Namco Museum Vol. 3 - Longplay

Namco's first five installments to their ongoing "Namco Museum" series were certainly among their most ambitious. Volume 3, obviously being the third in the 5 (or 6, depending on how you look at it) part saga seems to be one of the most well remembered.

Released for the Playstation in 1996, Namco Museum Vol. 3 follows the same format that the first two Namco Museums had. The meat of the collection is obviously the games themselves, of which there are 6 (or 8, again depending on how you look at it):
0:00:00 - Opening/Entering the Museum
0:03:44 - Pole Position II exhibit
0:06:17 - Pole Position II (1983)
0:10:35 - Phozon exhibit
0:14:42 - Phozon (1983)
0:27:41 - unlocking Druaga: Another Tower
0:29:08 - The Tower of Druaga: Another Tower (1996)
0:36:36 - unlocking Druaga: Darkness Tower
0:37:06 - The Tower of Druaga: Darkness Tower (1996)
0:42:06 - The Tower of Druaga exhibit
0:46:54 - The Tower of Druaga (1984)
0:54:09 - Galaxian exhibit
1:00:47 - Galaxian (1979)
1:07:36 - Ms. Pac-Man exhibit
1:11:38 - Ms. Pac-Man (1981)
1:18:44 - Dig Dug exhibit
1:26:07 - Dig Dug (1982)
1:35:15 - Records
1:38:58 - Library
1:56:36 - Theater: Dig Dug slideshow/sounds
1:59:28 - Theater: Ms. Pac-Man slideshow/sounds
2:01:53 - Theater: Galaxian slideshow/sounds
2:03:28 - Theater: Pole Position II slideshow/sounds
2:05:52 - Theater: Phozon slideshow/sounds
2:08:25 - Theater: The Tower of Druaga slideshow/sounds
2:13:25 - Credits

Obviously, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Dig Dug, and (kinda) Pole Position II are the main highlights here, and The Tower of Druaga and Phozon are just along for the ride. In hindsight, I should've done the original Druaga first and then showed off the other versions, but that would've required extra backtracking, and no one likes that. If you want to learn how to access them, check out this game's StrategyWiki page: https://strategywiki.org/wiki/The_Tow...

Aside from the games themselves, you are allowed to explore a virtual museum, just like the first two games. Each game features exhibits containing old artifacts, the DIP switches, concept art, How to Play, and Tips. The games themselves can be accessed inside individual rooms. What Vol. 3 introduces is interactive elements within the rooms themselves. Unlike the first two where there were only sights to see, Vol. 3 adds animated characters and some small items to interact with in the museum, most notably The Tower of Druaga, Galaxian, and Ms. Pac-Man's rooms. I do show off all of these as well, those some of the art pieces have Japanese writing that I can't translate, so I usually didn't leave them up for very long.

The back of the box calls these "arcade perfect" recreations, but don't be fooled. The Tower of Druaga is decent, and I don't know enough about the arcade versions of Pole Position II or Phozon to make a judgement. Galaxian and Dig Dug have their ups and downs, and Ms. Pac-Man is easily the worst of the bunch in terms of emulation quality. Controls are fine (the DualShock's D-pad is required, even with analog sticks this game won't accept analog input) and unlike Vol. 1, you can pause and exit the game at any time instead of having to game over, which is a HUGE quality of life upgrade. The settings are also much easier to access this time around; all you have to do is press Triangle on the title screen. You still have the option to play the vertically monitored games (any game except Pole Position II) in their native aspect ratios, but it requires you to play the game sideways. Naturally, I showed this off but played none of the games this way. Some games with sidebars for the score and lives have cool background art you can display during them, which is a nice touch.

If you clicked on this video expecting to just see footage of the arcade games... sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that's merely a portion of this video. I showed off the WHOLE museum for the purposes of this longplay, including each game's exhibits. The last 40 minutes or so is me exploring the Library and Theater, including showing off the game's slideshows and sound tests. You can ignore those sections if you want.

Despite using low-poly models and having mixed emulation, I'd say this game still holds up well today. Namco really took a step up with this game, and it shows. A lot of people have nostalgia for this compilation, and it's easy to see why. And that credits theme, man...

Recorded from my PlayStation 2 using an original Namco Museum Vol. 3 disc.