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Review: A little old school goes a long way.
With the retro craze in full swing, classic videogames are seeing a resurgence in popularity. With remakes of Gauntlet, Spy Hunter, Defender and Dragon's Lair leading the way you should expect to see several more updates and pseudo-sequels over the next couple of years. Of course, for those of us that are real nostalgia buffs, nothing can take the place of the arcade originals. That is, until now. The Game Boy Advance, specifically the SP edition with the front-lit LCD screen, is very well suited to taking these classics out of the closet and on the road with you. Namco pulled this off with astonishing finesse with the first volume of their venerable Namco Museum, a veritable treasure trove of classic gaming goodness.
Namco Museum brings several arcade classics to life on the portable screen of the GBA. The best of the classes of 1979, '80, '81, and '82 are represented here by the likes of Galaxian, Ms. Pac-man, Galaga, Pole Position and Dig-Dug. A motley crew, but a team of heavy hitters nonetheless. For those of you that don't remember the arcades of the early 1980s, these are the titles that helped set the groundwork for what you are playing today. If you don't know these games, go look them up. It'll do you good.
With each of the classic titles that are included, Namco Museum offers a very faithful recreation of the look, sound, and feel of the original titles. Of course, one would hope that the GBA could pull this off, especially considering the impressive jump in processing power between the original arcade units and now.
While the GBA plays perfectly to the classic controls of Ms. Pac-man, Dig-dug, Galaga and Galaxian, Pole Position suffers from not having the arcade racing wheel to steer with. The directional pad just doesn't cut it when it comes down to timing your turns well. It is a very frustrating and difficult to overcome fault for the title. In every other case though, the controls are spot-on and even the most rigid arcade veteran will find themselves at home with the portable control scheme.
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Namco Museum is one of the best classic game compilations that have ever graced any console. Wisely opting for faithful recreations instead of souped-up modernizations, Namco has breathed another life into their golden age of arcade titles. Namco Museum brings Ms. Pac-man, Galaxian, Galaga and Dig-dug to a new generation of gamers-on-the-go and does so with an incredible amount of poise. While the game definitely benefits from the illumination of the GBA SP screen, the GBA itself is the perfect venue for game collections like this.
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