Suggested by Destroyer Tiny Tina is a survivor who can really make do in a tough situation but she isn’t a big fighter the way that Pac Man is. He’s still got the massive advantage here in terms of fighting ability and experience. A quick fireball or ice blast should take her down for the count. Pac Man’s faster so he’ll land the hits real easy. Pac Man wins.
Suggested by Destroyer Pac Man is a proud fighter with a lot of different special abilities. He’s certainly got more in the tank than Leap Frog, I can guarantee you that. Leap Frog is good at jumping around and staying out of trouble but he has no real way to break through Pac Man’s defenses and land a definitive blow. That’s what is going to cost him in the long run. Pac Man is just too powerful. Pac Man wins.
Suggested by Destroyer The Pac is back and he’s not playing around! Jack Frost has some serious ice talents to be sure but Pac Man has a fire mode along with a lot of other elemental abilities. Jack Frost would not be able to last for very long against some of those attacks and also doesn’t have the speed to dodge them. Pac Man is much more of an all around fighter so Jack would really be on the back foot here. Pac Man wins.
Suggested by Destroyer Baby Doll is a fairly creepy villain who will do whatever it takes to claim victory. It just won’t be enough against a fighter as skilled as Pac Man. Pac Man has elemental abilities, size manipulation, super strength, and a whole lot of other special abilities. You’re just not going to beat an opponent like that without an array of crispy abilities of your own. Baby Doll just doesn’t have those. Pac Man wins.
Suggested by Destroyer Space Dandy’s gun skills are really not going to be enough to cause the Pac Man any concern. Pac Man has elemental abilities over fire, ice, and several other elements. He can break Dandy’s gun in a lot of different ways and that would be it for the guy. Dandy just doesn’t have any way to come out on top here and running is his best chance to at least stall the match. Pac Man wins.
Suggested by Destroyer Pac Man is a strong fighter who has a lot of different forms at his disposal. It won’t be easy for Oolong to try and trick him with shapeshifting either. So at that point Oolong has lost his main advantage here. In a close quarters combat fight, Pac Man has the massive edge as well. Oolong desperately needs a big power up if he wants to go any further here but for now this is a big loss. Pac Man wins.
Suggested by Destroyer The U.S. Agent is a fairly tough guy but there really isn’t much to him beyond some basic super strength and speed. He really wouldn’t be able to close the distance against Pac Man. Pac Man just has way too many forms and techniques at his disposal to be taken down easily. U.S. Agent’s shield will block the fire and ice but it can’t stop the sheer might of golden Pac-Man. Pac Man wins.
Suggested by Destroyer Pac Man is in for a pretty good matchup here since his long range options are an excellent counter to the Squid’s close combat style. The Squid isn’t particularly fast so Pac Man should have no problem weaving his way in and out of range the whole time. No matter what the Squid does, Pac Man will have an answer for it. That’s why you can’t underestimate this guy. Pac Man wins.
Pac Man 99 is a pretty interesting title. It really arrived out of the blue to jump on the whole 99 game craze and that was a really good idea. One, it helps to bring some more attention to Pac Man and two, it’s just a fun format. It’s definitely not going to come quite close to taking down Tetris 99 as the ultimate game of this genre without some big updates but the gameplay lends itself really well to this style.
When you boot up the game you are taken right to the menu where you can jump into the main mode. Essentially what happens is the game starts off with normal Pac Man gameplay although you’ll notice that the level changes the position of pellets in each match although there are only a few variations. When you eat a ghost you summon a ghost pac to another player’s screen. If you touch the ghost then it slows you down a little bit giving the ghosts time to catch you. You will need to get to a power pellet to be safe here.
There is also the signature fruit that will appear on the level but it has a different feature than usual. In this game touching the fruit will automatically respawn all of the pellets and power pellets. It also brings back the mini white pellets which you can use to summon a bunch of extra ghosts. Why would you do that? Well, they all chain to one ghost so then when you eat him, you can summon over a dozen ghosts to another player’s screen. It’s really worth building your playstyle around the ghosts.
The game also feels a lot easier than Mario 35 or Tetris 99 but it probably depends on how familiar you are with each game. For example, I got several victories on the first day with Pac Man but never got one on Mario or Tetris. Of course I do pride myself on being a bit of Pac expert so that’s something to keep in mind for sure. Heh heh. So the gameplay is a lot of fun and since it’s effectively classic Pac Man gameplay at its core there is a lot of replay value here. As you last longer into the match you will also meet red Pac Mans which are fatal if you touch them so make sure you stay away.
Technically there is a way to survive a single blow but I’m not sure if it’s luck or something. The game makes a shiny sound effect and you live so maybe you are always allowed 1 hit but I didn’t really test this. I just stay away from them as much as possible. When you use a power pellet then they will stay in place so one of the big things to consider is that you don’t freeze them in a position where they block your exits. If you do that then you will really end up being sunk.
My only real problem with the game is that everything is hidden behind a paywall. Tetris did it right where you could unlock a bunch of levels and emblems for free while locking the modes behind a paywall. The issue here is that Pac locks literally everything behind paywalls. There are 0 unlockables in the entire game which seems a bit excessive. Surely at least the emblems could have been something you could unlock as you progress through the levels right? It just feels like the game is being a bit cheap.
What this means is that you literally only have one mode of play but absolutely 0 rewards for playing more than 1 game. You have to purely play to have a good time but with only 1 level to play over and over even the most intense Pac Man fans will likely get bored soon and then just move on to the classic game where you at least have a high score to chase after. Now that’s the way to go.
Still, when you consider that the game is completely free that does help matters. The soundtrack is pretty classic although it’s got a bit of a techno vibe to it the way that Tetris 99 has. The graphics are standard but they look pretty smooth so I’m definitely on board with it. The game wants to look like the original title after all and it captures that style well.
Overall, Pac Man 99 is a good game. I do think it could have been a whole lot better though. The title is playing it extremely safe by not having anything other than the most basic mode but maybe they will expand that at some point. Honestly they could have a lot of fun with it too like allowing you to play as the ghosts or something. Surely changing the character model can’t be a big hurdle since it’s working with fairly retro effects. Either way if you have a Switch you should definitely check this out since it’s for free. You’ll have a good time for a while at least.
Overall 7/10
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