Atari Classics Coming to PS4

[Ite]

https://shortcutgamer.com/2016/04/14/bandai-namco-bringing-4-classic-arcade-games-to-ps4-xbox-one-and-steam/

 

Can't wait. Just hope it isn't too expensive like the Arcade Archives games.

[Flojomojo]

Um, yay?

 

These are NAMCO games, not Atari games.

[Ite]

Um, yay?

 

These are NAMCO games, not Atari games.

Yes yay.

[cimerians]

Yeah even me who loves re-releases of old school collections is getting tired of it. Well at least what Bandai Namco is doing.

 

Galaga, Pac-Man and Dig Dug has been re-released ad nauseam for decades now by them.

 

If this had Mappy in it I would maybe say "Yay"......there are megatons of other Namco games they could package and release INCLUDING these three. Just don't understand why they don't do it.

 

One question to anyone out there, who owns Ms. Pac-Man? Is it Namco? Seems to me Ms. Pac-Man is always missing from collections. I thought someone else made this game and not Namco way back in the 80's...wiki says General Comp Corp and Bally.

[Flojomojo]

Agreed, if they're going to do a Namco Museum, they really should do it right, or at least as well as they have done on every other system leading up to this.

 

Yeah even me who loves re-releases of old school collections is getting tired of it. Well at least what Bandai Namco is doing.

 

Galaga, Pac-Man and Dig Dug has been re-released ad nauseam for decades now by them.

 

If this had Mappy in it I would maybe say "Yay"......there are megatons of other Namco games they could package and release INCLUDING these three. Just don't understand why they don't do it.

 

One question to anyone out there, who owns Ms. Pac-Man? Is it Namco? Seems to me Ms. Pac-Man is always missing from collections. I thought someone else made this game and not Namco way back in the 80's...wiki says General Comp Corp and Bally.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms._Pac-Man

 

Ms. Pac-Man is an arcade video game from the Golden Age. It was produced by Illinois-based Bally/Midway Manufacturing corporation, the North American publisher of Pac-Man. Ms. Pac-Man was released in North America in January 1982,^[1] and is one of the most popular arcade video games of all time. This popularity led to its adoption as an official title by Namco, the creator of Pac-Man, which was released in the United States in late 1980. Ms Pac-Man introduced a female protagonist, new maze designs, and several other improved gameplay changes over the original Pac-Man. Ms Pac-Man became the most successful American-produced arcade game, selling 115,000 arcade cabinets.^[2]

Ms. Pac-Man was originally conceived as an enhancement kit for Pac-Man called Crazy Otto, created by programmers employed at the General Computer Corporation (GCC).^[4] While Crazy Otto was under development, GCC settled a lawsuit with Atari over their Missile Command conversion kit Super Missile Attack. Part of the settlement terms barred GCC from selling future conversion kits without consent from the original game manufacturer.

Rather than scrapping Crazy Otto entirely, the programmers decided to present the completed game to Midway, Namco's American distributor of Pac-Man. Midway had become impatient in waiting for Namco to release its next Pac-Man game (which would be Super Pac-Man), and were enthusiastic that such a game had come to their attention. They bought the rights to Crazy Otto and changed the sprites to reflect the Pac-Man series. Midway renamed the game multiple times in development, to Super Pac-Man, "Pac-Woman," "Miss Pac-Man," "Mrs. Pac-Man," before finally settling on the name "Ms. Pac-Man" before releasing it into arcades.^[5]

Shortly before release, Stan Jarocki of Midway stated that Ms. Pac-Man was conceived in response to the original Pac-Man being "the first commercial videogame to involve large numbers of women as players" and that it is "our way of thanking all those lady arcaders who have played and enjoyed Pac-Man."^[6] The game was later awarded the Certificate of Merit as runner-up for Coin-Op Game of the Year at the 1982 Arcade Awards held in January 1983.^[7]

The game went through several name changes. The original name was going to be Pac-Woman. That name was eventually dropped and then Miss Pac-Man was chosen, but because of the family imagery in the third intermission, protests were feared about the Pac-couple having a Pac-baby out of wedlock. The name was changed to Mrs. Pac-Man, and then finally to Ms. Pac-Man, which rolled off the tongue easier. These later changes (Miss, Mrs., and Ms.) all occurred within 72 hours of actual production.^[8]

After the game became wildly popular, Midway and GCC undertook a brief legal battle concerning royalties. The Killer List of Videogames notes that the game was accomplished without Namco's consent, causing both companies to eventually turn over the rights to Namco. Ms. Pac-Man was reportedly the first in a series of unauthorized sequels that eventually led to the termination of the licensing agreement between Namco and Midway.^[4] GCC co-founder Doug Macrae has disputed stories that the game was manufactured without Namco's blessing, claiming that then-Namco president Masaya Nakamura had even provided feedback over character artwork during the game's development.^[5]

Ms. Pac-Man was later released on the third Namco Museum game; however, there is no mention of it in Namco's official archives (including the archives on all of the Namco Museumreleases).

 

In 2001, Namco released an arcade board featuring both Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga in honor of the 20th anniversary of both games with the subtitle "20 Year Reunion / Class of 1981". It also features Pac-Man as a hidden bonus game. The later 25th Anniversary Edition allows all three games to be selected at the main menu.^{[citation needed]}

 

[+FujiSkunk]

The short version is, Namco owns Ms. Pac-Man. Namco did not create Ms. Pac-Man, but since the early '80s they've had full legal ownership of the game, and Ms. Pac-Man has in fact appeared in several iterations of Namco Museum. Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man appeared on different volumes of the original PlayStation releases, and they were in separate games for the Game Boy Advance, but if I'm not mistaken they've been on the same disc with pretty much every other release. Some of the plug-and-plays have some odd assortments of games, but that's just Namco and the plug-and-play creators trying to appeal to the collector crowd.

 

The circumstances surrounding Ms. Pac-Man's creation and ownership also affect the other Midway-produced sequels like Jr. Pac-Man. That's why you haven't seen them very often in these collections, though I did see Jr. Pac-Man finally in one of the more recent plug-and-plays.

[Bill Loguidice]

Out of curiosity (because I know of a few things coming out later this year that already have a set price--no spoilers!), what would you consider a good game to price ratio for a classic game bundle on console?

[+wongojack]

Personally, I never buy a new release because by the time I get around to playing it the price has dropped by half. My max number for a new game is $24.99

[cimerians]

Ms. Pac-Man = Crazy Otto

 

Wasn't that the Berzerk smiley? Maybe Evil Otto.........

 

Out of curiosity (because I know of a few things coming out later this year that already have a set price--no spoilers!), what would you consider a good game to price ratio for a classic game bundle on console?

 

I think the Xbox or PS2 Taito Legends disc had a good collection of 30 or so games for 20 bucks (I believe was the MSRP).

 

Smaller bundles 5 or 6 games for 5 bucks ain't bad. I can't remember what Game Room charged on XBLA.

 

What I don't like is one game for X (inflated price) amount. $8 a game which is what Koei Tecmo is doing for their Arcade Archives series. Crazy.

[Bill Loguidice]

Good to know. Then I guess at least some people will be happy with the game-to-value ratio for the intended MSRP (not counting DLC).

[Ite]

You can buy each for $3.99. You can also buy a bundle of Pac Man, Galaga and Dig Dug for $7.99. I just bought that!

[+wongojack]

Game Room Info:

 

($5) grants a dual-platform license for one game (for unlimited play on Xbox 360 and PC)

 

($3) gets you the virtual arcade cabinet on one platform (Xbox 360 or PC)

 

($0.50) is just "two quarters" worth of playtime on a select title -- for the authentic arcade experience, minus the sticky floors. Additionally, when visiting friends' game rooms, you can "try" their games before you pump in Microsoft Points of your own.

 

========

Honestly, $3 a game was really too much for me. I think I only bought 2 because they were of the twin stick variety and I wanted to try them with the X360 controller. Other than that, I couldn't bring myself to pay for Combat yet another time.

[frank_c]

Sticky floors? Those were in theaters, not arcades.

[+wongojack]

Ha! That was a cut and paste from an early review. But I'm sure there were a few sticky arcades bitd.

[Flojomojo]

Out of curiosity (because I know of a few things coming out later this year that already have a set price--no spoilers!), what would you consider a good game to price ratio for a classic game bundle on console?

I think it depends on the games. I'm not very interested in paying more than a buck or two per game for ancient home consoles like Atari VCS or Intellivision. Arcade games are worth a bit more, but it's also smart for these curators to remember that like it or not, they're competing with emulators, so the presentation and extras really count for something, too.

 

I'm not paying another penny for Namco Museum unless there are some seriously innovative extras I haven't seen anywhere else. I've got more than enough versions of that stuff elsewhere.

 

Arranged versions of oldies like Galaga vs. Tekken, Xevious 3D+G, or Pac-Man 256 (or even the Championship games) are different, because they're fresh and have the potential to be interesting. Plain old Pac-Man is not going to get my money though.

[Video]

For $20, yeah I'd pick it up. Yeah, it's been released on every other console, since the 16 bit era on up, but hey, it's worth it...at $20

[Bilnick]

Out of curiosity (because I know of a few things coming out later this year that already have a set price--no spoilers!), what would you consider a good game to price ratio for a classic game bundle on console?

 

It depends. For a new compilation like Rare Replay, $30 is reasonable. The games in Rare replay hadn't been released on multiple generations of consoles, so I didn't mind paying a bit of a premium for that compilation. I think there were 30 games in that compilation so $1/game seemed reasonable to me

 

For the various Atari/Midway/Namco/Intellivision etc compilations that have been released multiple times since the PS1 days, I wouldn't pay as much for. I probably have these compilations on one system or another and would only be buying it again on PS4/XB1 for convenience. $15-$20 is the most I would pay for a rehashed compilation on a current gen console, and even then it better have a ton of games. 50 cents a game or less for these.

[Flojomojo]

Yeah, this. ^

 

Though I confess I could be swayed by multiple games I haven't seen elsewhere. For example ...give me I, Robot, Food Fight, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Wars, Road Runner, Roadblasters, Hydra, San Fran Rush 2049, Solaris, ALL of the Imagic and Activision games from VCS and Intellivision, the Odyssey 2 library, and the Psygnosis library from PlayStation and I will throw money at it.

[Bill Loguidice]

Yeah, this. ^

 

Though I confess I could be swayed by multiple games I haven't seen elsewhere. For example ...give me I, Robot, Food Fight, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Wars, Road Runner, Roadblasters, Hydra, San Fran Rush 2049, Solaris, ALL of the Imagic and Activision games from VCS and Intellivision, the Odyssey 2 library, and the Psygnosis library from PlayStation and I will throw money at it.

 

I don't think it's likely we'll ever see Temple of Doom, Star Wars, and Road Runner, but everything else is perfectly reasonable...

[cimerians]

Temple of Doom and all those were big favorites of mine....thank god for MAME.

 

Ms. Pac-Man just showed up on the store. Weird.

[+DamonicFury]

 

I don't think it's likely we'll ever see Temple of Doom, Star Wars, and Road Runner, but everything else is perfectly reasonable...

 

There was the release of the Star Wars arcade games along with the Gamecube Rouge Squadron games, so it seems at least mildly possible it could happen again. Considering the always immense interest in Star Wars, it sure seems like it would be profitable to put out a package of Star Wars retro games, perhaps even enough to encourage the various rights holders to eventually get one put together. At the very least, a new release of the the Atari arcade games (with better controls this time) would very welcome.

[cimerians]

 

There was the release of the Star Wars arcade games along with the Gamecube Rouge Squadron games, so it seems at least mildly possible it could happen again.

 

There were tons of versions over the decades and none of them controlled well IMO.

 

It's one of those games I wish I owned the arcade itself. Was a blast to play on a real cabinet.

[Atariboy]

Xbox One owners of Namco's early XBLA releases on the Xbox 360 should take a look at the backwards compatibility list before considering these.

 

If your goal is just to have access to these particular classics on your XB1, I believe that 3 of the 4 already are on the BC list and Dig Dug is likely to follow.

 

The circumstances surrounding Ms. Pac-Man's creation and ownership also affect the other Midway-produced sequels like Jr. Pac-Man. That's why you haven't seen them very often in these collections, though I did see Jr. Pac-Man finally in one of the more recent plug-and-plays.

 

Are you sure about Jr. Pac-Man?

 

Midway's Pac-Man Plus finally resurfaced on plug and plays about 10 years ago, but I missed Jr. Pac-Man making an appearance finally.

 

Would be nice if Namco would let that one out of the vault.

 

 

I don't think it's likely we'll ever see Temple of Doom, Star Wars, and Road Runner, but everything else is perfectly reasonable...

 

Like was said, Star Wars (And its two Atari sequels) have already seen an emulated console release. Toss in several other notables with licenses that beat the odds in recent years like the two Midway Tron games, the TMNT arcade game, The Simpsons and X-Men arcade games, Daytona USA, etc. Doesn't really change what you said of course, but at least it shows that sometimes licensed classics do beat the odds.

 

I think we could see Atari's Indiana Jones game someday given what already transpired with the Tron arcade games and don't forget that Road Runner is under the Looney Tunes umbrella which is Warner Brothers. That's of course the same company that owns the vast majority of the remnants of Midway and thus likely also owns that classic Atari Games coinop from the mid 1980's.

 

And with it running on hardware shared with Road Blasters and Marble Madness, I really wouldn't be surprised to see Road Runner at least make an appearance eventually.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Atariboy

[+FujiSkunk]

Are you sure about Jr. Pac-Man?

 

Nope!

 

You're right, it was Pac-Man Plus I was remembering. As coincidence would have it, though, it seems the plug-and-play that did get Pac-Man Plus was perhaps going to get Jr. Pac-Man instead. Hackers found some "Junior" bits among the code.

 

 

Like was said, Star Wars (And its two Atari sequels) have already seen an emulated console release. Toss in several other notables with licenses that beat the odds in recent years like the two Midway Tron games, the TMNT arcade game, The Simpsons and X-Men arcade games, Daytona USA, etc. Doesn't really change what you said of course, but at least it shows that sometimes licensed classics do beat the odds.

 

If I'm not mistaken, most if not all of those of those were bundled with other, modern games dedicated to those characters/licensees. It makes more financial sense to release them that way. A lot of the legal legwork has likely already been done, you're aiming at a crowd already interested in the title for other reasons, and you're only worried about a single game. Gathering those games into an arcade game collection is a whole 'nother ball of wax. Plus, didn't they change the music in the TMNT arcade game found on the PS2 disc?

[Atariboy]

Besides the Star Wars classics back on the GameCube, the only one that had a tie-in with a major retail release was TMNT. Ubisoft seemed to have licensed it from Konami for a XBLA release to help promote their new TMNT game back then. Either way, it still supports that licensed games can be made available, even if it's not the IP owner themselves that's responsible for it.

 

There was no new Daytona USA, the Tron arcade classics appeared in the middle of a multi-year gap between Tron 2.0 and Evolution, and the X-Men and Simpsons titles had no Konami tie-in at retail that I was aware of.

 

While I doubt that Daytona USA was the financial stumbling block that some fans think and it was Disney themselves that licensed or perhaps outright acquired the rights to the Tron classics to publish themselves (They never got delisted when Midway went under, so I tend to think Disney is now the owner of Tron and Discs of Tron), those two Konami brawlers are definite examples of the arcade rights holder of a licensed classic that successfully secured permission to make such a classic again available.

 

But I think we all know what Bill was saying, even if it sounds like I was trying to prove him wrong. He didn't say that such games were impossible, just that the odds are stacked against such releases. That's certainly 100% true and history has shown it time and again over the past 20+ years of classic arcade conversions for the home marketplace.

 

But happily, we still get a surprise every once in a while.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Atariboy