Namco Museum 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection

Since the original PlayStation, Namco has been releasing classics from their arcade catalog in their Namco Museum collections. The publishing powerhouse responsible for Pac-Man and many other staples of classic gaming goodness is celebrating their 50^th anniversary in style by re-releasing 14 of their most popular arcade games from the eighties. The XBox version will also allow gamers to post high scores on XBox Live, meaning that hardcore old-schoolers will be able to experience the classics as they did back in the day, comparing their best to other gamers worldwide.

While previous versions of Namco Museum have had up to 12 arcade games in them, this one brings the collection to 14 titles from the golden age of arcade gaming. While classics like Pac-Man, Dig Dug and Rally X are all back, new games like Rolling Thunder, a side-scrolling action game where you must jump up and down balconies and hide behind doors to get the drop on your enemies, and Dragon Spirit, a Xevious-style shooter that has you flying on dragon back shooting air enemies out of the sky and bombing ground targets.

The complete list is as follows: Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Dig Dug, Pole Position I and II, Rolling Thunder, Rally X, Bosconian, Dragon Spirit, Sky Kid, Xevious and Mappy. Aside from straight ports of the original games, some of the titles feature “remixed” versions with new graphics, sound and gameplay elements.

While there are a few kinks to work out, namely some control and button mapping issues and some weirdness in choosing games (some of the titles in the preview build would play different games other than the ones initially selected), Namco Museum 50^th Anniversary should be a arcade fan’s dream when it hits consoles later this month.