I remember seeing a video of the OG version of the demake on RUclips and was amazed by it. Still even now I'm surprised the game actually ended up resurfacing, especially in the manner it actually did.
You know, I love M2. They are absolute crazy people. They love retro hardware and retro games, and going out of their way is not something they're new to. I think the craziest thing I've seen from them is making an Arcade version of Fantasy Zone 2 by modifying a Fantasy Zone arcade board, porting the Master System version to that board, upgrading the graphics and sound, and then Emulating that entire thing for Fantasy Zone Complete on PS2.
Just found myself playing virtual console on my 3ds last night. The difference between the features in Nintendo's emulator, vs M2 and Sega's is staggering, next to them it looks like Nintendo did the bare minimum.
It’s actually justified they used the Famicom ports considering in Japan they called their version of the collection the NAMCOT collection. Which was made to release the NES Ports of their games and that’s actually cool. Preservation of alternate versions is actually more important than you’d think.
It worked out. I'm glad we got some Famicom exclusives and the Japanese version of Rolling Thunder. Still unsure why they broke the collection into 2 volumes, other than for the money.
The music in the Pac-Man CE demake is actually possible on real hardware. It uses the Namco 163 expansion chip which gave the Famicom's sound chip a few extra sound channels to work with. The NES never supported expansion chips unfortunately.
Neat! Wouldn't be the first time M2 did this. Back on PS2 they released a "System-16" version of Fantasy Zone 2, a Master System exclusive game. However it turned out that they had programmed it on real System-16 arcade hardware and even released it in the arcades as a promotion for their Fantasy Zone Collection on PS2. It later got a 3D port on 3DS. Never underestimate M2. They're the absolute best. Oh yeah and that recently released Genesis Mini 2 ALSO had new Genesis games on it that they made!
It’s actually justified considering in Japan they called their version of the collection the NAMCOT collection. Which was made to release the NES Ports of their games and that’s actually cool. Preservation of alternate versions is actually more important than you’d think.
True. But I can see why they used the NES versions. For one, it's unlike any other Namco Museum collection. Secondly, some of the NES versions (like Dragon Spirit) are different from their arcade counterparts.
Dig Dug might not have been released on the NES in the US possibly as Atari had the console rights to the game still, they released a 7800 port that year too. But M2 are geniuses are recreating games on old hardware, they did all the additional games for the Genesis Mini 1 and 2 and I think PC Engine Mini/Turbografx mini, they've been around for years to, first porting Marble Madness and Gauntlet IV to the Mega Drive in Japan. (Which are also hidden in the code of the genesis mini 1)
I don't understand the claim Dig-Dug was not released in the US for the NES. I rented it as a kid, and it says right on the Wikipedia it had an NA NES release.
Good point, Atari had the console rights. That might explain some of the other games too, maybe, because Galaxian and others existed on the 2600 too. Also, I'm genuinely amazed at what M2 has done.
I think the homebrew commiunity had a lot to do with finding optimizations that allow for amazing demakes like that so many years of passionate people with so many years to figure out tricks original devs never could in the lifespan of the console. Its a love letter to the homebrew community.
The Dragon Spirit NES game is actually a SEQUEL to the arcade game. That's why you fight the arcade final boss at the beginning of the NES game, and it has it's own, different final boss at the end. The whole series is: Dragon Spirit, Dragon Spirit: the New Legend (NES), Dragon Saber.
I have to suspect the Gaplus enemies become part of the background layer once they lock into place, since they all move as one with synchronized animation, and then they wouldn't be subject to the sprite limits. More likely the _stars_ are sprites because they can move at different speeds and it's okay if they flicker because stars are expected to twinkle. I guess I get to thinking about these things more after seeing Displaced Gamers' videos about how Punch-Out cleverly used the background layer to fit more character animation into a crowded space.
One notable thing is that Pac Man CE uses a mapper for the sound that is only supported by the Famicom and not the NES. It'll still play on an NES, it's just the audio will be broken.
Another thing about why they use NES roms is because it was originally released in Japan under the name of "Namcot Collection", which explains why you see the "Namcot" logo at the title screens for games. Namco Museum Archives is the western release, split into two volumes.
Could you talk about the Japanese release "namcot collection"? It had Famicom games published by but not made by Namco such as Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei.
Im guessing that the reason Gaplus has "no flickering" is because the enemies transform into background elements once they get into place. And when they need to move, that part of the background gets deleted, and get replaced with sprites. Again, just a guess.
Nice video. Thanks. I learned alot about this release. It is incredible that M2 modified and created real NES game for bonus games. PacMan championship edition looks... almost 16 bit games. Gaplus is also very nice addon game too. but it is so funny Namco decided to release old arcade collection in NES games.. what..?!? They did real arcade edition in so many different old consoles. I think they should've added word ' in NES' or 'NES edition' on the front. I think they tried to avoid some weird copyright issue with nintendo.
5:00 I think by the time the NES turned up in the US and Europe those games were "old hat" and Nintendo's licencing agreements limited the number of titles a publisher could releaase in a year, so they'd only go for the ones they had that were most likely to make bank.
On top of that, Namco threw a hissyfit when they learned they wouldn't get any of the special treatment they received in Japan as a licensee for Nintendo of America. Bandai licensed their games up until the near end of the NES.
@@DioBrando-qr6ye Namco received very favorable terms as a charter third party in Japan, and also had the liberty to produce their own carts and special mappers (the latter mentioned in the video). In the US, third parties were forced to use Nintendo created mappers (i. e. UnROM, MMC1-5), which really ticked them off. Something like that at least.
@@mohammedganai9636 but it wasn't just Namco, everyone could use their own mappers in Japan, it's just Nintendo of America that was unnecessarily strict.
Sad. Namco Museum on PSP was better than both these collections combined. Not only did it have almost all of these games, but it had modern renakes of Pacman, Galaga 89, DigDug, all with 3d graphics.
Great video. Very interesting stuff. Can't believe they aren't a larger size rom. Their just over 262KB, the same size as Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Keep up the good work!
I had Mappyland for the NES growing up. I remember the enemy's being so much faster than you late game that a single misstep or delay would lose you a life.
That's usually how Arcade games work, which Mappy-Land is conveying from its Arcade predecessors(Mappy and Hopping Mappy) despite Mappy-Land is a home console game. In Arcade style games, when the purpose of enemies are to chase you, the much later levels usually make them be much faster and more aggressive and you need to be on your toes, strategize and put your skills faster on the test that you learned from the previous levels. Pacman has that, Mappy has that, Rally-X has that, Dig Dug has that etc.
The sad thing is I have had both volumes for a while but didn't know they were the NES versions because I haven't played them yet. It would be cool if there was an Atari / Namco collection that used the Atari 7800 Roms.
Namco doesn't own the Atari roms of there titles. That's why is a collection of NamcoT famicom ports. The pac-man titles included are the Namco ports never sold in America because the rights to port them were sold to Atari Games (the arcade game company ) who sold the the original and ms.pacman ports made in house.
If Dig Dug and Mappy didn't get a US release then there was some low key pirating operation going on in the late 80's because my local rental place had them both for rent and I know I rented them. They also had non-authorized games like Captain Comic.
Oh definately. Which is a good thing so people back in the 80's can experience the Famicom versions of Mappy and Dig Dug at the time through that route. There are even markets even around that time where you buy multicarts to play on your NES and they contain quite a lot Japan exclusive Famicom titles like Mappy and Dig Dug.
Awesome video, If anyone doesn't know the Namco Archives and the Namcot Collection have different game line ups. In Japan Waygon Land is a freebie when downloading the free to start Namcot Collection.
There’s a reason why I love the original PlayStation namco museum volumes 1-5 encore games, it’s because they always went that extra mile, volume 4 and 5 has translated Japanese games in the United States version, while encore has Japanese games only on Japan release, and some things are translated to read, even though it was the last title, they still went above and beyond!🙂
I swear. I am one of the 100 in the all elite mappyland fan club 😂 I love that game Nes port of pacman is really good. Yes the sounds are perfect. But almost controls flawlessly. Id pick this up, if i did already have most of these games. Hell, i got pacland for 6 bucks and love booting that up here and there with my converter
Dig-Dug was not a US release? I remember renting Dig-Dug for the NES. I also remember easily mastering it; never dying, which makes me think it's not exactly the same as the arcade version.
@@exactspace if you played it on your nes, probably it came from a multicart or a bootleg cartridge im very familiar with the first one more than the second (since i never brought licensed NES cartridges, i had a bootleg multicart for everything and they were cheaper here than a single licenced game in southamerica lol)
_Legacy Of The Wizard_ is epic. A ton of hours was invested into the original NES version. In 1992 when I moved into my own place I would put the inventory screen on to fall asleep to. Then in 2008 I took the inventory screen music and made a whole new song out of it when I was using Fruity Loops 8 a lot.
The reason so many of Namco's arcade conversions failed to make it to the North American NES was Nintendo's dracoian third party license rules at the time, which limited third party developers including Namco to just five releases per year. Being limited to five annual games and no more, Namco stategically chose titles they felt would sell the best. Dig Dug II over the original Dig Dug because Dig Dug 2 was newer, looked better, was more likely to not have a version that appeared on an older console as would have been the case of the original Dig Dug. Eventually Nintendo eased off this restriction, but it really limited the NES conversions of early 80s arcade titles in the west. Thankfully, Japan had no such limit on third party games, so you got them all there. Also fun fact: these Famicom conversions were hand developed by Namco themselves by a devision they set up within the company specifically to do this: Namcot. It's not a typo. Namcot was the in-house team that made home conversions of arcade games, and why they are so friggin good.
I am very tempted because they are now on offer but I wonder if it is worth it since in emulation they would turn well and they are almost all easy to find
The first time I saw and played _Rolling Thunder_ was at Cedar Point. I traded an extra couple hours of coaster riding time to play it. It would take another 2 weeks before my hometown arcades would get a copy. At least were were ahead of everyone else in scores and progress into completing the game.
My theory on why we never got the other Namco games like Dig-Dug and Mappy is the same thing happen to all the third party gaming is that Nintendo rules on only 5 games a year to be sold in the US and they had to pick the BEST 5 games and had Namco did the same trick as Konami did with there sup-licence ULTRA GAMES we could have had more Namco games but who knows.
Well, they did license out some of their games to third parties. Tengen was a second-party at the time (and Namco apparently set them up to the Rabbit chip skullduggery), but Bandai (which didn't own Namco then) released Galaga and I think also Xevious.
I was about 70% through the PC version of Pac-ManChampion DX when I lost my SSD drive in the fall of 2022. I haven't reinstalled it yet to start over. sigh. Holy crap that was 3 years ago this month. At least I recovered all my data from Luxor Evolved the greatest sequel and nostalgic game engine ever. I adore those color vector graphics.
I see many people is disappointed that these are not the arcade versions, but I think is quite interesting and the new "demakes" for Pac-Man CE and Gaplus look pretty, those are a nice and unique addition and the fact that those games actually are real nes games is even better. The bad part is that strange decision to sell them in two separate volumes and that only in Japan does it have a physical version
I wish they would’ve teamed up with Nintendo to release this as a collection like “Namco: NES Museum”. However I think the price was worth it just to try and have PAC-MAN CE. The Demake was amazing!!
This is almost as crazy as the first Atari Flashback plug'n'play, which was a NOAC (NES On A Chip), and they made NES ports of all the classic atari games JUST FOR THAT.
Dragon Buster II: Seal of Darkness is basically Namco's take on Advanced D&D: Cloudy Mountain (AKA, Adventure after the TSR license expired) on Intelevision. The way you use arrows to attack enemies, the way they can bounce off walls and potentially back at you, the way your color chances with your health, and the way caves are all black until you walk through them are all very much in line with the mechanics of Cloudy Mountain! If you didn't like DB2, then you'll likely not like AD&D either... But to those who liked AD&D on Intelevision despite how un-AD&D it was, (It was in development as Adventure before Mattel picked up the TSR license), you might like Dragon Buster II.
Look Pac-Man Champion Edition and Gaplus are actual NES ROMs. Years ago both games were wrenched out of the collection by hackers, they found they were actual NES roms and extracted them, set a correct mapper code, and they fired right up in flash kits and emulators. That better isn't a mystery, though I don't remember which, but it was either DPCM or used an upper end expanded mapper to get the enhanced audio much like Castlevania III on Famicom does with that Konami VRC6.
I was lucky to down load a huge nes ,emu folder packed with all ,region games all around the world, It has full,build of Japanese collection,so,Its great to follow along and learn new games,and try them out with,spending yrs down loading finding roms.Who every put this full,maxed out,regional, ports collections did an awesome job job because,each regional has it folder,so no mixed up regional roms pluss this,emu pack has all the hacked games folders so on to explore.
I bet it all comes down to licensing. They already have working NES and SNES emulation where as the arcade versions they might need to license MAME and license through NAMCO. By using NES, they may have less licensing to deal with.
A lot of these probably were not released due to age, and for third party devs, Nintendo restrictions in the US. By the time the NES really was getting widespread usage in 1987-1988 a game like Dig Dug was going on 7 years old and been a hard sell at a $50 price tag, and lower cost on the cart would have been difficult with royalties and manufacturing costs. Add in Nintendo only allowed publishers to release 5 titles a year at that time and thoses are probably the reason they were never released.
I don’t know why they did this. The reason why I bought volume two was because I thought it was the arcade version of Pacland as it turned out it was not.
Its been done before but it wouldn't hurt to do a video on how Nintendo updated a rom after 30 years plus for the NES, Im talking about the Switch port of Donkey Kong, its an updated ROM too that can be dumped and played on actual hardware. Im just saying it doesnt get enough attention, they didnt need to do it and didn't market it.
Why they did the extra effort? 1. Free marketing. Like your very video here :P 2. Emulation features. By making an authentic NES game they will have no headache of keeping the QoL features of the emulator, Rewind and all. This is the similar case to their GG Aleste 3, the latest real Game Gear title. It's both to promote the Game Gear Micro and as the main feature of Aleste Collection. By doing so GG Aleste 3 has the advantages hard-coded games can't have like save states and replay. Imagine using save state for a brand new game!
New subscriber. The great RUclips God recommended your channel. I’m 39 and still have my NES I got when I was 4. The Galaga game verses the game on the Switch is very slow. I stopped playing that for that reason. Nintendo for whatever reason does a good job but these third party game makers don’t feel the same to me.
Your smile is sometimes something a little awkward. Don't be afraid. Your videos are great and good researched. I will subscripe and keep up the good work friend. Greetings from Germany. :)
I just want gameboy classic. Model it after the gameboy pocket, give it a back lit screen, put a link cable port on it. Put all pokemon games on it bit when you choose a version the other version become un accessable so you have ti trade to complete the dex. Put a car port in it and they can sell expansions with more games but will also allow you to play old gameboy games. Gameboy classic would be awsome because everybody would have a gameboy again and we could all meet up with link cables and play like its 98
You know, the cover and title of the Japanese version of the collection is more honest, if you think about it. And it's funny. The name Namcot was used to publish video games on home systems in Japan, particularly on the Famicom. And second: they literally placed a Famicom cartridge on the box art. Why they was not more specific with the western release that's a question.
And I'm not the only one who bought not just this Nintendo switch version. I also bought it for my PC as well. Fun games I well-translate it to the Nintendo Entertainment System and family computer some not so much. But as soon as I play what are those top-down shoot em ups I noticed this game has a built-in Auto fire. Which gives us a plus for me but I still give it a negative for that NES Pac-Man port. Namely the sound and color palette. But a plus for Mappy. And the last time I check with Nelson Museum archives for 1. I see original Dig Dug. As well as Galaxian. Still disappointing that we never get to see Ms. Pac-Man to be playable on either. Tengen version especially. I heard this variation is actually playable. I played GAPlus. It's good. I'm pretty mediocre at precise shooting. I gave Dig Dug two trouble in Paradise a shot. I gave better City a shot and I've already got my foot wet into it and I got used to it. I'm going to give Rolling Thunder a shot (sorry for the gun pun) despite ammo management. Wizards Legacy. I tried and play. Made some progress there. Never fully acquainted with Japan Falcom titles. We're strangers.
I suspect Galaxian and Dig-Dug didn't make it to America because Americans played these games on Atari already for many years. Mappy though would have been very welcome IMO.
Hi POJR, look like we have another user of Mister out there. It's nice. I prefer to play in a actual NES, with a microsd card adapter. For this i mean. If not, i play all the games in my ARCADE pc machine cabinet, (from 8-32bits games arcade/consoles and -even DOS and win 3.1x-95). Liked, and share the video too.
So I have the Namco Museum Arcade Pac. It comes with Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Tower of Druaga, SkyKid, Rolling Thunder, Galaga '88, Splatterhouse, Tank Force, Rolling Thunder 2, and Pac-Man Vs. as well as Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus (I think that's a 2-player only). If I picked up these Namco Museum Archives, am I buying the same games twice?
The Arcade Pac you already have contains the arcade versions of the games. The games in this video are the NES versions. This means if you get these Namco Museum Archives you will have two different versions of the same game, one from the arcade and one from the NES. Personally, if you are happy with the arcade versions I'd either just stick with what you already have or wait for these to go on sale.
![Namco Museum Archives - All 38 Games Shown [Switch]](/img/1.gif)
The Pac-Man CE demake is in fact an nes rom which has been ripped and shared online. I have been enjoying it on my emulation devices.
Technically Famicom because of the Namco 163 expansion audio.
I remember seeing a video of the OG version of the demake on RUclips and was amazed by it. Still even now I'm surprised the game actually ended up resurfacing, especially in the manner it actually did.
You know, I love M2. They are absolute crazy people. They love retro hardware and retro games, and going out of their way is not something they're new to. I think the craziest thing I've seen from them is making an Arcade version of Fantasy Zone 2 by modifying a Fantasy Zone arcade board, porting the Master System version to that board, upgrading the graphics and sound, and then Emulating that entire thing for Fantasy Zone Complete on PS2.
We really need this type of dedication a lot more.
Just found myself playing virtual console on my 3ds last night. The difference between the features in Nintendo's emulator, vs M2 and Sega's is staggering, next to them it looks like Nintendo did the bare minimum.
Wow, had no idea they did that! Cool!
Not that it matters but the Pacman rom doesn't actually work fully on actual NES hardware. The music requires the 47k Expansion Audio mod
How did nobody notice you were here, mate. Fifteen likes and I’m the sixteenth? Love your videos.
It’s actually justified they used the Famicom ports considering in Japan they called their version of the collection the NAMCOT collection. Which was made to release the NES Ports of their games and that’s actually cool. Preservation of alternate versions is actually more important than you’d think.
It worked out. I'm glad we got some Famicom exclusives and the Japanese version of Rolling Thunder. Still unsure why they broke the collection into 2 volumes, other than for the money.
@@pojr The money is the only reason. Namco has steadily decreased the value proposition of the Namcomuseum line since the PS days.
The music in the Pac-Man CE demake is actually possible on real hardware. It uses the Namco 163 expansion chip which gave the Famicom's sound chip a few extra sound channels to work with. The NES never supported expansion chips unfortunately.
Neat! Wouldn't be the first time M2 did this. Back on PS2 they released a "System-16" version of Fantasy Zone 2, a Master System exclusive game. However it turned out that they had programmed it on real System-16 arcade hardware and even released it in the arcades as a promotion for their Fantasy Zone Collection on PS2. It later got a 3D port on 3DS. Never underestimate M2. They're the absolute best. Oh yeah and that recently released Genesis Mini 2 ALSO had new Genesis games on it that they made!
I always will love how they made Vs. Puyo Puyo Sun for the Mega Drive Mini 2 just because they could.
I remember some of their devs asking for Citra developers to help in emulation of their ports for Nintendo 3DS.
I hate when they use NES roms instead of the aracade originals. The NES versions were really good. But not as good as the arcade versions.
With the exception of Contra 😁
It’s actually justified considering in Japan they called their version of the collection the NAMCOT collection. Which was made to release the NES Ports of their games and that’s actually cool. Preservation of alternate versions is actually more important than you’d think.
I wonder if it was a creative decision or if the NES is easier to emulate?
True. But I can see why they used the NES versions. For one, it's unlike any other Namco Museum collection. Secondly, some of the NES versions (like Dragon Spirit) are different from their arcade counterparts.
This is very true lol.
Dig Dug might not have been released on the NES in the US possibly as Atari had the console rights to the game still, they released a 7800 port that year too.
But M2 are geniuses are recreating games on old hardware, they did all the additional games for the Genesis Mini 1 and 2 and I think PC Engine Mini/Turbografx mini, they've been around for years to, first porting Marble Madness and Gauntlet IV to the Mega Drive in Japan. (Which are also hidden in the code of the genesis mini 1)
I don't understand the claim Dig-Dug was not released in the US for the NES. I rented it as a kid, and it says right on the Wikipedia it had an NA NES release.
Good point, Atari had the console rights. That might explain some of the other games too, maybe, because Galaxian and others existed on the 2600 too. Also, I'm genuinely amazed at what M2 has done.
Are you refering to this article? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_Dug
There is an NA release for the arcade version, but not for the Famicom one.
@@pojr I see, my mistake. Thanks for clearing that up!
Then what is the reason why the Famicom version of Mappy is only released in Japan back in the 80's?
I think the homebrew commiunity had a lot to do with finding optimizations that allow for amazing demakes like that so many years of passionate people with so many years to figure out tricks original devs never could in the lifespan of the console. Its a love letter to the homebrew community.
The Dragon Spirit NES game is actually a SEQUEL to the arcade game. That's why you fight the arcade final boss at the beginning of the NES game, and it has it's own, different final boss at the end. The whole series is: Dragon Spirit, Dragon Spirit: the New Legend (NES), Dragon Saber.
Props to m2 for actually demaking(kinda) Gaplus and Pacman for the NES
I have to suspect the Gaplus enemies become part of the background layer once they lock into place, since they all move as one with synchronized animation, and then they wouldn't be subject to the sprite limits. More likely the _stars_ are sprites because they can move at different speeds and it's okay if they flicker because stars are expected to twinkle.
I guess I get to thinking about these things more after seeing Displaced Gamers' videos about how Punch-Out cleverly used the background layer to fit more character animation into a crowded space.
I’ve read that this is how Galaga worked originally.
One notable thing is that Pac Man CE uses a mapper for the sound that is only supported by the Famicom and not the NES. It'll still play on an NES, it's just the audio will be broken.
Unless you mod the console to have the expansion chips or you have a flash cart with support for these chips.
The main thing hindering bigger NES games was space. I wonder what a game would look like now with no limit in disk space.
M2 are a bunch of madmen
just a couple years ago they developed a brand new game for the sega game gear
No way what’s the game called?
@@nick-cepticon782 gg aleste 3
Another thing about why they use NES roms is because it was originally released in Japan under the name of "Namcot Collection", which explains why you see the "Namcot" logo at the title screens for games. Namco Museum Archives is the western release, split into two volumes.
I'm here playing Namco 50th on the gba and it's fantastic.
My favorite Namco connection on the GBA. In fact, I made a video about it.
Could you talk about the Japanese release "namcot collection"? It had Famicom games published by but not made by Namco such as Atlus's Shin Megami Tensei.
Some were made as dlc btw, Japanese only version
Some Namco games in Japan say Namcot with a “t” on the end I don’t know why in North America Namcot decided to drop the “t” and become Namco
"Let's take a look" he says when I already have the ROM for Pac-Man Championship Edition on my EverDrive. Still watched the whole thing anyway though.
when your logo spins around in the intro, it would look better if it was centered on the 'o' in the name, in my opinion.
Im guessing that the reason Gaplus has "no flickering" is because the enemies transform into background elements once they get into place. And when they need to move, that part of the background gets deleted, and get replaced with sprites.
Again, just a guess.
I knew about the Championship Edition NES version but not the Gaplus one. Nice, I'll have to look into that one!
It's a very solid title!
Famicom has different games in both packs, and has 1 free game on one volume: Wangan land 1
Nice video. Thanks. I learned alot about this release. It is incredible that M2 modified and created real NES game for bonus games. PacMan championship edition looks... almost 16 bit games. Gaplus is also very nice addon game too.
but it is so funny Namco decided to release old arcade collection in NES games.. what..?!? They did real arcade edition in so many different old consoles.
I think they should've added word ' in NES' or 'NES edition' on the front. I think they tried to avoid some weird copyright issue with nintendo.
5:00 I think by the time the NES turned up in the US and Europe those games were "old hat" and Nintendo's licencing agreements limited the number of titles a publisher could releaase in a year, so they'd only go for the ones they had that were most likely to make bank.
On top of that, Namco threw a hissyfit when they learned they wouldn't get any of the special treatment they received in Japan as a licensee for Nintendo of America. Bandai licensed their games up until the near end of the NES.
@@mohammedganai9636 what special treatment?
@@DioBrando-qr6ye Namco received very favorable terms as a charter third party in Japan, and also had the liberty to produce their own carts and special mappers (the latter mentioned in the video). In the US, third parties were forced to use Nintendo created mappers (i. e. UnROM, MMC1-5), which really ticked them off. Something like that at least.
@@mohammedganai9636 but it wasn't just Namco, everyone could use their own mappers in Japan, it's just Nintendo of America that was unnecessarily strict.
In North America we got Dig Dug 2: Trouble In Paradise, Galaga and Mappyland
You had me at Legacy of the Wizard, I got a score to settle with that game!
Sad. Namco Museum on PSP was better than both these collections combined. Not only did it have almost all of these games, but it had modern renakes of Pacman, Galaga 89, DigDug, all with 3d graphics.
Great video. Very interesting stuff. Can't believe they aren't a larger size rom. Their just over 262KB, the same size as Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Keep up the good work!
I had Mappyland for the NES growing up. I remember the enemy's being so much faster than you late game that a single misstep or delay would lose you a life.
That's usually how Arcade games work, which Mappy-Land is conveying from its Arcade predecessors(Mappy and Hopping Mappy) despite Mappy-Land is a home console game. In Arcade style games, when the purpose of enemies are to chase you, the much later levels usually make them be much faster and more aggressive and you need to be on your toes, strategize and put your skills faster on the test that you learned from the previous levels. Pacman has that, Mappy has that, Rally-X has that, Dig Dug has that etc.
The sad thing is I have had both volumes for a while but didn't know they were the NES versions because I haven't played them yet. It would be cool if there was an Atari / Namco collection that used the Atari 7800 Roms.
Would be cool. In general, it would be nice if companies released console versions of their games, just to see how different they are.
Namco doesn't own the Atari roms of there titles. That's why is a collection of NamcoT famicom ports. The pac-man titles included are the Namco ports never sold in America because the rights to port them were sold to Atari Games (the arcade game company ) who sold the the original and ms.pacman ports made in house.
0:27 Hay what is the name of this little 8-bit tune? Is from a NES game? Or was this made up for the video itself?
If Dig Dug and Mappy didn't get a US release then there was some low key pirating operation going on in the late 80's because my local rental place had them both for rent and I know I rented them. They also had non-authorized games like Captain Comic.
Oh definately. Which is a good thing so people back in the 80's can experience the Famicom versions of Mappy and Dig Dug at the time through that route. There are even markets even around that time where you buy multicarts to play on your NES and they contain quite a lot Japan exclusive Famicom titles like Mappy and Dig Dug.
Awesome video, If anyone doesn't know the Namco Archives and the Namcot Collection have different game line ups. In Japan Waygon Land is a freebie when downloading the free to start Namcot Collection.
There’s a reason why I love the original PlayStation namco museum volumes 1-5 encore games, it’s because they always went that extra mile, volume 4 and 5 has translated Japanese games in the United States version, while encore has Japanese games only on Japan release, and some things are translated to read, even though it was the last title, they still went above and beyond!🙂
love the growth on the channel!
Thank you! And thank you for being here!
Nice, I hope Namco does more of these since I noticed a few NES games missing as well.
4:24 what is super egxevious?
I swear. I am one of the 100 in the all elite mappyland fan club 😂
I love that game
Nes port of pacman is really good. Yes the sounds are perfect. But almost controls flawlessly. Id pick this up, if i did already have most of these games. Hell, i got pacland for 6 bucks and love booting that up here and there with my converter
Dig-Dug was not a US release? I remember renting Dig-Dug for the NES. I also remember easily mastering it; never dying, which makes me think it's not exactly the same as the arcade version.
you might be thinking of its sequel, dig dug ii
@@solong.everyone Nope. I'm familiar with the top-down Dig-Dug II. Information about the NES release of Dig-Dug can easily be found on its Wikipedia.
No it wasn't released in the US. Other console versions were like the 2600 and 7800, but not NES. Only the Famicom.
@@exactspace if you played it on your nes, probably it came from a multicart or a bootleg cartridge
im very familiar with the first one more than the second (since i never brought licensed NES cartridges, i had a bootleg multicart for everything and they were cheaper here than a single licenced game in southamerica lol)
@@unnamedlucario so on another reply I was corrected! The arcade version was released on the NES, but not Famicom’s version.
_Legacy Of The Wizard_ is epic. A ton of hours was invested into the original NES version. In 1992 when I moved into my own place I would put the inventory screen on to fall asleep to. Then in 2008 I took the inventory screen music and made a whole new song out of it when I was using Fruity Loops 8 a lot.
It would be great to watch a continuation to this video talking about the games that are exclusive to the Japanese version of this collection
yeah its thier IT, Im huge into emulating titles ( i own ). But Namco/Bandi own these games and should be able to do this 100%
The reason so many of Namco's arcade conversions failed to make it to the North American NES was Nintendo's dracoian third party license rules at the time, which limited third party developers including Namco to just five releases per year.
Being limited to five annual games and no more, Namco stategically chose titles they felt would sell the best. Dig Dug II over the original Dig Dug because Dig Dug 2 was newer, looked better, was more likely to not have a version that appeared on an older console as would have been the case of the original Dig Dug.
Eventually Nintendo eased off this restriction, but it really limited the NES conversions of early 80s arcade titles in the west. Thankfully, Japan had no such limit on third party games, so you got them all there.
Also fun fact: these Famicom conversions were hand developed by Namco themselves by a devision they set up within the company specifically to do this: Namcot. It's not a typo. Namcot was the in-house team that made home conversions of arcade games, and why they are so friggin good.
Pojr! :) I recently subscribed to your channel. I just want to say your videos are really great, and I hope to see more in the future!
Also, I love the walk cycle for Rolling Thunder. Dude is so lanky.
I am very tempted because they are now on offer but I wonder if it is worth it since in emulation they would turn well and they are almost all easy to find
The first time I saw and played _Rolling Thunder_ was at Cedar Point. I traded an extra couple hours of coaster riding time to play it. It would take another 2 weeks before my hometown arcades would get a copy. At least were were ahead of everyone else in scores and progress into completing the game.
My theory on why we never got the other Namco games like Dig-Dug and Mappy is the same thing happen to all the third party gaming is that Nintendo rules on only 5 games a year to be sold in the US and they had to pick the BEST 5 games and had Namco did the same trick as Konami did with there sup-licence ULTRA GAMES we could have had more Namco games but who knows.
Well, they did license out some of their games to third parties. Tengen was a second-party at the time (and Namco apparently set them up to the Rabbit chip skullduggery), but Bandai (which didn't own Namco then) released Galaga and I think also Xevious.
thanks for being here @pogr , you fill the void left by GamingHistorian's large gaps between videos (and you are just as cute)
You're welcome! Thank you for being here.
I was about 70% through the PC version of Pac-ManChampion DX when I lost my SSD drive in the fall of 2022. I haven't reinstalled it yet to start over. sigh. Holy crap that was 3 years ago this month. At least I recovered all my data from Luxor Evolved the greatest sequel and nostalgic game engine ever. I adore those color vector graphics.
Just bought a Pojr shirt today to represent 😎
Thank you!
I see many people is disappointed that these are not the arcade versions, but I think is quite interesting and the new "demakes" for Pac-Man CE and Gaplus look pretty, those are a nice and unique addition and the fact that those games actually are real nes games is even better.
The bad part is that strange decision to sell them in two separate volumes and that only in Japan does it have a physical version
I wish they would’ve teamed up with Nintendo to release this as a collection like “Namco: NES Museum”.
However I think the price was worth it just to try and have PAC-MAN CE. The Demake was amazing!!
This is almost as crazy as the first Atari Flashback plug'n'play, which was a NOAC (NES On A Chip), and they made NES ports of all the classic atari games JUST FOR THAT.
I'd imagine they were released in 2 parts in the US as a money grab.
I think you're right lol.
This is so cool that the new games are developing for the NES ! From where to download those 2 new ROMs?
Heck, there are still new games being made for the Atari 2600.
@@themidcentrist yes , and the demo scene is huge . But all this of homebrew and not commercial games :)
Dragon Buster II: Seal of Darkness is basically Namco's take on Advanced D&D: Cloudy Mountain (AKA, Adventure after the TSR license expired) on Intelevision. The way you use arrows to attack enemies, the way they can bounce off walls and potentially back at you, the way your color chances with your health, and the way caves are all black until you walk through them are all very much in line with the mechanics of Cloudy Mountain!
If you didn't like DB2, then you'll likely not like AD&D either... But to those who liked AD&D on Intelevision despite how un-AD&D it was, (It was in development as Adventure before Mattel picked up the TSR license), you might like Dragon Buster II.
Galaga 84 was a great version. That continue feature could really drain your pocket of quarters.
Well spoken and very interesting
Look Pac-Man Champion Edition and Gaplus are actual NES ROMs. Years ago both games were wrenched out of the collection by hackers, they found they were actual NES roms and extracted them, set a correct mapper code, and they fired right up in flash kits and emulators. That better isn't a mystery, though I don't remember which, but it was either DPCM or used an upper end expanded mapper to get the enhanced audio much like Castlevania III on Famicom does with that Konami VRC6.
I was lucky to down load a huge nes ,emu folder packed with all ,region games all around the world, It has full,build of Japanese collection,so,Its great to follow along and learn new games,and try them out with,spending yrs down loading finding roms.Who every put this full,maxed out,regional, ports collections did an awesome job job because,each regional has it folder,so no mixed up regional roms pluss this,emu pack has all the hacked games folders so on to explore.
You also find Mappy and Dig Dug 1 on pirated multi carts as well and Galaxian (might have spelled that wrong)
So I take it your flashcart has the Namco chip on it?
I use the mister fpga, which supports the chip.
Absolute madlads, they've ported two games to an obsolete Nintendo console just so that they could put it on a recent Nintendo console.
Pacman CE is definitely a NES ROM, it plays on emulators and original hardware with a flash cart
"aboat"
damn why is everyone canadian
Hey man love the content! New subscriber here. I've ee. Binge watching your stuff. You deserve more subs. I wish you lick!
I bet it all comes down to licensing. They already have working NES and SNES emulation where as the arcade versions they might need to license MAME and license through NAMCO. By using NES, they may have less licensing to deal with.
I hate we didn't get a physical edition of these volumes. They could have made more money.
A lot of these probably were not released due to age, and for third party devs, Nintendo restrictions in the US. By the time the NES really was getting widespread usage in 1987-1988 a game like Dig Dug was going on 7 years old and been a hard sell at a $50 price tag, and lower cost on the cart would have been difficult with royalties and manufacturing costs. Add in Nintendo only allowed publishers to release 5 titles a year at that time and thoses are probably the reason they were never released.
Good info, thanks again pojr
The only collection-based game I have is Midway Arcade Origins for Xbox 360 and it seems decent to me. some cool games on there.
Gaplus and Pac-Man CE actually got dumped and I'm happy to say they do work on a real hardware with an Everdrive N8 cart :)
I don’t know why they did this. The reason why I bought volume two was because I thought it was the arcade version of Pacland as it turned out it was not.
Its been done before but it wouldn't hurt to do a video on how Nintendo updated a rom after 30 years plus for the NES, Im talking about the Switch port of Donkey Kong, its an updated ROM too that can be dumped and played on actual hardware. Im just saying it doesnt get enough attention, they didnt need to do it and didn't market it.
Who didn't know this... The announcement videos were pretty explicit about it.
I don't think anyone knew that gaplus and Pac-Man championship edition were actual ROMs until someone extracted the ROM files.
@@pojr those 2 were extracted immediately. I had Pac-Man ce put on a famicom cart.
Why they did the extra effort?
1. Free marketing. Like your very video here :P
2. Emulation features. By making an authentic NES game they will have no headache of keeping the QoL features of the emulator, Rewind and all. This is the similar case to their GG Aleste 3, the latest real Game Gear title. It's both to promote the Game Gear Micro and as the main feature of Aleste Collection. By doing so GG Aleste 3 has the advantages hard-coded games can't have like save states and replay. Imagine using save state for a brand new game!
New subscriber. The great RUclips God recommended your channel.
I’m 39 and still have my NES I got when I was 4. The Galaga game verses the game on the Switch is very slow. I stopped playing that for that reason. Nintendo for whatever reason does a good job but these third party game makers don’t feel the same to me.
Your smile is sometimes something a little awkward. Don't be afraid. Your videos are great and good researched. I will subscripe and keep up the good work friend. Greetings from Germany. :)
I just want gameboy classic. Model it after the gameboy pocket, give it a back lit screen, put a link cable port on it. Put all pokemon games on it bit when you choose a version the other version become un accessable so you have ti trade to complete the dex. Put a car port in it and they can sell expansions with more games but will also allow you to play old gameboy games. Gameboy classic would be awsome because everybody would have a gameboy again and we could all meet up with link cables and play like its 98
There is footage of the Pacman Championship Demake being played on a real NES, it's a legit NES Rom.
Mappy-Land looks like a MSX game because of colors
Your smile gives me life 😆
Well, ACTUALLY they did release Dig Dug on the Wii, Wii U & 3DS Virtual Console
You know, the cover and title of the Japanese version of the collection is more honest, if you think about it. And it's funny. The name Namcot was used to publish video games on home systems in Japan, particularly on the Famicom. And second: they literally placed a Famicom cartridge on the box art. Why they was not more specific with the western release that's a question.
And I'm not the only one who bought not just this Nintendo switch version. I also bought it for my PC as well. Fun games I well-translate it to the Nintendo Entertainment System and family computer some not so much. But as soon as I play what are those top-down shoot em ups I noticed this game has a built-in Auto fire. Which gives us a plus for me but I still give it a negative for that NES Pac-Man port. Namely the sound and color palette. But a plus for Mappy. And the last time I check with Nelson Museum archives for 1. I see original Dig Dug. As well as Galaxian. Still disappointing that we never get to see Ms. Pac-Man to be playable on either. Tengen version especially. I heard this variation is actually playable. I played GAPlus. It's good. I'm pretty mediocre at precise shooting. I gave Dig Dug two trouble in Paradise a shot. I gave better City a shot and I've already got my foot wet into it and I got used to it. I'm going to give Rolling Thunder a shot (sorry for the gun pun) despite ammo management. Wizards Legacy. I tried and play. Made some progress there. Never fully acquainted with Japan Falcom titles. We're strangers.
I suspect Galaxian and Dig-Dug didn't make it to America because Americans played these games on Atari already for many years. Mappy though would have been very welcome IMO.
10:49 Wait.......what?
Great vid. :)
Thank you so much!
Legacy of the wizard was in the USA
Hi POJR, look like we have another user of Mister out there. It's nice.
I prefer to play in a actual NES, with a microsd card adapter. For this i mean.
If not, i play all the games in my ARCADE pc machine cabinet, (from 8-32bits games arcade/consoles and -even DOS and win 3.1x-95).
Liked, and share the video too.
They should have included both arcade and NES versions
It would have been cool if you tried these games on a real NES/Famicom
Wait, Legacy Of The Wizard??? That's a Nihon Falcom game, not Namco... weird.
Interesting channel
You should do a video on the star path supercharger.
So I have the Namco Museum Arcade Pac. It comes with Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Tower of Druaga, SkyKid, Rolling Thunder, Galaga '88, Splatterhouse, Tank Force, Rolling Thunder 2, and Pac-Man Vs. as well as Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus (I think that's a 2-player only). If I picked up these Namco Museum Archives, am I buying the same games twice?
The Arcade Pac you already have contains the arcade versions of the games. The games in this video are the NES versions. This means if you get these Namco Museum Archives you will have two different versions of the same game, one from the arcade and one from the NES. Personally, if you are happy with the arcade versions I'd either just stick with what you already have or wait for these to go on sale.
The other difference as well is that Namco Museum Arcade Pac doesn't have Mappy.
Dragon Spirit on NES is a sequel to the arcade game