Why would you make a compilation of your arcade games, put an arrangement of one of your beloved classics on it, and then not put the original on it too? I don't know, but that's what Namco did with Namco Museum Remix. They made up for it in Megamix by adding both RallyX and New RallyX, thankfully.

While this game classifies itself as a remake of RallyX, just like any other RallyX remake, it's more based on New RallyX. The core gameplay is mostly the same, minus the fact that you're controlling the Pac 'n Roll PacMan model inside a tiny little car and the perspective is slightly different (behind you as opposed to overhead). Just like New RallyX Arrangement, which I recently covered, stages can require more than just collecting all the flags. Sometimes you'll have to spin out red cars with a smokescreen first to steal flags from them, and other times you have to collect the flags in a numerical order. That last one's a really cool concept for RallyX, I don't know why it wasn't thought of sooner.

The basic gameplay items are mostly the same. You've got regular flags, Special Flags which add a multiplier to your score, and Lucky Flags that give you bonus points for how much fuel you have left. You have a small minimap to help you track the flags and red cars, just like in the original game, but this time, the map adds special designation for the Lucky Flags. In addition, this game does provide powerups: A cherry powerup that temporarily keeps your fuel from depleting, a shield that grants PacMan one hit of invulnerability, and a weird icon that apparently makes it so red cars don't notice PacMan when he's within proximity of them (I swear, I thought that was invincibility... why else would he be flashing like that?!). You also have your regular smokescreen, but in this game, you have a limited number of uses instead of it being tied to fuel. You also have a nitro mode that wastes fuel whenever used (unless you have the cherry powerup), and the ability to stop PacMan in place (which I never use).

I wouldn't quite consider this game as difficult as New RallyX Arrangement from Battle Collection, but it's still not a game you can easily BS your way through. Up to three red cars can be in a stage at any given time, and their AI isn't super easy to fool. You are provided temporary invincibility from them when they're spinning out from a smokescreen, but even that's finicky to utilize. In the later stages, they actually surpass the speed of your car. For some reason, turning around 180 degrees in this game is much more awkward than in the arcade games. There are also a number of stage obstacles, including purple spiked floors that can make you drop flags you've already picked up. Um... okay. Luckily, this game does replenish your life count after every stage.

Once you complete all the regular stages, you unlock "Red Mode" in each world. Red Mode allows you to play as the red car, and your goal is simply to catch PacMan before he takes all the flags. He seems to be a lot smarter than you in this mode; using his abilities often whenever you're close and even utilizing some of the powerups so that it's harder to catch him. He still does a laughably bad job, though. Since I had the stages unlocked, I could've played them at any time, but I chose to play them after finishing the main game.

Another spectacular remake of RallyX. Music's great, gameplay is mostly solid, and all that good stuff. This game does save both your highest score and best IL time for each stage, so naturally, this being my first playthrough in years I got a few new "records" here and there. This was fun to revisit after so long. I didn't really play to optimize anything; this was more for showcasing purposes than anything else.

Recorded from my Wii U using Namco Museum Megamix.