There is a layer of Ghostly Adventures that I would love to believe is inexplicably aiming for subversive surrealism. Were ghosts once pac-people too, or did the pacs evolve by devouring and multiplying through the consumption of ghost eyes? Is the real reason for the eternal war between Pac-Man and ghosts actually the result of pac-people enacting genocide upon the already dead for the sake of some disturbing means of reproduction? How many thinkpieces will it take before we arrive at the conclusion that Pac-Man was the monster all along? At one point it is revealed that collecting the eyes of ghosts will allow Pac-Man to generate more lives, calling into question just what exactly pac-people are. So too is Pac-Man’s relationship with the ghosts that for some reason are both accepted and outlawed, simultaneous friend and foe, or more accurately, food. His insatiable appetite is perhaps on the surface innocuous, but there is something deeply disturbing about a world that seems to exist solely to appease the hunger of its most famous resident. On fruits, on ghosts, on historic artifacts, Pac-Man doesn’t care! The only thing more present than ghosts in this adventure are burger dispensing vending machines, though if need be Pac-Man seems just as happy to rummage through a trashcan for a bite to eat. For however altruistic Pac-Man would profess himself to be (proclaiming himself at times to be a super-hero), his entire purpose for being seems to solely revolve around gorging himself. The plot is of Ghostly Adventures remains entirely unclear to me, but it would seem to involve ravaging ancient temples for anything not nailed down, to then be immediately consumed by Pac-Man. At some point Pac-Man appears to have made peace with his age-old ghost antagonists and is now…attending high school with them? Whatever truce was made though only seems to apply to the four most recognizable ghosts of the series, as Pac-Man is more than ready to devour each and every other ghost he encounters on his journey to do "something". What exactly goes on in this show remains a mystery to me, as the game itself offers not so much as a cursory explanation for some of the most bizarre developments. “Pac-Man has lore?” At some point what was once a sparsely animated, power-orb munching arcade game would appear to have been wholly transformed into all manner of mass merchandise, chief among them now an animated kids show bearing the same name as this new entry in Pac-Man’s gaming catalog. I promise we’ll get to those things, but first there is something more important I need to touch on, and that is: what the bloody hell is going on with Pac-Man’s lore? The sort of things you’d expect to be discussed about a 3D platformer, be that on the topic of level designs or how every 3D platformer is essentially Super Mario 64 redubbed. I have some things to say about Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures.
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