Pac to the future
By Paul Hunter
If you already own Atari 50, The Namco Legendary Pack DLC feels like someone just opened a secret side room in the museum. Digital Eclipse adds an entire Namco grid to the interactive timeline, packed with interviews, documents, flyers and footage that zero in on the early partnership between Atari and Namco.
In terms of included games, you get five Namco staples that shipped on Atari hardware in the 80s: Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig Dug and Xevious. Breakout shows up in the timeline for context, but it was already in the base collection. The DLC gives you many variations of this lineup, including versions for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800 and Atari 8-bit computer versions. Moving from Dig Dug on 2600 to its 7800 and computer takes is a sharp reminder of how fast console tech evolved in just a few years.
The new Namco timeline give you a ton of bonus content, like scanned old manuals and flyers, vintage ads and clips, and interviews with developers behind these iconic games. The emulation on PS5 is rock solid, and the cabinet borders give you that nostalgic vibe.
Pac-Man gets the most attention, and rightly so. The interviews and documents walk you through how Tod Frye squeezed Pac-Man into the 2600 under harsh time pressures and hardware memory limits. While the version has an odd blue background and lines instead of circular pellets, it's a fantastic trip down memory lane. The DLC also gives you the 8-bit and 5200 ports, which look a lot closer to the arcade with the black maze and smoother controls.
The rest of the lineup pulls its own weight. Galaxian on 2600 and 5200 is the big surprise, with difficulty options that speed everything up and make repeat runs worth taking. Galaga 7800 is still a great score game and feels at home in this collection. Dig Dug and Xevious show different tradeoffs across each system, and the 7800 versions ended up as my favourites. Having the US arcade versions of Xevious and Dig Dug, complete with Atari logos and cabinet borders, is also a neat touch for history nerds.
While the Namco collection is great, there are some gaps that are hard to ignore. For example, Pole Position and Pole Position II are missing entirely, not just as games, but even as timeline entires, which is strange given how important they were to both Atari and Namco. The interviews also focus entirely on the Atari voices such as Frye and Nolan, ignoring the Japanese side of the history, which feels a bit one sided.
Final Score: 7/10 - Good
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Atari
Genre: Arcade, Action
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer
A key was provided by the publisher.
By Paul Hunter
If you already own Atari 50, The Namco Legendary Pack DLC feels like someone just opened a secret side room in the museum. Digital Eclipse adds an entire Namco grid to the interactive timeline, packed with interviews, documents, flyers and footage that zero in on the early partnership between Atari and Namco.
In terms of included games, you get five Namco staples that shipped on Atari hardware in the 80s: Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig Dug and Xevious. Breakout shows up in the timeline for context, but it was already in the base collection. The DLC gives you many variations of this lineup, including versions for the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800 and Atari 8-bit computer versions. Moving from Dig Dug on 2600 to its 7800 and computer takes is a sharp reminder of how fast console tech evolved in just a few years.
The new Namco timeline give you a ton of bonus content, like scanned old manuals and flyers, vintage ads and clips, and interviews with developers behind these iconic games. The emulation on PS5 is rock solid, and the cabinet borders give you that nostalgic vibe.
Pac-Man gets the most attention, and rightly so. The interviews and documents walk you through how Tod Frye squeezed Pac-Man into the 2600 under harsh time pressures and hardware memory limits. While the version has an odd blue background and lines instead of circular pellets, it's a fantastic trip down memory lane. The DLC also gives you the 8-bit and 5200 ports, which look a lot closer to the arcade with the black maze and smoother controls.
The rest of the lineup pulls its own weight. Galaxian on 2600 and 5200 is the big surprise, with difficulty options that speed everything up and make repeat runs worth taking. Galaga 7800 is still a great score game and feels at home in this collection. Dig Dug and Xevious show different tradeoffs across each system, and the 7800 versions ended up as my favourites. Having the US arcade versions of Xevious and Dig Dug, complete with Atari logos and cabinet borders, is also a neat touch for history nerds.
While the Namco collection is great, there are some gaps that are hard to ignore. For example, Pole Position and Pole Position II are missing entirely, not just as games, but even as timeline entires, which is strange given how important they were to both Atari and Namco. The interviews also focus entirely on the Atari voices such as Frye and Nolan, ignoring the Japanese side of the history, which feels a bit one sided.
The Verdict
All and all, I came away from the DLC pretty happy. The Namco Legendary Pack is a focused, well presented slice of early arcade and console history that makes Atari 50 stronger and more complete. It gave me a fresh view on Pac-Man 2600, reminded me how wild some of the later home versions were, and made me want Digital Eclipse to keep digging into this period for as long as they can.Final Score: 7/10 - Good
Atari 50 - The Namco Legendary Pack details
Platform: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PCDeveloper: Digital Eclipse
Publisher: Atari
Genre: Arcade, Action
Modes: Single-player, Multiplayer
A key was provided by the publisher.