Last year, I had what could only be described as a Pac-mental breakdown. I was very annoyed by the initial wave of Pac-Man's 40th anniversary announcements. A certain group of Pac-manchildren didn't help matters; and led to this wiki becoming a source of stress for me, as opposed to the fun project it once was. As time has gone on, however, I've gotten over things. My opinions haven't necessarily changed, but I've learned to not let petty Pac-Man nonsense affect me like it once did.
But anyways, back to the fortieth. Aside from some really lame merch, the headline game announcement was "Pac-Man Live Studio" - a game where you could build your own Pac-Man mazes. Something that...has been done countless times beforehand. I mean, one of the thirtieth anniversary's games was a maze builder. And Live Studio looked nowhere near as cool as the short-lived "Pac-Man Maker" - a game that would have been great, but only released in Canada. Who makes games exclusive to CANADA!?
My annoyance with the anniversary, and Pac-Man in general, led me to publishing a blog post on this wiki: titled "It's Pac-Man's 40th, and No One Cares". In that post, I explained how in recent years, Pac-Man has refused to innovate, or try anything new. It just lives off the original arcade game; slightly tweaked around, but nothing past that. But now, the 40th anniversary has come to a close; and I thought I should make a new post addressing everything that's come out since then. So, what was Pac-Man up to during his sub-par birthday bash?
...Well, not Live Studio, that's for sure...
I have literally no idea what's happened with Pac-Man Live Studio. It never came out. Missed the release window by eleven months. All mention of it has vanished from Amazon's website, and everything surrounding it seems...shady, to say the least. But don't worry; Amazon returned with a new Pac-Man game this month...and it is the worst thing I've ever seen. Known as "LOL Pac-Man", based on some Amazon Prime original series or something...it's like if you turned that awful GrubHub ad into a game. It is a literal disgrace to the Pac-Man name. It barely works, the controls are atrocious, and I haven't seen a single other person acknowledge it exists.
...Which leads me to my next point. As I mentioned in last year's post, nobody is really playing these games. To the point where no one, save for maybe some forty-somethings who aren't really part of the current gaming space, seems to even notice they exist. But in a way? That's changed. Because, to my surprise, Pac-Man's 40th ended on a pretty high note. While the initial announcements (and that "LOL" thing) were pretty bad, there were some highlights scattered throughout. And with one game in particular - if Namco takes the right cues from it - I have a feeling that Pac-Man could return to what it once was.
Let's go over some more basic stuff first. The initial 40th merchandise was all a little too "8-bit" for my tastes; but some really cool Pac-Man figures and plushes were announced later on, with the proper arms and legs design. There was some awesome stuff from Arcade1UP, including Ms. Pac-Man and the 8-in-1 "Partycade" featuring Pac-Land. There was also Pac-Man Geo, which...I couldn't really play that well, since I'm stuck on an ancient iPhone 6. But in concept, it seemed cool for what it was. Finally, they brought Tadashi Yamashita, the original Pac-Man artist, back to do the new "Pac-Tive" illustrations; which are great representations of the character, especially compared to some of the crap Namco put him through beforehand.
But then...there was the big one. Pac-Man: Mega Tunnel Battle. A Pac-Man game with sixty-four players. And it released exclusively on...Google Stadia. Oh boy. I played the free "trial week" they offered before launch, and I...kinda loved it. Solid graphics, gameplay, and most importantly to me, an actually unique concept.
But when the trial expired, and the time came to pay $20 to play further...I just couldn't do it. As I knew nobody else would. Simply put, especially if it was going to be exclusive to Stadia, it needed to stay free. Permanently. And they were so close! If it was just on the Switch instead, and didn't have the obnoxious price tag...it would have been a hit. Mark my words.
...And that's exactly what happened.
Pac-Man 99, surprise launched just a few months ago, for the Nintendo Switch. It's free, as long as you have the online membership. Similar concept to Mega Tunnel Battle, but with entirely different rules. While I think M.T.B. had better visual design, Pac-Man 99 beats it out in everything else. Pac-Man 99 was just better than M.T.B. from a gameplay standpoint. And guess what? It was pretty popular! It wasn't huge or anything, but it got more mainstream attention than anything Pac-Man-related since Pixels; and Pixels' attention...wasn't exactly for the right reasons...
And so, for the reasons I've known would be the case for years, Pac-Man gained a bit of his popularity back. Not with a small group of 40-year-olds, but a wide range of kids and adults alike. But here's the thing...it might not last for long. Namco has to take this small resurgence carefully. If they think this means "people must want Pac-Man games with 99 players in them, we're fucked as usual. If they realize this means "people must want things that aren't identical to a single game from 40 years ago"...there's a chance Pac-Man will fully improve, and recover from this bizarre slump he's been stuck in.
Namco, are you there? I doubt you read the last one, but in case you run across this one: the necessary steps to follow are simple.
- Step 1: Don't be afraid to try something new. If you just rehash the original Pac-Man game over and over, with some incredibly slight addition, nobody is going to pay attention to it. A full-fledged game that does more to switch up the Pac-Man formula - akin to Pac-Man World, Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness, or Pac 'n Roll - would surely get a lot of attention. Even just re-releasing games like those examples on newer consoles would be enough; just get him out of that neon-blue maze for once.
- Step 2: Release the games on ACTUAL VIDEO GAME CONSOLES. Not on a web browser, not on a phone, not on Alexa, and not on a greasy Pizza Hut box. Pac-Man 99's Nintendo Switch-bound success proves that these games need release on true gaming platforms.
- Step 3: Just...please don't do anything like that "LOL Pac-Man" game ever again. How did that make it through your approval process. Why would you even put your name on that. I'm just...confused by it...
Overall - and while I can't believe I'm saying it - I believe the 40th wrapped up pretty nicely. Maybe I was wrong to make assumptions during the pandemic; thinking Live Studio would be the only game for Pac-Man's fortieth. And in the end, Live Studio was the only game...not for the fortieth. This stuff is weird...
Ireallydontcare123456789 (talk) 04:01, 23 May 2021 (UTC)Ireallydontcare123456789