Namco Original Arcade TV Games Video Game System
by Hasbro
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Toys and Games Reviews of Namco Original Arcade TV Games Video Game System
Customer Review: Not all it could be, but still fun...
Summary: 3 Stars
My girlfriend bought this for me as a Christmas gift after she endured my constant drooling over the various TV Games units with Pac-Man on them in the store. I was so excited to finally get it, but fairly disappointed upon further inspection. Let me just break it down into the real vital info for ya...
CONS:
-Runs on 4 AA batteries, this was a major disappointment, but maybe if ya got some rechargables, it wouldnt be so bad.
-The joystick is indeed annoying, especially in Ms. Pac man! You ave to try and avoid the ghosts, while battling to get the joystick to make Ms. Pac-Man go where you want her to.
-The unit is too small. Intially, I thought the size was an attractive feature, but when you actually use it, it's a different story. It helps to put it on a smooth, flat surface, as the bottom has little rubber pads that keep it in place quite well. But when you move the joystick laterally, the unit rocks and you have to end up holding buttons, and the unit down with your free hand. This actually can become fatiguing to your hand / arm.
PROS:
-The graphics, and sound were great. Although they might not be spot on recreations of the original, they are close enough to be enjoyed without hinderance.
-The unit I got had 5 total games, plus included a "Game Key", which is just a glorified cartridge, albeit smaller, that had 2 more games on it.
-Fun. Despite the problems, I was / am still able to get some fun out of it, and enjoy some nostalgia too. All this without quarters. The fact that I can play Ms. Pac-Man in my house and not have to go to the laundromat to play is worth $20 alone. Also, I also must comment the design of the controls for "Pole Position". The thought of steering a racecar by twisting the knob of the joystick is long overdue.
CONCLUSION:
If you are lookiong for some nostalgic fun, and want to mess around with a couple of arcade classics in the comfort of your own home, I would still recommend it. Just beware of the potential annoyances goinf into the purchase. However, I agree with the person who said that someone needs to make a larger control surface for these type of games. Hopefully, Jaaks Pacific or whoever makes them is reading these reviews. I would love to see a unit that is the look / size of an actual control surface from a standup arcade machine, that can be used like a desktop PC keyboard, and move wherever you wish, like the smaller units can be now.
Customer Review: Some issues, but I still LIKE it! Fun and economical!
Summary: 4 Stars
"It's like CHUCK E CHEESE in a box!" was my first thought looking at the joystick unit that can play - MS PACMAN, POLE POSITION, GALAGA, XEVIOUS, and MAPPY. All the games are from the EARLY 80s, and are pretty true to their arcade roots -- bright colors and crisp sounds. Ms Pacman is the female sequel to Pacman, Pole Position is a great early driving game, Galaga is the sequel to Galaxian where you take on alien invaders, Xevious is a shooter game where you fly a craft into enemy territory destroying ships and ground bases, and Mappy is a game where you are a mouse detective avoiding CAT burglars and jumping on trampolines and shutting doors while retrieving stolen items. They are all cute and fun, and my unit seems to work fine! But ... The joystick takes some getting used to. You have to "click" it into position on Ms. Pacman and if you don't you may continue in a direction you don't want to go. You get used to it! But it's still a little different and diagonal positions don't work ... be careful going from left or right to up or down! On Pole Position you use the knob on top of the joystick as a steering wheel! It works pretty well! I find it easier to control than on my Gameboy or GameCube! Galaga and Xevious work VERY well, and MAPPY has no problems either. And yes, the unit produces a dimmer picture than the original NAMCO unit or the ATARI one -- but you can adjust the TV. To me it's not defective - just takes some adjustments and getting used to. You can pause the unit by pressing MENU while playing - something you couldn't do previously with plug and play! Still no save for high scores and you have to get batteries. There is also a RESET button you can press with a pen or pencil if the controller seems to be giving you more trouble than usual.
Despite the issues ... I am having a blast with the games. I haven't seen a better looking adaptation for Ms Pacman -- they got the aspect for a TV right! The control of POLE POSITION has never been better! Xevious is arcade perfect (unlike its GBA counter"cart")! Galaga plays exactly like the arcade! And Mappy is cute and fun! Jakks Pacific rereleased the ACTIVISION plug n play when people had trouble with the original controls, so you can wait and see if they tweak this one. The original NAMCO PLUG N PLAY is still the best in this line of toys, and ATARI comes in a close second. But it still is a value, and a lot of fun, portable, and highly recommended.
Customer Review: This Little Piece of the 80's Makes for a Lot of Family Fun!
Summary: 5 Stars
This game really takes you back for those that used to play Ms. Pacman in the video arcades back in the 80's. If you liked the game then, you would probably like this game too! The screen may look slightly different but is very close to the original. The music is the same! I agree with those who say the ghosts don't play fair. They chase you at a very high speed, but then when it is your turn to chase them, they miraculously get away almost before you can clobber even one of them.
Even though I am not the world's greatest player, I have managed to make it to the 4th level of this game. It is difficult to do, but certainly not impossible. I haven't played this game in at least 10 years. If I can manage to get past level 3, a more adept player could do very well on this game, even though it does seem harder than the original.
Some have written that their controllers are too hard to use with Ms. Pacman. The controller I purchased has had no problems at all. I may have gotten a better-made controller than some of the reviewers who had problems with theirs. The first few times I played it did seem a little stiff, but the more we played it got less stiff. My hands did get tired quickly, but that is probably more due to my anxiously gripping the controls while trying to outrun the speedy ghosts than anything wrong with the controls.
Overall, this game is a lot of fun, plus it has 4 other games included. CAUTION: If you want top-quality state of the art graphics and controls in a game system, then this isn't for you, and you should shell out the $200 or $300 it costs to buy something more modern if that is what you expect in a game. Obviously a $20 game is not going to be of the same quality as today's $200+ counterparts, particularly for a game that is reminiscent of video games that were high-tech over 20 years ago. Personally, I LOVE this game, but today's generation of kids might not.
FOR ATARI FANS: If you were a kid in the 80's and want to recapture a small piece of your youth, $20 is a small price to pay for the fun, laughter, and memories that are irreplaceable.
Customer Review: A flashback with a few flaws.
Summary: 3 Stars
We recently purchased this game, having liked the Ms. Pacman arcade game (among the others on the console) from 'back in the day'.
Unfortunately, like many other reviewers in this list, we also found that the joystick controls, mainly in the headline game, can be slipshod at best.
In "Ms. Pacman", when you attempt to round a corner, the game often doesn't take the request in time, making you go the wrong way or turn too late.
There were also a few occasions of a bug where you could literally go right through a normal-colored ghost. Sometimes, you could go right through a ghost you were trying to eat.
Another slight nit-pick is not being able to select the "turbo hack" mode, which was fairly common in arcades, at least around here, which made playing Ms. Pacman somewhat more challenging and considerably less tedious, by speeding gameplay up considerably.
Still another "problem" is not being able to engage in 2-player games. But, it still isn't a big deal having to wait your turn after a player plays their game....
On the other hand, the controls seem virtually flawless in behavior for the other games. Twisting the stick for Pole Position is a nice touch, it still made the car easy to control. I am glad that the unit has Galaga, that was a favorite game of mine from more than 20 years ago, and that game performs rather well on the unit. This does remind me of another mild oddity, though...
Many of the sounds and some of the graphics don't completely resemble the arcade originals. I spent enough time and quarters with most of these games (and, later, certain emulations) to know this. I am fairly certain that these aren't true ROM emulations, but either ported code or games that were completely rewritten from the ground up. Still, they did a good job of trying to (re)create the 80's arcade feel with these five selected games.
I suppose for $20, though, one shouldn't be too choosy. The unit is still alright. Maybe later versions of the game will have less joystick flaws with Ms. Pacman.
Customer Review: Best current way to play arcade
Summary: 3 Stars
The game is too fast- it's like after the stork level for Ms. Pac-man by the second round. It's also hard to play with this joy stick. For classic video that subconsciously helps you to learn certain things and is like a game that is very easy to learn but hard to master I recommend old video systems instead including inexpensive clones of older systems. Of course most of you probably have the NES already. I have one question- where are games that are repititions of it but that much fun to play. Easy to learn but hard to master. Unfortunately many of the most popular old arcades can't be slowed down to their original speeds. This kills the lessons you are supposed to learn on the subconscious level- like in MPM you don't go for the short term rewards of food- but for the long term goals of clearing dots so you get to move up to new levels. This is indirectly teaching us to not take the easy way out in life and pursue long-term happiness. And overtime it conditions your mind to think this way and the creator has said in interviews this was his goal for the game. So in moderation these games are good for us. Todays games are largely still not reaity and fake. I like the cartoony look better with lots of Sprites. I'd rather see a PInk Panther cartoon at the Sonic level of graphics but with more animations. A cartoon Smufs game with tons of sprites that is as fun to play as the old Arcades but like a really cool cartoon with lots and lots of animations would be appreciated by me. But Mappy and other games rule! This system is just not giving us the real deal. And I disagree with the idea you only get that deal with the original arcade. No there was a variation of Pac-man called Lock N Chase for Intellevision and those controls worked well for it It turned corners and so on like it was supposed to do. Maybe someone owes us an all-time Arcade collection with the Mappys, Pacs and stuff like Mr. Do and Popeye, Joust, Tetris but with the right speeds and movement. About 20 games would do it.