Back in March when I was at ASI I asked the guys at Namco about the possibility of bringing PacManCE or something like it to the arcade scene they said that they recently had been kicking the idea around but since then we haven’t heard anything about it. Today at the Microsoft e3 press conference it was revealed that the first “true” sequel to Galaga will be coming to XBLA soon (next month sometime) and it fits the same vein that PacMan CE did. So when I heard that I immediately wondered if Namco’s arcade division is still considering the idea of PacManCE in arcades but will combine it with the new Galaga game, much like the recent PacMan/Galaga combo units that were released not long ago. I will have to contact Namco and see if I can get any sort of response on this so I can stop speculating.
BTW- as far as Galaga not having a true sequel, I guess the four other games that came after it didn’t count somehow, such as GaPlus(which also was called Galaga 3), Galaga ’88, Galaxian 3 and Attack of the Zolgear? I’m just not sure how those aren’t considered sequels, especially where Galaga is essentially Galaxian 2, hence the Galaga 3 game. I guess it doesn’t matter really, I just thought I’d set the record straight since I’m already seeing reports repeating the line that it’s the “first true sequel” which must depend on what the meaning of “true” is.
I highly doubt any arcade version of Galaga Legoins, as the controls use two analog sticks, with no support for digital pad. Why they do this to arcade classics I don’t know. 🙁
PacMan CE only uses one stick, I’m not sure about the new Galaga game but if they made the effort to put it into an arcade cabinet I’m sure that it wouldn’t be too difficult to change the code. The question is whether or not Namco will try it – while this is a mostly speculative post, they were interested in putting Pac Man CE into the arcade when I talked to them in March. I’m not sure if the idea died or if they heard about Legions and decided to wait.
I think what they are thinking is that every ‘sequel’ after galaga had game play innovations that you would have to get rid of to make the next one a real direct sequel. like your ship being able to move around the play field instead of left to right only. added characters from gaplus and on that wern’t in galaga.. in truth everything feels like a gaplus sequel.