After several sessions of attempting to get further in this and then putting it down out of frustration over the stealth mechanics, I just have to give up. Adapts so much of the style and charm of Lupin's characters so well (the sequence that let's you play as Goemon was the highlight for me) but it's idea of challenging stealth is making you stop and salute every cop on screen every 3 seconds if you want to not immediately get sussed out. The challenge of each area becomes the fact that getting from point A to point B is always a hassle, and my strategy eventually devolved into "run through this room full of guards, hit them all with a frying pan if needed, then find an empty room to lower your suspicion level in by waiting and doing nothing." It does so much of what I wish game adaptations of anime would do, but then it's also just a bad game.

With the second volume of Namco Museum having the exact same "museum layer" presentation, I was totally ready for 3 to be the same, so it was quite a surprise to find that the presentation here has been totally revamped for the better! First of all, everything takes much less time to load, and the game isn't throwing you into a loading screen every time you want to look at a low res image of an arcade pamphlet. This makes the "exhibits" something I would actually want to stop and look at, rather than disregard it as a waste of time. I also feel like the rooms that the games are in are much more animated and ambitious, like the Galaxian room having a whole light sequence as you enter it that goes along with the music, or the Ms. Pac-Man room having the titular Ms. and her dog dancing while Pac-Man shits in the toilet. The aforementioned exhibits are also now more closely themed to the game they lead into rather than being the same format each time.

The devs could've just used the same template on all of these volumes and been just fine, but the fact they bothered to revamp it for the better is really cool, and shows a dedication to make sure these games are well presented with the treatment they deserve. In terms of the games here, it's a pretty good line-up all things considered. Ms. Pac Man and Dig Dug alone could carry any collection of classic games, but this volume takes some time to acknowledge games that, while not the most fun taken out of their historical context, are important enough that I'm glad they were put here. While Galaxian will always be seen as only the precursor to Galaga, I came to appreciate it a lot more here than in other collections, it's a decently fun take on Space Invaders, and it's interesting to see how this formula eventually evolved into Galaga and more advanced shmups in the future. The Tower of Druaga is also a very important game, especially to Japanese game history, but I still can't really get much out of it here. It's legacy has more to do with the collaborative effort that arcade-goers made to "solve" the game and it's many mysteries, so maybe someday I want to look into how to get further in it, but I think I prefer learning about it than playing it. Pole Position II is more Pole Position, and Phozon is a strange on that I still don't fully have my head around. It's a very respectable line-up, and that combined with the changes in presentation make this possibly the best entry so far, or at least neck-and-neck with 1. It also really speaks to the wide range of themes, settings, and genres that Namco was experimenting with in the arcades. 4 and 5's game lists seem to be really out there, so I'm excited to be pushed out of my comfort zone when it comes to classic Namco.

Let me also take the time to express my appreciation for something that's been in every entry but I keep forgetting to mention: I love that they let you see the way these games boot up, with an overload of sprites blasting the screen for a couple seconds. It always looks cool, and I feel like most collections would shy away from something that looks so "messy", so the fact they've left these in since the first volume is greatly appreciated. It's a tiny piece of history that they wisely preserved.

Having a better understanding of the Invaders boom in Japan, and after actually giving it a fair shake rather than just disregard it as "slow Galaga", I've come to appreciate this game more than the first time I encountered it. It's basically Space Invaders with a little more excitement, and it's fun. It has the same fun of finding the best shot timing and positioning possible, just with some layers liking dodging incoming enemies and the "escort" bonus when it comes to the enemies at the top of the swarm. Just a nice time, that's all.

Something I've never appreciated about this game before until now is how it models itself after classic cartoons. Obviously there's stuff like the way the music starts and stops with you moving, and the fact that inflating someone to death feels like something right out of Tom and Jerry or Looney Tunes. But also, when I tried hitting an enemy with a falling rock and ended up hitting myself because I was too focused on having the enemy follow me, I felt like Wile E Coyote in that moment. There are lot's of little interactions I had with the Pookas and Fygar that felt very Road Runner esque, and the setting even resembles a desert. And of course the music that plays when you clear a level sounds exactly like the kind of music that plays as an iris centers on the main character's face at the end of a cartoon. It all fairly obvious when you put it all together, but I never noticed until now. I'm always impressed with how many different genres and influences were all over the classic Namco arcade line-up.

You know, despite ALL the bullshit, the Dimps pits, the instant death traps, the drawn-out boss fights, all these things I was dreading going into this, I had a hell of a time. The stages at first are abrasive and punitive, but on a second playthrough the genius in their design and challenge is much more apparent and enjoyable. The flow state you enter is one of the most satisfying in the series, all about the balance of using boosts while also performing tricks to keep your boost meter up, all while the game is constantly checking you to make sure your not going into autopilot. The style of the game also helps this immensely, with one of Hideki Naganuma's best scores ever and the honestly impressive low-poly 3D on display throughout. And Blaze the Cat is introduced, one of the coolest characters the series has ever produced, although she sadly would never see a role this prominent ever again outside of the direct sequel to this and a bizarre, inexplicable role in Silver's campaign in Sonic 06. Nothing about this game is fully perfect, but I was so happy with how it all turned out, being much better than I could have anticipated. I even ended up enjoying the nightmarish Final Zone boss that took me 4 hours to successfully beat once. Now that I no longer fear the name Dimps, I think I'll give more handheld Sonic games a try, I definitely need to check out the Advance series at some point.

"Okay, we got a nice collection of 8 mini games, all decently substantial and with the fun presentation of all talking place on this one neighborhood street where each is hosted by a different kid. Now what should we do for a story mode?"

"You have 18 days. You must display maximum efficiency if you have any hope of completing story mode. If you don't finish every single task by the end date you will be sent back to the first day and do it all over again. Summer is fleeting, childhood ends as soon as it begins, but regret lasts a lifetime."

"I like it!"