Breaking News: Expansive Upgrades Coming to Nintendo Switch Online Game Next Week!

Highlights

The servers for Pac-Man 99, a unique battle royale game that blends the beloved classic arcade experience with innovative mechanics, will be permanently shut down on October 8. As a result, the game will no longer be available for download from the Nintendo Store.

New players are unable to access certain modes of the DLC as it has been discontinued, whereas players who already own it can still access those modes even in offline mode. Despite the closure of previous retro game battle royale titles, Nintendo has demonstrated their belief in the concept through the recent launch of F-Zero 99 and the ongoing availability of Tetris 99.

Nintendo Switch Online subscribers have until October 8 to try out Pac-Man 99, the unique battle royale game published by Bandai Namco. Since August, the game has been gradually shutting down, and the servers will be officially closed in a few days.

As an exclusive perk for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers, Pac-Man 99 combines the classic arcade game with the battle royale genre. In this online game, 99 players compete to be the last Pac-Man remaining. While the core gameplay remains similar to the original, Pac-Man 99 introduces various mechanics that allow players to interfere with each other's games. Released in 2021, the game received mostly positive reviews, though some criticized its requirement of DLC for private matchmaking.

Bandai Namco has gradually been deactivating Pac-Man 99 over the past few months, ceasing its DLC offerings in March and September. The primary game will be disabled at 9:00 PM Pacific time on Sunday, October 8, or 12:00 AM Eastern time on Monday, October 9. The online servers for the game will be shut down, and it will be taken off the Nintendo Store. Players who already possess the Pac-Man 99 DLC will still have the ability to enjoy the individual-player CPU Battle, Blind Time Attack, and Score Attack modes in Offline mode. However, since these DLCs were discontinued in the previous month, any newcomers will not have access to these modes.

Nintendo's previous retro game battle royale title, Mario Bros. 35, was discontinued in 2021. However, Tetris 99, which started the trend in 2019, remains active. The recent release of F-Zero 99 suggests that Nintendo still has faith in this concept.

Unfortunately, this news may not be as helpful for fans of Pac-Man 99 who appreciate the game's innovative mechanics. Pac-Man 99 introduced new features, such as Jammer Pac-Men that are released into other players' mazes when a ghost is chomped, causing clutter and slowing down the player on contact. Additionally, players can create Ghost Trains by chomping Sleeping Ghosts, allowing them to chomp multiple ghosts in succession after obtaining a power pellet. Pac-Man 99 also introduced four new powerups.

Regrettably, the game's availability will soon come to an end. Individuals subscribed to Nintendo Switch Online must act swiftly should they wish to partake in the fun, as Pac-Man 99 will most likely be permanently removed after this weekend.

Pac-Man 99 can be accessed on Nintendo Switch.

Source: Bandai Namco