Customer Reviews

Jakks / Namco Arcade Classics Plug and Play TV Games

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Being a nostalgia freak, I'm always on the lookout for products that allow you to bring the arcade classics into your home. While this device gets major points for convenience (just plug it into your TV or VCR and go), I found the actual gameplay disappointing...and considerably different from the original arcade versions.

All of these games have the difficulty kicked WAY up. If you remember the arcade versions of Pac-Man, Galaxian, and Rally-X, you will be amazed at the speed of your pursuers. And if you remember the patterns that "expert" Pac-Man players employed to get high scores, don't bother. They don't work here.

This wouldn't be such a big deal if there were some configurable options, such as difficulty level and bonus thresholds. However, the manufacturer has solidly locked these games down - you can't even specify a two-player game.

Visually, the games look like the real deal, although there has been some reformatting of the screens to fit the aspect ratio of your TV screen. You'll recall that the original Pac-Man and Galaxian games featured long vertical screens. Here, they are squared off and the score counters moved from the top to the right side of the screen. No complaints there. But the attract modes of the games are not consistent with the arcade versions. Pac-Man and Galaxian are faithfully recreated, but Dig-Dug has only a static title screen. No character animation or instructions are provided. And, to my ear, the game sounds and music (for all of the games) are not authentic. Close, but not quite.

Pac-Man, Galaxian, and Dig-Dug were released a while back by Microsoft in their "Return of Arcade" product. While you need a Windows PC to play these, they are much more authentic recreations of the original games than what is provided here. Plus, they are fully configurable.

Regarding durability - I see some folks have issues, but my unit has held up fine. The only fit/finish issue I have is that the small metal cap at the base of the joystick is not fastened to anything, and slides up and down. Perhaps that is by design, but it seems flimsy.

If you just want to put the kids in front of the TV and keep them quiet, these issues probably don't matter. However, I have my doubts that young kids will show much interest in these antiques. I suspect the real target audience for this toy is people like me who remember the originals and want to recreate them at home. And for me, this falls short.

Playing the games on the "Namco TV Games" video game system not only took me on a trip down memory lane but it also made me wonder just how many quarters I fed into all those Pac-Man machines in my youth? Probably enough for a down-payment on a condominium now that I think about it . . .

Anyway, the "Namco TV Games" video game system is a great value for the price. You get recreations of five video games from the 1980's in a non-hassle format. All you do is insert 4 AA batteries and plug the joystick wires into your TV to start making questionable use of your time. All of the games are fun but each has its own minor problems. Yet, there's not much time for complaining while you're being swept up in one heck of a nostalgia trip.

Game number one is PAC-MAN. Of course this game needs no introduction. This is the game that made cannibalism cool again. While the graphics and sound are dead-on reproductions, there is one serious drawback with the game - the maze does not change in the same manner as the original game did as you progressed from level to level. But, it sure is great to see old friends Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde again - they haven't aged a day!

Game number two is GALAXIAN. The graphics are great but the change in the sound effects is a little disappointing. Still, this shoot-first-and-take-no-prisoners game is as fun as ever. The game is nothing more than SPACE INVADERS in space but it still retains its highly-addictive nature.

Game number three is RALLY-X. I vaguely recall seeing this game around when I was younger, but I never really played it. You drive a car through a maze and pick up flags while trying to avoid rival cars and boulders. It is an okay game but it doesn't rank with PAC-MAN and GALAXIAN.

Game number four is DIGDUG. Oh man, I spent the better part of my high school years playing this game on my relic Atari computer. The graphics and sound are faithful to the original game. The only downside is that there aren't those flowers that pop up on the surface to tell you what level you're on. I used to enjoy looking at all those flowers lined up in a row. Ah well, you can't have everything.

Game number five is BOSCONIAN. I absolutely do not remember this game at all so I can't compare the recreated version with the original. It's a variation of ASTEROIDS as you just basically have to blast everything in your way while in space. There are space stations, mines, asteroids, and enemy shapes harassing you while you blow things up real good all around you.

A final overall complaint is that the high scores for the individual games are not saved upon resetting the system, but in the final tally the "Namco TV Games" video game system is just a too-cool-for-words treat for all those refugees from the Eighties. I've lost many hours in my sleep schedule to this baby ever since I bought it a few days ago. Hopefully, the reported strong sales of this game system will inspire Namco to release a follow-up system with more classic games - my mouth is salivating at the possibilities! Buy it and enjoy! And this time you don't have to beg your mom for more quarters to keep the fun going!

As many have said, the sound is off. It's close enough to be reminiscient, but far enough off that I *immediately* noticed it.

Game play is not true to original arcade versions. AIs think differently and old patterns dont work. The real down side of this is that the AIs are dumber than in the original.

Reset button is too close to the fire button and too close to side of unit. Will find yourself accidently hitting it when in the midst of rapid fire and when trying to hang on to the clumsy shaped box while dodging enemies with joystick.

Unit's box shape is clumsy and hard to hold. Would be better if it wasnt so tall.

Joystick does have a good solid feel to it. And despite problems mentioned above, games are fun.

All in all, if you want some fun games that are reminiscient of the games of the past and have similar sounds and game play, then get it. If you want a unit that plays *exactly* like the originals, dont bother.

Be sure to shop around. I have seen units lately that have been selling for anywhere from $14.95 to $29.99. Some with free shipping (even some of the stores selling it for $14.95) and others with high shipping.

I just the Namco 5 game controller a few days ago and it seems to be a pretty nice game with a few small gripes.

Out of the box the Controller that houses the 5 games (Pac-man, Rally-x, Digdug, Galaxian, Bosconian) is very solidly built. The stick and buttons are really close to what you would have found in an arcade back in the day though the button could be a little lighter feeling for my liking. The A/V cable for the device is fairly thick and about 8 feet long. Should be plenty of cable to plug in and go sit down in your favorite chair.

Hook up was simple. Unscrew the bottom... drop 4 AA batteries in screw the bottom back on (keeps the batteries from falling out in an intense game of Galaxian). Plug it into the TVs Composite video and audio-in jacks and your done. Turn that puppy on and get nostalgic!

Pac-man was pretty close to the arcade but i found that the power pelletes lasted a bit too long. Audio was fairly close in most parts but the sound was off on the power pellete noise.

Dig-dugs gameplay was very close to the original arcade but the sound was waaay off.

Galaxian (my fave) i was most dissapointed with as far as the emulation of it but still have fun with it. Galaxian is kinda like Space invaders where you must destroy all the ships comming at you. It might just be that i am getting old but it seems like control on Galaxian was alot better in the arcades. The sound was alright. Still this brings back alot of memories of the old quarter munching times i had with this game.

Rally-X i honestly dont think i ever played in the arcade. The goal of this game is grab 10 flags before your fuel burns up and avoid the red cars and boulders. Kinda tricky game.

Bosconian i never played in the arcade either but is a really fun space station destroying game akin to an asteroids. You are in a ship that fires forwards and backwards flying around trying to destroy all the space stations in the area... each one takes 6 hits to destroy (one on each pod) meanwhile they are scrambling fighter formations to try and take you out. A very fun game with alright sounds and decent graphics. Other then that i dont know how close it is to the orignal arcade version.

All in all pretty decent collection. If Namco decides to do a second game like this here would be a few things i would like to see: Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga (loved this one even more then Galaxian) in the next set. Better sound emulation. A right handed button. 2-player mode.

I woudl give this about 3.5 stars really.. but 4 is rounded up =p

The games on this device are not identical to their arcade counterparts, but very few emulations from the Atari VCS/2600 to the PC or beyond have been. I don't know how hard it is to get 5 arcade games onto one ROM device, but it doesn't surprise me that there would have to be some compromises made, nor am I disappointed with them. These are good renditions, but it may take awhile to condition yourself to the differences.

Here's my take on the line-up (I've tried to limit my criticisms to those not mentioned in other reviews):

Bosconian: The radar overlay gets hard to read as on-screen hazards increase in later levels. The digitized voice cues have been dropped, as has diagonal movement/shooting (since 3 of the 5 games feature 4-way movement - and 1 has only 2-way - the 8-way movement of Bosconian was probably scrapped for cost savings). Still, this is my favorite of the five.

Dig-Dug: Fun, but the final enemy seems to bolt for the surface very quickly. It's also very hard to turn and shoot successfully if a Pooka or Fygar is anywhere close behind you.

Galaxian: Enjoyable, but it's hard to tell where the right-hand movement limit is; a vertical line separating the black playing area from the black score-keeping area would have been nice (as long as the line wasn't also black). Other than that, I have no complaints about the game.

Pac-Man: Fun, no complaints.

Rally X: The radar overlay can be very confusing at times, particularly when the maze color/pattern schemes change. The game preserves the "Engrish" interstitial screens ("Charanging Stage No. 1") and the car tumbles nicely when colliding with maze walls.

As with Toymax's Atari 10-in-1 joystick game, an A/C adapter option would have been nice.

Despite these limitations (and those mentioned by other reviewers), I'm very pleased with this unit. The games are still fun after 20+ years, even if they're not identical to the original (there's no ledge for your drink or to put a quarter on for the next game, either). I hope Namco is able to put out additional compilations of games in the future (hopefully more faithful to the originals); I'd love see Frogger, Moon Patrol, Joust, Elevator Action, and, Qix - if they can include speech synthesis, Berzerk would be excellent.

As in some of the other reviews, I agree that at first I had a high propensity for accidentally hitting the reset button and/or flirting with Carpal Tunnel in my left hand. My solution, which has worked well for me, was to simply put the unit on a tabletop or desktop and just use my left hand to hold it put. It almost completely solved the problem.
As for the games, they have instantaneous responses, and are identical to the originals. Don't be misled by the reviews that confuse Pac-Man (superior) to Ms. Pac-Man (still fun, but inferior) - the maze should not and does not change. Note likewise that the joystick contains Galaxians, not Galaga. Galaxians, like in the original, only lets you fire one shot at a time, which would explain some reviewers complaining about such a thing. Unlike Galaga, Galaxians has neither the "capture" functionality nor the "bonus" rounds.
This joystick is inexpensive, mobile, and fun. If it had two-player mode, it would be a perfect reproduction of all the time we wasted growing up.

I bought this all-in-one joystick for my son, as well as for myself, because it doesn't require adding new games and all the other equipment, and it's easy to take wherever you go.

However, the square design of the base and the close proximity of the reset button to the joystick and fire button, make it easy to 1) get a serious cramp and pain in your hands, 2) accidentally reset the game that you may have been doing pretty well on.

I'm a Pacman fanatic, but it looks like you don't get past the first level board design no matter how many points you get, and the response time of the joystick is a little delayed. So, on Galaxian you may press the fire button and have to wait a second longer before you see anything.

It's okay, but would be a better system with the more ergonomic design.

Our whole family loved playing the games. However, about a month into owning the game the push button on the games quit working. Thinking we had a defected game we bought a new one and the same thing happend. We are on our 3rd one and fear that it will be short-lived as well.

The sound effects on Dig Dug alone make the game worth playing, but the mini arcade shaped box is unwieldy.

Your hands cramp very easily and it's impossible to play Rally X for very long without hitting the reset button by accident.

There should be a "lock" switch to prevent hitting the reset button accidentally and the gizmo should have suction cups and a weighted base so you can play without clutching this square-cornered box with both hands until your hands end up looking like the curled up feet of a dead bird.

I never played Rally X in the arcade, but the reset button not-withstanding, that game is freakin' impossible! Dig Dug & Pac Man will be the long standing favorites, but due to hand-cramping, you simply can't play that long and there is no pause button!

If you played the originals...this game is just that...just like the original. My only complaint is that the joystick is somewhat tempermental. It doesn't respond very quickly. The only other complaint is that it doesn't give you a description of how each game is played. They're obviously trying to sell a lot of these units because each product comes with two or three cool games and the other 2 usually suck.