Pac-Man World (Game Boy Advance)
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Pac-Man World is a platformer originally released on the PlayStation in 1999 in which this game was exclusive to it. However, in 2004, it was ported to the GBA and the port was poorly received compared to the PS1 original version.
Why It's Not a World
- This port has cut a lot of levels; there are only 12 levels in the entire game compared to the 23 levels in the original PS1 version. Yes, the GBA has limitations, but still.
- In fact, it's so bad that it's almost ruining the port entirely. The reason is probably the limitation of the GBA, due to some levels being too much for the GBA limitation.
- The music is heavily compressed to fit the GBA sound engine, which makes it very annoying to hear. Though that depends on you, this will not be improved in the GBA port of Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, which was also released the same year as this game.
- The music in the first and second worlds in particular sounds so compressed that it might be annoying to listen to it for a while. The music of the last world and the fourth world is decent in the GBA port, but it is still very compressed.
- All of the normal boss fights are cut off, with Toc-Man (the final boss) being the only exception, probably due to the GBA limitation again. In fact, this is also the reason, along with reason #1, why this port is so short; at least it doesn't force you to fight Anubis Rex.
- Speaking of the boss battles that had been cut out, the final battle with Toc-Man was downgraded in every way possible, and it's made the boss fight very boring. You can easily dodge his projectiles, and you can throw your Pac-Dot non-stop to beat him more easily.
- And to make matters worse, if you lose a life at this boss battle, even if Toc-Man only has 1 health point left, you have to restart the entire fight all over again. This was probably made to make the game longer, but it's a fail because this port is extremely easy for the most part.
- The entire boss fight can also be beaten in only 2 minutes, making the fight even easier.
- While the graphics are impressive for the GBA, they are very dull and mediocre, with some terrible color choice in the worst case, or even worse, some enemy sprites are extremely terrible and look like they were poorly modeled when this port was developed. Even games such as Doraemon: Midori no Wakusei Dokidoki Daikyushutsu, which was released on April 27, 2001 three years before Pac-Man World on GBA, looks better than this game.
- It also don't help that Sonic Advance 3, a game released the same year, looks much better than this.
- In this port, there are no hub worlds, and it's been replaced by a generic level select screen (despite the background of it being decent with some pictures of Pac-Man). That being said, this level select screen is better than the one in the GBA port of Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness.
- All of the factory levels are removed, which makes the port even shorter than it already is, and due to that, you can't rescue Junior Pac-Man, which may imply that the port is rushed. Even if he appears in the intro, he also appears in the game ending, which makes no sense in this context.
- Unlike the original game for the PlayStation 1, you can't change the option after you save it; you are only allowed to change the volume level before you start a new game, which makes the port even worse.
- Horrible drawn distance: As in the fix orthographic perspective can make it very tedious where a platform may be in a pseudo 3D space, sometimes you might think that you get to a platform, but Pac-Man will still fall due to him not being in the correct position. This problem would have been fixed in the GBA port of Pac-Man World 2, fortunately.
- In fact, it's so bad that it's ruining the port even further and making it frustrating in some level, notably in the second world, where there's a level where you must jump on some platform, but the drawn distance is so bad that it's extremely frustrating to beat that section.
- The cutscenes are lazily animated, and it's not FMV due to the GBA limitations, which makes the cutscenes static images for the most part with some texts, and most of them are awful, not to mention that they can be laughable, such as when Ms. Pac-Man is captured.
- Even Pac-Man Pinball Advance, a game released in 2005, which also had static images, looks and is much better, despite the characters model being uncanny.
- Much like the original, the players' lives do not replenish after a game-over, but unlike the original, there are no bonus stages, no stage score bonuses, and no slot machine, making the work of getting extra lives a giant pain.
- In fact, if you get a game over, you have to play carefully to avoid losing, making the game very frustrating.
- And also in fact, extra lives are also very rare to get, and it's been made worse since, as said before, there are no bonus stages or stage score bonuses, the only way to gain extra lives is to farm them from some of the levels.
- Both Maze Mode and Classic Mode are also removed, just like the GBA port of Pac-Man World 2, except for the classic mode.
- This port can be beaten very quickly due to most levels being cut out, and you can just use the rev roll to complete it much faster. Due to that, this port can be completed in less than an hour.
- Terrible Ending: All you get for beating the game is a picture of the Pac-Man family and a text that says at what percentages you completed the game, and there's not any FMV cutscenes or outtakes if you collect the Pac-Man letters, which make them pointless to collect and are just here to padding the length of the game.
- Due to the remake released in 2022 (Pac-Man World Re-Pac) for the Nintendo Switch (which can be turned into a handheld) and the PS1 version being re-released on PSP and PS Vita, this port as of now is just pointless to play, and it is much more polished and completed than this GBA port.
Redeeming Qualities
- The port, despite being bad, is quite impressive for a GBA game, as it's trying to recreate the levels from the original PS1 version faithfully, and it's got that right.
- You can save in this port, unlike the GBA port of Pac-Man World 2.
- The game at launch doesn't got a bad price, as it's was just $19.99 which is cheap for a Pac-Man game
- It's still not as bad as other awful ports of good Pac-Man games such as the NES port of Pac-Land or the Nintendo DS port of Pac-Man World 3
Reception
The port of the first Pac-Man World was poorly received by fans compared to the PS1 original. The port also receives mixed reviews from critics, and it has a score of 59% in game ranking.
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