Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1994

1994 was a slow year for our two competitors, for arcades at least.  Midway was busy with the home ports of Mortal Kombat 2 and as usual Namco was not releasing games in English because… Because.  Both companies did put out at least one game each in 1994 though.  On Midway's side is a tried and true rail shooter that sticks to a lot of its companies established conventions and a stop motion fighting game.  On Namco's side is the beginning of one of the biggest names in fighting games.  It’s a one-on-one.  We shall see which game carries their company to victory.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1992 & 1993

It’s 1992.  Last year Street Fighter 2 kicked off fighting games in a big way and every company was jumping in on the new competitive martial arts gameplay, Namco and Midway included.  At least, Midway did in America.  It’s even slimmer pickings for Namco arcade games than last time.  Their 2D fighter Knuckle Heads didn’t come out in English, just like the majority of their games around this time.  There was the first Ridge Racer that came out…

However, I’ve never seen a cabinet for the original Ridge Racer in my life.

I could only get my hands on one Namco game and it’s from 1993 so you know what that means: another 2 year judgment time span.  They’d better hope Midway drops the ball again, but considering what I know is ahead, I don’t think they are going to.