It’s all true: Nintendo has announced a new battle royale style Pac-Man game for Switch called Pac-Man 99.
The game will be available for download tomorrow, and just like Tetris 99 and the now-closed Super Mario Bros. 35, it’s available exclusively to Switch Online subscribers.
Pac-Man 99 It has many similarities with the aforementioned Tetris 99, and is a 99-player version of the classic arcade game. Each player races to be the last Pac-Man left as he navigates a maze and avoids the ghosts that chase him. All ghosts a player defeats are sent to other players’ screens as “Jammer Pac-Man”. Encountering one of these will reduce the player’s movement speed, making them more vulnerable.
Another new feature of Pac-Man 99, clearly visible in the announcement trailer you see below, is that of Sleeping Ghosts. Chewing on these particular ghosts will multiply them to form a “ghost train”, and you can then chew them in one go after grabbing a Power Pellet.
Some paid DLC packages have already been announced for Pac-Man 99, dedicated to other historical titles of Bandai Namco such as Galaga and Dig Dug. A DLC also adds a special offline mode.
The presence of the DLC suggests that Pac-Man 99 will not have the sad end of Super Mario Bros. 35, a battle royale for Switch Online created for the 35th anniversary of the Mario franchise and completely removed a few days ago without any possibility of recovery.
PAC-MAN ™ is back in a new 99-PAC-MAN battle royale! PAC-MAN ™ 99 goes live 4/7 at 6 PM PST, exclusively for #NintendoSwitchOnline members! # PACMAN99
🟡🟡🟡 https://t.co/mnzEYXJnBl pic.twitter.com/1qOsEEvbHD
– Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) April 7, 2021
