Collecting seven early to mid 1980s videogames on one CD, Namco Museum Vol. 1 includes: Pac-Man, the first-ever cute character maze game; Galaga, a Space Invaders-influenced shooter featuring a star fighter versus wave after wave of alien spaceships; Pole Position, the first car racing game where you must qualify before beginning the main race; Bosconian, an Asteroids-like shoot 'em up; Rally-X and New Rally-X, car racing maze games in which you use smoke screens to wipe out other vehicles; and Toy Pop, a game set in a whimsical world of presents and toys.
In addition to playing the games, you can visit the museum. It features many collectible, out-of-print videogame items on display such as a Pac-Man notebook, a Pac-Man towel and a couple of Pac-Man T-shirts. Also on display are various instruction cards, top displays and screen overlays from Pac-Man and the other games in this collection. You'll also find slide shows, trivia and gaming tips in the museum.
Each of the games in this collection is an exact replica of its Arcade counterpart. You can even change the dipswitch settings to control difficulty, number of lives and other options.
Features:
* Featuring a variety of classic games including Pac-Man, Galaga, Rally-X, and Pole Position
* Classic arcade action with faithfully reproduced sounds, graphics, and gameplay
* Eat the white dots while avoiding ghosts, blast away alien aircrafts, and race through each course to the finish line
GAMES:
PAC-MAN:
Pac-Man is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980.
The game was developed primarily by a young Namco employee named Toru Iwatani over the course of a year, beginning in April 1979, employing a nine-man team. It was based on the concept of eating, and the original Japanese title was Pakkuman , inspired by the Japanese folk hero "Paku" who was known for his appetite as well as by the Japanese onomatopoeic slang phrase paku-paku taberu where paku-paku describes (the sound of) the mouth movement when widely opened and then closed in succession.
Pac-Man is one of the longest running video game franchises from the golden age of video arcade games, and one of only three video games that are on display at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C., (along with Pong and Dragon's Lair).
The player controls Pac-Man through a maze, eating pac-dots. When all dots are eaten, Pac-Man is taken to the next stage, between some stages one of three intermission animations plays.
GALAGA:
Galaga is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979.
The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen. At the beginning of each stage, the area is empty, but over time, enemy aliens fly in formation, and once all of the enemies arrive on screen, they will come down at the player's ship in formations of one or more and may either shoot it or collide with it. During the entire stage, the player may fire upon the enemies, and once all enemies are vanquished, the player moves onto the next stage.
Occasionally, a "boss Galaga" attempts to capture the player's fighter using a tractor beam , if successful, the fighter joins the formation and must be freed by the player (using another ship and costing him a life), enabling him to control two ships simultaneously. If the boss is destroyed while still in formation with a captured fighter, the fighter will disappear after leaving formation and then will appear again on the next level attached to another boss Galaga. If the fighter is shot by the player, it is destroyed and does not return. The game is over when the player's last ship is destroyed or captured
RALLY-X:
Rally-X is a maze arcade game that was released by Namco in 1980. It runs on Namco Pac-Man hardware, and was the first Namco game to feature "Special Flags", which would become a recurring object in later games (along with the Galaxian flagship). It was the first game to ever feature a "bonus round." The object is to "capture" all of the flags scattered in the field before the other racers hit you.
In the game, the player controls a blue car through a maze. The car will automatically move in whichever direction the joystick is pushed, but if it hits a wall, it will turn and continue.
In each stage, ten flags are scattered around the maze. The player must collect all of them to clear the stage and move on. The flags increase in value as they are collected: the first is 100 points, second is 200, third is 300, and so on. There are also special flags—if the player collects one of them, the value earned from flags doubles for the rest of the round. If the player dies, however, the next flag value is set back to 100 and the double bonus is lost.
Several red cars patrol the maze, and contact with any of them results in death. However, the player can use a smoke screen against the red cars. If a red car runs into a cloud of smokescreen, it will be momentarily stunned. The amount of time stunned decreases with each level, but will still always cause the red car to chase the blue car using an alternate route.
The car has a limited amount of fuel which is consumed with time, though it is normally sufficient to last until all flags are cleared. When fuel runs out, the car moves very slowly and the smokescreen no longer works, so it very quickly falls victim to the red cars.
POLE POSITION:
Pole Position is a racing video game released in 1982 by Namco. It was published by Namco in Japan and by Atari, Inc. in the United States. The game popularized the use of sprite-based, pseudo-3D graphics with its "rear-view racer format"—where the player’s view is behind and above the vehicle, looking forward along the road with the horizon in sight—which would remain in use even after true 3D computer graphics became standard for racing games.
In this game, the player controls a Formula One race car. The player completes a time trial lap within a certain amount of time to qualify for an F1 race at the Fuji Racetrack. After qualifying, the player races against other cars in a championship race.
BOSCONIAN:
Bosconian was a multi-directional shooter arcade game that was developed by Namco in 1981. It runs on Namco Galaga hardware but with a video system like that used in Rally-X.
The object of Bosconian is to score as many points as possible by destroying enemy bases and ships. The player controls a small fighter ship that can move in eight directions and can fire both forward and backward. Each level consists of a number of green space stations that must all be destroyed to advance to the next level (a semi-transparent mini-map helps identify their location). Each station consists of six cannons arranged in a hexagon, surrounding a central core. The player must either destroy all six cannons or shoot the core to destroy a station, and in later levels the core is capable of defending itself.
Additionally, the player must avoid or destroy asteroids, mines, and a variety of enemy missiles and ships that attempt to collide with the player's ship. Enemies occasionally launch formation attacks — destroying the leader causes all remaining enemies to disperse, but destroying all enemies in a formation scores extra bonus points. A spy ship (worth a random bonus value) also appears occasionally, which must be destroyed or the enemies will go berserk.
Throughout the game, a digitized voice alerts the player to various events:
* "Blast off!" (level start)
* "Alert! Alert!" (enemies attacking)
* "Battle stations" (enemy formation approaching)
* "Spy ship sighted" (spy ship appears)
* "Condition red!" (enemy attacks become more aggressive; occurs when the player takes too long to complete a level)
Like many games made during the Golden Age of Arcade Games, the game has no definite end, continuing until the player has lost all of his/her lives.
NEW RALLY-X:
New Rally-X is a maze arcade game that was released by Namco in 1981. It runs on Namco Pac-Man hardware but uses a system similar to Bosconian and, as the name suggests, is the sequel to Rally-X, released in the previous year. The only differences are that it has slightly enhanced graphics, easier gameplay, a new soundtrack, and a "Lucky Flag" that gives the player extra points if collected. Some of the blocks in Rally-X have been changed into roads. It was manufactured in greater numbers and was much more popular (at least in Japan) than the original.
TOY POP:
Toy Pop is a multi-directional shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1986. The game was included in Namco Museum Vol.1.
Toy Pop is a simultaneous 2 player game where the players must open jars and boxes. The back story is that two dolls, Pino and Acha, have gone into the castle of the witch Majyo, who has kidnapped their friends. Along the way, they must pick up various weapons to defeat different enemies.
This is the game's description as it appears after starting the game:
"PINO AND ACHA ARE GOING TO MAJYO'S CASTLE TO SAVE FRIEND"
Manufacturer's description:
BRING HOME 7 OF THE GREATEST GAMES IN ARCADE HISTORY!
Keep those quarters in your pants. With Namco Museum Vol.1, you can set up your own arcade with classics like Pac-Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Bosconian, Rally-X, New Rally-X and Toy Pop. Genuine arcade translations with genuine arcade options.
NO DINOSAURS IN THIS MUSEUM.
Each arcade classic has its own "wing" of the Museum containing info & trivia even the biggest video game geeks wouldn't know.
SKIP COLLEGE. BECOME AN ARCADE OWNER.
Just like the authentic arcade uprights. Change settings to control difficulty, number of lives etc. You're an arcade god.
ITS A BLAST FROM THE PAST.
The exact arcade translations. Get all the graphics, sounds and gameplay of the original coin-op hits.
Also includes ToyPop & New Rally-X.
Features:
- Third person perspective.
- 2D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Arcade Machines theme.
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