Namco Museum Vol. 3 offers up six more coin-op classics from the vaults of gaming's distant past. Titles include Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaxian, Pole Position II, Phozon and The Tower of Druaga. In addition to the games, this collection contains a museum in which you can view collectible videogame items (relevant to the games on this disc) such as screen overlays, advertisements and merchandise.
A theater is included in which you can watch a slide show or hear the games' various music and sound effects. Also, you can toggle dip switches (or simply access the options window) in order change settings such as difficulty levels and number of lives.
Features:
* Featuring faithful reproductions of classic arcade games
* Help Ms. Pac-Man locate and eat the white dots while avoiding the ghosts
* Save the world from an alien invasion in Galaxian
GAMES:
- MS. PAC-MAN:
Ms. Pac-Man is an arcade video game produced by Midway as an unauthorized sequel to Pac-Man. It was released in North America in 1981 and became one of the most popular video games of all time, leading to its adoption by Pac-Man licensor Namco as an official title. This game introduces a female protagonist, new maze designs and several minor gameplay changes over the original game.
The gameplay of Ms. Pac-Man is largely identical to that of the original Pac-Man. The player gathers points by eating dots and avoiding ghosts (contact with one loses a life). Power-pellets or energizers change the ghosts, which reverse their course and can be eaten for bonus points. Fruit bonuses can be consumed for increasing point values, twice per level. As the levels increase, the speed and difficulty increase as well.
There are, however, some notable differences:
* The game has four different mazes that appear in different sets of colors.
* Most of the new mazes have two sets of warp tunnels.
* Unlike the original Pac-Man, the spaces in between the walls are filled in, making it easier to see where the path is.
* The ghosts' behavior patterns are different and include semi-random movement, precluding the use of patterns to beat each level.
* Instead of appearing in the center of the maze, fruits bounce around the maze, entering and leaving through the warp tunnels. Once all fruits have been encountered, they appear in random sequence rather than the last fruit repeating.
* The orange ghost's name is Sue instead of Clyde.
* The three intermissions have changed to follow the developing relationship between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man (from when they first meet to having a stork drop off their baby).
* The sound effects and music of the game are very different from the Pac-Man sounds, although they both have sound effects from an IC chip.
- DIG DUG:
Dig Dug is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.
The objective of Dig Dug is to eliminate underground-dwelling monsters. This can be done by inflating them until they pop or by dropping rocks on them. There are two kinds of enemies in the game: Pookas, round red monsters (said to be modeled after tomatoes) who wear yellow goggles, and Fygars, green dragons who can breathe fire. The player's character is Dig Dug, dressed in white and blue, and able to dig tunnels. Dig Dug is killed if he is caught by either Pooka or Fygar, burned by a Fygar's fire, or crushed by a rock.
It takes four 'pumps' with the player's action button to inflate a monster until it bursts. If left partially inflated, the monster will deflate and recover after a few seconds, but half-inflating is a useful way to stun an enemy for a few moments, especially to make sure it remains in the path of a falling rock. The player can also pass through the enemy while it is deflating.
In the coin-operated version the game ends on round 256 (round 0), since this board is essentially an unplayable kill screen. At the start of the level a Pooka is placed directly on top of where the player starts, with no way to kill it.
Although Namco has officially given the character of the original Dig Dug the name Dig Dug, in other games where he makes an appearance, the protagonist goes by the name Taizo Hori, and is the father of Susumu Hori, the main character in the Mr. Driller series. He is also the ex-husband of Toby "Kissy" Masuyo, the heroine of Baraduke.
- GALAXIAN:
Galaxian is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade game by Namco and released by Midway Mfg. in the US.
Galaxian expanded on the formula pioneered by Space Invaders. As in the earlier game, Galaxian featured a horde of attacking aliens that exchanged shots with the player. In contrast to Space Invaders, Galaxian added an element of drama by having the aliens periodically make kamikaze-like dives at the player's ship, the Galaxip. The game's plot consisted of a title screen that displayed the message "WE ARE THE GALAXIANS / MISSION: DESTROY ALIENS".
- POLE POSITION 2:
Pole Position II is a racing arcade game that was released by Namco in 1983 as the sequel to Pole Position, which was released the previous year. As with the original, Namco licensed Pole Position II to Atari for US manufacture and distribution. Atari also released Pole Position II as the pack-in game for their Atari 7800 Prosystem console.
There is a new opening theme, and in addition to the original Fuji racetrack, there are three others to choose from: Test (resembling Indianapolis Motor Speedway), Seaside (resembling Long Beach Grand Prix), and Suzuka. The graphics were improved; cars have a different color scheme and explosions show debris. Wheel spin has also been added to the game. One notable difference between the Japanese and U.S. versions is that while the timer is displayed as "TIME" in the Japanese version (as with the previous game), it is displayed as "UNIT" in the U.S. release.
- PHOZON:
Phozon is an arcade game that was released in by Namco in 1983 only in Japan.
The player controls a small black atom with red spikes called a Chemic, which can adhere itself to passing Moleks, which come in four different colours: cyan, green, pink and yellow. It must use these to duplicate the shape shown in the middle of the screen. When you successfully do this, you will get bonus points. There is also a malevolent clump of balls called the Atomic that floats around the screen, and will destroy your helpless Chemic if it merely touches it. If a Molek goes into the wrong place, press the reject button to throw it back. Every four stages there is a challenging stage where your Chemic can shoot Moleks in four directions at the Atomic. From World 2 onwards, there are Power Moleks that will let your Chemic attack the Atomic for a short period of time. They don't last for that long, though.
- THE TOWER OF DRUAGA:
The Tower of Druaga is the name of an arcade game released by Namco in 1984. It is the first game in the Babylonian Castle Saga series of games.
The game runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware but with a video system like that used in Mappy. It was later ported to the MSX, Famicom and remade for the PC Engine platform by Game Studio. Its first appearance outside Japan was in the third compilation of the Namco Museum series for the PlayStation and also appears on the Nintendo DS and Xbox 360 version of said series.
Originally the game and its sequels had no specific setting other than "the tower". However, in recent years, the series has been retconned as being set in the fantasy kingdom of "Babylim".
A 2008 anime series (beginning with The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk) uses the game as its back story, though is set many decades later.
The player assumes the role of the hero Gilgamesh, whose goal is to rescue the maiden Ki from the demon Druaga. To do this, he must traverse through 60 floors of an immense tower. Gilgamesh comes equipped with a sword, which he can use to defeat monsters, and a shield, which can be used to block magical attacks.
The monsters get progressively more difficult as the game progresses, beginning with simple slimes and culminating with Druaga himself. Each floor consists of a maze filled with monsters, and a randomly placed locked door leading to the next level. The player must navigate through the maze to find a randomly placed key that unlocks the door. In addition, each floor contains a hidden treasure, which appears once the player has performed a specific requirement. The player's starting position is also randomly determined; however, the hidden treasure always appears in the same position the player starts from when revealed.
The mazes themselves are not random, but there are various predetermined patterns. Some of the treasures are merely helpful items, some are detrimental, and some are essential to completing the game including the Blue Crystal Rod, the game's most important item; without it, Druaga will not appear and the player will be forced to return to an earlier floor.
Manufacturer's description:
TURN YOUR HOME INTO AN ARCADE WITH 6 CLASSIC HITS!
Namco Museum Vol. 3 offers up the most exciting titles found in our massive arcade archives Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man, Pole Position II, Dig-Dig, Phozon, and The Tower of Druaga – all preserved in the Namco time-capsule so you can enjoy them today on the PlayStation Game Console.
GET AN EDUCATION AT THE ARCADE
Each game has its own room, displaying the artifacts arcade fans love to absorb. See the original arcade marquees, motherboards, marketing materials and character graphics.
ALL THE OPTIONS. NO EXTRA CHARGE.
Become a real arcade operator without wearing the tool-belt and overalls. Control game difficulty, the number of lives a player starts with, extra lives, etc. simply by adjusting each game's dip switch.
YOU'RE HOLDING THE GENUINE ARCADE ARTICLE
You get all the graphics, sounds and gameplay of the original coin-op hits. The exact arcade translations - authentic in every detail.
Features:
- Third person perspective.
- 2D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- Arcade Machines theme.
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