| Pac-Man World | |
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| Developer: | Namco Hometek |
| Publisher: | Namco Hometek, Namco |
| Game System(s): | PlayStation |
| Series: | Pac-Man World series |
| Genres: | Platformer, Adventure |
| Release date: |  September 30, 1999 November 2, 1999
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| Number of players | One player (Two players in some bonus modes) |
Pac-Man World (パックマンワールド Pakkuman Wārudo) is a PlayStation game released in 1999 by Namco Hometek to celebrate Pac-Man's 20th anniversary. It is the first game in the Pac-Man World series, and can be considered the companion game to Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness.
Story
Synopsis
Pac-Man arrives home on the day of his 20th birthday. He opens the door to his house only to find it is deserted and in ruins. Toc-Man's henchmen, the Ghosts, have kidnapped Pac-Man's family & friends, Ms. Pac-Man, Jr. Pac, Baby Pac, Professor Pac, Pooka, and Chomp-Chomp! Pac-Man must venture to Toc-Man's lair on Ghost Island to rescue his friends.
Manual
"Over the years, Pac-Man's starring role in one of the greatest games ever has made him Pac-Land's most popular celebrity. Twenty years later, Pac-Man is on a new Quest to defeat Toc-Man and save his friends from the perils of Ghost Island.
Pac-Man arrives to to celebrate his 20th anniversary and finds his house deserted! Toc-Man had his ghostly minions kidnap Pac-Man's friends. One by one, they vanished - Ms. Pac-Man, Pac Jr., Baby Pac-Man, Professor Pac-Man, Pooka and Even Chomp-Chomp the dog were nowhere to be found...
Now Toc-Man has the hostages hidden away throughout Ghost Island and his henchmen have orders to get rid of Pac-Man. Pac-Man's Quest will take him from mine shafts to factories to deep space outpost. Pac-Man will pull out every maze-busting trick and quick-witted escape he has learned throughout his career - plus a whole bunch of slick new moves nobody's ever seen!
Hidden throughout the Quest, Pac-Man will face Challenging puzzles and games made famous by Pac-Man's previous adventures. Even the Ghosts - Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde - are back for a new chance to gobble Pac-Man. So Get ready to chomp into action as the legendary Pac-Man battles to save his friends in the Quest of a lifetime!" [1]
Gameplay
Quest Mode
The player navigates Pac-Man within a three-dimensional space whilst defeating enemies, solving puzzles and collecting items. The main goal is to get to the Token at the end of each stage, which will complete the level.
Throughout each level, Pac-Man will run into various objects such as switches, doors and treasure chests. Some of these can only be accessed in a specific way (such as using a certain kind of Fruit to open a door). Pac-Man also has a Health meter, which has four hit points - luckily, extra health is scattered across stages.
There are also underwater segments where Pac-Man has to swim, and is unable to walk on the surface; the Steel Ball power-up allows him to walk underwater, but only lasts a short time.
Letters spelling "P-A-C-M-A-N" also appear in each level. By collecting every letter in a stage, the player will be transported into a bonus level, where the player must eat as much fruit as possible before the timer runs out. In the PlayStation version, obtaining "P-A-C-M-A-N" in every level will unlock a series of outtakes from the game's cutscenes.
Many stages will feature a Galaxian Flagship in them. These unlock Mazes, which play similarly to the original Pac-Man. They can later be accessed again in the Mazes mode (see below).
Besides running, jumping and eating, Pac-Man can use a multitude of moves, including:
- Butt Bounce - Pac-Man bounces like a ball and can defeat some enemies. Also needed to hit switches.
- Rev Roll - Can charge up Pac-Man to perform a quick, fast roll. Necessary to move certain platforms and open gates.
- Pellet Shoot - Pac-Man can throw the Pac-Dots he has collected at oncoming enemies to defeat them. If held down for a few seconds, a Super Pellet Shoot will be performed, which deals more damage (but wastes more pac-dots).
Most enemies can be defeated by butt-bouncing or shooting pellets at them, except for Ghosts, which can only be defeated by eating a Power Pellet.
Rescuing Friends
One Key and one caged Friend are found in each world of the game, often on different levels than each other. The key must be used to rescue the imprisoned family member. All five friends are required to be rescued in order to reach the final world of the game.
Levels
There are 23 levels in Quest Mode (12 in the GBA version), which are divided into sets of themed worlds. The last level in each world features a boss battle. Below are the levels listed:
| World | Level Name | Level Number | |
|---|---|---|---|
| PlayStation | Game Boy Advance | ||
| Pirate | Buccaneer Beach | 1 | 1 |
| Corsair's Cove | 2 | 2 | |
| Crazy Cannonade | 3 | 3 | |
| HMS Windbag | 4 | N/A | |
| The Ruins | Crisis Cavern | 5 | 4 |
| Manic Mines | 6 | 5 | |
| Anubis Rex | 7 | N/A | |
| Space | Space Race | 8 | 6 |
| Far Out | 9 | 7 | |
| Gimme Space | 10 | N/A | |
| King Galaxian | 11 | N/A | |
| Funhouse | Clowning Around | 12 | 8 |
| Barrel Blast | 13 | 9 | |
| Spin Dizzy | 14 | N/A | |
| Clown Prix | 15 | N/A | |
| Factory | Perilous Pipes | 16 | N/A |
| Under Pressure | 17 | ||
| Down the Tubes | 18 | ||
| Krome Keeper | 19 | ||
| Mansion | Ghostly Garden | 20 | N/A |
| Creepy Catacombs | 21 | 10 | |
| Grave Danger | 22 | 11 | |
| Toc-Man's Lair | 23 | 12 | |
Additionally, there is an unused Ruins level called Kooky Crypt in the PlayStation version.
Mazes Mode
Mazes Mode is a collection of mazes, resembling that of the original Pac-Man; you run around collecting Pac-Dots while avoiding the ghosts, and must collect every dot to finish the level. They contain several obstacles and twists not found in previous Pac-Man games. This mode begins with three already provided mazes for each stage; to unlock the other 18 mazes, you must collect every Galaxian in Quest Mode.
Once every maze is unlocked, the player can play Marathon, which consists of all 36 mazes back-to-back. If completed, the hidden art gallery is unlocked, which contains concept art from the game.
Mazes
| Stage | Maze | Pac-Dots | Fruit | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pirate | Pirate Maze #1 | 115 | Cherry | N/A |
| Pirate Maze #2 | 98 | Strawberry | N/A | |
| Pirate Maze #3 | 105 | Orange | N/A | |
| Pirate Maze #4 | 98 | Assorted | N/A | |
| Pirate Maze #5 | 115 | Lemon | Corsair's Cove | |
| Pirate Maze #6 | 111 | Melon | Crazy Cannonade | |
| Ruins | Ruins Maze #1 | 122 | Peach | N/A |
| Ruins Maze #2 | 115 | Apple | N/A | |
| Ruins Maze #3 | 112 | Banana | N/A | |
| Ruins Maze #4 | 111 | Strawberry | Crisis Cavern | |
| Ruins Maze #5 | 100 | Strawberry | Manic Mines | |
| Ruins Maze #6 | 98 | Lemon | Manic Mines | |
| Space | Space Maze #1 | 106 | Melon | N/A |
| Space Maze #2 | 109 | Lemon | N/A | |
| Space Maze #3 | 113 | Galaxian | N/A | |
| Space Maze #4 | 95 | Melon | Space Race | |
| Space Maze #5 | 90 | Peach | Far Out | |
| Space Maze #6 | 100 | Apple | Gimme Space | |
| Funhouse | Funhouse Maze #1 | 107 | Bell | N/A |
| Funhouse Maze #2 | 108 | Cherry | N/A | |
| Funhouse Maze #3 | 107 | Strawberry | N/A | |
| Funhouse Maze #4 | 103 | Peach | Clowning Around | |
| Funhouse Maze #5 | 104 | Cherry | Barrel Blast | |
| Funhouse Maze #6 | 97 | Bell | Spin Dizzy | |
| Factory | Factory Maze #1 | 111 | Orange | N/A |
| Factory Maze #2 | 101 | Peach | N/A | |
| Factory Maze #3 | 119 | Apple | N/A | |
| Factory Maze #4 | 101 | Peach | Perilous Pipes | |
| Factory Maze #5 | 112 | Apple | Under Pressure | |
| Factory Maze #6 | 119 | Strawberry | Down the Tubes | |
| Mansion | Mansion Maze #1 | 129 | Banana | N/A |
| Mansion Maze #2 | 106 | Melon | N/A | |
| Mansion Maze #3 | 111 | Lemon | N/A | |
| Mansion Maze #4 | 129 | Cherry | Ghostly Garden | |
| Mansion Maze #5 | 109 | Banana | Creepy Catacombs | |
| Mansion Maze #6 | 106 | Galaxian | Grave Danger |
Classic Mode
The Classic mode is nothing more than a faithful port of the original Pac-Man (seemingly the same version found in Namco Museum Vol. 1).
Home Ports
- Game Boy Advance
- PlayStation
- PlayStation 3
- PlayStation Portable
- PlayStation Vita
The PlayStation version was the first to be released. The Game Boy Advance version has several features removed (Mazes Mode, Classic Mode, etc.) due to it running on inferior hardware.
Trivia
- Pac-Man World was almost entitled Pac-Man 3D.
- The game was made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Pac-Man. Pac-Man World 3 was released for Pac-Man's 25th anniversary, and Pac-Man Party and Pac-Man Championship Edition DX were released for his 30th.
- Originally, Pac-Man was going to rescue other Namco characters, like Dig Dug and Mappy, rather than the members of his family. The only character carried over from this initial plan was Pooka.
- Pac-Man World was going to be released on the Nintendo 64, Sega Dreamcast and PC in addition to the PlayStation version, but these ports were cancelled. They were likely being developed by Mass Media.
- During the intro cutscene for Pac-Man World 3, Pac-Man says "Oh well, at least this birthday is better than my 20th", a reference to the events of the first game.
- Pac-Man's address, 7650, is a Japanese "Goroawase" wordplay on Namco (7=na, 6=mu, 5=ko, forming "Namuko"). This number can also be seen in Pac-Mania and Pac-Man Arrangement.
Gallery
Screenshots
Artwork
.png "Toc-Man (Pac-Man World).png (54 KB)")