The game's plot is divided into a series of four episodes, each one focusing on Pac-Man having to accomplish a different task. One chapter sees him needing to obtain some milk to feed Pac-Baby, while another requires him to go to the mountains to pick some flowers for his neighbor's birthday. Along the way, the Ghost Gang appears at certain times to impede his progress, but they are periodically shown to be working for the Ghost Witch of Netor, who is preparing her own nefarious plot...
Pac-Man 2 completely forgoes the Maze Game gameplay of its arcade predecessor, instead presenting an Adventure Game. The player actually does not directly control Pac-Man at all, as he has a mind of his own and walks through areas automatically. Instead, the player acts as an off-screen helper that guides Pac-Man through the game's world by either instructing him to look in different directions, or by shooting different objects with a slingshot that can be aimed anywhere on the screen. Additionally, Pac-Man's mood will change throughout the adventure depending on what happens to him, and his mood influences how willing he is to cooperate with the player's instructions.
A version of the original Pac-Man arcade game appears as a playable minigame in an arcade building found within the game's world. A second game can be unlocked as well (Ms. Pac-Man in the SNES version, Pac-Jr. in the Genesis version), but this requires the player to complete a certain sidequest first.
Game tropes include:
- 100% Completion: Based around the amount of different interactions you get with Pac-Man. Depending on how many situations you get in the game (ranging from the right ones and the cruel ones) you get a password in the end, which lets you unlock additional features for future playthroughs.
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: Pac-Man would be cocky a few times whenever he's in a happy mood, which would land him into trouble a few times.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: The Japanese cover shows a happy Pac-Man. Contrast it with the overseas cover showing a panicked Pac-Man gliding; though downplayed in the fact you can still see a happy Pac-Man in the lower corner.
- Amusing Injuries: You'd swear the devs were almost encouraging the players to come up with as many different ways to torment Pac-Man as possible. The game's ending sequence outright confirms this.
- Anti-Frustration Features:
- Pac-Man's mood is not a factor in the gliding and mining cart sections, which are already difficult by themselves.
- When fighting the Gum Monster, if you fail against him after having used up all your Power Pellets, you still start right back at the fight but with your inventory of Power Pellets restored. This prevents you from getting softlocked against it without having to lose any progress.
- Artificial Stupidity: Pac-Man's behavior can sometimes get himself killed, especially when he is mad.
- Big Bad: The Ghost Witch of Netor.
- Big Ball of Violence: Used several times such as when Pac-Man is attacked by a cat.
- Blob Monster: The final boss, Gum Monster, is made of chewed-up gum.
- Canon Immigrant: The Power Pellet trees from the Hanna Barbera Pac-Man cartoon appear in this game. Also, the Ghost Witch is seemingly a female version of Mezmaron, the main villain of the cartoon.
- Cats Are Mean: There's a cat in town that will steal Pac Man's hotdog, and even attack him if he or the player makes it mad.
- Circling Birdies: When knocked out, Pac-Man sees himself and Blinky chasing each other in a circle
◊. - Comedic Sociopathy: Part of the game's fun comes from all the different ways to torture Pac-Man.
- Cruelty Is the Only Option: There are a few instances in which you have to put Pac-Man through some amount of discomfort in order to proceed. For instance, to get the milk bottle you have to shoot a crow which will then attack Pac-Man before flying off. During the scuffle it will knock the milk bottle to the ground where Pac-Man can pick it up; otherwise, it's too high for him to reach. Another instance is that in order to get to the Sewers, Pac-Man must be in an angry state in order for him to wrap up the fire hydrant with paper and the build up pressure causes the nearby manhole cover to fly off. Unfortunately, this will also put Pac-Man in a frightened state.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Since you have infinite lives, death is a minor inconvenience. Though it will affect Pac-Man's mood and he'll be less cooperative (except for the minecart and glider stages, where his mood is not a factor).
- Developer's Foresight: Practically everything Pac-Man can interact with has noticeable variations depending on his mood.
- The Door Slams You: One obstacle in Pac-Man's neighborhood is getting by a neighbor's door without getting the door slammed in Pac's face.
- Expy: Being another evil magical figure who employs the Ghosts from the original game as minions, the Ghost Witch of Netor is a Gender Flipped one of Mezmeron.
- Fetch Quest: Most of the quests are this in one way or another.
- Flower from the Mountaintop: In the second quest, Pac-Man must get Lucy one of these for her birthday.
- Fourth-Wall Observer: Pac-Man is the only person who talks to the player.
- From Beyond the Fourth Wall: Pac-Man directly acknowledges the player many times throughout the game, and the player in turn uses their slingshot to interact with the world and help Pac-Man solve puzzles.
- Fuzz Therapy: One way to cheer up a sad/depressed Pac-Man is by taking him home and letting him pet his dog, Chomp-Chomp. Subverted if the dog approaches Pac-Man while the latter is angry, in which case he scolds Chomp-Chomp, who cowers away sadly and returns to his doghouse.
- Game Within a Game: Pac-Jr. (no relation to Jr Pac Man) in the Genesis version and Ms. Pac-Man in the SNES version. You can also play the original Pac-Man, both by leading Pac-Man into an arcade in the town he lives in or by entering a password at the title screen.
- Genre Shift: The original was a Maze Game. Now, this game is a Point-and-Click Game.
- Handcar Pursuit: The minecart level has Pac-Man controlling the speed of the trolley as it has a pump. You have to have to hit him a few times to make it go faster.
- Healing Boss: The gum monster has two machines next to it that spit more ABC gum onto it, rebuilding its body. Pac-Man has to transform with a Power Pellet and repeatedly eat the ghosts attempting to operate the machines to keep the monster from recovering while you slingshot it to death.
- Inelegant Blubbering: The Ghost Witch cries when Super Pac-Man defeats her Gum Monster, and runs away with the Ghosts.
- Intoxication Ensues: There are strange yellow fruits that Pac-Man can eat which cause him to go crazy, making him either ignore things or recklessly do the things he can't ignore. Inverted with the strange blue fruits that, when eaten, push Pac-Man to his saddest state. Shooting him fixes both problems.
- Iris Out: When Pac-Man is defeated in the SNES version, a death fanfare plays as the iris zooms out of Pac-Man. This is not present in the Genesis version.
- It Makes Sense in Context: Pac-Man being mugged in the sewers and possibly chasing after his muggers.
- Jerkass Ball: A smug Pac-Man would annoy certain NPCs for no reason other than because he feels like it. For example, he would sit on Lucy's couch instead of helping her move it, and he would pop the balloons in the balloon stand in the city on his own, while with a devious grin.
- The Many Deaths of You: A major part of the game's fun is coming up with new ways to torment Pac-Man. Deaths can come from all sorts of things, including bees, an angry cat, a falling skateboard, falling rocks, an angry hot dog stand proprietor, getting smacked in the face or by a rake; or landing on its teeth, and a neighbor who opened their door at just the wrong moment.
- Market-Based Title: The game is called "Hello! Pac-Man" in Japan, while the localizations make it a Numbered Sequel.
- Minecart Madness: There's an entire level that's this. You have to use your slingshot to save Pac-Man from the various hurdles and hazards.
- Mood-Swinger: Most of the challenge of getting Pac-Man's mood right for every situation is that he changes moods extremely quickly, acting differently with each one.
- Percussive Therapy:
- There are a pair and oil drums in Pac-Man's yard that he uses to play drums. If he is angry, he just slams his fists on them to make himself feel a bit better. Subverted if Pac-Man tries this with a set of bass drums in the department store. He ends up breaking them and gets chased out of the store by the angry clerk without any changes to his own mood.
- A very angry Pac-Man will quickly resort to punching and kicking objects if they don't work in the first try. If that makes them work, his mood improves.
- Power-Up: The Power Pellet is in this game. Oddly, the pellet turns him into Super Pac-Man. Unlike his usual maze-based outings, here the ghosts will flee after Super Pac-Man chomps them and won't return to trouble you while you're on that particular screen.
- Puppy Love: Implied between Pac-Jr. and Lucy.
- Ret-Canon: This is the first game to show Power Pellets growing on trees, as first shown in the cartoon.
- Screen Tap: If the player waits on the pause menu for long enough Pac-Man will eventually tap on the screen a few times before stopping to scowl at the player instead.
- Speaking Simlish: Pac-Man will speak sound-effect gibberish to the player but through his expressions and body language, you can get the gist of what he's saying.
- Title Confusion: The unlockable game Pac-Jr. is not the same as the arcade game Jr. Pac-Man.
- Too Annoyed to Be Afraid: If Pac-Man is super angry and starts throwing his fists upwards while walking, he will be ignorant of the ghosts' attempts to scare him and would eventually cause them to give up and fly away if Pac-Man was still in this state of anger before he leaves the screen.
- The Unfought: The Ghost Witch of Netor, despite being the main villain, is never fought directly.
- Unlockable Content: By collecting three cartridge pieces the player can unlock either Pac-Jr. if you are playing the Genesis version or Ms. Pac-Man if you are playing the SNES version, and both games can also be accessed by entering a password, thus bypassing the need for the cartridge pieces.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Required to achieve 100% Completion. You can use the slingshot to abuse Pac-Man and the NPCs in various ways...
- Video Game Cruelty Punishment: ...and doing so will usually lead to bad things happening to you. Shooting the cat in town will cause it to attack Pac-Man, shooting the hot dog stand man will make him squirt ketchup all over Pac-Man, shooting the balloons at the balloon stand will cause the owner to blow up Pac-Man like a balloon and let him float away, and shooting Lucy gives you a death, among other things.
- What the Hell, Player?:
- Pac-Man becomes less cooperative the more you torment and abuse him. He'll eventually lose his patience, and then face the camera and scold you in frustration if you do it to him enough times.
- Making Lucy cry by shooting her counts as a death and plays the losing jingle while Pac-Man chews you out and angrily glares at you. Similarly, shooting some kids in the city would also make Pac-Man very angrily yell at you, although it doesn't count as a death in this case.
- In a much more subdued situation, if you take too long to select the card order to access the Final Boss room, Pac-Man will get fed up and place the ID cards in the order he wants.
