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Pac-Man Collection
Pac-Man Collection
Pac-Man Collection
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Pac-Man Collection
North American cover art
DeveloperMass Media
PublisherNamco
SeriesPac-Man
PlatformGame Boy Advance
Release
  • NA: July 12, 2001
  • EU/AU: December 7, 2001
  • JP: January 11, 2002
GenreVarious
ModeSingle-player

Pac-Man Collection[a] is a 2001 video game compilation developed by Mass Media and published by Namco for the Game Boy Advance. It includes four titles in the Pac-Man series — the original Pac-Man (1980), Pac-Mania (1987), Pac-Attack (1993), and Pac-Man Arrangement (1996), the latter of which was originally exclusive to the arcade game Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2. Each game includes customizable features such as the ability to alter the number of starting lives or difficulty, with all being stripped of multiplayer features.

Development of the game was headed by California-based studio Mass Media, who previously worked on several Namco Museum collections for other platforms. It was first announced on April 24, 2001 under the name Pac-Man Fever, before being presented at the 2001 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) tradeshow. Pac-Man Collection was a commercial success — by 2007 it sold over 2.9 million copies worldwide, making it the ninth best-selling Game Boy Advance game of all time. Critics reacted positively to the title's selection of games and customizable features, although some criticized the exclusion of games such as Ms. Pac-Man and inability to save high-scores. It was re-released as a budget title in Japan in 2006, and later digitally on the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2014.

Games

[edit]
In-game screenshot, showing the player highlighting Pac-Man Arrangement in the main menu

Pac-Man Collection includes four games from Namco's Pac-Man franchise — the original Pac-Man (1980), Pac-Mania (1987), Pac-Attack (1993) and Pac-Man Arrangement (1996), the latter of which was originally exclusive to the compilation arcade game Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2.[1] Pac-Man, Pac-Mania and Arrangement were originally released for arcades, while Pac-Attack was first released for both the SNES and Sega Genesis in North America and Europe. Ms. Pac-Man is excluded from the compilation due to the game already being present in the Namco Museum collection for the system from a few months prior.[2] The original Pac-Man can be displayed in either full-screen or a scrolling display.[3] Excluding Pac-Attack, each of the games allow the player to alter the number of lives, game difficulty and other related options. All four of the games are also stripped of any multiplayer features.[4] Pac-Attack and Pac-Mania also have their soundtracks cut down due to storage capacity, while Arrangement's is in a lower bit-rate.[1]

Development and release

[edit]

Pac-Man Collection was released on July 12, 2001 in North America,[5] December 7, 2001 in Europe and Australia,[6][7] and on January 11, 2002 in Japan.[8] Development of the game was headed by California-based studio Mass Media, who previously worked with Namco on several Namco Museum collections for various platforms.[9] The game was first announced on April 24 under the working title Pac-Man Fever,[2] before being presented at the 2001 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) convention in Los Angeles, California.[10] It is Namco's second title released for the Game Boy Advance, following Namco Museum from earlier that year.[2] The game was distributed by Infogrames in Europe. In Japan, the game was re-released under the Value Selection budget brand on February 2, 2006.[11] Alongside the Family Computer conversion of Pac-Land, it was digitally re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console on June 11, 2014 to celebrate Pac-Man's inclusion as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS & Wii U.[12][13]

Reception

[edit]

Pac-Man Collection was received positively by reviewers, who commended the title for its selection of titles and customizable features. It holds a 79/100 on aggregator website Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[14] The game was also a commercial success; it became the 6th best-selling handheld game in North America between January 2000 and August 2006, selling over 1.6 million copies and generating more than $25 million in revenue.[19] By 2007 it sold over 2.9 million copies worldwide, making it the ninth best-selling Game Boy Advance game of all time.[20]

IGN, who gave it the "Editor's Choice" award, stated that the game's selection of titles made it an easy sell for Pac-Man fans,[9] while Allgame called it a must-own for its customization features and inclusion of Pac-Man Arrangement.[15] Allgame also praised the collection's sharp graphics and impressive 3D effects in games such as Pac-Mania.[15] In their brief review, GamePro noted of the game's responsive controls and fast-paced action of Pac-Man Arrangement.[16] GameSpy found the selection of titles and solid emulation quality to make it "worthwhile addition to any retro fans portable library", saying that the original Pac-Man alone made it worth a purchase.[17] GameSpot especially praised its high-quality ports and replay value, saying that it helps prove that classic video games and handheld systems blend well together.[3] Pocket Games magazine liked that Pac-Attack help bring a change of pace from the other included titles, while also praising the game's emulation quality and included titles.[18]

Some critics disliked the game's lack of additional titles and inability to save high scores. GameSpy particularly disliked the compilation's lack of Ms. Pac-Man, the "only Pac sequel truly worth playing",[17] while IGN felt slightly disappointed towards the exclusion of games such as Super Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus.[9] IGN was also slightly critical of the game's lack of high-score saving, although noted that the games automatically wiping scores anyway made this somewhat forgivable.[9] Pocket Games found Pac-Attack to be the weakest of the four due to its lack of innovation compared to other similar puzzle games.[18] French publication Pocket Magazine was the most negative towards the game, calling it "old junk" for its lack of multiplayer features and high score saving, while also disliking its price point for being too high.[4]

Notes

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References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Pac-Man Collection

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from Grokipedia
Pac-Man Collection is a compilation developed by and published by for the Game Boy Advance, released in on July 12, 2001. It features four titles from the Pac-Man series: the original arcade game from 1980, Pac-Mania from 1987, Pac-Attack from 1993, and Pac-Man Arrangement from 1996. These ports aim to faithfully recreate the classic maze-chase and puzzle gameplay, with adaptations for the handheld platform including options like full-screen or scrolling views in . The collection was released in on December 7, 2001, and in on January 11, 2002, earning an ESRB rating of E for Everyone due to its family-friendly content. Notable features include Pac-Mania's jumping mechanics across multi-layered mazes, Pac-Attack's falling-block puzzle mode combined with ghost-chasing, and Pac-Man Arrangement's updated levels with new power-ups and ghost behaviors. While praised for its variety and accurate emulations, some critiques noted the absence of high-score saving functionality. Upon release, Pac-Man Collection received generally favorable reviews, with a Metascore of 79 out of 100 based on 13 critic reviews, highlighting its value as an affordable bundle of Pac-Man classics for GBA owners. User scores averaged 8.1 out of 10 from 14 ratings, appreciating the nostalgic appeal and portability of the titles. The compilation complemented Namco's other GBA efforts, such as , by focusing exclusively on variants without overlapping titles like .

Overview

Concept and Selection

Pac-Man Collection is a 2001 video game compilation for the Game Boy Advance, developed by and published by , that bundles four arcade-style titles from the franchise spanning different eras of the series. The selection emphasizes evolutionary entries in the series, including the original maze-chase gameplay of (1980), the pseudo-3D variant in Pac-Mania (1987), the puzzle spin-off Pac-Attack (1993), and the rearranged modern take in Pac-Man Arrangement (1996), to highlight the franchise's diversity and evolution while avoiding overlap with prior compilations. The compilation was first announced in April 2001 under the working title Pac-Man Fever and showcased at the that May, with an emphasis on delivering accessible classic arcade experiences to handheld players. was deliberately omitted from international versions due to its inclusion in the concurrent compilation for the same platform, though it appears as a hidden unlockable in the Japanese edition.

Platforms and Initial Release

Pac-Man Collection was developed exclusively for the Game Boy Advance (GBA), Nintendo's handheld console launched in 2001, which provided the processing power and color display necessary for faithful ports of classic arcade titles to portable hardware. The compilation targeted GBA owners seeking nostalgic arcade experiences on the go, capitalizing on the system's 32-bit architecture to emulate the original games' mechanics without significant compromises. The game received a staggered global release, beginning in on July 12, 2001, followed by on December 7, 2001, and on January 11, 2002. This timing positioned it as one of the early third-party titles in the GBA's launch lineup, arriving shortly after the console's North American debut in June 2001 and amid the transition from the monochrome era. Physically, Pac-Man Collection was distributed as a standard GBA cartridge, housed in a plastic case with vibrant box artwork depicting chasing ghosts against a backdrop, alongside illustrations of included characters like . Marketing emphasized it as a "fever" of portable Pac-Man classics, appealing to arcade enthusiasts with taglines highlighting the convenience of multiple games in one affordable package priced at around $29.99 at launch. As an early GBA release, it contributed to the console's momentum by tapping into arcade nostalgia, ultimately selling over 1 million units in the United States alone and more than 2.9 million worldwide by , ranking it among the platform's top-selling titles. Later, it was re-released digitally on the in 2014.

Development

Production Process

The production of Pac-Man Collection was led by , a California-based studio specializing in ports of titles, with acting as the publisher to maintain fidelity to the original intellectual property and arcade heritage. Mass Media's prior experience with compilations on other platforms informed their approach to this handheld adaptation. Development began shortly after the game's initial reveal as Pac-Man Fever in late April 2001, followed by a full presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in May, allowing the team several months to finalize the project ahead of its North American summer launch on July 12, 2001. This compressed timeline required efficient collaboration between Mass Media and Namco to align on design goals and technical requirements. For the Japanese release, the team adapted Ms. Pac-Man in place of Pac-Attack, involving further porting efforts to include this additional title. A pivotal decision was to develop custom ports of the included games instead of relying on emulation, enabling direct optimization for the Game Boy Advance's 16.8 MHz ARM7TDMI processor and 32 KB of RAM to achieve smooth performance without overhead. Additionally, the team introduced shared customization menus allowing players to adjust starting lives, difficulty levels, and display modes (such as scrolling or compressed screens for wider visibility), modernizing the retro titles for portable play while preserving core mechanics. Fitting four complete games onto the Game Boy Advance's constrained 32 Mbit cartridge capacity posed significant challenges, necessitating trade-offs like abbreviated audio assets to prioritize integrity and load times. For instance, certain music tracks in Pac-Mania were shortened or omitted to manage space, ensuring the compilation remained viable on the hardware without compromising playability.

Technical Adaptations

The Pac-Man Collection features native ports of the included arcade titles, developed by specifically for the Game Boy Advance hardware, involving rewrites to optimize performance on the system's 32-bit processor. These adaptations aimed to preserve the original feel while ensuring smooth operation, targeting approximately 60 frames per second in core titles like Pac-Man and Pac-Mania to match the arcade originals' pacing. Character animations were implemented using the GBA's sprite capabilities, allowing for fluid movement within the constraints of the handheld's 240x160 display. Visual adjustments were necessary to accommodate the GBA's lower resolution and color depth compared to arcade monitors, with many games employing a one-to-one pixel conversion that resulted in scaled-down playfields and occasional cropping to fit the screen. Minor color palette modifications enhanced vibrancy and contrast for the handheld's TFT LCD, addressing visibility issues in brighter environments, though some early ports exhibited inaccuracies that were later highlighted in community analyses. Audio adaptations involved downsampling and shortening soundtracks to comply with the GBA's 32 KB of onboard RAM and cartridge memory limits, particularly evident in Pac-Mania where musical loops were truncated to prevent overflow during extended play. Code remnants reveal planned two-player modes for Pac-Attack and Arrangement, including menu options and linking mechanics, which were ultimately removed due to the GBA's reliance on single-cartridge play without built-in support, limiting simultaneous multiplayer to link cable setups requiring additional hardware. Optimization efforts included dynamic difficulty scaling accessible via dedicated menus, enabling players to select from Easy, Normal, Hard, or Hyper levels—independent of arcade defaults—and adjust starting lives from 1 to 9, with higher difficulties increasing speed and aggression from the outset. These features, shared across most titles, provided flexibility for handheld play without altering core mechanics.

Included Games

Pac-Man

Pac-Man is a seminal 1980 arcade game developed by , featuring a , pie-shaped protagonist who navigates a fixed to consume all Pac-Dots while evading four colorful ghosts: Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (cyan), and Clyde (orange). Power pellets temporarily empower Pac-Man to eat the ghosts, and the gameplay progresses through 256 unique levels of increasing difficulty, after which patterns repeat with heightened speed and altered ghost behaviors. The core loop emphasizes strategic pathing, timing, and risk assessment, with fruit bonuses appearing periodically for extra points. The version included in Pac-Man Collection for the Game Boy Advance is a faithful derived from the arcade-accurate emulation in , preserving the original ghost AI—such as Blinky's aggressive pursuit and Pinky's ambush tactics—and all 256 levels without alterations. Controls are adapted to the GBA's for directional movement and buttons for pausing or menu access, with the maze displayed in either a full-screen shrunken view or a cropped mode to fit the handheld's screen, though neither option fully replicates the arcade's visibility. The runs at full speed without emulation-induced slowdowns, maintaining the smooth "wakka wakka" audio and graphical fidelity of the 1980 original. Within the compilation, integrates customizable starting options, including adjustable lives (from 1 to 5 or more via settings) and difficulty levels—Easy, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Ultra Hard—that modify ghost aggression and overall pace to suit player preference. High scores are tracked in real-time for competitive play but not saved due to the lack of battery backup, encouraging repeated sessions. As the foundational title of the franchise, this port serves as the collection's anchor, providing an authentic entry point that contrasts with the pseudo-3D evolution seen in later inclusions like Pac-Mania.

Pac-Mania

Pac-Mania, released in arcades by in 1987, serves as a pseudo-3D to the original , transforming the traditional top-down navigation into a side-scrolling experience viewed from an isometric perspective. Players control through expansive mazes that scroll horizontally and vertically as he moves, requiring him to consume all dots while evading five pursuing ghosts: Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde, and the additional green ghost Funky. A key innovation is the jumping mechanic, activated by a dedicated , which allows Pac-Man to leap over ghosts and certain obstacles, introducing verticality and platforming strategy absent in prior entries. The mazes feature themed boards with distinct visual motifs and accompanying music, such as the blocky structures of Block Town or the elevated platforms of Jungly Steps, while ghosts demonstrate advanced AI patterns, including the ability of some—like Funky—to fly or jump over walls, heightening pursuit dynamics. In the Game Boy Advance port featured in Namco's 2001 Collection, the game retains its core arcade fidelity but includes adaptations for handheld play. The Japanese version displays the authentic logo on startup, whereas international editions use a variant based on the home port due to prior licensing arrangements. To accommodate the GBA's storage constraints, select music tracks from the original arcade are omitted, though core audio elements like stage themes remain intact. The port supports remappable controls, enabling players to assign the jump function to preferred buttons for improved accessibility on the compact controller. Within the compilation, Pac-Mania offers options to select starting levels and adjust overall game speeds, facilitating practice sessions or varied difficulty without altering the foundational challenge. The scoring system mirrors the 1987 arcade original, awarding points for consumed dots (10 each), power pills (50 each), and escalating ghost captures during power-up phases—beginning at 200 points for the first ghost and doubling sequentially up to 7650 for the sixth. Bonus fruits appear at fixed intervals in each maze, providing additional points (e.g., 100 for cherries, scaling to 5000 for keys in later stages), while ghost bonuses trigger extra lives at milestones like every 70,000 points, encouraging efficient dot-clearing and ghost-hunting runs. Technically, the GBA adaptation leverages the console's hardware scrolling capabilities to deliver fluid movement, replicating the arcade's dynamic panning without the seen in some 8-bit home ports. Minor sprite scaling is applied to fit the isometric visuals onto the GBA's lower-resolution screen, ensuring the pseudo-3D remains effective while preserving sprite details like Pac-Man's animations and colorations. This results in an arcade-accurate experience optimized for portability, with the larger unfolding seamlessly as players progress through themed boards.

Pac-Attack

Pac-Attack is a falling-block puzzle game developed and published by , originally released for the in 1993 as a localization of the arcade title Cosmo Gang: The Puzzle. In the game, players manipulate tetromino-like pieces that consist of solid blocks, sometimes topped with or containing Blinky, Pinky, Inky, or Clyde ghosts, dropping them into a 10-column playfield to form complete horizontal lines. Solid block lines clear automatically, but ghost blocks cannot be removed this way; instead, players must position a piece atop a row containing ghosts, triggering an animation where eats the ghosts to clear the line. Occasionally, a special single ghost piece falls, which must immediately consume upon landing to avoid obstruction, adding a layer of urgency to the strategic placement. The Game Boy Advance port in Pac-Man Collection faithfully recreates the Super NES version's mechanics and visuals, adapted for the handheld's hardware. Controls utilize the to move pieces left, right, and down for soft drops, with A and B buttons rotating blocks or counterclockwise, respectively, and L or R triggers enabling a hard drop for faster placement. Unlike action-oriented titles in the collection, Pac-Attack's puzzle focus eliminates adjustable difficulty in its stage-based mode, emphasizing player skill in route planning and timing over variable speed settings. The port omits the original's two-player versus mode, though remnants of its remain unused in the ROM. Within the compilation, Pac-Attack offers an endless for survival play against progressively faster drops and a Puzzle Mode with 100 stages, where players solve preset layouts using a finite number of pieces to clear all ghosts and blocks. Scoring rewards efficient play, awarding points for line clears (scaling with the number of ghosts eaten per Pac-Man activation), combos from consecutive clears without intervening drops, and bonuses for extended eating sequences by Pac-Man, such as chaining multiple rows in one animation. Access to these modes occurs via the collection's shared interface, allowing seamless transitions between games.

Pac-Man Arrangement

Pac-Man Arrangement serves as an enhanced arcade remake of the classic Pac-Man formula, originally released in 1996 as part of Namco's Classic Collection Vol. 2 on ND-1 hardware. It introduces new maze designs across 23 rounds divided into themed worlds, such as a area and coastal environments, alongside mechanics like combo chaining through rapid consumption for escalating score multipliers and boss encounters featuring the Emperor Ghost, a massive entity that deploys hybrid ghost minions. While the arcade version supported simultaneous two-player linked play with a secondary Pac-Man character, the port in Pac-Man Collection is strictly single-player. The Game Boy Advance adaptation simplifies the original arcade's visuals to fit the handheld's capabilities, reducing some pseudo-3D elements and sprite complexity while preserving core navigation through multi-level mazes with stairs and jump pads. It retains key actions like moves activated by special panels for quick evasion and item collection—such as fruits and "S" pellets—that enable explosions and bonus chaining for higher scores. A fifth , Hinekure, appears as a yellow entity that can merge with others to form super , adding strategic depth to avoidance and pursuit dynamics. In the Pac-Man Collection, the full set of 23 stages is included, allowing progression through increasingly faster rounds that culminate in the boss battle. Players can adjust starting lives between 3 and 5, as well as game speed via options menus, to customize difficulty. High-score screens allow players to enter their initials for the top scores. Technically, the port optimizes audio for the GBA's , retaining most of the original tracks like remixed chase themes while adapting effects for the hardware's limitations. Graphics are downscaled from the arcade's higher resolution, but unused code for two-player mode remains in the ROM, accessible only through hacking and resulting in incomplete functionality. This version builds briefly on foundational Pac-Man concepts of navigation and evasion but evolves them with modernized elements for broader appeal.

Ms. Pac-Man (Japanese Version Exclusive)

Ms. Pac-Man is a arcade sequel to , featuring a female protagonist with a distinctive pink bow who navigates variable mazes that change layout and color across levels, encounters faster-moving ghosts, and experiences animated intermissions depicting evolving relationships between characters. The core chase gameplay remains similar to the original , emphasizing pellet collection and ghost evasion, but introduces enhanced pacing and visual variety for greater replayability. In the Japanese version of Collection for , released in 2002, is included as a fifth game exclusive to this edition, directly selectable from the menu, distinguishing it from the international editions that include only four titles. This exclusion internationally stems from ongoing licensing disputes involving original developer and publisher Midway, complicating Namco's rights for global compilations outside . The GBA port of closely mirrors adaptations seen in prior releases, preserving the original's 16 unique maze levels and classic scoring system, such as awarding 200 points for eating the first ghost after consuming a power pellet. Within the compilation, it serves as a fifth title to boost appeal in the Japanese market, operating in standard mode without the customizable options applied to other games like . This inclusion provides a nostalgic bonus tied loosely to the core port's mechanics.

Features and Variations

Shared Customization Options

The Pac-Man Collection provides a unified system that acts as the central hub for navigating the compilation, allowing players to select from the included titles and access shared customization options designed to improve and replayability across most games. These options are available prior to starting play and include adjustments for starting lives, game difficulty, and bonus life thresholds, though they are not applicable to Pac-Attack to maintain its original puzzle mechanics. Players can configure the number of starting lives to between 2 and 6, offering control over initial gameplay length and challenge tolerance. Difficulty settings range from Easy to Ultra Hard, altering enemy behavior, speed, and overall pacing to suit different skill levels; for example, higher difficulties increase aggression in . Where applicable, such as in the original , users may select starting levels to practice advanced rounds without replaying early content. Bonus options set scoring milestones for extra lives, like awarding them only at 40,000 points to encourage higher performance. Additional aids include in-game hints and tips screens, particularly prominent in Pac-Man Arrangement, which provide explanations of controls, objectives, and basic strategies to guide newcomers. The collection lacks built-in save functionality for high scores, instead relying on players to manually record achievements, aligning with its portable design for short Game Boy Advance sessions. All titles are configured for single-player mode only, omitting multiplayer features present in some original arcade versions despite traces of related code in the ports.

Regional and Re-release Differences

The Japanese version of Pac-Man Collection includes a hidden unlockable version of within Arrangement, which is absent from international releases due to licensing restrictions at the time. All regional variants share the core four games—, Pac-Mania, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Man Arrangement—but feature subtle differences in presentation, such as the international editions using an altered Pac-Mania logo inspired by the port, lacking a hole in the "P," while the Japanese logo matches the original arcade design more closely. Additionally, the Japanese title screen omits "TM and © 1980 " and "Licensed by of America," and applies less shadow to the logo compared to international versions. The game saw a budget physical reissue in Japan in 2006 as part of Nintendo's Value Selection lineup, priced at approximately 2,800 yen to make older titles more accessible. It was later released digitally on the Wii U Virtual Console, launching on June 10, 2014, in the United States; June 11, 2014, in ; and June 12, 2014, in and . These Virtual Console versions were delisted following the Wii U eShop's closure to new purchases on March 27, 2023, though previously purchased content remains downloadable. The port emulates the original faithfully in terms of gameplay and graphics but uses the international variant, excluding the Japan-exclusive unlock. As of 2025, no additional re-releases have occurred on other platforms. Packaging for the original cartridges differs by region, with the Japanese version labeled AGB-APCJ-00 and international editions (such as the U.S. release) using AGB-APCE-00.

Reception and Legacy

Critical Response

Pac-Man Collection received generally favorable reviews from critics, earning an aggregate score of 79/100 on based on 13 reviews. IGN awarded it 9/10, commending the compilation's faithful recreations and variety that appeal to fans of the series. gave it 8/10, highlighting its straightforward gameplay as well-suited for portable sessions on the Game Boy Advance. Critics praised the collection for its solid ports of the included games, which preserved the nostalgic charm of the originals while adapting effectively to the handheld format. The customization options, such as adjustable starting lives and difficulty levels, were noted for enhancing replayability without altering the core experiences. Reviewers appreciated how the package offered quick, undemanding diversions ideal for short play sessions, making it a strong portable tribute to Pac-Man's legacy. However, several outlets pointed out shortcomings, including the absence of a battery backup for saving high scores, which diminished long-term motivation for competition. The lack of multiplayer modes across all titles was another common complaint, as the originals often supported such features. International versions drew criticism for omitting , leaving the lineup feeling incomplete to some. Additionally, certain audio elements, like shortened music tracks due to hardware limitations, were seen as minor downgrades from arcade fidelity. described it as "an addictive and fun collection of Pac-Man games that looks a whole lot better than you’d expect," while noted that "the collection feels incomplete without , the only Pac sequel truly worth playing."

Commercial Performance and Impact

Pac-Man Collection achieved notable commercial success following its 2001 release for the Game Boy Advance, selling approximately 2.94 million units worldwide by 2007 and ranking as the ninth best-selling GBA title overall. In North America, it performed strongly with around 1.44 million units sold, placing it among the platform's top performers according to NPD tracking data up to that period. These figures underscored the compilation's role in driving early GBA adoption, particularly by capitalizing on the portability of arcade classics to expand Namco's footprint in the handheld gaming sector. The title's robust sales also paved the way for its digital re-release on the in 2014, which generated additional but more modest revenue through eShop downloads before the service's delisting in 2023 amid the Wii U eShop shutdown. Beyond immediate metrics, Pac-Man Collection played a pivotal part in preserving and revitalizing interest in the franchise during the , tapping into widespread for the series' arcade roots and demonstrating sustained demand for accessible, on-the-go compilations of retro titles. As of 2025, the game endures as a cornerstone of history, with original physical cartridges gaining collectible status—complete copies typically selling for around $14 on secondary markets—owing to the lack of contemporary re-releases or ports on modern platforms.

References

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