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The Namco Museum series. It's probably my favorite series out of all of the retro arcade compilation packs (followed closely by Konami Arcade Classics). After all, look what you get scattered over the six (yes, I do know that Volume Six, the Namco Museum Encore, was never released in the U.S., but I'm including it anyway) volumes released for the PlayStation - classic games that every true gamer knows and loves... Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Galaxian and Galaga.Those are easily recognizable by even the most casual gamer. Then there are games like Xevious, Rolling Thunder, Dragon Spirit, Dragon Saber, Rally-X, Assault, Super Pac- Man, Pole Position, Pole Position II and Mappy, all instantly recognizable to most hardcore arcade vets.

But what about the other games on the discs? The ones that the series was slammed for having because they were obscure Japanese titles that apparently no gamer in the U.S. cared about? So what if we Americans may have never heard of them before? If anyone had actually taken the time to play some of them, they might have found that some of them were actually fun. Not all of them, mind you, but a lot of them. Today I'm going to take a look at these other games, and examine them a little closer. Who knows? Maybe you'll find one or two of them that actually sound interesting...

One of the most fun games on Volume One, this quirky little overhead shooter is still a blast to play. Fly around destroying alien ships, asteroids and space stations in what seems to be a cross between Atari's Asteroids, Williams' Sinistar and SNK's Vanguard. Here's a piece of Bosconian trivia - samples from it were used on bt's album Movement In Still Life.

Everyone's heard of Galaxian and Galaga, but what about this, the lost chapter of the series? Everything's harder this time around, but in a unique twist, you can get the tractor beam that showed up in Galaga and use it against the aliens, forcing them to fight for you! What fun!

This game gets trashed quite a bit, but I like it. It's one of my favorites out of all of the games in the series. A lot of the ideas behind this one showed up in some of Namco's later games, particularly Splatterhouse. You control the undead samurai Kagekiyo on his quest to destroy the evil warlord Yoritomo. The viewpoint changes every few levels, from sidescrolling to overhead to a really zoomed-in sidescrolling mode (shown here). Here's a fun tip: at the Namco opening screen, hold down all of the L and R buttons to watch a G & H video that's a lot like a Godzilla movie, instead of the usual CG opening.

Namco's answer to Nintendo's The Legend Of Zelda, just shorter and more arcade-oriented. Still, I consider it to be one of the best games in the series. Great control, pleasant graphics, lots of magic items and weapons to get, plus an interesting story help make The Legend Of Valkyrie what it is.

An interesting puzzle game that lets you play with molecules. Try to match the patterns shown at the beginning of each level. Sound easy? Believe me, it isn't. It can be quite addicting, though.

Gauntlet in a toybox. Not bad, but not great either. Still, it has its own brand of charm that somehow keeps me coming back to it.

At first, I didn't know what to make of this one. After playing it for a while, though, I got addicted to it. Knock over walls and squash cute, deadly animals before they kill you, then gather the keys and get out alive. This is another game that I consider to be one of the best in the series.

An early sidescrolling adventure game... almost like an earlier version of Taito's Rastan, in a sense. Fight your way through a maze of towers, dungeons, and caves to reach the dragon waiting in the final chamber. Defeat him and move on to the next level, which brings you one step closer to rescuing the Princess. This is another game that I really like.

Some people may remember the Turbografx-16 incarnation of Ordyne. Unfortunately, the first time I ever got to play it was on Volume Four. Boy, do I regret not playing it sooner. It's a great little shooter - fast, colorful and fun to play. My only gripe is that the special weapons run out too quickly, just like in Sega's Fantasy Zone.

This is a quirky little game. You control what looks like a space bumpercar and try to knock little balls and stuff off the side of a platform floating in space. Of course, the balls ae trying to knock you off as well, which definitely makes the game difficult. Still, it can be somewhat addicting.