Nintendo Switch Review Code Provided by Bandai Namco
This is it, folks. We have the game that any fan of Pac-Man, regardless of which game from the series introduced you to our beloved yellow icon, would absolutely love to have and need no other of! Bandai Namco has released Pac-Man Museum+ and ever since I have been living the retro-filled dream. From the original title to the latest in the series and the ability to set up my own arcade, something I’ve literally been wanting to do in real life - this game truly has it all.
Gameplay
Loading up the game for the first time, you will be standing in the default style arcade room with a handful of arcade cabinets, some decorative items, the vending machine, the jukebox, and a random trophy dropper. Other than the arcade cabinets, everything you can interact with is to build up more decorative items.
While you will unlock more choices as you play the games, the first thing I did was go into the customization menu to set up my little arcade how I liked it. It is really easy to move items around, turn them at quarter-length turns to face different directions, and pretty much set this place up however you want. You can even change the flooring, the wallpaper, and turn the background visual on or off.
After this, I went to the jukebox to check out the song list, which was again pretty bleak since I hadn’t unlocked anything yet. They do give you some, including the 40th-anniversary theme song, which is what I chose to play when I am in the arcade lobby.
From here, I got into the real fun and tried out the different games. Of course, I started with the classic Pac-Man game, as it felt like a natural choice. Plus, by playing that game 2 times, I unlocked another game. Most of the games are unlocked right from the start, but some are locked until you play a different game 2 times, which there is typically a correlation between the two games anyways.
Each of the 14 different Pac-Man games comes with its own list of challenges that offer coins when completed, along with other rewards. I would say that my favorite surprise reward was that the different ghosts end up being unlocked to lurk around your arcade! The good news here is that they don’t lock games behind the need to have the arcade cabinet as you can just pull open a menu to select it. While you can start the game at the correct cabinet, it isn’t necessary - however, once I have all of the cabinets unlocked you can bet that’s how I’ll start opening games from then on!
As for the actual gameplay in each of the games, they all play how they did when they were released. This game doesn’t appear to be a remaster or remake of any of them, but rather an all-in-one collection of the Pac-Man video game series. I’m glad they took this approach because that is all that I really wanted out of this anyways.
Audio and Visual
All of the Pac-Man sound effects, differing as they were for each game, and all in their classic retro glory! The soundtracks in the jukebox are such a bonus as well so we can choose what track we want on what is essentially an interactable, customizable menu screen. Each of the games hosts the same graphical quality as they always have, so you can expect things to look like they always did, just adjusted to be on your new-age screen rather than the classic CRTs we used back in the day.
Replayability
Of course, there is replayability! As long as you enjoy playing one of the fourteen different Pac-Man games, there will be a reason to load this title back up. That said, many of us have been playing Pac-Man since we were a child taken to our first arcade, so I can only imagine how often players will be loading this game back up.
What Could Have Been Better
My only complaint is that it would have been nice for the objects in the arcade lobby menu to have eighth turns rather than quarter turns. This would have allowed for more aesthetically pleasing setups, especially in the corners.
Verdict
Pac-Man Museum+ is truly the end-all title that any fan of Pac-Man will ever need! Unless Bandai Namco comes out with a new game featuring our beloved yellow icon, I don’t see the need to get any other game besides this one. It has all of the classic titles, including the questionable ones, and it lets you set up your own Pac-Arcade full of Pac-Man-themed trophies and more. If you like even one of the Pac-Man games, then this is a must-have title for your collection!
Pac-Man Museum+ is now available on PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
