Pac-Man Museum+ Will Bring The Retro Vibes To Switch In May

I don't think I like Pac Man enough for this

This should be cool. I might get it

Any news on a physical version? I'm so happy Pac-land arcade is coming to Switch.

Aaannd still no Ms. Pac-Man. Glad I have it on XBLA, at least. Licenses and legal red tape are why we can't have so many nice things (anymore).

I'm super excited about this one. I love Pac-Mania, Pac-Man Arrangement, Pac-Man CE... and Pac-Attack, too! I've been dying to have those on the Switch, so I'll happily be picking this up.

So happy to be finally able to own "Pac-Man Arrangement" after all these years! It has been my favourite version of the game since I stumbled upon it.

I might just buy this! To me, this seems like a sequel to the PAC-Man collection on GBA. Which is good because that game is still the best collection of Pac-Man games, at least portably.

That's a lot of Pac-Man. I might have to pick this up at some point. The older I get, the more I appreciate the series. If only it included Pac-Man World 1&2, it would be a day one buy for me.

I would get it only for Ms Pac Man but... so many games and not the best one. Only on Xbox 360 as an expensive DLC for a game that I think is delisted...

It be nice to see Pac man Adventures in time on one of these collections. Can't find anywhere....

@john_lennon999 @AtlanteanMan Ms Pac-Man is also on the PS4 store - $4.

Do we know what the price is for this?

I'm definitely gonna pick this up. The fact there's so many newer games in the pack already makes it worth it. Always nice to see so many collections getting released

@AtlanteanMan As someone not in the know, what makes Ms. Pac-Man different from regular Pac-Man? I think I remember playing both back in the day but I don't remember any real differences other than a little bow on your chomping pizza.

Day one gamepass.

I skipped the previous Namco Museum archives on Switch, due to being 8-bit NES style games. This one looks interesting as it appears to have the arcade version of Pac-Land.

Ms Pac-Man misses out again.

This is a disappointing delay. Would've been the perfect game to release toward the start of the year when there weren't many high-profile releases.

This is a good mix of games, especially including the puzzle game. But it really needs Ms. Pac-Man. As popular as that game is, why is it always excluded?

@Yosher So, the original Pac-Man is always the same maze. Ms. Pac-Man changes the maze layout every couple levels, which us a bug difference in and of itself. Makes it a lot more repayable, since you're not just repeating the same exact maze 250 times. The color of the maze also changes. This may vary based on the specific arcade machine, as they can apparently have different chips, but Ms. Pac-Man tends to be significantly faster and with 5 lives instead of 3. Not only does being faster make it more thrilling, but the ghosts are also less likely to catch up to you. It's kinda frustrating how easily you can die in the original without being cornered just by the ghost gaining speed on you when you're going straight. So, the challenge becomes more about not losing control and running into a ghost instead of getting so easily cornered. It's way more fun and just makes the original obsolete in every way.

@Kiyata Other people could probably explain the situation to you better than I can, but the gist of it is that there is a legal dispute between Namco and another company over who owns the royalty rights to Ms. Pac-Man.

@Not_Soos Huh, I never knew. Definitely seems like the original is just.. there as a legacy edition that they keep pushing out just because it was the first and don't want the superior to be widely available for some reason. Thank you very much for that explanation!

Ms. Pac-Man is missing. It needs to be included!

If it had Pac Man World I'd get it, and Ms. Pac-Man

Physical release and I'll be there. Gimme some physical companion to Pac-Man Vs. and Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 PLUS in Namco Museum Arcade Pac.

Wish it included the Pac-Man World trilogy ane maybe Pac-Man World Rally.

@Yosher There's actually some weird copyright trouble with Ms. Pac-Man I think it has to do with some arcade publisher holding the rights or something

@InvisiBulbasaur yeah it’s seems strange that they did include them. Maybe even lazy. I would have snapped it up with them on it.

@Yosher Ms. Pac-Man had a different set of fruits in its stages that entered and made their way through the maze (unlike those in Pac-Man, which remained stationary in the center of the maze). As Not_Soos mentioned, every third stage introduced a different maze layout, which kept things fresh. It also had different music and introduced little cut scenes (among the very first in videogames) that showed her and Pac-Man meeting and, if memory serves, eventually having Pac-Man Jr.. Personally I've always preferred the gameplay in Ms. Pac-Man, and the quality difference between it and the original Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 was night and day (though it lacked the cinematics and maze layouts of the Arcade version).

Anyway, hope this helps somehow.

the arcade aspect of the game reminds me a lot of Animal Crossing

I keep thinking this is already out, and check to see if it's on offer, before it's even out... not sure whether that makes me excited, or that I'm just dreading the price...

I will definitely be getting this, but it's such a shame that the DX+ version of Championship Edition isn't included. I would love to have that on Switch. Thankfully I'll at least be able to play it on Steam Deck soon.

No Ms. PAC man but I at the very least got it on GBA Namco Museum. We need a Ms. PAC man collection too.

@AtlanteanMan It does! Thanks for the extra explanation there. I always literally just remembered it as Pac Man with a female character but I'm glad to hear it was much more than just that. A shame that one doesn't get more love.

Wow no Ms. Pac-Man, probably will get it during a sales.

The announcer is screaming aggressively enough to sound like the world's most rabid Pac-Man fan.

Oh! I didn't know that, I don't have a PS4! I think is around 5 euros on Xbox 360 in a Collection that was on sale for 4 euros most of the time! @Tandy255

@AtlanteanMan haha I said it exactly the same way, too... wouldn't it be cool if Jr. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man ever made it to home consoles?

Man, I was hoping it would release sooner. Oh well, at least they have more time to make it a polished product.

Now please announce it's getting a physical version and I'm yours.

I'm buying it, day one, bros!

@AtlanteanMan Mrs. Pac-Man was also much faster. I prefer it over the original and wish it was included here. Still looking forward to the collection though.

It's a crime that this doesn't include Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

@GrailUK I don't know if Joy-cons will be happy for Pac-Land arcade.
I remember watching a certain youtuber play a real PCB and I could just hear the buttons in pain.

I think this is shaping up to be one of the best Pac-Man compilations Namco has put out.

Compare this to Namco Museum on Switch, which was essentially a menu screen that only had a handful of games. The level of customization and activities here put that to shame.

It sucks that there Ms. Pac-Man isn't included, but, given the legal circumstances surrounding her, it's somewhat understandable. Maybe she'll be offered as DLC in the future.

Wheres Championship Dx +?

@KingMike Hahaha. Don't worry, I'll go easy on them...not.

Can someone fill me in on the deal with Ms. Pac-man. How come it's not on this compilation?

@GrailUK Bandai-Namco owns the trademark and copyright to Ms. Pac-Man, but AtGames (the makers of the retro Arcade cabinets) owns the royalty rights, so it's tied up in a messy legal battle. While AtGames can and is making Ms. Pac-Man cabinets for its line (I saw some today at Walmart, as a matter of fact), apparently it's prevented Namco from publishing the game in any new form for years now.

@Yosher Sure thing! I think the original game is still a nice novelty to have on modern consoles--like how Nintendo keeps getting us to buy NES Super Mario Bros. every generation, even though there are far better Mario games, lol. The reason we don't have Ms. Pac-Man on modern consoles isn't because they don't want it to outshine the original or anything, but because there's some messy legal issues where Namco has to split the royalties with another company or something. It's kind of confusing and the details are really vague. But the two companies apparently reached some sort of settlement like a year ago, and officially licensed Ms. Pac-Man arcade cabinets by Arcade1up are a thing now as well. So, maybe there's hope?

@AtlanteanMan Bless you

@Kiyata Namco doesn't have the rights. AtGames does.

To everyone complaining about no Ms. Pac-Man, the reason why it's excluded is because Namco is forced to pay royalties because they didn't develop it.
We gotta learn to accept this, it's likely not going to change. Blame Midway for being cocky in the 80s.

@Flexp7 yes I would totally buy just for that game!

A cool idea that they should have used for a Namco museum release:

Speaking of which, it’s high time they release Ridge Racer and Soul Caliber!

Ms. Pac-Man could become DLC like it was for Pac-Man Museum.

Physical or bust.

Just give us Ms. Pac-Man. How much does AtGames want?

Dang, still no Ms. Pac-Man? I hate licensing!

Wow that narration was… emphatic 😁
Like he warmed up by conversing at the loudest bars in town.

It’s kind’ve jarring hearing the calm cool “Bandai Namuco” in Japanese right after, too.

This looks like a nice Pac-man collection - I’d be tempted to buy, but they’ll probably keep it eShop only.

It would be nice to get the 3D Pac-Man titles too Namco! The World titles are fun and I enjoyed Ghostly Adventures

Retail physical release? Otherwise it's a pass.

Ms. Pac-Man and Championship Edition DX

...screams into void...

Maybe people just haven't played it, but Battle Royale is the main reason for anyone to be excited.

The only console port is on Playstation 3 and it's not very good, but the game is genius.

@Yosher Ms Pac Man is the superior game because the stages keep changing unlike Pac man which just repeats the same stage throughout. Plus she’s a babe.

Ms Pac man would make this a no brainer for me, but if they don’t want to pony up whatever percentage of their profits to whoever to do it then that’s the choice they make- and my choice is to not get it.

Personally, the only candles here that remains lit for me is the fact they are bringing the arcade version of arrangement and pac-attack, other than that I’m but a simple automaton, I don’t need much to make me happy

@WaveBoy technically, they are ports from a ps2 collection, only they switched the region flag from Japan to World from the original roms

I'm looking forward to this but... No Pac-Man Jr.? Can Jr. get some love too??

Also is Pac-Man Arrangement the same as Pac-Man Plus, or do I need to whine about that too?