For examples related to the sequels, go to the following pages.
In general:
- Camera Screw: The camera is suited just fine for a 2½D side-scroller, but given that a lot of level segments require Pac-Man to move not only left and right, but forth and back as well, it can make many jumps much harder to accurately judge. Most notably, are some of those wheels in Spin Dizzy far away, or just really small? The remake addresses most of this problem by changing the view to a slightly top-downish one on precise platforming sections, but some areas still suffer from depth perception problems, especially in the Boss Mansion episodes.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: For being exclusive characters to the subseries, Orson and Toc-Man are noticeable fan-favorites. Orson for being a Jerkass Woobie in World 1 who undergoes a Heel–Face Turn in World 3, and Toc-Man for being a Worthy Opponent Robot Me in World 1 who gets upgraded into a fully-controllable Humongous Mecha (whom you can pilot alongside Clyde to lay waste to an army with) in World 3.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The series never made much of an impact in Japan, and faded into obscurity (in fact, the third entry didn't even get a Japanese release). However, it had a much better reception internationally, to the point of becoming a Cult Classic, as well gaining a devoted fanbase waiting for a fourth entry or a remake/remaster (the latter of which would eventually happen to the first game in 2022).
- Older Than They Think:
- Many Western fans perceive Pac-Man's limbed character design originated from these games, to the point that many have complained that there's not a single bit of Pac-Man World representation in the Super Smash Bros. series, and yet it uses his design from there. It has always been his design since the 1980s, and in fact, it was his design in the Japanese cabinet art
◊, with the more well-known "pie" design that preceded it being seen as a case of Graphics-Induced Super-Deformed. It's noticeable when you look at old official artwork◊ and the early cartoon adaptation. - The series' signature "butt-bounce" originated from Pac-in-Time, a 2D platformer. However, Pac-Man's bounce in that game was only for gaining height and couldn't damage enemies.
- A lot of Western fans also believe these were the games where Pinky was made female. In actuality, Pinky had been depicted female as far back as Japanese merchandise from the 1980s. Pinky being male was invented by the cartoon, at a time when the only ghost with a feminine perceived name was Sue.
- Many Western fans perceive Pac-Man's limbed character design originated from these games, to the point that many have complained that there's not a single bit of Pac-Man World representation in the Super Smash Bros. series, and yet it uses his design from there. It has always been his design since the 1980s, and in fact, it was his design in the Japanese cabinet art
Pac-Man World contains examples of:
- Awesome Bosses: The Final Boss, Toc-Man. A giant robot version of Pac-Man who requires all of Pac-Man's moves to defeat and uses his own versions of said moves against you? Yes, please. Even better is that all of Pac-Man's friends that you've rescued help out during the fight (by restoring your health if you run out). The remake dials up the coolness even further by having him use Pac-Man's power-ups as well, with the final phase seeing him use two Power Pellets to grow to an enormous size.
- Common Knowledge: Several reports came out about how Ms. Pac-Man is the only character not returning in the remake and replaced. In actuality, all of the family members except Pooka are renamed.note The big difference is she has a much more drastic redesign than the other characters and is more commonly known in the public consciousness.
- Demonic Spiders: The bumper cars. To kill them, you have to use a hard-to-control technique to knock them off ledges. Most of the time they keep moving, so you'll inevitably end up falling into the abyss. If you attack them head-on, they'll knock you right back, and they turn in your direction when you get close. Thankfully made easier in Re-PAC, as a single Rev Roll strike is enough to destroy one instead of needing to knock it off.
- Goddamned Boss: Krome Keeper, the fifth boss. Damaging it requires a long sequence of hitting four switches, then the middle one before time runs out and the switches reset. The switches are heated, so you need to collect a Metal Pac-Man power-up from a random box the Keeper kicks to avoid taking damage. However, magnets are rotating around the stage and if they catch Pac-Man, they will dump him into the pool, wasting extra time. And you have to hit the middle switch 8 times, despite Krome Keeper not changing up the pattern in any way or presenting much challenge. It's widely regarded as the worst boss in the game,note and the 2022 remake trailer showed it was completely redesigned in response to the complaintsnote .
- Heartwarming Moments: The Good Ending of the Re-PAC version has Pac-Man, in stark contrast to eating him in the original game (or in the Bad Ending, which goes like the original), actually reach out to and forgive Orson for everything he did, realizing he was just lonely. Orson is surprised at Pac-Man's kindness, and after apologizing to Pac-Man for kidnapping his family and friends, the two happily share a handshake. Not only is it lovely to see, but also makes a lot of sense considering Orson's eventual Heel–Face Turn in Pac-Man World 3.
- The Good Ending gets even better in this regard when you see all of Pac-Man's friends and family that you rescuednote , his trashed party being rebuilt even better than before, and all of them — plus Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde — coming together to celebrate Pac-Man's birthday.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: Toc-Man is a robotic Evil Knockoff of Pac-Man likely inspired by Metal Sonic who deluded himself into believing he's the real Pac-Man and wants to get rid of his "loathsome copy". Come Sonic Heroes, this comes full circle as that's also Metal Sonic's motivation in the game.
- Memetic Psychopath: Pac-Man himself, thanks to the ending where he uses a Power Pellet and eats Orson right after the latter reveals how lonely he is. It's understandable in context since Orson kidnapped Pac-Man's family and tried to steal his identity, but seems like a massive dick move out of context.
- Porting Disaster: While it's understandable that the Game Boy Advance version wouldn't have everything from its PlayStation counterpart, many feel it removes too much in the process, resulting in an extremely barebones remake. Only 12 levels remain (the original game had 23), the hub worlds and the factory levels are absent, all but one boss is cut out, the FMV cutscenes are replaced with static images and text, the maze and classic modes are nowhere to be found and much of the soundtrack is reduced to only a few tracks. While it is at least playable, given how much got removed for the sake of bringing it to the GBA, many have wonder why Namco even bothered in the first place.
- Remade and Improved: While the original PS1 game is a Cult Classic and a solid 3D platformer, the RE-Pac remake is considered by many to be the definitive version of the game. It polishes out much of the original game's Fake Difficulty and jank, improves upon the controls greatly, adds in some new content like a flutter jump and a new giant Super Mode upon eating a power pellet, has greatly improved and more elaborate bosses (and makes the infamous That One Boss Anubis far more bearable), makes saving the family members optional and adds in an updated Golden Ending in which Pac-Man forgives and befriends Orson instead of infamously eating him like he did in the original game (though the original ending is still intact if you don't rescue Pac-Man's family).
- Suspiciously Similar Song: You seriously can't listen to the Far Out theme and not think of the theme to M.A.S.K..
- Take That, Scrappy!: Re-PAC makes saving the family members optional. For people who don't like Pac-Mom, this allows them to reach the end of the game without rescuing her.
- That One Boss: Anubis and King Galaxian. The former for having difficult-to-avoid attacks that pursue Pac-Man while he is taking his time spinning individual platforms over lava to expose its heart, along with the Nightmare Fuel of the first part being chased by a mummy with spike and gate traps galore, and the latter for filling the screen with laser shots in a relatively cramped space while Zerg Rushing Pac-Man with Mooks that fire even more shots and even have shields in the last phase. These are only the second and third bosses respectively out of six.
- The Anubis gets extra special mention: the devs admit they ran out of time to finish playtesting him, leading to some serious Hitbox Dissonance. Notably when the remake was announced in 2022, one of the first things shown off in the trailer was the fact that the Anubis' battle arena was redesigned to be less frustrating (in particular, the Rev Roll plates are no longer separate platforms and are on one big area, no longer requiring Pac-Man to jump from plate to plate).
- That One Level: Spin Dizzy. It's really long, the checkpoints are few and far between, and it's full of bottomless pits that are easy to fall into because of both moving platforms and difficulty in knowing where you're landing after a jump. The remake thankfully eases the pain by adding more checkpoints, as well as Pac-Dot chains to reduce the backtracking. But because of how the shadow doesn’t show where you will NECESSARILY land, it is still very easy to fall.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- Some fans are a bit miffed that the characters speak in a fictional gibberish language in the remake unlike the original game, where they spoke English.
- Fans of the original game were not happy about the redesigns some of Pac-Man's family members received, most notably Pac-Mom and Pac-Sis (Originally Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man).
- Underused Game Mechanic:
- Rev Roll plates, despite having a Tutorial sign on what they are and how to use them in Buccaneer Beach (the introductory level), are only found in one other level afterwards (Crisis Cavern).
- Pac-Dot Explosions are only required to be used during the final boss with Toc-Man. Any other use of it is up to you.
- Bomb Dots are an area-clearing power-up that is activated with a single Butt Bounce. However, the game puts them so sparsely and are usually close to an area full of enemies anyway that it seems to be just situational. Re-PAC addresses this problem by having it reward the player with fruits for every enemy in range defeated with it and it is also elevated to a power-up alongside the Power Pellet in the King Galaxian level, where its area-clearing ability fits the nature of an Unexpected Shmup Level.
