Pac-Attack

It is the first Pac-Man game to be released exclusively for home platforms. An adaptation of the 1992 game Cosmo Gang the Puzzle, which was released for arcades worldwide and for the Super Famicom in Japan. Music was composed by Hiromi Shibano, and the cover art was designed by Greg Martin. To promote the game's release, a contest was held in GameFan magazine that awarded cash prizes to players who submitted their highest scores. Critical reception for the game was mixed; while some disliked its lack of replay value and inferiority to other games such as Tetris and Columns, others praised it for its addictiveness and clever usage of the traditional Pac-Man gameplay. It has since been ported to several systems and included in a number of Pac-Man and Namco compilations for multiple platforms. A reskin of Pac-Attack was created for the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare download service titled Korogashi Puzzle Katamari Damacy, based on the Katamari series.

• Title — Pac-Attack • Developer — Namco • Composer — Hiromi Shibano • Series — Pac-Man • Platforms — Super NES, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Gear, Game Boy, CD-i, iOS • Released — Super NESOctober 1993 Genesis/Mega DriveDecember 1995 Game GearJune 1994 Game Boy CD-i iOSOctober 14, 2010 • Genre — Puzzle • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — SNES version screenshot Pac-Attack is a falling tile puzzle game, often compared to games such as Tetris and Columns. The player drops down formations of blocks and ghosts onto a vertical-oriented playfield, the objective being to score as many points possible before the pieces reach the top of the screen. Blocks can be cleared by matching them in horizontal rows that touch both ends of the playfield; however, ghosts can only be cleared by placing down a Pac-Man piece, which will eat any ghosts in his path. The direction that Pac-Man is facing will show which direction he will move — if he gets stuck in a spot with no ghosts left, Pac-Man disappears. Eating ghosts will cause a “fairy meter”, located at the left of the screen, to fill up — once the meter is full, a fairy piece will appear that clears any and all ghosts below it, which can be used to cause chain reactions. Alongside a standard single-player mode, a multiplayer mode is also included that pits two players against each other, the objective being to clear as many pieces possible while also causing additional pieces to stack up on the opponent's side. Clearing out blocks or ghosts will cause additional pieces to fall on the other player's side, and once the blocks in a player's side stack to the top, the other is deemed the winner. The game also features a Puzzle Mode, where the player is to clear out each ghost in a pre-set level in as few moves as possible. This mode spans 100 levels, and completing one will give the player a password that can be used to start at that stage again.

Pac-Attack was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in October 1993. It is an adaptation of Namco's 1992 arcade game Cosmo Gang the Puzzle, released for arcades worldwide and the Super Famicom in Japan. The soundtrack was composed by Hiromi Shibano, while the cover art was designed by Greg Martin. To help promote the game's release, Namco hosted a contest in GameFan magazine where players could submit their scores to win prizes, the grand prize being a $500 gift certificate. Some European and Japanese releases were titled Pac-Panic. The CD-i conversion features completely remade artwork. In 1998, the Genesis version was released for the PlayStation as part of the Japan-only compilation Namco Anthology 2, alongside a remake featuring fully redone graphics and music. A Game Boy Color conversion was bundled with the original Pac-Man in 1999, titled Pac-Man: Special Color Edition. The Genesis version is also included as an unlockable in the 2001 PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube compilation Namco Museum, alongside the arcade game Pac-Mania, and in the Game Boy Advance game Pac-Man Collection the same year. The Namco Anthology 2 remake is an unlockable extra in Pac-Man World 2. An iOS “demake” of the game, featuring graphics from the original Pac-Man arcade game, was released in 2010, later delisted from the App Store in 2015. The Genesis version is also included in the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC collection Pac-Man Museum, released in 2014. The SNES version of the game was included in the 2022 PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch video game compilation Pac-Man Museum+ as an unlockable title. Despite being an emulated version of the original game, the game was modified to replace the Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man characters (who appear as cameos on the game's high score table), in favor of the Pac-Mom and Pac-Sis characters, created for the collection. While it has been no officially confirmation on why the changes were made, it is assumed to be tied to Ms. Pac-Man's ongoing AtGames dispute. A Katamari game based on the gameplay of Pac-Attack was released on the DSiWare service for the Nintendo DSi called made by Namco Bandai Games in 2009. Hatsune Miku was licensed to perform the ending theme.