Namco Museum Preview

When Namco announced a three-title deal for Sega's Dreamcast system, people were left wondering. If Mr. Driller and Ms. Pacman Maze Madness were the first two, what would the third title be? Ridge Racer? Maybe Soul Calibur 2? Well, the cat's outta the bag folks - the next Namco title for the Dreamcast will be none other than Namco Museum. Indeed, the monster compilation that spawned six PlayStation releases and one Nintendo 64 offering now makes its way to the Dreamcast.

Just as in the N64 release, the Dreamcast port of Namco Museum will feature the six biggest retrogaming releases in Namco's catalog: Pacman, Ms. Pacman, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Galaga, and Galaxian. All will be 100-percent arcade perfect, from Pacman's tap-happy control right down to Dig Dug's trademark air-pump sound. Should you need more credits or find a game too difficult, each game will also have an arcade debug menu, just like the real coin-op machines. Adding a new twist to gameplay, you can save high scores and game progress directly to your Dreamcast VMU.

Visually, expect nothing new from Namco Museum. It's a compilation of six historically successful games executed faithfully to their arcade counterparts. This compilation, priced to sell, is aimed directly at retrogame buffs and gamers who miss old-school white-knuckle gameplay. Namco Museum hits Dreamcast systems late July.