Sponsored Feature: Namco Arcade Golf

By now, you'll have seen our review of Namco Arcade Golf. It's a rather fine mixture of mini-golf and classic arcade games Galaxian, DigDug and Pac-Man and a great new spin on the mini-golf genre. We talked to Namco to find out how the game came together, and how it might evolve in the future.

"The development started in autumn last year," says Head of Game Development, Kaarlo Kananen. "Before that, we'd been thinking about creating a golf game for some time, but we felt a normal one wouldn't be good enough. We felt we had to invent something new, and at the same time, we'd been thinking about new ways to use our IP, so we mixed those two ideas together, and came up with this."

On the surface, Namco Arcade Golf is a standard mini-golf game, which comes in 2D and 3D versions. You putt your way through a series of courses, trying to sink your ball in as few hits as possible. There are 27 holes spread across three different locations, and you can play as several different characters.

However, the game is set in an amusement arcade, complete with vintage machines, offering mini-games that boost your score.

Choosing which retro games to use wasn't hard. Namco picked according to what's popular in Europe, and whether they could feasibly fit as a mini-game (that is, not whizzy 3D games like Ridge Racer!).

"One of the things we're doing is fitting in the 'Get More Games' link within the game," says Head of Business Development, Pramesh Chauhan. "Because all three games are on sale already in Europe, we can include the feature that if they like the mini-games, click here to buy Pac-Man, DigDug or Galaxian. It's extending our IP into the minds of consumers who might not have thought about playing Galaxian or DigDug."

Another interesting thing is that the mini-games aren't just straight versions of the retro classics. They take the form of challenges – for example, achieving a set score in Galaxian, or chomping a certain number of pills in Pac-Man. "It's the first time we've created these types of mini-games based on this IP," says Kananen, while Chauhan points out that the result is a cool mash-up of old and new.

"It's the first time we've mixed contemporary and classic themes," he says. "On the one hand, you've got a full-blown mini-golf game, which on certain handsets is a full 3D experience, with really challenging courses. Yet on the other hand, when you go into the mini-games, you're going back in a timewarp!"

So what now? Does Namco plan to release more mini-golf games featuring different arcade mini-games? Or could the idea of the retro mini-games be extended into other types of game beyond golf?

"We have been thinking about this, and there are definitely some possibilities," says Kananen. "Certainly we're looking into extending these ideas further."

For more information on Namco Arcade Golf, check out the official website.