If you ignore the Ms. Pac-Man legal issues – awkward! – you can’t imagine Pac-Man Museum+ being more comprehensive. You’ll be getting the highlights and lowlights of Bandai Namco’s yellow blob across 14 titles – there are absentees, of course, like Pac-Man World from the PS1.
This includes the classic 1980 arcade game – of course! – as well as its Super Pac-Man and Pac & Pal versions, which have mixed success experimenting with the maze formula. There’s even a slot for 1992’s Tetris-inspired SNES puzzler, Pac-Attack, along with 1984’s endless runner, Pac-Land.
There are two versions of Pac-Man Arrangement for PlayStation: the arcade original and the Namco Museum Battle Collection, which was released for the PSP in 2005. Pac-Mania from 1987 is obvious, but Pac-In-Time isn’t so obvious: it’s fiddly and badly flawed, but nonetheless worthwhile. Pac-Motos is a rudimentary battle game inspired by Namco’s 1985 arcade game Motos released as part of a Nintendo Wii compilation – and Pac N Roll is a Marble Madness-style puzzle platformer.
In addition to Pac-Man Championship Edition, there’s Pac-Man 256 – a smartphone game that’s surprisingly solid and has multiplayer without microtransactions. Additionally, Pac-Man Battle Royale, a great arcade game from 2010, is included.
As you may have observed from our overview, there are highs and lows here: the original Pac-Man is still outstanding even 40 years after it took arcades by storm, but input lag makes Pac-Mania less compelling in 2022. A CRT shader and an online leaderboard are the only features of the emulation, but Bandai Namco has created an intriguing 3D wrapper that allows you to interact with arcade cabinets in 3D.
Despite a handful of games and a legal settlement, this is a fascinating overview of Pac-Man’s storied career – with plenty to chew on between the ups and downs.
Pros:
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Variety of games
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An interactive wrapper
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Solid emulation
Cons:
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Lag issues in some places
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A few low points
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Timing Pace
I give this game a 7 out of 10.
