Namco Museum Mini Player | Why Wasn't THIS the Way?
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
- Five years ago, My Arcade released the Namco Museum Mini Player. It was a 10” cabinet with a vertical aspect ratio screen, loaded with real arcade versions of a number of classics like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, & Galaga. It was released right alongside the first wave of Micro Players that included NES ports of the same games. And yet, inexplicably, those took off like a rocket, while this product faded into the background. What happened to the Mini Player? Why did simpler products take off while this little beauty became a footnote in the story of arcade toys? Let's try to figure it out in this video.
#namco #myarcade #pacman #genxgrownup
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🟢 C H A P T E R S
00:00 The Mini Player
00:51 Setting the Stage
01:43 Unboxing & Contents
04:08 Hardware Tour
09:41 Power On
20:10 Summary - Zábava
For me, its an aesthetic thing. I don't care for combo cabinets and like the idea of having a '''tiny arcade'' in my home. I have this unit and have been contemplating changing the decals to make it look like a full sized version of one of the included games.
If you add custom decals, I'd highly suggest doing Xevious since that's a popular Namco classic that, for some reason, never made it to a micro player.
@@cackers4752I remember playing Xavier's on my Atari 7800 it was good time sitting in front of my dad
I got this for like $60 in 2020. I’m still playing it today. The games are fun, and I love just picking one and playing for a few minutes. I haven’t noticed any lag on mine and just find it a joy to play. I’ve also been playing on it for three years, so maybe I’ve just adjusted to all its shortcomings and don’t notice it.
Back in the 80s we'd go to the local bar, they had a Pac-Man cocktail cabinet. We'd grab a beer and play Pac-Man all evening long. We'd always use the hiding trick when we had to give up the lease on our beer.😄
"...give up the lease..." 😘
@@GenXGrownUpNEVER!!!!!!! We'll never give up the lease😂😂
At least, DIG DUG and PAC-MAN are in that console 😺👍🕹️.
The only sad thing is, that METRO-CROSS is not included in it.
Which is one of my favorite games.
Metro Cross is great and Motos is great too.
@@marccaselle8108
Luckily, i still have METRO-CROSS for my
Commodore 64 as a disk version in a compilation called ARCADE FORCE FOUR.
😺👍🕹️
Nice job Jon, long overdue. I’ve wondered about this little cabinet. Wasn’t a fan of the game lineup or price. I’ve said it many times, MyArcade should bring you aboard their team. They would make better products and sell more! Merry Christmas to the GXGU TEAM!!!!
I enjoy these kinds of videos and it's shame for what could have been. I would see it in stores from time to time but for $150 looked to small and cheaply made for my liking. Thanks for the in depth review and I'm glad that avoided it. It seems in order to play it with out hurting your hands you would need to cut off the curved pieces. Along with the the horizonal games not being playable on a tiny screen. It's a shame they couldn't get the right LCD.
Couldn't really tell from the lag/latency on the footage but 100% believe you, and it's really odd with wired control that they couldn't get the emulation sorted. If I don't comment in any of your videos after this I'll wish you a Happy Christmas and New Year now, and thanks for all the content over the year.
The high price and the inability to play certain without glitches (Galaxian and Pacman the New Adventures) as well as covering the boot screen with control instructions (The only time an actual boot screen is shown is the very 1st turn on of the game, after that no more boot screen) caused many people to pass on the game. Target in my area for a while was selling the for $60.
Got one for $59 new. Modded it , has Ms.Pacman and about 30 extra titles (arcade roms not NES))that were not included. Im pretty happy with it, regardless of its design
Have this and the Data East one. Other than a few emulation issues, these were pretty good mini arcades with plenty of games on each
Been looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one for quite some time, such an interesting but flawed machine. Thanks for putting out such high quality content. :)
I appreciate you watching! 😀
Out of them all, galaga, splatterhouse, and dig dug were my favs
I had the opportunity to pick one of these up for £59.99 a while back but gave it a pass at the time, mainly because of the aspect ratio problems. Great review as always Jon :-)
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great review, now you just set yourself on a path to review the Data East mini player too. That one has a normal oriented screen and the control panel is not obstructed.
I have this in my arcade room and even though my arcade room has options, this little arcade was finally my chance to play the arcade of Splatterhouse. I looked for that for years.
I have this, and all the nuances mentioned are there. I hardly play it anymore. I managed to get it for $70 on a price match at a Target in late 2019. Now there is another version of this that has the ability to change the screen ratio. You have to find one that has the game Street Basketball on it. It replaced another game (forgot which one) and there's a combination of buttons you have to press to access the changing of the screen. I'm sure there's information on that out there, but those units are more difficult to find.
Really good review, very useful. I’ve seen this in the sale sub £50 in the Uk and have been tempted to buy, but I hadn’t appreciated the screen issue. A shame, it could have been a brilliant product.
I picked up both Mini Players (Data East & Namco) earlier this year for about $110 total used good condition. They're nice novelties. The Namco one is pretty to look at full screen lighted marquee in attract mode on a desk.
I picked one of these up a few years ago at a reduced price. I think it looks great on the shelf. The games are playable, but like you mentioned, the aspect ratio is off and the emulation stutters at times. I still play it fairly often, and it's staying in my collection. I also have the Data East one where the screen is horizontal. Unfortunately, there's no aspect ratio adjustment at all. 🙁
This was the only thing anyone needed to buy from My Arcade Mini Player. 20 actual arcade ROMS on a bigger screen. What else can I say?
This one hurts. I so wanted one but the tiny 4:3 image and control lag were the ultimate reason I had to force my self to say no. I came to the conclusion I would make do with Namco collections on PSP, Classic Xbox & Nintendo Switch and try to forget this. The demons in my mind still wants one though lol
A square LCD panel (sans pointless bezel artwork) that would suit both horizontal and vertical options would have been perfect, and not cost-prohibitive; also, swapping the useless fourth action button for a 2P start would have dealt with that, whilst leaving the remaining three in a Mega Drive/Genesis pad-style layout. And just moving the stick and buttons closer to central would have been an absolute no-brainer!
Back when this came out, I was very interested, but the screen aspect ratio and the price just felt so wrong to me. I got to demo one in a store once, and I decided I'd pass on it for how expensive it was and how wrong the screen felt on almost every game.
The Xbox 360 Namco Museum Virtual Arcade didn't have multiplayer. That's even more baffling.
The controller design plus latency really kills this
Thanks for another great video Jon. They’ve really seem to have dropped the ball on this one. With just a few simple tweaks it could’ve been a great little thing. However, the controls and the choice of screen this device has clearly fallen well short of its potential. Oh, and I’m just about halfway through listening to your latest podcast very much looking forward to catching up on all the others now. Thanks for being such a great content maker.
🚨 NEW PODCAST LISTENER ALERT 🚨
Haha! Thanks for watching, Richie, and now - for listening.
That man is playing mini Galaga!
Overall, the Neo Geo Mini (Arcade) is a better deal, at a similar (but significantly lower) price point: I could list off the disadvantages of the Neo Geo Mini, but it has this ($100) Namco setup beat in ever way, including the ability to plug in a controller for player two.
I got this at target for 50 bucks along with the data east version. I love them both. I got 2 data east versions because there is a 1 game difference between the 2
You and I share the same complains. I have made a point to sell off my my arcade collection and gave only kept the ones with the Arcade roms. For $100 it's worth it for sure. I paid £100 for mine here in the UK.
hi mr X
i find it a bit sad that they did not think this trough, it could have been a much better experience.
i would love to see a little bigger machine with namco classics vol 1 and 2, those arrangement games are awesome gameplay with 2 players at the same time.,
even 2 player pacman with a special game that you see nowhere else.
The problem with the small screen for Rolling Thunder is not really their fault. It's just a geometry issue of how big of a rectangle of the correct proportion can you fit in a screen that is vertically oriented.* They could have used a horizontally oriented screen but then the vertical games would have the same issue in the other direction. I suppose they could have used a more square-ish 4:3 screen that would lend itself better to being adapted for both horizontal and vertical games, but probably would have cost them more money. The vertical screen, I imagine, was just one that was already available cheaply and most of the games on the list are vertically oriented so that's what happened.
* Me and my late dad used to have these discussions about why some movies have black bars on the top and bottom (back before 16 x 9 TVs took over). I explained to him that is the only way you can fit a wide rectangle into a small rectangle without stretching it to fit or using the old "pan & scan" technique.
I agree with you on the geometry, but I disagree that it's not their fault. Horizontal games simply don't belong on a system with a vertical screen. You can play Doom on a McDonald's menu kiosk, but you shouldn't! 😜
@@GenXGrownUpTrue, but then they would be criticized for not including those games. A good compromise would have been a 4:3 screen, but I guess that was not an option for them, cost-wise.
I got this cabinet for 49 cents, the store clerk had marked it wrong! plays great, It's a good little cab.
I have the DATA EAST one. It's ok. I rarely use it, but I like how it looks.
This exact mini arcade cabinet was priced at 150.00 dollars at my target for 2 years and at some point after Black Friday somebody bought it and it wasn't marked down in price.
If it was 40 bucks, I would have bought it
Definitely as it’s power only that is probably a major issue re sales. Also need different models for 240 vs 110.
Great review and great video too👍👍
Thank you! 👍
@@GenXGrownUp you're welcome!!👍👍
It's like they just used an off the shelf phone screen in it instead of having a special 4:3 ratio screen made for it
I have this machine. It's essentially a Coleco tabletop game with the real arcade games on it, and for me, that's just good enough. However, you're not wrong about the flaws. The hardware is kludged together with an old tablet processor and a PSP screen, and this becomes especially evident if you hack it. I've thrown about three hundred ROMs at this thing, and maybe half of those functioned well enough to keep them on the system. CPS1 and CPS2 are straight out, and Neo-Geo is a little iffy. If you install 8-bit games and use a really old version of MAME, those run well enough.
What's maddening is that the processor used has a micro USB connector on the board, but it doesn't do anything, because MyArcade's firmware isn't designed for it and nobody's written a custom firmware for this fairly obscure system. So you're stuck with the crappy MyArcade joystick, unless you're willing to do a lot of work replacing it. I wound up grinding down the red nub and gluing a wooden bead on the top, and setting metal washers on the bottom, to force some degree of responsiveness from what is a very unresponsive controller. Like the rest of the Namco Museum mini arcade, it's just good enough for a quick, dirty fix, but these old arcade games really deserve microswitches, and you won't get them unless you're willing to tear the machine apart and install them yourself.
Very well said.
I agree with you on the buttons but also this should have been portable battery powered and it should have been where you can play it through your TV then I would have bought one
Wait - you want it to be portable using a battery and then also want it to be tethered to a TV via an HDMI cable?
@@GenXGrownUp Exactly!!! Its almost pointless they way it is!! Needs to play on TV and be battery powered!!! Then I would buy one also!
@GenXGrownUp yes the Nintendo switch is battery-operated portable and can be played on the TV! Not to mention the screen is way too small on the mini player, they should have just made it like a handheld like the Nintendo switch... that's what happened to the mini player and why it wasn't successful like the other ones!!😉
I’ve got one of those. It’s pretty nice!
Yay finally i have been waiting for this its a good system but could be better but still worth it
$100 for 20 arcade games from the 80's is criminal. That's $5 per game, and I wouldn't even pay that much for an SNES title. At least with something like World's Smallest, you're paying more for the novelty of a tiny cabinet-shaped keychain that can actually play games.
I feel that both my curiosity and my cynicism are catered to by this video you've published, GXG. ;-) I had always wondered about this same "fork in the road" you're monologuing about here… how did we end up with the "one game per console" paradigm of 2023?
I buy these bar tops because I always wanted the mini vfd arcade games in the eighties when i was a kid but couldnt afford them
I bought both the Namco mini player and the Data East mini player. I actually had to get a second Data East because the first one’s controller stopped working two plays in (worked when I shut it off and didn’t work when I turned it back on a few hours later). I have never unboxed the Namco. Once pretty much all the games were being released on the PlayStation and other systems it became pointless to take it out of the box.
The lack of a battery compartment severely limits playability because you have to be near an outlet or carry a battery back up pack if you want to go mobile.
Then there are the points you made about the playability. They definitely could have put just a little more thought into how these were built and how well the emulation works.
I’ve actually wondered if the playability would be better if a much larger screen was installed. I know they made these to look like miniature arcade machines, but that leaves a whole lot of space being used for artwork that could have been screen space.
All said, good idea in concept, but it’s really just a bit of nostalgia to have sitting on your shelf. I love the games and I love the idea behind the game collections. But I think they would have been more successful releasing a game collection on a home system. Arcade Archives has already beat them to the punch on that, though.
All excellent points. Thanks for watching. 😀
hi jon,
been waiting years for you to finally get this machine. its about time.
you do realize you can mod it with emulation station, and run tons of arcade roms,
fix the aspect ratio, etc. i got ms pac man working, time pilot and tons more.
people that think this is not worth are completely wrong, and just haven't bothered to
do the research.
i will take this over all the other myplayer versions, because these use the arcade roms,
the other one, use the NES or ports, so they are not as good.
i do agree the controls arent great, but you can get use to them eventually.
final verdict 3.5 tokens/5 - with emulation station 4.5/5
later
|| | | | |
ne gative 1
Good to know it's moddable - but what isn't? Once I have to put in work to make it something it wasn't shipped as, that becomes a different story entirely.
I remember when I first saw this unit in the wild. I had collected most of the Basic Fun ones and while I did have some of the My Arcade mini players I didn't like the shape of the cabinet.
The main reasons I didn't bite was 1. I didn't know they were arcade roms, so used to the NES ports that I wasn't interested at that price point. 2. $130 was way to high and I already feel like Namco charges too much for their classic arcade games. They seem to want a premium over other 80s arcade IP holders. I know they are among the most iconic but so is Capcom and they are pretty fair when pricing their stuff.
Just my thoughts.
Those little cheaply made machines are competing in very niche, competitive market.
You have the far superior New Wave Toys and Numskulls, then you have the Taito Egrets and Astro City Minis that will give you a more authentic arcade experience, then you have all the Chinese knock off devices.
Tough market to be in.
I literally just got namco museum on my moms old Gameboy advance SP now they are making micro players of it!?
Insane!
I have both this and the DataEast collection players...love them. Booting up Galaga, Mappy, pacman etc is super fun. Also the aspect ratio was appropriate for Mappy. And there is a menu option for original ratio. But I am not as fussy as some "purists". And stretching the screen to full makes it easier to see and for games like pacman and Galaga it works
Ratio was appropriate for Mappy? Mappy has the same 4:3 ratio as Pac-Man, Galaga, etc. Can you clarify?
Didn't know about that "hiding spot" in Pac-Man; cool. Is it only on the initial level that it works on?
It always works by exploiting ghost rules: czcams.com/video/ataGotQ7ir8/video.html
It's a great way to take a pee break during a high score run!
The latency is understandable given the price point. No doubt it's using some cheap ARM (as little as a couple of bucks in quantity) processor running emulation instead of an FPGA chip which would pretty much be perfect with zero latency but also a bit more expensive. But, I give them credit for using the actual ROMs.
They also made a Data East version of this cab. I have both , they are forever in attraction mode to supplement my first gen Arcade 1ups..
Yep. I mention the Data East unit in this very video.
Hey! A bit of an update on those new My Arcade Pro Players...
Turns out, those roms aren't new at all, they were made by a creator over two or three years ago. They are the same roms used for the Arcade1Up collector cades, which included Pac-Man, Galaga and Galaxian, and then an unused Ms. Pac-Man rom.
Interesting. Now I wish I had access to a Collectorcade. Were those the like 15" ones that popped up at Best Buy?
@@GenXGrownUp Right on. There were 2, one was a Mortal Kombat and the other was a Pac-Man themed one that had Pac-Man, Galaga, Galaxian.
you're the best, your reviews either save money, or make me purchase, thanks again
Aww, thanks. You're too kind! I genuinely appreciate you watching and taking the time to comment here, T&T. 😁
I bought it mainly for Galaxian. Which struggles to run at a decent frame rate! Sold on immediately with disgust.
I never knew this product existed! 🤷♂️ I don’t recall seeing it on any of the usual shopping sites I go to. Maybe it was better promoted in the U.S. than here in Europe where I am?
curious...are manager settings available...if not that is probably why this item failed since with MAME you have access to management settings.
I didn’t even know this existed maybe it was an advertising issue
I più bei giochi di sempre My Arcade fà delle belle console mi piace molto
🌲☃️
The sides of the cabinet impeding the controls is the most glaring defect to me. It should have been evident in the design phase and not even made it into a prototype. Hell, I would've preferred if they added a little cost to the unit to allow for the "control panel" to be detachable as a gamepad! The screen-size issues are unfortunate. Consider everything in tandem (including selecting the most appropriate games). If you do right by your product, you're doing right by your customers.
Amen!
I first laid eyes on this Bad Oscar in early 2020,I did not have the cash at the time but then the pandemic hit us and not only did we receive the $1200.00 stimulus checks but me and everyone else at my job received two weeks bonus pay. So, I went down to the local Target and bought this treasure trove. It cost around $84.00 in change plus tax and after taxes it was the best $108.00 I ever spent.
After seeing this video and the review of it on Amazon I see why this did badly I decided to buy that galaga joystick player for 50 dollars on Amazon which is better deal for me because i like galaga the most and it has the cool looking joystick
I have the same cabinet ❤❤
I just asked around and over half a dozen of us have never heard of nor seen this thing before. That might be half the problem.
You had to be paying close attention back in 2019!
could use a HDMi output.
(and USB - player 2 port)
(that would be used to "Mod" the OS
0:21 More retailers wanted to sell the Micro and Pocket Players at their stores than Mini Players.
💜
@4:05 Jon is so strong in disdain for the manuals that he literally warped space (see the 'bricks') by tossing them
I discord instructions with enough force to ripple space-time!
wierd how they included a console pacman game
pac-man 2 the new adventure's
which is wierd since you play this with a genesis or snes control not an arcade stick.
myarcade could of put ms pacman or pacman arrangment
Yup, it reeks of 'design by committee'. A vertical 16:9 screen makes no sense, and anyone who *would* have bought this knows this.
I love the “idea” of this one, but the screen is truly a deal breaker for me. Too bad.
Has anyone ever popped one of these open to see if the screen could be replaced with a larger one? Just a thought…
They need to have a full size table top version
Arcade1up Countercade.
The only reason why I bought this before it’s because of Splatterhouse
There is no possible way a person who opens a box so carefully is throwing away instructions.
Impossible, yet here I am. 😆
I think they didn't have a UX department for this one. lol
I got mine on sale at target for 60 dollars
If My Arcade owns the Roms then they should redo this but in a 3/4 scale arcade cabinet that's designed properly. With 20 games, it would sell much more than Arcade 1up cabs do. It's got to be done right, and the price must be reasonable. If they just design a money grab, which is what this was. It will fail. I don't have any cabs yet because I think a couple of so so games are more an embarrassment and a toy. The multi cabs are as much as a boat or car, and who knows if they'll break all the time. There is a market for a well built but not the best quality arcade machines in the $600 range. With Xbox Series X and PS5's being under $500, the arcade market must wake up or go bankrupt. You have to give a usable value not junk cause the consoles play everything and then some for less than building a Childs POV arcade that I have to play on my knees or ut on a build of bricks to get a decent view and play level.
Ill wait for a pro version
I feel that this video forces me to review _EVEN MORE OBSCURE_ pocket arcade products… whether that's to complement your channel or to compete with it. ;-)
I'm flattered. Complement away, though, because there's no need to compete -- there's plenty of success to go around for everybody, my friend! Thanks as always for being here. 🥰
Kind of cool but really could have been better!
Namco hasn't been doing a that great of a job capitalizing on their retro catalog in my opinion. Their Steam collections are just NES emulations with a basic menu opening screen. Between them and Data East, I haven't been impressed. Even Konami is beating them, and they also don't seem to be trying that much.
My Gold Standard have been the Digital Eclipse made retro collections. The Atari 50 has been great. So has the Cowabunga TMNT collection. I also found the Capcom and SNK 40th arcade collections well done on Steam.
Did he call Pac-Attack Pac-Panic?
He did. That's what this particular release calls itself.
@@GenXGrownUp they labeled it as Pac-Panic on this arcade? Strange wonder why?
It needs a mini HDMI out or screen mirroring.
Band-aid on an axe wound. 😜
@@GenXGrownUp
🤣🤙
See what you mean, not as good as it first seemed
It fizzled out because it doesn't take batteries and it's not portable that's why
But I do love mine and I play it regularly it still has the protective plastic over the screen
Not sure that's to blame, as other comparable products from other manufacturers had a longer life.
These sort of devices are landfillers. They should not be manufactured. In the early 80s, devices like this were novelty.
That would sorely disappoint the hundreds of thousands who enjoy collecting them.
@@GenXGrownUp If everyone stopped producing fentanyl, I'm sure there would be a lot of bummed out people.
I just don't get the point of a fully functioning miniature device that will 99% be a figurine on a shelf--and likely left in an off state. No one is going to take this on a road trip with them.
@@puzzud Nothing wrong with a fun decoration. Not for you, though, is cool. I review these so consumers can make informed buying decisions.
@@GenXGrownUp I'm not knocking your review. Keep doing what you do best.
No really-x 😮, and with input lag as well 😖
👌
Wow...I wonder if they ever beta-tested this device before it's release, because the 20-in-1 idea would fly. Had they done so, Namco would have either corrected the issues before released, or a "new" or "upgraded" version would have been sold.
The fact they are not arcade roms is exactly why I never buy these little mini things.
Yet these are, and still it was not popular.
so much potential but missed the mark with the wrong aspect ratio. BUT ... if it drops in price i might get it.
So far it's dropped about 33% to just $100 from the initial $149-ish. That may be the basement for a while considering it took five years to get this low. 😀
I've got 1
What?! This thing ain't battery powered?! I might still buy it though, sometime next year, or maybe in the near future.
Any half competent Producer would have prevented this travesty simply by taking 2 seconds to think WHO was their target market. Casuals won't pay for an expensive form factor, and the hardcore won't pay for something that isn't faithful to the original.
💯
It maked no sense, why are you so careful with the package, but then you throw away the manuals?
It maked plenty of sense.
oh i gave mine to a charity shop i dont think any games played well on it
That awful screen ruined it. I have one, and the screen is just wrong, it's too long, almost phone-like in length.
Surely, MyArcade could have found a better aspect ratio screen ?
My goto mini arcade is now the Taito Egret II Mini, with it's awesome rotatable screen. But, obviously, it's a lot more in cost than this mini player.