{"id":26201,"date":"2025-11-21T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T00:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/?p=26201"},"modified":"2025-10-25T12:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T12:00:03","slug":"pac-man-world-2-and-the-act-of-kindness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/21\/pac-man-world-2-and-the-act-of-kindness\/","title":{"rendered":"Pac-Man World 2 and the Act of Kindness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Back in 2022, Pac-Man World: RePac was released.\u00a0 It was a remake of the original Pac-Man World game on PlayStation.\u00a0 I even wrote an article about it here<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 I encourage you to read that article I wrote because the original Pac-Man World game was a very special game to me as a game reviewer, and the remake was even my Game of the Year in 2022!\u00a0 I wondered if Pac-Man World 2 would get the RePac treatment someday, and this year it did!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like Pac-Man World 2 as much as the original, but it was still a special game to me and I thought I\u2019d explain why in this article, and go over my thoughts on the RePac version of this game as well.<\/p>\n

Pac-Man World was a special game to me because it was one of the first games I got to follow from start to finish as a game reviewer for The Dallas Morning News.\u00a0 Yeah this was back when people read newspapers.\u00a0 Anyway, I got to know the team who made the game and a year or so later, I got to see the first glimpses of what would be Pac-Man World 2 at a later E3.\u00a0 This was a very early demo of the game, and just let you walk around a grassy forest meadow collecting dots.\u00a0 But they had a few interesting ideas they were planning that actually didn\u2019t make it into the final game, so I thought I\u2019d go over those here.<\/p>\n

The original idea for Pac-Man World 2 was that it would be more open world.\u00a0 They even showed how you could change shoes on the fly to help you travel around the world better.\u00a0 You could put on rollerblades to go faster on land, and flippers to go faster on water.\u00a0 But since there was no water in the demo you could just waddle around with the flippers on land.\u00a0 While the final game was more linear, remnants of this idea can be seen in the rollerblading boardwalk stage and the water stages where you had flippers.<\/p>\n

Another scrapped idea was that the fruit you collected could be used to make power smoothies at a shop run by Smoothie Sue, a Pac-lady with a swirl on her head.\u00a0 The idea was that when you went to the ghost world, there were no power pellets so you could take these smoothies with you as power-ups.\u00a0 While this idea was scrapped, you can still see the model of Smoothie Sue being used as the host of the in-game arcade!\u00a0 I have a feeling that these ideas had to be scrapped because of tight deadlines.<\/p>\n

Sadly, when Pac-Man World 2 was about to be released, I was let go from the newspaper.\u00a0 The editor of the technology section moved to another department, and they decided not to have game reviews anymore.\u00a0 So I had to tell the Pac-Man World 2 team not to send me a review copy, because I had no outlet to review it on.\u00a0 But you know what?\u00a0 They sent me a copy anyway, and the members of the team signed the box (yes I still have it).\u00a0 That really meant a lot to me that they did that.\u00a0 I bet they don\u2019t remember they did that, but if there\u2019s anything you should take away from this article is that you should never shy away from doing acts of kindness like that.\u00a0 Because no matter how small, it may really mean a lot to that person.\u00a0 I know I\u2019ll never forget what they did.<\/p>\n

Anyway, 25 years later, they remade the game as Pac-Man World 2: RePac.\u00a0 Of course I\u2019ve played it, what kind of Pac-Man fan do you think I\u2019d be if I didn\u2019t!\u00a0 So now I thought I\u2019d go over the changes, and what I liked and disliked about it. Just a warning, there might be some spoilers ahead!\u00a0 \u00a0So let\u2019s begin!<\/p>\n

So naturally, the graphics and music have been improved.\u00a0 There is also voice acting now, and the guy who played Pac-Man in Pac-Man World 3 is here again.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really think the game needed voices, though.\u00a0 Pac-Man may talk, but he really doesn\u2019t \u2018say\u2019 anything, if that makes any sense.\u00a0 I do think it\u2019s funny that Pac-Man\u2019s voice just sounds like a regular guy.\u00a0 Heck, I could do that voice, although Pac-Man might have a slight Texan accent if I did it. Most levels are the same, but some are reworked and different.\u00a0 It\u2019s more of a reimagining than a remake, really.<\/p>\n

Pac-Man has some new moves as well.\u00a0 In the first Pac-Man World game, you could throw dots.\u00a0 They took that out of the original sequel, but now you can do it again here.\u00a0 In the original Pac-Man World 2, you could do a flip kick in the air, but now you can also do it on the ground.\u00a0 If you time your butt bounce move, you can do a super bounce that lets you jump higher and stun enemies on the ground.\u00a0 Later on you\u2019ll have to really master this new move.\u00a0 Only problem I have is that because of that new ability, the controls don\u2019t flow as well as they did in the original game.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve also added missions in the stages.\u00a0 If you complete them all, you can unlock an outfit for Pac-Man to wear!\u00a0 These missions are really hard, though.\u00a0 There\u2019s also a two player mode, but the second player just controls a Pac-Drone that can stun enemies and collect dots.\u00a0 Kind of like a throwaway two player like what\u2019s in Super Mario Galaxy and Donkey Kong Bananza.\u00a0 One thing I\u2019m thankful for is Fairy Mode.\u00a0 This is the easy mode that gives you extra platforms, infinite health and lives, and lets you skip a level if you die too much on it.\u00a0 The cool thing here is that it\u2019s referencing the fairy from Pac-Land!<\/p>\n

The box for the game (which has a reversible cover referencing the art from the original game) also says there will be three special collabs in 2026.\u00a0 The first one has already been announced.\u00a0 Pac-Man will appear in Sonic Racing Crossworlds (yes I do have that game), and in Pac-Man World 2, you\u2019ll be able to play a few Sonic themed stages as well!\u00a0 Neat!\u00a0 The other two collabs haven\u2019t been announced yet.\u00a0 I thought one might be Kirby Air Riders, but since Pac-Man World 2: RePac is a multiplatform game and Nintendo doesn\u2019t like to share and have their characters on competing platforms, I crossed out that idea pretty quickly.\u00a0 I then thought about the new Katamari game, but that\u2019s already been released, too, with no word here.\u00a0 What could those other collabs be?<\/p>\n

Remember when I said I think the original Pac-Man World 2 game might\u2019ve been rushed a bit?\u00a0 One reason why I think that is because after each world, you\u2019d fight a boss.\u00a0 The first boss was Clyde (called Blinky at the time), piloting a robot frog.\u00a0 But the other three ghosts in their worlds just piloted a giant robot ghost.\u00a0 I kind of liked the robot ghosts, because it kind of felt like they were making reference to Pac-Man Arrangement in the arcade.\u00a0 But it was still kind of weird.\u00a0 But in this remake, each ghost pilots a separate robot animal.\u00a0 Inky has an owl, Pinky has a polar bear, and Blinky has a spider.\u00a0 At first I was glad that they changed the bosses, because in the original game, Blinky\u2019s robot ghost in the volcano was SUPER HARD!\u00a0 I thought these new bosses might\u2019ve balanced the difficulty a bit, but boy was I wrong!\u00a0 I\u2019ll talk more about the difficulty in a bit.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve also revamped the hub world, Pac-Village.\u00a0 You can change your outfit here and visit the arcade.\u00a0 In the original PMW2, the arcade let you play classics like Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Pac-Attack, and Ms. Pac-Man.\u00a0 You unlocked them by collecting tokens, but here you must complete missions in the stages.\u00a0 The problem is that the missions to unlock them are in the boss battles, and since I hinted about how hard the bosses are here, you can guess how many I\u2019ve unlocked.\u00a0 Of course in the remake you can\u2019t play Ms. Pac-Man because of rights issues.\u00a0 And the version of Pac-Attack here is just the console version.\u00a0 One cool thing about the original PMW2 is that the version of Pac-Attack on it was the one from Namco Anthology.\u00a0 It was a Japan only title that had improved versions of Namco console games, and that version of Pac-Attack was way better.\u00a0 It was one of the coolest things about the original PMW2.<\/p>\n

So now the tokens you collect can be used at new gashapon machines in the arcade.\u00a0 These are modelled after real life gashapon machines that Bandai makes, so way to go with using the merger, Namco!\u00a0 You can buy figures of characters and items (kind of like how you do in Kirby and the Forgotten Land), and decorate Pac-Village with them!\u00a0 I actually visited a store in Grapevine Mills Mall in Texas that has nothing but those gashapon machines, so I thought I\u2019d go off topic for a bit and share some pictures of them here.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be cool if you could get Pac-Man gashapon toys in real life?\u00a0 Well here you can.\u00a0 These guys even light up!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here they are on display, too.\u00a0 I did get one myself, the blue ghost Inky.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Outside the mall they also had some machines, here\u2019s one with Kirby and Mario.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back at the store, they had Ape Escape ones.\u00a0 I wish Sony would revisit that series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There was also Katamari Damacy, too!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This wall of Kirby gashapon was especially dangerous for me.\u00a0 I have forbidden myself from going back into that store!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anyway, sorry for going off topic there. Spoiler warning for this next part.\u00a0 \u00a0Another thing they added to this remake is a post game after the ending.\u00a0 When you beat the final boss, after the credits it shows a scene where Pac-Boy and Pac-Sis find a portal in the golden fruit tree and they go back in time.\u00a0 Pac-Man follows them and must conquer more stages that are harder versions of the ones he just completed!\u00a0 There\u2019s not as many of them, just one stage and boss battle per area.\u00a0 And then after you beat Spooky for the second time in the past, you can fight a secret boss: Toc-Man from the first game!\u00a0 He\u2019s mad because he wasn\u2019t invited to Pac\u2019s birthday party, but he did get an invitation, and just accidentally used it as toilet paper!<\/p>\n

Of course I never saw that secret boss myself because I stopped after trying to fight Spooky the second time.\u00a0 They used instant death pits and he has three phases and you must start over at the beginning if you die, and even Fairy Mode won\u2019t save you from that.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the big problem I have with this game is that it\u2019s way too hard.\u00a0 In the original PMW2, I only had trouble with two parts: the Blinky boss fight in the volcano and the rollerblading boardwalk stage.\u00a0 But I still pushed through.\u00a0 Here I had to turn on Fairy Mode at the second boss!\u00a0 There\u2019s no reason this game should be that hard.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad they added Fairy Mode, but it seems more like a cop-out for fair and balanced gameplay.\u00a0 I can\u2019t believe how many YouTube reviewers are gushing about this remake.\u00a0 You can tell they\u2019re doing it just so they can get more free games out of Namco.\u00a0 I guess that\u2019s why I don\u2019t get as many games to review anymore.\u00a0 I\u2019m just honest.\u00a0 Anyway, I have to say I\u2019m ultimately disappointed with Pac-Man\u2019s game offerings this year for his 45th<\/sup> anniversary.\u00a0 Between this and Shadow Labyrinth, both are way too hard.<\/p>\n

But I do want to end this on some positive notes.\u00a0 This is still a very faithful reimagining of the original game.\u00a0 And in a world where most big games are 70 and even 80 bucks, Pac-Man World 2: RePac is only 30 bucks!\u00a0 And that\u2019s a lotta game for that price!\u00a0 And I\u2019m glad to see they put the original PMW2 team in the credits this time.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t do that with the first game until me and others complained about it and they added it in with a patch!\u00a0 We will just have to see if Pac-Man World 3 gets the RePac treatment!\u00a0 Anyway I think that\u2019s all I have to say about Pac-Man World 2: RePac. Later!\u00a0 –Cary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in 2022, Pac-Man World: RePac was released.\u00a0 It was a remake of the original Pac-Man World game on PlayStation.\u00a0 I even wrote an article about it here.\u00a0 I encourage you to read that article I wrote because the original Pac-Man World game was a very special game to me as a game reviewer, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26203,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26201\/revisions\/26203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}