Namco Museum Vol. 5

Namco Museum Vol. 5 (ナムコミュージアム VOL.5 Namuko Myūjiamu VOL. 5) is a compilation of Namco arcade games, originally released for the Sony PlayStation in 1997. It is the fifth title in the Namco Museum series, and the fifth of its five original PlayStation installments (represented by the letter "O"). This volume includes Pac-Mania, alongside four other titles.

Overview[]

Namco Museum Vol. 5 (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.

The museum layout in Namco Museum Vol. 5 is considerably altered compared to all prior volumes. 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. The exhibit halls - based on different Namco games - are spread across a large, three-story building; with a staircase leading to the second story, and a center elevator leading to the third story. 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. Much of the museum is covered in murals of Pac-Man and the Ghosts, among other Namco characters. Exiting back out of the front museum entrance displays the game's credits sequence.

Opening[]

Namco Museum Vol. 5 (USA)-intro2 — Opening intro still

The game opens with a 3D-animated cutscene; Pac-Man has gotten lost in a canyon on his way to the Namco Museum, scratching his head at a broken directory sign. A two-headed dragon approaches Pac-Man from behind, and begins chasing him. While still being chased, Pac-Man trips over a rock, making him freeze in place; luckily, Valkyrie flies in from above, slaying the dragon before it reaches Pac-Man. Suddenly, however, the canyon begins to shake; a giant monster from Baraduke bursts out of the ground, staring down Pac-Man and Valkyrie. As Pac-Man and Valkyrie run away from the monster, Amur from Dragon Spirit flies down, carrying Kurino Xandra (from The Legend of Valkyrie) and the Runner from Metro-Cross. The Runner races by and grabs Pac-Man and Valkyrie by their hands, right as the monster shoots a giant laser towards them; Xandra expands his body to block the laser. Baraduke herself emerges and fires at the monster with Amur; the monster explodes to reveal the Namco Museum in its place.

Games[]

Namco Museum Vol. 5 features five games, including:

Namco Museum Vol. 5 (USA)-pacmania-gameplay-type1 — *Pac-Mania* gameplay (under default video settings).

Pac-Mania (1987)
Baraduke (1985)
Metro-Cross (1985)
Dragon Spirit (1987)
The Legend of Valkyrie (1989)

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. This compilation does not feature any secret games (as were present in volumes 2-4).

The port of Pac-Mania is based on the Japanese version of the game (rather than the U.S. Atari Games version). The game is set up by default to have the lives count and scoring information on the righthand side of the screen, with a slightly cropped playfield view. The horizontal video mode can be changed via settings to a display closer to the original arcade version.

Exhibits[]

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

Pac-Mania exhibit[]

Hallway[]

To enter (and exit) the Pac-Mania exhibit's hallway, the player has to eat a pile of fruits behind the entrance door; which will transport the player to a grassy area outside of a cabin. The hallway showcases various pieces of arcade machine artwork, in addition to 1980s Japanese Pac-Mania merchandise and promotional material. Towards the end of the hallway are "how to play" and "tip" signs. The player enters the cabin to view the main exhibit room.

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

Pac-Mania POP card and telephone card (featured as one exhibit; lefthand side of hallway. The telephone card is a retail/NG-sold item, while the POP card is promotional material)
Pac-Mania PCB (labeled as "PC board"; lefthand side of hallway)
Pac-Mania flyer (two variants shown; righthand side of hallway)
Pac-Mania instruction card (righthand side of hallway)

Main room[]

The Pac-Mania exhibit takes place in what appears to be a hideout area for the Ghosts. Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde are in the center of the room, crafting wooden ghost statues; Sue is carrying a tray of drinks, while Funky is jumping on the couch. A poster of the Ghost Witch of Netor appears on the back wall. If the player picks up a Power Pellet on the ground, the ghosts will turn blue and flee, flying out the window. Sue is initially unaffected by the Power Pellet; but if interacted with directly, she will also turn blue and drop her drink tray. In the corner of the cabin is a Pac-Mania "cocktail table" machine; clicking on the cabinet will start the game.

Lounge area[]

The "lounge" area takes up the entire third floor of the museum, being accessed via the center elevator. The outer area is themed around the manga Chana the Mazekeeper (Mei Rou Yakata no Chana) by Hiroshi Fuji, which was serialized in "NG - Namco Community Magazine". Inside the center building, Oru-Oru (a character from the manga) presents a book listing the players' high scores, total play time, and amount of games played. The door on Oru-Oru's right leads to an "Opera House", and the door on her left leads to the library.

Library[]

The library area has the Mappy and Goro Robots running around the room. 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 Ryoma-kun; a mid-1980s toy by Namco, which was modeled after real samurai Sakamoto Ryoma. Pac-Man will reminisce on the games that are included in the museum itself.
- The history catalog in this version is decorated in a Pac-Man-themed border.
A bookshelf showcasing the front covers to the bi-monthly issues 43-52 of "NG - Namco Community Magazine".
- Notably, issue 49 (October 1992) has its cover heavily blurred out, presumably for legal reasons (as it features a large image of Godzilla above Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man). An uncensored copy of the cover is unused in the game's code.^[2]
A set of two picture displays, showcasing artwork and production material from Dragon Spirit and The Legend of Valkyrie.

Opera House[]

Functionally similar to the "theater" areas in the prior two volumes. The stage shows Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man performing a play resembling "Romeo and Juliet"; with Pac-Man attempting to talk to Ms. Pac-Man from her windowsill. 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.

Trivia[]

The game's credits are displayed with an image of Pac-Man surrounded by a brick wall, possibly modeled after Pac-Attack. During the credits sequence, a robotic voice states the following: "Finally, I found what I want. We made this game because of your voices. If you remember something precious that you lost in the past because of it, we'll be really delighted".
The version of The Legend of Valkyrie (originally known as Valkyrie no Densetsu) 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).
This compilation, alongside Namco Museum Vol. 4, is noted as being very uncommon, particularly the U.S. version; often being listed for high prices on the secondhand market.
While this is the final main volume in the PlayStation Namco Museum series, it would be followed by the Japan-exclusive Namco Museum Encore in late 1997. The series would be further succeeded by Namco Anthology 1 and 2, a set of compilations focused on Namco's home console games.
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] ttps://web.archive.org/web/19980611181118/http://www.vidgames.com/ps/software/release.html#1997

[2] ttps://tcrf.net/Namco_Museum_Vol._5

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