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[Wario64]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/06/news_6115885.html

TOKYO--Retro-gamers have something to look forward to on Sony's PSP next month. According to retailers in Japan, Namco has set the release date for the PSP version of Namco Museum for February 24. The game will be priced at 3,800 yen ($36). No American release date has been announced for the compilation.

Like Namco Museum available for current-generation consoles, Namco Museum for the PSP will be a compilation of classic arcade hits from the 1980s and late 1970s. The PSP edition will come with seven titles that feature their original gameplay and graphics: Pac-Man, Ms.Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Dig-Dug, Rally-X, and New Rally-X.

Four of the included titles, Pac-Man, Galaga, New Rally-X, and Dig-Dug, will also come with take special advantage of the PSP's hardware. While details haven't been disclosed on how the classic titles will play differently, Namco said the compilation will use the handheld's Wi-Fi connection for a versus multiplayer mode.

 

[Soul4ger]

Now it's only seven games? What the flying fuck, you can get 10 on PS2 for $20. Namco has officially gone bonkers.

 

[Amir0x]

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/01/06/news_6115885.html

TOKYO--Retro-gamers have something to look forward to on Sony's PSP next month. According to retailers in Japan, Namco has set the release date for the PSP version of Namco Museum for February 24. The game will be priced at 3,800 yen ($36). No American release date has been announced for the compilation.

Like Namco Museum available for current-generation consoles, Namco Museum for the PSP will be a compilation of classic arcade hits from the 1980s and late 1970s. The PSP edition will come with seven titles that feature their original gameplay and graphics: Pac-Man, Ms.Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian, Dig-Dug, Rally-X, and New Rally-X.

Four of the included titles, Pac-Man, Galaga, New Rally-X, and Dig-Dug, will also come with take special advantage of the PSP's hardware. While details haven't been disclosed on how the classic titles will play differently, Namco said the compilation will use the handheld's Wi-Fi connection for a versus multiplayer mode.

If this comes in US I'm so-so-sold. I don't like buying retro compilations for consoles so much, but for handhelds it's perfect. I really dig that.

 

[radios shipping overview]

Now it's only seven games? What the flying fuck, you can get 10 on PS2 for $20. Namco has officially gone bonkers.

Yeah, every time they make a new one of these they include fewer games. Trim the fat, maximize profits... >_<

 

[CorruptionDee]

After rumors have been circulating in the new EGM of Capcom releasing an arcade classics type disc for the PS2, XBox and GC, the thought of playing all the classic Capcom games on the go excited me. In my opinion, Capcom has better classics than any other publishers. It seems like everytime some company makes a compilation disc, there's always a crapload of games that have either aged terribly, or sucked since they were released. In my opinion, the best compilation disc released thus far, is Midway's second Arcade Treasures disc.

Although a PSP port of the rumored Capcom disc wasn't mentioned, I'm sure Capcom will eventually port it. Imagine playing the actual arcade versions of Final Fight, Ghouls and Ghosts, Black Tiger, UN Squadron, etc on the go. Hopefully this rumor is true, as it makes perfect sense.

 

[Legal Step]

That story reads like a Namco press release.

 

[jooey]

I saw this shit a miiiiile away! I would've taken bets but everyone would agree with me

 

[Xellos]

Now it's only seven games? What the flying fuck, you can get 10 on PS2 for $20. Namco has officially gone bonkers.

Seriously. Would it really be such a bad business move to put 20-25 old games on one disc? Doesn't seem to be hurting Midway.

 

[jooey]

I suspect it's being developed by Mass Media again so that's why it's only games that Americans remember (no one really gives a shit about Mappy/Druaga/Motos/what-have-you). on the other hand, midway/atari had a lot more memorable games, for one.

 

[Xellos]

I suspect it's being developed by Mass Media again (in the US) so that's why it's only games that Americans remember (no one really gives a shit about Mappy/Druaga/Motos/what-have-you). on the other hand, midway/atari had a lot more memorable games, for one.

Even if no one remembers them, being able to say the compilation has 20 games is a good selling point. I understand what you're saying, though.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

galaga on the go? man, i might have to

 

[DDayton]

I think the main reason the Namco collections is so short is because, according to most progamming and emulation folks I know, the Namco Museum sets aren't emulated. Midway's collections are emulated, and adding new sets of games can be fairly easy once you program an emulator for a particular hardware configuration. However, I've been told by multiple people that the Namco Museum games are recoded with false "test screen" displays so as to appear more authentic. If the Namco games are recoded, that could explain why there are never as many present on a single collection, as adding new games requires new programming.

I wonder when the DS version will be announced, though... we all know that it will be coming.

 

[michael000]

If a UMD is 1.8gb i wonder how much room 7 of those games would actually take. If they're true to the originals they couldn't be more than a MB combined no?

 

[jooey]

yes they are recoded and therefore way way over a meg just like megaman anniversary collection (OH SHIT I INVOKED ITS NAME)

 

[DCharlie]

"Imagine playing the actual arcade versions of Final Fight, Ghouls and Ghosts, Black Tiger, UN Squadron, etc on the go. Hopefully this rumor is true, as it makes perfect sense."

... wets pants.

Actually... the machine has been out for almost 4 weeks now, how comes i can't run a version of Mame from my PSP via Memstick yet???

 

[Agent X]

If this comes in US I'm so-so-sold. I don't like buying retro compilations for consoles so much, but for handhelds it's perfect. I really dig that.

Er, I like buying retro compilations, too...but only seven games? Activision raised the bar a couple of years ago by offering 45 games on the original PS2 Activision Anthology (other versions offered even more games), and we've also seen huge collections from Midway and Atari. We've now got Atari Anthology with an amazing 85 games! I don't expect Namco to match 85 games, but if they could at least manage 20 on a disc, then that would've been fine.

If Namco brings this to America, then they need to offer a bunch more games, like Xevious, Pole Position, Mappy, Dragon Spirit, Rolling Thunder, maybe some more of the Pac-Man sequels (Super Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Pac-Land, Pac-Mania) and Galaxian/Galaga sequels (Gaplus, Galaga '88). It's a shame that after all these years, the best official home version of Galaga '88 is still the TurboGrafx-16 version (Galaga '90 in the US).

Namco also needs to offer true emulation this time around. I was disappointed that they still didn't emulate the games when they made Namco Museum for PS2, GC, and X-Box. If they can't do it this time around, then the you-know-what is going to hit the fan, especially in the classic gaming community where people have been crying for Namco to do this for years.

 

[Kiriku]

With the GBA version selling mad amounts of copies in the US, I wonder if the PSP version will follow the same pattern (if it's released in the US).

 

[Lyte Edge]

DCharlie has the right idea...I can't wait to see some form of emulation on PSP. Would the system be powerful enough to handle CPS2 and Neo-Geo emulation? That's all I would need.

Although a PSP port of the rumored Capcom disc wasn't mentioned, I'm sure Capcom will eventually port it. Imagine playing the actual arcade versions of Final Fight, Ghouls and Ghosts, Black Tiger, UN Squadron, etc on the go. Hopefully this rumor is true, as it makes perfect sense.

That would be SO awesome...I'd buy that in a hearbeat. The Namco collection seems pretty crappy though...needs more games, but if they didn't put a bunch of them on the PS2 disc, why would they put any more on the PSP version? Also Rally-X is already a bonus game in Ridge Racers, so a lot of people will already have that game.

 

[Shard]

The Namco Musem series was pretty good on the PSOne.

 

[CorruptionDee]

"Imagine playing the actual arcade versions of Final Fight, Ghouls and Ghosts, Black Tiger, UN Squadron, etc on the go. Hopefully this rumor is true, as it makes perfect sense."

... wets pants.

Actually... the machine has been out for almost 4 weeks now, how comes i can't run a version of Mame from my PSP via Memstick yet???

I was thinking the same thing. Give it time, my friend. Give it time. The PSP is more than powerful enough to run a full speed/full sound MAME. With the Memory Stick compatibilty, it's almost made for MAME. Do you know how many ROMs you could fit on a 1 gig stick? More than enough. Only the newer games take up substantial space, and most of them are Neo-Geo games. If the emulation scene is so big on the GBA, imagine how big it will be once they crack the PSP.

 

[CorruptionDee]

"DCharlie has the right idea...I can't wait to see some form of emulation on PSP. Would the system be powerful enough to handle CPS2 and Neo-Geo emulation? That's all I would need. "

In my opinion, at ~333MHz the PSP is more than powerful enough to perfectly emulate Capcom's CPS 2 hardware and SNK's MVS/Neo-Geo hardware. The system has 32MB of RAM, so if the vastly technologically inferior GBA has a big emulation scene, I'm almost certain it will be twice as big on the PSP. Don't quote me on this, but I wouldn't be surprised if the PSP could emulate the PS1. I'm sure there are developers cracking away as we speak.

 

[imastalker co.]

i hope this means the DS version isn't too far off.

im dying for portable TATE versions of Galaga, DigDug, and Ms. Pac Man.

 

[Agent X]

im dying for portable TATE versions of Galaga, DigDug, and Ms. Pac Man.

If you're talking about playing with a vertically-oriented screen, then this version should (hopefully) do that. Emulate the arcade games, then allow the user rotate the unit 90 degrees for the authentic arcade-style experience.

If Namco can do all of this, then I just might end up buying this package after all.

 

[Lyte Edge]

I was thinking the same thing. Give it time, my friend. Give it time. The PSP is more than powerful enough to run a full speed/full sound MAME. With the Memory Stick compatibilty, it's almost made for MAME. Do you know how many ROMs you could fit on a 1 gig stick? More than enough. Only the newer games take up substantial space, and most of them are Neo-Geo games. If the emulation scene is so big on the GBA, imagine how big it will be once they crack the PSP.

And the biggest Neo-Geo games zipped are only around 40 megs each once they get decrypted.

 

[DCharlie]

oh god of dev scene, please have your minnions working harder....

1 gig mem sticks full of Megadrive / Snes / C64 / Spectrum / ST / Amiga / Mame / SCUMM / PC Engine / Doom etc (all wireless multiplayer of course) / homebrew....

all 100% emulated, no "won't run mode 7 games properly" or "no games over 4 meg in size" etc etc....

 

[Lyte Edge]

oh god of dev scene, please have your minnions working harder....

1 gig mem sticks full of Megadrive / Snes / C64 / Spectrum / ST / Amiga / Mame / SCUMM / PC Engine / Doom etc (all wireless multiplayer of course) / homebrew....

all 100% emulated, no "won't run mode 7 games properly" or "no games over 4 meg in size" etc etc....

I think I would be in tears if this were to happen.

 

[DCharlie]

... well, i guess some of those are possible on the GP32, but i want it all perfect and on that screen (nods at PSP)

 

[Amir0x]

Er, I like buying retro compilations, too...but only seven games? Activision raised the bar a couple of years ago by offering 45 games on the original PS2 Activision Anthology (other versions offered even more games), and we've also seen huge collections from Midway and Atari. We've now got Atari Anthology with an amazing 85 games! I don't expect Namco to match 85 games, but if they could at least manage 20 on a disc, then that would've been fine.

If Namco brings this to America, then they need to offer a bunch more games, like Xevious, Pole Position, Mappy, Dragon Spirit, Rolling Thunder, maybe some more of the Pac-Man sequels (Super Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Pac-Land, Pac-Mania) and Galaxian/Galaga sequels (Gaplus, Galaga '88). It's a shame that after all these years, the best official home version of Galaga '88 is still the TurboGrafx-16 version (Galaga '90 in the US).

Namco also needs to offer true emulation this time around. I was disappointed that they still didn't emulate the games when they made Namco Museum for PS2, GC, and X-Box. If they can't do it this time around, then the you-know-what is going to hit the fan, especially in the classic gaming community where people have been crying for Namco to do this for years.

Yes, this was a really nice in-depth post but see...

...none of these are on my PSP handheld so it doesn't do anything for me. I don't buy compilations for my console, Megaman being an exception.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Not to say that it wouldn't have done well otherwise, but the GBA version of Namco Museum really benefited from the fact that it's only ten bucks.

 

[Kiriku]

... well, i guess some of those are possible on the GP32, but i want it all perfect and on that screen (nods at PSP)

GP32 could emulate some of the consoles you mentioned, but it had still ways to go before being perfect. Hell, it even has trouble with Punchout on the NES emulator Little John (which I assume is the best one available). You had to cut the framerate down from 60 to 30 because of the amount of slowdown present. Same thing with the later Megaman games. So yeah, PSP will most probably make more stuff perfect I'm sure. It will be a handheld emulation dream come true!