It’s far from a secret that Nintendo views their ability to connect the GameBoy Advance to the GameCube as one of their greatest strengths in the console wars. While one could reasonably compare the link capability’s effectiveness to that of cavalry in modern warfare (hint: tanks are stronger than horses), at least one cannot fault Nintendo for lack of trying. While Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles is obviously the most high-profile of games featuring connectivity, Nintendo also called in gaming’s oldest ambassador, Pac-Man, and their living legend of game design, Shigeru Miyamoto, to help fulfill their vision of a chicken in every pot and a GBA linked to ever GameCube. The result is Pac-Man Vs., and it is easily one of the most interesting, if not most fun, multiplayer games to grace the GameCube’s purple presence.
Pac-Man Vs., simply put, is a multiplayer version of classic Pac-Man. Players take turns playing as Pac-Man or one of the three ghosts, and the ghost who catches Pac-Man gets to be Pac-Man in the next round. Since 3-on-1 is obviously too much of an advantage for the ghosts, this is where the GBA connectivity comes into play. The ghosts share the television screen, and have a limited view of the playfield. Pac-Man’s player, however, gets the GBA, and can see the entire maze. The fruit in the middle of the maze has an added significance as well; if a ghost eats the fruit, he gets an extended view of the playfield (though Pac-Man can still eat it for points). Other than that, all of the standard rules of Pac-Man apply.
Pac-Man Vs. is a fairly accurate representation of the classic as well. Little touches, like the fact that the ghosts are slightly faster than Pac-Man, until he eats a power pellet and gets a burst of speed, are all here. There are a number of different playfields to choose from, ranging from the classic setup to a diamond grid with no walls at all. Each has its own little quirks to it, and the variety is refreshing.
Each game is played to either 7,000, 10,000, or 15,000 points, and points are earned either by munching dots (and ghosts) as Pac-Man, or as a result of catching Pac-Man as a ghost. One nice feature is that the game keeps track of which player is which via assigning a color and number at the beginning of the game, and keeps track in spite of all of the controller switching. It can get a bit disorienting on occasion, due to the fact that each player’s position is not static on the screen, but after a couple of rounds, it all becomes very intuitive. The only downside is that all the trading of controllers inevitably results in a tangled mess of wires after a game or two.
One important thing to note: Pac-Man Vs. is multiplayer only. The game can be played with fewer than four players; in these cases, the excess ghosts are assigned to the computer, but can be influenced by the human players, who, in turn, get credit for the computer’s catches. Basically, by touching a computer ghost, that ghost changes to the human ghost’s color, and therefore the human player hets credit for anything that computer ghost does, including catching Pac-Man. However, there is no single-player version, which makes sense, as solo Pac-Man Vs. would just be Pac-Man. It might have been nice to play regular Pac-Man via the GBA, a la the downloadable NES games from Animal Crossing, but the game does not suffer as a result of this omission.
So the real question one would reasonably ask at this point is: Is Pac-Man fun with more people? The answer is that, in fact, it is incredibly fun. Now, granted, this does assume that one is playing with the right people, but my experiences with Pac-Man Vs. have been just as much fun, if not more so, than any other party game, with the possible exception of Karaoke Revolution. The problem with a number of multiplayer games is that there is a learning curve, and a variety of skill levels involved as a result. Here, there is no such learning curve, as just about everyone has played Pac-Man at least once, and even if they’ve been living in a Luddite’s paradise for the past twenty years, the concept and control scheme are about as simple as they come. As a result, less time is spent learning and/or teaching the game, and more time is spent playing and enjoying.
Graphically, Pac-Man Vs. is what one would expect from a 3D representation of Pac-Man. While there certainly isn’t anything overly flashy to report, the hosts and Pac-Man, as well as the mazes and dots, are immediately recognizable. Everything moves fluidly, and the vapor trails that the characters leave (in their corresponding colors, of course) help to identify who’s who. The screen presented on the GBA screen, it should be noted, is a pixel-perfect recreation of the original Pac-Man.
Sound, however, isn’t quite as great. The sound effects that are brought over from the original Pac-Man, from the sound of munching on a power-pellet to the “wocka-wocka” that Pac-Man makes as he moves around the maze are spot-on. One can even turn up the GBA and hear the same sounds on there. The problem, however is that, for some odd reason, Mario was brought in to do the play-by-play. Think about how much fun it is to listen to, “Its-a me, Mario!”. Now imagine it every fifteen seconds, but instead shouting things like, “Pac-Man ate the fruit,” or, “Pac-Man ate the power pellet!” It gets old fast, and really is the only negative aspect of Pac-Man Vs. Mario’s voice is grating, unnecessary, and simply puzzling as to why it was included.
For $20 as a bundle with the surprisingly entertaining Pac-Man World 2 (as well as with Namco’s racing title R: Racing Evolution), Pac-Man Vs. is well worth the investment, assuming that you have the requisite hardware. While you likely won’t find yourself playing Pac-Man Vs. every night, you will play it once in a while, and you’ll have a blast when you do. It may not be worth the additional cost of a GBA link cable (though Crystal Chronicles may eliminate that particular hurdle), but Pac-Man Vs. is an excellent second reason to own one. If only Nintendo had more clever games like this that took advantage of the GBA-GameCube connectivity, it might have been the Trojan horse in this installment of the console wars.
