Full Review

1 April 2004 - Life was so much simpler when it came to playing games in the early 1980s. Namco, the classic arcade manufacturer of the time, hopes the simple life will soon be remembered with its Namco 5-in-1 Arcade Classics games console- a complete games emporium with five old-school games.

The brightly-coloured device plugs directly into your television via a video and audio phono jack and once connected, the fun begins. The unit is a simple affair offering one button and one very clunky joystick (made clunky to fit in with the machines at the time). The unit is powered by three AAA batteries. Bar the long phono cable, portability around the living room is easy.

The games- Pac-Man, Galaxian, Dig Dug, Bosconian and Rally-X are all exact replicas of the original titles and it's amazing how you'll quickly be transformed back to misspent youth.

VERDICT
Namco isn't the first of the classic arcade manufacturers to make a comeback. However the Namco unit is the only one to include Pac-Man and the other titles available.Your only other option would be to track down an actual arcade unit from the time.

Considering that the games included are all over 20 years old, it's surprising that they all still have that addictive playability rather than becoming a 10-minute wonder. Pac-Man is obviously the key title here and the one that will draw people in, however the addition of Rally-X, and Dig Dug will bring back just as much memory to keen gamers of the era.

Like the Atari unit however, the Namco suffers from the fact that your favourite arcades were all made by different manufacturers at the time. This is just Namco's offering and to some there won't be enough outside of Pac-Man to justify the £25 price point. In our minds, either way, those looking for a quick fix of nostalgia won't be disappointed. It's just like watching an old favourite movie- the memories will come flooding back in leaps and bounds.