New Pac-Man game on the way to celebrate 30th Pac-Manniversary
by JC Fletcher 
{ Mar 6th 2009 at 9:33AM }
Hirokazu Yasuhara, who designed much of the original Sonic the Hedgehog at Sega and worked on Jak games and Uncharted for Naughty Dog, is now at Namco Bandai, and working on a new Pac-Man game, to celebrate the beloved circle's 30th anniversary in 2010.Namco Bandai America's Makoto Iwai told Gamasutra, "As a group, we feel like we should do something to make him come back. So, there's one project that we started working on, and [Yasuhara is] part of it." Iwai said that the new game design was "sort of meeting his wish 100 percent, in a sense," referring to an earlier statement by Yasuhara that he wanted to make a new character action game.
Does Pac-Man's original maze-style gameplay count as "character action," or do we have a new Pac-Land sort of affair to look forward to? After the last Pac-Man game, we will eagerly devour whatever delicious fruit (by which we mean games) Namco Bandai sends out into the maze (by which we mean, um, the retail or downloadable market).
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
WiNG [XBL&Steam: WiNGSPANTT] from lifeinagame.com @ Mar 6th 2009 9:45AM
Yeah, see, Pac Man CE was already a pretty good rehash of the Pac.
I feel like the only thing that could improve PMCE is online & local multiplayer.
I want to be Blinky, dammit!
BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 6th 2009 1:00PM
I think Nintendo owns the rights to Pac-Man Vs., hence why it's only been released on GameCube and DS so far.
Fnord @ Mar 6th 2009 9:59AM
I actually had a copy of that board game way back when.
The 80s were weird.
coffins outside the door @ Mar 6th 2009 10:17AM
I know. I remember back in '82 when everyone came down with Pac Man Fever. It was awful.
el serpiente @ Mar 6th 2009 10:30AM
It took about a half-hour to put all the f*cking marbles in place. Sometimes instead of getting eaten by your pac-man, the marble would go flying and maim one of your friends. Good times...
HappyFunBall @ Mar 6th 2009 10:33AM
I had that game too, well, not the French Canadian version...
Ah, the 80's. I'm gonna have to break out my legwarmers now.
BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 6th 2009 1:01PM
I still have one. :D
(English, though)
Firtch @ Mar 6th 2009 4:56PM
Yeah, mine's in my mom's basement still. Those marbles used to go flying and I'd eventually step on one and I still remember how bad that hurt. Plus, they had this shiny, squeaky feeling when they scraped on the linoleum that still gives me chills.
Good times.
pakkman781 @ Mar 7th 2009 9:11PM
Still have mine, $1 at a yard sale a few years ago. Needed a little TLC, but toally worth it ^^ I also have the card game...
Freeze @ Mar 6th 2009 10:04AM
Nice. I would love to see a 2 player pac-man where the 2 on the same board try and see who can eat the most dots and get the most points.
BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 6th 2009 1:01PM
They did that before in the Tengen version of Ms. Pac-Man. It rocked.
John Z @ Mar 6th 2009 10:06AM
I'm interested. Pac-Man World was fairly good for the time, so if they go that route it might be fun.
It also makes me feel tremendously old to realize that Pac-Man is turning 30.
Diskoboy7 @ Mar 6th 2009 4:21PM
Yeah, it makes me feel old, too. But 1980 and 1981... What amazing year they were! The digital revolution was about to go into full assault mode.
I remember the first time I played Pac-Man, like it was yesterday.. I was 6, it was at a skating rink, for my friends birthday party, back in late Feb. of 1981. There was a huge crowd around the machine, and it was about 20 minutes before I was even close enough to the machine to see the screen. I finally got to play it - got to the strawberry the very first time I ever played. Not bad for a 6 year old, playing his first video game EVER....
I spent most of the time begging my mom for quarters. She still regrets letting me go to that party, to this very day.
I own a Pac-Man machine, now.. But the 29-year-old monitor finally crapped out the other day, after 3 re-caps, and it's about to finally get replaced. :)
DCBlack @ Mar 6th 2009 10:07AM
Would be nice if they could release Pac CE on PSN...
XDragon @ Mar 6th 2009 10:34AM
I'd rather they release the classic Ms. Pac-Man.
DCBlack @ Mar 6th 2009 1:33PM
Really? There's a thousand versions of that available already.
XDragon @ Mar 10th 2009 10:30AM
None on the PSN though.
Even that Pac-Man on the 1st PS2 Namco Collection with speed warps and bosses would be wild!
Temidien @ Mar 6th 2009 10:13AM
As long as they don't follow the Sonic route and you now play as a Were-Pac, I'll be happy.
Courtney @ Mar 6th 2009 10:25AM
Were-Pac and the White Night, an action RPG, confirmed!
baby sea tuna @ Mar 6th 2009 10:27AM
SHH! Don't give them any ideas!
Especially since it's Namco, so they'll probably charge you $2-$5 extra to download the Were-Pac skin.
j.howlett @ Mar 6th 2009 10:32AM
i feel old, and now want a slice of pizza
rNilla @ Mar 6th 2009 10:33AM
Oh man, I completely forgot about the Pac-Man board game. I wonder if that's still in my parents' basement somewhere...
Brazell @ Mar 6th 2009 10:34AM
5 player online Pac Man, as devised by me when I was playing on the sega genesis as a young tyke:
First-person concept, where each ghost is controlled by a player on their own television. Back in the day this was to be done by linking the consoles, now we have the internet. Ghosts can only see in first person. Pac Man is also controlled by a player, but he can see the whole board.
Profit.
It's like Left 4 Dead, except retro.
JC Fletcher @ Mar 6th 2009 11:03AM
That is Pac-Man VS. on the GameCube. Exactly.
BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 6th 2009 1:05PM
And it's on the DS, as part of NamcoMuseum DS.
And I think Shigeru Miyamoto designed Pac-Man Vs., so Nintendo owns the right to that particular game. Would explain why only Nintendo systems have seen the game yet.
(WiiWare version with online play, please)
Ninbrendo @ Mar 6th 2009 1:12PM
And also Namco Museum DS. I was surprised at how much fun that is to play! Unfortunately, I only know one other person who has a DS, so I haven't experienced it with more than two players.
It would be nice to see a franchise reboot done properly, like Space Invaders Extreme. Stick to the basic premise, but expand upon it. Anthropomorphizing Pac-Man is just wrong.
Markez @ Mar 6th 2009 12:16PM
Man, that's a distressing picture. Makes me feel sorry for the ghosts.
BPMOmega [gamertag] @ Mar 6th 2009 1:06PM
You have to remember that ghosts are often complete assholes. Pac-Man's just getting revenge.
android8675 @ Mar 6th 2009 1:49PM
Pac-Man CE is the only XBox game (Live or otherwise) that I've gotten all achievements on. It's my, "Got 10 minutes to kill..." game.
Diskoboy7 @ Mar 6th 2009 4:05PM
I think this franchise pretty much peaked with the Championship Edition.
It was the best Pac-Man game in almost 25 years (And yes, I'm including all the Pac-Man World games, and Vs. Pac-Man. I credit Jr. Pac-Man as the last 'good' Pac-Man game, before CE.)
Toru Iwatani has retired, and I think it's time for Namco's little hungry, yellow mascot, to do the same.. If it's a new 3-D pac-man game, I definitely don't want it, as I perfer the original 2-D style gameplay.
Lord of the Patapons (slycooper_rocker) @ Mar 6th 2009 5:57PM
but will pacman have a half tuck?