List of Pac-Man games: every official release by year
Over four decades of mazes, platformers, puzzlers and party games. This list covers official Bandai Namco and licensed releases, grouped by era, with what each one changed.
Arcade originals and sequels (1980 to 1987)
| Year | Game | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Pac-Man (Puck Man) | The original: one maze, four ghosts, 255 playable levels. Rules in basic pacman gameplay rules. |
| 1982 | Ms. Pac-Man | Four mazes, bouncing fruit, randomised ghost moves. See original pacman versus ms pacman. |
| 1982 | Pac-Man Plus | Midway variant with new fruit and unpredictable power pellets. |
| 1982 | Super Pac-Man | Keys unlock doors; a super pellet makes Pac-Man giant and lets him pass through walls. |
| 1982 | Baby Pac-Man | Hybrid of a video maze and a pinball playfield. |
| 1983 | Pac & Pal | Namco sequel with a helper character, Miru, who steals items. |
| 1983 | Jr. Pac-Man | Large scrolling mazes and bouncing bonus items that destroy dots. |
| 1983 | Professor Pac-Man | A quiz game, not a maze game, and a commercial flop. |
| 1984 | Pac-Land | Side-scrolling platformer based on the cartoon, a precursor to Super Mario Bros. |
| 1987 | Pac-Mania | Isometric mazes and the ability to jump over ghosts. |
Console and 3D era (1990s to 2000s)
- Pac-Attack (1993): a falling-block puzzle game for SNES and Mega Drive.
- Pac-In-Time (1995): platformer with a grappling tongue.
- Pac-Man World (1999): 20th-anniversary 3D platformer on PlayStation, followed by World 2 (2002) and World 3 (2005).
- Pac-Man Vs. (2003): asymmetric multiplayer designed with Shigeru Miyamoto for GameCube and Game Boy Advance.
- Pac-Pix (2005): draw Pac-Men with the Nintendo DS stylus.
- Pac-Man Championship Edition (2007): Iwatani's final design, compared in pacman ce versus classic.
Modern era (2010 to today)
- Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (2010) and CE 2 (2016): faster, with sleeping ghosts that form trains.
- Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (2013): platformers tied to the CGI television series.
- Pac-Man 256 (2015): an endless, upward-scrolling maze chased by the level-256 glitch. Detailed in endless pacman versus battle royale.
- Pac-Man Party Royale (2019): four-player maze battles on Apple Arcade.
- Pac-Man 99 (2021): 99-player online elimination on Nintendo Switch; service ended in October 2023.
- Pac-Man Museum+ (2022): fourteen games in one collection, the easiest legal way to play the arcade original today.
- Pac-Man World Re-Pac (2022): remake of the 1999 platformer.
- Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs (2024): 64-player online maze battle.
Google and browser versions
The 30th-anniversary doodle of 2010 remains playable in Google's doodle archive and is the most-played Pac-Man version in history by number of sessions. How it differs from the cabinet is covered in play google pacman differences. The unlicensed clones that flooded the web are a separate category; the games on the mr pacman maze games homepage are original maze-chase designs rather than clones, with their own characters and mazes.
Which one should you play?
- To learn the classic rules: the 1980 arcade version via Museum+ or Arcade Archives.
- For variety: Ms. Pac-Man, with its four mazes.
- For modern pace: Championship Edition DX.
- For short mobile sessions: Pac-Man 256.
Dates above are first-release dates; many titles arrived on other platforms later. For the wider narrative, see the history of the pacman arcade game and the release-date explainer pacman release date history.
From the blog
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Frequently asked questions
How many Pac-Man games are there?
Counting arcade, console, mobile and compilation releases, well over forty official titles have been released since 1980.
What was the first Pac-Man game?
The 1980 arcade original, released as Puck Man in Japan.
What is the newest Pac-Man game?
Recent releases include Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs (2024). Check Bandai Namco's site for anything newer.
Is Ms. Pac-Man an official Pac-Man game?
Yes. It began as an unauthorised enhancement kit but was licensed by Midway and later recognised by Namco.
Which Pac-Man game is closest to the arcade original?
Pac-Man Museum+ and the Arcade Archives release reproduce the original arcade code.