Test Your Retro Gaming Skills in Pac-Man 99 Battle Royale
The all-new Pac-Man game, Pac-Man 99 , launches exclusively on Nintendo Switch today and is free to play if you have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Similar to the eponymous Tetris 99 and the now defunct Mario 35 , Pac-Man 99 brings a large-scale competitive twist to the original Pac-Man arcade game. The main Pac-Man gameplay is here: you move Pac-Man through the maze-like level by eating dots and fruits while avoiding ghosts. Chewing an energy shot puts Pacman on the offensive for a few seconds, allowing you to bite these ghostly pursuers and temporarily remove them from the level.
But Pac-Man 99 has a new threat to fight: 98 other players.
Each person in the match plays their own Pac-Man level, and if caught by a ghost, they will lose the match. Players can influence the gameplay of their opponents by eating ghosts to send the Jammer Pak-Man to another player’s board. Touching the Pac-Man jammer slows Pac-Man down, making it easier for the ghosts to catch you.
Pac-Man 99 also introduces new power-up elements that unlock additional play styles such as a Ghost Train Combo that boosts a player’s personal score, throwing extra Pac-Men silencers on opponents, or speed boosts for extra challenges and higher rewards.
Each Pac-Man 99 match lasts until one player is left, but you will receive rewards even if you don’t win the round. The points you earn as you play unlock in-game items such as avatar icons.
There are other game modes in Pac-Man 99 if you don’t want to play battle royale matches, including CPU battle and single player. However, these additional modes are not included in the basic package and must be purchased separately. You can also purchase unique themes that change the look of the game. There are over 20 available at launch, each based on other Namco arcade games such as Dig Dug, Galaga, Tower of Druaga, and Xevious .
Some call Pac-Man 99 a “replacement” for Mario 35, as it will arrive just a week after Nintendo shut down the Mario 35 servers , and both games share similar views on gameplay. That said, it looks like Pac-Man 99 is here to stay, rather than a time-limited event like Mario 35 . That said, given that Pac-Man is now the third retro game to receive a Battle Royale treatment on the Switch, it makes me wonder if we’ll see more games in the ’99’ franchise. For example, I could choose Donkey Kong 99 or Legend of Zelda 99 .
Pac-Man 99 will release April 7 at 6:00 pm PT / 9:00 pm ET. It’s available as a free download on Nintendo Switch eShop for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, and you can download it in advance to start playing right away as soon as it’s available.
The Nintendo Switch Online service costs $ 4 for one month, $ 8 for three months, or $ 20 a year. You can also subscribe to a package that supports up to seven accounts for a one-time fee of $ 35 per year.