Namco, now the merged entity Bandai-Namco for some reason I can’t fathom but oh well, has certainly gone back to the arcade collection well a lot of times. Many of their games are genuine pop cultural phenomena, either/both in their native Japan and in other countries. It was US sales that propelled Pac-Man into being perhaps the most enduring legacy of the golden era of arcade games.
It was for the original Playstation that Namco first started rereleasing home compilations of their classic-era arcade hits, in the six well-known and respected Namco Museum titles. But then their rereleases became rerereleases, and then, rerererereleases. So many collections, so many trips around the block, so many recreations, so so many. Going by the series’ Wikipedia page, the most recent entries have been for modern home consoles, the Evercade handheld retro console, and even a standalone unit.
I would despair of ever understanding all the Namco Museum releases, but for the tireless efforts of Mythic Resonance on Youtube. He has constructed an epic two hour review of every Namco Museum version, called The Namco Museum Museum! It took him over 2½ years to make! And as of this writing it only has 1.9K views, which I view as a darn shame, even if it is, right now, only nine hours old.
I don’t know how many of you have the stamina to watch all of an epic overview of these dozens of game collections, but some of you have got to be up for it, I’m sure. Good luck on retaining your sanity while weathering this massive onslaught of game information!
