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64-405: Battle Collection was the first PlayStation Portable game to make use of the system's game sharing function. The Japanese version of the game, simply titled Namco Museum , was split into two different volumes - the second volume includes three games not found in international releases, these being Dragon Spirit and two new "arrangement" games based on Pac-Man and Motos . Battle Collection

128-442: A boss fight , pre-rendered graphics and a storyline. In 1985, Roger C. Sharpe of Play Meter magazine stated that the "dimensionalized, overhead perspective of modern, detailed graphics was launched with Xevious ." Super Xevious was released in 1984. The difficulty was increased to appeal to more advanced players, alongside new enemy types and characters that reset the player's score when shot. A similarly titled game

192-504: A zapper that fires projectiles at flying enemies and a blaster for bombing ground installations and vehicles. A reticle in front of the ship shows where bombs will land. The game has a total of 16 connected areas, which loop back to the first after completing them all. Dying about 70% through starts the player at the beginning of the next. Areas are geographically distinct, with features such as forests, roads, rivers, and mechanical structures. Certain areas have Nazca lines placed on

256-669: A "charm" unmatched by other games of the genre. Home versions of Xevious received praise for their faithfulness to the original. Your Sinclair commended the ZX Spectrum version's accurate conversion of the arcade original, while also praising its fast-paced gameplay and "enthralling" experience. Nintendojo greatly praised the Classic NES Series version for its gameplay and multiplayer mode, favorably comparing it to games such as Gradius . They felt that its responsive controls and "chaotic" difficulty made it one of

320-400: A blue orb that will give Amur an extra head, granting him additional firepower, or an orange orb that will strengthen Amur's shots when three are collected. The game features nine stages, which include large rivers, volcanoes, glaciers and jungles. Dying halfway through a stage will start the player at a checkpoint. At the end of each stage is a boss that Amur must fight in order to progress to

384-417: A graphics artist for Namco, was allowed to work on the music himself due to most of the company's composers working on Genpei Tōma Den , however much of his work was accidentally wiped from the hardware midway through development and forced him to start over. Ishikawa previously created character artwork for Rolling Thunder , being assigned to the project after taking interest in the enemy designs. The game

448-412: A more mixed reception, being criticized for its high difficulty and inferior graphics and music. It was followed by two sequels, Dragon Spirit: The New Legend (1988) and Dragon Saber (1990). A ShiftyLook webcomic adaptation of the game was also produced. Dragon Spirit is a vertical-scrolling shooter video game. The player controls the dragon Amur in his effort to rescue the princess Alicia from

512-499: A new age of scrolling overhead shooters in 1984 with its detailed graphics, multi-level targets and catchy theme music." In 1996, Next Generation ranked it at #90 in their "Top 100 Games of All Time", praising its art direction, intense gameplay and layer of strategy. Gamest magazine ranked it the second greatest arcade game of all time in 1997 based on reader vote, applauding its pre-rendered visuals, addictive nature and historical significance. Japanese publication Yuge found

576-620: A planner. He and a small team were assigned by Namco's marketing department to create a two-button scrolling shooter that could rival the success of Konami 's arcade game Scramble (1981). Early versions of the game were named Cheyenne and took place during the Vietnam War , with the player controlling a helicopter to shoot down enemies. (The original name may refer to the Vietnam-era Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne advanced attack helicopter project.) After

640-400: A remade port of the original alongside a brand-new story mode with new enemies, boss fights and power-up items. A 3D rail-shooter spin-off, Solvalou , was published in 1991. In 1995, two arcade sequels were released - Xevious Arrangement , a remake of the original with two-player co-op, and Xevious 3D/G , a 3D game with 2D gameplay - both of these titles were soon released in 1997 for

704-498: A retrospective review, Hardcore Gaming 101 praised the game's graphics, challenging gameplay and iconic opening cutscene. Reviewing the TurboGrafx-16 conversion, IGN praised the game's vibrant graphics, unique setting and challenge, recommending the title to fans of Xevious and other similar vertical-scrolling shooters, while Eurogamer liked its lack of a one-hit player kill and colorful visuals. Nintendo Life

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768-439: A small team. Created to rival the success of Scramble , it was originally themed around the Vietnam War and titled Cheyenne . Endō wanted the game to have a detailed, integral storyline and a comprehensive world, and to be welcoming for newer players. Several enemies and characters were made to pay homage to other popular science fiction works, including Star Wars , UFO , Alien , and Battlestar Galactica . Xevious

832-471: A total of 21 games; 17 of these are ports of Namco arcade games from the 1970s and 1980s, including Pac-Man , Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga . They encompass several different game genres, such as maze , shoot'em up and platform . Each of the arcade game ports allow the player to modify the in-game settings, such as the number of lives and screen orientation, as well as access to a sound test and autosave feature. A "Game Sharing" option can be accessed from

896-666: The Classic NES Series line. The arcade version was released for the Xbox 360 in 2007, featuring support for achievements and online leaderboards. The Wii Virtual Console received the NES version in 2006 and the arcade version in 2009. A remake for the Nintendo 3DS was released in 2011 as part of the 3D Classics series, named 3D Classics: Xevious , which took advantage of the handheld's 3D screen technology. The NES version

960-518: The Family Stadium series would be named after Amur and the game itself. In 2012, a webcomic adaptation of Dragon Spirit was created for ShiftyLook a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Games that focused on reviving older Namco game franchises for use in comics and animations. Illustrated by artist Steve Cummings, the comic was a tongue'n cheek parody of the "damsel in distress" storyline used in fiction, featuring characters and settings taken from

1024-606: The Famicom Disk System in 1990. Versions for the Atari 2600 and Atari 5200 were completed but never released. The Atari 2600 port was programmed by Tod Frye . Three mobile phone versions were released; the first for J-Sky in 2002, renamed Xevious Mini , the second for i-Mode the same year, and the third for EZweb in 2003. The NES version was re-released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as part of

1088-569: The shoot 'em up genre, establishing the template for vertically scrolling shooters and inspiring games such as TwinBee and RayForce . It was ported to home systems, followed by several sequels and spin-offs, and is included in many Namco compilations . Xevious is a vertically scrolling shooter. The player controls a flying attack craft, the Solvalou, to destroy the Xevious forces plotting to take over Earth. The Solvalou has two weapons:

1152-506: The 2008 compilation title Namco Museum Virtual Arcade , and were also ported to iOS under the names Pac-Man Remix , Galaga Remix , and Dig Dug Remix in 2009. Galaga Remix and Dig Dug Remix include the original arcade versions of Galaga and Dig Dug . Pac-Man Arrangement was featured in the 2014 compilation title Pac-Man Museum . All ports lack the 2 player modes found in the original games. As of 2018, Pac-Man Remix , Galaga Remix and Dig Dug Remix have been delisted from

1216-527: The 9th greatest Atari 7800 game of all time for its gameplay and overall quality. Xevious was an unprecedented success for Namco in Japan. In its first few weeks on the market, it recorded record-breaking sales figures that hadn't been seen since Space Invaders in 1978. It was the top-grossing table arcade cabinet on Japan's Game Machine arcade charts in November 1983. In North American arcades, it

1280-514: The Andor Genesis mothership depicted it with a more circular design, nicknamed "Gofuru" due to it bearing resemblance to gofuru cookies. The design was changed to instead be the shape of an octagon as the hardware had difficulty displaying round objects, while still keeping much of its key features such as the central core and blaster receptacles. Endō created a fictional language during development called "Xevian" that he used to name each of

1344-595: The App Store and are no longer available for download. Additionally, the games do not run on devices running iOS 11 and higher as the system has dropped support for 32-bit apps. Pac-Man Museum has been delisted from all digital storefronts as of 2020. Pac-Man Arrangement (labelled as Pac-Man Arrangement CS Ver. to distinguish itself from the 1996 game) is included in Pac-Man Museum+ as an unlockable title, released in 2022. Namco Museum Battle Collection

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1408-456: The Famicom home port to be one of the system's best and most memorable titles for its faithful portrayal of the original. Hardcore Gaming 101 applauded the game for setting up the template for future games of the genre, namely TwinBee , RayForce and Raiden DX . They also praised the game's detailed graphics, difficulty and impressive enemy intelligence for the time. IGN labeled it

1472-461: The PlayStation, compiled into Xevious 3D/G+ , alongside the original Xevious and Super Xevious . A final follow-up was released in 2009, Xevious Resurrection , exclusively as part of the compilation title Namco Museum Essentials , which includes two-player simultaneous co-op alongside a number of other features. In 1991, a three-part Xevious novel was published, titled Fardraut -

1536-623: The Wii Virtual Console in 2007, while the arcade version was released in 2009 exclusively in Japan. A version for Japanese mobile phones was released in 2003. Arcade version of Dragon Spirit was released under the Arcade Archives label for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in 2022. In Japan, Game Machine listed the game on their July 15, 1987 issue as being the sixth most-successful table arcade unit of

1600-511: The Xbox 360 digital version's emulation quality and usage of online leaderboards, but IGN and GameSpot both disliked the lack of improvements made over previous home releases and bonus content. Retrospectively, Xevious has been seen as the "father" of vertical-scrolling shooters and one of the most influential and important games of the genre. In 1995, Flux magazine rated the game 88th on their Top 100 Video Games writing: "Xevious ushered in

1664-594: The arcade game. Nidia, a character from the webcomic, appeared as a character the player could date in the now-defunct browser game Namco High . An arrangement of the Area 1 music from the game is available as a track in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for use on the Pac-Land stage. Xevious Xevious is a vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco in 1982. It

1728-524: The best titles released under the label. Some home releases were met with a more mixed reception for their overall quality and lack of bonus features. Reviewing the Nintendo Entertainment System release, German publication Power Play found the game to be "too old", suggesting that readers instead try out titles such as Gradius . They also disliked the game's lack of power-ups and for areas being too long. GameSpot applauded

1792-595: The books documented the lore of the Xevious video game series, including its characters, backstory and events. The books would be republished fifteen years later in 2005. A 2002 CGI film adaptation was released in Japan, produced during a collaboration between Namco and Japanese company Groove Corporation. A Xevious -themed soundtrack album was produced by Haruomi Hosono of Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1984, titled Video Game Music . Compiled with music from other Namco video games, such as Mappy and Pole Position , it

1856-481: The core in the center to defeat it. Some parts of the game have hidden towers ("Sol Citadels"), which can be found by bombing specific parts of an area. The Solvalou's bomb reticle flashes red when over one. Yellow "Special Flags" from Namco's own Rally-X are found in a semi-random section of the area. Collecting one gives an extra life. Xevious was designed by Masanobu Endō , who joined Namco in April 1981 as

1920-406: The country, alongside the creation of strategy guidebooks that documented much of its secrets and hidden items. The NES version went on to sell 1.5 million game cartridges worldwide. Bubble Bobble creator Fukio Mitsuji and Rez producer Tetsuya Mizuguchi cite Xevious as having a profound influence on their careers. Xevious is credited as one of the first video games to have

1984-526: The development process, forcing him to start over again. After the first set of arcade boards were released, Hosoe remade the game's music in hopes it could be reused for a re-issue of the hardware, but his idea was scrapped by Namco due to high production costs. In North America and Europe, Dragon Spirit was ported to several home consoles and computers, including the Atari ST , Commodore 64 , Amiga , ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC . In Japan, Namco ported

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2048-475: The development team was reshuffled and the project planner quit altogether, Endō became the head designer for the game. He learned programming on the job during production. Endō wanted the game to have a consistent, detailed world with a story that didn't feel like a "tacked-on extra", instead being an integral part of the game. The goal of the project was for the game to be inviting for newer players, and to become gradually more difficult as they became better at

2112-426: The double-head powerup, and for its captivating gameplay. Computer & Video Games praised the game's addictive gameplay and soundtrack, saying it lives up to games such as Galaxian and Galaga . Japanese publication Gamest called it a "Namco shooting masterpiece" for its graphics, realism and soundtrack, awarding it the 5th "Grand Prize", 2nd "Best Ending" and 5th "Player Popularity" awards in 1998. In

2176-472: The enemies. The blaster target for the Solvalou, which flashes red when over an enemy to signal the player to fire a bomb at it, was added to make it easier to destroy ground targets. While programming it, Endō thought it would be interesting to have the blaster target flash over a blank space where an enemy wasn't present, leading to the addition of the Sol citadels. Namco executives expressed displeasure towards

2240-453: The game a 7.5, praising the game's 21 game titles, various display options, controls, and good emulation. However, he criticized the game sharing demo for its bare-bones presentation, and requiring the PSP to be at the latest firmware before use. Dragon Spirit Dragon Spirit is a 1987 vertical-scrolling shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco . In North America, it

2304-598: The game to the Sharp X68000 and PC-Engine , the latter being published in North America by NEC for the TurboGrafx-16 . Dragon Spirit is included in several Namco video game compilations, such as Namco Museum Vol. 5 (1997), Namco Museum 50th Anniversary (2005), Namco Museum Virtual Arcade (2008) and Namco Museum Essentials (2009). The TurboGrafx-16 conversion was digitally re-released onto

2368-427: The game. Influenced by ray-tracing, Endō wanted the game's sprites to be high-quality and detailed, while also making sure they fit the limitations of the arcade board it ran on. The team used a method that involved giving each sprite different shades of gray, allowing sprites to display additional colors. Many of the sprites were designed by Endō himself, although some were done by Hiroshi "Mr. Dotman" Ono , including

2432-438: The genre. Joystik stated that the game was superior to titles Zaxxon and Tron , specifically in its graphics and gameplay. Amusement Life praised its detailed backgrounds, fast-paced gameplay and sense of mystery, labeling it a masterpiece and one of the best games of 1983. In 1998, Allgame called it one of the more "polite" shoot'em ups for its detailed visuals, challenge and unique enemy designs, finding it to have

2496-582: The ground, some in the "condor" design. The game becomes progressively more difficult as the player becomes more skilled. Once the player does well at destroying a certain enemy type, a more advanced enemy type replaces it. Destroying flashing-red "Zolback" radars found on the ground will cause the game to switch back to easier enemies. Certain points in the game have a fight against the Andor Genesis mothership, which launch an endless stream of projectiles and explosive black spheres known as "Zakatos". The player can either destroy all four blaster receptacles or

2560-400: The idea, with Endō instead claiming they were simply a bug in the program and leaving them in the code. The Special Flag icons from Rally-X were added due to Endō being a fan of the game. The game was originally named Zevious , the "X" being added to make it sound more exotic and mysterious, with the metallic logo paying homage to the pinball table Xenon . Location testing for Xevious

2624-593: The main menu, allowing the player to send one-level demos to a friend's PSP system. Alongside the arcade games, four new "Arrangement" games have been included, which are new to this collection. These games include 3D graphics and incorporate new features, such as power-ups, new stages, world maps and boss fights. Despite their similar name, they share nothing in common with the "Arrangement" games found in both Namco Classic Collection Vol. 1 and Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 . The Pac-Man Arrangement , Galaga Arrangement , and Dig Dug Arrangement games were featured in

Namco Museum Battle Collection - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-488: The month. It went on to be the fourth highest-grossing table arcade game of 1987 in Japan. Dragon Spirit was met with a positive response from critics, who praised its graphics, music and Paleozoic setting, and for standing out among other similar games during the time. Allgame praised its "gorgeous graphics" and soundtrack, and for being unique compared to other games of its genre, while German magazine Power Play praised its interesting gameplay mechanics, notably

2752-401: The music himself. Graphics were created by Tatsuya Ishikawa, who had previously produced character artwork for Rolling Thunder — after taking interest in the game's enemy designs, the team assigned him as the lead artist. Ishikawa listened to Hosoe's music when he was low on ideas for enemy or background designs. Hosoe's music was accidentally wiped from the hardware around midway through

2816-399: The next stage. Amur can sometimes find special orbs throughout the game that can grant him additional abilities, such as a homing shot, a multi-shot, and the ability to shrink down in size to evade bullets. The game's opening cutscene shows Amur atop a mountain raising his sword in the air, with lightning striking it and transforming him into his dragon form. If the player makes it to the end of

2880-477: The ninth level and defeats Zawell, Princess Alicia will be seen held captive behind glass, which shatters as she yells "Amur!". The dragon then retransforms into human form and embraces Alicia, and an end scene is shown where the people of the kingdom are celebrating peace and prosperity now that Zawell's reign of terror is over. Dragon Spirit was released in Japan by Namco on May 15, 1987, later licensed to Atari Games for release in North America. The game's music

2944-474: The original Xevious as an extra, alongside its sequels Super Xevious and Xevious Arrangement . It is included as one of the five titles in Microsoft Revenge of Arcade , released for Windows in 1998. The 2005 GameCube game Star Fox: Assault includes the NES version as an unlockable extra, awarded by collecting all silver medals in the game. For the game's 30th anniversary in 2012, it

3008-542: The player and the background designs. Many of the game's characters and structures were designed and refined by Shigeki Toyama, who previously worked on many of Namco's robotics for their amusement centers in the early 1980s. The player's ship, the Solvalou, is based on the Nostromo space tug from Alien , while several of the enemies are homages to starships from popular science fiction works, including Star Wars , UFO and Battlestar Galactica . Concept art for

3072-435: The serpent demon Zawell. Amur can move in eight directions and has access to two weapons; a flame projectile to destroy air-based enemies, and a bomb to destroy ground-stationed enemies, similar to Namco's Xevious series. Amur can take two hits before dying, indicated by a life bar at the bottom-left of the screen. Amur can use bombs to destroy eggs found on the ground of some stages, which will award one of two powerup items;

3136-660: Was a more moderate success, reaching number-four on the Play Meter arcade charts in July 1983. Atari sold 5,295 arcade cabinets in the US by the end of 1983, earning about $ 11.1 million (equivalent to $ 34 million in 2023) in US cabinet sales revenue. The Famicom version became the console's first killer app with over 1.26 million copies sold in Japan, jumping system sales by nearly 2 million units. The game's immense popularity led to high score tournaments being set up across

3200-463: Was composed by Shinji Hosoe , originally a graphic designer for the company. After asking Wonder Momo composer "Yudate" how to add music to the game code, he inserted many of his tracks during his own time — once the development team behind the game found out, he was automatically assigned as the game's composer. During its development, Namco was low on composers as many of them went to work on Genpei Tōma Den , allowing Hosoe to be able to compose

3264-775: Was conducted in December 1982, and the game was released in Japan in January 1983. In the months following, Atari, Inc. acquired the rights to manufacture and distribute it in North America, advertising it as "the Atari game you can't play at home". The first home conversion of Xevious was for the Family Computer in 1984, being one of the system's first third-party titles. Copies of the game sold out within three days, with Namco's telephone lines being flooded with calls from players in need of gameplay tips. The Famicom version

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3328-578: Was dedicated to Shouichi Fukatani, a Namco programmer who had died a few years earlier in 1985 and worked on many of the company's older games, such as Dig Dug and Super Pac-Man . The game was ported to several home systems, including the Sharp X68000 , Atari ST and TurboGrafx-16 , and is included in several Namco video game compilations . The arcade version of Dragon Spirit was met with positive reviews from critics for standing out amongst other shooter games, being praised for its Paleozoic setting, graphics and soundtrack. Home versions were met with

3392-519: Was distributed by Atari Games . Controlling the dragon Amur, the player must complete each of the game's nine areas to rescue the princess Alicia from the demon Zawell. Similar to Namco's own Xevious , Amur has a projectile weapon for destroying air-based enemies and a bomb for destroying ground enemies. It ran on the Namco System 1 arcade board. Music for the game was composed by Shinji Hosoe and designed by Tatsuya Ishikawa. Hosoe, previously

3456-548: Was met with a mostly positive critical reception. Many would praise the compilation's multiplayer features, emulation quality and large library of games. It has an average critic score of 74.02% on GameRankings and 73/100 on Metacritic . IGN gave the game a 7.5 out of 10, praising the game for its multiplayer features, sound, and graphics. However, they criticized the Game Sharing feature for its limited usage and lack of Arrangement games. GameSpot 's Jeff Gerstmann gave

3520-403: Was met with a positive response from critics; reviewers applauded the large library of games, emulation quality and multiplayer features, although would heave criticism towards the Game Sharing option, which many deemed "useless", and for the game requiring a firmware update to boot. In Japan, the first game sold 79,572 copies in its first week of release. Namco Museum Battle Collection includes

3584-423: Was praised for its detailed graphics, challenge, and originality. It became an unprecedented success for Namco in Japan, with record-breaking sales figures making it the biggest game since Space Invaders . The North American release paled in comparison, despite still selling 5,295 arcade units by the end of 1983. It has been listed among the greatest video games of all time and one of the most influential games in

3648-643: Was released a year later in 1991, while the arcade version was released as part of the Japan-only Namco Museum Encore compilation. The PC-Engine conversion was released for the Japanese Wii Virtual Console in 2008, followed by the arcade version in 2009. Amur appears as a playable character in the WonderSwan Color role-playing game Namco Super Wars , alongside Princess Alicia. Several players in

3712-502: Was released for iOS devices as part of the Namco Arcade compilation. The arcade game received positive reviews upon release. Computer & Video Games magazine praised the game's thrilling action and impressive graphics, recommending it to players fond of titles such as Zaxxon and Scramble , while Electronic Games found that the realistic graphics and intense action made Xevious an easy recommendation to fans of

3776-656: Was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1989 and published outside Japan by Bandai . Taking place several years after the events of the original, it adds many of the levels from the arcade version alongside new stages, enemies, boss fights and cinematic cutscenes, alongside a brand-new storyline. A second sequel, Dragon Saber , was released for arcades in 1990, running on the Namco System 2 arcade board. Subtitled After Story of Dragon Spirit , this game adds two-player co-operative play, charging shots and new enemy types. A PC-Engine version

3840-888: Was released for the Wii U Virtual Console in 2013, and was also added to the Nintendo Switch Online service in March 2023. The arcade version, along with Pac-Man , was released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of Hamster 's Arcade Archives line in 2021. Xevious is included in Namco compilations including Namco Museum Vol. 1 (1995), Namco Museum Battle Collection (2005), Namco Museum 50th Anniversary (2005), Namco Museum Remix (2006), Namco Museum DS (2007), Namco Museum Virtual Arcade (2008), and Namco Museum Essentials (2009). The PlayStation home port of Xevious 3D/G includes

3904-661: Was released in 1986 for the Family Computer , Super Xevious: GAMP no Nazo , which intermixed puzzle elements with the standard Xevious gameplay. An arcade version of this game was also released, known as Vs. Super Xevious , running on the Nintendo Vs. arcade system. An arcade spin-off title starring one of the enemies from Xevious , Grobda , was released in 1984. Two games for the MSX2 and PC-Engine were released in 1988 and 1990 respectively - Xevious Fardraut Saga and Xevious Fardraut Densetsu , both of which include

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3968-465: Was released in Japan by Namco and in North America by Atari, Inc. Controlling the Solvalou starship, the player attacks Xevious forces before they destroy all of mankind. The Solvalou has two weapons at its disposal: a zapper to destroy flying craft, and a blaster to bomb ground installations and enemies. It runs on the Namco Galaga arcade system. The game was designed by Masanobu Endō and

4032-462: Was released internationally for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Bandai , in North America and PAL regions . A version for the Apple II was released the same year. A Commodore 64 version was published by U.S. Gold and released in 1987. Atari, Inc. published an Atari 7800 version as one of the system's 13 launch titles in 1984. The Famicom version was re-released as a budget title for

4096-471: Was the most critical of the conversion, disliking its sudden difficulty spike towards the end and inferior quality compared to the arcade version. They also unfavorably compared it to Super Star Soldier , only recommending it to hardcore fans of the genre. Famitsu awarded the PC-Engine port the "Gold Hall of Fame" award for its gameplay and strategy. A sequel game, Dragon Spirit: The New Legend ,

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