Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades: 1989

How did it come to this, Namco?  An entire year and nothing to show for it in English.  Namco officially has nothing for me.  They made arcade games, but not for America.  Valkyrie Densetsu looks like fun, but we didn’t get to play it.  Finest Hour looks like potential game of the year material and so does Burning Force, but the most we got of the latter was the inferior Genesis port.  The only game they might’ve had an entry with is Dangerous Seed, but it’s never seen a re-release and I’ve never been to any arcade that has it.  In fact, going to local arcades to play more games is to Namco’s detriment because there are far more Midway games at them than Namco ones.

That’s why I’ll be fudging the rules just a bit and giving them the only game of this year I was able to play: Rompers.  Similarly to Tower of Druaga, the game got English re-releases later with a full translation.  Since it technically never came to American arcades, like Tower of Druaga, any victory the game might give them will be a soft one.  That is, if there’s a tie, it will not win.  I’m not expecting another Splatterhouse miracle this time.  Maybe this will be a lesson in the importance of English releases.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades: 1988

As I pointed out in the previous post, Namco has a lot riding on just one game for 1988.  It’s not that they didn’t make a lot of arcade games that year or that they weren’t even making good ones.  I mean they had an even better arcade board for even better games.  It’s just that almost none of their games came out in American arcades.  They made games that appear to be strong contenders like Ordyne, Marchen Maze and Phelios, but none of that was for America.  From what I can tell the only games from this year that came out in English are Splatterhouse and Metal Hawk, but since Metal Hawk heavily relied on a fancy motion simulator machine it means it never got re-released for new consoles with standard controllers.  None of my local places have a Metal Hawk machine either so Namco is placing all their bets on Splatterhouse.  It had better be the game of the year if they want to win.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades: 1987

So far Namco has been losing pretty badly and they needed to step it up to keep up with Midway’s constant technological innovations.  Good thing then that in 1987 they did just that.  I’m not sure exactly what kind of arcade hardware Midway was using, but 1987 marked the debut of the Namco System 1, an upgraded arcade machine capable of better sound and graphics, not unlike what the CPS-1 was for Capcom.  Midway’s arcade offering so far have left me in awe with their presentation, but new dedicated hardware might be the boost Namco needs to start racking up more wins.  Let’s see if they can get out of their losing streak.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades: 1986

Last year Midway only had one game on which to bank their victory, but for 1986, the roles are reversed.  This year there were only 2 games from 1986 I could find from Namco, meaning it’s now them placing their bets on a small chance at victory.  We will see if Sky Kid Deluxe or Rolling Thunder is good enough to make that a winning bet.

I got a little distracted playing the Atari 50 collection while writing this one.  There's a game in there that our contestants are lucky aren't in the competition because it has the best graphics, best gameplay and best music out of anything they've made and quite possibly anything they ever will make.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1985

This competition has not been kind to Namco.  I mean in a historical context it was because Midway and Namco published each other’s games in their respective countries, but as far as this contest to see who made the best games, but as far as this contest is concerned, Namco wasn’t doing so hot.  They started out with some timeless classics, but their brain seemed to slowly degrade as they made consistently made bad game design decisions, reaching a head with Tower of Druaga and Dragon Buster.  Midway, meanwhile, experimented with technology and style, making for memorable games that sometimes came together into great ones like Marble Madness.

For 1985, Namco has the perfect opportunity to score another win.  There’s only one 1985 game from Midway I’m aware of so there’s a lot riding on that one game.  All Namco has to do is make at least one game better than Gauntlet and they’ll win.  Will they?  That it’s even a question is a testament to how badly last year damaged Namco’s reputation for me.