pickhut's Arcade Archives: Pac-Man review

I'm disappointed to hear that the Arcade Game Series edition of Pac-Man features poor controls that sound like they're the equal of the awful controls Bandai Namco went with for the Xbox 360 version of the game. I'm especially disappointed because I recently purchased Mrs. Pac-Man in that same line, and I suspect the issues will carry over to that. The only reason I bought Mrs. Pac-Man is that it's the most recent version released for any console, and I wanted to make sure I got it. But now I'm suspicious that it may be an awful time. Curses!

You know what's funny? I wouldn't have realized this if it wasn't for the fact that the AGS version was on sale when I was browsing the PSN Store a few weeks back. I bought it on a whim and played it, and I was really confused why I kept getting stuck when I tried making Pac-Man turn in a fast chase. That eventually lead to my curiosity as to how the AA version played. And that pretty much motivated me to write a review for the AA game.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: also, I didn't mention this in the review, but as an additional slap in the face, the AGS game is somehow 838 MB, while the AA version manages to do the game at 33.6 MB.

Edit 2: Most of the recent Arcade Archives games that came out have been Namco titles, so hopefully Ms. Pac-Man could get the same treatment soon! (I couldn't see any rights issues getting in the way, since an AGS version exists)

I bought the Ms. Pac-Man game because when Bandai Namco announced its upcoming Pac-Man collection, there were a lot of people complaining because Ms. Pac-Man wasn't part of it, and then a lot of discussion about how @Games has locked down the rights so there isn't a more recent console version than the one I just bought (and may not ever be again). Better safe than sorry, I figured. And yes, large file download sizes for a tiny game make very little sense to me.

Edit: Looking around online, it seems Bandai Namco and AtGames finally reached some sort of agreement and a court dismissed their ongoing legal battle at the end of last year, which may have prevented Ms. Pac-Man from appearing in the upcoming collection but might not prevent her from making an appearance in some other form soon. Hope springs eternal?

"honestgamer posted November 26, 2021:

Looking around online, it seems Bandai Namco and AtGames finally reached some sort of agreement and a court dismissed their ongoing legal battle at the end of last year,"

(note: a request for information regarding the "around online" mentioned in this part of this message)

At the time, it had appeared to be resolved, with a few smaller outlets reporting the update. I don't remember which outlets. This was a year ago, and it sounds like the uneasy peace of that time was not built to last (or that the outlets reporting otherwise a year ago were mistaken). A Google search right now shows there appear to still be rights issues restricting Bandai Namco from using Mrs. Pac-Man in its compilations and remakes.