Namco Museum Remix, known in Japan as Everyone Plays! Namco Carnival (みんなで遊ぼう!ナムコカーニバル Minna de Asobou! Namuko Kānibaru), is a compilation of nine classic arcade games and five new "remixed" games based on other Namco titles, with Pac-Man as the protagonist. It was released for the Wii by Namco Bandai Games in 2007.
History[]
In September of 2006, shortly before the launch of the Wii in Japan, Namco Bandai announced a game dubbed "Pac-Man Carnival (tentative name)" for the console.[2] It is believed that Pac-Man Carnival was an early name for what would become Namco Museum Remix; as evident by the game taking place in a carnival, and prominently featuring Pac-Man. However, this has never been outright confirmed; and it is possible that Pac-Man Carnival was an unrelated project entirely.
Overview[]
Hub World[]
Namco Museum Remix opens in an overworld area based on the Pac 'n Roll gameplay engine; featuring a central fountain, a small lake, and large attraction hallways. The player navigates Pac-Man through this area to enter the attractions, which lead to their respective games. A "Carnival Arcade" building houses the classic games, which are presented in a row of decorative arcade cabinets.
Additionally within the hub world, there are hidden Pac-Dots scattered about; if the player guides Pac-Man to eat all of the dots, he will shout "Yay!".
Games[]
Remix games[]
All remixed games feature Pac-Man as the main playable character (with the exception of Galaga Remix, where he only appears in the background). Pac 'n Roll Remix is a single-player game, while the others allow up to four players.
- Pac 'n Roll Remix - Modified version of the Nintendo DS game.
- Pac-Motos - Pac-Man-themed remake of Motos.
- Rally-X Remix - Remake of Rally-X.
- Galaga Remix - On-rails shooter based on Galaga.
- Gator Panic Remix - Whac-a-Mole style game based on Gator Panic.
Arcade games[]
- Cutie Q (1979)
- Galaxian (1979)
- Dig Dug (1982)
- Super Pac-Man (1982) (Japanese version)
- Xevious (1983)
- Mappy (1983)
- Pac & Pal (1983)
- Gaplus (1984)
- Pac-Mania (1987) (Japanese version)
The arcade ports are similar to the variants seen in the PlayStation Portable Namco Museum installments. 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 title also features a sound test option. The copyright notices are removed from each game, though Namco logos are kept.
Seemingly as an intentional choice, the original installments of games featuring "Remix" versions (Pac-Man, Motos, Rally-X/New Rally-X, and Galaga) are not present in Namco Museum Remix.
Namco Museum Megamix[]
A new version of the game, Namco Museum Megamix, was released in 2010. In addition to all contents of the original Namco Museum Remix, it adds one new "remix" game and nine more arcade games. It was exclusively released in North America, and was sold at a budget price of $19.99 (USD).
Megamix retains the same overworld as the original game, save for adding a small carnival tent for Grobda Remix. The added arcade games are accessed through an added row of cabinets in the Carnival Arcade.
Remixed game[]
- Grobda Remix - Remake of Grobda.
Arcade games[]
- Pac-Man (1980)
- Rally-X (1980)
- King & Balloon (1980)
- Galaga (1981)
- Bosconian (1981)
- New Rally-X (1981)
- Grobda (1984)
- Motos (1985)
- Dig Dug II (1985)
Trivia[]
- Pac 'n Roll Remix and Pac-Motos would later be included in Pac-Man Museum +. Both titles retain the Namco Museum Remix credits screen when completing the games.
- In the multiplayer modes, the respective second, third and fourth player characters are a Pac-Man with a green hat, a Pac-Man wearing headphones, and a Pac-Man with a flower on its head. Rally-X Remix also allows the players to race as their Mii avatars instead of Pac-Men.
- The Pac-Men with a green hat and headphones are strikingly similar to two characters seen in the multiplayer mode in Pac-Man Arrangement Plus; though in that game, Ms. Pac-Man is the second player character, and the green hat Pac-Man has a pacifier. Furthermore, the European release of Pac-Man Arrangement (2005) replaces Ms. Pac-Man with a flower-wearing Pac-Man; suggesting a convoluted connection between the three games' characters.
- The Pac-Man-based arcade ports in Namco Museum Remix feature border artwork resembling the original Tadashi Yamashita Pac-Man illustrations, but are redrawn to resemble the 1998 Pac-Man character design by Hideki Tanaami. This is likely due to the strict requirements of the 1999 Pac-Man Character Manual, which is further evidenced by all instances of the Ghosts remaining unaltered (as the Ghosts do not appear in the 1999 character manual at all).
- This modification also applies to Namco Museum Virtual Arcade, which uses similar assets to this release.
- Namco Museum Remix marks the first North American and European release of Cutie Q, which was previously in the Japanese version of Namco Museum Vol. 2 (replacing Super Pac-Man). It is also the first traditional home port of Pac & Pal in those regions, which had otherwise only appeared in "plug & play" consoles.
- The original trailer for Namco Museum Remix shows Galaga as a classic game; in the final release, it was replaced with Pac-Mania. Additionally, an unused file in the game's code shows Dig Dug II in place of the original Dig Dug. Both Galaga and Dig Dug II would later be included in Namco Museum Megamix.