Nintendo Switch Critic Reviews

Split archives aside, your love of Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 will be dependent on how much you love the NES and how you feel about this mix. Half of these games are better represented by their arcade versions, and depending on your platform of choice, you may already have access to them via the older Namco Museum compilations. However, NES originals like Splatterhouse and Dragon Spirit are as excellent today as they were decades ago, while the demake of Pac-Man Championship Edition simply has to be seen to be believed. For the investment price of $19.99, retro fans will like this title quite a bit.

While I wish Namco had rounded out this package more, there's a lot of value for a very fair price here. There's a great mix of titles that range from all-time greats to at least mildly interesting. Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 is well worth your time if you love the classics or are merely interested in them.

A fascinating collection that brings attention to a crucial moment in video game history. These aren't all the best ways to play these games (and some of them are just not fun at all), but that isn't necessarily the point. Unreleased games and new "bonus" titles not available anywhere else make this a must-have for history enthusiasts.

Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 and 2 offers players a variety of games to play, and yet, most of them are space shooters. However, the games that the collections do contain provide both a sense of nostalgia and new memories as you are now able to play a few titles that weren’t available before. It does the minimum of what a collection should do, without including special concept art or an interactive museum setting. Still, it’s fun to be able to have easy access to these titles to play again or share with friends and family.

The other standout here is demake of 2007’s Pac-Man Championship Edition. It’s probably a little unfair to compare it to any of the other ten games on this compilation, seeing as its design has the benefit of 30+ years of hindsight, but it’s still an incredible take on an incredible game that feels alive in a way that none of the other games here do. Is it enough to singlehandedly make Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1 worth picking up? Probably not…but it’s good enough that I’d at least have to think about it before answering that question. At the very least, it justifies the collection’s existence, even if the rest will probably only appeal to you if you want another version of games that, mostly, have been available elsewhere for decades.

The Museum Archives are by no means the perfect collection - they're the wrong ports in that the NES ports rather than the arcade originals are in there, and there are many compilations that have more games in them. With that being said, there's not single dud game in this collection, and whether they're as well known as Pac-Man or as obscure as Dragon Spirit, they're all genuine all-time classics. You buy either of these collections and you'll be coming back to them for years to come.

It is overall hard to recommend Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 aside from checking out old Famicom and NES versions of games. The two major exceptions are Pac-Man Championship Edition and the previously Japan-only Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti. If you want to see a neat demake of a great Pac-Man game or a cool never-before-seen Namco platformer, by all means go dive into this collection. But aside from those two games, there isn't much here but NES and Famicom versions of arcade games.

NES and Namco fans will be happy with the titles on offer here. Some of them have never been released in the west before and the star of the show – Pac-Man Championship Edition – is an entirely new NES port created just for this collection. Each of the 11 games has at least some value, but the bare-bones nature of the presentation is a little disappointing: for a game with Museum in the title, we'd hoped each game would have been celebrated a little more with art and behind-the-scenes info.

There are many, many ways that NAMCO MUSEUM ARCHIVES Vol 1 could be better, but as a whole, fans of retro gaming will definitely love this. Apart from the greedy idea of separating 20 super-old games between two collections, the only thing really holding this back right now is its price. So, put it on your wishlist… and wait.

The Namco Museum Archives Vol 1 and 2 are a decent trip down memory lane. The previously unlocalised games and rarities will entice retro game enthusiasts. A bunch of the classics are here, and some alright games too. Dividing the collection into two volumes only serves to squeeze a little extra money out of you for Famicom/NES versions of games. The 8-bit demakes of Pac-Man Championship Edition and Gaplus make great additions and show up the older games a little, but overall fit in amongst the bunch. If you want the original version of the classics then you’re better off with the older Namco Museum Collection, it’s really the rarities and previous Japan-only titles that make these volumes stand out.