Pac-Man 99 was a Nintendo Switch-exclusive game (as part of the Nintendo Switch Online Membership), developed by Arika and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment in 2021.
Following a similar format to Tetris 99 and Super Mario Bros. 35, it is a battle royale game where up to 99 players play at the same time, fighting to become the sole remaining player at the end of the game to become "Pac-One".
Pac-Man 99 was shut down on October 8th, 2023, with the game being removed from the Nintendo Switch Online service.[1][2] Though the game can no longer be played online, players who own the "Mode Unlock" DLC can continue to play the offline modes past the game's shut down.
Gameplay[]
Gameplay of a regular Pac-Man 99 match in progress.
The gameplay is similar to the original Pac-Man, where Pac-Man is in a maze and has to run from Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. The game involves attempting to attack other players with Jammer Pac-Man in order to be the last player remaining, as the last surviving player is declared “Pac-One” and wins the game.
Each player, with only one life, is confined to their own maze and must clear out Pac-Dots in addition to avoiding the Ghosts, as in the original. Upon eating a certain amount of Pac-Dots, a bonus fruit will appear beneath the Ghost House, which will refresh the maze with a new supply of Pac-Dots, Sleeping Ghosts and Power Pellets. Clearing the maze of all its Pac-Dots (excluding Power Pellets) increases the player’s speed level by one, which can max out to ten. The locations of every Pac-Dot vary between each regeneration, missing a corner most of the time. However, there are chances of having every dot (except for the very middle of the maze) or only Power Pellets, the latter granting an immediate speed boost. On the sides of the maze next to the Warp Tunnels, there are Sleeping Ghosts that will latch onto a ghost and follow it upon contact, which will turn into regular frightened ghosts upon eating a Power Pellet; allowing for a attack bonus. Up to 32 ghosts can be present on a train at once. These ghosts can be touched without harm.
When the player eats a Frightened Ghost with the help of the Power Pellet, they will attack other players by sending them one Jammer Pac-Man to rivals’ mazes. The Jammer Pac-Man are white outlined Pac-Men that appear in the maze when attacked by opponents. The Jammer Pac-Man stay in place at the beginning of a game, but will begin chasing Pac-Man upon appearing in the maze after 1 minute of game time has elapsed. The white Jammer Pac-Man will not hurt Pac-Man upon contact, but will slow him down and leave him more vulnerable to ghosts and Red Jammer Pac-Man. They will disappear upon being caught by one Jammer Pac-Man, by eating a Power Pellet or by eating the bonus fruit. As the player count falls below 10, red-colored Jammer Pac-Man will begin appearing in the maze. These Red Jammer Pac-Man are slower but more hostile versions of the regular Jammer Pac-Man that will defeat Pac-Man upon contact, similar to a ghost attack; they freeze in place during Power Pellet effects and only disappear when a bonus fruit is eaten. The amount of Jammer Pac-Man about to spawn in a maze is indicated by a bar located on the bottom of the screen. The Red Jammer Pac-Man appears with a warning sound upon entering a maze.
Opponents’ mazes are shown on the side of the screen, which will indicate the current positions of Pac-Man, the Ghosts and any present Jammer Pac-Man on their screens. The player can use the A, B, X, and Y buttons and Right Control Stick to change their methods of sending Jammer Pac-Man to other players. The buttons are used to change the way the Power Pellet effects are presented, while the Right Control Stick is used to target players. The button settings can be changed in the options menu.
A player is eliminated from the game if their Pac-Man is caught by a ghost or a Red Jammer Pac-Man. Upon eliminating a targeted player, the player will gain K.O. badges, which multiplies the player’s Jammer Pac-Man attack power but will also make them more vulnerable to players targeting using the Hunter targeting mode. Any K.O.’ed players with badges will forfeit their badges to the player that targeted them. The last player remaining when all other players have been eliminated wins the game. The player will receive experience points and will rank up based on their position, with higher amounts of experience points awarded in higher game positions.
Power Pellet modes[]
Upon eating a Power Pellet, the effects given by a Power Pellet will depend on the current mode activated. If a Power Pellet mode is changed while one is already active, they will not change effects until another Power Pellet is eaten.
- Standard uses the regular and balanced Power Pellet effects.
- Stronger multiplies the amount of Jammer Pac-Man sent to opponents by one to three per each Frightened Ghost eaten, though the Power Pellet’s effects are shortened and will lose one speed level upon activating the Power Pellet effect.
- Speed doubles Pac-Man’s speed during the Power Pellet effects, though the rate of Jammer Pac-Men sent to opponents is decreased.
- Train multiplies the amount of Sleeping Ghosts added to a ghost train upon awakening Sleeping Ghosts, though it adds a regular Jammer Pac-Man to the maze upon eating a Power Pellet.
Targeting modes[]
- Random will target opponents randomly.
- Counter will target all opponents currently targeting the player.
- Hunter will target opponents with the most K.O. badges.
- Knockout will target players with the most Jammer Pac-Men in their mazes.
Downloadable Content[]
The appearance of the maze can be changed with different themes. Some DLC themes are notably based on other Namco games.
Various pieces of paid DLC were released during the game's lifespan, including paid game themes ($1.99 each) and a set of additional gameplay modes ($14.99). Alternatively, all content could be bought together for a reduced price of $29.99. The paid DLC themes were delisted on August 8, 2023, while the game mode DLC was delisted on September 8, 2023.[3] Players who own the Mode Unlock DLC could continue to play the modes following the game's shutdown.
Mode Unlock[]
- The Mode Unlock DLC added the following offline game modes to Pac-Man 99:
- CPU Battle allows the player to play the regular PAC-MAN 99 mode against computer-controlled players. The computer player difficulty, starting speed and badges can be configured before playing.
- Score Attack tasks the player to achieve a total of 3,333,360 points with three extra lives supplied during play.
- Blind Time Attack gives the player a starting time limit of 1 minute and 30 seconds to eat twelve fruits. Time can be extended by scoring enough points before eating the bonus fruit, however extra time will decrease if Pac-Man is caught.
- The ability to create private matches for the regular Pac-Man 99 mode was also added, though this feature was disabled following the shutdown of the game’s servers on October 8, 2023.
Graphic Themes[]
Graphic Themes were presented in free and paid forms. The paid DLC themes were delisted on August 8, 2023, while the free DLC themes were delisted alongside the game's closure on October 8, 2023.
Graphic themes can change the appearance of the characters, mazes, backgrounds and can change music depending on the theme selected. Some themes are created with original themes, while some are notably based on previous arcade titles released by Namco.
- Babel’s Tower ("Namco Classic 6")
- Baraduke
- Bravoman
- Bricks
- Colorful
- Cosmo Gang: The Video
- Dig Dug
- Dragon Buster
- Dragon Spirit ("Namco Classic 4")
- Frame
- Galaga
- Garden
- Genpei Tōma Den
- Igloo
- Log House
- Mappy ("Namco Classic 2")
- Metro-Cross ("Namco Classic 3")
- New Rally-X
- Pastel Blocks
- The Return of Ishtar
- Rolling Thunder
- Sky Kid ("Namco Classic 1")
- Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffti
- The Tower of Druaga
- Toy Pop ("Namco Classic 5")
- Valkyrie no Densetsu
- Vector
- Warp & Warp ("Namco Classic 7")
- Wonder Momo
- Xevious
- Yokai Dochuki
Gallery[]
Promotional artwork[]
Music[]
Trivia[]
- Pac-Man 99's announcement and release notably comes one week after the discontinuation of Super Mario Bros. 35, an online battle royale game also developed by Arika.
- Following the announcement of the game's shutdown, F-Zero 99, a 99-player racing game from Nintendo was released a month prior to Pac-Man 99's shutdown.
- Pac-Man 99 had regular official tournaments known as the Pac-Man 99 Challenge, hosted by Bandai Namco Entertainment America, running from 2021 to 2023.
- Pac-Man 99 is the third Pac-Man related game to shut down in the same year, following the closure of Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle and Pac-Man Community.
- A re-released version of Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle; an online battle royale game released prior to Pac-Man 99, was announced two days after Pac-Man 99's shutdown. While unconfirmed, outlets have assumed Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs was intended to replace Pac-Man 99.
- The point threshold needed to win the Score Attack mode references the maximum possible score in the original Pac-Man, which is 3,333,360 points.
- By positioning Pac-Man in a certain distance from the ghosts and red Jammer Pac-Man, it is possible for Pac-Man to rarely pass through them; a technique that is recreated from the glitch seen in the original Pac-Man.
- When this occurs, a shine will emit on screen.
- Like the original Pac-Man, Pac-Man can position himself upwards on the right edge of the "T" wall just below the Ghost House; preventing the ghosts from finding him. However, this technique can only be used temporarily as arrows will through these paths as the game progresses and will allow the ghosts to pass through these locations.