| smbhax [sys=PS1; cat=Action_Variety; reg=J] |
| | | | Wikipedia implies this might still be on the US PS3 PS Store via keyword search, but that didn't work for me. It's still on the JP store. |
|
|
| | | PSXtract2021 apparently https://github.com/Mr-Berzerk/PSXtract2021/issues/2 only extracts the first track of a PS1 PS3 PS Store game, so games with additional audio tracks, such as Namco Museum Vol. 1, will have missing CD music, and will also need a new .cue generated with something like https://www.duckstation.org/cue-maker/ .
Fortunately for Namco Museum Vol. 1, the missing music probably only applies to the menu and "Museum" sections of the game; the contained themselves still have their own game music as far as I can tell. |
|
|
| | | | The last current comment on the PSXtract2021 issue is "I've been doing a lot of digging into this lately, afaict psxtract never supported audio tracks correctly so all the bin/cue files it produces are busted. CDROM.BIN it outputs for multitrack games is just ISO.BIN after running isofix, so at least it will load by itself, but none of the audio tracks are included. From what I found, including them is not entirely trivial as they're compressed to ATRAC3 in addition to possibly being encrypted." |
|
|
| | | Like the NES Galaga, Galaga in this collection has had its playfield shortened vs the vertical arcade version, which I rather like--everything is closer up, both between combatants and to your eyeballs (bigger on screen).
Unlike the NES version, this one doesn't take a hit in the rest of the graphics and sound. It's super-colorful! I guess this is my fave Galaga version now. ^ _^
This game says something about no save data found when you start a game in it, but I can't find a way to have it save data. So I have to keep redoing my Galaga dip setting (the third switch, I think--"panorama" or something in katakana) that switches Galaga to a cropped arcade vert layout, instead of the big right-hand sidebar and slightly squeezed main graphics.
Also, can't quit out mid-game, have to get to game over. : P |
|
|
| | | | Having a tiny ROM file without those audio tracks is actually pretty handy; I checked some of the audio tracks I have in the others and they're just atmospheric sorta game-ish music, so probably bg music for the Museum sections. Can't find a way to get rid of them that results in a smaller chd though; might have to rip the disc with ReDump's stuff but I can't get those to work, I dunno if they don't like my old laptop's drive or what. The other option of course is to buy the others off the JP PS3 store and use psxtract on 'em! But eh I guess it would probably only save about 100 MB per Vol. so not really worth it I suppose. = P |
|
|
| | |
Gotta give your name to the robo receptionist at the front entry of the Museum in order to have the game save your scores/settings! = o Don't think you have to do that in most of the later Volumes.
Like other vertical games in these Namco Museums, Pac-Man, when rotated, rotates COUNTER-clockwise, which is the opposite of "tate" mode in pretty much every other vertical arcade port outside of this PS1 series.
This Pac-Man port might actually be their worst in the whole multi-disc collection: the sound is a bit off, and in landscape mode the graphics are excessively pixelated and Pac-Man's movement is jerky. In rotated/portrait mode, those last two problems go away...but probably not many people are going to be rotating their monitors.
Pole Position is surprisingly controllable in terms of lane position around turns--it doesn't whip you off the road like OutRun. But still any slight touch on anything and your car goes up like a nuke.
Rally-X made a lot more sense once I realized you gotta keep at least one eye on your radar display to see the incoming kamikaze cars (the kamikaze car thing in a maze with things to collect is a lot like Taito's Head-On, really, which pre-dated Pac-Man). The way your car auto-turns when contacting a wall is eerie, and the whole game is kinda eh not as fun as I'd want. "New" Rally-X is a lot easier and maybe there was another kind of super-flag to collect but felt largely the same.
The shortened-playfield "panorama"-setting Galaga may be my favorite Galaga; it DOES seem a bit harder that way but the ships are bigger on-screen (OH actually they're not taller, just wider) and the action is more in my face and I THINK I like that. Such a smooth game to play.
I think my reluctance to go back to NES Galaga was just my usual reluctance to replay a game repeatedly; only a tiny number of games have inspired me that way, usually fighting games. ^ _^
Liked Bosconian more than I (barely) remembered, I suppose, but that isn't saying a whole lot; something's gotta be a bit backwards when your rear gun is the most effective way to go!
I've been slightly curious about Toy Pop since it came out on Arcade Archives and was kinda disappointed to find that you gotta keep hunting for the right weapon to take out specific enemy types--what a pain. Too bad because the action otherwise seems like it could'a been a hoot, and the characters are neat. |
|
|
| | | | Found an updated version of psxtract that converts additional CD audio tracks correctly: https://github.com/has207/psxtract-2 (see entry 1887). The tracks are background music in the game rooms at the ends of each game's Museum exhibit; without them, those rooms are silent. (Only Namco Museum Vol. 1 - 3 had this multi-track setup, according to https://github.com/opsxcq/psx-cue-sbi-collection . ) |
|
|
| | |
Pac-Man
5:46 - dip switches
11:40 - "Arcade" mode (tate) briefly
16:57 - playing ("Normal" mode)
43:55 - hi score run
59:21 - wrap!
Chunky movement animation took some getting used to, but then what feels like a slightly slower speed on faster stages seemed to make the game easier compared with the Steam arcade rom in MAME. Also, occasionally no sound plays when eating a ghost. |
|
|
| | |
Pac-Man
0:17 - Arcade/Normal rotation dip switch setting
2:25 - playing
27:25 - session best run
47:37 - wrap!
This rotated, full-screen-maze "Arcade" mode (counter-rotated in DuckStation so we don't have to turn our heads sideways to watch it ^ _^) actually runs a lot smoother and faster than the default, chunky "Normal" mode!
I wonder if it's due to the Normal mode having to calculate downscaling every frame.
Aside from the ghost-eating sound not playing occasionally--that glitch also happens in Normal--it's a pretty fair representation of arcade Pac-Man, really just missing the perfect arcade smoothness...well and the outer right maze border is cut off for some reason (I cut the left side to balance the video out 'p'). Without the slowdown in later stages like Normal mode has--which makes Normal easier--Arcade is quite close to actual arcade Pac-Man difficulty.
And the arcade glitch of Pac-Man going straight through a ghost without dying can happen, too! (Forgot to note at what point exactly it happened in this session, but it did somewhere in there, I swear!) (It might be possible in the Normal mode too, haven't spotted it yet though. ... Might be in one of my old videos I suppose and I've just forgotten. 'p') |
|
|
| | | | (Also, I was wrong about the dot-eating sound--the arcade version makes that kinda quack-y sound too when Pac-Man eats dots. ; D) |
|
|
| | | | The Pac-Man here is slightly too wide somehow; can compare with Ms. Pac-Man in Vol. 3, which is slightly narrower (and runs better). |
|
|
| | |
