Hey there! I worked on both Namco Museum and Pac-Man Collection on the GBA. I want to clarify a few things. Firstly, (and I'm including the N64 version here) we used the original arcade ROMs disassembled and the Z80 instruction set was rewritten in C, so they are pretty much as close as you can get to an emulation, not a conversion. Assembler routines were modified a bit to work with the hardware (joystick mapping, music & sound playing, backgrounds, and sprite output) but most of the original arcade code was untouched. The challenging stage music bug in Galaga was someone picking the wrong music where we patched the arcade code to the native player (they were swapped) - I noticed this when I worked on the GBA version and fixed it. Lastly, to add context - we were given a stupidly tight deadline (~5 months I think) to rush these out for the GBA launch and were hampered with unreliable prototype devkits, so it was quite a crunch. PS. We had high score save working, but Namco made us remove it because adding a battery doubled the price of the cart and at $19.99 there was no margin. PPS. Namco Museum GBA sold around 2.5 Million copies, and Pac-Man collection sold about 1.9 Million. Namco capped the royalties, so we didn't see any of that once our advance was met. Cheers! Bob
It's always fun and insightful to see creators comment on their work. Thank you for this. I do have a question about Dig Dug. There is a strange delay or lag in directional inputs. I never played the original arcade so I don't know if this is inherent to the original or something that happened in the port. I did try it across several GBA systems to rule out my d-pad. Do you happen to know if this is normal?
@@cl1ck99 Certainly not intentional on Dig Dug, however, there are problems with certain games that only had 4 way sticks in the arcade and are played with 8 way d-pads. The original code has no logic to handle the diagonals since it isn't possible to have two joystick directions at the same time on a 4 way stick. This is because there's a diamond shaped restricting plate that prevents this. The game logic just handles directions in turn and executes the first one it sees, so diagonal inputs can feel "sticky" for example when the game is seeing UP still pressed when you're pressing LEFT but not completely cleanly yet. Until the UP signal goes away the game never tries to go LEFT. Not the easiest thing to explain in text. Also, although we put some additional logic in to try and minimize this issue, there's no real simple solution.
I grew up with Namco Museum on the Gameboy Advance, and it's the big reason I'm a buff when it comes to this sorta thing now that I'm 22. Just want to say thanks, I don't get to do that much with games that come as close to my heart as that one. And hearing that you did it in FIVE MONTHS is amazing, I would've loved to know that when I was younger lmao
The reason the "Full Screen" games may not have filled the screen top to bottom is likely to avoid shimmering issues, so you don't have lines (vertical, or horizontal) doubled in few spots.
you are not trying to tell me that namco museum 50th anniversary with the stretched unreadable text and weird audio is better than the namco museum that actually compensated for the fact the gba screen is tiny
Corrections: Vol. 6/Namco Museum Encore is a Japanese exclusive. The west only got Volumes 1-5. There was also a Namco Museum for Dreamcast but it's based upon the N64 version rather than the PSX ones.
The Namco Museum series started in 1995 and the most recent entry is from 2020. Since 1995 Namco worked on a museum game for almost every console. But the biggest thing is that almost all of them contains Namco's most popular/well known games like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Rally-X, Galaga, Poll Position, and more. But some of them includes newer updated version of the classic arcade hit. While others have more obscure Namco games. But really it seems like Namco has been re-releasing there arcade games onto so many different systems. Several years ago I found the 2001 Game cube release of the Namco Museum at a yard sale for only $1. It's nothing really special other than seeing 5 super well known Namco games along with a newer updated version of the arcade classic.
One time I saw a girl take a dump right into the coin slot of an arcade machine and then stomp it into the hole and leave. Anyway so my wife and I later recalled that story and how I first saw her but to this day I think about how I filled my heart with joy knowing she took a d-day right into the coin slot of a blades of steel coin operated machine.
Really love your videos, they’re really high quality and great. Really want a video from you explaining the history of plug n plays like the namco ones for example, but that’s up to you of course
Mass Media's Namco Museum 64 was released on the Dreamcast as well (with 64 removed from the title ofc) with the same number of games and Dreamcast game discs were about 1gb in size, so it just seems they couldn't be asked to port any more games, only extra DC had was a Pac Dot VMU you could save.
The PS1 versions aren't emulation. Just very very very good ports. The start ups that look like the arcade system booting up really fooled me, but that can be turned off in options. I thought it was emulation but was corrected by someone in the know. When you said that a downside to the N64 version was that it wasnt emulation, just wanted to let you know the PS1 versions arent either. But they were done so well im not sure if any Namco Museum is emulation, they may have used the PS1 versions again and again. Just like the Capcom Collection for PS2/XBOX simply used the PS1 ports because they were so well done. Something that gives those away is the ability to move where the score counter is and such, as well as the title screen dates, and same custom music in options. "Though Final Fight and a couple others are emulation, the other dozen in that compilation are from the PS1 games" The Namco Museum boarders arent part of the arcade game either, as well as some vertical games changed to fit the screen.
BTW I believe I learned about them all being ports from the channel Retrocore. He does battle of the ports, and doesn't include consoles that use emulation. The PS1 Namco Museums can be regarded as close to arcade as possible without actually being the arcade.
Well, at the time, this was the way to play these games. Nowadays, things have changed because of the fact that emulation came into play. Because of this, you get the arcade experience overall. Some have minor changes however, like the Taito Memories version of Rainbow Islands having the Over the Rainbow-like theme changed with an altered arrangement heard in the Rainbow Islands DS game.
I still have my copy and box version. Even though it sucks with the game light on the GBA was limited, I had much fun with this game. It had both full screen and a scrolling screen for ms pacman which I always go scrolling screen. I had loads of fun playing this with my dad during the time of my GBA phase. I can still remember the jingle of the menu goes. Galaga was one of the ones I mostly played on it. Sure it's not like the other one with loads of games on it. But at the time this was a huge deal for me playing oldies on a game boy with little games I had at the time. I really prefer all these old school stuff. Nothing beats the classics. I was stun to find out that digdug has loads of sequels to the point where the name was changed for the spin offs. Heck I'm going to go play my version thanks to this video now.
I had the Pac-Man collection, and one issue I remember with that is that for whatever reason they cut down the music in Pac-Man Arrangement and Pac-Mania. But why? Surely they had enough ROM space for the full music, it's not like it was in MP3 format or something like that, it was in a MIDI-like format like the original, the song data should've been mere kilobytes!
Back in the late 90's I remember that my Sound Blaster AWE32 would create that echoy sound effect when playing Ms. Pacman using the early version of mame. I remember thinking it was really cool. :)
Still got the first one myself, even got the box and other things too. Properly done or not these are the sort of games I like to play on the go thanks to the pick up and play nature.
Great video! You should check out the namco collection and the konami collection on the nintendo DS, digital takes what they learn on the GBA and take advantage of the Ds double screen for a nice emulation experience!
Love the Pac-Man GBA collection. Pac-Attack is a fun amalgamation of Tetris & Pac-Man. But having tate mode on that 50th is a game changer. Didn't know about that!
@@TheRealCaptainFreedom it's another name for vertical modes, popularized in the shoot 'em up community. If I remember correctly it first started up back with the Atari Lynx, as that handheld could be flipped on it's side for vertical games.
I will say, 50th Anniversary on consoles is much better than it is on GBA. The game's don't suffer from screen crunch, there's a lot more of them, and you even get a nice big rotation of licensed 80s songs as the menu music, instead of just silence.
Another great video. Thanks to POJR, I feel like I have a better understanding of these decisions and limitations that companies face when releasing, in this case, older games. The one place I really felt cheated though, not long ago, they started releasing small table top arcade games of classics like Pac Man, Galaga but also some other cool titles like Rolling Thunder, Karate Champ, I think even Mortal Kombat. They were/are selling them at Wal-Mart and GameStop. I can't remember which one I bought, was probably Galaga... it was the NES version of the game! I was fully expecting if it's just one game in this small plastic cabinet with the original artwork, that it would be the arcade version. Anyway I returned it as I felt ripped off. Anyone find any gems in the Namco series that weren't the usual mass hits?
I'm glad this showed up in my recommendations. A video about namco museum that I didn't even realize I wanted to see. I did have namco museum on the GBA. It was actually my first experience with some of those arcade games. I mean yes I had played dig dug at an arcade in a bowling alley years before, and I played a PC or maybe even DOS version of Pac-Man years before that and I think in an arcade I did play pole position although it could have been a different racing game that looks similar I'm not sure, but yeah aside from that some of those games I hadn't experienced before or I only played once prior to playing namco museum.
Also, I can imagine the reason why games like Dig Dug didn’t get resized like PAC-Man and Galaga did was because with the rest of the games their visuals are quite a bit more complex and I can’t imagine especially in the case of say, PAC-Man arrangement, there’s no way to shrink them down without them looking like total garbage. While the former games still looked bad cut down like that, it’s still totally identifiable in every regard.
Suggestion - take all the content from ALL 6 Namco Museum volumes from PS1 and merge it all together into a single title! It'd be more than just a compilation - everything would be completely merged...
The reason the games were spread across multiple volumes was to make more money. If the N64 version had sold better, more volumes would have been released. The PS1 uses CDs, 700MB max, which is more than enough space to have all of those arcades games on a single disc, even with the extra museum content. The N64 largest cart capacity I believe is 64MB, which is still more than enough to have all those old arcade games on one cartridge, minus the museum content. Look at the Classic NES series of games on the GBA. Each game was released individually. There was no reason for that except to make more money. They could have easily had 50 NES per cartridge. I know because I have a flash cart for the GBA ad that's how many fit on it. They only way that it would have made sense for them to release them individually like that is if the had included a remake of the same game along with the original.
With the N64 release, they’re all ports and because of that I’m willing to bet the sound took up the lion share of the ROM space. Hence why it sounds compressed, and off at times. This same issue ended up happening on the GC release of Mega Man Anniversary Collection on there.
Good luck finding the PS1 titles. I only have Volume 1 (N) and Volume 3 (M), and those are the Greastest Hits versions. Last time I looked for the others they were over $100!
The other flaw is that Mappy isn't included in both GBA Namco Museum compilations. Why? Mappy is a really great game. Good thing Namco Museum DS fixed this though.
Mappy is NOT a great game. It's over complicated. Feels pointless. It didn't sell well back in the day, and you are literally one of the few people who says it's a good game. I've tried to like mappy. It's not a good game.
@@viscountalpha I rarely hear people say Mappy is a bad game or not a good game, and if they ever say that, they're honestly in a minority. Because while Mappy is not the most well known game or even one of the most well known games, the majority of people who actually played Mappy really enjoy it. The reason why Mappy is not successful in the US at the the time, is because people don't actually give it a chance at the time, but it is pretty successful in Japan though. Mappy did gain a cult following worldwide over the years and did get sequels. If literally only a very few people enjoy the game, then how come Mappy has a huge demand when it's not included in the new Namco Museum compilation that's made in 2017? Lot of people complain to Namco of a lack of some of the key Namco classics didn't made to that compilation and Mappy is one of the big ones they mention. Namco and HAMSTER porting Mappy and its sequel Hopping Mappy to Arcade Archives is a a response to that to make up for it. Also, I'm wondering if it's just the case you don't know how to play Mappy. Because Mappy is not overcomplicated, it is a simple game to play. Your goal is to collect stolen items scattered around the level and don't let the cat gang get you. You have doors/microwave power doors, bells, and pit floors to attack them back while they chase you. And you use trampolines to go to platforms. There's strategy around those mechanics to succeed beating the levels and gain great amount of points. But that's how great Arcade games work. Simple to play, difficult to master. Also, I don't find Mappy pointless, it has lot of great mechanics, great gameplay, tight controls, and it's really fun and engaging a whole way through in my opinion.
WOW forgot how barebones the N64 version was. It honestly could have been released as a SNES title on a 32 Meg Cart and still have room for another game and/or extras.
I liked 50th anni for a long time, but lately got the first namco museum on gba and i actually prefer it slightly. honestly i only play Galaga so my preference is purely based on that. The 50th anni was very good emulation, but i chose it because i didnt like the off centre play area of galaga in the original namco museum. i actually first got into galaga with the gameboy version, using a gbc. it was not emulation obviously but a pretty decent port. as good as 50th anni was, i still played the gameboy galaga, which somehow FELT different. what i didnt realize for a long time was that emulation had input lag. and in a game like Galaga, lag can absolutely screw up your aim. After years i suddenly remember that other namco museum in gba that had a port of Galaga, not emulation, just like the gameboy port, but better. I bought it off ebay and as soon as I started playing it, it just felt so much better. input lag is gone, and my aim improved. dont get me wrong, the 50th anni was still very impressive, and looks much better with those pixel perfect sprites and full screen play area. but somehow i prefer the port with the satisfying instant response of the button presses, despite the smaller off centre display.
Galaxian is a masterpiece. While maybe not as action packed as Galaga, its methodical, and takes alot of patience, and shot management to master. Its the superior game.
50th on GBA was generally considered a total waste since, outside of Rally-X, all of its games were already available on the previous collections. Unless you were an extremely large Rally-X fan, anybody who already had the original Museum (which was a lot of people) had no real reason to drop another $20 for mostly the same game. ...The console version was good tho.
Uh, Pac-Mania on the GBA had the Jungly Steps theme cut due to it being too low pitched. That would set the GBA ablaze, literally. I'm not kidding, look it up. ExoParadigmGamer briefly mentioned this in his Pac-Man World GBA ROR, which he gave it a REBREAK score.
The only problem is that Rally-X is not a genuine racing game for it copies the maze chase genre from Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, and I feel like every compilation needs at least one racing game in the mix! As a Pole Position fan every Namco compilation game with no Pole Position (or any other racing game) is an automatic deal breaker for me. To make things worse Pole Position hasn't seen the light of day in Namco Museum games since 2008!😔
Good point. If you prefer pole position then the mass media version is the one for you. I actually do like the mass media version on GBA, it's only the N64 version I'm not a fan of.
@pojr What a surprise! I wasn't expecting a reply from the channel itself. 😂 Lately I've been getting good at the game and even racked up a Score of 57,750 on Namco Museum Vol. 1 (PS1) while also finishing all laps. When you play Pole Position 1 and 2 enough times the turns on each track start to become more predictable making it more manageable to play them. Don't get me wrong about Rally-X. I love playing the regular version of the game on said volume, but I feel like there could've been at least enough space to fit either Pole Position on the Digital Eclipse compilation, and was a missed opportunity to do so. I still have yet to test my mettle on an actual arcade cabinet though!
I thought the PS1 Namco Museum discs were also ports. The gamma or black level is better in Pac-Mania, for instance, whereas the color looks washed out in MAME or Arcade Archives.
Bosconian was big favorite of mine way back when. But there was never a version or close copy on any of the platforms I had. So when the Namco Museum 1 came out, it was a big incentive to get a Playstation back when the console cost $299. But guess which game has been left out of every Namco collection ever since? Why does Namco hate Bosconian?
I very much so enjoyed gba namco museum. Dig dug and ms. pacman were my games. Your compaint about a tiny fullscreen on a tiny screen is literally just a gripe what did you want? As for dig dug I do not remember it being a scroll screen on gba i could have sworn it was a fullscreen only game.
Need to add one huge issue with Pac Mania on the Pac Man Collection...They cut off the music! Listen to the Stage 2 theme. It's literally 1/3 of the song that plays in the arcade version! I ended up trading in my version because of that. I did buy the Namco Museum version at launch, just because in 2001, it WAS a huge deal having Galaga, Dig Dug and Ms Pac Man on the go in a single cartridge.
I like the N64 Pole Position because of the analog stick. The PS1 versions came out before the dualshock controller was invented so im forced to use the dpad.
I really feel like namco was trying to push Pac man on playstation exclusively because all the other releases via Nintendo and Sega when not as great. Well, Sega Dreamcast's Ms Pac Man Maze Madness achieved 50 to 60 FPS.
@@pojr They should make cars like that.... you want to see people on your left? Instead of using your head to look left, now you can just turn the steering wheel! Easy!
Nah, I disagree with the emulation vs port argument. Ports are always the better option, especially on handhelds like the GBA, and several parts of this video prove that. Oh, and Pole Position is better than Rally X.
It is almost as if the N64 version was crap because it was on a crap system. The games are ports because the N64 wasn't powerful enough to emulate the arcade versions.
If it's got the title "museum" then they should use the original ROMs. If it was called the "namco collection" I'd say ports are acceptable even if it wasn't an hd release. To me a collection has no expectation of accurate historical preservation but only that you can play all the games without any serious glitches or gameplay deviations.
I disagree with this video. The emulation on that 50th cart is ugly, and all that shimmering/line flicker is way too distracting. The graphics are much cleaner on the original Namco Museum and Pac-Man Collection carts. Its a GBA, so there will be compromises on screen resolution, and I'd rather take thoughtfully reprogrammed games vs. squishy emulated ones.
@@beauwalker9820 on the money there. A lot of that depended on how they handled the resolution change, with the earliest releases being worse offenders. Games like Xevious, Castlevania and TwinBee were pretty good, but I find Super Mario Bros. damn near unplayable from the shimmering mess and spazzy sprite drawing choices.
The Nintendo 64 has always been getting the short end of the stick when it comes to quarts and games let me give you an example 1. Worst version of mortal Kombat trilogy 2. Worst version of mega Man legends 3. Worst version of The world is not enough 4. Worst version of killer instinct 2
