Pac-Man World: Prologue, Quest Start, & Level 1: Buccaneer Beach

2020 is the year that the Pac-Man franchise turns 40, reminding you that this is one of the oldest mascots in the entire video game industry. He's even older than Mario!

To commemorate this, let's go 20 years backwards to celebrate his 20th Anniversary, which is part of the billing this game got.
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The story of the game itself starts this way. It is Pac-Man's 20th birthday, and his friends and family were gathering at his house to prepare a big surprise party for their favorite Ghost Gobbler.

Strange things started happening from there:
- First, the family dog, Chomp-Chomp, got dognapped by an underground mummy.
- Next, as Pac-Baby and Pooka (a common enemy in Dig Dug turned good in this game) were strolling to the Pac-House, they both got fished to the sky by a heavy anchor.
- From there, the smartest of the Pac-People, Professor Pac, got abducted by a U.F.O.
- Then, another one of Pac-Man's children, Pac Jr., was somehow eaten by a tiny machine.
- Last, but not least, the matriarch of the Pac-Family, Ms. Pac-Man, found herself kidnapped by something so scary, that the camera refused to show it. All we know is that it scared her silly with a "Boo".

(The cat next to Ms. Pac-Man, named Sour Puss, got caught, too, but nothing of it, for some reason...)

Finally, the (Pac-)Man of honor himself finally arrives back at his house, eager to see all of his friends there... But what he saw instead left him in sheer horror.

His friends were gone, his family missing, and the birthday cake already cut into! Pac-Man could only fall to his knees and scream in pain! His birthday party was ruined!
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After you start the Quest, Pac-Man wanders outside of his ruined house, saddened, and wondering where all of his friends were. A bunch of flyers drifted from the sky, so he grabbed one and took a look at its details.

It was an flyer for a different party, a much bigger one in Ghost Island! Pac-Man then knew that all of his friends were kidnapped, and quickly set sail to the source of those menacing monsters!

Back on Ghost Island, a ghost named Funky was keeping watch inside of a ghoulish castle. He spotted Pac-Man approaching, and went to his boss to let him and all of the other ghosts at their party the bad news.

The ghosts' boss was the towering, menacing machine known as Toc-Man. He just looks like a bigger, scarier Pac-Man, but he thinks of himself as the REAL Pac-Man.

When on of his subordinates told him that (the actual) Pac-Man landed in Ghost Island, Toc-Man had thought that the ghosts had captured him. That's when his top ghost henchman of Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde appeared with a sack that had someone in it.

But it wasn't Pac-Man, it was his wife, Ms. Pac-Man. Knowing that the ghosts had screwed up in capturing the actual Pac-Man, Toc-Man instructs them all to find him as soon as possible, AND DESTROY HIM!

Pac-Man is to save his friends, defeat Toc-Man, and eat any and all ghosts that get in his way!
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The first level, Buccaneer Beach, is a tutorial level that's full of signs that explain the game's controls and mechanics. Naturally, you can eat Pac-Dots, but from there, you can weaponize them into Pac-Dot Shot, or an explosive Super Pac-Dot Explosion if you have 10 of team.

Pac-Man can also Rev-Roll, which is his version of Sonic's Spin Dash in this game, and Butt Bounce, which is his own Double Jump that you'll be getting A LOT of mileage out of in this game.

One of Pac-Man's powerups is to use a Chrome form that makes him invincible and sink in water for a few seconds.

Speaking of water, Pac-Man can swim in this game, AND he can't drown!

Of course, there will be Power Pellets, too. Grab them to turn all nearby ghosts dark blue for a few seconds, so that you can eat them. Get them all with one Power Pellet for the most points, and eat all of the ghosts at all in a group to restore on health point.

Lastly, watch out for the Bonus Fruit you can find in these levels. You can use them to unlock doors that bear their likeness. This also includes Galaxians and Bells, but not actual Keys. Those will have a different purpose.
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You can also use Pac-Dots and Bonus Fruit for the Slot Machine you get after beating each level. Line the fruit slots up perfectly for 1-UPs, or 2/3 for more points. Getting a lot of points from there will give you even more 1-UPs.

I'm gonna be getting SOOOOOOO many 1-UPs in this playthrough, because the order of the fruits in the slots NEVER changes. You gonna go for 3 Galaxians everytime for a 3-UP each!
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(I made a slight-but-fun sound edit in this video. See if you can find it.)