Software:Pac-Man Battle Royale

From HandWiki
Pac-Man Battle Royale
Pac-Man Battle Royale flyer.png
Developer(s)Namco Bandai Games
Publisher(s)Namco Bandai Games[lower-alpha 1]
Director(s)Kunito Komori
SeriesPac-Man
Platform(s)Arcade
ReleaseJanuary 21, 2011
Genre(s)Maze
Arcade systemNamco System 147

Pac-Man Battle Royale[lower-alpha 2] is a 2010 maze battle-royale arcade game in the Pac-Man series. Developed and published by Namco Bandai Games, it was made in celebration of Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary.[1] The game sees up to four players control multi-colored Pac-Men as they try to compete to be the last Pac-Man standing.

It was released for arcades in January 2011, and was released on several platforms afterwards following its release.

Gameplay

In Pac-Man Battle Royale, up to four players can compete at once, choosing a game length of between three and nine rounds. Each player controls a differently coloured Pac-Man character (yellow, pink, blue and red); a single player faces one computer-controlled Pac-Man opponent. The players move throughout a maze, avoiding ghosts and attempting to eat dots and power pellets scattered throughout. New dots and pellets appear whenever the players eat them all. In addition; if any player eats a bonus item that appears next to the ghosts' cage, all remaining dots and pellets are immediately removed and replaced.

When a Pac-Man eats a power pellet, they grow in size and can eat the ghosts and any un-powered Pac-Men until the pellet wears off. During this time, the un-powered Pac-Men turn blue but retain an outline of their original colour, and they cannot eat ghosts.

Un-powered Pac-Men are eliminated from the round when they either run into a ghost or are eaten by a powered-up Pac-Man. If two Pac-Men of equal strength run into each other, they are knocked backward a short distance but suffer no harm otherwise. Blue Pac-Men cannot knock or pass through each other.

Each round lasts a maximum of two minutes, with an on-screen countdown for the last 10 seconds. The last remaining Pac-Man wins the round. All players are brought back into the game at the start of each new round; after the final round, the player with the most victories is the overall winner.

Development and release

Pac-Man Battle Royale was first displayed in the United States in a playable state at the 2010 Amusement Expo show in Las Vegas.[2][3] in March 2010. It was then seen again at an after-party event during E3, where Namco America brought four cabinets for attendees to play.[4][5] Namco also took the unusual step of throwing a party prior to the launch of the game at the Whiskey River Saloon in Madison, Wisconsin.[6] It was not seen in Japan until September 2010 at the Amusement Machine Show,[7] which is opposite of most major Namco arcade releases where they are shown off in Japan first and are later brought to the US.

While the game was reported for a release in September 2010,[8] it was delayed for unknown reasons until late November 2010. NAMCO America, Inc. officially announced the release of Pac-Man Battle Royale on January 21, 2011.[9]

Unique to Namco's other modern arcade releases, the company created a Facebook page to promote the game, which registered locations where players could find the game.[10]

Ports and legacy

A demo version was released on the iOS App Store on January 28, 2011.[1] The game was ported to Pac-Man Museum for a digital release (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows) in 2014. The game is included in the compilation title Pac-Man Museum + (Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch) released in 2022.

The game would inspire several follow-up games, including Pac-Man Party Royale for Apple Arcade, Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle for Google Stadia, and Pac-Man 99 for Nintendo Switch.

A direct sequel, Pac-Man Battle Royale Chompionship, was released in June 2022.[11]

Notes

  1. Released under the Namco brand name.
  2. Japanese: パックマンバトルロイヤル Hepburn: Pakkuman Batoru Roiyaru

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "BANDAI NAMCO Amusement America - News". https://www.bandainamco-am.com/news.php?articleid=65. 
  2. "Amusement Expo 2010: Pac-Man Battle Royale Hands-on". March 12, 2010. https://arcadeheroes.com/2010/03/12/amusement-expo-2010-pac-man-battle-royale-hands-on/. 
  3. "Pac-Man returns to arcades with Pac-Man Battle Royale at Amusement Expo 2010". February 25, 2010. https://arcadeheroes.com/2010/02/25/pac-man-returns-to-arcades-with-pac-man-battle-royale-at-amusement-expo-2010/. 
  4. Haske, Steve (June 16, 2010). "Pac-Man Battle Royale: four-player death match, arcade-style". https://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/06/pac-man-battle-royale-four-player-death-match-arcade-style.ars. 
  5. Leavey, Jason. "E3 2010: Pac-Man Battle Royale impressions". https://www.thetanooki.com/2010/06/22/e3-2010-pac-man-battle-royale-impressions/. 
  6. "Namco throws a party for Pac-Man Battle Royale". September 20, 2010. https://arcadeheroes.com/2010/09/20/namco-throws-a-party-for-pac-man-battle-royale/. 
  7. Feit, Daniel. "Hands-On: Pac-Man Goes Cannibal in Battle Royale". Wired. https://www.wired.com/2010/09/pac-man-battle-royale/. Retrieved 2021-10-16. 
  8. "See video of Pac-Man: Battle Royale from Amusement Expo @ Gaming Target". http://www.gamingtarget.com/article.php?artid=11121. 
  9. "BANDAI NAMCO Amusement America - News". https://www.bandainamco-am.com/news.php?articleid=74. 
  10. "Archived copy". https://www.facebook.com/PacManBattleRoyale. 
  11. "Pac-Man Battle Royale Chompionship Spotted at IAAPA 2021; Headed to Arcades In 2022". 30 November 2021. https://primetimeamusements.com/pac-man-battle-royale-chompionship-edition-spotted-at-iaapa-2021-headed-to-arcades-in-2022/.