This is such a great video and I agree with every point on here. This vid really should have gotten more traction than it already has. Extremely underrated.
12:13 Big disagree. Sure, you can clear the maze before eating the Power Pellet, but on later mazes, you risk losing a life depending on the difficulty AND how long the trains are. Ghosts can interfere into you and bump straight into the one that's right behind you. You can eat a moving Power Pellet on some of the later mazes in a course as soon as you wake all the ghosts up, but bear in mind you'll need most, if not all, of the dots on those particular mazes.
That's fair. Power pellets certainly are useful on Extreme difficulty courses during their latter half. Particularly around the 2 minute mark and below. I might have been a bit overzealous on that point, but I would still say that the power pellet is still a less consistently useful option than in other Pac-Man games.
I think you make good points about the power pellet's mechanics in the first Pac Man CE. I can't easily play the game anymore, but I certainly remember that the old CE kept the feeling of scrambling to outrun the ghosts like the original did, while CEDX+ doesn't have that same scramble sensation unless all four original ghosts are in play. And still, as you've pointed out, the ghosts will still try to get out of your way in CEDX+ if you're about to get sandwiched. I just really wish the first CE was easily available on Steam. Can't buy that shit anywhere...
Yeah, I just recently noticed that they delisted Pac-Man Museum a couple months ago, which means the only PC version of the original CE is completely unavailable for purchase now. A real shame.
@@Goufuem yeah I can kind of understand why they removed the museum though, it has major issues with screen resolution hijacking, wanting to complain about native resolution and the fact that steam charged more to download ms Pacman as part of the museum than it was as a solo steam title which makes no sense.
All of the elements introduced in CEDX are the main reason why I don't love it as much as the original CE. I find myself more excited by the risk-reward system present in the original, which is why I always loved Pac Man and his wife Ms Pac Man.
Great analysis of these games. It articulates many of the thoughts I was having while comparing them recently. I do think the difficulty of getting the trains in CE 2 quickly enough adds legitimate challenge since you're under a time limit to get a high score. I'm surprised these games do not have a power-up to boost the time limit by 5+,10+ seconds. I also think the bump mechanic of CE 2 means it is like becoming a more forgivable Snake clone, but necessary because it would be too frustrating otherwise. With high resolution screens being the norm, one can imagine an online multi-player Pac-Man that has a much larger maze with many people competing at once.
Wow, thanks for this analysis! I actually was only aware of the existence of these games a couple days ago, and I had difficulty understanding what the heck was going on in Championship Edition 2. I just randomly saw a video of Championship Edition DX and was wowed. To me, it feels more like Snake than Pac-Man. But I like Snake! It's inspiring to make a Thunder Castle inspired game. The train mechanism and ZA WARUDO-like time slowdown effects are really compelling to me. (My Thunderkeep game will be a retro Commodore 64 game, but playable in a web version via web server based C64 emulator.) Thunder Castle doesn't have dot munching, so the entire emphasis is on the back-and-forth between the normal state where you are running away from the forces of evil, and the blessed state where can temporarily defeat them. This is a really epic hard struggle, because the more difficult enemies move as fast as you - it's very challenging to trap them or use a special item to get them. For my Thunderkeep game, I'm going for speed and accessibility. You enter a blessed state via "power pellets", but these "power pellets" are blessed weapons/items with different abilities. So, it's not just eating a pellet to let you eat a train of enemies. It depends. In fact, some blessed weapons/items are so weak that you'll want to strategically grab them just to clear the maze of the obstacle (that would neutralize a more useful powerup). The non-train monsters won't be so aggressive; they'll just move randomly to keep code simple. But they will be numerous...
I still think the Pac-Man World games are way better and more creative and ambitious, too bad Bandai Namco has doubled down and just forgotten about it only acknowledging it on Twitter.
Ur allowed to think that you just need a change in mindset dx isnt a game about survival its about speed the four ghosts will always turn away from you if they have a choice they arent there to threaten your life theyre there to threaten your time if you dont go as fast as possible and you dont care about your score you will not enjoy dx
This is such a great video and I agree with every point on here. This vid really should have gotten more traction than it already has. Extremely underrated.
This video deserves way more views.
Ms Pac Man, Pac Man Arrangement, and Pac Man Championship Edition are the best Pac Man games imo.
And dx
Agreed. Especially the fast version of Ms. Pac Man (which is also why I like CE: the speed)
12:13 Big disagree. Sure, you can clear the maze before eating the Power Pellet, but on later mazes, you risk losing a life depending on the difficulty AND how long the trains are. Ghosts can interfere into you and bump straight into the one that's right behind you. You can eat a moving Power Pellet on some of the later mazes in a course as soon as you wake all the ghosts up, but bear in mind you'll need most, if not all, of the dots on those particular mazes.
That's fair. Power pellets certainly are useful on Extreme difficulty courses during their latter half. Particularly around the 2 minute mark and below. I might have been a bit overzealous on that point, but I would still say that the power pellet is still a less consistently useful option than in other Pac-Man games.
I think you make good points about the power pellet's mechanics in the first Pac Man CE. I can't easily play the game anymore, but I certainly remember that the old CE kept the feeling of scrambling to outrun the ghosts like the original did, while CEDX+ doesn't have that same scramble sensation unless all four original ghosts are in play. And still, as you've pointed out, the ghosts will still try to get out of your way in CEDX+ if you're about to get sandwiched.
I just really wish the first CE was easily available on Steam. Can't buy that shit anywhere...
Yeah, I just recently noticed that they delisted Pac-Man Museum a couple months ago, which means the only PC version of the original CE is completely unavailable for purchase now. A real shame.
@@Goufuem yeah I can kind of understand why they removed the museum though, it has major issues with screen resolution hijacking, wanting to complain about native resolution and the fact that steam charged more to download ms Pacman as part of the museum than it was as a solo steam title which makes no sense.
@@Goufuem Well, good news! Pac-Man Museum + was recently announced and it will feature PMCE!
All of the elements introduced in CEDX are the main reason why I don't love it as much as the original CE. I find myself more excited by the risk-reward system present in the original, which is why I always loved Pac Man and his wife Ms Pac Man.
Great analysis of these games. It articulates many of the thoughts I was having while comparing them recently. I do think the difficulty of getting the trains in CE 2 quickly enough adds legitimate challenge since you're under a time limit to get a high score. I'm surprised these games do not have a power-up to boost the time limit by 5+,10+ seconds. I also think the bump mechanic of CE 2 means it is like becoming a more forgivable Snake clone, but necessary because it would be too frustrating otherwise. With high resolution screens being the norm, one can imagine an online multi-player Pac-Man that has a much larger maze with many people competing at once.
Highly underrated video
Whats a power pellet? All i see are "Flashing Energizers"
Ghosts?? What ghosts?? I only see monsters!
I love all 3 of these games, I hope they make another
Wow, thanks for this analysis! I actually was only aware of the existence of these games a couple days ago, and I had difficulty understanding what the heck was going on in Championship Edition 2.
I just randomly saw a video of Championship Edition DX and was wowed. To me, it feels more like Snake than Pac-Man. But I like Snake!
It's inspiring to make a Thunder Castle inspired game. The train mechanism and ZA WARUDO-like time slowdown effects are really compelling to me. (My Thunderkeep game will be a retro Commodore 64 game, but playable in a web version via web server based C64 emulator.)
Thunder Castle doesn't have dot munching, so the entire emphasis is on the back-and-forth between the normal state where you are running away from the forces of evil, and the blessed state where can temporarily defeat them. This is a really epic hard struggle, because the more difficult enemies move as fast as you - it's very challenging to trap them or use a special item to get them.
For my Thunderkeep game, I'm going for speed and accessibility. You enter a blessed state via "power pellets", but these "power pellets" are blessed weapons/items with different abilities. So, it's not just eating a pellet to let you eat a train of enemies. It depends. In fact, some blessed weapons/items are so weak that you'll want to strategically grab them just to clear the maze of the obstacle (that would neutralize a more useful powerup).
The non-train monsters won't be so aggressive; they'll just move randomly to keep code simple. But they will be numerous...
This is a really good video!
thisis a rlly good video
Yooooooooo he's here!
This video is great, but I do think that having the music from CE 1 for CE 1, Pac-Logic for DX, and, whatever the main theme for CE 2 is for CE 2.
I agree, Championship Edition is good but it doesn’t hold up that well, especially when compared to other characters like Mario or Sonic.
the 3rd chapter says the famicom demake but it talks about ce 2, you should fix that
The chapters are the music
I still think the Pac-Man World games are way better and more creative and ambitious, too bad Bandai Namco has doubled down and just forgotten about it only acknowledging it on Twitter.
Am i the only one that thinks that DX Sucks?
I used to think DX sucked as a kid
Ur allowed to think that you just need a change in mindset dx isnt a game about survival its about speed the four ghosts will always turn away from you if they have a choice they arent there to threaten your life theyre there to threaten your time if you dont go as fast as possible and you dont care about your score you will not enjoy dx