Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1

Split archives aside, your love of Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 will be dependent on how much you love the NES and how you feel about this mix. Half of these games are better represented by their arcade versions, and depending on your platform of choice, you may already have access to them via the older Namco Museum compilations. However, NES originals like Splatterhouse and Dragon Spirit are as excellent today as they were decades ago, while the demake of Pac-Man Championship Edition simply has to be seen to be believed. For the investment price of $19.99, retro fans will like this title quite a bit.

The other standout here is demake of 2007’s Pac-Man Championship Edition. It’s probably a little unfair to compare it to any of the other ten games on this compilation, seeing as its design has the benefit of 30+ years of hindsight, but it’s still an incredible take on an incredible game that feels alive in a way that none of the other games here do. Is it enough to singlehandedly make Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1 worth picking up? Probably not…but it’s good enough that I’d at least have to think about it before answering that question. At the very least, it justifies the collection’s existence, even if the rest will probably only appeal to you if you want another version of games that, mostly, have been available elsewhere for decades.

Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 and 2 offers players a variety of games to play, and yet, most of them are space shooters. However, the games that the collections do contain provide both a sense of nostalgia and new memories as you are now able to play a few titles that weren’t available before. It does the minimum of what a collection should do, without including special concept art or an interactive museum setting. Still, it’s fun to be able to have easy access to these titles to play again or share with friends and family.