Namco Museum

"Namco Museum is the best collection of games on the GBA so far."

Namco Museum is made by Namco. In Namco Museum there are 5 games on 1 cartridge. The games are Ms.Pac-Man, Pole Position, Dig Dug, Galaga and Galaxian. You can change the lives or difficulty if you wanted to which is nice. And you can also go to the ‘Tips’ screen. In the Tips screen you will know things about your game. For example, in Ms.Pac-Man one tip says “Each ghost has a certain characteristic. Blinky chases. Pinky Ambushes. Inky scares easily and Sue isn’t very smart.” Unfortunately Namco never put a battery save to save your high score which is a downer. I will now review each one.

Ms.Pac-Man Review

Ms.Pac-Man is probably the greatest game in Namco Museum. In Ms.Pac-Man you have to eat all the pellets without getting eaten by the ghosts. There are four different stages in Ms.Pac-Man. In Ms.Pac-Man there are 4 power pellets. When you eat one of them all four ghosts temporally turn blue and can be eaten. As you get further into the game the power pellets will last only about 2-3 seconds. When you reach 10,000 points you earn an extra life which is helpful. The graphics and sound in Ms.Pac-Man are spectacular. You can pick half screen or full screen. Half screen is where you only see half the screen but has great graphics. Full screen is where you see the whole screen but in tiny graphics. The controls in Ms.Pac-Man are very simple. All you use is the direction pad. No need for B, A, or any other button. Ms.Pac-Man gets harder every level and it can get frustrating at times. The replay value in Ms.Pac-Man is incredible. You will always want to beat the high score. Overall Ms.Pac-Man is a great game and it earned the 10/10.

Graphics 10/10
Sound 10/10
Control 10/10
Challenge 10/10
Replay Value 10/10
Overall 10/10

Pole Position Review

In Pole Position you control a car and you have to win one lap before the time runs out. Pole Position is the worst game on the cartridge. Its not fun at all and is a waste of space on the cartridge. But the graphics are spectacular. When you crash into a sign and your car blows up it is highly detailed. The sound isn’t bad in Pole Position. All you will hear is just your engine and the sound of an exploding car when you crash into a sign. The control in Pole Position is very good and smooth. A is accelerate (move), B is brakes and R is shift up & down. The challenge is very bad because of the fact that you cannot win. The time will always beat you and you will get angry. You will not want to play Pole Position ever. Overall Pole Position gets 5/10.

Graphics 10/10
Sound 8/10
Control 10/10
Challenge 1/10
Replay Value 1/10
Overall 5/10

Dig Dug Review

Dig Dug is the second best game on this cartridge. It is awesome! In Dig Dug you have to kill all the enemies on the stage and then you advance to the next stage. The two enemies are Fygar (a dragon that breathes fire) and Pooka (a weak enemy). There are also rocks in Dig Dug that is used to kill your enemies but can kill you. In Dig Dug your weapon is a pump. You have to pump your enemies to death. It may sound silly but its very fun to do. Dig Dug is very fun and great. The graphics are spectacular and the sound is superb. Dig Dug is the only game on this cartridge that has music. And the music is very nice to hear. Although it is only on when you are walking. When you stand still you will just hear sound. The control is great. The Direction-Pad moves Dig Dug (that’s who you control) and A shoots the pump and pumps the air into your enemy. The challenge is very good. For the first couple rounds it might be easy but then it gets harder and harder. Sometimes Dig Dug will cause a little frustration but that’s okay. The replay value in Dig Dug is very good. You will want to play it over and over. Overall Dig Dug obtains a 10/10.

Graphics 10/10
Sound 10/10
Control 10/10
Challenge 10/10
Replay Value 10/10
Overall 10/10

Galaga Review

Galaga is a very good game on the cartridge. In Galaga you shoot aliens with your missiles and you dodge the aliens missiles. When you have beaten all the enemies on the stage you go on to the next stage. In Galaga you can sacrifice a life to make your ship a double ship which is great. Galagas very fun and makes Namco Museum even better. The graphics are marvelous and the sound is super. The control is very simple. The direction-pad is move and A is shoot. The challenge is great in Galaga. It starts out easy and then gets harder and harder. The replay value is very good. You will want to beat your high score and get to the harder levels. Overall Galaga is very fun game and earned the 10/10.

Graphics 10/10
Sound 10/10
Control 10/10
Challenge 10/10
Replay Value 10/10
Overall 10/10

Galaxian Review

Galxian is the fifth and final game on the cartridge. Galaxian is very similar to Galaga but is not very fun. In Galaxian you move very slow and you can’t have double ships. The graphics and sound are very good considering they are just like Galagas graphics and sound. The control is also the same. Direction-Pad is move and A is shoot. The Challenge isn’t too bad. The replay value isn’t very good at all. You might not enjoy Galaxian causing you not to play it a lot. Overall Galaxian is not a very fun game and gets a 6/10.

Graphics 10/10
Sound 10/10
Control 10/10
Challenge 10/10
Replay Value 3/10
Overall 6/10

Goods
-Ms.Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Galaga make a great trio!
-Excellent Graphics, Sound and Control for every game on the cartridge
-Very fun and addicting
-Replay value is very good
-You can change certain settings like how many lives you start with
-There is a Tips screen to help you

Bads
-Pole Position and Galaxian aren’t fun
-No Pac-Man! Namco could have put Pac-Man on there if there was no Pole Position
-No battery save to save your high scores

Buy, Rent or Don’t Bother?

Namco Museum is a very fun game but some people may not like it due to the fact that the games on Namco Museum are old. But if you’re a person that loves old-school gaming then you should no doubt buy this.

Overall 10/10

Namco Museum is a very fun game and is suggested that you get it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/21/02, Updated 03/26/02