Bandai Namco appears to have something in store for their retro mascot, Pac-Man.
Bandai Namco put up a teaser trailer on the official Pac-Man Twitter page today along with a message to stay tuned for an upcoming announcement. The trailer states “they’re back”, showing Blinky, Pac-Man, Pinky and Funky, each with scores under their picture. The winner and loser labels above the characters suggest that Pac-Man’s ghostly enemies may be playable in the unannounced title, a first for the series.
The last title in the Pac-Man series was Pac-man 256. The game was developed in 2015 by Bandai Namco and Hipster Whale, the studio behind the Crossy Road series. Like Crossy Road, Pac-Man 256 is an endless running game and is inspired by Pac-Man’s level 256 glitch. By equipping certain power-ups such as lasers or tornadoes. More powers become available as the player makes progress through the game. Pac-Man 256 was ported to PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One last year with added features and the free-to-play elements removed.
Bandai Namco previously revived the classic Pac-Man series with the Pac-Man Championship Edition series. Pac-man Championship Edition released in 2007 on Xbox Live Arcade. The game follows the same basic rules of Pac-Man, the goal being to navigate through the maze while eating dots, power pellets, items and ghosts to improve the player’s score. However, Pac-Man Championship Edition made several changes to reinvent the series. The overall pace of the game is much faster than the original. The longer the player remains alive, the faster the game becomes. Additionally, a much higher number than four ghosts can be present on the map at one time, allowing the player to get a higher score by eating them all at once. Pac-Man Championship Edition received an updated version in 2010 and a full sequel in 2016 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
