Namco Museum Vol. 4

Namco Museum Vol. 4 (ナムコミュージアム VOL.4 Namuko Myūjiamu VOL. 4) is a compilation of Namco arcade games, originally released for the Sony PlayStation in 1996. It is the fourth title in the Namco Museum series, and the fourth of its five original PlayStation installments (represented by the letter "C"). This volume includes Pac-Land, alongside four other titles.

Overview[]

Namco Museum Vol. 4 (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. 4 uses a near-identical museum layout to the third volume, albeit with different exhibits. Upon entering the museum, the player is automatically introduced to Uketsuke Komachi, a pink robot receptionist in the front hallway; she allows the player to create and access save data from the PS1 memory card. On the same level floor as Komachi is a door leading to a "lounge" area; a portrait of the Mother Fairy from Pac-Land is on the opposite-facing wall. A set of two staircases lead to the main floor area, featuring a series of exhibit halls based on different Namco games. 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. Exiting back out of the front museum entrance displays the game's credits sequence.

Opening[]

The game opens with a 3D-animated cutscene, with Pac-Man walking through an underground tower filled with statues; he is unknowingly being followed by Sue. Within the tower, Pac-Man finds the Namco Museum Vol. 4 disc in a glass case. Following this, Sue enters the room with a magic wand; after approaching Pac-Man, she uses the wand to shatter the glass case. Sue's magic results in the tower's statues coming to life; Pac-Man grabs the Namco Museum disc and runs away from the statues chasing him. Eventually, Pac-Man escapes the tower (with a score of 7650 points); only to be cornered onto a ledge by Sue, who is piloting an Assault tank. While initially scared, Pac-Man looks down and smiles; much to Sue's shock, he jumps off the edge of the cliff, landing on the Ordyne ship flying from below. Pac-Man, and the Fairy under his hat, place the Namco Museum disc within a "C"-shaped entrance gate of the museum itself; allowing them to enter the museum.

Games[]

Namco Museum Vol. 4 features five main games, including:

Pac-Land (1984)
The Return of Ishtar (1986)
The Genji and the Heike Clans (1986)
Assault (1988)
Ordyne (1988)

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.

There are two hidden games in this compilation - Assault Plus and a special version The Return of Ishtar. Assault Plus is accessed inside of the blank "X-Room" by simultaneously holding down the Up direction and the R1, R2, L1, L2, and Triangle buttons; doing so will convert the room into an Assault Plus exhibit. The Return of Ishtar variant was seemingly created for Namco Museum Vol. 4 itself.

The port of Pac-Land is based on the Japanese version of the game (rather than the U.S. Bally Midway version). The game is set up by default to use the lower face buttons for left and right movement, with the higher buttons mapped to Pac-Man's jump; while the d-pad is solely mapped to jumping. The controls can be changed via settings to have the d-pad move Pac-Man left/right, and use the face buttons for jumping.

Exhibits[]

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

Pac-Land exhibit[]

Hallway[]

The Pac-Land exhibit's hallway takes place on a floating bridge surrounded by flowers. The hall showcases various pieces of arcade machine artwork, in addition to 1980s Japanese Pac-Land merchandise and promotional material. Towards the end of the hallway are "how to play" and "tip" signs.

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

Pac-Land instruction card (two variants shown; lefthand side of hallway)
Pac-Land flyer/poster (lefthand side of hallway)
Pac-Land PCB (labeled as "PC board"; lefthand side of hallway)
Pac-Land control panel (righthand side of hallway)
Pac-Land Fantasy Board Game and Pac-Land can badges (featured as one exhibit; righthand side of hallway. Also showcases a flyer for the Fantasy Board Game. The can badges appear to be the ones produced by Eiko)
Pac-Land POP card (promotional material; righthand side of hallway)

Main room[]

The Pac-Land exhibit takes place on a beach in front of the ocean shore, covered in palm trees. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are relaxing on a beach towel, listening to the Pac-Land theme on a portable stereo; a Fairy hovers next to them. Next to Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man is a Pac-Land "cocktail table" machine, placed in front of a "BREAK TIME" sign; clicking on the cabinet will start the game.

In this room, Sue can be seen hiding behind a rock formation; if the player tries to interact with her, she will run off to a different hiding spot. After being spotted three times, Sue will approach the fairy and begin chasing after her. To rescue the fairy, the player must find a Power Pellet that is disguised as one of the coconuts on the trees; the player can then give the pellet to Pac-Man, who will chase down and eat Sue. Upon rescuing the fairy, she will grant the player a jumping ability, which lasts until the Pac-Land room is exited.

Lounge area[]

The "lounge" area is accessed from an unlabeled room near the museum's entrance. It is split into two paths featuring elevators that lead to additional rooms: a library and a theater. Between both elevators is Namco's Kyuji-kun robot, who emerges from a gated "Memory" area; speaking to Kyuji-kun will show a list featuring the players' high scores, total play time, and amount of games played.

Library[]

The library area has characters from Cutie Q, Libble Rabble, and Warp & Warp/Warpman viewing the exhibits and shelves; the King from King & Balloon occasionally flies by in the window. The library itself features the following:

A "Namco Official History" screen that displays a list of Namco arcade games published in Japan (up until 1996). In this volume, the screen is introduced by a female version of an alien mascot who was used in some "Namcot" Famicom advertisements. Pac-Man will reminisce on the games that are included in the museum itself.
A display showcasing the front covers to the bi-monthly issues 29-40 of "NG - Namco Community Magazine".
A set of four picture displays: showcasing artwork and production material from Pac-Land, Ordyne, Assault, and The Genji and the Heike Clans.
A display showing telephone cards based on The Genji and the Heike Clans, The Return of Ishtar, Ordyne, and Assault.

Theater[]

The theater area is a large auditorium, with Namco's PicPac robot band performing on stage. Clicking the stage will open a "Slide Show" selector for each included game; allowing the player to view the games' sprites and animations, as well as their music and sound effects. Various characters can be seen in the theater's audience; including the Mappy family, Jr. Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man, Miru, the Ghost Gang, Mappy, Pooka, and Pino and Acha from Toy Pop.

Trivia[]

The included port of Pac-Land greatly shortens Pac-Man's nose compared to the original game, somewhat similar to his appearance in the Bally Midway version. This change is likely connected to the mandated Pac-Man artwork style guides.
The version of The Genji and the Heike Clans (originally known as Genpei Touma Den) included in international versions is a full English translation of the game, which is otherwise exclusive to Namco Museum Vol. 4 (as the game was originally only released in Japan, with a later Italian version by Sidam).
This compilation, alongside Namco Museum Vol. 5, is noted as being very uncommon, particularly the U.S. version; often being listed for high prices on the secondhand market.
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[]

↑ https://web.archive.org/web/19980611181118/http://www.vidgames.com/ps/software/release.html#1997

[1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/19980611181118/http://www.vidgames.com/ps/software/release.html#1997

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