All Hail Pac-Man Championship Edition DX

If given the task of "rebooting" Pac-Man, I'm not exactly sure what I would do, probably spend a good deal of sleepless nights trying to figure out how I might refine the best designed video games of all time.  One thing is clear though, I would not have been able to come up with something as awesome as Pac-Man Championship Edition DX.

Here's a few quotes I pulled from Wikipedia (from Game Editiors) about the game:
"a master class in game design."
"more thrilling and addictive than ever."
"insanely addicting."
"a game you'll want to instantly evangelise to anyone with even the vaguest sense of what makes a game good."
"one of this year's best and purest arcade experiences and definitely a must-buy."
"sensory overload of the highest order, the kind of game that leaves your eyeballs dry, your nerves shot, and every last bit of you wanting more."


I couldn't agree more, the game is stellar... Kudos to producer Nobutaka Nakajima and director Tadashi Iguchi
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3867/reawakening_the_sleeping_giant_.php

I really think they did an awesome job of distilling the game down to it's essence: "I think one of the major reasons why Pac-Man is still a very good game and a very compelling experience is the whole "tag" aspect, between Pac-Man and the ghosts."--Tadashi Iguchi


You know for years I've played the game, and I never thought about it that way, it's just a game of tag...


"the only things we should be changing are the game tempo and the map design."


I'd love to hear theories to why the team decided to do what they did with the game.  All of the additions (from a gameplay perspective) are just awesome, some of the things you'll notice right off the bat:
1) Bombs
2) Sleeping Ghosts
3) Slowdown Effect when close to ghosts
4) Ghosts with Power Pellets and Bombs 
...fit so well into the overall package, and the pacing is just so stellar.


From a game design perspective the whole package just kills.


From the start you only have a few levels unlocked, and many of them are short (1 minute or less) and very simple, so instead of a boring tutorial, in seconds you are chomping down ghosts and immediately unlocking new levels. (And you aren't trying to figure out the control scheme, or going through some tutorial or story cutscene intro)... Bravo, just bravo.




The fact that the game is non-linear is a big win, I love how they bring you into the game Only a few levels are unlocked from the git-go, and immediately (within seconds) you are chomping ghosts, finishing levels and unlocking other parts of the game.  


Levels that take under a minute, it's like a hit off a crack pipe, it's so easy to approach the game, "Oh I'll just jump in and get my fix, then get out... 3 hours later..."


They took the core of what makes Pac-Man fun and amplified it to astronomically insane proportions.  I dare you to play for 30 minutes and not have a few moments where you smile or feel the tension, but overall you walk away feeling better. 


They really took a page out of Toru Iwatani's book and frankly the guy says so many things that are noteworthy he needs his own post
“The development of the hardware, and the greater ability to express every idea that flies into a programmer’s head, mean that game creators have made the new games congested with every technique in their power. The basic games behind all this are so blurred that people can’t catch up. We should go back to basics — like Pac-Man — and play in an easier, more relaxed way.”