Pac-Man Championship Edition
A modernized HD reimagining of the classic Pac-Man arcade game.
Pac-Man Championship Edition is a 2007 maze game from Namco Bandai Games, initially for the Xbox 360. This HD reimagining of the original arcade game has players guide Pac-Man through a maze, eating pellets while dodging ghosts. It was the final project designed by Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Namco Bandai Games
- Director
- Tadashi Iguchi
- Producer
- Nobutaka Nakajima
- Designer
- Toru Iwatani
- Programmer
- Takashi Ōtsuka
- Yasumichi Onishi
- Hideki Harada
- Artist
- Masaharu Okada
- Hideki Tanaami
- Yoshikazu Komatsu
- Composer
- Junko Ozawa
- Genre
- Maze
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
The core gameplay involves navigating Pac-Man through a maze to eat dots, power pellets, and bonus items while avoiding four ghosts. Eating a power pellet turns ghosts blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them and send them back to their home. An extra life is awarded every 20,000 points. Unlike the original, each maze is split into two halves; clearing all dots on one half makes a bonus item appear on the other side, and eating that item generates a new maze on the opposite half. Additional power pellets can be collected to extend powered-up time and maximize points for eating ghosts. Game speed increases with scoring and decreases upon losing a life. Instead of levels, play occurs within a set time limit, with the goal of achieving the highest score. Six modes are available: Championship (five minutes), two Challenge modes (ten minutes each) that alter stage conditions, and three Extra modes (one five-minute, two ten-minute) with different mazes. Online leaderboards are supported.
Development
The concept emerged after the original Pac-Man was released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2006. Producer Nobutaka Nakajima noted the contrast between the original's vertical screen and widescreen HD televisions, and the potential of more powerful hardware. Nakajima became producer, with Tadashi Iguchi as director and Toru Iwatani as designer; Championship Edition was Iwatani's final game design. The team asked what Pac-Man could become by maximizing new technology and hardware. Nakajima believed earlier remakes strayed from the fundamentals that made Pac-Man great, so the team returned to the original's roots while expanding its concept. Iwatani wanted to preserve the simplicity that made the game fun. When discussing the game with Iwatani, Namco Bandai was approached by Microsoft about a crossover promotional event, leading the team to emphasize cooperative play and excitement.
Release
Pac-Man Championship Edition launched on Xbox Live Arcade on June 6, 2007. Its announcement increased Xbox 360 purchases in Japan. The game appears on the Xbox Live Arcade Compilation disc bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console, and in Namco Museum Virtual Arcade (accessed from the game library, not within NMVA itself). Ports followed: iOS on December 10, 2009; J2ME in mid-2009; Android on June 8, 2010; and PSP minis on December 1, 2010. A sequel, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, arrived on Xbox Live Arcade on November 17, 2010 and PlayStation Network on November 23, 2010. The original was ported to Nintendo 3DS as part of Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions in 2011, included in Pac-Man Museum in 2014, and reappeared in Pac-Man Museum+ in 2022. A Pac-Man World Championship was held in New York City on June 5, 2007, with ten competitors from eight countries; Carlos Daniel Borrego Romero won and received an Xbox 360 decorated with Pac-Man artwork signed by Toru Iwatani. A demastered version for Famicom/NES hardware is in Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1 and physical editions of Namcot Collection.
Reception
Pac-Man Championship Edition was well received by critics, who felt Namco Bandai successfully brought the original's core idea into the modern era. Joystiq called it the first true sequel to Pac-Man since Ms. Pac-Man. Reviewers described the gameplay as fresh and exciting, and praised it as one of the best downloadable casual entertainment titles. Criticisms included the lack of a multiplayer mode and reliance on patterns from the original. The Metacritic aggregator score is 83. The iOS port was criticized for its microtransaction strategy, the Android port for poor controls, and IGN criticized the PSP mini version for lacking online leaderboards and being inferior to its sequel.
More in Bandai Namco Games
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced