Namco Museum Encore

Today I'm going to talk about Namco Museum Encore for Playstation, the sixth disc in the classic arcade anthology series. As far as extra content in classic arcade compilation discs goes, the Namco Museum series has always been the benchmark in my opinion. While most collections usually present you with a simple menu allowing you to select what game to play, the Namco Museum series always included little extras that fans of these games can appreciate. Such as flyers, marquees, design sketches and things of that nature. The series always impressed me in that respect. However, my main complaint with the series has always been the selection of games. Not the number of games per se, but the games they choose to include on the compilation. There'd always be about three great games, one game no one has ever heard of and two to three games that should be destroyed and never played again. Well, not only does Encore live up to it's prequels in the extras department, it also suffers from the half-good-half-bad syndrome. Another way that Encore carries on the tradition of past games in the series came as a surprise to me. As many of you know, each disc in the series featured a letter so that when you put all five together you could spell NAMCO. I always thought that was a great idea, but when I heard of Encore I was clueless as to what they were going to do. After all, volume five had the honor of receiving the O, which just happens to be the last letter. Were they going to go with an all new cover design? Were they going to be lame and simply put Namco across the cover? I really didn't know what to expect. Well, when Namco Museum Encore arrived, I laughed and thought to myself about how clever they were. You know that little ® that appears after the names of many companies? Well, Namco enlarged that and plastered it on the cover of Encore.

Due to the fact that there are only seven games on this compilation, I have decided to go through each one, stating my likes and dislikes and a quick description of gameplay for those who have not had the pleasure/displeasure of playing these "classics". Sort of like a mini-review round up. At the end of this I will comment on the disc itself, such as what I thought about the selection of extras and things of that nature. I will review the games in the order they are on the disc, so just because I list King & Balloon first, please do not assume it is my favorite on the disc. To make easier to quickly find info on a specific game on the disc, I will split this review into sections. I am not too fond of doing this, but it will certainly make things easier.

King & Balloon

As I stated above, King & Balloon comes first. I'm not sure what to think about this game, on one hand I somewhat enjoy it, but on the other hand, I know the only reason I even play it is because it is such a shameless Space Invaders rip off. We've all seen these games, they are such obvious cash ins on the whole Space Invaders craze, usually including carbon copy gameplay with very small changes so they could avoid a lawsuit. What was the small change in King & Balloon? I'll give you a hint, it has something to do with the title. You play as an archer and your job is to protect your King from incoming balloons. If a balloon manages to fly past you it will land on the ground. The same ground that your moronic King just happens to be pacing back and forth on. Well, after a second, the King will walk directly into the balloon which then takes off as you hear him scream "Help!" in a squeaky digitized voice. You have to shoot the balloon down allowing the king to float down, umbrella in hand, to safety before it reaches the top of the screen. If you are successful, you are treated to an amazing digitized high pitch yelp of "Thank you!". Fail and you are treated to a humorous "Bye bye!". King and Balloon also features one more thing that differentiates itself from Space Invaders, getting hit by a bullet or even a balloon itself will not result in your losing a live. Sure, your archer will fall over, but in a few seconds you will reemerge. Getting hit is supposed to slow you down so you cannot rescue the King. Which leads us to the obvious fact that for every successful King abduction the enemy gets, you lose a life.

Seeing as how this game is from 1981, the graphics are obviously mind blowing. Well, maybe in 1981 they were, but now the game looks horribly dated. However, the charm of classic games lies in their gameplay, not flashy graphics. Basically, this game looks like a more colorful version of Space Invaders, or for those who played it it looks just like Space Invaders 2. This port features both letterboxed and Arcade/tate modes. Well, I've spent a little too much time on Space Invaders, oops, I mean King & Balloon, so I am going to move on. If you are a fan of Space Invaders, you will definitely enjoy King & Balloon. While the new gameplay elements do add to the game somewhat, at the end of the day it still feels like you are playing a hacked version of Space Invaders. That isn't a bad thing in itself, but I would've liked to see a more original game make its way on to the disc.

Motos

ZZZzzzzz.... Hmm, oh sorry about that. I was just having a wonderful time playing Motos that I seemed to have dosed off. I don't know how this could've happened with Motos's exciting gameplay. Since text doesn't convey sarcasm too well, I'll let you all in on a small secret. Come closer, come on. Don't be shy. Motos is dreadfully boring, almost as much as one of my reviews! Yes, folks, it is truly that bad. The premise of the game is as follows. You take control of a bumper car like vehicle and your job is to bump little balls and things off of the playfield while they try to do the same to you. Generally, the largest chunk of "gameplay" involves you and a small ball banging into each other in the center of the screen while you have the pleasure of hearing the repetitive banging. Pretty soon the time will start to run out and the playfield will disappear one block at a time until you fall off the edge, or you knock all the balls off the edge. Think of it as bumper cars meets sumo wrestling. Along the way you can find two different power ups that the game gives you the choice of using before each "match". One gives you extra bumping power and the other gives you the ability to jump.

I'd say the graphics of this game are on par with most NES games. This port features quite a few resolution/screen type choices including arcade/tate. As for control, I get cramps in my thumb from holding the dpad in the same position for nearly the whole game trying to push the enemies off the playfield. To sum this game up in one word is easy, that word would be boring. Maybe Namco made this game to help cure insomniacs? If so, they succeeded better than anyone could've hoped. I look in Namco's general direction and shout "Why??".

Sky Kid

Now this is what I'm talking about! Good ol' Sky Kid! This is probably my second favorite game on the disc, next to Rolling Thunder. The game takes place on a horizontal plane and you move from the right to the left, which can feel strange for those of us used to the standard left to right gameplay. In it, you pilot a small biplane with the task of bombing an enemy unit, usually a base or aircraft carrier. Here is a rough explanation of how a level in Sky Kid plays out. You start at the runway and take off, along the way to your destination you have to shoot various enemy planes and tanks or dodge bullets with your loop the loop maneuver. If you are hit, fear not as that does not mean instant death. If you jam on the buttons fast enough, you can regain control before blasting into the dirt. At the halfway point of a level you can swoop down to the ground to pick up the bomb. Then you fly through some more enemy fire and you will eventually reach the target. Once there, your job is to drop the bomb. While you can still clear the stage without bombing the target, you will get nowhere near as many points. As we all know, these games are all about the points so missing the target is a big no-no. After that you get to try your hand at a successful landing. Land well enough and you can pick up an extra life.

If you've ever played the NES port, the arcade version looks slightly better. As for screen types, you are stuck with only the standard, slightly letterboxed screen. It's not much of a distraction though as it is barely letterboxed at all. While the gameplay is a lot less complex than today's horizontal shooters, it is still quite fun to go back and see how they were all those years ago. Despite it's primitive nature, I'd say the game aged well. If you are a fan of horizontal shooters, chances are you'll enjoy Sky Kid. I know I sure do.

Rolling Thunder

If you've never played Rolling Thunder, the closest game it resembles is the original Shinobi or Shadow Dancer. To quickly sum up the gameplay, you move from left to right taking out bad guys on your way to the exit. There are often two ways you can take to the end of the stage, either the low road or the high road and this is where the similarities to Shinobi or Shadow Dancer come in. You have the ability to do a rather impossible jump so you can reach the area above your head. One hit from a bullet pretty much kills you instantly, though if you just touch an enemy it will only take a small amount of life away. You are equipped with a gun rather than shruikens. Your gun has limited ammo, so hopefully your are a good shot. Thankfully for you lousy shots out there, the game offers bullet rooms. Scattered throughout the levels are these doors with the word "Bullets" on them. I love how well 80's Arcade game villains hide things! Reminds me of the read doors in Elevator Action. When you enter the door you get ammo for your existing weapon, or a new weapon entirely.

Graphics are about early Sega Genesis quality I'd say. There is a nice variety in levels with both indoor and outdoor locales. The game has a few variations of enemies, but most are palette swaps with different attacks. As with Sky Kid, you are stuck with a slightly letter boxed version and that's it, but again, it is only very slightly letterboxed. I must admit, the gameplay is pretty basic by today's standards, but Rolling Thunder is a great game nonetheless. Tied with Sky Kid as being my second favorite game on the disc, they almost excuse all the bad games present. Do you like Shinobi or Shadow Dancer? You'll surely enjoy Rolling Thunder.

Wonder Momo

I debated even writing anything about this horrid piece of trash, but I decided I should. I figured it'd be best to warn you of this garbage. It seems as though the only point to this game is "fan service" of the main character. No matter what you do you see up her skirt. She even has a move where she simply twirls around. To top things off, one of the intermission screens has her in a bath towel and nothing else! As far as the actual gameplay goes, don't make me sick. Basically you play the part of a young girl in a play. All of the action takes place on a small theater stage with an audience of onlookers. The main point of the game is to simply kill the main boss. His henchmen will try to stop you but a simple kick will take them out. The boss is much harder. Fortunately for you, your character has the ability to change into a "super hero" with the aid of an item that bounces on screen. As this "super hero" you have a small ring that you can throw at the boss that does massive damage, making the game very easy. You have two gauges, one for your energy and one to show you how long your powers last. The control is horribly bad, but at least it compliments the gameplay. the actual stage is rather small, no bigger than a stage from a 2D fighter. In fact, it's probably a little smaller.

As with Rolling Thunder, the graphics are on par with early Sega Genesis games. Character designs are rather lame and look similar to those found in a cheap 80's anime. Like the two games listed before this, you are stuck with a slightly letterboxed version, do I sense a trend? If you couldn't tell by now, I absolutely abhor this game. It is one of the worst games I've ever played, and I've played many a bad game. In terms of badness, I'd say this game is the result of a love affair between Nitoshinden, Death Crimson 2 and Superman 64. Yes, it's that bad. I wince every time I see it's name.

Rompers

Reminds me of a mixture of Pacman and Lost Golem. In it, you must collect keys while avoiding enemies ala Pacman. To take out the enemies you can push walls over top of them ala Lost Golem. As you may have gathered the action takes place in a somewhat overhead viewpoint. This game ranks about right in the middle in terms of game quality on this disc. It's somewhat fun, but slightly bland. I don't think you'd give this game too much playtime considering it's competition, but at least it is better than the "bad" games on the disc. Unless you are a big fan of Pacman style games, this will probably be the game you ignore in favor of the "great" games. Not quite bad, but not good enough. Strangely, this game actually offers you an arcade/tate mode in addition to the letterboxed version.

Dragon Saber

The creme of the crop, the best of the bunch, the game many will likely purchase this disc for. Dragon Saber is a vertical shooter where you control a dragon. Unlike most of the games on this disc, this game plays closer to its newer counterparts. It's not as complex as newer shooters, but it can still hold it's own in my opinion. Enemies attack from both the air and the ground. You have a fire ball attack to take out enemies in the air and you use small bombs to blast land based enemies ala Twin Bee. You can charge up your fire ball attack resulting in a more powerful attack that can plow through enemies. There are two types of power ups that you get from blinking enemies or eggs that are located on the ground. They either give your dragon additional heads or more powerful attacks. You can get up to three heads and when you attack each head will shoot. When you get enough weapon power-ups your charge shot will become a large dragon shaped blast of blue flames. My only minor quibble with the game is that it features the annoying "start at the begining/mid point of a stage when you die" feature. Not only do I feel this slows down gameplay, it also means you have to be good enough to get through the stage without dying. I'd rather try that myself when I get good enough, rather than be thrust into it from the start. Though I must admit, the game is somewhat easy and it doesn't really detract from the overall greatness of the game.

Thankfully, there is an Arcade/tate mode as the game is very squished in letterbox mode. Not to mention the graphics take a big hit when the game is squished so thin. For those of us who cannot make use of the tate mode, I wouldn't worry. It isn't quite as good in letterbox mode, but it's still great fun. Just a minor annoyance. Fans of vertical shooters should enjoy this game quite a bit.

Overall

In the way of extras, this game has quite a few. When choosing games you can look at polygonal representations of what the actual arcade machines looked like. You can check out the instruction cards on them, open up the coin holder, pry open the game and look at the boards and even check out various promotional flyers. There are a few different style sets for the main navigation that you can choose from including a starscape and even an arcade from the early eighties. Many of the games have multiple screen type choices and allow you to mess around with dip switches and game options. Unlike some other compilations, you can save your high scores in this game. The game allows you to view a personal history of the various games that they released in the past. It should be noted that the game is entirely in Japanese. Playing the games should be no problem though.

Overall, I don't quite know what to say about this game. Dragon Saber, Sky Kid and Rolling Thunder are all great games, but you've also got stuff like Wonder Momo and Motos on here. I'd have to say, for the classic game enthusiast, I can recommend the game. Just make sure that you keep in mind that only three of the games are actually good. At the very least, it can remind everyone that there were bad games back then too. I just have to wonder why they chose some of these games. I find it hard to believe that anyone in their right mind would enjoy Wonder Momo. There are so many great Namco classics that could've been on here in place of that piece of crap. If you aren't a big classic game fan, it'd probably be best for you to pass on this. There are some great games on here, but none likely to convert you. In fact I think being exposed to Wonder Momo will do more harm than being exposed to Rolling Thunder will do good. In general, this is simply a mediocre collection, just like a vast majority in this series. Maybe one day they'll get it right. Earth to Namco, pick all good games, rather than a few good and a few filler.

©2002 Ed Finnegan

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