Pac-Man Championship Edition

Pac-Man Championship Edition
Pac-Man Championship Edition
Developer(s) Namco Bandai Games
Publisher(s) Namco Bandai Games
Director(s) Tadashi Iguchi
Producer(s) Nobutaka Nakajima
Designer(s) Toru Iwatani
Programmer(s) Takashi Ōtsuka
Yasumichi Onishi
Hideki Harada
Artist(s) Masaharu Okada
Hideki Tanaami
Yoshikazu Komatsu
Composer(s) Junko Ozawa
Platform(s) Android
Xbox Live Arcade
iOS
PlayStation Portable
PlayStation 3
Nintendo 3DS
J2ME
Roku
Maemo 5
Release date(s)

Xbox Live Arcade
June 6, 2007
J2ME
July 9, 2009 [1]

iOS
December 10, 2009[2]
Android
Q3 2010[3]
PlayStation Minis

  • EU December 1, 2010

Nintendo 3DS

  • JP June 23, 2011
  • NA July 26, 2011
  • EU August 26, 2011[5]
Genre(s) Maze, Arcade
Mode(s) Single player

Pac-Man Championship Edition (パックマン チャンピオンシップエディション Pakkuman Chanpionshippu Edishon, sometimes simply referred to as Pac-Man C.E.) is a 2007 video game in the Pac-Man series, developed by Namco Bandai Games for the arcades.

The game was designed by Tōru Iwatani, the creator of the original 1980 arcade game Pac-Man, and it was Iwatani's final game before his retirement.[6]

Originally released on the Xbox Live Arcade service for the Xbox 360, it was later released for the Android, iOS, J2ME, Roku, Maemo 5 and S60 platforms, on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 3 consoles, on Nintendo 3DS as part of the retail game Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions, and as part of the downloadable game compilation, Pac-Man Museum for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Steam for the PC.

A follow-up game called Pac-Man Championship Edition DX was released in 2010, featuring new gameplay elements.

Game play

PAC-Man Championship Edition is similar in basic game play to the original 1980 PAC-Man: players have to eat dots, while avoiding the four ghosts that roam around the maze. Championship Edition, however, also brings many game play differences.

Like the original PAC-Man, the basic game play of PAC-Man Championship Edition consists entirely of navigating PAC-Man through a maze, eating dots, power pellets and bonus items (such as fruits, keys, and other objects), and avoiding the four ghosts that roam the maze as well. If PAC-Man is caught by a ghost, the player loses a life. Eating a power pellet causes the ghosts to turn blue, allowing PAC-Man to eat them and send them back to their home, where they re-emerge in their original form.

However, there are several major differences from its original counterpart, making PAC-Man C.E. a faster paced game. Each maze is divided into two halves. Eating all the dots on one half causes a bonus item to appear on the other side, and eating the item causes a new maze to appear on the other half. Players can also collect additional power pellets to increase their powered up time and continue earning maximum points for eating ghosts. The longer the player stays alive, the faster the game gets and the more points can be earned. As opposed to levels, the game is played within a certain time limit, with players attempting to get the highest score possible.

The game features six modes: Championship, which is the basic five-minute mode, two Challenge modes which affect the stage (such as increasing power pellet pickups or putting the maze in darkness) and three Extra modes featuring different mazes. The game also supports online leader boards.

Releases

The game was originally released on the Xbox Live Arcade service on June 6, 2007.[7] The announcement of the game spurred more purchases of the Xbox 360 in Japan. Pac-Man C.E. is also available on a disc titled Xbox Live Arcade Compilation that is bundled with the Xbox 360 Arcade console bundle, as well as on the compilation package Namco Museum Virtual Arcade (in the latter however, it can't be accessed within NMVA itself; it must be accessed from the game library). Ports for iOS, J2ME, Android and PSP minis were released on December 10, 2009, middle of 2009, late 2010 and December 1, 2010 respectively.[8] The follow-up Pac-Man Championship Edition DX was released on Xbox Live Arcade on November 17, 2010 and PlayStation Network on November 23, 2010.[9][10] The original Pac-Man Championship Edition was ported to Nintendo 3DS as part of a retail game titled Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions in 2011 and is included in the downloadable game titled Pac-Man Museum in 2014.

World Championship

On June 5, 2007, the first Pac-Man World Championship was held in New York City, which brought together ten competitors from eight countries to play the new Pac-Man Championship Edition just prior to its release on Xbox Live Arcade. The top two scorers, Robert Glashuettner of Austria and Carlos Daniel Borrego Romero of Mexico, competed for the championship in a single five-minute round. Borrego was named Pac-Man World Champion and won an Xbox 360 console, specially decorated with Pac-Man artwork and signed by Tōru Iwatani.[11][12]

Daniel Borrego, winner of the Pac-Man World Championship, alongside Namco's mascot

Participants:

  1. Daniel Borrego (Mexico)
  2. James Rodgers (UK)
  3. Billy Mitchell (USA)
  4. Dwyane Richard (Canada)
  5. Huang Wei Hua (Taiwan)
  6. Reuben Anderson (New Zealand)
  7. Jason Gahler (USA)
  8. Kitayatsu Hiroaki (Japan)
  9. Timothy Balderramos (USA)
  10. Robert Glashuettner (Austria)

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic83/100
Review scores
PublicationScore
1UP.comA[13]
CVG7/10[14]
Eurogamer7/10[15]
GameSpot7.9/10[16]
IGN8.4/10[17]
TeamXbox8.6/10[18]
X-Play5/5[19]

Pac-Man Championship Edition received mostly positive reviews by critics, with reviewers stating the gameplay was "fresh and exciting,"[20] "one of the best 'exclusive' pieces of downloadable/casual entertainment available,"[21] and that it was "nice to see a classic remade instead of simply repackaged."[22] Jared Rea of Joystiq called it "The first true sequel to Pac-Man since Ms. Pac-Man."[23] Criticisms include a lack of a multiplayer mode, and an apparent relapse to patterns that had been in the original. The game's Metacritic aggregator score is 83, with a user average of 8.5/10.[24] The iOS port was criticised for its microtransaction strategy[25] while the Android port was criticised for poor controls.[26] IGN criticised the PSPminis version due to the absence of online leaderboards and its inferiority to its sequel.[27]

See also

References

  1. "Pac-Man Championship Edition The Pac is Back". pocketgamer.com. July 9, 2009. Retrieved May 21, 2011.
  2. "Pac-Man CE now on iPhone, starting at $3". Joystiq.com. December 10, 2009. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  3. "IGN: Pac-Man: Championship Edition". IGN.com. July 15, 2010. Retrieved July 17, 2010.
  4. Rey Gutierrez, "The Drop: Week of Jan 31st 2011 New Releases", Play Station Blog, January 30, 2011, Retrieved November 15, 2014
  5. "Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions Includes Legions and Championship Edition". andriasang.com. March 30, 2011. Retrieved March 31, 2011.
  6. Ransom, James (2007-06-07). "Joystiq, June 7, 2007". Joystiq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  7. Grant, Christopher (2007-06-05). "Joystiq, June 5, 2007". Joystiq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  8. "PlayStation Minis, I Can No Longer Ignore You". Kotaku.com. 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  9. "NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. – News". Namcobandaigames.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  10. Words: Carolyn Gudmundson, GamesRadar US (2010-09-09). "Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - can Pac-Man feel new again?, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Xbox 360 Previews". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  11. Schiesel, Seth (2007-06-06). "Run, Gobble, Gobble, Run: Vying for Pac-Man Acclaim". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  12. Xbox.com | Calendar of Events - PAC-MAN World Championships
  13. "Pac-Man: CE Review for from". 1UP.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  14. "Live Arcade Review: Pac-Man: Championship Edition Review". ComputerAndVideoGames.com. 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  15. Reed, Kristan (2007-06-07). "Pac-Man Championship Edition Xbox 360 Review - Page 1". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  16. Gerstmann, Jeff (2007-06-06). "Pac-Man Championship Edition Review for Xbox 360". GameSpot. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  17. Brudvig, Erik. "Pac-Man: Championship Edition Review - Xbox 360 Review at IGN". Xboxlive.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  18. "Pac-Man Championship Edition Review (Xbox 360)". Reviews.teamxbox.com. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  19. Mike D'Alonzo - Posted Aug 13, 2007 (2007-08-13). "Pac-Mania 3D Review for W". G4tv. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  20. Brudvig, Erik (2007-06-06). "IGN, June 6, 2007". Xbox360.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  21. "1Up, June 11, 2007". 1up.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  22. "Team Xbox, June 9, 2007". Reviews.teamxbox.com. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  23. Sliwinski, Alexander (2007-06-09). "Joystiq, June 8, 2007". Joystiq.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  24. "Pac-Man Championship Edition". MetaCritic. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  25. Buchanan, Levi (2009-12-08). "Pac-Man: Championship Edition Review - iPhone Review at IGN". Uk.wireless.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  26. Buchanan, Levi (2010-07-15). "Pac-Man Championship Edition Android Review - Android Review at IGN". Uk.wireless.ign.com. Retrieved 2011-01-24.
  27. http://uk.psp.ign.com/articles/114/1148001p1.html
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