Pac-Man 99 Challenge returns

After reaching a new milestone of 9 million downloads on Nintendo Switch this week, Bandai Namco Entertainment America announced the return of the PAC-MAN 99 challenge and revealed details about the tournament.

The PAC-MAN99 Challenge online series will kick off on Saturday, January 7, 2023, and will continue every consecutive Saturday until January 28.

PAC-MAN 99 Challenge

The PAC-MAN 99 Challenge is an esports tournament series where content creators and streamers from the United States or Canada duke it out against their fans to see which community reigns above the rest. The top players will earn great prizes which include a chance to represent their favorite streamer in the live Grand Final. 

The competition will start out as an online tournament before pivoting into a LAN tournament at its conclusion. During the tournament weekends, content creators will challenge their fans in a ten-match series to determine who will make it into their squad. Competitors will earn points based on their placements after each match and the top 23 recruited players from each team will go to the finals. The five best players will be playing in person at the LAN final, while the rest of the event will be played online. 

The new Pac-Man battle royale experience  

Pac-Man is an arcade maze game with original intentions made for arcade machines by Toru Iwatani. It was first published in 1980 by Namco and introduced in North America by MidWay games. The game quickly became a hit and has also delved into other genres such as racing and sports. It is one of the longest-running, best-selling, and highest-grossing video game franchises in history with over 40 million copies sold in the last 40 years. 

Pac-Man 99 brings the original Pac-Man back exclusively to the Nintendo Switch, however, it also combines the original Pac-Man game with new competitive game mechanics, power-ups, and strategies for players to go up against each other. It offers a unique battle royale experience with up to 99 players.

From jamming other players’ games by sending Jammer Pac-Mans to doubling the movement speed of their Pac-Mans, Pac Man 99 gameplay involves eight different strategies. This means knowing what strategy to use at the right time is key to becoming the last Pac-Man standing, or, as the game says it — the last Pac-One standing.  

Currently, Nintendo eshop is offering a sale on Pac-Man 99 which also includes 35% mode unlock and 50% off for the Deluxe Pack. The sale will end on November 20.

Header: Bandai Namco Esports