character takes a hit, the game is over. Ishtar actually uses a password system for continuing, and that is an absolute no-no for an arcade game. You can choose for this version to simply have your progress saved on your memory card, but please don’t torment yourself. Hey, I realize that The Return of Ishtar tried some things that were innovative and definitely different, but it fails to provide any fun. Considering how many covers of those NG magazines feature Gil and Ki, I would guess that Japanese players liked Druaga and Ishtar a lot. Good for them. For me, this is the worst game in the Namco Museum series, surpassing even Phozon. It’s a blemish on this fine collection.

The Genji and the Heike Clans
This is one wicked game. In this hack-and-slash side-scroller from 1986, you take control of Kagekiyo, a samurai from the fallen Genji, who has been resurrected from hell to kill Yoritomo of the Heike. There are three different playing perspectives in the game: Side mode, Plain mode, and Big mode. Side mode is the regular view that most side-scrolling games prefer, and Plain mode features an overhead view. Big mode is used for boss battles, and all the characters are appropriately supersized. Controlling Kagekiyo and his sword attacks is Big mode can take some getting used to, but it doesn’t take too long. Each level, in any of the three modes, ends when he passes through a Torii arch. Kagekiyo has a life gauge made up of candles that melt away with each hit taken, and when they’re all gone, it’s back to hell with him unless you decide to continue. Falling into pits, which would normally kill you in other games, lands him in Yomi, a strange place where he might have a chance of survival if he can either buy his way out or simply get lucky. There are lots of power-ups for replenishing health and sword strength, among other things. There’s a lot about this game I don’t understand, and that’s because I’m not as well versed as I’d like to be in Japanese culture and specifically in the story of The Tale of the Heike. I haven’t read much in the way of positive press for this game in reviews of Volume 4, but I think it’s a lot better than it’s given credit for. The graphics are very good for a 1986 game, and the soundtrack is nothing short of excellent. There’s also quite a lot of voice work in the game, which is also very cool. I’m really glad that this collection introduced me to this game, and I honestly can’t decide between The Genji and the Heike Clans, Ordyne, and Assault for my favorite of the package.

I know that if I hadn’t been concerned with completing my collection of Namco Museum games that I wouldn’t have bothered with this one. This is one instance where being a fanatical completest paid off, because I found a lot to like in Volume 4. This is definitely a niche product if there ever was one, but retro gamers should give this one a chance.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/00, Updated 10/22/00