Pac-Pix

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Pac-Pix
Pac-Pix Coverart.png
North American cover art
Developer(s)Namco
Publisher(s)Namco
Director(s)Tetsuya Shinoda
Producer(s)Hideo Yoshizawa
Designer(s)Yoshinori Naoi
Yoshiya Tanaka
SeriesPac-Man
Platform(s)Nintendo DS
Release
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player

Pac-Pix (パックピクス) is a video game developed and published by Namco for the Nintendo DS. It stars Namco's popular video game mascot Pac-Man. The game makes extensive use of the system's touch screen, making the user draw Pac-Man and guide him through each level by drawing walls and devouring ghosts. Obstacles such as walls and shields must also be overcome by drawing bombs and arrows accordingly. Players also have control of the speed of the Pac-Man that they create, by changing the size of the drawing when it is created.

Plot[]

A mischievous wizard one day invented a substance called Ghost Ink. Whatever was drawn with the use of this ghost ink would become a ghosts. The ghosts were very naughty themselves, so they would start jumping into different books and pictures, causing tricks and pranks to the people of the world.

Hearing of the crisis, Pac-Man uses his Magic Pen to rid the books from the Ghosts. After a while, Pac-Man succeeded in trapping all the ghosts into one book, which was then promptly locked. But, before he could succeed in turning all the ghosts back into ghost ink, the ghosts counterattack Pac-Man, where he becomes captured in a sheet of paper.

Pac-Man enlists the help of the player to use the Magic Pen to rid the books of the Ghosts. The player uses the Magic Pen to rid the pages from the Ghosts by drawing Pac-Men.

Eventually, the player reaches a second book, and battles the Ghost Ink itself, in which eventually the Ink is defeated, and is sealed inside a bottle. With the Ghosts gone, Pac-Man is released from his curse and is returned to normal. Pac-Man thanks the player, and eventually seals the bottle in a chest and throws it in the unknown sea, freeing the people of Pac-Man's world from the Ghosts' mischievous behavior forever.

Gameplay[]

The player uses the stylus to draw Pac-Men, and guide them through each level. Each Pac-Man can eat ghosts when drawn facing them, and can be bounced off walls if the player draws them. The size of the hand-drawn Pac-Man will also adjust its speed accordingly (Larger Pac-Men move slower, while smaller move faster). After reaching specific points in the game, other gestures are unlocked, including the ability to shoot arrows and the ability to create bombs.

The game is split up into levels (referred to as "pages"), which are part of multiple "chapters". Each page has a time limit, and a limited amount of usable Pac-Men. The general objective is to eat all of the ghosts on-screen with minimal Pac-Men used as fast as possible. The game also includes a practice mode, where the player can practice drawing gestures, where also extra gestures not available in the normal modes can be used.

Development[]

Pac-Pix was developed and published by Namco. The game was debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in 2004 as a technology demonstration for the newly unveiled Nintendo DS hardware. According to producer Hideo Yoshizawa, Pac-Pix was conceived as an arcade game by director Tetsuya Shinoda four years prior. Using Apple personal digital assistants (PDAs), Shinoda noticed how corrected text would disappear with a tiny puff of smoke when crossed out by the user; he found this type of control intuitive and wanted to implement it into a game.[4] Two years later, the creators pitched the idea as a tablet computer and PDA game, but found the game and the target audience for such hardware did not match. When the DS was announced, Yoshizawa stated that "the time was right".[4] The E3 demo Pac-Pix was met with praise from people within the video game industry, many of which requested it be made into a full game. Namco obliged by putting together a development team, which implemented more effective use of the hardware's two screens.[4] According to Yoshizawa, the most difficult aspect of production on Pac-Pix was allowing the player to determine size, shape, and place of their own sketches within the gameplay environment.[4]

Reception[]

See also[]

  • Pac 'n Roll - Another Pac-Man game developed by Namco for the Nintendo DS that was released on the same year.

References[]

  1. ^ Adams, David (April 26, 2013). "Pac-Pix Chomps Off to Stores". IGN. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  2. ^ IGN staff (March 15, 2005). "Now Playing in Japan". IGN. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  3. ^ Orry, Tom (May 3, 2005). "Pac-Pix due May 20th". VideoGamer.com. Pro-G Media Ltd. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Nintendo Power staff (May 2005). "Pac-Pix Interview: Hideo Yoshizawa, Producer". Nintendo Power. Redmond Washington: Nintendo of America. p. 48. ISSN 1041-9551.
  5. ^ "Pac-Pix Metacritic review score".

External links[]

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