Genre: Action
Publisher: Namco
Developer: Namco
Release Date: August 23, 2005

Buy 'NAMCO MUSEUM BATTLE COLLECTION': PSP

2005 is the year of the classic compilation. Earlier in the year, the regular contributors to the genre, Midway, released Midway Arcade Treasures 2, one of the largest and most fan-service friendly compilations of its type. Over the coming months, Capcom and Taito will hop on the compilation train for the first time this generation. And of course, the seemingly annual Namco Museum will see a strange volley of multiplatform releases this year, even stretching as far as to re-release a handful of arcade classics on the Gameboy Advance – a dying platform, unless the GBA Micro inexplicably resurrects consumer interest – most of which have already been playable on both that and other platforms this generation.

Frankly, interest from gamers is at an all-time low when it comes to Namco's compilations. Each release covers the same general time span, usually marked by the onset of Pac-Man and rarely continued past the mid-to-late '80s. While Midway Arcade Treasures prepares to whisk gamers back to the not-too-long-ago yesteryear of 3DFX-powered arcade boards with Midway Arcade Treasures 3, Namco is still dawdling with games that predate even some of their own picks on the latter Namco Museum volumes on the PS1. While the entire point of these compilations is to revisit the past, it stands as a big problem if the same era is revisited multiple times in a generation.

So why all the buzz over Namco Museum Battle Collection?

Easy; just look at the word sandwiched between "Namco" and "Museum." Admittedly we've seen the majority of these games before – many times before – but the Battle Collection is best played with a few friends, and the experience is exactly what these collections have been needing, and will hopefully set the standard for future collections (although Midway Arcade Treasures for PSP looks to take the compilation crown yet again).

As with any collection, it must be reviewed not only as a full product, but also by the sum of its parts. In that spirit, I will provide a game-by-game breakdown:

Pac-Man: One of the greatest games of all time, no questions asked. It's simple enough for anyone – and I mean anyone – to grasp, tough enough to keep people playing decades after its release. While many games have sought to directly copy its success, none have achieved anywhere near the same status in terms of sales or otherwise. It is the concepts behind Pac-Man – iconic characters, heavily abstract game design – that have stayed with the gaming medium to this very day.

Rally-X: While at first sight Rally-X seems like a cute little racing game, it is actually more of a loose derivative of Pac-Man. At breakneck speeds, players must nimbly navigate a careening little F1 racer or go-kart (whichever your imagination assigns the simple little player sprite) to pick up 10 flags, all while dodging a horde of evil little red cars who have nothing better to do than fulfill the requirements of some suicide pact. The game is fun but by no means classic. Its sequel, New Rally-X, is the same game with an easier difficulty curve and the addition of Special and Lucky flags, which give players extra points and gas, respectively.

Bosconian: This one plays like Thunderforce II meets a dumbed-down Starlancer. Free-roaming space missions to take down enormous battleships, all while dodging swarms of enemy ships, including wings of ships that will flank you and take you down head-on. This is one of the better obscure titles in the compilation, marred only by the slightly sensitive collision detection.

Grobda: A weak tank-battler. Wipe out all of the enemies with your laser cannon ASAP. One of the more boring games on the collection.

Dig Dug: It's Dig Dug!! Could I possibly say more? Dig through dirt and pump up enemies with air before they escape! It's action-meets-puzzler gaming at its very best.

Dig Dug II: A fun game but not nearly as refined as its prequel already was; the above-ground action is simply too easy and not nearly as exciting.

Motos: Fun with physics! The aim of Motos is simply to knock balls off of a grid. The challenge: These things fight back! While Motos lacks the personality to be a contender with the likes of Galaga and Dig Dug, the incredibly unique gameplay makes me wonder why this game didn't show up on earlier collections.

Rolling Thunder: This is one of the more throwaway games on this collection, though it is wholly welcome thanks to the lack of additions in so many of Namco's compilations. The concept here is straightforward runnin' and gunnin' – almost too straightforward, given the stiff nature of the gameplay. It's worth a try, but definitely not any extended play.

Dragon Buster: This pretty much falls in the same boat as Rolling Thunder, except the guns are replaced with swords and sorcery. This one is a bit more fluid, but still plays in a strangely rigid manner, keeping it very far from classic status.

Galaga: One of the best shooters of all time, if not the most original. Thanks to fantastic sweeping enemy formations, deviously upgradeable ships, and the introduction of progressive shooting stages, Galaga is one of the few derivatives of Space Invaders to play like a true classic.

Mappy: It's yet another fantastic run-for-your-life game with quite a bit of personality, if not one that could be done without, seeing how many times we've seen Mappy re-released. Players control an especially crafty mouse who must use all of his surroundings to the best possible extent in order to survive a bevy of hungry cats. It may sound simple, but the game is a lot of fun, even if I am tired of seeing it on every compilation.

Tower of Druaga: This is probably my favorite game on the entire compilation. Players must figure out the shortest way to get to both a key and a door before the initially daunting clock runs out, fighting masses of enemies along the way! A dungeon crawler before the term existed and a timeless, if slow-paced, adventure.

King & Balloon: Yet another Space Invaders clone, though without the ingenious design of Galaga, and with twice the difficulty. The game moves at a breakneck pace, enemies swoop about in unintelligible patterns, and all the while, there's a creature running about below the player, waiting to be whisked away by an enemy at the cost of a life. More annoying than fun.

Galaxian: The last of a string of Space Invaders clones on this collection, and also the most nondescript. Galaxian is nowhere near as good as Galaga, similar as it is; it simply does not need to be on this collection.

Xevious: Once thought to be an underappreciated gem, Xevious has been getting a lot of attention lately, be it on Jakks' TV Games units or the first string of Famicom Mini/NES Classics cartridges for the Gameboy Advance. Rounding out what is an extremely varied collection of Namco games, Xevious is one of the best non-arranged titles on this compilation. It is a full-featured vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up – one of the first of its kind. It is so fully-featured, in fact, that using on-screen crosshairs, players can drop bombs on ground-based adversaries, giving a significant amount of depth to the game – a feature that was revisited only last generation in the Saturn shmup, Galactic Attack. Xevious feels dated compared to current shmups like Chaos Field, but it's still a blast, and though it is not the newest game on the compilation, it definitely feels like it is.

These older games serve to flesh out the package into a more justifiable release. Their presence feels right, yet they are still not the meat of the collection. That badge is reserved for the Arrange Modes, remixed versions of the more popular games in the package. The four arranged titles on this collection – Dig Dug, Galaga, Pac-Man, and New Rally-X – are the best arranged work Namco has released so far. They are optimized for the PSP with fantastic graphics, and still feature most of the original sound effects so as to preserve the classic integrity of the games. While I would still rather play the original Pac-Man over the Arrange Mode, that is simply a matter of nostalgia; the version of the game on the PSP is the best remake I've played yet. As for the other three titles, I end up spending time with them much more than their original versions. Being the type of person who stands by my record player, adores analog synths in my gaming consoles, and thinks vacuum tubes will never be out of style as an electronic component, it takes a lot for me to ignore my classics; here, Namco has done it.

Namco Museum Battle Collection is one of my favorite compilations so far. It really does serve as a museum, showing the great all the way down to the mediocre, and throwing in a bit of a modern feel on top of it all. The multiplayer in each title is superb, bringing me back to the fun old days of heated score competitions, and, best of all, this is one of the few PSP releases to support wi-fi download play, so my few friends with PSPs don't have to charge out and spend $40 just to play a few rounds of Dig Dug. With a few friends, Battle Collection could easily spend more time in your PSP than any other release so far. While Midway will probably manage to put this collection to shame, for right now, this is the best way to get a professional classic fix on your PSP.

Score: 8.5/10