I’m gonna be honest, there’s a reason people want Sonic Adventure 3, and people want Pac-Man World 4, and why they LOVE Mario Odyssey, because that’s what we WANTED, we want more Pac-Man lore, dude, to me this trilogy completed Pac-Man lore, the ghosts being shown scared to the Pac people, the ancient lore and story of their ancestors with spooky and the spectral realm, I WAS INTERESTED! I want the Sonic Mania of Pac-Man, a platformer with story and lore with lovable characters and how even the antagonist from the original redeems himself and works together with Pac in the third game showing they have development and genuine emotions and character growth that we unfortunately, may never see again.
Everything you’d aid is so profound and meaningful that it deserves far more than just an half-hundred of likes (I’m one of the thirteen), even as a top comment of an under-popular video.
I think the reason why Sega and Namco would think that people don’t care about sequels to Sonic Adventure 2 and Pac-Man World 3 is because Sega thinks they don’t like to make sequels (even though recently in the 2010s, they made Sonic Free Riders an unplayable piece of shit that even they wouldn’t want to talk about, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal and Fire and Ice being 2D 3DS game sequels to another one of the worst Sonic games, Sonic Dash 2 as another part of the Sonic Boom series and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed and debatably Sonic Team Racing if Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing even counts as a trilogy) and because Namco thinks Pac-Man World is to the 2000s as Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures is to the (mid) 2010s - they weren’t built to last (well, it’s their own fault they stopped the series even though it had so much potential to be one of true biggest gaming franchises up to the ranks of Super Mario).
that doesn't really count now does it because it's just a rerelease of an older game just now with better graphics and ms pac-man is no longer there apparently
@@theultimatebadass-cq1xh It's better than nothing. I do agree that a new 3D platformer that stars Pac-Man would be ideal, though. We'll see if Namco Bandai releases something like that. It's too bad that they lost the rights to Ms. Pac-Man.
You said something that really sticks out of this analysis and is really good: Pacman used to be a character developing gaming when now it's used as a bunch of pixels representing old arcade games with no substance.
But, nostalgic cash grabs are what gamers want out Pac-Man. Ambition? Evolution? Modernization? Nah, that doesn't fit Pac-Man. Minor updates to a nearly 45-year old arcade game is where it's at. The Pac-Man World series wasn't as successful as Mario 64, Sunshine & Galaxy or the Sonic Adventure duo. And, you know what? I preferred those games over the Pac-Man World trilogy. But, I did appreciate that Namco would attempt something different with the character. What they're doing with Pac-Man nowadays is nothing short of lazy. It's just as bad as what Nintendo does (or doesn't do) with Star Fox.
When I was younger, I spent hours on World 2. I played it so much. It was insane. I empathize with your point, Pac-Man was my Mario. I didn’t have a lot of money, so when the PlayStation 3 came out, I stuck to the PS2 and Pac-Man world games. While my parents were going through a divorce, the happy go lucky world of Pac-Man world was always there and inviting. It stings a bit to think of its fall from grace. I’m not a very emotional person, but this specific topic always makes me feel nostalgic and even a bit sad...
This is an incredibly well done retrospective on the matter. I feel like the decline of this franchise isn't talked about nearly enough. Good work, you guys!
Thank you for this. It always irked me how people ignore Pac-Man's drop to mobile shovelware, cameos & rehashes. He's more than just a one-track minded maze sphere, damnit! On that note, can I just say that Ubisoft has been currently pulling the same punches with the Rayman series & fans like me lately? - Making virtually no effort to make a new big console release since 2013's Rayman Legends based on the company's own assumptions. - Said lack of effort stemming from Rayman Legends being a commercial letdown, mainly thanks to Ubisoft's own stupid decision making & general fear of advertising anything that isn't Assassin's Creed, Rabbids, or Just Dance (Yes Ubisoft, lets delay the finished game for months, then release/have it compete with games like GODDAMN GTA5 with little to no marketing to back it up, THEN wonder why it didn't get much traction. 👌) - Did NOTHING to celebrate the series' big 2-0 in 2015 aside from a mobile successor to Legends. - Any new appearences by Rayman have been relegated to cameos in obscure mobile titles, homogenous auto-runners, a subpar Smash Bros substitute, & a standalone Switch port of Legends. - Ubisoft, like Namco, has yet to capitalize on the current 3D mascot platformer renaissance by remaking either Rayman 2 or 3. Or, y'know, making a new game. - Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed & Just Dance are in top condition, & the fucking Rabbids got the honor of crossing over with Mario & Donkey Kong. (though that is, by all accounts, a solid game) Sound familiar? Both series are fantastic, & they deserve better, but I digress. Great video, man.
Tell me about it. As a Rayman fan since childhood, it's always been disappointing to me how little has been done with him when he has so much potential. Probably doesn't help that Ancel has been focusing on BG&E for the most part (at least he's shown interest in making a new 3d game, though).
I MEAN THE GAME yes THE SERIES meh... and the character design sucked really it was mad cringethe talking animations where awful, edgy jokes about farts... but the game definitely gave me PACMAN WORLD feels and for that i respect it !
@SuperStar7650 This whole video was explaining the mystery of why there aren’t any more Pac Man platform games. What you just said now might be the reason why.
At 13:03, those voices always cracks me up. It's like Sonic and Shadow are telling people to stop talking about the 3d platforming Pac-Man World games and to forget about them.
After Ubisoft "celebrated" Rayman's 25th Anniversary in which I honestly think Ubisoft doesn't deserve Rayman anymore now that Michel Ancel retired, I'm starting to think if Bandai Namco deserves Pac-Man. I mean sure they haven't given him the spotlight for nearly the last decade, but at least they acknowledged Pac's 40th Anniversary in comparison to Ubisoft in which they even didn't do a social media post of Rayman's 25th Anniversary. Bandai Namco should also need to bring back Pole Position by giving it the Daytona Championship USA 3 treatment and make it a true competitor to the Codemasters F1 games
I know this is a bit of a tangent from Pac-Man. but do you know what really depresses me about Klonoa in particular? The only easy way to play it legitimately is on the PS3 as a downloadable title. Why? Because the game runs at 2/3's of its normal speed... Even the music and audio is at a lower pitch. Might be different in North America, but here in the UK, we're left with a PAL version even worse than the original PAL version. That's not to say I didn't still love the game despite this technical hiccup, but the fact that it's still an issue for me all these years later proves that Namco doesn't care enough about Klonoa. Not only did they never market any of the games, but they can't even get something as basic as a legal emulation of the game right or get off their arses to fix it. It's so depressing, because that's one of the best 2.5D games out there, and really reminded me that not all 2D platformers have to be derivative and/or bland. It took full advantage of the fact that it was a 2D platformer in a 3D world, and didn't contain any filler content as far as I'm aware. Games like Klonoa, the Pac-Man World series, Katamari and The Munchables all need to be preserved, and deserve a better shot than what they got/currently get.
I know they only made one game in The Munchables series but do people really like that game? I thought it was alright. Could have worked better as an HD game. But that's just me.
Well recently trademarks for splatterhouse encore Mr driller encore and klonoa encore appeared online so perhaps klonoa will come back along with the other 2
Excellent work at explaining the entire thing. I wish we would get an HD remastered collection of the first 2 world games and world rally (imagine Rally with online VS modes hoooh). Come on Namco give us the good stuff!
Honestly this whole idea of taking pacman back for ourselves is a good idea. I'm part of the sonic fanbase, and being tired of sega's shitty game design, we make our own fangames. Granted they are NEVER finished, but at least it something. I honestly dont see namco making anything anymore so I think that approach is appropriate here. I just hope they dotn take down everything we'd make like Nintendo does.
Pacman worlds 2 and 3 were my childhood. Also 3 still has a soundtrack that slaps, specifically the Erwin foght music. Pacman world 4, or a remake of the earlier world games would be bought by me in an instant.
Very nice analysis. This needs to be spread out somehow, not sure how though. It's so cool to see you still supporting the Pacman franchise after all those years since you reviewed the Pacman world games (even tho I found this vid out 3 months late eheh...)
I will say this. I do like Pac-Man 256. It is a mobile game, yes. But it at least feels like a original take on the maze games for Pac-Man. All while the 256 level glitch chases you endlessly. It basically is just an endless arcade level. Which for a Pac-Man mobile game, is good. Although the series could still be a lot more.
And yet it's just another permutation of the arcade maze. Sure, the arcade maze is a classic, but games like Pac-Man World and Adventures in Time did much more while keeping the core Pac-Man elements.
I'm suprised he mentioned that most gaming critics like cgrundertow actually didn't like pac-man platformers and wanted namco to milk the original maze game.
I find the fact that people are still discussing the idea of a new Pac-Man World game or a successor super interesting. I adore those games, especially World 2, more than almost any other and they are longtime favorites. I'd 100% be down for World 4, but I'm definitely concerned about the viability of a project like that; though I agree that a following exists, I think for it to be a success they'd need to be pretty careful with how they go about raising interest. An N. Sane Trilogy-style remaster of the first three games wouldn't work since each installment is so different so a uniform engine for all three wouldn't work, and there's no way individual remakes would be financially viable for Namco. The main thing that keeps it interesting as a discussion to me is the fact that World 2 seems to be getting more and more recognition as a real gem of its era (and rightfully so; it was easily my favorite non-Sonic platformer growing up and it sold super well across all consoles so it wasn't exactly obscure). It's getting to be something of a cult-classic these days and that could be just what they need to make something out of it. Probably won't happen, but hey, I have Pac-Man integrated into my channel art and animations for a reason, I wanna have some hope lol.
That's why people say to make your own Pac-Man game. I might as well make my own Pac-Man game but with a plot twist of romance in a way. Hope you don't mind if I steal Pac-Man 2's idea and somehow pull a Catherine with this game. (If you are a fan of Miss Pac-Man and Pinky? Pac-Man might make a choice for 2019)
Dude most of the Pac-Man games for mobile are just fan-games and the ones that there are are just some simple ones... Im really sad about this, i want to see the same charming design of Pac-Man World 2 again and its music again Its just such a special game for me
Finally! Someone who understands what Pac-Man should be and how severely underrated these games are! Dude, I need a Pac-Man HD Trilogy remake, please God have mercy!
As a kid World 3 was my first Pac-Man World game and i played it through like 5 times and loved it. I recently got World 2 but kinda forgot to continue playing it but it seemed really good. I never got Ghostly Adventures because i really hate the redisigns. Pac-Man's voice and teeth and the ghosts, i just really can't. I hope we get World 4 with the original designs and gameplay similar to World 1 and 2.
19:27 kinda sounds like the AVGN theme And these are straight up truths and facts... I had the same opinions on Ghostly Adventures. It’s fine and the games were too...too bad the show was on a cliffhanger
Tbh, I do get why you would be sad that Pacman hasn't came back in the 3D Platformer form. Tbf, Pacman World 1 & 2 are pretty solid games. And if anything, people like King K and Nitro Rad loves these games. While i'm not as crazy as others about Pacman, I think it's a pretty good series. Time will only tell if they try a new 3D Platformer. But who knows? (Odyssey was a return to form for that style of platforming.)
I like the video, I have some constructive criticism: - You didn't go into the origin story of World 1 or 3 in very much depth when there was a lot more there to explain and there was a lot more about World 3's development (like originally starting as a weird spin off with don bluth doing the art direction) that you totally skipped out on. - This really loses focus after you go over Ghostly Adventures 2. Work on the script more next time, you made your point about wanting more and it being viable very early on. - The whole youtube collab thing where someone else randomly starts narrating parts is consistently lame, not helped by the fact that the other guy's audio setup is straight up bad and he is not on your level voice or delivery wise either.
I really enjoyed playing the Pac-Man World games, and I'll admit that the 3rd one is my favorite. I'll give the 2nd one credit for feeling more polished and having more level variety, but the absurd dialogue and Pac-Man's voice in the 3rd one gave that game more personality and humor than the 2nd one. Having said that, both 2 & 3 are better than 1, which is also a fine game. The camera problems and at times bad level design indicate the games' age, but that doesn't mean they're no longer fun. It's too bad that the folks at Namco Bandai are so ashamed of them. I was disappointed when none of the SSB Wii U/Switch games referenced the Pac-Man World titles. Plus, they've never re-released or remastered them as far as I know. There are just those 3 games and a kart racer, and... that's it. They haven't touched them again. You'll at least see Mario 64 and the Sonic Adventure duo get re-released on new consoles. Pac-Man World may as well have never existed with the way Namco Bandai refuses to acknowledge them. I think the main problem is that the series became a victim of its own success. People don't want Pac-Man to anything other than a simple 40-year old maze game. I don't know the exact sales figures of games like Pac-Man 2, the Pac-Man World games, and other post-1980s Pac-Man games, but it's probably fair to say that they never reached the heights of the original arcade game. I think namco was hoping that they'd find that level of success again with these titles, but that didn't happen. A lot of people complained about those Pac-Man World games back when they were released because, "this ain't Pac-Man!", "Why is Pac-Man ripping off Mario??", "namco's just taking a generic 3D platformer and slapping Pac-Man in it", "Pac-Man isn't supposed to have arms and legs" , "Pac-Man is a maze game, not a platforming character with a personality", etc. Now, of course, Pac-Man was shown to have arms and legs on arcade cabinets, and he had starred in a platformer before Mario did, but which one was more popular: Pac-Land or Super Mario Bros? Everyone knows the answer to this question. As a result, they (unwisely) did a CTRL + ATL + Delete on any story lines, levels, characters, etc that were established after the original arcade game. So, it's as if the Pac-Man World games, for example, didn't exist. To try again at modernizing Pac-Man, they released Pac-Man Party, which failed. They launched Pac-Man pop-up stores and short animations to promote them, but those also didn't go anywhere and have since been removed from the internet. They created the Ghostly Adventures series, which also failed to revive Pac-Man's 1980s success. It seems they've given up on modernizing him, so everyone had better get used to Namco Bandai randomly slapping Pac-Man in Candy Crush clones and releasing generic happy anniversary merchandise every 5-10 years. Don't expect adventurous AAA console titles from Pac-Man any time soon, if ever. Only Mario (and, to a lesser extent, Sonic) have that privilege. This is as good as it gets. But, the problems with Pac-Man are symptomatic of the larger problems with Namco Bandai, namely that they don't care about their past. namco's other old games like Ace Combat, Xevious, Moto GP, Mr. Driller, Mappy, and Klonoa either didn't sustain their success or never achieved mainstream success to begin with. Ridge Racer, once a hit in arcades and on the PS1, later suffered from low sales on the PS3 and PS Vita. Ridge Racer 7 was the last serious Ridge Racer game, but that game failed to sell as well as Ridge Racer Type 4. The mid 2000s was a really rough time for namco. By around 2015 and beyond, Tekken was the only namco original series that was still an active video game franchise. Their other original series had fallen by the wayside. Either they hadn't gotten a new release for years or they were relegated to mobile game hell. Unfortunately, Harada declared Tekken 7 to be the last entry in the series. They've released a new Ace Combat and a Soul Calibur that isn't free-to-play nonsense, but that's about it. From a business standpoint, merging with Bandai in the mid-to-late 2000s was a great idea because they were probably going to end up bankrupt, otherwise. But, the consequence is that they've lost a lot of what made them special, much like Sega after they merged with Sammy. If you're still itching for Pac-Man World 4, you'll be waiting for a very long time because Namco Bandai is busy fapping to DBZ, Naruto, and Sword Art Online right now. They're basically the anime version of THQ, like this narrator correctly stated.
Really good video I agree with numerous stuff you said here's hoping that they make a new non maze style Pac man game also recently a trademark was filed for Mr driller encore splatterhouse encore and klonoa encore so maybe some of their old ips will see the light of day again
To be fair, I enjoy the Championship Edition series, given that I grew up mostly with console versions of various arcade titles. And I also enjoyed playing World 2 on the Gamecube. Sometimes I wish Namco would listen to us. Remakes of the first 2 games, even, would be GREAT. I've never played the first PMW. Same with Adventures in Time. Heck, a new maze game akin to AiT would be amazing...that isn't Championship Edition, for once.
Klonoa Dream Traveler of Noctis Sol was revived by a fan and there is also supposedly a new Klonoa game in development. Perhaps Namco's franchises will make a comeback.
While I'm not as big a Pac-Man fan as you, the Pac-Man World games (and especially 2) were really fun and neat platformers. I think the issue with making a new 3d Pac-Man platformer is that, in a general sense, Pac-Man is remembered more as an arcade game. While there is definitely a fanbase for the platformer stuff, the Pac-Man iconography is still very much rooted in the original arcade stuff. That's what the general audience knows him as, hence why it's much easier to cater to that. Plus, while 3d platformers are sort of making a comeback, I'm still not sure they have a stable place in the market beyond nostalgia trips and indie things yet, so it might still be a risk for Namco to try it. Maybe if the MediEvil and Destroy All Humans remakes do well, there might be a chance (though those aren't really platformers, so I dunno). I will say that if a new 3d Pac-Man platformer does get made, I'll probably give it a shot (though I'm still more so concerned with getting a new 3d Rayman game ultimately).
@@Nic_2751 I'm not so sure. Zelda isn't really a platformer (more of an action-adventure) and Mario is so big they can pretty much do whatever they want with him. I don't think either of those are gonna convince companies to make more 3d platformers. However, it is cool that they're gonna make actual new Crash and Spyro games (rather than just stopping with those remakes), so the potential for old series revivals is still possible (and I'm still looking forward to the new Psychonauts).
I agree with this comment. I think the reason why Super Mario Bros and Mario 64 ended up so much more successful than Pac-Land and Pac-Man World (respectively) is that, while Mario started out as a platforming series, Pac-Man started out as a maze game series. Mario became the gold standard in the platforming genre, while Pac-Man became the gold standard in maze chase genre. Those are the genres that these series are most famous for. But, as we know, the platforming genre had way more of a future than the maze chase genre would. The platforming genre continued to grow in complexity and commercial success throughout the 90s and the 21st century. Platforming games acquired better graphics, more advanced gameplay, more developed storytelling, more complex character personalities, bigger levels, multiple endings and storyline paths, etc. New platforming series like Sonic the Hedgehog popped up. Sonic had the greatest, longest-lasting success of any 1990s platformer by far and, for a time, was a serious challenger to Mario's dominance in this genre. He inspired an assload of "edgy furry mascots" like Crash Bandicoot (the most successful of the bunch), Bubsy the Bobcat, James Pond, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Gex the Gecko, Aero the Acrobat, Awesome Possum, Rocky Rodent, etc. There was a glut of platformers in the late 1990s like Rayman and Banjo-Kazooie and well into the 2000s and beyond because this genre was and still is doing so well. In contrast, what advancements have been made with the maze game genre? Well, nothing really. All that really happened were several Pac-Man clones that all failed to achieve any mainstream, long-lasting success. Name one sequel to Lock and Chase. Pac-Man is pretty much the only maze chase game that exists. New maze games not named Pac-Man stopped popping up after the 1980s video game crash in North America. No one gets excited for maze chase games today, so game developers don't make those anymore. The maze chase genre stayed stuck in the 1980s and is considered a relic of an older time in gaming, kind of like point-and-click adventure games. Gaming moved on from that. By extension, Mario is the gold standard of a genre that remains a major part of today's gaming industry, while Pac-Man is the gold standard of a genre that remained stuck in old arcades from the late 1900s. As a result, Mario, while he's just as old as Pac-Man, is more relevant to gaming in the 21st century than Pac-Man is. Consequently, no one bats an eye when Mario appears in a 3D platformer. In fact, they love it. But, when Pac-Man appears in a 3D platformer, people get confused and upset that Pac-Man isn't in the genre that he's most famous for (aka maze chase games). They didn't care that Pac-Land came before Super Mario Bros and is more or less the 1st mascot platformer or that titles like the Pac-Man World series were an attempt to modernize the character. They felt that Pac-Man should stick with an outdated, aging genre instead. No matter how much namco tried to change that perception of Pac-Man being a symbol of a bygone era of gaming, people remained set on the idea that Pac-Man only works as a basic 1980s arcade game. By allowing this character to sink back into maze game hell, Namco Bandai has ultimately given in to that (IMO, false) belief.
Seeing as Sonic is getting a new movie that's seemingly inspired by Sonic Adventure and a (hopefully good) new game next year called Sonic Frontiers, I'd say he's a bad example. They're at least doing something interesting with him. A better comparison at this time may be Rayman or possibly even Mega Man.
2:18 Why do I have such a negative mind? 30:21 Yo, some people on the internet who aren't into rap need to make disstracks. They only speak facts while making dragons' breathe feel cold.
23:46 Uh..... what? Dude, both Galaxy games were both major critical and commercial sucesses, being regarded as two of the greatest 3D platformers of all time, and both New Super Mario Bros. AND NSMB Wii were very well-received, and are two of the best selling games in the entire franchise
I mean, when you compare both of them, Galaxy 2 definitely lost a lot of the charm of the original as well as fell victim to the NSMB Wii syndrome albeit not much thankfully. As well as the fact that paper Mario sticker Star came out which completely destroyed paper Mario
@@Nic_2751 Paper Mario Sticker Star wasn't bad. It wasn't "ZOMG THOUSAND YEAR OLD DOOR 2!!!?" (Which is heavily praised even though it has really bad pacing issues that cripples any sort of repeat playthrough) but the game itself was perfectly fine.
@@diegomedina9637 paper Mario sticker Star is a universally hated game that’s a horrible tedious experience, that is so fundamentally broken and flawed with no pleasure gained from it that you have to wonder how the hell Nintendo released such an awfully designed low quality game
@@Nic_2751 It's universally hated online, that means nothing in the grand scheme of things. What else did the internet hate? Pacman and the Ghostly Adventures.
I hate that I missed out on the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures games when they came out. I got into Pac-Man because of the Pac-Man World games. Outside of Tekken 7 updates, I am tired of Bandai Namco focusing on primarily manga and anime based games and limiting Pac-Man to mobile and minor arcade releases. I want to get the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures games as the last 2 games to play on my Wii U before I focus on playing games on my PS4 and buying a Nintendo Switch at some point.
Jokes aside, as a Sonic fan myself, I'm quite familiar with the idea of filling a need through fanworks. But I also think that one should consider going the Freedom Planet route as well.
And eventually, Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac (with the same animation style as the non-GBA versions in the early 2000s from the characters to the backgrounds as well as additional content while Pac-Man World Re-Pac 1, while a MASSIVE improvement over the GBA version and the games from 2015 to early 2022 (Pac-Man Museum +) to the point of being as great as the PS1 version, didn’t have new worlds and/or levels) and Pac-Man World are-Pac 3 (feeling a lot more like how Don Bluth himself would originally envision it as opposed to Bandai-Namco when unfortunately for him and most of us, they got the last laugh by turning PMW3 into a game with the most memorable thing about it being Pac-Man turning into a mindless killing machine at the end. Otherwise, the home console versions are just about as good as (or barely better than) the handheld versions by being different for the sake of it while Ghostly Adventures 2 was different by knowing how to have fun with it by having some of its levels be tutorials (only from worlds 1-2 for some reasons) and minigames while feeling like its surprisingly awesome predecessor at the same time, but either as good or even greater, like, just imagine if Pac-Man World 4 were a thing even after the Pac-Man World 2010 trailer! Then maybe Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 1 could have been Pac-Man World 5 in the early 2010s (2010-13) and Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 could have been Pac-Man World 6! Either way, we are still waiting for Namco to not only make the next new platformers remakes, but also platformer originals like these games as well!).
I fear because Ms. Pac-Man is in all the games from the 2000s with the GCC & AtGames situation, they’re avoiding remaking them because of the royalties shit.
Yeah, I really don't expect Bandai Namco to change anytime soon, and it sucks. The most I'm hoping for at this point is that they preserve their games with re-releases and Namco Museum collections (and I'd prefer that they be released physically). There are so many Namco arcade games in particular that I want to own on a cartridge or maybe a disc, but haven't been ported outside of Japan or even at all (like Burning Force, Solvalou, Metal Hawk, Marchen Maze, Dragon Saber, NebulasRay, Tinkle Pit, Tenkomori Shooting, Aqua Rush, and so much more). I also want a Klonoa compilation since these games deserve another chance and are getting more and more expensive, and the Japan only Mr. Driller Drill Land releasing overseas would also be nice (but I'm especially not counting on that last one). But being on topic with Pac-Man. I agree with just about everything said in this video. The best thing to do probably is to just have fun making and enjoying fanworks and playing the PMW and Ghostly Adventures games. And I'm not really a fan of Championship Edition DX myself. No joke, it actually kind of bores me. There just isn't enough freedom of choice in the game. It's so linear and feels more like a military exercise than the other Pac-Man maze games to me (I haven't played CE1 or CE2 and have no desire to. And CE2 honestly looks even worse to me). I do want to say real quick that I think it's possible for Nintendo to recapture the old 2D Mario audience by making 2D Marios that are actually ambitious. A ton of them did come back for the first two NSMB games, but some of them stopped caring after that. I know that there are plenty of people who grew up with the old Mario games who thought that Nintendo was going to expand on the formula for the 2D games after NSMBW and include new Worlds, enemies, mechanics, etc. Then we got NSMB2 and NSMBU and the sales for both games dropped heavily from the first two NSMB games. And I'll bring this up again; Tezuka has said that he wants to make a Mario game that exceeds the NSMB games, and he mostly works on 2D Mario games. So maybe someday we'll see a new 2D Mario that's actually creative. And this is a nitpick, but Pac-Attack is actually just a reskin of the Super Famicom port of Cosmo Gang The Puzzle.
Funny that I saw this video hours after I tried playing World 3 for the first time, I gave up after the first level and went to play Metal Slug XD. Regardless, I would definitely be interested in remastered versions of the World trilogy, if Bandai Namco stops being mostly blind to the remaster craze going on right in front of them and decides to take action.
Klanoa and Splatterhouse are most likely getting an Encore release like Katimari did not long ago. At least some of the other neglected properties are getting love now and will hopefully lead to a return to a World style Pacman game. Maybe they could include a Rally style Multiplayer that would kill!
Good video, though I didn't agree with everything said, I still think you were very genuine. Personally, I was very sad to see the Ghostly Adventures cut off so suddenly a couple of years ago, because I really did like that continuity a lot, though I did get a tad bit annoyed with how many gamers started bashing it for often times unfair reasons in my opinion. As for the world series, Pac-Man world 2 was a game I played an unhealthy amount of as a kid along side Spyro games and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games, but I'm not sure I'd want the world series to come back like all the collectathon platformers have been doing. I agree with your statement that regressing a series to its original state for the sake of nostalgia and pandering benefits it in the short term but hurts the series in the long term. Which is what I'm afraid is going to happen to Spyro, Crash, and Pac-Man too if he were to make a platforming comeback. I'm just not a fan of all these mascot remaster resurgences, it feels so creatively bankrupt to me. And now that things like Spyro RT and Crash NST are out and everyone is going nuts over them what's stopping those series from becoming formulaic cash-cows? Say what you want about Spyro and Crash's late 2000's lineup but I never felt those games were holding those franchises back, to me I thought they were templates to improve on. Heck, I even thought Skylanders was a very fascinating way to continue Spyro as well. Tl'dr, I would love for Pac-Man to make a comeback as a platformer/adventure game, I just hope and wish that if he does, they do something new with the character rather than pander to nostalgia or do something ridiculously crazy. And if Namco makes a true sequel to World 2, then hopefully they don't just make the same game just with "new" levels. I hope no one takes this to mean that I don't respect people have preferences. I'm perfectly fine with people enjoying things I don't enjoy and vice-versa. If you prefer a series to go in one direction than another then that's fine.
I mean if that was the case? They would have ended up like the Mario games or even Zelda. I can see what you mean by *don't want to go back to the old ways and try to bridge into new paths* But at this point? Like the video, maker had said? We have to make our own Pac-Man related media and that includes fan games. I have an idea on how that can work and I'm going to save lots of money to commission 3D model bros to make a few models based on Pac-Man and the cast from the Pac-Man World series and it's gonna be interesting.
@@NitwitsWorldYes, I realize Mario and Zelda are on top of the world right now, though I do still have my own issues with Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. Both are still great games, but I wouldn't call them perfect. As for your project, sounds interesting. Should I keep my eyes peeled for it, or is it still in its earliest stages of development?
@@aquafax2337 At the moment? It hasn't been made yet. But I am going to be in talks with a few homies of mine to try and get it made. Including getting one of them to make the models so it does seem fitting. I'll say it'll be a way better game than Pac-Man World 3 but will still be set in the Pac-Man World Universe. Once I update it on my UA-cam channel? I'll let you know brother.
Pac Man World 2 and 3 were huge parts of my childhood, and I recently went back and played through both of them, and honestly I'm surprised that World 3 did so bad as it apparently did. I never found the combat to be that bad (Although the Spectral Monsters were obnoxious) and I loved the more story-centered and lore focused theming. You described Pac Man World 3 as "Edgy" in the video, but I'd argue that it was rather "Adventurous." The Ancients, The Spectral Realm, The abandoned Windmills of Zephyr Cliffs, and eventually the cold heartless industrialism of Erwin's Compound. The whole game felt like I was venturing into fascinating uncharted territory, uncovering overlooked sights and long forgotten vistas, _really seeing the world._ Honestly it reminds me of a more light-hearted Metroid. Pac Man World 2 may seem like it should feel "adventurous" on the surface, but I found that most of that game, (with the Snow area being the exception) felt more like a happy-go-lucky romp than the kind of adventure I speak of. World 2 felt to me like being light-hearted to the point of just coming off as generic.(Especially given the settings it had you go through were ultimately pretty generic themselves.) While World 3's worlds were not only less generic in basic theme, but also captivated my interest in a way the worlds of Pac Man World 2 never could. Plus, the game had you zipping back and forth from one setting to the next and returning to settings you had already encountered later in the game. Rather than going through 4 levels worth of the same exact setting only to be done with that type of world for the rest of the game.
Finally someone else who gives World 3 some actually commendable credit, I may be a big World 2 fan but there’s a lot of stuff I think 1 and 3 did better than 2 and the settings and characters are absolutely on point that World 2 didn’t put much depth into
Ok I agree with you alot since I was one that had the ls1 museum game and world 2 on gamecube. might try out ghostly adventures after your point of view since well I wasnt getting a good impression from what I was hearing which I think caused an impact on how it did;; Dont know about the championship edition thought they were alright for what they are and finally playing 2+ I had some enjoyment with it for a different reason aside from how I love world 2 and world rally
Which is why I haven’t completely lost faith in the Pac-Man franchise, hell, look where we’re at now in 2022 where Namco will finally make their possible revival game, Pac-Man Museum +.
This is coming from someone who loved the World games and whose favorite genre is platformers. I think the way Pac-Man should operate in the future is like Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness. Give him a small hop like in Pac-Mania. Have power-ups like Ghostly Adventures, and have ball sections like Pac N' Roll as well as tunnel stages where Pac-Man can't jump and traverses mazes the traditional way.
@@kieranstark7213 Because Namco is successful thanks to anime games, Tekken, Soul Caliber, and Fromsoftware games. Pac-man have moved slightly lower on the Namco totem pole.
Most companies these days will always favor their nostalgic Boomer audience is opposed to their 2000 audience case-in-point look at how Capcom favors classic Megaman over everything else or how Looney Tunes treats loonatics Unleashed or how Classic Sonic is still being used for some reason. And especially how Starfox seemingly despises the GameCube era games now in favor of just doing Star Fox 64 again and most infamous look at how naughty dog almost wants to forget it's 2000's games
Have to disagree with ya. Pac Man World 3 was awesome. I don't see how it was trying to be edgy at all. The only thing I didn't like was the combat getting too competitive near the end, and the uninspired soundtrack. There were a few good tracks though. World 2 and 3 are amazing imo. Also, Maze Madness kicked my ass as a kid.
@@diegomedina9637 Fun Fact: Pac man World 3 was originally going to be Pac-man Adventures, which had Dark concept art done by Don Bluth himself🤩🤩🤩. For some reason Namco rejected Bluth's version??????
I’m gonna be honest, there’s a reason people want Sonic Adventure 3, and people want Pac-Man World 4, and why they LOVE Mario Odyssey, because that’s what we WANTED, we want more Pac-Man lore, dude, to me this trilogy completed Pac-Man lore, the ghosts being shown scared to the Pac people, the ancient lore and story of their ancestors with spooky and the spectral realm, I WAS INTERESTED! I want the Sonic Mania of Pac-Man, a platformer with story and lore with lovable characters and how even the antagonist from the original redeems himself and works together with Pac in the third game showing they have development and genuine emotions and character growth that we unfortunately, may never see again.
Everything you’d aid is so profound and meaningful that it deserves far more than just an half-hundred of likes (I’m one of the thirteen), even as a top comment of an under-popular video.
@@kieranstark7213 thanks I really appreciate it
I think the reason why Sega and Namco would think that people don’t care about sequels to Sonic Adventure 2 and Pac-Man World 3 is because Sega thinks they don’t like to make sequels (even though recently in the 2010s, they made Sonic Free Riders an unplayable piece of shit that even they wouldn’t want to talk about, Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal and Fire and Ice being 2D 3DS game sequels to another one of the worst Sonic games, Sonic Dash 2 as another part of the Sonic Boom series and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed and debatably Sonic Team Racing if Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing even counts as a trilogy) and because Namco thinks Pac-Man World is to the 2000s as Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures is to the (mid) 2010s - they weren’t built to last (well, it’s their own fault they stopped the series even though it had so much potential to be one of true biggest gaming franchises up to the ranks of Super Mario).
and klonoa and parappa need new games.
Sonic Mania is just Sonic the Hedgehog Arrangement
This video aged so well and now we have a pacman world remake
that doesn't really count now does it because it's just a rerelease of an older game just now with better graphics and ms pac-man is no longer there apparently
@@theultimatebadass-cq1xh ehh. I say it does
@@SSKO2 you have a small d lol
@SSKO2 and your a virgin
@@theultimatebadass-cq1xh It's better than nothing. I do agree that a new 3D platformer that stars Pac-Man would be ideal, though. We'll see if Namco Bandai releases something like that. It's too bad that they lost the rights to Ms. Pac-Man.
You said something that really sticks out of this analysis and is really good: Pacman used to be a character developing gaming when now it's used as a bunch of pixels representing old arcade games with no substance.
Hopefully in post-2021, Namco will give us back the Pac-Man we knew and loved instead of a panderer of nostalgia in the late 2010s (2015 - 2021).
But, nostalgic cash grabs are what gamers want out Pac-Man. Ambition? Evolution? Modernization? Nah, that doesn't fit Pac-Man. Minor updates to a nearly 45-year old arcade game is where it's at.
The Pac-Man World series wasn't as successful as Mario 64, Sunshine & Galaxy or the Sonic Adventure duo. And, you know what? I preferred those games over the Pac-Man World trilogy. But, I did appreciate that Namco would attempt something different with the character. What they're doing with Pac-Man nowadays is nothing short of lazy. It's just as bad as what Nintendo does (or doesn't do) with Star Fox.
When I was younger, I spent hours on World 2. I played it so much. It was insane. I empathize with your point, Pac-Man was my Mario. I didn’t have a lot of money, so when the PlayStation 3 came out, I stuck to the PS2 and Pac-Man world games. While my parents were going through a divorce, the happy go lucky world of Pac-Man world was always there and inviting. It stings a bit to think of its fall from grace. I’m not a very emotional person, but this specific topic always makes me feel nostalgic and even a bit sad...
It was Halo, Portal, & Banjo-Kazooie for me. They all helped me when I had no friends at school.
We are still flooding the Pacman and Namco twitters every time they post with requests for an HD World remake or a World 4.
Has it worked yet? *WE NEED THE PAC BACK!!!!!!!!!!*
I’m depressed
@@pacapprovedsomecrabmeat
That reminds me of an important hash tag to make...
#bringbackPac
Holy shit, I didn’t know there were as many people as we needed to demand a new Pac-Man World until the late 2010s!
Don’t worry guys, I’m working super hard on my World 4 project
This video is criminally underrated
#WhereIsOurPacMan
I prefer to use this hash tag: #bringbackPac
He’s in OUR care now, we have to fight for his life, this also applies to every other Namco franchise
@@Nic_2751 Bandai Sucks
@SuperStar7650 Pole Position needs to make a comeback as a true competitor to the Codemasters F1 games
A lot of the Ghostly Adventures 2 music was from the show witch tells you how hard the composer for the show went
This is an incredibly well done retrospective on the matter. I feel like the decline of this franchise isn't talked about nearly enough. Good work, you guys!
Hey Mr. Fakegamer how ya doin buddy?
Yeah......
Love your Ms. Pac-Man video.
Thank you for this.
It always irked me how people ignore Pac-Man's drop to mobile shovelware, cameos & rehashes. He's more than just a one-track minded maze sphere, damnit!
On that note, can I just say that Ubisoft has been currently pulling the same punches with the Rayman series & fans like me lately?
- Making virtually no effort to make a new big console release since 2013's Rayman Legends based on the company's own assumptions.
- Said lack of effort stemming from Rayman Legends being a commercial letdown, mainly thanks to Ubisoft's own stupid decision making & general fear of advertising anything that isn't Assassin's Creed, Rabbids, or Just Dance (Yes Ubisoft, lets delay the finished game for months, then release/have it compete with games like GODDAMN GTA5 with little to no marketing to back it up, THEN wonder why it didn't get much traction. 👌)
- Did NOTHING to celebrate the series' big 2-0 in 2015 aside from a mobile successor to Legends.
- Any new appearences by Rayman have been relegated to cameos in obscure mobile titles, homogenous auto-runners, a subpar Smash Bros substitute, & a standalone Switch port of Legends.
- Ubisoft, like Namco, has yet to capitalize on the current 3D mascot platformer renaissance by remaking either Rayman 2 or 3. Or, y'know, making a new game.
- Meanwhile, Assassin's Creed & Just Dance are in top condition, & the fucking Rabbids got the honor of crossing over with Mario & Donkey Kong. (though that is, by all accounts, a solid game)
Sound familiar?
Both series are fantastic, & they deserve better, but I digress.
Great video, man.
You're not wrong about that dude. I agree with your comment wholeheartedly.
Tell me about it. As a Rayman fan since childhood, it's always been disappointing to me how little has been done with him when he has so much potential. Probably doesn't help that Ancel has been focusing on BG&E for the most part (at least he's shown interest in making a new 3d game, though).
thank you for pointing out how good the Ghostly adventure games are. they dont get NEARLY enough credit
Well... I’d take the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures games over the TV series.
I MEAN THE GAME yes
THE SERIES meh...
and the character design sucked really it was mad cringethe talking animations where awful, edgy jokes about farts...
but the game definitely gave me PACMAN WORLD feels and for that i respect it !
@SuperStar7650 I think The show and game were pretty Okay
Nothing amazing, but decent. Sucks the show kinda ended on a cliffhanger...
My only real problem with it, and more a non-problem at that, is the fact that the music was ripped from Party.
3:42-4:51 And thank the lord for praising these songs like they’re godsends!!!
Pac Man World is finally back!!!!
ua-cam.com/video/BBZ7AfZR9xs/v-deo.html
8:42 "You were the chosen one! You were supposed to destroy violence in video games, not join them!"
well,,,looks like you got your wish.
Pac Man is finally getting his 3d game remade now.
This was a blast to work on with you. It was great to get a lot of my long-time grievances of this franchises’ current state off my chest.
Oh so that's how you look.
@SuperStar7650 and they butchered World 2 like they’re pussies or something
@SuperStar7650 This whole video was explaining the mystery of why there aren’t any more Pac Man platform games. What you just said now might be the reason why.
@@rswan5 I recommend annalynn as a Pac-man platfomer successor.
At 13:03, those voices always cracks me up. It's like Sonic and Shadow are telling people to stop talking about the 3d platforming Pac-Man World games and to forget about them.
After Ubisoft "celebrated" Rayman's 25th Anniversary in which I honestly think Ubisoft doesn't deserve Rayman anymore now that Michel Ancel retired, I'm starting to think if Bandai Namco deserves Pac-Man. I mean sure they haven't given him the spotlight for nearly the last decade, but at least they acknowledged Pac's 40th Anniversary in comparison to Ubisoft in which they even didn't do a social media post of Rayman's 25th Anniversary.
Bandai Namco should also need to bring back Pole Position by giving it the Daytona Championship USA 3 treatment and make it a true competitor to the Codemasters F1 games
I know this is a bit of a tangent from Pac-Man. but do you know what really depresses me about Klonoa in particular? The only easy way to play it legitimately is on the PS3 as a downloadable title. Why? Because the game runs at 2/3's of its normal speed... Even the music and audio is at a lower pitch. Might be different in North America, but here in the UK, we're left with a PAL version even worse than the original PAL version.
That's not to say I didn't still love the game despite this technical hiccup, but the fact that it's still an issue for me all these years later proves that Namco doesn't care enough about Klonoa. Not only did they never market any of the games, but they can't even get something as basic as a legal emulation of the game right or get off their arses to fix it.
It's so depressing, because that's one of the best 2.5D games out there, and really reminded me that not all 2D platformers have to be derivative and/or bland. It took full advantage of the fact that it was a 2D platformer in a 3D world, and didn't contain any filler content as far as I'm aware. Games like Klonoa, the Pac-Man World series, Katamari and The Munchables all need to be preserved, and deserve a better shot than what they got/currently get.
I know they only made one game in The Munchables series but do people really like that game? I thought it was alright. Could have worked better as an HD game. But that's just me.
Well recently trademarks for splatterhouse encore Mr driller encore and klonoa encore appeared online so perhaps klonoa will come back along with the other 2
Dude…the Pac is Back.
ua-cam.com/video/BBZ7AfZR9xs/v-deo.html
Excellent work at explaining the entire thing. I wish we would get an HD remastered collection of the first 2 world games and world rally (imagine Rally with online VS modes hoooh). Come on Namco give us the good stuff!
The pac is back for a remake for PS5 and the other systems. Pac is eating all of the ghosts. lol
Hell yeah a 30 minute Pac man video from f5f LETS GOOOOOOO
This video needs more attention, let's support our yellow fellow for a bright future
Honestly this whole idea of taking pacman back for ourselves is a good idea. I'm part of the sonic fanbase, and being tired of sega's shitty game design, we make our own fangames. Granted they are NEVER finished, but at least it something. I honestly dont see namco making anything anymore so I think that approach is appropriate here. I just hope they dotn take down everything we'd make like Nintendo does.
A true shame this has happened and on his 40 year anniversary too
We got a new one! And it looks promising!
Pacman worlds 2 and 3 were my childhood. Also 3 still has a soundtrack that slaps, specifically the Erwin foght music.
Pacman world 4, or a remake of the earlier world games would be bought by me in an instant.
get your wallet ready
@@knapfordman1984 I thank you for informing me.
HELL YEAH BOI
I never owned a pac-man world game as a kid, but I've played world 2 as one and I swear I didnt wanna put it down for anything. such a great game!
Very nice analysis. This needs to be spread out somehow, not sure how though. It's so cool to see you still supporting the Pacman franchise after all those years since you reviewed the Pacman world games (even tho I found this vid out 3 months late eheh...)
Reminder that Tekken, Taiko no Tatsujin and Dark Souls are Bandai Namco IPs
Watching this actually really makes me want to replay these games
Nice vid
don't mind me, I'm... I'm just crying right now that ghostly adventures is being praised after so long...
I will say this. I do like Pac-Man 256. It is a mobile game, yes. But it at least feels like a original take on the maze games for Pac-Man. All while the 256 level glitch chases you endlessly. It basically is just an endless arcade level. Which for a Pac-Man mobile game, is good. Although the series could still be a lot more.
Atleast Pacman is getting attention due to Pacman 99!
And yet it's just another permutation of the arcade maze. Sure, the arcade maze is a classic, but games like Pac-Man World and Adventures in Time did much more while keeping the core Pac-Man elements.
I'm suprised he mentioned that most gaming critics like cgrundertow actually didn't like pac-man platformers and wanted namco to milk the original maze game.
Lol we know
@SuperStar7650 IGNorant
I find the fact that people are still discussing the idea of a new Pac-Man World game or a successor super interesting. I adore those games, especially World 2, more than almost any other and they are longtime favorites. I'd 100% be down for World 4, but I'm definitely concerned about the viability of a project like that; though I agree that a following exists, I think for it to be a success they'd need to be pretty careful with how they go about raising interest. An N. Sane Trilogy-style remaster of the first three games wouldn't work since each installment is so different so a uniform engine for all three wouldn't work, and there's no way individual remakes would be financially viable for Namco. The main thing that keeps it interesting as a discussion to me is the fact that World 2 seems to be getting more and more recognition as a real gem of its era (and rightfully so; it was easily my favorite non-Sonic platformer growing up and it sold super well across all consoles so it wasn't exactly obscure). It's getting to be something of a cult-classic these days and that could be just what they need to make something out of it. Probably won't happen, but hey, I have Pac-Man integrated into my channel art and animations for a reason, I wanna have some hope lol.
That's why people say to make your own Pac-Man game. I might as well make my own Pac-Man game but with a plot twist of romance in a way. Hope you don't mind if I steal Pac-Man 2's idea and somehow pull a Catherine with this game. (If you are a fan of Miss Pac-Man and Pinky? Pac-Man might make a choice for 2019)
Dude most of the Pac-Man games for mobile are just fan-games and the ones that there are are just some simple ones... Im really sad about this, i want to see the same charming design of Pac-Man World 2 again and its music again
Its just such a special game for me
Finally! Someone who understands what Pac-Man should be and how severely underrated these games are! Dude, I need a Pac-Man HD Trilogy remake, please God have mercy!
Wish granted
Looks like this video has aged pretty well
Well made video I side with you 100%
Well now pac-man world is coming back
As is Pac-Man World 2 in 2024 and Pac-Man World 3 in 2026…
I hope and think.
As a kid World 3 was my first Pac-Man World game and i played it through like 5 times and loved it. I recently got World 2 but kinda forgot to continue playing it but it seemed really good. I never got Ghostly Adventures because i really hate the redisigns. Pac-Man's voice and teeth and the ghosts, i just really can't. I hope we get World 4 with the original designs and gameplay similar to World 1 and 2.
I recommend annalynn as a Pac-man platfomer successor.
19:27 kinda sounds like the AVGN theme
And these are straight up truths and facts...
I had the same opinions on Ghostly Adventures. It’s fine and the games were too...too bad the show was on a cliffhanger
I really hope that season 3 rumor is true
@@Nic_2751 same. Also this might be the best F5f video in my opinion
@@SSKO2 it is, but unfortunately he’s been silent for months
@@Nic_2751 he has? Holy crap. Also 25:26 is my 2nd favorite thing about this video
@@SSKO2 yeah I agree
Tbh, I do get why you would be sad that Pacman hasn't came back in the 3D Platformer form. Tbf, Pacman World 1 & 2 are pretty solid games. And if anything, people like King K and Nitro Rad loves these games. While i'm not as crazy as others about Pacman, I think it's a pretty good series. Time will only tell if they try a new 3D Platformer. But who knows? (Odyssey was a return to form for that style of platforming.)
28:48 Ahahahah, about that... (Phantasy Reverie Series)
I like the video, I have some constructive criticism:
- You didn't go into the origin story of World 1 or 3 in very much depth when there was a lot more there to explain and there was a lot more about World 3's development (like originally starting as a weird spin off with don bluth doing the art direction) that you totally skipped out on.
- This really loses focus after you go over Ghostly Adventures 2. Work on the script more next time, you made your point about wanting more and it being viable very early on.
- The whole youtube collab thing where someone else randomly starts narrating parts is consistently lame, not helped by the fact that the other guy's audio setup is straight up bad and he is not on your level voice or delivery wise either.
The other guy was ok
I really enjoyed playing the Pac-Man World games, and I'll admit that the 3rd one is my favorite. I'll give the 2nd one credit for feeling more polished and having more level variety, but the absurd dialogue and Pac-Man's voice in the 3rd one gave that game more personality and humor than the 2nd one. Having said that, both 2 & 3 are better than 1, which is also a fine game. The camera problems and at times bad level design indicate the games' age, but that doesn't mean they're no longer fun.
It's too bad that the folks at Namco Bandai are so ashamed of them. I was disappointed when none of the SSB Wii U/Switch games referenced the Pac-Man World titles. Plus, they've never re-released or remastered them as far as I know. There are just those 3 games and a kart racer, and... that's it. They haven't touched them again. You'll at least see Mario 64 and the Sonic Adventure duo get re-released on new consoles. Pac-Man World may as well have never existed with the way Namco Bandai refuses to acknowledge them.
I think the main problem is that the series became a victim of its own success. People don't want Pac-Man to anything other than a simple 40-year old maze game. I don't know the exact sales figures of games like Pac-Man 2, the Pac-Man World games, and other post-1980s Pac-Man games, but it's probably fair to say that they never reached the heights of the original arcade game. I think namco was hoping that they'd find that level of success again with these titles, but that didn't happen. A lot of people complained about those Pac-Man World games back when they were released because, "this ain't Pac-Man!", "Why is Pac-Man ripping off Mario??", "namco's just taking a generic 3D platformer and slapping Pac-Man in it", "Pac-Man isn't supposed to have arms and legs" , "Pac-Man is a maze game, not a platforming character with a personality", etc. Now, of course, Pac-Man was shown to have arms and legs on arcade cabinets, and he had starred in a platformer before Mario did, but which one was more popular: Pac-Land or Super Mario Bros? Everyone knows the answer to this question.
As a result, they (unwisely) did a CTRL + ATL + Delete on any story lines, levels, characters, etc that were established after the original arcade game. So, it's as if the Pac-Man World games, for example, didn't exist. To try again at modernizing Pac-Man, they released Pac-Man Party, which failed. They launched Pac-Man pop-up stores and short animations to promote them, but those also didn't go anywhere and have since been removed from the internet. They created the Ghostly Adventures series, which also failed to revive Pac-Man's 1980s success. It seems they've given up on modernizing him, so everyone had better get used to Namco Bandai randomly slapping Pac-Man in Candy Crush clones and releasing generic happy anniversary merchandise every 5-10 years. Don't expect adventurous AAA console titles from Pac-Man any time soon, if ever. Only Mario (and, to a lesser extent, Sonic) have that privilege. This is as good as it gets.
But, the problems with Pac-Man are symptomatic of the larger problems with Namco Bandai, namely that they don't care about their past. namco's other old games like Ace Combat, Xevious, Moto GP, Mr. Driller, Mappy, and Klonoa either didn't sustain their success or never achieved mainstream success to begin with. Ridge Racer, once a hit in arcades and on the PS1, later suffered from low sales on the PS3 and PS Vita. Ridge Racer 7 was the last serious Ridge Racer game, but that game failed to sell as well as Ridge Racer Type 4. The mid 2000s was a really rough time for namco.
By around 2015 and beyond, Tekken was the only namco original series that was still an active video game franchise. Their other original series had fallen by the wayside. Either they hadn't gotten a new release for years or they were relegated to mobile game hell. Unfortunately, Harada declared Tekken 7 to be the last entry in the series. They've released a new Ace Combat and a Soul Calibur that isn't free-to-play nonsense, but that's about it.
From a business standpoint, merging with Bandai in the mid-to-late 2000s was a great idea because they were probably going to end up bankrupt, otherwise. But, the consequence is that they've lost a lot of what made them special, much like Sega after they merged with Sammy. If you're still itching for Pac-Man World 4, you'll be waiting for a very long time because Namco Bandai is busy fapping to DBZ, Naruto, and Sword Art Online right now. They're basically the anime version of THQ, like this narrator correctly stated.
That ending speech was freaking bootifull :')
If it were confirmed that some of the pacman world developers worked on Pacman and the ghostly adventures 2 i wouldnt be suprised
No, none of them worked at Monkey Bar games
A Pac Man world 4 Would Be Nice
Really good video I agree with numerous stuff you said here's hoping that they make a new non maze style Pac man game also recently a trademark was filed for Mr driller encore splatterhouse encore and klonoa encore so maybe some of their old ips will see the light of day again
Ever heard of "Pac-Man World Re-Pac"? It's coming in 4 weeks
See about that-
To be fair, I enjoy the Championship Edition series, given that I grew up mostly with console versions of various arcade titles. And I also enjoyed playing World 2 on the Gamecube.
Sometimes I wish Namco would listen to us. Remakes of the first 2 games, even, would be GREAT. I've never played the first PMW. Same with Adventures in Time. Heck, a new maze game akin to AiT would be amazing...that isn't Championship Edition, for once.
Get ready to play the first game since it’s getting remade
Klonoa Dream Traveler of Noctis Sol was revived by a fan and there is also supposedly a new Klonoa game in development. Perhaps Namco's franchises will make a comeback.
Wish granted
While I'm not as big a Pac-Man fan as you, the Pac-Man World games (and especially 2) were really fun and neat platformers. I think the issue with making a new 3d Pac-Man platformer is that, in a general sense, Pac-Man is remembered more as an arcade game. While there is definitely a fanbase for the platformer stuff, the Pac-Man iconography is still very much rooted in the original arcade stuff. That's what the general audience knows him as, hence why it's much easier to cater to that. Plus, while 3d platformers are sort of making a comeback, I'm still not sure they have a stable place in the market beyond nostalgia trips and indie things yet, so it might still be a risk for Namco to try it. Maybe if the MediEvil and Destroy All Humans remakes do well, there might be a chance (though those aren't really platformers, so I dunno). I will say that if a new 3d Pac-Man platformer does get made, I'll probably give it a shot (though I'm still more so concerned with getting a new 3d Rayman game ultimately).
Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild man, that’s what changed everyone’s minds
@@Nic_2751 I'm not so sure. Zelda isn't really a platformer (more of an action-adventure) and Mario is so big they can pretty much do whatever they want with him. I don't think either of those are gonna convince companies to make more 3d platformers. However, it is cool that they're gonna make actual new Crash and Spyro games (rather than just stopping with those remakes), so the potential for old series revivals is still possible (and I'm still looking forward to the new Psychonauts).
MalcolmMalcontent EXACTLY! See you understand me!
I agree with this comment. I think the reason why Super Mario Bros and Mario 64 ended up so much more successful than Pac-Land and Pac-Man World (respectively) is that, while Mario started out as a platforming series, Pac-Man started out as a maze game series. Mario became the gold standard in the platforming genre, while Pac-Man became the gold standard in maze chase genre. Those are the genres that these series are most famous for.
But, as we know, the platforming genre had way more of a future than the maze chase genre would. The platforming genre continued to grow in complexity and commercial success throughout the 90s and the 21st century. Platforming games acquired better graphics, more advanced gameplay, more developed storytelling, more complex character personalities, bigger levels, multiple endings and storyline paths, etc. New platforming series like Sonic the Hedgehog popped up. Sonic had the greatest, longest-lasting success of any 1990s platformer by far and, for a time, was a serious challenger to Mario's dominance in this genre. He inspired an assload of "edgy furry mascots" like Crash Bandicoot (the most successful of the bunch), Bubsy the Bobcat, James Pond, Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, Gex the Gecko, Aero the Acrobat, Awesome Possum, Rocky Rodent, etc. There was a glut of platformers in the late 1990s like Rayman and Banjo-Kazooie and well into the 2000s and beyond because this genre was and still is doing so well.
In contrast, what advancements have been made with the maze game genre? Well, nothing really. All that really happened were several Pac-Man clones that all failed to achieve any mainstream, long-lasting success. Name one sequel to Lock and Chase. Pac-Man is pretty much the only maze chase game that exists. New maze games not named Pac-Man stopped popping up after the 1980s video game crash in North America. No one gets excited for maze chase games today, so game developers don't make those anymore.
The maze chase genre stayed stuck in the 1980s and is considered a relic of an older time in gaming, kind of like point-and-click adventure games. Gaming moved on from that. By extension, Mario is the gold standard of a genre that remains a major part of today's gaming industry, while Pac-Man is the gold standard of a genre that remained stuck in old arcades from the late 1900s. As a result, Mario, while he's just as old as Pac-Man, is more relevant to gaming in the 21st century than Pac-Man is.
Consequently, no one bats an eye when Mario appears in a 3D platformer. In fact, they love it. But, when Pac-Man appears in a 3D platformer, people get confused and upset that Pac-Man isn't in the genre that he's most famous for (aka maze chase games). They didn't care that Pac-Land came before Super Mario Bros and is more or less the 1st mascot platformer or that titles like the Pac-Man World series were an attempt to modernize the character. They felt that Pac-Man should stick with an outdated, aging genre instead. No matter how much namco tried to change that perception of Pac-Man being a symbol of a bygone era of gaming, people remained set on the idea that Pac-Man only works as a basic 1980s arcade game. By allowing this character to sink back into maze game hell, Namco Bandai has ultimately given in to that (IMO, false) belief.
*"You Can't Play Them Anymore"*
APKs:Allow Us To Introduce Ourselves.
Always Online DRM: Can't let you do that, StarFox!
I feel like sonic the hedgehog may be headed for the same fate as Pac-Man
Prince Yangster Same, we lost the character and is just classic Sonic in Green Hill
Not entirely, Pac man has gone the direction Rayman is going
Seeing as Sonic is getting a new movie that's seemingly inspired by Sonic Adventure and a (hopefully good) new game next year called Sonic Frontiers, I'd say he's a bad example. They're at least doing something interesting with him.
A better comparison at this time may be Rayman or possibly even Mega Man.
6:22 Failed Opportunity to make a "Everything changed when the fire nation attacked" joke.
4:18 my favorite one in Pac-Man World 2 man that one is so nostalgic🥺
Pac-Man 99: You dare challenge me, mortal?
His professor pac-man impression was spot on!
DddDDeeeAaaaDDDD!
Watching this again and feeling sad that NB have done next to nothing to celebrate 40 years. :(
I’m tearing up
@@Nic_2751 shed those tears, we are getting a remake
2:18 Why do I have such a negative mind?
30:21 Yo, some people on the internet who aren't into rap need to make disstracks. They only speak facts while making dragons' breathe feel cold.
23:46 Uh..... what? Dude, both Galaxy games were both major critical and commercial sucesses, being regarded as two of the greatest 3D platformers of all time, and both New Super Mario Bros. AND NSMB Wii were very well-received, and are two of the best selling games in the entire franchise
I mean, when you compare both of them, Galaxy 2 definitely lost a lot of the charm of the original as well as fell victim to the NSMB Wii syndrome albeit not much thankfully. As well as the fact that paper Mario sticker Star came out which completely destroyed paper Mario
@@Nic_2751 Paper Mario Sticker Star wasn't bad. It wasn't "ZOMG THOUSAND YEAR OLD DOOR 2!!!?" (Which is heavily praised even though it has really bad pacing issues that cripples any sort of repeat playthrough) but the game itself was perfectly fine.
@@diegomedina9637 paper Mario sticker Star is a universally hated game that’s a horrible tedious experience, that is so fundamentally broken and flawed with no pleasure gained from it that you have to wonder how the hell Nintendo released such an awfully designed low quality game
@@diegomedina9637 also bad pacing has made many games drag but they’re still great like Mario sunshine or pikmin 3, and I’m sure TTYD is no exception
@@Nic_2751 It's universally hated online, that means nothing in the grand scheme of things. What else did the internet hate? Pacman and the Ghostly Adventures.
I hate that I missed out on the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures games when they came out. I got into Pac-Man because of the Pac-Man World games. Outside of Tekken 7 updates, I am tired of Bandai Namco focusing on primarily manga and anime based games and limiting Pac-Man to mobile and minor arcade releases. I want to get the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures games as the last 2 games to play on my Wii U before I focus on playing games on my PS4 and buying a Nintendo Switch at some point.
Jokes aside, as a Sonic fan myself, I'm quite familiar with the idea of filling a need through fanworks. But I also think that one should consider going the Freedom Planet route as well.
I like anime and even I can admit that they're pushing their anime products too much.
So that’s why we got Pac-Man world repac for a remake
And eventually, Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac (with the same animation style as the non-GBA versions in the early 2000s from the characters to the backgrounds as well as additional content while Pac-Man World Re-Pac 1, while a MASSIVE improvement over the GBA version and the games from 2015 to early 2022 (Pac-Man Museum +) to the point of being as great as the PS1 version, didn’t have new worlds and/or levels) and Pac-Man World are-Pac 3 (feeling a lot more like how Don Bluth himself would originally envision it as opposed to Bandai-Namco when unfortunately for him and most of us, they got the last laugh by turning PMW3 into a game with the most memorable thing about it being Pac-Man turning into a mindless killing machine at the end. Otherwise, the home console versions are just about as good as (or barely better than) the handheld versions by being different for the sake of it while Ghostly Adventures 2 was different by knowing how to have fun with it by having some of its levels be tutorials (only from worlds 1-2 for some reasons) and minigames while feeling like its surprisingly awesome predecessor at the same time, but either as good or even greater, like, just imagine if Pac-Man World 4 were a thing even after the Pac-Man World 2010 trailer! Then maybe Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 1 could have been Pac-Man World 5 in the early 2010s (2010-13) and Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 could have been Pac-Man World 6! Either way, we are still waiting for Namco to not only make the next new platformers remakes, but also platformer originals like these games as well!).
@@kieranstark7213 good point
Yes
Pac man WORLD 3 was the first one I had on PS2 I think it came with a power pack
We did it! This is history
Pac-Man
True nostalgia 😭😭😭😭
*YOU LIKE FLASHING NEON LIGHTS?*
Not anymore......
Yo, thoughts on Pac-Man Palace?
It's coming back!
I'm still waiting for pacman world 4 and ghostly adventures season 3
I fear because Ms. Pac-Man is in all the games from the 2000s with the GCC & AtGames situation, they’re avoiding remaking them because of the royalties shit.
@SuperStar7650 honestly at least they’d actually make QUALITY stuff
Yeah, I really don't expect Bandai Namco to change anytime soon, and it sucks. The most I'm hoping for at this point is that they preserve their games with re-releases and Namco Museum collections (and I'd prefer that they be released physically). There are so many Namco arcade games in particular that I want to own on a cartridge or maybe a disc, but haven't been ported outside of Japan or even at all (like Burning Force, Solvalou, Metal Hawk, Marchen Maze, Dragon Saber, NebulasRay, Tinkle Pit, Tenkomori Shooting, Aqua Rush, and so much more). I also want a Klonoa compilation since these games deserve another chance and are getting more and more expensive, and the Japan only Mr. Driller Drill Land releasing overseas would also be nice (but I'm especially not counting on that last one).
But being on topic with Pac-Man. I agree with just about everything said in this video. The best thing to do probably is to just have fun making and enjoying fanworks and playing the PMW and Ghostly Adventures games.
And I'm not really a fan of Championship Edition DX myself. No joke, it actually kind of bores me. There just isn't enough freedom of choice in the game. It's so linear and feels more like a military exercise than the other Pac-Man maze games to me (I haven't played CE1 or CE2 and have no desire to. And CE2 honestly looks even worse to me).
I do want to say real quick that I think it's possible for Nintendo to recapture the old 2D Mario audience by making 2D Marios that are actually ambitious. A ton of them did come back for the first two NSMB games, but some of them stopped caring after that. I know that there are plenty of people who grew up with the old Mario games who thought that Nintendo was going to expand on the formula for the 2D games after NSMBW and include new Worlds, enemies, mechanics, etc. Then we got NSMB2 and NSMBU and the sales for both games dropped heavily from the first two NSMB games. And I'll bring this up again; Tezuka has said that he wants to make a Mario game that exceeds the NSMB games, and he mostly works on 2D Mario games. So maybe someday we'll see a new 2D Mario that's actually creative.
And this is a nitpick, but Pac-Attack is actually just a reskin of the Super Famicom port of Cosmo Gang The Puzzle.
I never even heard of Cosmo Gang The Puzzle? But I might check it out now.
TBH I Don't Know Why In That Opening Title Card You Didn't Have A Section For The 2013-2015 Era Of Pacman. Aka "The Ghostly Adventures Era"
Funny that I saw this video hours after I tried playing World 3 for the first time, I gave up after the first level and went to play Metal Slug XD. Regardless, I would definitely be interested in remastered versions of the World trilogy, if Bandai Namco stops being mostly blind to the remaster craze going on right in front of them and decides to take action.
Klanoa and Splatterhouse are most likely getting an Encore release like Katimari did not long ago. At least some of the other neglected properties are getting love now and will hopefully lead to a return to a World style Pacman game. Maybe they could include a Rally style Multiplayer that would kill!
Good video. Reminds me that I really need to get around to playing Ghostly Adventures 1 and 2.
Good video, though I didn't agree with everything said, I still think you were very genuine.
Personally, I was very sad to see the Ghostly Adventures cut off so suddenly a couple of years ago, because I really did like that continuity a lot, though I did get a tad bit annoyed with how many gamers started bashing it for often times unfair reasons in my opinion.
As for the world series, Pac-Man world 2 was a game I played an unhealthy amount of as a kid along side Spyro games and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games, but I'm not sure I'd want the world series to come back like all the collectathon platformers have been doing.
I agree with your statement that regressing a series to its original state for the sake of nostalgia and pandering benefits it in the short term but hurts the series in the long term. Which is what I'm afraid is going to happen to Spyro, Crash, and Pac-Man too if he were to make a platforming comeback. I'm just not a fan of all these mascot remaster resurgences, it feels so creatively bankrupt to me. And now that things like Spyro RT and Crash NST are out and everyone is going nuts over them what's stopping those series from becoming formulaic cash-cows? Say what you want about Spyro and Crash's late 2000's lineup but I never felt those games were holding those franchises back, to me I thought they were templates to improve on. Heck, I even thought Skylanders was a very fascinating way to continue Spyro as well.
Tl'dr, I would love for Pac-Man to make a comeback as a platformer/adventure game, I just hope and wish that if he does, they do something new with the character rather than pander to nostalgia or do something ridiculously crazy. And if Namco makes a true sequel to World 2, then hopefully they don't just make the same game just with "new" levels.
I hope no one takes this to mean that I don't respect people have preferences. I'm perfectly fine with people enjoying things I don't enjoy and vice-versa. If you prefer a series to go in one direction than another then that's fine.
I mean if that was the case? They would have ended up like the Mario games or even Zelda. I can see what you mean by *don't want to go back to the old ways and try to bridge into new paths* But at this point? Like the video, maker had said? We have to make our own Pac-Man related media and that includes fan games. I have an idea on how that can work and I'm going to save lots of money to commission 3D model bros to make a few models based on Pac-Man and the cast from the Pac-Man World series and it's gonna be interesting.
@@NitwitsWorldYes, I realize Mario and Zelda are on top of the world right now, though I do still have my own issues with Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. Both are still great games, but I wouldn't call them perfect.
As for your project, sounds interesting. Should I keep my eyes peeled for it, or is it still in its earliest stages of development?
@@aquafax2337 At the moment? It hasn't been made yet. But I am going to be in talks with a few homies of mine to try and get it made. Including getting one of them to make the models so it does seem fitting. I'll say it'll be a way better game than Pac-Man World 3 but will still be set in the Pac-Man World Universe. Once I update it on my UA-cam channel? I'll let you know brother.
@@NitwitsWorld Thanks, I love fan projects like this.
@@aquafax2337 Me too. Hope I'll get the models made first.
klonoa died, so did pac-man, the anime kids get always namco's attention nowadays.
Okay now I think Namco needs to go independent.
Pac Man World 2 and 3 were huge parts of my childhood, and I recently went back and played through both of them, and honestly I'm surprised that World 3 did so bad as it apparently did.
I never found the combat to be that bad (Although the Spectral Monsters were obnoxious) and I loved the more story-centered and lore focused theming.
You described Pac Man World 3 as "Edgy" in the video, but I'd argue that it was rather "Adventurous." The Ancients, The Spectral Realm, The abandoned Windmills of Zephyr Cliffs, and eventually the cold heartless industrialism of Erwin's Compound. The whole game felt like I was venturing into fascinating uncharted territory, uncovering overlooked sights and long forgotten vistas, _really seeing the world._ Honestly it reminds me of a more light-hearted Metroid.
Pac Man World 2 may seem like it should feel "adventurous" on the surface, but I found that most of that game, (with the Snow area being the exception) felt more like a happy-go-lucky romp than the kind of adventure I speak of. World 2 felt to me like being light-hearted to the point of just coming off as generic.(Especially given the settings it had you go through were ultimately pretty generic themselves.) While World 3's worlds were not only less generic in basic theme, but also captivated my interest in a way the worlds of Pac Man World 2 never could.
Plus, the game had you zipping back and forth from one setting to the next and returning to settings you had already encountered later in the game. Rather than going through 4 levels worth of the same exact setting only to be done with that type of world for the rest of the game.
Finally someone else who gives World 3 some actually commendable credit, I may be a big World 2 fan but there’s a lot of stuff I think 1 and 3 did better than 2 and the settings and characters are absolutely on point that World 2 didn’t put much depth into
@@Nic_2751 Good news there an indie game called Annalynn, its very Pac-man inspired.
@@orangeslash1667 that’s, not at all related to this, and I already knew about it years ago…..
Ok I agree with you alot since I was one that had the ls1 museum game and world 2 on gamecube.
might try out ghostly adventures after your point of view since well I wasnt getting a good impression from what I was hearing which I think caused an impact on how it did;;
Dont know about the championship edition thought they were alright for what they are and finally playing 2+ I had some enjoyment with it for a different reason aside from how I love world 2 and world rally
Not gonna lie, towards the end I began to get choked up
What do you think about re-pac?
The best Pac-Man games we had since 8 years ago with PMATGA2!
PAC man in super smash bros is cool
Which is why I haven’t completely lost faith in the Pac-Man franchise, hell, look where we’re at now in 2022 where Namco will finally make their possible revival game, Pac-Man Museum +.
dragon ball games sell well though
most pac-man games don't
Because Namco doesn’t fucking care about their own fucking mascot
Probably because they aren't putting actual effort into Pac-Man's games anymore.
@@SuperMarioFan123311 Good news there an indie game called Annalynn, its very Pac-man inspired.
This is coming from someone who loved the World games and whose favorite genre is platformers.
I think the way Pac-Man should operate in the future is like Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness. Give him a small hop like in Pac-Mania. Have power-ups like Ghostly Adventures, and have ball sections like Pac N' Roll as well as tunnel stages where Pac-Man can't jump and traverses mazes the traditional way.
Why is it all too hard for Namco to do anyways???
@@kieranstark7213 Because Namco is successful thanks to anime games, Tekken, Soul Caliber, and Fromsoftware games. Pac-man have moved slightly lower on the Namco totem pole.
I feel like Pac-Man Fever got cheated here, I think it’s an ok party game.
The world games need a remastered trilogy or just pack in a remastered version of pace world 1 and 2.
Most companies these days will always favor their nostalgic Boomer audience is opposed to their 2000 audience case-in-point look at how Capcom favors classic Megaman over everything else or how Looney Tunes treats loonatics Unleashed or how Classic Sonic is still being used for some reason. And especially how Starfox seemingly despises the GameCube era games now in favor of just doing Star Fox 64 again and most infamous look at how naughty dog almost wants to forget it's 2000's games
"Its About As Likely As A New Klonoa Game"
Wow This Qoute Really Hasn't Aged Well
TBH, I thought Ghosty Adventures 2 was pretty mediocre. I'm glad someone else liked so much though.
It’s not bad though
I got an ad for a mobile game on this video and the ad was using sounds from Pac Man in it for some reason.
so your a pacman fan too? that's great to see that there r million pacman fans here
dig dug was revived into the mr driller series and follow's dig dug's son, you missed that
If they are gonna milk Pac-Man atleast milk the good part of it... Not just the same part
Have to disagree with ya. Pac Man World 3 was awesome. I don't see how it was trying to be edgy at all. The only thing I didn't like was the combat getting too competitive near the end, and the uninspired soundtrack. There were a few good tracks though.
World 2 and 3 are amazing imo.
Also, Maze Madness kicked my ass as a kid.
Eh, the spectral monsters and combat can go fuck off
World 3 is so easily fixable, I have a few ideas in mind, but they’re not complete.
Yeah 3 wasn't as bad as people claimed it was but World 2 easily falls apart on the latter half as well.
@@diegomedina9637 Fun Fact: Pac man World 3 was originally going to be Pac-man Adventures, which had Dark concept art done by Don Bluth himself🤩🤩🤩. For some reason Namco rejected Bluth's version??????