Pac-Man Championship Edition

[javeryh]

Has anyone played this yet?  I just tried the demo and I really like it.  It actually feels like a proper sequel to Pac-Man.  I hope some programmer comes up with something similar for MAME...

[ahofle]

Crap, is this only for the Xbox360?

[Thenasty]

There is Ms.Pacman Championship edition in MAME.

[buck16]

Crap, is this only for the Xbox360?

Yes, just for the 360.  And I'm sure Microsoft will try to keep it that way for a long time considering they said in advance that the release of the news would bring historic change to video gaming.

[Organic Jerk]

And I'm sure Microsoft will try to keep it that way for a long time considering they said in advance that the release of the news would bring historic change to video gaming.

ARRRGGHH..

I would have really loved some of this action in cab form... not to mention that great looking PoP remake using graphics and gameplay from Sands of Time..

[RayB]

link?

[needlesmcgirk]

hahaha, historic change to video games.

[unclet]

Here is one link I found:

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/06/05/pac-man-championship-edition-for-xbox-360-is-the-big-news/

[buck16]

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/p/pacmanchampionshipeditionxboxlivearcade/default.htm?WText.camp=HR1-PacManCE&WText.campSrc=Home

There's a trailer there.

[rockin_rick]

Seems that it's basically some new mazes with unnecessary 'improved' fancy graphics with the core gameplay the same.  I suppose that would be alright...  I'd be more happy with original graphics to go along with the new mazes, though...

Rick

[Organic Jerk]

Seems that it's basically some new mazes with unnecessary 'improved' fancy graphics with the core gameplay the same. 

Not at all, actually...

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/794/794608p1.html

Championship Edition is an arcade game for today's gamers. With a time limit of 5 or 10 minutes on each of the six modes, the game is less about survival and more about maximizing your score during that brief time period.

During those 5 or 10 minutes, the action never stops. The new twist on Pac-Man is a single stage that shifts and repopulates pellets as you clear them. Rather than having the entire maze filled with pellets and challenging the player to clear them all, this Pac-Man fills the maze with patterns of pellets. When you clear a half of the maze, a fruit appears on the other side. Eating it refills the side you cleared with a new pattern, sometimes changing the map itself. In this way, you can advance each individual half of the stage to new "levels" without ever having a break in the action. This left to right design works and it works well.

As the timer counts down, the action also speeds up. By the end of your run, Pac-Man and the ghosts are zipping around the maze at speeds that make quick reflexes more than just a bonus. They're required. The intense speed also plays into another twist on the classic Pac-Man design. Making it from one end of the maze to another doesn't take very long and you can easily eat a power pellet, gobble up all four ghosts, and then down another power pellet before the timer runs out. The scoring reflects this too, as the bonuses for eating successive ghosts goes up to 3200 points for eating 8 in a row instead of the standard four.

Championship Edition features six modes that each offer various quirks for the player to deal with. One puts Pac-Man in the dark and only reveals pellets, ghosts, and the Pac-Man's immediate surroundings. It's tough. Another speeds the game up to a breakneck pace and covers every wall with tunnels. It's also tough. Others have their own unique pacing, maze design and progression and they're all different enough from one another that a different style of play is necessary to maximize the high score on each.

It actually seems like a really fun spin on the game that I would LOVE to see made for PC....

[Havok]

Yeah, it looks pretty cool. Knowing Microsoft, this will probably never see the light of day for the pc...

[rockin_rick]

I stand corrected.  I checked out the video and it does seem sorta cool.

Rick

[Crowquill]

Looks pretty cool. The glowing neon look actually works without being rediculous. The constantly changing mazes are kind of cool too.

Couple things that worry me...the time limit. I understand the speed increases, but why have the game limited like that? I would have much rather seen the game end based on skill in the game.

When you finish each game, a nifty bar graph of your score break down by time is displayed so you can see a chart of when you scored the most points.

While I'm wondering whose project this was, this seems like such a "Microsoft way" to approach games. I think a pie chart would've been more appropriate, anyway 

[ahofle]

Resurrecting an old thread....I finally picked up an XBox 360 for cheaper than a Wii with that Dell 20% off coupon and got a copy of this game in the $5 clearance bin.  What GREAT remake!  My only complaint is playing it with a ---smurfy--- gamepad and laggy LCD.  This thing is begging to be played with arcade controls.  Is there any chance in hell this will ever be released as a PC title?

[RetroGreg]

I love this game. It's really a true sequel in my opinion. The maze changes are all random so there is no memorizing the patterns which definately makes it more frantic and a pure test of reflexes. Great fun.

The 360 arcade titles IMO really are the only way to get a new arcade experience nowadays. The games are usually simple and the leaderboards give the high score factor to shoot for. The only "bad" thing is that a lot of them use the analog sticks so you couldn't play them with your arcade panels, but there are a good amount you could.

[RayB]

I love the game, but agree the gamepad is too sensitive (often accidently sending my Pacman off in a direction I didn't mean to). Would be great to play with a proper joystick.

[ahofle]

The thing I don't get is that the D-pad is worse that using the analog stick!   

I totally agree about this being a pure skill game.  The sounds and visuals are very well done too.  They are close enough to the original to be an actual sequel, yet not obnoxiously overdone like some other 'sequels'.  I also like the additional features thrown in, like continuing the ghost multiplier when getting another power pellet before the previous one expires, making the fruit actually worth getting, etc.

[geocab]

I love this game, but the Xbox 360 controller sucks with it. Would it be possible to make a custom 4-way controller using something like Tornado Terry's 4-way joystick for the 360?

[escher]

I love this game, but the Xbox 360 controller sucks with it. Would it be possible to make a custom 4-way controller using something like Tornado Terry's 4-way joystick for the 360?

Indeed.  In the 'Consoles' forum, there's some info on hacking a 360 controller posted by HarumaN (who will also hack a controller).  I'm building one for SFIV and Ikaruga mainly, but you could easily throw a 4-way or a 4/8-way switchable stick in.