Pretty good Pac-Man collection if you ask me, and the selection of games isn't bad either. There are many bangers one can really get a fun time out of, like Pac-Mania, Arrangement and my guilty pleasure, Pac-Man 256.
There are some other games to which this collection also helps to come out of obscurity a little bit such as Pac-Land or Pac & Pal, both very interesting takes on the original formula IMO, and Pac-Land, which I love for its uniqueness compared to the rest of games in the collection.
Oh and yeah, Pac In Time can suck it LOL
In technical terms of the games themselves, it's really lackluster overall. No video modes (beyond a CRT filter), DIP switches, button mapping or even save states for games that really need them (i.e OG Pac-Man). Most of the achievements are pretty fine too, although there are some instances which are either too challenging or require a lot of grinding, making it annoying at times. Also, the emulation sometimes can take a dive in FPS, so it's not too good either.
Now, I quite liked the game's presentation. I love the concept of the game giving you the chance to customize your own arcade with guest characters appearing over time, that's a nice detail.
I'm not getting everything for the moment because normally I play Pac-Man for the nobility's sake. I recommend it still, but it could have been so much better...
There are some other games to which this collection also helps to come out of obscurity a little bit such as Pac-Land or Pac & Pal, both very interesting takes on the original formula IMO, and Pac-Land, which I love for its uniqueness compared to the rest of games in the collection.
Oh and yeah, Pac In Time can suck it LOL
In technical terms of the games themselves, it's really lackluster overall. No video modes (beyond a CRT filter), DIP switches, button mapping or even save states for games that really need them (i.e OG Pac-Man). Most of the achievements are pretty fine too, although there are some instances which are either too challenging or require a lot of grinding, making it annoying at times. Also, the emulation sometimes can take a dive in FPS, so it's not too good either.
Now, I quite liked the game's presentation. I love the concept of the game giving you the chance to customize your own arcade with guest characters appearing over time, that's a nice detail.
I'm not getting everything for the moment because normally I play Pac-Man for the nobility's sake. I recommend it still, but it could have been so much better...
POP YOUR PAC-PUSSY IN THE MUSEUM+!!!!!!!!
Well this is surprising. This game suddenly came out on Steam a day earlier than the expected release date. This might have to do with releasing in Japan's time, but whatever.
The game itself is just another collection of Pac-Man titles ranging from the original up to the PSP era. But what makes this one unique from other collections is that the "museum" is a virtual arcade which can be customized by the player. While I really do like this idea, it really wasn't executed the best.
The game itself runs off one type of in-game currency, which is used to play the arcade titles and purchase stuff for the arcade. And while you do start with a lot, It feels kind of unnecessary since everything is rather cheap. And there's not much stuff to buy anyways, aside from gambling your life away on a gacha machine that's just kinda there. Most of the content is only obtainable through playing the games and completing challenges anyways, But I feel like the currency shouldn't be required for playing the games and only for the unlockables. Speaking of the games...
I really like the selection. Not only do you get the obvious classics, but some newer titles from the Wii and PSP era are now included, including games from Namco Museum Remix. Lesser-known titles are also included such as Pac & Pal and even Pac-In-Time. And the Arcade Pac-Man Arrangement finally gets a re-release after a very long time. It's a really good set of titles. But a lot of it is nearly ruined by several other factors.
The emulation for most of these games are NOT GOOD. While the games perform perfectly fine, all the arcade games have no integer pixel scaling, and some have an ugly filter. This results in tons of shimmering and/or a blurry picture depending on the game. The sound emulation is not so good either. Most sound effects and some music sound rather off, even in the original 1980 classic. However the more modern titles and console games seem to have much better visual and audible emulation, albeit with the near lack of any upscaled textures. Hell it gets downright lazy too. The original Championship Edition is just stretched to fit on the screen and Pac-In-Time is in Japanese in all regions and subtitles are just thrown in there. And if you're playing on a controller, there is very noticeable input lag.
I should mention that ALL references to Ms. Pac-Man are completely eradicated. All the way to the point where any game featuring her is either removed or redesigned to "Pac-Mom." The reasons for why this is are best explained elsewhere.
But even worse, not only do the arcade titles lack good audio and visuals, there are almost no visual settings whatsoever and a complete absense in DIP switch settings. This is inexcusable. And even though they're just simple maze games, being able to make the game easier/harder would be much appreciated for the more casual or hardcore audience respectively.
And not only that, half the games need to be unlocked. And to unlock one, you have to play through a specific game completely until you get a game over. Twice. So unless you're intentionally getting game overs to speed things up, some games like Pac-In-Time will takes tons of "time" in order to unlock the next game.
After all of this, I'd be safe to say that Pac-Man Museum+ was likely rushed to release. But do I recommend this game? If you're only here to play the games and just have fun, I'd say go for it. But if you're somebody who really cares about the quality of the games. Hell no. But hey, at least this is a big improvement from what was given back in 2014.
The game itself is just another collection of Pac-Man titles ranging from the original up to the PSP era. But what makes this one unique from other collections is that the "museum" is a virtual arcade which can be customized by the player. While I really do like this idea, it really wasn't executed the best.
The game itself runs off one type of in-game currency, which is used to play the arcade titles and purchase stuff for the arcade. And while you do start with a lot, It feels kind of unnecessary since everything is rather cheap. And there's not much stuff to buy anyways, aside from gambling your life away on a gacha machine that's just kinda there. Most of the content is only obtainable through playing the games and completing challenges anyways, But I feel like the currency shouldn't be required for playing the games and only for the unlockables. Speaking of the games...
I really like the selection. Not only do you get the obvious classics, but some newer titles from the Wii and PSP era are now included, including games from Namco Museum Remix. Lesser-known titles are also included such as Pac & Pal and even Pac-In-Time. And the Arcade Pac-Man Arrangement finally gets a re-release after a very long time. It's a really good set of titles. But a lot of it is nearly ruined by several other factors.
The emulation for most of these games are NOT GOOD. While the games perform perfectly fine, all the arcade games have no integer pixel scaling, and some have an ugly filter. This results in tons of shimmering and/or a blurry picture depending on the game. The sound emulation is not so good either. Most sound effects and some music sound rather off, even in the original 1980 classic. However the more modern titles and console games seem to have much better visual and audible emulation, albeit with the near lack of any upscaled textures. Hell it gets downright lazy too. The original Championship Edition is just stretched to fit on the screen and Pac-In-Time is in Japanese in all regions and subtitles are just thrown in there. And if you're playing on a controller, there is very noticeable input lag.
I should mention that ALL references to Ms. Pac-Man are completely eradicated. All the way to the point where any game featuring her is either removed or redesigned to "Pac-Mom." The reasons for why this is are best explained elsewhere.
But even worse, not only do the arcade titles lack good audio and visuals, there are almost no visual settings whatsoever and a complete absense in DIP switch settings. This is inexcusable. And even though they're just simple maze games, being able to make the game easier/harder would be much appreciated for the more casual or hardcore audience respectively.
And not only that, half the games need to be unlocked. And to unlock one, you have to play through a specific game completely until you get a game over. Twice. So unless you're intentionally getting game overs to speed things up, some games like Pac-In-Time will takes tons of "time" in order to unlock the next game.
After all of this, I'd be safe to say that Pac-Man Museum+ was likely rushed to release. But do I recommend this game? If you're only here to play the games and just have fun, I'd say go for it. But if you're somebody who really cares about the quality of the games. Hell no. But hey, at least this is a big improvement from what was given back in 2014.
Overall, this is a pretty decent set of games. It's great to have a reasonable way to play Championship Edition, Arrangement rules, and Pac-n-Roll Remix and Pac Motos are neat inclusions that I'm glad aren't stuck on the Wii forever. There are some choices about the games in this collection that I'm not so sure of, but I'll get to them later. The main complaint I have is about the presentation. Pac-Man Museum takes place in an arcade (which isn't a museum, so already failed the test) that you can customize. You unlock furniture by playing games and more characters will show up if you play more. This is mostly harmless, except there was very little thought put into any of it. The space you have is kind of small, so you can't make anything too elaborate without running out of space. You can't customize the furniture, and also you can't remove any of the cabinets, in case you were thinking of trying to just get rid of Pac and Pal. The characters that come in just kind of wander around without you being able to interact with them. I doubt anyone would find this part of the game anywhere close to something like decorating in Animal Crossing.
Every machine in the Arcade, except for one which houses all of the console games, uses coins. You start with 500 coins and earn more by playing the games. At first, you hear "each play of a game costs some of this in-game currency" and shudder, but the money never actually becomes an issue. The only way you can end up not having enough to play the machines that require money is if you just dump credits into a game or you spend it all at the gacha machine for more furniture. Money in this game is so inconsequential I'm assuming it's only here for the gacha machine because there should be no world where you could possibly not be able to play Pac-Man in Pac-Man Museum. It just feels pointless, along with everything else about this arcade. There's also a mechanic where some games need to be played twice in order to unlock other ones, which is very dumb, and even though I'm about 13 or 14 levels into Pac-in-Time, the game still hasn't registered me as having played it, so after days of owning this game, I still can't play Pac-Attack (not that I'm dying to play Pac-Attack). I guess I have to end my current playthrough of the game for it to count as a play, but then WHY would you ask me to play Pac-in-Time twice then, a game that is not played the same way the other arcade Pac-Man games in this collection are?
For a game called "Museum", there also isn't much in the way of archival content or extras. Most games do have some good art in their borders, but no concept art or stories about development, no scans of manuals or art collections, I think that kind of stuff should be standard given how many of these collections are coming out these days and carry this kind of content.
Lastly, I do have some gripes about some of the choices of games here. There's a reason why Ms. Pac-Man isn't on here, but its absence is still a bummer. Surely Namco can work SOMETHING out with the people who own the rights to that. The console version of Pac-Man 256 is also here and has always been strange to me. I can't imagine engaging with that game outside of playing it on your phone when you're bored, and its inclusion here feels more like trying to add more "value" to the collection than anything else. Championship Edition DX would've fit in so much better. Pac-in-Time and Pac-Attack are here, but no Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures? If the reason they didn't put that here is that they think it's bad, then why do Pac and Pal and Pac-Attack get a pass for being bad? And hey, why not try and figure out how to make Baby Pac-Man work as a console game, that would be a fun exercise.
If you have any affinity for Pac-Man, I would say this collection is worth getting. It has lots of great games, some of which are not easy to come by or even emulate, and having them immediately accessible on Switch made the collection worth it. I just wish there was more thought put into the presentation and arcade environment, and more effort into making this the "definitive" collection of Pac-Man games, which it, unfortunately, isn't.
EDIT: After playing this collection on and off for the past couple months, mostly for Championship Edition, I feel like I need to bring up the input lag. Maybe the Switch version just has it worse than other versions, but it’s become very noticeable, especially when I compare it to how CE DX feels on PC. As I’ve gotten better at the game it’s gotten more unbearable, so im knocking off a star for this collection. Still has its good points but im not convinced it’s worth a purchase really.
Every machine in the Arcade, except for one which houses all of the console games, uses coins. You start with 500 coins and earn more by playing the games. At first, you hear "each play of a game costs some of this in-game currency" and shudder, but the money never actually becomes an issue. The only way you can end up not having enough to play the machines that require money is if you just dump credits into a game or you spend it all at the gacha machine for more furniture. Money in this game is so inconsequential I'm assuming it's only here for the gacha machine because there should be no world where you could possibly not be able to play Pac-Man in Pac-Man Museum. It just feels pointless, along with everything else about this arcade. There's also a mechanic where some games need to be played twice in order to unlock other ones, which is very dumb, and even though I'm about 13 or 14 levels into Pac-in-Time, the game still hasn't registered me as having played it, so after days of owning this game, I still can't play Pac-Attack (not that I'm dying to play Pac-Attack). I guess I have to end my current playthrough of the game for it to count as a play, but then WHY would you ask me to play Pac-in-Time twice then, a game that is not played the same way the other arcade Pac-Man games in this collection are?
For a game called "Museum", there also isn't much in the way of archival content or extras. Most games do have some good art in their borders, but no concept art or stories about development, no scans of manuals or art collections, I think that kind of stuff should be standard given how many of these collections are coming out these days and carry this kind of content.
Lastly, I do have some gripes about some of the choices of games here. There's a reason why Ms. Pac-Man isn't on here, but its absence is still a bummer. Surely Namco can work SOMETHING out with the people who own the rights to that. The console version of Pac-Man 256 is also here and has always been strange to me. I can't imagine engaging with that game outside of playing it on your phone when you're bored, and its inclusion here feels more like trying to add more "value" to the collection than anything else. Championship Edition DX would've fit in so much better. Pac-in-Time and Pac-Attack are here, but no Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures? If the reason they didn't put that here is that they think it's bad, then why do Pac and Pal and Pac-Attack get a pass for being bad? And hey, why not try and figure out how to make Baby Pac-Man work as a console game, that would be a fun exercise.
If you have any affinity for Pac-Man, I would say this collection is worth getting. It has lots of great games, some of which are not easy to come by or even emulate, and having them immediately accessible on Switch made the collection worth it. I just wish there was more thought put into the presentation and arcade environment, and more effort into making this the "definitive" collection of Pac-Man games, which it, unfortunately, isn't.
EDIT: After playing this collection on and off for the past couple months, mostly for Championship Edition, I feel like I need to bring up the input lag. Maybe the Switch version just has it worse than other versions, but it’s become very noticeable, especially when I compare it to how CE DX feels on PC. As I’ve gotten better at the game it’s gotten more unbearable, so im knocking off a star for this collection. Still has its good points but im not convinced it’s worth a purchase really.
Psychological experiment by Namco to see how many times the human mind can be exposed to the Pac-Man theme in one hour before going completely insane. Very disturbing!
An ideal game for Game Pass - the sort of light-touch curio that would make you resent Pac-Man forever if you paid full price for it, but is very enjoyable as a noncommittal "free" offering that you can dip in and out of while playing your big meaty 4K HDR games and say stuff like "Pac-Attack fucking sucks!", "Can I unlock Baby Pac-Man?" and "Man, video games sure have come a long way since Pac-Man!"
The decision to host this smorgasbord of slice-stolen pizzas in an customisable iso-hub reminded me of the multi-storey Nintendo museum I built in Animal Crossing for the GameCube back in the day, which is nice, though I don't understand why a bunch of crummy original Pac-Man variants get their own cabinets and like, a dozen really good console and mobile games are all crammed into one games machine in the corner. Sad! Like Kirby and the Forgotten Game, there's a sort of deep sadness that comes from installing a virtual gatchapon machine in your virtual arcade, feeding it virtual coins that you got by playing a terrible 1987 US-only port of Pac-Man for the Amiga so that you can own virtual statues of cherries and berries...
Anyway, to save you some time:
MUST-PLAY
- Pac-Motos
- Pac-Man: Championship Edition
- Pac 'n Roll: Remix
- Pac-Man 256
SHOULD PLAY
- Pac-Land
- Pac-Man Arrangement
SHOULD PLAY, BUT YOU WILL BE WEIGHED DOWN BY AN INESCAPABLE SENSE OF LONGING FOR YOUR FRIENDS
- Pac-Man: Battle Royale
MORALLY OBLIGED TO PLAY
- Pac-Man
DON'T PLAY
- Pac-In-Time
- Pac & Pal
- Pac-Attack
An ideal game for Game Pass - the sort of light-touch curio that would make you resent Pac-Man forever if you paid full price for it, but is very enjoyable as a noncommittal "free" offering that you can dip in and out of while playing your big meaty 4K HDR games and say stuff like "Pac-Attack fucking sucks!", "Can I unlock Baby Pac-Man?" and "Man, video games sure have come a long way since Pac-Man!"
The decision to host this smorgasbord of slice-stolen pizzas in an customisable iso-hub reminded me of the multi-storey Nintendo museum I built in Animal Crossing for the GameCube back in the day, which is nice, though I don't understand why a bunch of crummy original Pac-Man variants get their own cabinets and like, a dozen really good console and mobile games are all crammed into one games machine in the corner. Sad! Like Kirby and the Forgotten Game, there's a sort of deep sadness that comes from installing a virtual gatchapon machine in your virtual arcade, feeding it virtual coins that you got by playing a terrible 1987 US-only port of Pac-Man for the Amiga so that you can own virtual statues of cherries and berries...
Anyway, to save you some time:
MUST-PLAY
- Pac-Motos
- Pac-Man: Championship Edition
- Pac 'n Roll: Remix
- Pac-Man 256
SHOULD PLAY
- Pac-Land
- Pac-Man Arrangement
SHOULD PLAY, BUT YOU WILL BE WEIGHED DOWN BY AN INESCAPABLE SENSE OF LONGING FOR YOUR FRIENDS
- Pac-Man: Battle Royale
MORALLY OBLIGED TO PLAY
- Pac-Man
DON'T PLAY
- Pac-In-Time
- Pac & Pal
- Pac-Attack
Jogado no Xbox Game Pass. Eu definitivamente não sou o maior fã de Pac-Man, então não sei se teriam melhores opções de jogos pra uma coletânea dessas, mas colocar Pac-in-Time e o Arrangement de console foi um ultraje complicado. Mas Pac-Man Arrangement (arcade), Pac & Pal e Pac 'n Roll Remix foram gratas surpresas e mostram tudo que já tentaram fazer com essa bola amarela.
Como coletânea de aniversário, eu esperava vídeos e imagens dos bastidores, artes conceituais, algum tipo de modo história com missões pra andar pela linha do tempo da série... mas tem um minigamezinho de gacha e decorar salinha. Fazer o que.
Como coletânea de aniversário, eu esperava vídeos e imagens dos bastidores, artes conceituais, algum tipo de modo história com missões pra andar pela linha do tempo da série... mas tem um minigamezinho de gacha e decorar salinha. Fazer o que.
Name a series with more dizzying highs and baffling lows than Pac-Man. Some of the most incredible, pivotal games in the history of the medium, and also Pac In Time
I was able to get this with just 20 bucks so why not
I like Pac-Man, his games are neat, and this is a nice collection. 14 games in one cartridge is a great deal even if some are better than others, and the arcade room hub is very fitting for Pac-Man and I like that they let you customize it with different wallpapers and decorations and even letting you change the floor color (wow!), though personally I wasn't too incentivized to mess with it too much IMO, I mostly came for the games. besides just playing through them, there's also little achievements you can do in them (clear 10 rounds in 1 game, earn a score of 10,000, eat X amount of Ghosts) that'll net you some in-game items for your arcade. some games have to be unlocked, though it's really easy to unlock them since the requirements are "play other Pac-Man game two times", so you're likely to get them all unlocked very quickly. now unfortunately I don't have the time to give each game (or even this game) in the collection a proper detailed review due to how little time I spent playing each one so the next section down here is more-or-less just my first impressions of each games (except for the ones I've played before) so you don't have to take them too seriously.
Pac-Man: 6/10
it's the original you have to pay your respects, of course I much prefer playing Ms. Pac-Man and even Pac-Man Plus when it comes to the original Pac format, but it's still solid even if it can get a bit repetitive over time
Super Pac-Man: 7/10
I've always overlooked this game since the arcade cabinets and plug and plays I used in the past always had Ms. Pac-Man so why would I play this when I have that? now that Ms. Pac-Man is in copyright limbo I'm forced to acknowledge this as the true Pac-Man sequel, and yeah it's actually great. the Ghosts decided to be smart and lock the food inside doors, however they aren't smart enough since they left the keys lying around in the maze for Pac to find and open them, on top of them there's Super Pellets that transforms him into Super Pac-Man and that makes him immune to Ghosts and be able to crash into the doors without a key, easily what this makes from alright to fun. oh yeah bonus stages are in the game and Pac's Super during them, cool game would recommend.
Pac & Pal: 4/10
damn what happened? Super Pac-Man was pretty cool but this just feels like an inferior version. the doors are still here but instead of the keys you have to flip over cards in the maze that open the doors but unlike the keys which open a nearby door, the cards open whatever door they want to so there's a bit of more randomness going on. instead of Super Pellets, Pac can find bonus items in some of the doors that turn him into Galaga-Man (there's no name for the power-up but they should have definitely called it that) that has him shoot beams at the Ghost to temporary stun them, not as cool or powerful as Super Pac-Man but it's still alright. there's also some random bootleg Lolo/Lala wandering around that helps retrieve items for Pac who goes by Miru or Mil, going through her is safe since she's a friendly ghost, she is the Pal. there's good ideas here but for me it just didn't click, maybe if I spent more time with it I'd like it more but I can't say I'm too interested. also there's goofy ass music playing through the entire levels.
Pac-Land: 6/10
MS Paint Pac is cool. this one is more of a side scrolling game where Pac-Man assists a lost fairy to help return her to her land, and along the way the Ghosts are there to try and mess with Pac-Man. Pac-Man doesn't care this time around he just tries to walk around them he has a job to do, though the Power Pellets finally make a return so he can eat them up again if it ever shows up. unfortunately I couldn't finish the third level since I kept messing up the jump over the lake and fell into the water every time so I didn't complete the fourth level where Pac returns back home to Not Ms. Pac-Man, sad
Pac-Mania: 6/10
damn this game looks great for 1987. it's back to the original Pac format but now the mazes are in 2.5D and Pac-Man is able to jump over the Ghosts! though I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I didn't get far in this one so I didn't get to see the other two mazes, new Ghosts, or the different colored Power Pellets. this is another case of if I played it longer I'd rate it higher, but this was a greater first impression than say, Pac & Pal, I wish the gameplay was a bit faster though.
Pac-Attack: 3/10
puzzle game competition is tough when it comes to me. if you're not Tetris, Puyo Puyo, or Dr. Mario then I don't caaare. I'll give it this I like the neat implementation of Pac eating Ghosts in a puzzle format, but I couldn't really figure out how to get into it and I don't have the interest to.
Pac-In-Time: 2/10
the best part of this game is the absurdity of the plot. Pac-Man is just enjoying the time with his family when all of a sudden his arch-nemesis, the Ghost Witch, the one who's been there since the beginning and is the one responsible for sending all those Ghosts against Pac in the mazes (source: trust me bro) decides to take things into her own hands and zaps Pac-Man to the year 1975 which also turns him into a young boy (I'm not sure how that'll benefit her but okay) so now he has to traverse through some random worlds while collecting Pellets to finish the levels and eventually face off the Ghost Witch at the end to get back home to the present. this game is off and it's not just me since not only was it not developed by Namco (only published by them) but it's also a rebranded version of Fury of the Furries so in all but branding this is not a Pac-Man game. anyway I couldn't get past the first level because I didn't have enough Pellets and couldn't figure out how to get back up, peak media
Pac-Man Arrangement (Arcade): 9/10
KINOOOOO! I used to have an old GBA cart with Pac-Man games and out of all of them this is the one that I enjoyed the most, now here I am playing the original arcade without the screen scrolling. this feels like the natural progression from Ms. Pac-Man with not only the different mazes (one of which being the original maze in appearance and layout), but there's boosters that let Pac zoom fast to stun the Ghosts, warp panels that send him to a different section of the maze, varied power-ups that give Pac a ghost clone, temporary trap the Ghosts in a urn, and even turn the Ghosts into presents (not sure what that one does but it's funny). there's also an introduction of a glasses Ghost (apparently his name is Kinky lol) where if he makes contact with another Ghost, he powers them up for the rest of the level (Blinky becomes a bull ghost that charges at Pac when he's in his sight, Pinky becomes a bunny ghost that tries to hop in Pac's direction, Inky becomes a "coooool" ghost that can create a parallel clone of himself, Clyde becomes fat and spits out extra pellets in the maze). the later levels have more Kinkies wandering about so near the end there's a possibility all of them will be powered-up and that is some fun chaos. there's also a boss fight with the Ghosts at the end so yeah there's an actual ending to this game that's cool. this is the only one I finished to the end as not only does continuing send you right back from where you are, but the game's just a bunch of fun. if you like Pac-Man but somehow never played this one, do it you are missing out.
Pac-Man Arrangement (Console): 4/10
"How dare you stand where he stood." ~ idk I think Luke Skywalker said that
how do you release a cool looking game like Pac-Mania in 1987 and then have this almost twenty years later? visually this looks like mobile slop, which is funny since there is a mobile game in this collection and it looks a lot better than this, gameplay wise it's not a good first impression. quickly skimming through the game online it seems the levels do get pretty interesting later on, but the first few levels I played were not anything special and I'm not sure if I really want to continue when I already have the superior Arrangement in the same collection. idk maybe I'm missing out but oh well.
Pac-Man Championship Edition: 8/10
Pac-Man but for a modern audience, it's very solid. more fast-paced, the mazes change layouts, there's an awesome neon look to everything, I'm sure most people on this page know what Championship Pac-Man so I won't go into any more detail. you're probably better off with DX or Championship Edition 2 since those ones improve the formula more, heck there's even a NES fan creation of this game that I'd say has even more style, but this is still really great on its own.
Pac-Motos: 5/10
I don't know what a Motos is, but I'll just say that I don't have much of an opinion on this one other than I got huge Checkerboard Chase vibes from this one. basically Pac-Man has to bump into his enemies like the Ys guy and knock them off the stage. there's some power-ups you can collect in the levels which you can save for later in a inventory of some sort and that's a neat way for Pac-Man to use his power-ups. idk what else to say, it's good I guess
Pac 'n Roll Remix: 7/10
Pac-Man forme de Marble Madness. I can see myself playing this through to the very end if I had the time to do so, it seems like a much better version of Pac-In-Time where instead of collecting Pellets through lame platforming, you collect them by rolling around in this fun little golf courses. don't have much else to say here other than....awesome.
Pac-Man Battle Royale: 3/10
what no Battle Pass? Pac-Man Battle Royale is really a game that gets all its magic from being at the arcade. in the arcade, it's at least a wonderful 7/10, but when you're just sitting there in a dark room alone battling against a Pac CPU inside a very small maze, all the magic is missing. why would I play this when every other game in this collection gives me a more unique experience? I guess if you had some friends with you in the house it'd be better but I really think the best way to play this is out in the arcade.
Pac-Man 256: 5/10
it's fine
the total of 75/140 bring the overall score to something like 5/10....I don't know that seems a bit harsh I'll bring it up to a 6/10. for the cheap piece I'd say it's well worth it, especially with the big hitters like Arrangement Arcade and Championship Edition. I feel it this collection could have been improved upon but this is a well-done effort and if you need an easy way to play a bunch of Pac-Man games, give this collection a go.
MS. PAC-MAN IS STILL IN THE CREDITS OF ARRANGEMENT CONSOLE YOU CAN'T CHANGE HISTORY FOREVER REVISIONISTS
I like Pac-Man, his games are neat, and this is a nice collection. 14 games in one cartridge is a great deal even if some are better than others, and the arcade room hub is very fitting for Pac-Man and I like that they let you customize it with different wallpapers and decorations and even letting you change the floor color (wow!), though personally I wasn't too incentivized to mess with it too much IMO, I mostly came for the games. besides just playing through them, there's also little achievements you can do in them (clear 10 rounds in 1 game, earn a score of 10,000, eat X amount of Ghosts) that'll net you some in-game items for your arcade. some games have to be unlocked, though it's really easy to unlock them since the requirements are "play other Pac-Man game two times", so you're likely to get them all unlocked very quickly. now unfortunately I don't have the time to give each game (or even this game) in the collection a proper detailed review due to how little time I spent playing each one so the next section down here is more-or-less just my first impressions of each games (except for the ones I've played before) so you don't have to take them too seriously.
Pac-Man: 6/10
it's the original you have to pay your respects, of course I much prefer playing Ms. Pac-Man and even Pac-Man Plus when it comes to the original Pac format, but it's still solid even if it can get a bit repetitive over time
Super Pac-Man: 7/10
I've always overlooked this game since the arcade cabinets and plug and plays I used in the past always had Ms. Pac-Man so why would I play this when I have that? now that Ms. Pac-Man is in copyright limbo I'm forced to acknowledge this as the true Pac-Man sequel, and yeah it's actually great. the Ghosts decided to be smart and lock the food inside doors, however they aren't smart enough since they left the keys lying around in the maze for Pac to find and open them, on top of them there's Super Pellets that transforms him into Super Pac-Man and that makes him immune to Ghosts and be able to crash into the doors without a key, easily what this makes from alright to fun. oh yeah bonus stages are in the game and Pac's Super during them, cool game would recommend.
Pac & Pal: 4/10
damn what happened? Super Pac-Man was pretty cool but this just feels like an inferior version. the doors are still here but instead of the keys you have to flip over cards in the maze that open the doors but unlike the keys which open a nearby door, the cards open whatever door they want to so there's a bit of more randomness going on. instead of Super Pellets, Pac can find bonus items in some of the doors that turn him into Galaga-Man (there's no name for the power-up but they should have definitely called it that) that has him shoot beams at the Ghost to temporary stun them, not as cool or powerful as Super Pac-Man but it's still alright. there's also some random bootleg Lolo/Lala wandering around that helps retrieve items for Pac who goes by Miru or Mil, going through her is safe since she's a friendly ghost, she is the Pal. there's good ideas here but for me it just didn't click, maybe if I spent more time with it I'd like it more but I can't say I'm too interested. also there's goofy ass music playing through the entire levels.
Pac-Land: 6/10
MS Paint Pac is cool. this one is more of a side scrolling game where Pac-Man assists a lost fairy to help return her to her land, and along the way the Ghosts are there to try and mess with Pac-Man. Pac-Man doesn't care this time around he just tries to walk around them he has a job to do, though the Power Pellets finally make a return so he can eat them up again if it ever shows up. unfortunately I couldn't finish the third level since I kept messing up the jump over the lake and fell into the water every time so I didn't complete the fourth level where Pac returns back home to Not Ms. Pac-Man, sad
Pac-Mania: 6/10
damn this game looks great for 1987. it's back to the original Pac format but now the mazes are in 2.5D and Pac-Man is able to jump over the Ghosts! though I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I didn't get far in this one so I didn't get to see the other two mazes, new Ghosts, or the different colored Power Pellets. this is another case of if I played it longer I'd rate it higher, but this was a greater first impression than say, Pac & Pal, I wish the gameplay was a bit faster though.
Pac-Attack: 3/10
puzzle game competition is tough when it comes to me. if you're not Tetris, Puyo Puyo, or Dr. Mario then I don't caaare. I'll give it this I like the neat implementation of Pac eating Ghosts in a puzzle format, but I couldn't really figure out how to get into it and I don't have the interest to.
Pac-In-Time: 2/10
the best part of this game is the absurdity of the plot. Pac-Man is just enjoying the time with his family when all of a sudden his arch-nemesis, the Ghost Witch, the one who's been there since the beginning and is the one responsible for sending all those Ghosts against Pac in the mazes (source: trust me bro) decides to take things into her own hands and zaps Pac-Man to the year 1975 which also turns him into a young boy (I'm not sure how that'll benefit her but okay) so now he has to traverse through some random worlds while collecting Pellets to finish the levels and eventually face off the Ghost Witch at the end to get back home to the present. this game is off and it's not just me since not only was it not developed by Namco (only published by them) but it's also a rebranded version of Fury of the Furries so in all but branding this is not a Pac-Man game. anyway I couldn't get past the first level because I didn't have enough Pellets and couldn't figure out how to get back up, peak media
Pac-Man Arrangement (Arcade): 9/10
KINOOOOO! I used to have an old GBA cart with Pac-Man games and out of all of them this is the one that I enjoyed the most, now here I am playing the original arcade without the screen scrolling. this feels like the natural progression from Ms. Pac-Man with not only the different mazes (one of which being the original maze in appearance and layout), but there's boosters that let Pac zoom fast to stun the Ghosts, warp panels that send him to a different section of the maze, varied power-ups that give Pac a ghost clone, temporary trap the Ghosts in a urn, and even turn the Ghosts into presents (not sure what that one does but it's funny). there's also an introduction of a glasses Ghost (apparently his name is Kinky lol) where if he makes contact with another Ghost, he powers them up for the rest of the level (Blinky becomes a bull ghost that charges at Pac when he's in his sight, Pinky becomes a bunny ghost that tries to hop in Pac's direction, Inky becomes a "coooool" ghost that can create a parallel clone of himself, Clyde becomes fat and spits out extra pellets in the maze). the later levels have more Kinkies wandering about so near the end there's a possibility all of them will be powered-up and that is some fun chaos. there's also a boss fight with the Ghosts at the end so yeah there's an actual ending to this game that's cool. this is the only one I finished to the end as not only does continuing send you right back from where you are, but the game's just a bunch of fun. if you like Pac-Man but somehow never played this one, do it you are missing out.
Pac-Man Arrangement (Console): 4/10
"How dare you stand where he stood." ~ idk I think Luke Skywalker said that
how do you release a cool looking game like Pac-Mania in 1987 and then have this almost twenty years later? visually this looks like mobile slop, which is funny since there is a mobile game in this collection and it looks a lot better than this, gameplay wise it's not a good first impression. quickly skimming through the game online it seems the levels do get pretty interesting later on, but the first few levels I played were not anything special and I'm not sure if I really want to continue when I already have the superior Arrangement in the same collection. idk maybe I'm missing out but oh well.
Pac-Man Championship Edition: 8/10
Pac-Man but for a modern audience, it's very solid. more fast-paced, the mazes change layouts, there's an awesome neon look to everything, I'm sure most people on this page know what Championship Pac-Man so I won't go into any more detail. you're probably better off with DX or Championship Edition 2 since those ones improve the formula more, heck there's even a NES fan creation of this game that I'd say has even more style, but this is still really great on its own.
Pac-Motos: 5/10
I don't know what a Motos is, but I'll just say that I don't have much of an opinion on this one other than I got huge Checkerboard Chase vibes from this one. basically Pac-Man has to bump into his enemies like the Ys guy and knock them off the stage. there's some power-ups you can collect in the levels which you can save for later in a inventory of some sort and that's a neat way for Pac-Man to use his power-ups. idk what else to say, it's good I guess
Pac 'n Roll Remix: 7/10
Pac-Man forme de Marble Madness. I can see myself playing this through to the very end if I had the time to do so, it seems like a much better version of Pac-In-Time where instead of collecting Pellets through lame platforming, you collect them by rolling around in this fun little golf courses. don't have much else to say here other than....awesome.
Pac-Man Battle Royale: 3/10
what no Battle Pass? Pac-Man Battle Royale is really a game that gets all its magic from being at the arcade. in the arcade, it's at least a wonderful 7/10, but when you're just sitting there in a dark room alone battling against a Pac CPU inside a very small maze, all the magic is missing. why would I play this when every other game in this collection gives me a more unique experience? I guess if you had some friends with you in the house it'd be better but I really think the best way to play this is out in the arcade.
Pac-Man 256: 5/10
it's fine
the total of 75/140 bring the overall score to something like 5/10....I don't know that seems a bit harsh I'll bring it up to a 6/10. for the cheap piece I'd say it's well worth it, especially with the big hitters like Arrangement Arcade and Championship Edition. I feel it this collection could have been improved upon but this is a well-done effort and if you need an easy way to play a bunch of Pac-Man games, give this collection a go.
MS. PAC-MAN IS STILL IN THE CREDITS OF ARRANGEMENT CONSOLE YOU CAN'T CHANGE HISTORY FOREVER REVISIONISTS
Uma coletânea de jogos muito importante e que ajuda a entender como uma das maiores franquias dos games se manteve inovando e criando jogos interessantes por várias décadas.