Pac-Man World
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pac-Man World | |
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| Developer(s) | Namco |
| Publisher(s) | Namco |
| Release date(s) | September 30, 1999 (PS) November 17, 2004 (GBA) |
| Genre(s) | Platform |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (E) |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, Game Boy Advance |
Pac-Man World was released on the 20th anniversary of the creation of Pac-Man. It is a 3D based free roaming platformer for the PlayStation released on September 30, 1999. It was released over five years later for the Game Boy Advance on November 17, 2004 (port).
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[edit] Modes
- In Quest Mode, Pac-Man explores the six levels of Ghost Island to save his friends
- In Maze Mode, chase Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde in a variety of 3-D maze environments.
- Classic Mode included the original Pac-Man game within it.
[edit] Storyline
Pac-Man, arriving home on his 20th birthday (the game was released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original Pac-Man in arcades) only to discover that his friends and family -- Ms. Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man, Professor Pac, Chomp-Chomp the dog and Pooka (the little red guy with the mask from Dig Dug) -- have been kidnapped by the evil Toc-Man, a giant robotic Pac-Man impersonator bent on stealing Pac-Man's identity. Pac-Man sets off for Ghost Island and works to free them, each of whom is held captive in one of the different themed worlds:
- Pirates
- Ancient Egypt
- Space
- Funhouse
- Factory
- Toc-Man's Mansion
Meanwhile, Toc-Man uses Pac-Man's name in a television broadcast going out across Pac-Land until Pac-Man arrives at his mansion to fight him.
[edit] Gameplay
The game was a standard 3D platformer that played heavily into the history of the character; every non-boss level featured a maze that played by the rules of the original game (though Pac-Man's health pie was still present, allowing the player to survive being touched by ghosts up to three times), every level was littered with dots, fruits and ghosts, much of the music was modified from early entries into the series (one of the common themes in all the levels is the intermission music from Pac-Man modified according to the theme of the level) and of course the original Pac-Man game was available for play from the menu screen.
In addition, Pac-Man had been given a handful of standard platform maneuvers, including a "butt-bounce", reminiscent of Mario and the Rev-Roll, reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog. Also, he'd gained the ability to use the dots offensively, throwing them at non-ghost enemies.
The level format was fairly straightforward; each world consisted of four levels. Introduction. The first level in a world would introduce a new technique or enemy type. The second and third would require use of that technique to complete, and couldn't be completed without it. The fourth level of each world was a boss battle requiring unique gameplay or puzzle-solving to defeat.
The second levels also included a key that, while not essential to complete the game, was required to free whichever of Pac-Man's friends was held prisoner in the third level. Every freed character would then appear to aid Pac-Man in the final battle against Toc-Man.
[edit] Sequels
As well as the port to the Game Boy Advance there was a Pac-Man World 2 released on February 24, 2002. It is available on the PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Game Boy Advance and has multiplayer unlike its predecessor. The title was released later on some platforms though.
The latest game in the series is Pac-Man World 3 was released on all the consoles which Pac-Man World 2 was on (except Game Boy Advance) and also onto Sony's handheld, the PlayStation Portable. It was released on November 1, 2005 on to every console except the PSP and Nintendo DS. The PlayStation Portable version was released on December 6 and the Nintendo DS version was released on February, 2006.
There is also a spin-off called Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Pac-Man Series | |
| Arcade titles | Pac-Man – Ms. - Super – Plus – Baby – Pac & Pal – Jr. – Professor – Pac-Land – Pac-Mania |
| Console & Handheld titles | Pac-Attack – 2: The New Adventures – Pac-In-Time – Collection – Vs. – Pac-Pix |
| Pac-Man World subseries | World – World 2 – World 3 |
| Pac-Man World spin-offs | Adventures in Time – Maze Madness – Fever – Pac 'n Roll – World Rally |
| Mario Kart Games | Arcade GP - Arcade GP 2 |
