Pac-Man Vs.

Screenshot of the game from the television, showing the ghosts fleeing from Pac-Man.

Pac-Man Vs. is a maze video game. The game requires a Game Boy Advance, the GameCube - Game Boy Advance link cable peripheral, and one to three GameCube controllers to play. Before the game begins, a predetermined score value can be set to either 7,000, 10,000 or 15,000 points, which can affect how long the game is. One of the players will be assigned as Pac-Man, the others being the ghosts. The player controlling Pac-Man uses the Game Boy Advance to play, the objective being to eat all the dots in the maze without being caught by a ghost. Eating large flashing "Power Pellets" will cause the ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for points and send them back to the regeneration box in the middle of the maze. If Pac-Man is caught by a ghost, the person that caught him will become Pac-Man in the next round. Eating a certain amount of pellets will cause a fruit to appear underneath the regeneration box, which Pac-Man can eat for bonus points.

The remaining players will take control of the ghosts on the television screen, who must catch Pac-Man before he eats all of the pellets in the maze. If Pac-Man consumes a Power Pellet, the ghosts will turn blue and become slower, and must avoid contact with Pac-Man. The ghosts have a limited field of vision, which can be increased for a limited period of time by eating fruit that appears in the middle of the stage. If there are fewer than four players in the game, uncontrolled ghosts will become gray-colored CPUs that are harmless to Pac-Man — however, a ghost can touch him to tag it with his or her color, which can kill Pac-Man and count towards that player's score.

The objective of all players is to be the first to reach the predetermined score. Pac-Man can earn points by eating pellets, vulnerable ghosts and fruit, while ghosts can earn them by eating fruit and catching Pac-Man. Should Pac-Man clear the stage of pellets, the person controlling him will earn 1,600 point bonus and will continue to play as him in the next stage, however Pac-Man will also lose that same amount if a ghost catches him, being given to whoever caught him. Mario appears as an announcer and will commentate on the game, such as when Pac-Man eats a Power Pellet or when a fruit appears in the stage. Six different mazes can be selected, each having different layouts and music.

Pac-Man Vs. was designed by Shigeru Miyamoto and Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development (EAD) for the GameCube.[1] A fan of the original Pac-Man arcade game, Miyamoto designed a tech demo to show off the capabilities of the GameCube - Game Boy Advance link cable peripheral, where one player controlled Pac-Man and three others controlled the ghosts.[1] A short demo was shown off at the Games Convention in Germany, simply titled Pac-Man for Nintendo GameCube, where it gained a sizable amount of attention.[2] The game took a month to complete,[3] where it was then shown to Namco, who took interest and agreed to publish it as a full game.[1] It was presented at the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), with Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani invited to the presentation as a guest. The game was released in Japan on November 27, 2003, in North America on December 2, 2003, and in PAL regions on April 2, 2004. The North American and European versions were exclusively bundled with Pac-Man World 2, I-Ninja and R: Racing Evolution, while the Japanese version was released as a prize for members of Club Nintendo.

A remake of the game was released for the Nintendo DS in 2007 as part of Namco Museum DS, using the system's Download Play function for multiplayer. A version for mobile phones was also released that utilized Bluetooth for multiplayer.[4] A high-definition remake of the GameCube version was released in 2017 for the Nintendo Switch Namco Museum compilation, requiring two systems to play. A single-console mode is also included, where players controlled the ghosts to catch a computer-controlled Pac-Man. The multiplayer aspect of the original GameCube release was re-used for the online battle mode in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (2007).[5]

Pac-Man Vs. was met with generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised its clever take on the core gameplay, multiplayer and replay value. It holds a 78/100 on Metacritic[7] and an 80% on GameRankings.[6]

Nintendo World Report called it "a must-have for parties",[10] while GamePro said it was worth owning for its "posterity" alone.[8] IGN, GamePro and Nintendojo praised the game's interesting take on the Pac-Man gameplay,[11][8] with IGN in particular noting that it is "intuitive for anyone regardless of their gaming skill levels".[9] Nintendo World Report highly praised the game's multiplayer aspect for keeping the gameplay frantic and fast-paced.[10] A similar response was echoed by IGN, who called it "incredibly fun" and said it added to the overall experience.[9] In their review for Namco Museum DS, Retro Gamer magazine said the package was worth it for Pac-Man Vs. alone, praising its addictive gameplay and multiplayer focus.[12] Polygon called it one of the best Pac-Man games.[13]

Despite its praise, the game was criticized for its small amount of content and lack of memory card support. Nintendojo criticized the game's lack of depth and for not being able to save high scores to a memory card.[11] Nintendo World Report had a similar response, also criticizing its limited availability to consumers.[10] While IGN and GamePro found the commentary from Mario to be annoying,[9][8] Nintendojo said that it was helpful for when something happens outside the player's vision, although commented that it was largely unnecessary.[11] GamePro disliked Pac-Man's slow movement and controls.[8] Several critics would argue that the game being a free extra dismissed much of its criticism, with Nintendo World Report even saying that there is "not much reason to be disappointed with a lack of features".[10]

• Official Japanese website