One of the best Xbox Live Arcade standouts is getting its official sequel in just a few weeks.
Publisher Bandai Namco revealed that Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 will launch September 13 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC for $13. This is the followup to the neon-drenched bite-sized take on the original arcade hit that compels players to maximize their score in a number of quick, varied modes. Pac-Man Championship Edition and Championship Edition DX attracted a huge number of fans through asynchronous competition using leaderboard scoring, and Bandai Namco is expecting this new version to inspire a similar chase for bragging rights.
In this version, Bandai Namco is promising the “fastest action” in any Pac-Man game ever. Modes like Score Attack and Adventure will test your skills with classic ghost-eating mechanics as well as boss battles.
If you’ve never tried Pac-Man Championship Edition before, you’ve probably heard gamers talking about it in reverent tones. Along with Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and Braid, PCCE defined an era of smaller, downloadable games on the Xbox 360. While publishers were figuring out what triple-A releases looked like on the first wave of high-definition consoles, Pac-Man and other games like proved the existence of a market for smaller experiences that provided connected and highly focused action at a discounted price.
Today, the $10-to-$20 game market is an accepted part of the overall ecosystem, and gamers are often as excited for the release of something like Rocket League, Starbound, and Abzu.
Also, I once had a top-100-in-the-world score in Pac-Man: Championship Edition DX. This is not relevant to the story, but I really like having a reason to tell people about this. Feel free to congratulate and compliment me.