Namco games are famous worldwide, making appearances in Hollywood, designer goods, and event MoMA exhibits. HT: While this is more of a question for the publishing side of Bandai Namco, I am personally looking forward to making Namco Museum an even bigger title. R: Do you see this as part of a larger return to the compilations common in the PS1 and PS2 era, or was this simply a one-off? So they may buy the game because they like Pac-Man or Galaga, but also get to experience something they either never knew about or haven’t seen in a long time, like Rolling Thunder or Splatterhouse. HT: The compilation style that is a staple of the Namco Museum line of games allows players to not only play our most popular classic titles, but also discover some of our more obscure titles as well. It seemed standalone a la carte digital releases had replaced the concept of compilations. R: Prior to the Switch release last year, it had been a long time since we last saw a Namco Museum collection. And for fans from my generation, I hope Namco Museum brings back memories from the days when they were completely absorbed in these titles at their arcades. I hope today’s young generation can feel the fun and joy that I felt back in the day playing these classic games through Namco Museum. They taught me inside stories of their ideas behind the games, so I believe I am uniquely qualified to be working to develop and supervise Namco’s classic titles! When I began working as a game designer at Namco, I found out my bosses were the ones who designed these classic games my generation and I loved in the arcades. For home consoles, I worked on Soulcalibur V and Pokken Tournament. I began creating arcade games such as Air Combat 22, Tokyo Wars, Alpine Racer 2, and Mobile Suit Gundam: Bonds of the Battlefield. Hisaharu Togu: Hello, I am Hisaharu Tago, the main producer for Namco Museum. Can you begin by telling us a little about yourself? What was your role in this project, and what history do you have with the games in this collection (whether on the creative side, or just as a fan)? Retronauts: Thank you for answering our questions about the new Namco Museum. Pac-Man and Tower of Druaga, courtesy of Bandai Namco was kind enough to connect us with the compilation's producer, Hisaharu Togu, to share his insights and motivation in reviving the Museum line for Switch. While light on the supplemental material, Namco Museum for Switch offers a healthy selection of great and esoteric titles alike at a reasonable price, and this week the formerly digital-only title makes it to retail alongside some more recent Pac-Man iterations, including Pac-Man Vs. Happily, the new interation lived up to its heritage, combining old standards with never-before-compiled vintage coin-op titles. That made last year's announcement of a new Namco Museum for Switch a pleasant surprise. Namco (and, later, Bandai Namco) kept turning out Namco Museum collections for each new console to come along for a decade and a half, revising the specific mix of included classics each time-but after 2010's Namco Museum Megamix for Wii, the line seemed to come to a sudden halt. The Namco Museum series for PlayStation may not have been the first-ever classic game compilations, but they certainly set the standard for the format, with lovingly reproduced arcade hits surrounded by an interactive museum space crammed with historic ephemera. Mission control for retronauts former EIC of 1UP.com and taking dapper (and frogs) back from the Nazis.
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