In 1999, Namco knew they had to do something to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their flagship mascot, Pac-Man. Since his inception in the ’80s, Pac-Man was not just a gaming icon but a cultural one too. So after two years in development, they unleashed Pac-Man World onto the PlayStation 1 to coincide with the anniversary. The game became a success, critically and commercially, selling over a million copies in the US alone. The game would spawn two sequels and a racing spin-off in the coming years. But the series has remained dormant since 2006. Until out of nowhere, Bandai Namco announced Pac-Man World Re-Pac earlier this year.

Pac-Man World Re-Pac is a remake from the ground up for modern systems. Namco intends to remaster the original title in full 1080p with a targeted framerate of 60FPS. Did they hit their ambitions? Are there any changes to the original game? Does it stack up well with the 1999 cult classic? Let’s get chomping, shall we?

Let’s explain what Pac-Man World is first

Let me first break down the original title Pac-Man World Re-Pac is a remake of. Pac-Man World was released when 3D platformers were all the rage. Especially on the PlayStation 1. You control Pac-Man in 3D levels where the objective is to take down enemies and make it to the end. All the while collecting dots, fruit, and letters to spell out Pac-Man in each level. Yes, it had all the trademarks of the lovely Collect-a-thon platformers of the time.

But it still had the charm of what made Pac-Man the series it was. Levels included mini maze areas you had to collect dots and chomp down ghosts. Each stage also included a hidden maze like the Pac-Man levels of the past games. If you found and beat them, you collected rewards like more lives. 

Combining the elements of platformers in the 90s and what players loved about the original Pac-Man led to the game garnering success with fans of the series and new players. Including me! I played it at the time due to my love of collect-a-thon 3D platforming games. So I’ve been eagerly waiting for Pac-Man World Re-Pac. But I had a lingering fear going in that nothing would change.

The same adventure feels somewhat new

Thankfully, that fear was dashed upon booting up Pac-Man World Re-Pac. A new remixed version of the opening let me know immediately that the development team did not want to give the original a fresh coat of paint and call it a day. But that new coat of paint is shiny and performs well! In my playthrough, the game never dipped below 60FPS. Plus, the 1080p graphics look delightful and bring a pleasurable gloss to the world’s unique designs. 

It makes playing the game feel nostalgic but fresh at the same time. Gameplay-wise, this is still the Pac-Man World I grew up loving at its core. Every mechanic is intact and functions well. The worlds and areas still feel so fun and rewarding to explore and find every collectible. 

It reminded me just how much this game and Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series show how good Namco was at making 3D platformers in the late 90s. It’s hard to put into words, but each platformer they did felt unique and original compared to others on the market. And Re-Pac was a fantastic reminder of how much I miss their studios taking a swing at this genre occasionally.

The significant changes & upgrades.

So what’s changed in Pac-Man World Re-Pac? Two significant additions to the game. Dot throwing and Big Pac-Man. Dot throwing is simple. You can now use dots as projectiles to defeat enemies along with your other two attacks, butt-bouncing and dashing. 

The more sizeable change (literally) is big Pac-Man. In the original, eating a power dot only changed the ghost to blue and allowed you to “eat” them by touching them. In Re-Pac, eating a power dot makes Pac-Man massive and lets you not only eat ghosts but cause significant destruction to areas to find hidden secrets. It’s a simple idea, but it’s a blast to see how the development team plays around with it in levels as the game progresses. 

A bit of a lost charm from the original.

Before everyone thinks I’m praising this up and down, there is one significant element I feel the game flounders in. And that is in the story. Yes, I know there’s not an elaborate tale in Pac-Man World Re-Pac. It’s literally a “go rescue your family from enemies” story. But one of the more charming elements of the original was how weird the presentation of said story was. The enemies were all voiced in a campy way. The cutscene graphics gave off a bit of a darker tone. Finally, the ending was darkly comedic in a way you wouldn’t expect from a family series like Pac-Man.

In the remake, that’s all gone. The story cutscenes are lighter in tone and have graphical coloring. The ending is changed to match the friendly style as well. Plus, there’s no voice acting at all this time around. It does the “have characters speak a gibberish language” you see in platform games, for some reason.

Is this nitpicking? Yes. I fully understand this might be a complaint about my tastes. And it’s not a dealbreaker for the game whatsoever. But that charm is a significant reason I love the original so much. It’s the weird presentation you don’t see much of today, and it does make me sad to see it get neutered here. Wow. I’m getting to that age now. Aren’t I?

A quick PSA about the Nintendo Switch version of the game.

A weird note I found in research I need to bring up. The copy I received was for the Xbox Series X. As mentioned above, I consistently hit 60FPS at 1080p. As you can guess, the Switch version was downgraded in those areas to 30FPS and 1080p docked, or 720p undocked. That is if you don’t know about a toggle in the options. In the options, there is a toggle between two modes, resolution and performance. This option is on the Switch version. It defaults into resolution mode. Switching this to performance puts the Switch version close to 60FPS. And there is barely a change to the resolution. So if you plan to buy the Switch version, make sure you do this if you want the best framerate. 

Final thoughts

Pac-Man World Re-Pac has its heart in the right place. Remastering the game from the ground up was the right call. Significant changes and upgrades have blossomed to make the gameplay feel fresh and new, even for players who adore the original, like me. 

I do wish more effort went into the little elements presentation-wise. While the game hits its performance mark of 1080p and 60FPS, there’s a significant charm loss in the story cutscenes, dialogue with the family, and the weird humor of the original game. 

But those are personal nitpicks. I’m still grateful that Bandai Namco decided to put the willpower and effort into Pac-Man World Re-Pac at all. With this and Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series just this year, maybe Bandai Namco realized just how good they are at 3D platforming games. Here’s to hoping that the success of Re-Pac could lead to World 2 and 3 getting potential remasters as well. A 90s kid can dream, right?