Bandai Namco Debuts Pac-Man's Pixel Bash At Bowl Expo '18

If you’ve been around the arcade business for the past couple of decades, then you likely are familiar with Bandai Namco’s re-issues of select classic arcade games in a proper arcade cabinet format. These have included the “Class Of ’81“, Pac-Man 25th Anniversary, and most recently, Pac-Man’s Arcade Party. The latter was the most complete release, featuring 12 or 13 classics (Ms. Pac-Man could not be included on the coin-op commercial versions for legal reasons) but many were disappointed in the lack of additions to that package, especially where the likes of Arcade Legends 3 offers up to 135 games.

Enter in Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash, the latest classic compilation release by Bandai Namco Amusements. While it doesn’t correspond to a five-year anniversary, it does address the number of games issue, offering the most Namco classics inside of a cabinet release seen to date. The classics that are gracing this model number at 31 and include many classics that I never thought I’d see officially recognized again as there are some obscurities:

Baraduke
Bosconian
Dig Dug
Dig Dug II
DragonBuster
Dragon Spirit
Galaga
Galaga ’88
Galaxian
Gaplus
Grobda
Hopping Mappy
King And Balloon
Mappy
Metro-Cross
MotoS
New Rally-X
Pac-Man
Pac-Man Plus
Pac & Pal
Pacmania
Rally-X
Rolling Thunder
Rompers
Sky Kid
Sky Kid Deluxe
Splatterhouse
Super Pac-Man
Super Xevious
Tower Of Druaga
Xevious

All of these are Namco titles so with Namco being the manufacturer, there is no need to worry about legalities and licensing. So far Namco has only unveiled this coin-op model; I would not be surprised if there is a non-coin model that comes along with Ms. Pac-Man.

Pac-Man’s Pixel Bash will be at the International Bowl Expo in Las Vegas that starts tomorrow. I will be there to check it out and provide more info!

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8 comments

Dustin Wilcox June 19, 2018 at 7:16 pm

Oh, this is SO cool. They have SO many classics on here! Even Splatterhouse! What? That’s crazy. I’m so glad Namco is doing this. Other developers should totally release compilations, as well.

Da Flex June 20, 2018 at 6:28 am

This is an excellent release. I like a lot of those games, especially Dig Dug. A repair-friendly retro solution.

Voltz June 22, 2018 at 12:13 am

Yup. I saw the video and it looks like they’re just cramming it thru an lcd monitor with s***y upscaling.

Look at my comment on the ossc and research that thing a little. It might be something that could help change the coin-op industry a little if people get a clue enough to copy/use that. : )

SDiego Arcade June 22, 2018 at 9:38 am

I’m pretty excited about this. I run a few arcade and Barcade locations. Right now I have 3 locations with Pac-Mans Arcade Party cabinets in them. The true classics are starting to get harder and harder to find in good condition and lets face it, most of the electronics inside them are pushing 40 years old at this point. These things were never designed to last this long.

This did get me to thinking though, why is Namco still the only one doing this? I know most of the other heyday greats have folded, but there are still a few around.

Sega for instance. They are still hot and heavy in the arcade market. They have a pretty solid stable of classics to their name. They could easily put one of these together and they would surely sell. Especially with the ever growing Barcade industry that so lends itself to classic games by the age demographic it draws.

If I really want to dream, Sega does have a decent relationship with Nintendo for arcade stuff right now (Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games) Why not partner with Nintendo again for a Nintendo classic cabinet?

The Barcade market is screaming for more stuff like this!

arcadehero June 23, 2018 at 8:07 pm

I’ve wondered the same thing, specifically about Sega. Their 80s library in particular could make for a compelling joystick unit like this (or even a classic multi-game racer – might as well play to the strengths). I suppose they don’t see the money in it although back when I sold arcade machines for a living, my top sellers to homes were Pac-Man compilation games (Arcade Party but also the Class of ’81), Arcade Legends 2 or 3, Golden Tee and Big Buck. Especially when Christmas time rolled around, selling anything Pac-Man was a breeze.

I would occasionally get someone asking where the games were for other companies but Namco makes the only licensed title that is allowed for coin-op. Arcade Legends 3 hasn’t allowed it but that would bring Atari, Taito, Data East, some Capcom and some Midway to the table. Where Raw Thrills has shown their aptitude for licensing, I would imagine that it wouldn’t break a sweat for something like it. But here we are and only Namco sees it as an opportunity :/

Da Flex June 22, 2018 at 1:24 pm

Maybe the “s***y upscaling” is actually a good anti-aliasing, close to the original screens. Anti-Aliasing with artificial scanlines looks very realistic on current emulators.

Voltz June 22, 2018 at 2:16 pm

This has been something I try to discuss on the forums that one advantage people aren’t seeing when it comes to non-native resolutions is the displays own filtering being able to kick in and recalibrate the games to look more akin with their crt counterparts. It still does need scanlinrs though as we did a lot of research on how it keeps the graphics looking proper as they should. Had games been 480p, then there wouldn’t be any real need for them. They’re still necessary for hiding artifacts and imperfections.

It just make me so mad that there’s still developers who don’t pay any heed to this and they’re the reason why our hobby is being ruined to begin with. Just look at all the port jobs capcom did over the years and we’re having to do all kinds of programming and mod work just to fix their $#&@!

Voltz August 30, 2019 at 12:19 am

Finally came across one of these cabinets in my area and I guess I’ll conclude the screen looks like @#$%! I knew they couldn’t care less about the actual resolution and crt aspects of these games.

Typical as to why people turn away from manufactured re-releases and follow the emu scene instead. So many of us on this side know what we’re actually doing to preserve gaming vs these companies who only see $$ signs.

Arcade Heroes