Namco Museum Vol. 2

For other uses of Namco Museum Vol. 2, see Namco Museum Vol. 2 (disambiguation).

Namco Museum Vol. 2 (ナムコミュージアム VOL.2 Namuko Myūjiamu VOL. 2) is a compilation of Namco arcade games, originally released for the Sony PlayStation in 1996. It is the second title in the Namco Museum series, and the second of its five original PlayStation installments (represented by the letter "A"). The regional versions of this volume include Super Pac-Man, alongside five other titles.

Overview[]

Namco Museum Vol. 2 (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.

Vol. 2 uses a near-identical museum layout to the first volume, albeit with different exhibits. 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. 2 (USA)-intro1 — Opening intro still

The game opens with a 3D-animated cutscene, showing Pac-Man playing a game of Super Pac-Man on his PlayStation. Suddenly, an alert siren goes off; revealing Pac-Man is in a blasting-off ship resembling the Solvalou from Xevious. The ship flies through the forests and into space, in which Pac-Man fights off the enemies from Gaplus. Mappy appears in a second, smaller ship, giving the viewer a peace sign; Mappy's ship connects with other pieces to create a giant cockpit. He then uses the Galaga tractor beam to suck up Pac-Man's ship, and the surrounding Namco characters, into the Namco Museum.

Games[]

Namco Museum Vol. 2 features a varying game list between the Japanese and international releases. The following games appear across all regions:

Namco Museum Vol. 2 (USA)-superpacman-gameplay-type1-border1 — *Super Pac-Man* gameplay (under default video settings).

Xevious (1982)
Mappy (1983)
Gaplus (1984)
Grobda (1984)
Dragon Buster (1985)

The original Japanese version includes Cutie Q (1979); in most other regions (including North America and Europe), it was replaced with Super Pac-Man (1982). The Japan release also included Bomb Bee (1979) as a bonus game; as with Cutie Q, it cannot be played in the English release.

The games themselves were ported from the source code of the original arcade versions, and are not based on pure emulation; resulting in the games featuring minor differences in comparison to the arcade originals. 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.

The port of Super Pac-Man is based on the Bally Midway version, as evidenced by it having slower "Super Speed". The game is presented with no screen border by default, though has additional border artwork that can be selected while the game is on its "attract" screen.

Exhibits[]

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

Super Pac-Man exhibit[]

Hallway[]

The Super Pac-Man exhibit's hallway showcases various pieces of the arcade machine's artwork (specifically Namco-published variants rather than the Bally Midway release), in addition to merchandise and promotional material. 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:

Super Pac-Man instruction card (two variants shown, one in Japanese and the other an unknown English version; the latter is erroneously labeled as the U.S. version)
Super Pac-Man POP card and stickers (Namco, promotional material; the stickers are the ones from the 20th Amusement Machine Show)
Super Pac-Man arcade flyer (Japanese)
Super Pac-Man marquee (Japanese)
Super Pac-Man PCB (labeled as "PC board")

Main room[]

The main Super Pac-Man room takes place in a bar of Ghosts. A bartender Clyde appears behind the counter, with a drunken Pinky and Inky at the bar's tables. Blinky appears sitting on the opposite end of a "cocktail table" Super Pac-Man machine; clicking on the cabinet will start the game.

Behind Blinky is a large stage with a sign reading "Namco Theater: Super Pac-Man", with a crowd of Ghosts watching from below. Every 60 seconds, a show will play that recreates the first cutscene in the original Pac-Man game; showing Blinky chasing Pac-Man (to which the crowd cheers), only for a giant Pac-Man to chase after Blinky (to which the ghosts turn blue).

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 monthly issues 1-14 of "NG - Namco Community Magazine".
A set of two additional displays showing artwork related to Dragon Buster and Xevious.
A bulletin board that leads to the game's credits sequence.

Trivia[]

The Japanese compilation recommends playing Cutie Q (and Bomb Bee) with Namco's "Volume Controller"; with a splash screen explaining how to set up the Volume Controller upon starting the game. This is likely, in part, the reason as to why the game was replaced with Super Pac-Man in regional releases (particularly given the Volume Controller was Japan-exclusive).
- The Pole Position games in Namco Museum Vol. 1 and Vol. 3 similarly recommend the player to use a "neGcon" controller to play the games; though the neGcon controller was also released in the United States, and it is less noticeably stated in-game.
The Super Pac-Man exhibit's "Character Slideshow" showcases the unused "Bosconian" sprite in the game's code, which was originally intended to be a collectible item.
The Mappy exhibit hall showcases the 1980s Pac-Man and Mappy eco-postcards from Japan Post.
This compilation is noted as being somewhat uncommon, particularly the U.S. version; despite that volumes 1 and 3 were top-sellers. It is not as uncommon as volumes 4 and 5, however, which are even scarcer.
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.