Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1983

So far in this competition we’ve seen both companies pushing the limits of 80s technology.  Most notably they’ve been able to flood the screens with enemies or make a 3D effect out of 2D graphics, both things that on their own would still be impressive into the 90s.  We’ll find out how much more these companies are capable of as we go over the games of 1983.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: 1982

Now we’re at 1982.  Both companies have brought out some impressive arcade tech, but Midway was still only starting while Namco made Pac-Man.  Here in 1982 is where Midway really gets to stretch their wings.  They’ll need to bring their best because 2 of Namco’s more famous games came out this year.

Before I get to it, some people might notice a particular game that's missing.

Yeah, Ms. Pac-Man has a hell of a history that brings it into question as to whether it should count as a Midway game or a Namco game.  Technically Midway published it, but it was developed by a separate company and now Namco owns the rights to it.  I could count it as a Midway game because they're the ones who commissioned its creation, but that creation is a glorified ROM hack of the original Pac-Man, meaning the core of it is still made by Namco.  Since it's kind of both a Namco and Midway game, determining which company gets it for this competition would be like picking sides so I'm excluding it for the sake of fairness.

Namco vs. Midway: The King of Arcades 2: Intro & 1979-1981

The Capcom vs. SNK: The King of Arcade series I did was a lot of fun.  The advancement of technology, culture and game design through the games themselves was fascinating to see unfold and I even discovered a few hidden gems I didn’t know I liked, all while making an observation of what both companies were pulling off at the time.  I should hope that trip down the annuls of arcade history was also entertaining to read and maybe got people to try out some of the games for themselves.

It was so much fun, in fact, that I’m doing it again.  The only problem is there isn’t any arcade gaming rivalry quite like that of Capcom and SNK.  I mean they made multiple games in which they fight each other, for pete’s sake.  Who else then would make for an entertaining head-to-head competition that only exists in my mind?

The real question is what game companies have an extensive arcade catalogue that can come close to that of Capcom and SNK that’s also viable for me to play.  Some people see a rivalry between Sega and Namco, but that was mostly during the 3D era and Namco’s biggest games date back to the 80s, something Sega doesn’t have the prolific catalogue for.  There’s also arguably Taito and Midway, but it has the opposite problem, where Taito stopped making arcade games in the 90s as Midway continued to do so until 2001.

 

I found the best idea was to make it between the two default winners of those aforementioned rivalries: Namco and Midway.  One company Japanese, the other American, both with a big back catalogue of smash hit arcade games, from the most primitive of the 80s to the more advanced polygonal ones of the 90s.  Sure, they don’t have a series of crossover games like our previous contestants; in fact, Midway wasn’t exactly a fierce rival to Namco, considering Midway published some of their games for American distribution, but that didn’t last forever.

The rules are the same as before.  While not as much as with Capcom and SNK, I have a big catalogue of arcade game collections for both companies as well as a series of old-school arcades at my disposal with which to play as many of each company’s games as I can, much like last time.  As I do I’ll once again be writing my thoughts and judgements, then deciding on a victor on a year-by-year basis.  Games from Namco will be marked as “NAM” and games from Midway will be marked as “MID”.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: Sengoku Basara 4 (Sumeragi)

I remember where I was when the first trailer for Sengoku Basara 4 was released.  I’ve never been so hyped for a game in my entire life.  No other game can come close to the excitement and anticipation for a sequel to one of the greatest games of all time and everything else in the meantime was just something to occupy me until I could finally play it.

Years passed.  The game came out in Japan, where it was promptly exalted as one of the all-time master works of the gaming medium.  People outside of Japan kept importing it and sang the same praises  Then the updated version, Sengoku Basara 4: Sumeragi, came out and importers further cemented it as the greatest game of its genre ever made.

I told those people to stop.  I told them to buy the English version when it comes out.  Just like Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, Samurai Kings, Samurai Legends and End of Judgement, Sengoku Basara 4 was going to have an amazing English release and those people importing it were both buying a worse version and putting in time to game progress that would not carry over.  That’s what I believed.  Why wouldn’t I?  This was Capcom, the greatest game company there was.  They were on fire in the early 2010s, with hit after hit after hit after hit and the occasional Bionic Commando-shaped fumble, but nobody’s perfect.  I believed in Capcom.

Year after year after year after year after year after year I kept thinking that it would finally be the year we got the English version of Sengoku Basara 4 and that with all that time being spent on it, the English version was going to be as perfect as possible.  They must’ve been doing 100 takes on every single line of English dialogue so that the sound of it touches the pleasure sensations of the brain.  There was going to be more extra content in the English version than the English release of Kingdom Hearts.  I kept buying Capcom’s games, feeding them money, comfortable in knowing it was going into the English version of the greatest game ever created, maybe even the greatest thing ever created in the universe as a whole.

The hype grew with each passing year.  Sengoku Basara 4’s English version is so hyped up that playing it might put someone into cardiac arrest just from starting the game!  I took that built-up hype to every Capcom showcase.  “Maybe we’ll get a release date for the English version of Sengoku Basara 4!”
People kept telling me there wouldn’t be one, but there was no reason to believe that.  Capcom made Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes, one of the hallmark titles of gaming.  They gave us that game because they knew the world needed it and not Devil Kings.  There’s no reason why they wouldn’t just do what they already did for one more game.  That would be a complete and utter betrayal to every single Capcom fan.  I made the foolish decision to believe in something.  Never believe.

It took many years for me to realize that Capcom is no longer the good company that gave us Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes.  They have no intention of delivering nirvana to their fans.  Sengoku Basara 4 will never come out in English and they have made it their mission to make their fans as miserable as possible, keeping the English version of Sengoku Basara 4 from them just to watch them squirm.  They are, simply put, evil.

When I came to grips with that, I finally just imported the Japanese version after 6 years of hype and it is the single most depressing, soul-crushing game I’ve ever played in my life.  Not because it’s bad, but for the polar opposite reason.

Sengoku Basara Retrospective: The Other Media

With the success of Sengoku Basara 2 in Japan, it was only natural that Capcom would ride the merchandise train and branch the franchise off into other media as well as a few spin-off games.  Eventually some of that media would come to America alongside the first properly translated English game, but since the spin-off games were made during Capcom’s terminally stupid era, they were not released in English.

There was a pair of stripped-down PSP games, Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes and Chronicle Heroes, as well as a fighting game called Sengoku Basara X.  Normally I wouldn’t bother going over them because they’re not especially notable, not part of the main games and I haven’t played them, but it just so happens as I was writing the retrospective that a local arcade had Sengoku Basara X, so I can touch on that.