''Pac-Man Museum'' is a 2014 compilation title developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment under the Namco label. It is a compilation of 9 (10 if ''

Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to ''Pac-Man'' (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's wif ...

'' is counted)

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

games, with additional features such as achievements and online leaderboards. It was released digitally on February 26, 2014, for

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

and

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

, but was released on Steam and the North American PlayStation Store a day earlier (February 25, 2014). It was released in Japan for PS3 and Xbox 360 on June 25, 2014. Versions of the game for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generati ...

and

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. ...

were announced and intended to release on the

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was e ...

, but was cancelled due to "delayed development". The game was delisted from all platforms on July 20, 2020. A sequel, ''

Pac-Man Museum + ''Pac-Man Museum +'' is a 2022 compilation video game developed by Now Production and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Being a sequel to the 2014 compilation title '' Pac-Man Museum'', ''Pac-Man Museum +'' includes 14 games from the ''P ...

'', has been released on May 27, 2022.

Overview

Pac-Man Museum features 9 (10 if

is counted as well) games from the Pac-Man series, ranging from the original maze games, puzzle games and platformers. Each game is based on their original arcade/console release (

Pac-Attack , also known as is a 1993 falling-tile puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Versions for the Game Boy, Game Gear and Philips CD-i were also released. The player is task ...

is based on the Genesis/Mega Drive version, while Pac-Man Arrangement is based on its

Namco Museum Battle Collection ''Namco Museum Battle Collection'' is a 2005 video game compilation developed by Tose and published by Namco for the PlayStation Portable. It includes 21 games - four of these are brand-new "arrangement" remakes of older Namco games, while the res ...

port). Additional features in the compilation include a special guide mode for

, online and offline leaderboards, and achievements (console versions only). The game also features an award system for each game (minus Ms. Pac-Man) called the Stampbook. Completing an achievement adds a stamp to the Stampbook (with each stamp representing the bonus fruits from the original Pac-Man). There are 8 stamps to fill for each game, with medals being awarded to the player for completing each game. Additionally, filling in a stamp adds a character or object from Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures to the Pac-Room (which is also displayed in the main menu), where the player can view Pac-Man's apartment from the TV series and view all obtained characters and items. These items range from characters from the series (like Pac-Man and the Ghosts), objects (including a Pac-Man's Arcade Party machine), and figurines based on the characters (as well as

Galaga is a 1981 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. In North America, it was released by Midway Manufacturing. It is the sequel to '' Galaxian'' (1979), Namco's first major video game hit in arcades. Controlling a star ...

cameos). As well as being able to view close-ups of the characters and objects, they are also accessible through the game's Item List, which also displays information regarding each item or character.

Games featured in Pac-Man Museum

*''

'' (1980) * ''

'' (1982) (Available as DLC) * ''

Super Pac-Man is a 1982 maze chase arcade game developed and published by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Midway Games. ''Super Pac-Man'' is Namco's take on a sequel to the original ''Pac-Man''; Midway had previously released ''Ms. Pac-Man'', w ...

'' (1982) * ''

Pac & Pal is a 1983 maze chase arcade game developed and published by Namco. It is part of the company's ''Pac-Man'' series, is the third to have been produced in-house. Players control Pac-Man as he must eat the items in an enclosed maze while avoiding f ...

'' (1983) * ''

Pac-Land is a 1984 side-scrolling arcade platform game developed and released by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Bally Midway, and in Europe by Atari Games. Controlling Pac-Man (character), Pac-Man, the player must make it to the end of eac ...

'' (1984; based on the Japanese version) * ''

Pac-Mania is a cavalier perspective maze game that was developed and released by Namco for arcades in 1987. In the game, the player controls Pac-Man as he must eat all of the dots while avoiding the colored ghosts that chase him in the maze. Eating l ...

'' (1987; based on the Japanese version) * ''

'' ( Genesis/Mega Drive version; 1993) * ''Pac-Man Arrangement'' ( PSP version as seen on ''

''; 2005) * ''

Pac-Man Championship Edition is a 2007 maze video game developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. It has since appeared on several other platforms, including iOS, Android, and the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable as a PSP mini title available on ...

'' (2007) * ''

Pac-Man Battle Royale is a 2010 maze battle-royale arcade game in the ''Pac-Man'' series. Developed by Bandai Namco Studios and manufactured by Bandai Namco Amusement, it was made in celebration of Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary. The game sees up to four players control ...

'' (2011) ''Ms. Pac-Man'' was originally available as free downloadable content until March 31, 2014. On April 1, 2014, the game became a $4.99 in-game purchase. ''Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man, Pac & Pal, Pac-Mania'' and ''Pac-Man Arrangement'' lack the 2-player modes found in the original releases.

Reception

''Pac-Man Museum'' received a score of 66/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, a score of 6/10 on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...

, and Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4/5, calling it "the best representation of what has been a truly illustrious video game career."

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ...

gave the game a 7/10 rating, saying "''Pac-Man Museum'' has a bunch of middling pieces, but the addition of ''Battle Royale'' is the icing on the cake. If you've never played ''Championship Edition'' before and thus do not have ''DX'' to compare it to, it's a perfect way to re-acclimate yourself to the franchise, while you use ''Royale'' to spice up your next local gathering. Everyone else who lacks friends on-hand or has already played ''CE'' should wait for a sale, or pass this one up entirely."

References

Notes

External links