Pac-Man Arrangement

:"Not to be confused with a similarly titled but wholly different game that appeared in "Namco Museum Battle Collection"."

"Pac-Man Arrangement" is a remake of the game "Pac-Man". It was released in 1996 by Namco as part of "Namco Classics Collection Volume 2".

Gameplay

Like the original "Pac-Man", "Pac-Man Arrangement" is a maze game in which the objective is to clear all dots on the board by eating them and avoiding hazardous contact with the ghosts that also inhabit the maze.

Ghosts

Each ghost has characteristics similar to those displayed by their counterparts in the original arcade game. There is also a new yellow ghost named Kinky. While the four main ghosts are only edible for a brief period after Pac-Man eats an energizer, Kinky is always vulnerable to attack, and thus is always blue except for when Pac-Man loses a life. If he is eaten by Pac-Man, he acts as an energizer, making the other ghosts vulnerable to attack as well for a brief time.

Kinky's only means of defense is to merge with another ghost and create a Big Ghost with special abilities (depending on with which ghost he merges). Kinky also moves slightly faster than other ghosts.

¹ For reasons unknown, Blinky and Clyde's names are switched in "Arrangement"; their colors and behaviors remain the same. (It should be noted that their colors are switched again in the Pac Man World series.)

In some levels, there are "DASH" arrows on the ground that allow Pac-Man to rapidly zip from one end of the board to the other end. When on the dash, hitting ghosts will make them dizzy and temporarily motionless. There are also additional powerup items that appear occasionally:
* The red pill gives Pac-Man a slight increase in speed.
* The pink pill causes all the ghosts to be thrown into a huge sack located in their house momentarily.
* The blue pill gives Pac-Man the same power Inky takes on, with a transparent Pac-Man on the opposite side of the board that eats pills and ghosts, but cannot be caught.
* The orange pill only seems to be worth 1000 extra points but allows Pac-Man to disregard the size of dots as he will not slow down if he eats a dot that is larger than usual.
* The yellow pill also provides extra points (100).
* The brown sack has the same effect as the pink pill.
* The magic wand turns all ghosts into presents which can be devoured for points.
* The one that resembles Pac-Man gives an extra life.

The game has a final level where the ghosts chase Pac-Man in a huge robot ghost. The final level has two parts; in the first one, Pac-Man has to eat all the dots on the board as colored ghosts resembling Kinky are produced from the robot ghost and chase Pac-Man around the board. After eating a certain amount of dots each time, a special dot, when eaten, would cause some of the ghosts to be destroyed. The second part of the level has Pac-Man take on the robot ghost himself. As Pac-Man eats the dots here, they are shot at the robot, eventually destroying it.

Differences from original

* Complete graphical and sound effect makeover.
* When Pac-Man dies, the game continues on without stopping.
* Mazes change every level.
* Pac-Man moves much faster than before.
* 2-player is available, except when played via Game Boy Advance's "Pac-Man Collection"
* The game is never over, since if you lose all lives you can continue.

Bugs

*Rarely, a ghost, usually the red one, somehow gets stuck at the top of the screen where "1UP" and "HIGH SCORE" are displayed. It might move slightly down, but it cannot escape unless the level is beaten.

Ports

This game was packaged along with "Pac-Man", "Ms. Pac-Man", and nine other games in the 6th gen. console version of "Namco Museum". It was also released with three other games in "Pac-Man Collection".