Pac-Man World

Pac-Man World "20 Years of Pac-Man!" ("44 years of Pac-Man for the modern days") Genre(s): Adventure Platform(s): PlayStation Microsoft Windows Game Boy Advance Re-PAC: Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Xbox One Xbox Series X/S Nintendo Switch Release: PlayStation NA: October 12, 1999 JP: November 2, 1999 EU: February 28, 2000 Microsoft Windows KOR: May 2001 Game Boy Advance NA: November 17, 2004 EU: November 26, 2004 Re-PAC: WW: August 26, 2022 Developer(s): Namco (Original) Now Production (Re-PAC) Publisher(s): JP/NA: Namco EU: Sony Computer Entertainment Series: Pac-Man Successor: Pac-Man World 2

Pac-Man World (Officially called Pac-Man World 20th Anniversary) is a 2.5D platformer by Namco released in 1999 for the PlayStation, this game was made to celebrate Pac-Man's 20th Anniversary, and in fact, the game takes place during his 20th birthday.

A Windows port was released in May 2001 only in South Korea. Not too much is known about this version, but it's believed to be a pre-packaged PS1 emulator that comes with the game.

A remake of this game, titled Pac-Man World Re-PAC, was released on August 26, 2022 for the Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows via Steam.

Plot

Pac-Man arrives home on the day of his 20th birthday. He opens the door to his house only to find it is deserted and in ruins. Toc-Man's henchmen, the Ghosts, have kidnapped Pac-Man's family & friends, Ms. Pac-Man, Jr. Pac, Baby Pac, Professor Pac, Pooka, and Chomp-Chomp. Pac-Man must venture to Toc-Man's lair on Ghost Island to rescue his friends.

Why It's a World

1. This was Pac-Man's first 3D platforming adventure, which introduces new mechanics to make Pac-Man into a platforming game while still feeling like a Pac-Man game. These include two moves specifically:
   • Butt Bounce - Pac-Man bounces like a ball and can defeat some enemies. This move is also needed to hit switches.
   • Rev Roll - Pac-Man can charge up to perform a quick, fast roll. This move is necessary to move certain platforms and open gates.
   • Pellet Shoot - Pac-Man can throw one of the Pac-Dots he has collected at oncoming enemies to defeat them. If held down for a few seconds, a Super Pellet Shoot will be performed, which deals more damage, but uses 10 Pac-Dots.
2. The graphics are vibrant and colorful with an artstyle that perfectly resembles the art that was made for the arcade cabinets of the Pac-Man games.
3. There are six worlds each varying in themes, featuring pirate ships, factories, a circus, graveyards, mines, and outer space.
4. Akin to previous Pac-Man games, you can find fruit which mainly is used for achieving a high score, but certain fruits can open Fruit doors, which can hold letters and lives.
5. There is also a Galaxian Flagship in them that teleports the player to Mazes, which play similarly to the original Pac-Man. They can later be accessed again in the Mazes mode. There are a total of 36 mazes in the game.
6. Alongside are letters that spell out "PACMAN". Collecting all of these letters in a level will unlock a secret bonus stage to give you more points.
7. While the points system at the end of each level seems pointless, every 10,000 points rewards players an extra life.
8. Many references to other Namco games, like a Pooka from Dig Dug appearing as a friend of Pac-Man's, and King Galaxian, named after the Namco game Galaxian who is a boss.
9. Funky soundtrack.
10. There are three different modes to choose from:
    • Quest Mode: The main game.
    • Maze Mode: A collection of mazes, resembling that of the original Pac-Man game; the player runs around collecting Pac-Dots while avoiding the ghosts, and must collect every dot to finish the level. They contain several obstacles and twists not found in previous Pac-Man games. This mode begins with three already provided mazes for each stage; to unlock the other 18 mazes, the player must collect every Galaxian in Quest Mode.
    • Classic Mode: Nothing more than a faithful port of the original Pac-Man.
11. A decent story that has Pac-Man rescuing his family and friends after being kidnapped by Toc-Man (a robotic Pac-Man) and his henchmen, the Ghosts.
    • Additionally, Re-Pac fixed the plot-hole of the intro with the 4 ghosts, Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde, realizing the other members of the Pac-Family are the "real" Pac-Man.
12. Decent FMV cutscenes that show a lot of funny antics happening during the opening cutscene, and most of them show the story through context in a smart way that's charming but clever at the same time, and the CGI animation is pretty good for late 90s standards especially considering that this game was released at a time where CGI wasn't as common nor finalized as it is now.
13. Smooth and crispy controls for Pac-Man's first 3D adventure, as while they might not be refined as later games, they still are rather easy to get ahold of and Pac-Man has solid enough movement and physical flow that it doesn't make the game a chore to play and is easy for the player to master as a whole.
14. Got a remaster called Pac-Man World: Re-Pac which has updated graphics and made some new changes including a hover jump ability, the metal dot respawning, a new song We are PAC-MAN, Toc-Man Getting a Lot of Screen Time in Every Boss Intros.
    • Speaking of changes, Anubis Rex in the remastered version has become a massive improvement over the originals.
15. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" (Original version only)

Bad Qualities

1. The Anubis Rex's boss fight is poorly designed and unfair. In the First Phase you have to run away from a Mummy or Else you'll get hit While the Spears keep Popping out of random area. In the Second Phase You have to activate 4 rev plates to reveal his heart which that a boring way to kill him, which you then rev roll into. There are four stages, each with Anubis launching something new at you each time. This is difficult primarily because you have to dodge tornados, fireballs, and a laser attack (which is damn near unavoidable) all at the same time.
2. Some of the Maze mini-games use obstacles that require you to stop and wait while the ghosts are still chasing you.
3. Toc-Man, The Main Antagonist of this Game gets Nearly any Screen Time in This Game, Like he only appeared in the second, third, and fourth FMV Cutscene, Game Over Screen, his Boss Fight. But his Screen Time were Fixed in Re-Pac.
4. The GBA port of the game is a terrible port.
5. The rainbow key can open every cage of the kidnapped Pac-Man relatives, but you had to collect 1,000,000 (1 million) points to get it and when you finally got it, you will have all of the content unlocked in the game, which makes it pretty useless.
6. The only thing that unlocks when marathoning Maze mode is that a hidden art gallery unlocks, which contains concept art from the game, which is kind of a disappointing reward.
7. The NOOOOOOO! scene in the remaster doesn't feel as tragic as in the original.
8. The game is pretty easy since it doesn't offer much a challenge since every enemy is easily defeated with a butt bounce (except the Ghosts Including Inky, Blinky, Clyde, and Pinky and Spike Mummies) with the only exception being the boss: Anubis Rex. This also makes the lives system pointless.
9. Plot Hole: It is never explained how Funky kidnaps the Pac-Family just because he wanted them to enter the Ghost Island. It was fixed in Re-Pac, where Inky, Blinky, Clyde, and Pinky kidnap the Pac-Family because they think that they are the real Pac-Man.
10. Pac-Man's model in the Windows port box art looks weird, since his mouth is open all the time, and his tongue is a simple red elipse.
    • And talking about this port, it hasn't been dumped/preseved yet, so this port remains lost media.
11. Thanks to AtGames's lawsuit, Ms. Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, and Baby Pac-Man are replaced by Pac-Mom, Pac-Boy, and Pac-Sis starting in Pac-Man Museum+ and used in Re-Pac due to licensing issues.

Trivia

• It was supposed to have another characters from other Namco games like Dig Dug, Valkyrie, Xandra, and Mappy, but the idea was scrapped at the last moment. Resulting in Dig Dug, Valkyrie, Xandra, and Mappy being replaced by Chomp-Chomp, Baby Pac-Man, Pooka, and Jr. Pac-Man in the final game.

Reception

Pac-Man World was well-received by critics for its gameplay, soundtrack, graphics and originality, holding an 80% score on aggregator website GameRankings.

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