Pac-Man 99 came out on April 7, 2021 and as far as I can tell, it’s a hit. Pac-Man 99 is available exclusively to play for Nintendo Switch Online members, developed by Arika and published by Bandai Namco. This game is a battle royale game in which 99 players compete at the same time for the coveted, Pac-One crown. Basically, you need to survive longer than the rest of the field, otherwise, you’re out.

Pac-Man 99 isn’t too difficult to learn as the core game is still the same. You just navigate the maze collecting Pac-Dots and avoid the Ghosts. Eating a power pellet will allow you to eat the Ghosts. What makes Pac-Man 99 different is that each Ghost you eat will send what is called a Jammer Pac-Man to an opponent’s board. These are called attacks. The Jammer Pac-Man’s main job is to just slow your opponent down, which if you’re running from a Ghost, can be trouble. The more Ghosts you eat, the more Jammer Pac-Mans get sent to your opponents.

That’s pretty much the gist of it. This makes Pac-Man 99 incredibly fun because it’s no longer a solo game. Now you must contend against 98 other players, and all want you to lose as well.

That’s the base game. You also have the option of spending some money and unlocking three other game modes – CPU Battle, Score Attack, and Blind Time Attack. There’s also a ton of skins you can purchase as well.

I know that I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it and I think I like it even more than Super Mario Bros. 35. It’s just more hectic and exciting in my opinion and the games seem to go by pretty quickly. I’m not a big fan of paying for the extra skins though as it does seem like a money grab, but the other modes might be worth it to purchase. However, I haven’t found that need yet as the base game is already fun enough.

So what do you guys think about Pac-Man 99? Have you been playing it? What’s your highest rank you’ve reached? Let us know in the comments below.

Pac-Man 99 is available now for free on the Nintendo eShop.