scalyshoujo

Original arcade Pac Man is the one old arcade "score attack" game I generally think of myself as "bad at." It's game with really deterministic patterns so technically I could probably become an expert by looking up a guide and memorizing all the stuff about how the ghost monsters move/react to player behavior, but for the time being I seem to be getting a bit better with practice, mainly since playing it on Switch is very comfortable. Beat my own high score two or three times, so that's something.

Edit: Welp, there it goes, got past the second intermission and beat my high score again. Feeling contented enough to try focusing on some other games. :3

Well, I was gonna hold off on gobbling up more cheap downloadable games for a month and a half after my last couple purchases, but I decided to squeeze in one last game for a while. At first I was concerned that Namco Museum was overpriced, but eleven arcade games for a price that would normally get you three on the Switch isn't a bad deal.

Whether or not this game is for you depends on what you want your Namco arcade experience to be. With a relatively conservative number of games, it's natural that a few classics are missing, so you might not be interested in this one if you're really into Pole Position or Xevious.

Also, having the game display be full screen is not an option. This collection takes a different approach to the Johnny Turbo Data East releases to getting that "arcade feel," opting for virtual cabinets. I guess the developers may have been so devoted to getting this effect right that programming in wide screen wasn't a priority.

However, the spread of games that is there is pretty good, with a good balance between popular games and obscure ones, between sequels and originals. The virtual cabinet look is surprisingly easy on the eyes, with the option to go between two different art backdrops for the border, or a plain backdrop. The display/borders are also shaped and scaled differently depending on which game you're playing, so it feels a lot more natural in practice that one would think. You'll want to put this on a TV for best results if you can, but it looks better than expected in handheld mode.

That being said, the emulation is perfect and spot on, and the games are a bit easier to play given that there is a "suspended save" option reminiscent of Wii virtual console games. The biggest surprise is the inclusion of context sensitive rumble...it's a small thing, but using the Switch controllers to add a bit of tactile feedback was a good decision in my book.

I guess what I'm getting at in this sea of happy gushing is that Namco provided a really good retro experience here, but the lack of wide screen and specific choice of games might understandably turn you off. It's good, but some of the choices may seem odd.

Speaking of odd choices, Splatterhouse is a bit out of place, but a welcome addition all the same, and possibly the best use of that rumble feature.

I should probably do more blogging about Splatterhouse in the near future given that I finished both the TG16 and arcade version in single sittings last year.

I think one of the biggest reasons I'm happy this collection exists is that at one point I didn't have much time to play stuff that wasn't mobile apps, and one (now defunct)app offered Namco games, but if you didn't pay real money(Which I didn't) you could only play one game a day until you got game over. It's great to be able to purchase a collection of Namco arcade games that can be played at my leisure, especially since Tower of Druaga is in there. When I played that app, it was the game I had the most fun with and was the one I was saddest to see end, so yay for being able to just play it without the "once a day" restriction. :3

I highly recommend this compilation, but with some caution that depending on your preferences, some of the choices made in the library and the display may be a deal breaker.

Edit: Turns out there's a handy zoom figure for making the game display bigger. You can only go fullscreen with Rolling thunder 2 though. Pac Man Vs is a pretty straightforward Gamecube port, so it's in fullscreen by default. It is, however, still fitted with the same context sensitive rumble as the other games.

At the moment, Mega Man 3 is tied with the first Megaman X as my favorite Megaman games. 3 actually seems to be the game I'm the best at playing, which is a bit weird since it didn't have the charge shot and is really long because you have to fight the bosses from 2.

I've kinda messed with 7 again lately, though, and I feel like I never gave it enough credit because I can only remember beating it once and having a hard time with the last boss because it took a good while before I looked up/realized what I was supposed to be doing. 11 seems like it'll be something similar to 7 when it comes out this year, so I'm looking forward to it even more than I was.

I'm probably oversimplifying things, but I feel like most video games fall into two main categories...games that test your reflexes and are descended from the arcades, and games that are curiosity rewarding time sinks that are descended from text adventures and choose your own adventure books.

Been messing around with Megaman 7 a bit lately. It's a little weird going back to it because I'm more familiar as a source of art for sprite comics than as an actual game.

Have a pretty good Switch library by now, mostly because of cheap eshop games. Great for parties. Probably not going to buy a lot of physical cartridges til I get a suitable job, but probably gonna buy Hyrule Warriors in a couple of months.

I should probably try to find and watch Shugo Chara, that one magical girl sometime. One of those "on my bucket list but I never get around to it" sort of things.

I could see myself enjoying a Popeye scrolling fighting game/beat em up/belt scroller if that ever becomes a thing. I guess the four players could be Popeye, Bluto, Olive and Wimpy. Kind of seeing Olive with Monkey D Luffy's stretch moves.

I remember this weird grade school moment where some kids had a popeye mad libs and replaced every word with fart. Part of me thinks it was dumb, part of me still laughs for some reason. I think it was mainly because the idea of Popeye and Bluto playing tug of war with Olive as usual while at the same time having a real bad case of gas was a surreal mental image.

This wound up being more of a weird detour than I thought.