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I must admit that I had mixed feelings when my copy of Namco Museum Encore arrived in the mail a week ago. On one hand I had yet another great selection of classic games in their original, unaltered forms. On the other, Encore is Namco's sixth and final disc in their grand Museum series. I've come to look forward to the release, every few months of a Namco Museum title to bring back fond memories of the smoke-filled arcades of the early 80's. Let's face it, the intention of the Museum series has not been to showcase state-of-the-art graphics and sound, but rather to stir up waves of nostalgia in those entering their second decade of gaming.
Something that made me a little skeptical was Namco's somewhat odd selection of games for their final volume. I've been an arcade game fanantic from a very young age, so even games like Baraduke and Phozon were at least slightly familiar to me. However, Encore threw me for a loop by including a really wide variety of games, at least one of which has never been seen in the U.S., Wonder-Momo. Seven games total are present in the museum: Dragon Saber, Motos, King and Balloon, Rompers, Rolling Thunder, Wonder-Momo, and Sky Kid.
Dragon Saber is one of two games in Encore that saw a fairly wide distribution in the U.S. It is a fairly invoved vertically scrolling shooter that casts the player as a dragon, with access to a wide variety of power-ups, such as wide shots, lightning bolts, and a more powerful standard shot. A sequel to the earlier Namco game Dragon Spirit, Dragon Saber improves on the original by including the option for two player simultaneous play. As an emulated game, there is only a tiny amount of slowdown present in Dragon Saber, and only then during two player mode. Overall, it's an extremely challenging game with a lot of replay value.
Motos is possibly the most unique game in the collection. The player controls a small ship which moves across a playing field that varies from level to level. The object of the game is to push the enemy objects off of the edge of the field. This is complicated by the fact that the enemies can also push you off the edge. Powerups allow you to jump as well as improve the strength of your "push". Later levels involve extremely narrow play fields that make it much harder to push enemies without falling off yourself. Motos becomes very addictive very quickly.
The oldest game in this volume of the museum, King and Balloon really shows its age graphically. It was released around the same period of time as Galaxian, it is visually not much of a match for the more popular game. The player controls a cannon which fires a vertical shot toward a rank of ballons at the top of the screen. The balloons move from left to right, and occasionally one or two break ranks and spiral downward toward the cannon. This is where the similarity to Galaxian ends, though. First of all, the object is not to avoid the ballons yourself, since you have an unlimited number of cannons, but rather to prevent the balloons from carrying off your King, who moves back and forth at the bottom of the screen. Granted, King and Balloon looks downright primitive when viewed next to other, newer shooters, but its simple gameplay and innovation make it a welcome addition to the museum.
Rompers was a real pleasure to play. It's one of a few games that has really deserved to be brought to a home system for quite a while. Your player is a boy with a straw hat who walks around in a maze collecting keys. The maze's walls are collapsable, allowing you to push them over onto the various monster that populate the maze. To get to the next level, you must collect all the keys. With its 16-bit era graphics and cute music, Rompers looks very good. The first few levels are somewhat easy, but later on things get extremely challenging and a good amount of strategy is nesessary to pass to the next level. Rompers could easily support the rest of the collection with its genuinely addictive nature.
The most well known of the games in this collection is probably Rolling Thunder, so I won't say too much about it. Obviously it comes to Encore fully intact and just as challenging as it was in 1987. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Rolling Thunder casts you as the Albatross, a secret agent, who moves through a series of horizontally scrolling levels, shooting enemy agents as they appear. The object is to reach the door at the end of each level. Even to the most experienced gamer, Rolling Thunder should present hours of frustating yet appealing gameplay.
Wonder-Momo is definitely the dark horse of the collection. It is not too intense, graphically or otherwise, and will no doubt seem a bit surreal to the average non-Japanese player. The player takes the role of a young girl who must rid each level of a series of monsters by kicking them to death. After a certain number of enemies are gotten rid of, a powerup appears that will transform the heroine into a superhero version of herself, complete with hula-hoop, to defeat the end boss. Strangely enough, each level is presented like a play, complete with a rising curtain, flat backgrounds, and an audience who watches the action. Strange. Wonder-Momo is not the best of the collection, but it's also not the worst. It grew on me after my initial dislike for it. It also has considerable difficulty, which will keep you coming back to it.
The final game in Encore is Sky Kid, a game where you are cast as a pilot who must bomb a designated target in each level. To complicate matters, enemy tanks and planes fire at you throughout your mission. You can execute various loops in order to get behind your attackers and shoot them down. In order to bomb the final target in each level, you must swoop down and pick up the bomb. For me, Sky Kid is probably the weakest entry in Encore. It may be that I haven't played it enough, but it seems difficult to control and is a little repetetive. However, it is a lot of fun to be able to try and bomb the final target dead-on, which is harder than it would sound. The music is also appealing, and very appropriate to the game. Although it's not the best game in the collection, it in no way detracts from the other games.
Finally, the other item of note about Namco Museum Encore is that the museum itself is very streamlined and almost nonexistent. All that's left is the receptionist, the games, and a machine that keeps track of your progress in each game. Instead of the assorted exhibit rooms, each game machine may be examined, and they all include the standard stickers, brochures, and circuit boards. It's quite an inventive solution which probably allowed Namco to include seven whole games this time around, but I miss the ability to walk around and explore.
Overall, Namco Museum Encore is a great buy. The seven games have already justified the cost of this disc, and I've only just started playing them. The games may not be flashy or groundbreaking, but they will take you back to the days when gameplay was what really mattered. One comment to anyone thinking about waiting of a release outside of Japan though: according to Namco, Encore is not currently planned for a release in the U.S. or Europe, so those of you who want a complete Namco collection may want to pick up a copy of the import.