Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (2016, PS4) - Pac Your Bags for the Ghost Train

When Namco announced a new Pac-Man Championship Edition game I was totally hyped. The original version, released in 2007, and its 2010 sequel Championship Edition DX were my favorite of the arcade retro-revival titles, with DX improving on the first game in a number of ways. I assumed CE2 would be more of the same, an iteration that improved and expanded on existing mechanics, but to my surprise, Namco's latest Pac-Man game goes in very different directions.

Championship Edition 2 feels less like an expansion and more like the original rules reinterpreted and evolved in a new manner. I feel that DX remains the better game, but I do have to applaud Namco for trying something new with their sequel instead of taking a safe course.

A Wobbly History of Pac-Man: Part 1 - Arcade Edition

In this series of articles, we'll be taking a quick look at the weird and wonderful history of Namco's Pac-Man, from his most famous games to his weirdest spinoffs to some completely bizarre merchandise. If you want to learn more, PacManMuseum.com and Jamey Pittman's The Pac-Man Dossier are a good resource for in-depth information, especially in regard to the original title.

I've always been a big fan of classic arcade games. I love most of the well known classics, but I'm equally interested in more obscure titles that never caught on and completely unconventional sequels to successful games. The Pac-Man franchise features all of the above, and spans over four decades of games, many wonderful, many terrible. We begin with his arcade incarnations.

Pac-Man Museum (2014, PS3) - Horrible Presentation Hides Wonderful Games

Anyone who knows what video games are knows Pac-Man; for 34 years, the hungry yellow orb-man has gobbled up billions of Power Pellets, eaten countless ghosts, and starred in a good number of bizarre sequels and bad cartoons. Namco's 2014 Pac-Man Museum is a retrospective containing a great deal of Pac-Man's history, both weird and wonderful, leading up to the recent arcade multiplayer title Pac-Man Battle Royale. It's a collection of some great games, packaged in an unfortunately poor way.

Review - Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (PS3, 2010)

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is the sequel to 2007's Xbox exclusive Pac-Man Championship Edition. Released three years later, DX takes the basics of the previous game and adds a number of new gameplay elements as well as bringing the game to the PS3 and, in 2012, to PCs. The original Pac-Man CE kicked off a trend in which companies take old arcade games and give them hyperactive, trippy makeovers. From Galaga to Frogger to Space Invaders, this trend has had a lot of staying power and has produced some truly excellent new takes on classic games. Of them all, Pac-Man CE DX remains my favorite.

Funspot's Hall of Pac-Men and some assorted memorabilia. I think I took these pictures in winter of 2009.