AND THEN ALL THOSE GHOSTS TURNED BLUE...
Looks like Namco once again brings a re-issue of Pac-Stuff for old-schoolers.
This time is Pac-Man Museum+ (pronounced "Pac-Man Museum Plus")
Arcades, the microcosmos of your childhood.
Where the adventures were limitless; being a racer, armored policeman, space pilot, superhero, even Pac-Man.
All the possibilities within the range of a single coin.
Most compilations have a classic menu with the list of games you can play. From original compilations to bootleg multicarts, its the same: Simple font or a banner with the game's logo. Pac-Man Museum+ makes a different approach by making each game an arcade cabinet, while the more modern based titles are on a console/cabinet with controllers.
The classic arcade titles that marked a generation.
THE CLASSIC ARCADE LINEUP
PAC-MAN (1980): We all know Pac-Man's simple, yet timeless gameplay mechanic; Eating Pac-Dots (Power Pills for the "Atari Generation") while dodging the ghosts in never-ending maze chases. The Museum+ port is based on the Midway Pac-Man release but with Namco's logo on the title screen unlike the Pac-Man Museum port which replaced the copyright with "(C) 1980 NBGI". Using the Midway-esque ROM is a step forward compared Arcade Archives version which was based on a censored version the Japanese Puckman (you can call it Puckman "Don't say "Fuckman" Edition"). However, it has some input lag problems that are not present on Hamster's release.
SUPER PAC-MAN (1982): When Pac-Man went experimental with the traditional formula by adding puzzle elements such as keys to open gates to eat Power Pellets and Super Power Pellets that allowed Pac-Man to eat ghosts and even break through the gates without requiring a key. This replaces the traditional bonus item with a matching game where the bonus points are based on the pair you make (Example: Shoe and Shoe).
PAC & PAL (1983): The fan-hated Pac-Man game that makes most people ask "What was Namco thinking?" Namco is always experimenting with their franchises, but Pac & Pal is the worst of all. When you remove the familiar Pac-Dot/Power Pellet feature of Pac-Man and replace it with "Item Picking" based on a specific card, is just a turn for the worse, and (Pac-)boy, IT IS a turn for the worse since your new partner Mil works more for the ghosts than Pac-Man by picking the item and bringing it to the Ghost lair where it is lost forever.
PAC-LAND (1984): The dawn of platformers such as Super Mario Bros. and Alex Kidd is traced to this game. Helping Pac-Man to reach the goal and return a lost fairy is only one objective. The world around him is full of secrets like helmets, keys and Power Pellets making this game a percursor of exploration based games like Kid Icarus and Metroid.
PAC-MANIA (1987): Namco decides to make things right with Pac-Man and returns to the traditional formula with new features such as the ability to jump, allowing the player to avoid death an isometric view with semi-digitized sprites that resembled a 3D look without needing for vector graphics thanks to the System 1 hardware. It is worth to mention that this was the latest console port of Pac-Mania before Hamster's Arcade Archives port. The Museum+ release is based on the Japanese version as it lacks of the continue feature, stage select and name entry from the Atari Games release.
PAC-MAN ARRANGEMENT (1996): Part of Namco Classic Collection Vol.2, this is more than an audiovisual update of Pac-Man thanks to the Namco ND-1 hardware, as it features new gameplay mechanics like dash attacks and warps to teleport to different spots in the maze along with power ups for Pac-Man. It also features co-op 2 Player gameplay for the first time in the series. The game is based on the Japanese relase as the ghosts carry their original Puckman names such as Guzuta and Aosuke.
The list of arcade titles is virtually the same as the previous Pac-Man Museum, with the inclusion of the 1996 Arrangement as the most important aspect of the game. However, the first mentioned games seems to have input lag on the controls being the jump delay on Pac-Mania the worst of all, making it almost unplayable or at least playable before the jumping ghosts appear. What a fatal flaw for a compilation. ¿Is Namco telling us they can't emulate their games properly while Third Parties with the license can? That's pathetic.
Have you rented the SNES Pac-Man games in your childhood?
You: No, I've rented Super Nova and Megaman X2 more often.
CONSOLE LINEUP
PAC-ATTACK (1993): A Reskin of Cosmo Gang The Puzzle, Pac-Attack is a puzzle game where you drop columns and ghosts to create rows so Pac-Man can eat the most number of ghosts possible.
PAC-IN-TIME (1995): Developed by Atreid Concept using Namco's license, the gameplay once again involves platforming, but not on the same way as Pac-Land, as it is now based on maze-type puzzle solutions where the objective is to eat all the Pac-Dots in the area. This could be fun to give a try if it wasn't for one thing: Horrible Controls. Pac-Man is completely slippery resulting in non-responsive controls, especially with the grappling rope which acts on the same way as the Grappling Beam from Super Metroid, but much harder to control thanks to bad control programming in what I want to think is an ill-fated attempt to make Pac-Man run fast like Sonic the Hedgehog. The slippery controls are going to be your worst enemies than any of the monsters Pac-Man encounters, not to mention the fucked up idea of passing through rings can remove your acquired weapons. That would be like if in Super Metroid you could remove a missile or a Samus upgrade by returning to the Chozo statue you've picked it. ¿Who the fuck would do that?. Now, try to endure 70 levels with those problems, it's complete videogame hell. To put things simple, this is an exercise of a Pac-Man Nightmare on the LJN level even worse than Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, so prepare to see Pac-Man die as if he had done vagrancy in Jerkwater, USA.
PAC-MAN ARRANGEMENT (2005): Developed by Tose for the PlayStation Portable as part of Namco Museum Battle Collection, this is a completely different Arrangement from the 1996 one, as it relies on 3D graphics and even more new mechanics like conveyor belts and elevator platforms. Inherited from the 96 Arrangement, it carries the concept of boss fights, but on a much frequent way as they will be at the end of each "World" that splits in 5 levels.
I've never been a fan of puzzle games, being Tetris and Dr. Mario the few times I've played a puzzle game, but despite Pac-Attack tries to be simple, I found it boring and with a lot of potential wasted, considering how much of a big name Pac-Man is and the importance for Namco since he is the company's flagship character. I could complain about the fact that the game omits Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, but knowing how horrendous the control was, it won't be missed, but ¿How about the console ports of Pac-Man? Since this is a "Museum" you can't omit that part of the franchise's history. Yeah, the Atari 2600 port was hated, despised and even blamed for the Videogame Crash of 1983, but whether we like it or not, its still Pac-History. Pac-In-Time's case kinda baffles because of the decision of using the japanese version rather than the american release which had more text in the cutscenes. Although Namco addressed that with subtitles so we can understand the original plotline rather than the american release which had differences and maybe, contradictions within the original lore. It is worth to mention that for a Namco game, it has games not developed by them (Tose and Atreid Concept). Normally most collections skip the "Not in-house developed" titles due to copyright reasons (Example: Contra Anniversary Collection without Contra 4 or Contra: Legacy of War due to WayForward and Appaloosa Interactive's involvement), making these choices quite unexpected.
I'm gonna be fair with the console games because there is a redeeming quality. The Museum+ re-release of 2005's Arrangement addresses some flaws from the X360 version. To begin with, when the game started, it automatically skipped the map/overworld screen, while this version will skip it until the player presses a button. But the most important aspect of the Museum+ version was the re-instatement of the continue function which was removed on the original Pac-Man Museum.
A classic, simple title adapting to modern times.
MODERN LINEUP
PAC-MAN CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION (2007): While Pac-Man is traditional dot-munching, ghost-dodging arcade fun, the Championship Edition is more based on speed and precision by guessing the best "dot eating paths" and avoiding death as much as possible as constant dot-eating increase their value and there's much more bonus items to improve your score.
PAC-MOTOS (2007): Part of Namco Museum Remix for the Nintendo Wii. This is a Pac-Man themed version of Motos where the objective is to push your enemies off the arena using Pac-Man. Keep in mind, you'll have to equip power-ups to increase Pac-Man's abilities as the game will throw bigger and heavier enemies that will mace Pac-Man bounce rather than pushing your enemies.
PAC N' ROLL REMIX (2007): Another Tose developed game as part of Namco Museum Remix. My best description of this game is "Super Monkey Ball Clone" as you control Pac-Man as a rolling ball moving through stages rather than moving on a maze, ditching the classic premise, but retaining the element of eating Pac-Dots.
PAC-MAN BATTLE ROYALE (2011): The 1 VS 1...or 2 or even 3 Pac-Men as the gameplay involves eating the other Pac-Men depending on how many players are in the game, making this 4 player competition game a challenge where the last Pac-Man standing is the winner.
PAC-MAN 256 (2015): While all of the games featured were developed by Namco itself, this is a lone exception as it is a joint-venture game developed by Hipster Whale (Crossy Road Arcade), 3 Sprockets Pty. Ltd. and Bandai Namco Studios. This game involves Pac-Man running through an infinite maze eating the most Pac-Dots as possible while outrunning the error 256, which is the Dirac Sea-esque death void that threatens to engulf Pac-Man and its world. Fortunately for Pac-Man there's new weapons and powers that will help him to survive for a little longer before the glitch or the ghosts get him, as the game adds new fast ghosts. You can also get coins to power up your weapons and complete "missions" to obtain giftboxes with 64, 128 coins and in the extremely rare times get boxes with 256 and 512 coins. What's really annoying of this game is the lack of spare lives. If you die once, it's Game Over and you have to start all over again.
If the classic lineup had problems, some of the "modern" titles have their portion of flaws, being Pac-Man Championship Edition's muffled sound and its blurry visuals compared with the XBOX 360 release. For a next generation console, this is a bad transition. The Wii-based games are well ported and these are the few instances where the games lack of control problems due to bad emulation.
There's plenty of tasks to do.
The games are not just there for the sake of fun. They have their own set of "Missions" to do. Clearing these missions will unlock rewards like purchaseable decorations on the Vending Machine, more sounds for the jukebox and even get more games. However, the missions have a fun degree that goes from fun to frustrating, being those of Pac-Man 256 the worst of all, as it require constant money grinding and reaching almost impossible score requirements. I mean, getting 20,000 points? Sounds insane considering that the highest score possible is of 8,000-9,000 without dying once, and leveling up to 10 weapons to level 8 will require monumental levels of coin grinding that will make anyone who complained about the money grinding on Ginga Force or Omega Strikers will find those easy. This game is pure purgatorial conscription, not as cruel and time spending as Sandlot's Earth Defense Force games, but they're more un-fun than EDF. Not to mention that "1 life and its Game Over" bullshit rule just shoves the knife deeper, I can understand that rule when we talk about "Redemption Games" such as Crossy Road where the game replaces the spare lives with tickets whose amount depends on the player's score, but not on a home-intended app. Hell, it makes me wish Pac-Man 256 had microtransactions for the damn coins. Let's do the math here: 16 > 32 > 64 > 128 > 256 > 512 > 1024 > 2048 = 4080 coins. Repeat that 10 fucking times (40800), and there you go. Now you're gonna understand why is this game a "Purgatorial Conscription", and all for the sake of what?, The achievements? Get more visitors in your arcade? Don't be so fuck.
Also, it is really annoying to obtain more than 60,000 or even 76,500 points on the original Pac-Man when with enough luck you can get 20,000-30,000 before losing all your lives. Not everyone is a potential Billy Mitchell, but there's a trick to reach the score and get everything. The majority of games have a saving option that requires to leave the game and then re-open it similar to the Arcade Archives ports. However, the saving function reloads the game at the beginning of the stage you've left off rather than at the point where you left. A little bit drastical but still an upper hand for high scoring.
Completing missions add visitors to your arcade, which they're basically other Pac-Man characters wandering around your arcade hall. Since the Arcade games consume your coin stock, you might expect to have visitors acting as customers who add coins to your business. But guess what? They're useless. So, the only ways to get coins are by getting good enough scores in the arcade games to have a reasonable ROI (Return Of Investment) or play the console games which are free-to-play and either get Game Over or finish them, but you'll get coins for the arcade titles, buying on the vending machine and get stuff in the Gashapon machine.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You are now the owner of a monument to the destruction of videogame history.
Now we're in the borderline of videogame trash. For a compilation related to Pac-Man history, the game removed all references to Ms. Pac-Man, just like the Arcade Archives release of Pac-Land, the Museum+ version carries this character censorship and omits the Ms. Pac-Man game which was formerly a DLC on the previous Pac-Man Museum. Namco doesn't say the cause behind these changes, but the most accepted theory is due to the legal dispute with AtGames for the character's ownership rights. Yeah, Namco. The same game developer who spends millions of bucks on licensing Toei's big-name anime titles and get agreements with Lockheed Martin for using the F-22 in the Ace Combat games can't deal with the former GCC staff and a small business like AtGames? Something's really wrong here, and is a disappointment since this means the removal of a classic character as if it was either a "heretic" book burning or an unwanted pharaoh who got its statues destroyed in an attempt to be deleted from history.
After visiting Michael Pac-son's plastic surgeon, the Pac-Family was no longer the same.
Sadly, these changes also affect the console games: Pac-in-Time and Pac-Attack were censored in order to remove not just Ms. Pac-Man, but also all the original Pac-Man family members. Jr. Pac-Man, Pac-Baby and Chomp-Chomp in favor of Pac-Boy, Pac-Sis and Pac-Buddy. The old family was deleted and replaced with this distorted "Namco Correct" version. This is one aspect where the previous Pac-Man Museum was way better since it used the characters of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures instead of this mockery to oldschool memories. In a twist of irony, the game borrows Non-Namco elements such as the retro wallpaper which is clearly a reference to the infamous Atari 2600 port and the use of Midway and Atari's cabinet and illustrations on Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man and Pac-Mania just with Midway and Atari Games logos painted out.
Pac-Man Arrangement, released before Hamster could think about it.
To be fair, despite the "Anti-Gaming History Preservation" antics from Namco, the compilation has titles that the previous Pac-Man Museum didn't like the SNES version of Pac-Attack rather than the Genesis one from Pac-Man Museum, Pac-in-Time (The SNES original port since the Genesis and Gameboy were reskins of Fury of the Furries), and Pac-Man 256. But the best instance is the Namco Classic Collection version of Pac-Man Arrangement, and the emulation is quite decent compared with the rest of the arcade titles as the controls are very responsive. Not to mention, this was released before Hamster's Arcade Archives, and it gives the possibility to see this version there along with the arrangements of Dig Dug and Rally-X. Considering how obsessed Hamster is with Namco's releases it is very plausible that we will find Pac-Man Arrangement sometime in the future.
Along with the games, there's other things you can do like customizing the Arcade Hall by changing the cabinets position, placing decorations and cabinets you can get from the vending machine and the Gashapon machine where you can get statues of the characters and items. Sounds like shameless product placement, but this is BANDAI-Namco stuff. Along with the options of buying decorations, you can also change the background music on the jukebox. From original themes for the museum to the themes from all the games, it gives you plenty of musical options. ¿Who could imagine that the music of 1996 Pac-Man Arrangement would sound modern despite being made in 1996 on the Namco ND-1 hardware with a C352 chip? It wasn't a redbook CD, but it had CD quality sound just like the Namco System II did.
PAC-TRIVIA MUSEUM PLUS
When your password cleverly says "SIMPSON" it means "I want a better game".
- Like I've said before, this compilation ported Pac-Man Arrangement before Hamster even released it as part of Arcade Archives.
- The password SMPSN from Pac-in-Time clearly says "Simpson".
- In the forest stages there's treehouses in the style of Endor's Ewok huts from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
- When you finish Pac-Man Arrangement (2005), you can see Ms. Pac-Man on the credits cutscene, implying the character wasn't removed there.
Even Pac-Man knows this was the best part of the whole collection.
While the Namco Classic Collection version of Pac-Man Arrangement is the only saving grace of this game, the collection actually has little to offer aside from the NCC Arrangement and the Namco Museum Remix titles, making this a "more of the same" repetitive collection unless you're a hardcore Pac-Fan hunting all the games related to the dot muncher. The control input lags in the first arcade games, the idea of including the fan-hated Pac & Pal, cruel games like the nearly unplayable Pac-in-Time and Pac-Man 256 and that HORRIBLE censorship of Ms. Pac-Man are the reasons to avoid this game from buying it. If you're so anxious to play it, you'll be better if you either pick it with Game Pass, so you can play it for free and uninstall it without the guilt of paying the regular price, or get the PS4/Switch Arcade Archives ports of Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man and Pac-Mania and wait for Hamster to release Pac-Man Arrangement.
