Stages are linear, blocky obstacle courses that mostly employ a side-on perspective. Ghost Island consists of six worlds: Pirate, Ruins, Space, Funhouse, Factory, and Mansion, and a hub connects them together. It’s pretty rare to go a long stretch without seeing one. Finally, Pac-Man can throw the pellets he collects-he can charge this attack, too-though attacking from afar is only useful against a handful of enemies.Įvery stage and some boss fights include multiple checkpoints. The latter usually reside on small platforms that move when the yellow fella revs atop them. Its primary purpose is to dash across chasms and power Rev Pads, however. There’s also the Rev Roll, which can be used to tackle enemies, some of whom are only vulnerable from the side. His main attack is the self-explanatory Butt Bounce, which doubles as a high jump. Pac-Man can tank up to four hits from enemies and most hazards (some, like lava, kill him instantly). One stage, Spin Dizzy, is filled with rotating discs that awkwardly imbue Pac-Man with some inertia while jumping along them, requiring you to carefully angle yourself (hint: jumping with the rotation gives Pac-Man more horizontal distance). Plus, if you just miss a platform, Pac-Man grabs on to the ledge. Changing direction in midair is, likewise, effortless, and taking advantage of these qualities makes hopping along even small platforms simple. He feels weightless and carries zero inertia, however if you stop pressing the D-Pad while airborne, Pac stops and plummets straight down. Jumping is Pac-Man’s primary ability, one complemented by a subtle but satisfying squash and stretch animation. It’s fine, though most of the game is built around this. Moving Pac-Man is done with the controller’s D-Pad, so he lacks proper three dimensional movement. Without a second’s hesitation, Pac-Man sails to Ghost Island… Then, a flier advertising Toc-Man’s-sorry, the “real” Pac-Man’s-party descends from the sky, and the normally merry mascot seethes. They miss Pac-Man, naturally, and when the hero returns to his empty, vandalized home, he panics. Unfortunately, the malicious, attention-seeking Toc-Man orders the ghosts to kidnap everyone. It’s Pac-Man’s twentieth birthday (hence the subtitle)! While he’s away, his family and friends are preparing a surprise party. And those pleasant memories and a sense of curiosity inspired me to purchase Pac-Man World: 20th Anniversary through the PlayStation Network earlier this year. While World 2 isn’t a genre-defining masterpiece, it is a mostly fun romp nevertheless. Thankfully, Pac-Man World 2 and 3 were multi-platform releases, and I did procure a GameCube copy of the former.

The first one graced the PlayStation, a console I didn’t own. Surprisingly, however, the Pac-Man World trilogy mostly escaped my attention. One of my regrets growing up was never buying Ms. Thanks to AShadowLink and Wolfman for helping with edits. Beat the Backlog: Pac-Man World: 20th Anniversary

Pac man world 3 final boss