It’s easy to throw around words like “legacy”, especially when talking about series that started before today’s fans were even born, but some legacies run deeper than others. Very few games, in fact, have a greater history than Pac-Man, which stretches back over forty years to the long-gone days of 1980. Pac-Man was a huge hit, to the point that it was very easy to get sick of every single arcade having at least one unit and sometimes more taking up space that could have been used for something you hadn’t seen a few thousand times already. There were Pac-Man clones (Crush Roller/Make Trax), bootleg versions, an unauthorized follow-up that’s still mired down in a quagmire of rights ownership (Ms Pac-Man), and of course a rash of sequels and spin-offs. Pac-Man Museum+ collects a fantastic selection of games through Pac-Man’s long history, from maze to puzzle to side-scrolling adventure. The full list is-
Super Pac-Man
Pac-Attack
Pac-In-Time
Pac-Man Arrangement, Arcade Version (which includes a fifth ghost named, of all things, Kinky)
Pac-Man Arrangement, Console Version
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Pac’N Roll Remix
Pac-Man Battle Royale
Pac-Man 256
That’s a lot of Pac-Man, and while there are some notable gaps, such as the previously-mentioned Ms Pac-Man caught up in a rights-tangle that’s most likely the reason for not being included, Pac-Man Museum+ is going to be a strong collection for Pac-fans. Maybe if it does well enough we can get a sequel with Baby Pac-Man, Mr & Mrs Pac-Man Pinball, and the Pac-Land games. It’s nice to dream, after all.
Pac-Man Museum+ is releasing on PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC on May 27, and that includes instant availability on Game Pass. The reveal trailer shows more of the player-designed arcade that houses all the games than the actual Pac-Man games themselves but give it watch anyway to see the variety of dot-chomping packed into the collection.
