Namco museum 50th anniversary arcade collection

Waka Waka Waka....

By Sam Curtis

Ah, the early 80s, those were the days when money was made of wood and there were only eight colours, they had real games then, remember them? Nope? Me neither. Unfortunately somebody does at Namco and they’ve released a compilation of their biggest hits from over 20 years ago. Among the fourteen classics on offer are Galaxian, Galaga, Pole Position, Pac-man, Ms Pac-man, Dig Dug and Nostalgium (not really).

The ‘museum’ in the title is entirely appropriate because that’s where these games belong; the thing is video games have advanced quite a lot over the last two and a half decades. There’s a clear cut-off point in videogame history where classic releases can still be played and appreciated aided by the rosy fuzz of nostalgia. This cut-off point falls around 1990, playing anything earlier is like gazing into primordial soup.

Everything on offer here is too long in the tooth to provide any lasting entertainment even the Pac himself, protagonist of the only game any of us can realistically claim to remember, gobbles geriatrically across the screen. The collection also boasts a ‘virtual arcade’. This consists of a sluggish 3D menu accompanied by five tracks of the cheapest forgotten 80s music Namco could find (my hopes for an eighties rock tour de force were dashed again). I remember when all this was fields…