The original Pac-Man came out in 1980 and is based around navigating a maze and collecting pellets while avoiding dangerous ghosts. This relatively simple concept has cemented its place in gaming history and made the titular character one of gaming's most enduring mascots. Even though he hasn't starred in a game in a while, everybody still knows who Pac-Man is. Throughout the years, other Pac-Man games have switched up the formula.
1999's Pac-Man World is a 3D platformer with linear levels. It is not as fondly remembered as other games from its time, but it recently received a remake in 2022 called Pac-Man World Re-Pac. It retains the original level design and aesthetic, but updates the graphics and smoothes out the gameplay. While there is not a lot that makes it familiar as a Pac-Man game other than the characters and pellets, there are a few easter eggs and pieces of trivia starring gamers right in the face. However, only true fans of the character and Namco would really catch these references.
5 Pac-Mom Is A Weird Choice For A Character
Anybody who played the original Pac-Man World will notice a curious lack of Ms. Pac-Man, the adult female character players have to save along with the rest of the Pac-family. Instead of a character who seems like the character's life partner, she is replaced by Pac-Mom. It is a strange move to replace a romantic partner with what can be assumed to be the character's mom. Maybe Pac-Mom implies it is the mother of the junior Pac-Man, but then Pac-Man should be called Pac-Dad.
Regardless of the choice of characters, the change was done because of legal issues surrounding the character. Over the last several years, the rights to Ms. Pac-Man have been in limbo because another company developed the Ms. Pac-Man game. The lawsuit was settled, but the details of the case are not available to the public. Maybe one day the character will come back, but not today.
4 Galaxian Stage
Pac-Man World also takes time to pay tribute to other classic Namco games. One boss level is an homage to Galaxian, an arcade space shooter from 1979. The titular character jumps on a little spaceship and proceeds forward. As he continues through space, hazards and enemies descend from above.
Fortunately, the ship comes with weapons of its own. A boss awaits players at the end of this gauntlet. The stage plays excellently considering it is only used once. Galaxian has been re-released multiple times, but it never got the same treatment as Pac-Man World. They have mostly been alterations and facelifts to the original concept.
3 The Enemy From Dig Doug Is One Of The Hostages
Most of the family in Pac-Man resembles the main character. They are yellow and largely the same shape. One character who stands out is the red sphere with goggles. This is Pooka from Dig Dug. For those who don't know, Dig Dug is a 1982 arcade game where players carve out a maze underground while dispatching enemies crawling around the subterranean abyss. Part of the fun is how players carve out space to trap enemies or even accidentally sabotage themselves.
Curiously, Pooka is one of the enemies in the arcade title. The character is used because it actually was a popular figure in Japan. It brings up a lot of questions about Pac-Man and Dig Dug's stories. Are the games' protagonists enemies and so Pooka is a friend to Pac-Man, or did Pooka turn a new leaf and is no longer an antagonist?
2 An Enemy From Galaxian Is An Item
Many of the items players collect in Pac-Man World are various pieces of fruit, which call back to the original arcade game where the player picks up fruit to add to their high score. In addition to points, the fruit also helps unlock doors. Each locked door has a fruit above it and will only open once players collect it and then come back to the door.
One of the items does not look like the others, however. It looks more like a pixelated spaceship, which is appropriate because it is taken from Galaxian. The ship in particular is in the back row and traps the ship with some sort of magnetic field. Fortunately, in Pac-Man World, it functions just like any other collectible.
1 Toc-Man Is The Reverse Word Of A NAMCO Console Division
The antagonist of Pac-Man World is a robotic imitation of the main character, only significantly larger and more menacing looking. In terms of 3D platformer villains, he is not anything too notable, but it makes sense for Pac-Man's nemesis to be a bizarro version of himself. The name might seem like a bit of a mystery, however.
For those well versed in Namco's history, the name Toc-Man will make perfect sense, at least if they read backward. Namcot was an old division of Namco's console gaming. As a tribute, the villain's name is simply this branch of Namco reversed. Is it really all that flattering to be paid tribute through a villain, though?
Pac-Man World Re-Pac Is available on PS4, PS5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.