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Namco Museum Vol. 1

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Namco Museum Vol. 1 (ナムコミュージアム VOL.1 Namuko Myūjiamu VOL. 1) is a compilation of Namco arcade games, originally released for the Sony PlayStation in 1995. It is the first title in the Namco Museum series, and the first of its five original PlayStation installments (represented by the letter "N"). This volume includes the original Pac-Man arcade game, alongside six other titles.

Overview[]

Namco Museum Vol. 1 (in addition to the other four original volumes) takes place in a virtual museum, which is navigated in a first-person view. Pac-Man acts as the player's tour guide, appearing in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The museum segment can also be skipped entirely via the title screen or pause menu; allowing the player to start up a specific game without navigating the museum.

Upon entering the museum, the player can talk to Uketsuke Komachi, a pink robot receptionist in the front hallway (who is based upon an actual robot created by Namco in 1985). Komachi allows the player to create and access save data from the PS1 memory card. Once the player enters the main floor area, the player can enter a series of exhibit halls based on different Namco games, in addition to a "lounge" area. Each game's exhibit begins with a long hallway, showcasing arcade artwork and other memorabilia on display; leading to a decorative room featuring the game's arcade machine.

Opening[]

Namco Museum Vol. 1 (USA)-intro3

Opening intro still

The game opens with a 3D-animated cutscene, featuring Pac-Man running past the Namco logo. Pac-Man is then pursued by the Ghost Gang, who he attempts to outrun. While still being chased, Pac-Man looks up to find the enemy base from Bosconian in the sky; only to be clobbered to the ground by the Galaga ships, the Pole Position car, and the Rally-X car, the latter of which blows smoke in his face. Once the vehicles have driven away, Ms. Pac-Man appears and winks at Pac-Man; she offers her hand to Pac-Man, and the two of them walk into the Namco Museum.

Games[]

Namco Museum Vol. 1 features seven games, including:

Namco Museum Vol. 1 - Pac-Man (Mednafen 1.27.1)

Pac-Man gameplay.

  • Pac-Man (1980)
  • Rally-X (1980)
  • Bosconian (1981)
  • Galaga (1981)
  • New Rally-X (1981)
  • Pole Position (1982)
  • Toypop (1986)

The games themselves were ported from the source code of the original arcade versions, and are not based on pure emulation. Because of this, the included version of Pac-Man (alongside the other titles) features minor differences in comparison to the arcade original. Titles that were originally in vertical resolution are letterboxed in horizontal resolution by default; the games can be changed to run in their original aspect ratio, with the TV set needing to be flipped on its side.

Exhibits[]

Note that the below section(s) only detail the Pac-Man-related exhibit halls.

Pac-Man exhibit[]

Hallway[]

The Pac-Man exhibit's hallway showcases various pieces of arcade machine artwork, in addition to 1980s Japanese Pac-Man merchandise and promotional material. The majority of merchandise pieces shown in Vol. 1 are comprised of items that were originally distributed via NG Magazine and Namco's retail locations in 1984. Towards the end of the hallway is a "tips" book, a "how to play" sign (which also details the game's history), and a projector that displays a "Character Slideshow" of the game's sprites.

The showcased items in the Pac-Man hall, in approximate navigation order, include:

  • Pac-Man cork coasters (Namco, retail/NG item)
  • Pac-Man hand towel (Namco, retail/NG item)
  • Pac-Man notebook (Namco, retail/NG item)
  • Pac-Man POP card (Namco, promotional material)
  • Puckman arcade flyer (Namco, promotional material)
  • Pac-Man t-shirt and sweatshirt (Namco, retail/NG item)
  • Puckman PCB (labeled as "PC board")
  • Puckman marquee and bezel
  • Puckman instruction card (two variants shown)

Main room[]

The main Pac-Man room features a recreation of Pac-Man's house; it is specifically based on its appearance in Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures. Outside of the house is a Pac-Man "cocktail table" machine, featuring the original Puckman artwork (albeit in very low resolution); clicking on the cabinet will start the game. The room plays a rendition of the Pac-Man intermission theme.

Lounge area[]

The "lounge" area is decorated to resemble a bar, and features various additional pieces of content, including:

  • A book on the bar counter that lists the players' high scores, total play time, and amount of games played.
  • A jukebox machine that plays the music and sound effects from the included games.
  • A "Namco Official History" screen that displays a list of Namco arcade games published in Japan (up until 1995). Pac-Man will reminisce on the games that are included in the museum itself.
  • A display showcasing the front covers to the 14 quarterly issues of "NG - Namco Community Magazine".
  • A set of two additional displayed pamphlets: an "Amusement Machine" catalog brochure from the early 1980s, and a Namco Museum-labeled pamphlet showing several of Namco's robots.
  • A bulletin board that leads to the game's credits sequence.

Trivia[]

  • Namco Museum Vol. 1 was predominantly outsourced to Now Production for development (the company itself being uncredited in-game). However, the included Pac-Man port was reportedly further outsourced to Japan System Supply; being ported by Hideyuki Nakanishi, a programmer best known for developing the Chameleon Twist games and the unreleased Virtual Boy title Bound High.[1] Nakanishi is credited as "Nuka" in the "lounge" area's bulletin-board credits.
  • The included port of Pac-Man features a screen border modeled after the original Puckman bezel artwork. In direct comparison, however, Pac-Man's nose is made considerably shorter compared to the original; this is likely connected to the mandated Pac-Man artwork style guides.
  • The Pac-Man exhibit's "Character Slideshow" showcases the unused "Blast" sprite in the game's code, which was later incorporated into Jr. Pac-Man.
  • The included port of Pole Position features a redesigned set of billboards; likely due to the original Japanese version using billboards of various company logos (e.g. Marlboro and Pepsi), and the U.S. version showcasing Atari and Centipede. The redesigned billboards include the "But Clyde!" sign (which originates from the Japanese version of Pole Position II), alongside a design of Pac-Man winking next to the Namco logo.
    • This version of Pole Position was the basis for the subsequent Mass Media releases of the game, resulting in the same billboard designs appearing in those versions.
  • This compilation sold an estimated 1.6 million copies in the U.S. (as of 2007),[2] with approximately 150,000 additional copies sold in Japan. Namco Museum Vol. 3 would sell in similarly high numbers; though the other three volumes are notably much scarcer, especially volumes 4 and 5.
  • The music in the main Pac-Man room would later be used as the title screen theme in Pac-Man Vs.
  • The compilation would be re-released as a "PS1 Classic" downloadable title in 2014, compatible with the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita. This version has since been delisted.

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hideyuki Nakanishi: "While I was a graduate student, I worked for a small videogame company. My first task was to help an engineer to translate the original Z80 program of Pacman to Playstation." https://www.virtual-boy.com/interviews/hideyuki-nakanishi/
  2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20220101032316/http://the-magicbox.com/Chart-USPlatinum.shtml
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