Namco Museum DS review

A poor translation of the classics

GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Pac-Man Vs

  • +

    back from the dead

  • +

    Hardcore options for serious nerds

  • +

    Cute opening cinematic

Cons

  • -

    Graphical squishiness looks like crap

  • -

    Awkward controls in vertical mode

  • -

    Buying these yet again

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Sept 27, 2007

What's a few pixels among old friends? That's the question Namco Museum DS asks - you love old-fart games like Xevious and Galaga so much, you'll accept itif they, you know, don't look like they should, right?

We won't dive into the technical side of games too deeply here, but stick with us. The screen size of the original Pac-Man was 224 pixels by 288 pixels. The native resolution of the DS is smaller, just 256 x 192. So in order to make Ol' Yellow Mouth fit, Namco had to%26hellip; squeeze. And at screen sizes this small to begin with, that means that some pixels just disappear, making fonts harder to read and - worse - maze walls harder to see. On Galaxian, all the colorful little aliens kinda looked crippled, like one of their mighty claws or feet or whatever was slightly withered.

More info

GenreArcade
DescriptionYou're better off dragging your GBA Namco Museum out of the closet, because these DS editions of the oldies got squished in translation.
Platform"DS"
US censor rating"Everyone"
UK censor rating""
Release date1 January 1970 (US), 1 January 1970 (UK)
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