Namco takes you back to the good old days when game play was king.
- NA release: 9th October 2002
- EU release: N/A
- JP release: N/A
- Developer: Mass Media
- Publisher: Namco
- NGC Magazine Score: N/A
- Mods Used: None
This Namco Museum is mostly a port of the N64 version, with six more games added. There’s still no fun extra features, history or anything like that, but some of the new games make it into a far more entertaining package.
Pac-Man
It’s still Pac-Pan, and it works well.
Pac-Man Arrangement
One of the highlights of the collection. This is a fantastic version of Pac-Man, with the visual style changing every few levels and new mechanics added like boost pads and teleports. It’s an immense amount of fun.
Galaga
The classic shoot-em-up game.
Galaga Arrangement
Like the Pac-Man arrangement game, this changes things up a lot more than the original, with some nice backgrounds and really fun gameplay.
Dig Dug
It’s Dig Dug again, still fun.
Dig Dug Arrangement
Dig Dug with more enemy type and much nicer graphics. Each level is a tile on a map, with the level theme matching. Lots of fun.
Pole Position
I still can’t turn well in this.
Pole Position II
It’s more Pole Position.
Ms. Pac-Man
Sadly no arrangement version for Ms. Pac-Man, and it was already included in Pac-Man World 2.
Galaxian
Still as dull as ever.
Pac-Attack
A Pac-Man puzzle game, another one that was in Pac-Man World 2.
Pac-Mania
Again, it was included in Pac-Man World 2, a fun game if you treat it differently to the original Pac-Man
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It’s still a bare-bones release due to the lack of extras, especially when you take into account that 4 of the 12 games were included in Pac-Man World 2 as a bonus. However, the arrangement versions of Pac-Man, Galaga and Dig Dug really elevate the collection, especially as they’ve not been included in later collections. These three games are the stars of the show.
Fun
In the end, if you don’t own any of these games or other versions of the Namco Museum series, or if you’re a fan of the arranged games that make their home debut in this package, then this game will satiate your appetite for classic gaming. You could make the argument that several other classic Namco games should have been included, given the small size of the old Namco games and the fact that lots of them ran on nearly identical arcade hardware, but this package contains the major hits that most fans are after.
CNET
Remake or remaster?
A collection of all the Arrangement titles from the Namco Classic Collection 1 and 2 (which were both arcade machines) would be great. This would also include Arrangement versions of Mappy, Rally-X and Xevious.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no official way to get Namco Museum (GameCube).
Europe
Japan
North America
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Pac-Man Arrangement (1996) is a phenomenal game, and probably the best game in the series alongside the original Pac-Man Championship Edition.
This disc is worth a purchase just for PMA alone.
There’s also an excellent GBA version included in Pac-Man Collection for that console too (which actually did get a Wii U VC re-release surprisingly).
For whatever stupid reason though, Namco decided to remake Pac-Man Arrangement on the PSP (2007) and it’s nowhere even near as good as the 1996 arcade original. Unfortunately this became the version that Namco would continuously re-release all the way up until Pac-Man Museum+ came out in 2022! Which finally set things right by including an excellent emulation of the 1996 arcade game, making it finally available on all modern platforms once again.
In short. Go get Pac-Man Arrangement 1996 on either this Gamecube collection, the GBA Pac-Man Collection, or the modern Pac-Man Museum+ on Switch/PC/PS4/Xbox. The rest of the games are ok, but this is definitely the star of the show. One of Namco’s best!