Summary
- Pac-Man 99, a battle royale game combining the classic arcade game with new mechanics, will be shutting down on October 8, with servers closing and the game being removed from the Nintendo Store.
- While players who own the DLC can still access certain modes in offline mode, new players will have no way of accessing those modes since the DLC was discontinued last month.
- This is not the first retro game battle royale title to be shut down, but Nintendo still has faith in the concept, as indicated by the recent launch of F-Zero 99 and the continued availability of Tetris 99.
Nintendo Switch Online subscribers who haven't tried the unique battle royale game Pac-Man 99 only have a few more days to do so. Pac-Man publisher Bandai Namco has been shutting it down piece by piece since August, with the servers scheduled to shut down on October 8.
Released as an exclusive perk for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, Pac-Man 99 is an interesting attempt to combine an arcade classic with the battle royale genre. The online game sees 99 players compete to be the last Pac-Man standing. While the primary gameplay loop stays mostly the same as the original, Pac-Man 99 introduces various mechanics offering opportunities to interfere with each other's games. Launched in 2021, the game saw mostly positive reviews, though some were critical of how it locked private matchmaking behind DLC.
Bandai Namco has been shutting Pac-Man 99 down piecemeal for months, discontinuing its DLC in March and September. The main game shuts down at 9:00 PM Pacific on Sunday, October 8, or 12:00 AM Eastern on Monday, October 9. The game's online servers will be shut down, and the game will be removed from the Nintendo Store. Players who already own the Pac-Man 99 DLC will still be able to play the single-player CPU Battle, Blind Time Attack, and Score Attack modes in Offline mode. However, since those DLCs were discontinued early last month, there is no way for any new players to access those modes.
This is not the first of Nintendo's retro game battle royale titles to be shut down, with Mario Bros. 35 having been discontinued in 2021. That said, 2019's Tetris 99, which started the trend, doesn't seem to be going anywhere. F-Zero 99 also launched last month, indicating that Nintendo still believes in the concept.
Still, that's not very helpful for any fans of Pac-Man 99 who appreciate how the game innovated upon the legendary arcade classic, as it introduced multiple new mechanics. The competitive angle comes from how, after players chomped a ghost, it would release Jammer Pac-Men into other player mazes. These Jammers not only clutter but can also slow the player down on contact with them. Players could chomp Sleeping Ghost to create Ghost Trains, letting them chomp several ghosts in a row after getting a power pellet. Pac-Man 99 also added four all-new powerups to the game.
Unfortunately, the game won't be available for much longer. Any Nintendo Switch Online subscribers will have to move quickly if they want to play, since Pac-Man 99 is likely gone for good after this weekend.
Pac-Man 99 is available on Nintendo Switch.
Source: Bandai Namco