14 DAY TRIAL // 
This collection is a pretty nice idea coming from Namco, the creators of the Tekken series. It was about time we took a break from those "extraordinary" new games and started remembering the oldies and goldies. Each game will have a 2 player option and some will have an option called "rotate", so you'll be able to play by holding the PSP vertically. Graphics aren't groundbreaking, however these are games from the eighties! Remember that this collection will offer you the old versions of some games and the improved ones, with better graphics and some new levels.
Pac-Man If I were a huge yellow ball with two eyes and a pretty big mouth, I would surely spend my day running through endless mazes. Some colored ghosts would chase me while I try to eat all the Pac-dots. Yes, you guessed it, I'm Pac-Man, the famous video game star of the '80-s. Namco resurrected the little yellow guy and now he's up to the challenge and he's back, gone portable and insane. Ghosts beware! All you'll need are the directional buttons as the analog is not a good friend of old games. The climax of this game is eating a power pellet, which will make the ghosts blue and edible. It's like in the movies: the final showdown. After eating all the Pac-dots, the level will be cleared and you'll be taken to the next one. Oh, also don't forget to eat the fruit for bonuses!
Galaxian and Galaga This one is a real oldie, I wasn't even born when this was a hit. It's one of the oldest games I can remember. It's easy, you're a Star Trek-look-alike pixel mass and you have to shoot small ships at the upper part of the screen. Your ship is called a fighter and you'll move it with the directional buttons shooting with any of the circle, square, triangle or X buttons. It's your choice and I must say that I found the firing frequency to have some sort of a lag. You lose once run out of "lives", or ships being destroyed by the enemy rockets. You'll have to defeat bosses and in Galaxian, they will come with escorts, while in Galaga, the big ships will hold you with their tractor beam and you'll have the chance to use two fighters in the next level. Double firepower!
King & Balloon This is an arcade game pertaining to the fixed shooter genre. Let's go back to 1980 and see this game as we would see S.T.A.L.K.E.R. nowadays. Wow, check out this cool game, you can control two green men that will protect the king from being taken away by balloons. The player will be able to do that by shooting the balloons with an orange cannon. You can lose some cannons when they get hit by the missiles, but don't worry as they are unlimited. The king, however, is unique, like in the chess game. Did you hear? King & Balloon is the first game that uses synthesized voices. Is this for real? In case the King gets captured, you can still save him by taking down the balloon that lifted him to the sky and he'll float gently back to the castle. You can move the cannon left or right with the D-pad and shoot with the other buttons.
Rally-X and New Rally-X Mazes are something that producers will never quit using in games, even after twenty a-mazing years have passed. Rally-X is all about driving a seemingly Formula 1 car through a maze and collecting flags. However, you will have to avoid the red cars you'll see on your radar, as they will try to crash into you. Avoiding them won't be the only thing you can do as smokescreens are available and they'll slow the bad guys down. The player will have to avoid hitting the walls too and be careful, because the fuel is not unlimited and it will eventually run out, especially if you use the smokescreen often. New Rally-X is Rally-X with better graphics and better music and also a lot fewer dead ends. The controls are very intuitive and of course you'll set the direction with the D-pad and any of the other buttons will be used to create smokescreens, a maximum or three being allowed at the same time.
Bosconian Fighters are back! Following the 1979 Galaxian and the 1981 Galaga, Bosconian joins the arcade family offering the player another fighter ship to control throughout a multitude of screens. Green space stations are your main target and those are made out of 6 big cannons and a red core. They'll appear all over the place and later in the game, they'll shoot you as you try to destroy them. If you hit the core, the ship is destroyed, but usually, you'll have to take out the surrounding cannons first. Rockets or mines can also cause headaches, destroying your ship. Raids of enemy ships will also happen, but they're not much of a danger as five or four ships will try to put an end to your adventure. The game has 255 levels to play and I don't know anyone that has ever finished it. You can shoot forward, sometimes backwards and the same buttons I've mentioned in the previous games will be available.
Dig Dug Men have been digging tunnels since the beginning of time and we'd expect to see games that are based on such an action. Dig Dug is one of them and its purpose is pretty clear: dig tunnels and avoid being hit by the enemies. You'll have a harpoon and you'll be able to use it against the vicious enemies to inflate them till they burst. Also, you'll be able to crush them by using rocks. All the enemies need to be defeated in order to complete a stage and you'd better pick up fruit while you're there. If an enemy hits you or the unfortunate event of getting crushed by a rock happens, you'll be dead and lose one little Dig Dug. When you run out of Dig Dugs, you'll die so watch out for monsters and rocks. The gameplay strategy is pretty obvious: shoot the harpoon towards the enemy, hit him and keep the shooting button pressed till the enemy inflates to the bursting point. Another way of killing the bad guys is by digging above them and luring them to rock drop point. They'll be crushed immediately, but try to avoid the rocks as the same could happen to you. The bad guys are divided into 2 categories: Pookas (round red monsters) and Fygas (green dragons).
Dig Dug 2 Men have been digging tunnels since the?.oh wait, that was Dig Dug 1. The Pookas and Fygas are back and Mister Dig Dug must save a peaceful island by using his harpoon or his new Super Drill. Move your hero with the D-pad, shoot the harpoon and inflate the enemy with the X or triangle button and use your drill by pressing the circle or square. You can lose one Dig Dug if you fall into the ocean or get hit by the vicious enemies. The drill hasn't been implemented in Dig Dug 2 just for fun. It will be very useful for dropping enemies into the ocean, by drilling through the stakes spread all over the island. Doing that creates cracks and uniting more cracks close to an edge will make a whole part of the island crash into the ocean taking the enemies with it. That earns lots of points and a mountain of fun. Dig Dug 2 has better graphics and sound compared to its predecessor and it also has that cool drilling concept. A funny thing is that, if an enemy remains alone on the island for a long time, he'll commit suicide by throwing himself in the ocean.
Xevious It's ship games again! Back from 1982, Xevious is an arcade shooting game that takes you on a trip with your ship to save the Earth from the alien invaders. Targets can be found both on the ground and in the air. Your airship, the Solvalou will fire its zapper toward the aerial targets and drop bombs in order to destroy the ground targets. The ship flies forward through a multitude of terrains and it is possible, theoretically, to get past levels without firing a bullet. You won't have final bosses and radical game overs. You can lose all the lives and you'll be reset to some sort of checkpoint. A targeting sight is ready and waiting for the anxious player that wants to bomb the whole place, but especially the enemy bases. There are also Sol citadels spread throughout the levels and you'll realize if you have found one because the target sight will turn red if you pass above it. Drop a bomb on them to earn points.
Mappy What kind of producers would name their main character Mappy? Oh, excuse me, we're talking about a police mouse. His aim is to serve and protect by returning stolen goods to their rightful owners. The player must direct Mappy around the house to make him find the missing objects, but careful, as the evil burglar cats are out to get you. D-pad will get you around and the other buttons will help you open doors or close them, perhaps even jump on trampolines. Once you'll have collected all the stolen goods, the stage is cleared. If you get caught, you lose a life, lose all of them to reach the game over screen. Those trampolines I mentioned earlier will be useful to travel from one floor to another, while the doors will open chasing the cats away with the power wave generated by that action. Careful, because an open door towards Mappy can knock him backwards and if a cat is nearby, it will be stunned by the impact.
The Tower of Druaga I am a Final Fantasy fanatic and when I heard the word "gil", I instantly wanted to play the game. For the ones that don't know what I'm talking about, gil is the currency used in all of the Final Fantasy games. However, Gil is the name of the hero in Namco's production. He is on a quest to rescue Kai from the demon Druaga. Kai is a beautiful maiden, located (where else?) on the top floor of the tower. This Mario-like saga uses characters from the Hindus mythology and guess what, Gil is short for Gilgamesh and Kai is Ki, his beloved bride. Gil has a shield and a sword and he must travel through mazes and defeat the many monsters that want to stop him from reaching Kai. In case you were wondering who your enemies are, the bestiary contains dragons, lizards, wizards and ghosts. Each level has a hidden treasure that will be unlocked once you complete tasks. Those treasures will consist in items that are pretty important for Gil's evolution throughout the game. Remember to use the shield when attacked with spells, because it will block any kind of magic that can harm you.
Dragon Buster Here we have another character with a cool name: Clovis. His maiden is called Celia and she was (surprise, surprise) kidnapped by a dragon. The bold hero must travel across the mountains and slay the evil dragons to save the beloved one. Each room has guardians that you'll have to defeat by shooting fireballs or striking with the mighty sword. There is some more stuff that you can do, as now you can crouch or jump, which makes Dragon Buster quite sci-fi for 1984. The bosses of the game will be dragons, and each of these creatures will protect a different mountain. Fire balls will be used to defeat enemies that have ranged attacks while the sword will help you smith the close range guys.
Grobda Namco took one of the tanks in Xevious and made its own game. This arcade shooter is all about tank destruction and you'll have to clear whole fields of deadly tanks. Move the tank with the directional buttons and fire the cannon with the X or triangle buttons, press the circle of square to use the shield. If you get hit by the enemy or by an explosion, you'll lose one life. The explosions I mentioned will result from the tanks' destruction and you'd better use that shield or you'll be scrap metal in no time. Watch the energy gauge and prevent it from becoming red, it should remain blue or yellow to have maximum efficiency.
Motos Although this sounds like a motorcycle racing game, it's not. You have three guesses to find out what's the main vehicle of this game. Considering it's Namco, it's 1985 and it's arcade, you must have guessed: it's a ship. The playground is a square board and its edges are the enemies. Anything that falls off the board is dead, and they can be some bouncing balls, an enemy ship, or even the player. Every hit you take will push you a few meters more towards death and a plunge off the board. D-pad will move you in the right direction, while the other buttons will enable a jump, that's available only after collecting jump parts. There are also other powerups to collect, like the power parts and let me explain what jump parts I mentioned earlier are: they separate parts of the playing area and they create cracks that can destroy other ships.
Rolling Thunder The famous agent Albatross, a member of the Rolling Thunder team has to save agent Lelia Blitz and destroy Geldra, a sinister criminal organization. This game has the most complex control system of the whole Namco pack. Right or left enable you to walk in that direction, the up button of the D-pad is used to enter doors, while pressing down will make the character crouch. You can also jump by pressing the directional button and the square or circle and even shoot with the X or triangle. Your aim is to reach the end of each area within the time limit. You have ammo that will be depleted very quickly so you'll have to check the rooms for machine gun and pistol ammo. Yes, you heard me, machine guns appear even in the older games. You can go up or down various levels by jumping or using the platforms. Don't forget to shoot the enemy in the whole gaming process.
Arrangement Mode Enough with the oldies, let's talk about the new stuff. Once you enter the arrangement mode, you'll have some new options to mess around with. While the Start Game option is obvious, Free Play allows you to play a level you've unlocked by completing single-player levels. Wireless mode will grant you access to the Ad Hoc mode and you'll be glad to compete or cooperate with other players through the Wi-Fi technology. Check out the options that would have surely been necessary in the eighties, when the games appeared. You can set the difficulty, the number of lives, the score that grants you more lives and turn the autosave on or off.
Pac-Man Arrangement Pac-Man got a boost and now, he can jump or charge Dash Boots. Now you can collect items to escape the rage of the ghosts that hunt you down in those crazy mazes. Dash boots, jump feathers, power pellets, splitting scrolls, lucky presents and God knows what else will help the most famous hero in the gaming industry complete his mission. Step on some very colored tiles to notice that something has changed in this field also. Use warp panels, dash panels, tunnels, doors or elevators to get around. The gameplay is almost the same for this production, only the graphics are more neat and up-to-date.
Galaga Arrangement The fighter is back...with powerups. You can now combine three fighters for extra firepower. The L and R buttons will finally have some sort of use, but only in the VS mode, when they will be the ones that'll make you lock the target you want to shoot. The types of shots have also changed, as you now have the wide shot, the rapid fire, the scattershot and the laser. This has become no Star Trek, but Galaxian is a game that will never die, but it will continue changing names and weapons till the end of the world.
New Rally-X Arrangement Schummacher, eat your heart out! The best rally game in the world is here. Featured on the Namco Museum collection we'll find another classic that's been redone for the modern age. The good old smokescreen is still present, but now nitro will make your task easier by boosting your acceleration to levels seen only in the movie "2 Fast 2 Furious". What's NFS today when this game provides you with rocks to avoid, jump ramps to use and dash points to accelerate even more? Stay out of the dirt, oil stains and sand pits or push the enemy cars into those to make a quick escape.
Dig Dug Arrangement The final rearranged game is Dig Dug. Return to our famous digger and let him know that the tools he needed are here: a shovel, a jackhammer and a pair of boots. These are the new items that you'll find in this new and improved version of the hit game of the eighties. The shovel will increase the digging speed, and so will the jackhammer, enabling Mister Dig Dug to drill through solid layers. Check out the environment to notice that it now has pipes, geysers, hard layers or lava. Avoid the hazards and harpoon the critters that disturb you. L and R buttons will be once again used to choose the items that you need to advance in the mission.
Conclusion This collection made me nostalgic and I felt like a child again, although these games were oldies already when I was born. Playing them made me realize what a game really is behind its eye candy and catchy soundtrack: a fun experience and a way to pass the time.
