Once the gaming industry’s most recognizable mascot character,Pac-Manwas a dominant force in the arcades during their golden age. The original game’s main strength was that it perfected the arcade formula of making a game simple yetaddictive and punishing, encouraging players to keep putting coins in as they’re convinced they can top their high score with their next try.
Unfortunately for the circular hero, he hasn’t reached anywhere near the same success on home consoles as he did on arcades. In fact,Pac-Manwas partially responsible for the gaming industry’s crash in 1983, thanks tothe awful, yet high selling, Atari 2600 portof the arcade game, which is still considered one of the worst games of all time.
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Suffice to say; thePac-Manfranchise has had a few highs and lows. With the release of Pac-Man 99, fans looking to try some other games from the series may want to see where they rank among the rest according to critics and gamers everywhere.
18Pac-Man Fever - 54
Not to be confused with the album and song by Buckner & Garcia,Pac-Man Feveris a 2002 party game that was released on PlayStation 2 and GameCube. Much likeMario Party, players compete on a virtual board and in a selection of minigames. Besides Pac-Man, players can also play as popular Namco characters such as Tiger Jackson and Astaroth.
17Pac-Man World Rally - 57
From a game that took inspiration fromMario Partyto one that looked to emulate the success ofMario Kart. Pac-Man World Rallyhas everything one would expect from a kart racing game, such as power-ups, shortcuts, and multiplayer, though it did little to differentiate itself from themany other games in the genre.
16Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures - 58
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventuresis a 3D platformer based on a TV series of the same name. The gameplay didn’t blow anyone away, though it did turn heads with its visuals which were impressively close to the animated series.Ghostly Adventuresperformed well commercially, resulting in a direct sequel.
15Pac-Man Party - 59
The second party game on this list,Pac-Man Partyinitially released on the Nintendo Wii in 2010 before coming to the Nintendo 3DS the following year.
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Namco Bandai Games' release was part of the franchise’s 30th anniversary. Consequently, it offered players a few extra treats, such as a Classic Games mode, which included the originalPac-Mangame,Dig-Dug,andGalaga.
14Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 - 60
The aforementioned sequel toPac-Man and the Ghostly Adventureswasted little time releasing, as it hit stores just under one year after its predecessor. As one would expect with a game released so quickly,Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2did little to stand out from the first game, hence the similar scores.
13Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions - 60
Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensionsreleased exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS in 2011 and was essentially a greatest hits of thePac-ManandGalagafranchises.
Along with four classic titles, the game also featured two new games:Pac-Man TiltandGalaga 3D Impact, two games that require players to move the 3DS to play physically to control their character.
12Pac-Man - 62
The classicPac-Mangame receiving just a 62 on Metacritic is a shame, as the original title likely would have surpassed the 95 mark if the review aggregator was around in 1980. This score is for the Xbox Live Arcade re-release from 2006, which disappointed critics with its lack of new features.
11Pac-Man Museum - 66
As the name suggests,Pac-Man Museumis similar to the previous two entries on this list in the sense that it simply features some ofPac-Man’s classic games in their original state. The game launched with nine different games, followed by a tenth game from theMs. Pac-Manfranchise as DLC.
10Pac-Man Dash! - 67
Pac-Man Dash!is an endless-runner mobile title developed by M2. The game does little to stand out from the many other endless-runner platformers available on mobile. However, it succeeds in appealing to fans of theGhostly AdventuresTV series and gamesby implementing a similar art style and numerous key characters.
9Pac-Man World 2 - 74
ThePac-Man Worldtrilogy was Namco’s attempt at bringing the classic franchise intothe era of 3D platformers. Consequently, the game implements many popular features at the time from games likeSuper Mario 64andBanjo-Kazooie.
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The first game wasn’t scored on Metacritic, which is unfortunate as it’s considered the trilogy’s best.Pac-Man World 2wasn’t far off its quality, though, impressing fans and critics with its level-design and boss fights.
