Pac-Man 99 Nintendo famous Switch game by Shinji Hosoe

Growing up, my family would often challenge each other to set a new high score in Pac-Man. It is fun competitive nature kept us engaged, and like many, established a little addiction for Namco’s hungry icon.

Pac-Man 99

When Nintendo announced Pac-Man 99 as the new free title for Nintendo Switch Online Subscribers, I was immediately excited for some competitive Pac-Man and knew I wanted just one thing… But just how hard is it to be the best? Is it satisfying to achieve a Pac-One? And what about the additional DLC context to the game is it worth the price? Let’s find out! Pac-Man 99 follows in the steps of Tetris 99 and Super Mario Bros. 35 as a battle royale title pitting you against an army of other players, all playing largely independent games, while still working to interfere with each others’ gameplay.

Gameplay

Your goal isn’t necessarily to clear the mazes to advance to the next round, instead, it’s to outlast your 98 opponents and become the Pac-One. The core gameplay loop is simple: Eat dots to spawn fruit and increase the game speed, eat the fruit to advance to the next round, and use the replenished Power-Pellets to chomp down on ghosts. It’s mostly standard Pac-Man on the surface, but there’s plenty more going on. Returning from Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is Sleeping Ghosts that, when awakened, create Ghost Trains which can result in big combos when consumed! It’s incredibly satisfying to reach the max size of a Ghost Train then chomp through them all in an instant for a combo of 30 plus.

For every ghost eaten, something called Jammer Pac-Man is sent to your targeted opponents, which essentially speed bumps making them more vulnerable to ghosts. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by them as the ghosts close in. Different strategies in the form of power-ups causing different additional effects from Power-Pellets, and targeting different opponents, constantly keep you on your toes. It definitely took some time to understand what these different power-ups could do, hence why we made a whole “how to play” recently.

While the game could definitely do with some explanation or even a tutorial to explain its complexities, as it took me quite some time to fully figure out what Train and Stronger power-ups did, it’s a genuinely fun spin on traditional Pac-Man that keeps every match fresh and interesting, needing to be ready to change strategies on the fly depending on the current situation. Each game feels quick, much faster than a round of Tetris 99 or Mario 35 ever did. And no, that’s not because I’m bad at the game…mostly.

Even in rounds when I place in the top 10, rounds are usually five minutes or less. The fast-paced gameplay is incredibly appealing–and the fact that The matchmaking process usually takes less than a minute makes it easy to keep the good times rolling. While there’s definitely a lot happening on screen, I never felt overwhelmed–at least as long as I was using a theme that makes it easy to see what’s going on. Controls are tight as you’d expect, though I did change my controls to use the left stick for movement as I found it more comfortable, though it’s a bit baffling it isn’t enabled by default.

Pac-Man game modes

Even when I was trying to figure out the complexities behind the different power-ups, I was still having fun with the game. Plus, the music gets pretty hype when you make it to the top 10! In short, Pac-Man 99’s main mode is fast-paced and thrilling, keeping players on their toes against a myriad of hazards looking to prevent them from becoming the Pac-One. It’s an enjoyable mode that excellently blends the Battle Royale formula with the arcade gameplay of Pac-Man into an exciting title filled with skill and strategy.

If you subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online, the base version of the game is free to play, but it only has the main Pac-Man 99 mode, DLC is available separately that adds private battles for friends along with several single-player modes, which is something that didn’t come to Tetris 99 until several months after release. These include a CPU battle mode, Score Attack, and Blind Time Attack, as well as various cosmetics and themes. The $14.99 pack includes all of the modes and some additional Pac-Man themes, whereas the $29.99 pack has 20 Namco themes too.

The CPU Battle is self-explanatory, serving as an off-line practice mode pitting you against computer opponents, allowing you to set the difficulty among other factors. I didn’t find it interesting myself as playing against humans is more compelling, but it is good for practice. The score Attack is much closer to the classic Pac-Man. Players have three lives to last as long as they can while earning points to set a new high score. But now there are no toggleable power-ups or opponents to deal with, besides the 4 ghosts of course.

This is the mode I’ve found myself playing the most of the single-player content since I enjoy the rush of aiming for high scores in Pac-Man. Blind Time Attack is the last of the single-player DLC modes, challenging players to collect all 12 fruits in a limited time. It’s actually rather difficult, requiring smart routing and planning to save time, make the fruits appear, and move on to the next one. I found Blind Time Attack somewhat interesting, if not only to see that challenge completed.

But of the single-player modes, Score Attack is the only one I can see myself actively revisiting. Despite this, none of these single-player modes is the point behind the game and are just additional content. There are also Private Password Battles for Pac-Man 99 which become available from the DLC. It’s odd and a little annoying to see this feature locked behind DLC. While I haven’t used private password battles much, I know many who plan to for their communities, which is frustrating as it requires everyone to buy-in in order to partake.

Game themes

Finally, there are a variety of custom themes that almost completely change the look and sound of the game to match classic Namco properties., As I don’t have much nostalgia for the classic Namco titles, I haven’t had any interest in purchasing them myself. While the presentational overhaul is impressive, I’ve actually found most of them to be on the distracting side with the game looking more cluttered.

While I’m sure they’re nice if you have nostalgia for specific Namco titles, I actually think the default Pac-Man themes are much more appealing–especially the original or vector themes for the nice dark colors. Pac-Man 99 was a surprise that nobody saw coming, but it’s absolutely a good one. While I never got a win in Super Mario Bros 35, and I still have never gotten a win in Tetris 99, I got my first Pac-One on my third game. They say “Third Time’s The Charm,” and I think that sums up this third Nintendo Switch Online Battle Royale title pretty well.

I Like Pac-Man 99 A Lot, and it’s definitely my favorite of these kinds of games so far. I certainly hope the game will see the continued support in content that Tetris 99 has, to frequently bring players back and keep the game alive. I can see myself playing this one fairly often, as is, I’ve had trouble putting it down for the review! That all being said, I’m not a fan of how this game handles the DLC content. Password Battles should not be locked behind a paywall, and while the other single-player modes are nice to complete the package, I don’t believe they’re necessary additions.

Themes, while inexpensive, should definitely follow the “event-based” formula that Tetris 99 uses instead of being paid content. Despite enjoying the Score Attack mode, I’m pretty Mixed on the DLC to Pac-Man 99, and I’m not sure how much I’ll use any of the paid content. The best part of this title really is the core game that’s free to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, and that’s what I see myself playing quite often.