Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1995

1995. The peak of Mortal Kombat mania.  Last year may not have had a Mortal Kombat game in arcades, but those home versions of the games were selling like hotcakes and the franchise was getting merchandised to hell and back.  There was the movie, which is widely regarded as one of the best video game to movie adaptations to this day, there was the promotional VHS of the movie and there was the live tour.

Mortal Kombat got so much attention that other companies were trying to get in on the digitized actors and violence, usually to poor results.

Oh yeah, Namco is in this.  They released games mostly in Japan and not in America so they got left in the dust, although Tekken was shaping up to be their heaviest hitter in arcades.  Here in this competition, popularity and hype means nothing.  All that matters is who made the best games.  The current score has Midway in the lead, 7 to 5.  Namco isn’t far behind and still has a few years left to take the lead.

Devil May Cry 5 Review

After Capcom released Ninja Theory’s Devil May Cry reboot, I don’t think anyone was expecting a sequel to Devil May Cry 4.  I think Ninja Theory’s game gets way too much flak because of its title, but regardless of the merits of the game itself, fans wanted a Devil May Cry 5.  However, in the intervening years Capcom came out with Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, which became a monster hit despite no advertising or promotion whatsoever, and then later followed it up with Sengoku Basara 4 in Japan.  Over the years Sengoku Basara 4 built itself up as the most hyped English version of a game in the history of the human race to the point that everyone forgot about wanting a Devil May Cry game.  Something very strange happened though.  Instead of releasing Sengoku Basara 4 in English and bringing about world peace and a panacea for all diseases, Capcom not only made Devil May Cry 5, but fully dubbed it and released it in English.

I am at least a moderate fan of the Devil May Cry franchise.  Devil May Cry 3 is one of my favorite action games of all time and of course you know Devil May Cry 4 is good because it has the same producer as Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.

That said, it’s curious that instead of translating and dubbing a fully released, content-rich game being exalted as one of the masterpieces of the gaming world that everyone and their dog wants, just like they had already done for the previous game in its franchise, Capcom instead made a new game from scratch with an English version.  That would have to mean that Devil May Cry 5 is practically godlike and I had to take a look to see for myself if it truly lives up to that hype.

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.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1990 & 1991

We’re back from my Sengoku Basara detour and our contest picks up in 1990 and 1991.  Since I can’t get any Namco games from 1990, this is a judgement for a 2-year time span, where most of Midway’s games are from 1990 and Namco’s games are in 1991.  Once again, Namco’s failure to release arcade games in English has them going in with a very low ammo count.  Technically one of their games for this year, Tank Force, didn’t even initially come out in English at all, but since they would otherwise only have one game for entry, I need to throw them a bone.  Maybe it will be the game that comes in clutch.