Compared to the recent Midway offerings, most of Namco's arcade compilations were a little disappointing. Sure, Pac-Man, Galaga, and Pole Position are welcomed in any kind of re-release, but if that's really the only thing to offer in a game, then why bother? Thankfully Namco realized this problem and pulled out all the stops for their 50th Anniversary edition of Namco Museum. Here's the list of the 14 games that are initially available to play on this compilation disc:

• Pac-Man

• Ms. Pac-Man

• Galaga

• Galaxian

• Dig Dug

• Pole Position

• Pole Position II

• Rolling Thunder

• Rally X

• Bosconian

• Dragon Spirit

• Sky Kid

• Xevious

• Mappy

But wait! There's more. As nice surprise, two more games are available: The 3D Pac-Man game Pac-Mania, and Galaga '88. These games are locked at the start, though. In order to play them you need to get high scores in their original versions; that is, 40,000 points in Galaga and 35,000 points combined in the two Pac-Man games. While old grizzly vets can acquire these scores in their sleep, for some people it may present a genuine challenge to attain these high scores, bringing back the reason why the games were so popular back in the day. The challenge adds a welcome level of value to the game, so there's something to achieve rather than just play the games that are there.

The other cool thing about Namco 50th (and I mean cool) is the main menu for selecting a game. Instead of having a boring menu where you just select the game's logo and play it, Namco re-created a virtual arcade of sorts, with all 16 games being housed in its own facsimile arcade cabinet, complete with original control setup. If you scroll over to one of the Pole Position cabinets, for instance, you'll see exactly what it looked like in the arcades, with the attract mode running, the steering wheel, fat shifter stick complete with the boot, and even the racing stripes on the cabinet side panels and coin box. All of the games are lined up next to each other just like arcades back in the day, and seeing all of them running in attract mode next to each other is pure awesome. (As an added touch, Pac-Mania and Galaga '88 have 'Out of Order' signs on them while they are locked.)

But that's not all for the menu. What really makes you want to play around with it is the soundtrack. And I'm not talking about some EA Trax garbage. The game plays five songs direct from the 80s while you decide which game you want to drop your virtual quarters in to. Here's a list of the songs in the game, which are sure to bring back as many memories as the classic games themselves:

• Working for the Weekend - Loverboy

• She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals

• Come on Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners

• Talking in Your Sleep - The Romantics

• Joystick - The Dazz Band

After you press the Start button on the title screen, swoop into the virtual arcade setup, and start hearing those hits from the 80s blast from your stereo system (erm, boom box?), you can't help but smile. You'll let the game sit in the menu just to hear the music over and over again. It's too bad the music stops once you start a game, though.

Enough about the interface, let's talk about the games now. I'll assume that everyone has played Pac-Man, Dig-Dug, Galaga, and Pole Position before and knows what's up with those games. Here's a quick rundown of the other games in the compilation that you may have never even heard of.

Rally X - Think Pac-Man, but with race cars. Your blue car navigates around a maze-like track collecting flags, while the enemy red cars try to corner you and crash into you or make you slam into a rock. You can drop a smoke screen to get them off your trail, but it costs fuel to do it. If you run out of gas before getting all the flags, you lose a life. This one is a good game to play if you need a Pac-Man break.

Bosconian - In this space shooter, you directly control your spaceship of the same name and fly around shooting at enemy bases while avoiding space hazards and other enemies. The graphics look similar to Galaga, but more things are moving around. The game was better remembered for featuring voice warnings, such as "Incoming Formation." It's relatively weak compared to other top-downs featured in this compilation, though.

Xevious - The classic top-down shooter where your Solvalou fighter needs to shoot enemies from the sky and bomb threats on the ground. The graphics are simple, but the gameplay is what made this one a classic.

Dragon Spirit - A Xevious clone with a dragon instead of a fighter plane. The graphics for this game are actually pretty impressive for 80s arcade hardware. The difficulty is also pretty severe early on, but power-ups you can find by bombing ground targets help to make it a little easier.

Rolling Thunder - This is one of the games that has never seen a compilation release before the 50th Anniversary Namco Museum. It's a side-scrolling shooter in which our hero can duck, jump and shoot at the bad guys with guns. It looks like an NES game and controls like it too, so most people can jump right into it. The only problem you may encounter is that this game is hard. Very hard. Even experienced gamers like myself may have trouble getting through the first level or two without continuing because of all the stuff that's trying to kill you. Luckily, Namco included an invincibility option for people who just want to play the game to see what it was like without worrying about running out of continues.

Sky Kid - Here's the other game never to see the console. This is a simple side-scrolling shooter where you take a bi-plane to the skies, shoot enemies in your way, pick up a bomb en route to the primary target, bomb it, and land safely back at base. Simple as this one is, it's still fun thanks to that up-beat music.

Mappy - Mappy the mouse needs to get back all the stolen items that Goro and the Mewkies (the cats) have taken by going through doors and bouncing up trampolines to different levels of the house. This one is most similar to Elevator Action, but it's harder in that Mappy doesn't have any weapons. He can only slam doors shut on incoming enemies.

Pac-Mania - Isometric 3D Pac-Man! The board is still arranged in a lego maze-like configuration, but it's in a three-quarters overhead view. There are more ghosts on the lookout, but Pac-Man can jump over them if he's surrounded. It doesn't beat the original, but it's still nice to play a different version of the game.

Galaga '88 - The update to Galaga for 1988 featured better backgrounds, sound effects and music, more things on screen to shoot, and different types of enemies. A lot of people will cry foul anytime they see a version of Galaga that's different than the Galaga, but hey, it doesn't hurt to tweak the formula a bit as long as the original is still there, right?

For all these games, things like graphics and sound effects are translated perfectly on to the GameCube. An option for screen size exists in the options menu for each game if someone is too big or small for your liking. Even for games that are twenty years old, some of them don't look half-bad. Graphics aren't the important thing in these kinds of games anymore, and the only thing that is crucial is they are still fun to play. And they are.

The biggest problem with this compilation is what it doesn't have. Unlike Midway Arcade Treasures, the Namco Museum discs have never included bonus materials or other extras. The 50th Anniversary edition is no different, unfortunately. Would it be so hard to include material showing off Puck-Man, Pac-Man's original name? Or maybe the music video of Pac-Man Fever? Anything would have been better than nothing in this regard, but at least the high number of games and cool menu compensate for it somewhat.

Even though game is lacking on extra stuff, Namco Museum 50th Anniversary is still Namco's best compilation package ever. With sixteen classic games, a virtual arcade complete with cabinets, and a rockin' 80s soundtrack, this GameCube disc should be in everyone's collection, especially for those who remember the 80s. Pick this baby up for $20 at your local games emporium right now.