Namco Museum Battle Collection is a compilation of Namco games, released for the PlayStation Portable in 2005 by Namco Hometek. The game would later be digitally re-released on the PlayStation Store.
This collection was exclusively released on the North American and European market; being adapted from another PlayStation Portable release just titled Namco Museum, which was released in Japan and South Korea. In comparison to the original release, Battle Collection includes many additional games; its added contents would later be released in Japan/Korea as part of an additional compilation, Namco Museum Vol. 2.
Overview[]
Namco Museum Battle Collection's main menu is divided into two rolling wheels: one featuring "Arrangement" games and the other featuring "Original" games. The "arrangement" games are newly-developed titles for this compilation (or rather its Japanese equivalent); they are not to be confused with the identically-titled Arrangement games seen in the Namco Classic Collection series (and in some of the Mass Media-developed Namco Museum collections).
The "original" games are emulated ports of Namco's arcade titles; though each game has added additional features. Upon inserting a "credit", a menu appears allowing the player to start the game, adjust the game's settings or display options, or continue from a later, previously-cleared level in the game. Each game also features a set of "Maniac Options", including a "Hi-Score Attack" mode and the ability to switch between different ROM versions (e.g. an "old" and "new" ROM set of Pac-Man).
Each game (with the exception of The Tower of Druaga and Grobda) features a multiplayer wireless mode for use with two PSP consoles. Additionally, Battle Collection adds a wireless "Game Sharing Mode", which allows one player to send one-round "demos" of certain games to another PSP.[1]
Games[]
Arrangement games[]
The "Arrangement" games menu features the following games:
- Pac-Man Arrangement (2005)
- Galaga Arrangement (2005)
- New Rally-X Arrangement (2005)
- Dig Dug Arrangement (2005)
Original games[]
Across all regions, the "Original" games menu includes the following:
- Pac-Man (1980)
- Galaxian (1979)
- King & Balloon (1980)
- Rally-X (1980)
- Bosconian (1981)
- Galaga (1981)
- New Rally-X (1981)
- Dig Dug (1982)
- Xevious (1983)
- Mappy (1983)
- The Tower of Druaga (1984)
- Grobda (1984)
- Dig Dug II (1985)
- Dragon Buster (1985)
- Motos (1985)
- Rolling Thunder (1986)
The original North American release also includes Ms. Pac-Man (1982); however, it was removed in the European release, likely as a result of the legal issues surrounding the game. The later digital re-release of the compilation removes Ms. Pac-Man across all regions.
Titles that support the "Game Sharing Mode" include Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Rally-X, New Rally-X, Dig Dug, Bosconian, King & Balloon, and Xevious.
Trivia[]
- In addition to removing the Ms. Pac-Man game, the European release also alters the Ms. Pac-Man character in the two-player mode of Pac-Man Arrangement; changing her to a Pac-Man with a flower on its head instead of a bow.
- The arcade ports in the compilation were reportedly outsourced to two different developers. Games that were originally released between 1979 and 1982 had their ports developed by Gotch Technology; the titles from 1983 onward were ported by an unknown developer, possibly TOSE.
- Likely in connection to the split development staff, the "Game Sharing Mode" only includes the pre-1983 titles.
- While nearly all of the arcade ports use proper emulation, the included version of Rolling Thunder is reportedly a port of the less arcade-accurate Namco Museum Encore version.
- While Namco Museum Vol. 2 is the direct sequel to the original Japanese version, it is likely that Battle Collection was developed first. This is evident by early promotional write-ups highlighting Battle Collection as having "10 US exclusives",[2] as well as Vol. 2 reusing Battle Collection's "Game Sharing Mode" (with the same game titles).[3]
Gallery[]
Artwork[]
