Pac-Man Museum + review of the new and unmissable Bandai Namco anthology

It’s round, yellow, and looks like a pizza that someone has already eaten a slice of. We’re obviously talking about Pac-Man, the famous icon of the entire video game world, regardless of geographic latitude, historical time, or even individual tastes. It was 1980 – most of you weren’t even born yet – when the historic Namco-manufactured arcade hit the arcade; character and video games were invented by Tōru Iwatani. The yellow ball is getting talked about again these days, as the Pac-Man Museum+, announced a few months ago, is finally in the pipeline almost everywhere: It’s on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, next-gen via backwards compatibility, and finally PC. ‘also.

What better way to blow out character’s forty-two candles than to publish another very rich anthology? Because Pac-Man Museum + is actually just that, a collection of fourteen historical video games, some of them newer, others very old, even some of their names are currently unavailable and semi-unknown in our country. alright, Pac-Man Museum + review The following will help you understand whether it is appropriate to attend the celebrations. We offer pac points.

Contents: definitive collection

we don’t have to explain to you How to play Pac-Man, real? Probably just the aliens don’t know that the formula of the game consists of avoiding being eaten by the four colored ghosts that live in it, namely Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (blue). and Clyde (orange). Each maze also contains four pac-dots that are larger and brighter than the others, allowing Pac-Man to be invincible for a few seconds, allowing him to eat unfortunate ghosts along the way (but they will respawn shortly after).

This is the standard, ubiquitous, and endless variety of formulas at the Pac-Man Museum+. It is nothing more than a complete, essential anthology for all fans of the Bandai Namco mascot. this contents in fact, they boast – among other things – the existence of a total of fourteen different video games, all of which are ambidextrous and chronologically taken from the history of the franchise. There’s the first, real, irreplaceable Pac-Man from 1980, and with it the first, timid variations of the base game: Super Pac-Man, based on fruits to be released and collected; Pac & Pal with the challenge of stealing fruit from a green enemy; Pac-Land, which transforms the video game into a platform game; Pac-Mania, 1987’s 3D experiment. And others.

You’ve probably never seen some of these “others” because they didn’t exist at the previous Pac-Man Museum; therefore they should be considered as unreleased games. For example, Pac-In-Time, where the protagonist finds himself transported to various periods of the past in order to defeat an evil witch and thus return to the present; it’s a practical action adventure game that shares nothing with the standard formula of the series, although it lacks the presence of some key characters.

back to front Pac-Man Editis a delightful 3D iteration, enhanced by an artistic and solid direction that is still extremely captivating today. And in the “new” Pac-Motos is a nice reinvention based on nothing but the Nintendo Wii era (2007); Pac ‘n Roll Remix was born on the Nintendo DS and grew up on the Nintendo Wii (it’s very reminiscent of the Super Monkey Ball); Finally, the latest Pac-Man 256, whose pixels and strange powers like tornadoes destroy ghosts and bombs, probably ticked you off on consoles between 2015 and 2016.

personal game room

Bandai Namco had a good idea when recommending its fourteen titles: not just juxtaposing a series of names in an unnamed main menu, but allowing the player to create their own. personal game room. When you start Pac-Man Museum+, you find yourself inside a small room that houses a series of arcades: these are historical cabinets, obviously made to scale, that have allowed you to play various versions of Pac-Man since the 1980s. in Japan and Europe.

L’headquarters essentially, it consists of an arcade: and the player controlling a 3D Pac-Man that moves freely through the environments! – can lay it as he sees fit. Initially, it was explained that access to each title costs a token, just as it would in the real world. But unlocking new coins is very simple, just split some into individual titles and earn more.

with these coins It’s possible to unlock furniture pieces and trophies in a corner vending machine, thus customizing the game room to your personal taste. However, it is not recommended to dedicate oneself to the same title all the time, for two reasons: some are blocked and require finishing at least a few games with certain lockers; Also, more games of different video games will be completed (even if you lose in the first few levels, it’s okay to deny it with the series), more visitors will come to the arcade. And these visitors are colorful ghosts!

Another positive note is its presence. specific difficulties for each of the fourteen titles in the collection. They range from the most intuitive missions (completing a certain number of games, eating a certain number of ghosts) to some that seem impossible (for example, getting 50,000 points in the first Pac-Man without dying). This encourages playing and replaying separate lockers by suggesting different targets to different types of buyers: the newcomer or the person who just wants to dedicate himself to the first Pac-Man will be able to do this without any problems; the most demanding will find themselves grappling with offers with really significant challenges that can keep them busy for a long time.

Finally, from a technical standpoint, we did not notice any problems with consoles: downloads are fast, accessibility is intuitive and instant,emulation your individual games are almost perfect. It is also possible to change the screen size and partially the colors of the arcades. Nothing to tear your hair out, but those customization possibilities are good to have too. Finally, all the menus are in Italian, and even Pac-Man has never left the land of the Rising Sun, enriched with subtitles in our language, thus making this minimal narration clear, albeit in cutscenes.