The Best Namco Games List
Ranked By
2.4K votes
183 voters
Ranked by
- 1May 22 1980Pac-Man is an arcade game developed by Namco and first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. It was licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway and released in October 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture. Upon its release, the game—and, subsequently, Pac-Man derivatives—became a social phenomenon that sold a large amount of merchandise and also inspired, among other things, an animated television series and a top-ten hit single. When Pac-Man was released, the most popular arcade video games were space shooters, in particular Space Invaders and Asteroids. The most visible minority were sports games that were mostly derivatives of Pong. Pac-Man succeeded by creating a new genre and appealing to both genders. Pac-Man is often credited with being a landmark in video game history, and is among the most famous arcade games of all time. It is also one of the highest-grossing video games of all time, having generated more than $2.5 billion in quarters by the 1990s.More Pac-Man
- 21998SoulCalibur is a weapon-based 3D fighting game developed by Project Soul and produced by Namco. It is the second game in the Soul series, preceded by Soul Edge. Originally released in arcades in 1998, it ran on the Namco System 12 hardware. In 1999 it was ported to the Dreamcast with improved graphics and new features. The North American version was released in September 1999 as a launch title for the Dreamcast and was part of the successful launch of the new console. It became available as a downloadable title on Xbox 360's Xbox Live Marketplace in 2008. Developed closely with Namco's Tekken development team, it is one of few home console ports that outdid their arcade parent graphics-wise. The title brought many innovations to the fighting game genre that include a heavy emphasis on weapons and a unique eight-way movement system. Soulcalibur is widely regarded as one of the best Dreamcast titles and is one of the most critically acclaimed fighting games of all time.
- 31981Galaga is a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a spacecraft which is situated at the bottom of the screen. At the beginning of each stage, the area is empty, but over time, enemy aliens will arrive in formation, and once all of the enemies arrive on screen, they will come down at the player's ship in formations of one or more and may either shoot it or collide with it. During the entire stage, the player may fire upon the enemies, and once all enemies are vanquished, the player will proceed to the next stage. Galaga is one of the most successful games from the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games. The arcade version of it has been ported to many consoles, and it has had several sequels.More Galaga
- #37 of 224 onThe Best Classic Video Games, Ranked
- #374 of 842 onThe 100+ Best Video Games Of All Time, Ranked By Fans
- #1 of 108 onThe Best Classic Arcade Games
- 41997Tekken 3 is the third installment in the popular Tekken fighting game series. It was released for Arcades in March 1997, and for the PlayStation in March - September 1998. The original Arcade version of the game was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 as part of Tekken 5 's Arcade History mode. Tekken 3 is still widely considered one of the greatest games of its genre, and of all time. With more than 8.5 million copies sold worldwide, Tekken 3 is the fifth best-selling Playstation game of all time. It was the first game released on Namco System 12 hardware. It was also the last installment of the series for the PlayStation. A non-canon sequel was released in 1999 and 2000 in arcades and PlayStation 2 respectively, titled Tekken Tag Tournament, followed by the canon sequel, Tekken 4, in arcades and PlayStation 2 in 2001 and 2002, respectively.More Tekken 3
- #101 of 224 onThe Best Classic Video Games, Ranked
- #136 of 842 onThe 100+ Best Video Games Of All Time, Ranked By Fans
- #77 of 108 onThe Best Classic Arcade Games
- 5Jul 05 2002Soulcalibur II is a 2002 video game developed by Project Soul and published by Namco and the third installment in the Soul series of weapon-based fighting games. It was originally released for the arcades, before being ported to the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in 2003. The game's plot revolves around an assortment of characters, each with the goal of either destroying Soul Edge or obtaining it to achieve personal goals. Compared to Soulcalibur, Soulcalibur II had improvements in graphics and the game system and introduced several new and guest characters. The game was a major critical and commercial success. Its high-definition port, titled Soulcalibur II HD Online, was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013.More Soulcalibur II
- #15 of 549 onList of All GameCube Games
- #188 of 842 onThe 100+ Best Video Games Of All Time, Ranked By Fans
- #5 of 114 onThe Greatest Fighting Games Ever Made
- 6Nov 29 1999Namco Museum refers to the series of video game compilations released by Namco for various consoles released in the 5th generation and above, containing releases of their games from the 1980s and early 1990s. Namco started releasing compilations with the "Namco Museum" title in 1995 and continued for a decade and a half with the last release being in 2010 with the exception of re-releases of previous compilations. The series began on the PlayStation with the tentatively named Namco Museum Volume 1, indicating Namco's intent to make further installments of the series. The series ran until Volume 5 on the PlayStation, covering various games from the late 1980s, before moving onto the Nintendo 64, all of the major sixth generation and seventh generation consoles, and Windows PC.
