Pac-Man: Championship Edition 2

Overview

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is a maze game developed and published digitally by Bandai Namco for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on September 15, 2016.

The sequel to the 2010 game Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Championship Edition 2 further revamps the series with new gameplay changes (such as multiple "ghost trains", an updated "bomb" system, better survivability against ghosts, and mazes that are no longer based on half-screen layouts). It also introduces new distinct game modes, including a mandatory tutorial mode and a mission-based campaign (with boss battles).

On February 22, 2018, the game received an updated port to the Nintendo Switch as Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus, adding a new two-player co-operative multiplayer mode. This version was also included in the Namco Museum Arcade Pac compilation.

Gameplay

Championship Edition 2 has some features recognizable from the previous installments, such as the usual 5-minute timer, changing mazes by collecting fruit, and scoring big on chomping ghosts (many of them on DX). However, new rules have been put into place, modifying how the game plays in the meta of CE2, in addition to the older features. Listed below are the changes:

• There are now a maximum of 4 ghost trains instead of just one. As soon as a ghost awakens, it immediately attaches to one of the ghosts and forms a train there, instead of having just one solely follow Pac-Man.
• The maximum amount of ghosts present and attached to ghosts is now more than 30, but no less than 60 on one train.
• Bombs now bump Pac-Man to his starting point.
• Bombs are no longer accumulated by chomping ghosts.
• Power Pellets are no longer present on ghosts. Instead, chomping on ghosts not added to any train extends the Power Pellet timer.
• Fruits/Power Pellets can appear without clearing the whole maze.
• Fruits now change the whole maze instead of one side. They also spawn below Pac-Man's starting point.
• Fruits and Power Pellets can sometimes move around the maze, similar to Ms. Pac-Man.
• By clearing the whole maze, one bomb is collected.
• Extra lives are no longer claimed automatically. They will appear on the maze to collect.
• Pac-dots are no longer based on a 10-point scale and follow similarly to that of Pac-Man 256 (1, 2, 3, etc). It is now possible to score in the 1's digit.
• Ghost scoring no longer follow previous games, scoring in increments of 100 (up to 6000) instead of 400 (up to 3200).
• Pac-Man can no longer die from ghosts upon first contact. If a ghost is "bumped" too much, the ghost will become angered, leaving Pac-Man vulnerable to losing a life.

Game Modes

Score Attack

The game's main game mode, each round in Score Attack lasts five minutes (or until the player dies with no lives remaining) and players must attempt to get the highest score in that time.

• Single Train - Intended for beginner players. Only Blinky can carry a ghost train, and is angered after multiple bumps. Pinky, Inky, and Clyde are now in a semi-sleep state, in which they cannot be angered (but can still be annoying by bumping the player).

• Regular - Intended for intermediate players. All four ghosts can carry ghost trains, and are angered after multiple bumps.

• Extreme - Intended for advanced players. All four ghosts can carry ghost trains, and are angered after only one bump. Faster gameplay. Extra lives disabled.

Courses

Most of the courses from Pac-Man Championship Edition DX make a return, each of them updated to work with the new game mechanics.

• Championship II
• Jumping - New to the series.
• Hexagon - New to the series.
• Highway
• Dungeon
• Mountain
• Manhattan
• Junction
• Championship I
• Spiral

Adventure

New to the series, Adventure Mode is a set of single-player challenges (some of which resemble Time Trials from the previous game). The game is split into six multi-level "Areas" with the unlockable final level of each Area being a boss battle.

Players progress through each Area by completing levels in any order, unlocking Stars that are used to unlock the Boss Level. Players choose their difficulty at the beginning of each normal level, with more difficult levels unlocking more Stars (1 for Normal, 2 for Hard, and 3 for Pro). In addition, completing the Boss Level with a special criteria unlocks additional Stars.