Pac-Man Arrangement (パックマンアレンジメント Pakkuman Arenjimento) is a 2005 video game developed by Tose and published by Namco, initially released as part of the Namco Museum Battle Collection compilation for the PlayStation Portable.
The game is a loose adaption of a previously released arcade game, also titled Pac-Man Arrangement, from a decade prior. To avoid confusion between the two, some later re-releases were given labels to distinguish itself from the 1996 game, such as Pac-Man Remix for the iOS release, and Pac-Man Arrangement CS Ver. in Pac-Man Museum +.
Pac-Man Arrangement plays similar to the original Pac-Man and the original Pac-Man Arrangement. The player controls Pac-Man as he attempts to eat all the Pac-Dots in the maze while avoiding GhostsBlinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. Eating a Power Pellet allows Pac-Man to temporarily eat the Ghosts. After a certain amount of Pac-Dots are eaten, a bonus fruit spawns in a specific location of the maze (usually in the center below the ghost house). Extra lives are awarded after reaching 20,000 points, 40,000 points, and every 20,000 points afterwards (the amount of points needed for an extra life can be changed to 10,000 points, 30,000 points, and every 50,000 points, or to 40,000 points, 80,000 points and every 10,000 points in Options). Pac-Man loses a life if he is caught by a ghost or by a hazard. The game ends if Pac-Man loses all his lives, though the player is given the option to continue from the start of the round with their score reset. There are three difficulty options, with each difficulty mode altering the speed of the ghosts when there are few Pac-Dots left.
The game features 30 unique mazes, which is split across six different themed worlds; consisting of a toy-box area, a garden, a building, a factory, a beach and a mansion/fortress. Unlike previous games, the maze layouts use more horizontal space compared to vertical space, to fit the widescreen display. Various mazes have gimmicks that help or hinder Pac-Man or the Ghosts progress:
Warp Tunnels, which are present in every maze except the boss rounds, allow Pac-Man and the Ghosts to teleport to the other side of the maze. Pac-Man speeds up when entering the Warp Tunnels, while the Ghosts move at their regular speed.
Dash Panels launch Pac-Man forward when he moves on top of the Dash Panel's indicated direction, allowing him to stun Ghosts that he dashes into. Pac-Man cannot make a 180° turn while dashing and will simply stop in place if he attempts to make a 180° turn. In order to make a 180° turn, Pac-Man must wait for the dash meter on the bottom of the screen to deplete in order to move normally again.
Doors and Bridges open and close randomly, either allowing passage through or acting as a barrier.
Lifts will take Pac-Man and the Ghosts between floors of a maze.
Pipes obscure the view of Pac-Man and the Ghosts.
Warp Panels teleport Pac-Man and the Ghosts to the Warp Panel's corresponding color. Entering the multi-color Warp Panel teleports Pac-Man and the Ghosts to a randomly selected Warp Panel.
Conveyors speed up Pac-Man and the Ghosts if they are moving in the Conveyor's indicated direction, while moving it from the opposite direction slows them down.
There are several items that appear to help Pac-Man in the mazes. The power-ups are lost when Pac-Man loses a life.
Dash Boots allow Pac-Man to manually charge up a dash at any place, similar to the Dash Panel in the mazes. The player must hold any button to charge, which causes Pac-Man to freeze until the button is released. The longer Pac-Man charges up (indicated by a speed meter on the bottom right of the screen), the longer the dash will last. Like using the Dash Panel, Pac-Man will freeze if he attempts to make a 180° turn while he has dash power. The Dash Boots begin appearing after World 2-3.
The Jump Feather allows Pac-Man to jump over ghosts and Giant Inky's shockwaves. When the Jump Feather is picked up, a gauge will appear, which starts empty, but fills up automatically. When the gauge is full, the player can press any button to jump. The Jump Feather begins appearing after World 3-5.
The Splitting Scroll generates a mirror Pac-Man clone that can eat and pass safely through ghosts. The Pac-Man clone travels in the opposite direction of Pac-Man's location and only appears in certain rounds. The Splitting Scroll begins appearing after World 5-3.
The Lucky Present temporarily turns all the Pac-Dots in the maze into Power Pellets. The Lucky Present's length is shorter in later rounds.
On the fifth round of each world, a boss fight occurs where Pac-Man must defeat larger forms of the Ghosts. Eating a Power Pellet splits the giant ghost into 20 smaller blue ghosts, which Pac-Man can eat. When the Power Pellet's effects run out, the surviving ghosts regroup back into the larger ghost. If there is one small ghost remaining when the Power Pellet's effects run out, the last surviving ghost will chase Pac-Man like normal at high speeds. The round is cleared when Pac-Man eats the last ghost. The game ends after completing the boss in world 6.
In World 1, Pac-Man faces Giant Blinky; who dashes across the maze corner-to-corner in 8 directions, but never directly attacks Pac-Man.
In World 2, Pac-Man faces Giant Pinky; who rides in a UFO and slowly chases after Pac-Man. The UFO shoots a beam that can kill Pac-Man. At periodic moments, the UFO will stop and will teleport near Pac-Man, eventually reactivating the beam. When turning blue, the UFO will be left midair, partially blocking view of the maze.
In World 3, Pac-Man faces Giant Inky; who uses a helmet that shoots electric beams that Pac-Man has to jump over with the use of the Jump Feather.
In World 4, Pac-Man faces Giant Clyde; who rides in a bulldozer and charges at Pac-Man. The conveyors on the ground will move him as he does this.
In World 5, Pac-Man faces all four giant ghosts in three different phases; Giant Blinky, then Giant Pinky, and lastly Giant Inky and Clyde. Pac-Man must use the Splitting Scroll to eat the Power Pellets and Ghosts on the other side of the maze, which is blocked off by a gap that Pac-Man cannot cross. Unlike the other rounds, each giant ghost only consists of 10 small ghosts. The boss consists of three phases in which each ghost chases Pac-Man in different ways:
In the first phase, Giant Blinky moves quickly across corners on the right side of the maze.
In the second phase, Giant Pinky moves at an average speed and targets Pac-Man.
In the third and last phase, Giant Inky targets Pac-Man while Giant Clyde moves across corners. Both ghosts move very slowly in the process.
In World 6, Pac-Man faces all four giant ghosts piloting a ghost-shaped mech (similar to the Emperor Ghost mech from the 1996 game). The ghosts inside cycle positions, with the ghost in the front taking control of the mech. The ghosts each use their own respective attacks: Blinky charges through the maze corners, Pinky chases Pac-Man, Inky sweeps the maze with a laser, and Clyde uses the machine's claw to try to catch Pac-Man. When a Power Pellet is eaten, the ghost in the center splits into smaller ghosts, while the other ghosts take control of the mech. Dash Boots and Jump Feathers appear during the boss fight to help Pac-Man dodge the Ghosts' attacks. Unlike the other rounds, each giant ghost consists of 15 smaller ghosts. The game ends after this round is cleared.
Upon finishing a round for the first time, said round is unlocked in Free Play mode, where the player can revisit any of the mazes they have previously cleared at any time. If the player decides to stop playing mid-game, the player is given the ability to continue the game from the start of the round they were last in with their score reset.
Multiplayer[]
Namco Museum Battle Collection features two multiplayer modes similar to its '96 predecessor. In both modes, the second player controls Ms. Pac-Man. Re-releases of the game have excluded the multiplayer mode.
Co-Op Mode[]
Both players cooperate to complete the mazes just like the single-player mode. Unlike the single-player mode, the game does not freeze for a brief moment when a ghost is eaten.
There are no extra lives in this mode. If a player's Pac-Man is caught, the player must continue on without the other player for the rest of the round. The game ends if both players are caught by ghosts.
Vs. Mode[]
Both players compete to eat the most Pac-Dots. The player can choose to play on every round except the boss rounds.
If a player is caught by a ghost, that player's portion of Pac-Dots are scattered across the maze, and take control of one of the ghosts. If a player chomps on a player-controlled ghost, all of the chomped player's Pac-Dots are stolen, and respawn as Pac-Man again. Player-controlled ghosts can return to Pac-Man form by catching another Pac-Man or by eating Recovery Items.
A round ends when all the Pac-Dots in the maze are eaten or the player-determined timer expires (which can be turned on or off), with the player having the most amount of Pac-Dots at the end being declared the winner.
There are two exclusive items in this mode:
Recovery Items, marked by the Pac-Man symbols, allow player-controlled ghosts to return to their Pac-Man form.
The Ghost Item instantly nullifies active Power Pellet effects.
Pac-Man Arrangement Plus[]
A re-skinned version of Pac-Man Arrangement, known as Pac-Man Arrangement Plus (stylized as Pac-Man Arrangement Plus +) was included in the Japan and Korea-only compilation Namco Museum Vol. 2, released for the PlayStation Portable in February 2006. Gameplay aspects of the main mode remain unchanged, though there are aesthetical changes to the round themes as well as notable changes to the multiplayer mode.
This version of the game has not been re-released.
Changes in Pac-Man Arrangement Plus[]
The title screen is now blue and tilted diagonally.
The Vs. Mode now supports up to four player play. Player 3 controls a Pac-Man with a green hat and pacifier (possibly intended to be Baby Pac-Man), while Player 4 controls a Pac-Man wearing headphones.
The Co-Op Mode has been removed.
The world map's visuals have been redone. The world map features a new 2D line art style.
Various rounds have been re-themed to reference other Namco games, including Ms. Pac-Man, Tank Battalion, Mappy, Toy Pop, Dig Dug II and The Tower of Druaga; the re-themed rounds are accompanied with new music.
Home Ports[]
Ports of Pac-Man Arrangement have been notably modified to exclude various features, including the multiplayer game modes, the animated title screen, the ability to continue (in the Pac-Man Museum version), the Free Play mode (in the Pac-Man Museum version), and the credits sequence (in all versions except in Pac-Man Museum +).
iOS (iPhone, iPad, etc.) - now defunct
Released as a standalone app titled Pac-Man Remix. It was removed from the App Store at an unknown date.
Two versions were released; the game being featured in both Namco Museum Virtual Arcade and Pac-Man Museum.
For unknown reasons, the Namco Museum Virtual Arcade port seems to run considerably faster than other releases; running at roughly double the speed of the original PSP release. This makes the Virtual Arcade version considerably more difficult than any other ports. Additionally, it features slightly different sound effects; the logo on the title screen is also altered.
Xbox One/Xbox Series
Included in Pac-Man Museum +.
Windows PC
Two versions were released; the game being featured in both Pac-Man Museum and Pac-Man Museum +.
The European version of Namco Museum Battle Collection changes player 2's character from Ms. Pac-Man to a Pac-Man with a flower.
The European release of Namco Museum Battle Collection, which excludes the Ms. Pac-Man game from its lineup of classic games, also replaces the Ms. Pac-Man character in Pac-Man Arrangement; this female Pac-Man features a flower in place of Ms. Pac-Man's bow, but retains all other facial features. This change was presumably related to the legal issues surrounding Ms. Pac-Man.
The Pac-Man with a flower would make several appearances in some future Namco titles, such as Namco Museum Remix and the unreleased Pac-Man Party for Xbox 360. In the former, the floral Pac-Man is accompanied by the third and fourth-player characters seen in Pac-Man Arrangement Plus.
The multiplayer modes for Pac-Man Arrangement have not appeared in subsequent ports of the game. While it is unknown why the modes were removed, some have assumed that they are related to the aforementioned legal issues surrounding Ms. Pac-Man, who is controlled by the second player. If this reasoning is correct, however, it is unclear why the already-changed European version is not used instead.
This may also be why the credits were removed in some ports, as Ms. Pac-Man appeared in the background of them as well. Ironically, the credits sequence (with Ms. Pac-Man) is retained in Pac-Man Museum +; a compilation which otherwise removed all appearances of Ms. Pac-Man across its included games.
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