Namco Museum

Hours of thumb madness in your pocket. (2010-02-11) : 4/5
5 classic arcade games in your pocket ready for action at a moments notice is something no core gamer can be without. First off Pac Man (and the much better Ms. Pac Man) is video game crack, the hours I put into this game over the years speaks for itself. Second, Dig Dug is a game much deeper than it seems and will keep you busy for hours. Third is F-Rally, which may be the weakest title here. It's essentially a rehash of Pac Man with cars instead of ghosts and it plays as you'd expect. Not bad, just a little shallow considering the other games. And finally, GALAGA! What more can I say? One of the most addictive shooters in arcade history in your pocket, or back pack or whatever. Great combo of classics for a great price.
old school games (2010-01-21) : 5/5
its great to find old school games. My 5 year old is just getting into games and loves it, alothough I don't like him playing video games alot I would rather him play these stratagy games than the ones with all the violence.
Problem is size (2008-10-08) : 3/5
This collection contains solid renditions of several favorite classics. Unfortunately, it suffers the significant problem of attempting to convert long screen games to the GBA's wide screen format. Galaga and Galaxian are certainly playable, but they are relegated to one side of the screen, making everything quite small. Ms. Pac-Man offers the option of playing all on one screen or scrolling as you travel up and down. Here, however, losing sight of the ghosts can be a handicap.
Also, where are the options for difficulty, level select, extra lives, etc.? The hints offered in the sub-menu are interesting, but a short blurb about the history of each game would have been nice. Finally, the high scores don't save.
Remember when... (2008-05-30) : 4/5
I'm almost 30 years old and bought this game for my son and I enjoy playing it myself because it's got the classic games that I played when I was a kid. It arrived very quickly in the mail too.
Some very fun nostalgia (2008-02-15) : 4/5
Namco Museum ports five classic games over to the Gameboy Advance: Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Galaga, and Galaxian. If you grew up playing these games, they're timeless classics. Younger audiences probably are expecting more out of a game than the limited technology of the 1980s allowed.

These games are recreated very well, with only a couple of minor issues (largely due to the adjustment made going from an arcade-size screen to the tiny GBA). The sounds are crisp and faithful reproductions of the bleeps and blips from our childhood. The graphics aren't jazzed up in any way, instead celebrating the 8-bit glory that was the golden age of the arcade. The biggest port issue comes with Ms. Pac-Man, where you have the option of playing on a shifting screen -- the GBA screen doesn't compress each maze very well.

The biggest drawback to this game is the inexplicable lack of a battery backup for high scores. The game records high scores as per normal, but those scores are immediately reset when the power goes off. Points did matter with these games, and it's nice to see how high a score you can record. Unfortunately, Namco decided to skimp on this feature. That decision is disappointing, but the games themselves are still worth playing to those who grew up playing on their Ataris. After all, there's nothing wrong with nostalgia.