Gaming’s favorite power pellet muncher is back in Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle, a 64-player multiplayer maze game that takes after other retro battle royales like Tetris 99. While the standard battle royale genre has perhaps reached the “Apex” of its success, the proof that adding large multiplayer modes to existing formulas works has created all sorts of strange offshoots for iconic franchises. Just a few weeks ago, Nintendo released Super Mario Bros. 35, a competitive take on the platformer in which opponents can dump enemies into a player’s way. With even the famous Italian plumber is getting in on the action, it was only inevitable that Namco’s mascot wouldn’t be far behind.
Even if players didn’t grow up dropping quarter into a Pac-Man arcade machines back in 1980, they’ll be familiar with the ever-hungry yellow sphere. From cartoon shows and pop hits to inexplicable appearances in blockbuster movies, Bandai Namco’s Pac-Man has remained in the public consciousness for four full decades and counting. Despite that, Pac-Man has been rather quiet on the video game front for the last few years. He appeared in Pac-Man Party Royale for the Apple Arcade launch, but his last game before that was 2016’s Pac-Man Championship Edition 2.
Today, the next Pac-Man maze game made its debut, and players can give it a shot free of charge. Google announced that Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle was available in the form of a free demo on Google Stadia. Players don’t have to subscribe to anything or give out a credit card to play, and they have till October 27 to try it out. After that, the full release will hit the cloud service on November 17. The game pits up to 64 Pac-People against one another in adjacent mazes that they can move between at certain time intervals. It’s a race to the high score as players gobble up dots and ghosts ahead of other players.
For those who don’t want to play Google’s platform, they should find solace in the fact that games that have been labeled “First on Stadia” like this new Pac-Man experience have not stayed on the service for long. Previous examples like Splitlings and Wave Break only spent a handful of months exclusive to the service before they broke out onto other platforms. The only exception has been games published by Google like Orcs Must Die! 3, but Pac-Man: Mega Tunnel Battle is under the control of Bandai Namco and should head to other gaming platforms sooner rather than later.
It was only a matter of time after the release of Tetris 99 before Pac-Man joined in the battle royale craze, and it’s exciting to think of what other classic games can adapt to a multiplayer setting. Space Invaders where players have to avoid aliens and shots from players on the other side of an armada? Dig Dug with multiple Taizo Horis carving up a single cliffside? Maybe a gigantic Warlords arena with three times the number of castles? If developers have any great idea to revive a retro game in a new way, it sure seems like now is the time to pitch.
