[Rapid Review] Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs

System: Switch
Release date: May 9, 2024
Developer: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment

Pac-Man has quite an extensive library of games available on Switch, and Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs is the latest entry in the series. Much like Pac-Man 99 that came before it, Chomp Champs is a battle royale-style elimination game where you go up against a large group of other players. Mega Tunnel Battle actually got its start on Google Stadia back in 2020, and Chomp Champs is an updated version of the game with cross-platform play included for the first time ever. The Deluxe version includes exclusive skins that you can use to customize your Pac-Man avatar – and even without the Deluxe version, you can still earn in-game currency that lets you unlock additional costumes and customization options.

The main attraction here is Elimination Mode, which places you in a battle with up to 64 other players. Compared to previous Pac-Man battle royale-style games, there’s a key difference to Chomp Champs: each player present in the match has their own maze, and you can directly interact with those players by invading their mazes via Tunnel Gates that connect them together. Once there, you can eat their fruit and Pac-Dots and even steal their Power Pellets. If you’ve eaten a Power Pellet, you can chomp vulnerable players to remove one of their lives and eventually eliminate them from the game once their lives have run out. Don’t ignore the ghosts, though – you’ll need to chomp them for additional points, because every so often, players who don’t meet a minimum score requirement will automatically be eliminated. The last Pac standing wins the match.

Elimination Mode is incredibly important in Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle, as it’s likely where you’ll spend most of your time. This game is sort of a grind-heavy one by nature; every time you finish a match, you earn experience that counts towards your progress bar. When the bar fills up, you level up and earn some currency that you can spend on cosmetic items for your avatar. Once you’ve reached Level 10, you’ll unlock Ranked Mode. For the most part, Ranked Mode is about the same as Elimination Mode, but with a key difference: to win a match in Ranked Mode, you must finish in the top 32 to win the game. From there, you’ll move up a tier and face off against high-ranked opponents.

Thankfully, Chomp Champs isn’t quite your average Pac-Man game, as there is a layer of strategy present here beyond grabbing Power Pellets and chomping ghosts and players. The Tunnel Gates that lead you to other mazes are only open for a limited amount of time. To bypass this restriction, you can grab that gate’s corresponding fruit when it appears to enter the gate before it’s open. If you’ve grabbed a piece of fruit and are being chased by another player, you can escape to another maze before you’re eaten and eliminated. Furthermore, there are Missions present in-game that appear at the top of the screen. They’re often simple objectives like chomping two other players, eating ten dots from another maze, or crossing through three Tunnel Gates. If you complete the Mission in question before the timer runs out, you’ll earn extra points or a power-up to give you a boost (plus some additional currency to use). Power-ups are quite influential here; matches can last a long time depending on the skill of the players you match with, and it’s often difficult to corner the last player remaining with a Power Pellet because the mazes are large and Pac-Man moves rather slowly. In cases like these, the match often will come down to which player manages to grab a nearby power-up first, though after a time your total score will become a factor instead.

Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle runs at a mostly-stable 30 frames per second (at least in handheld mode, that is), with only occasional and very slight frame rate drops when the mazes shift spots. These hiccups aren’t enough to significantly affect your enjoyment of the game, but it would’ve been nice to have 60 frames per second to make the game feel a little smoother. 

In a similar vein to the Pac-Man Championship Edition games, Chomp Champs features bright, vibrant, and colorful graphics that help the game feel both modern and retro at the same time. The neon color scheme really fits modern Pac-Man, and the ability to customize so much of the game does help break up the repetition a bit. From what we’ve played of the game so far, the servers for the game are rather stable. It’s important to note, however, that Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs is an online-only experience – you cannot even get past the title screen without an internet connection, for instance. That’s perhaps to be expected from a battle royale-type game, but it’s something to consider if you’re looking for a game that can satisfy a quick Pac-Man craving on the go. For that purpose, you might prefer something like Pac-Man Museum+ instead.

Assuming you’re a fan of battle royale-style games and the classic Pac-Man formula, Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs is good mindless fun and a fine way to pass the time. The game is perhaps best played in short bursts; it’s a good way to cool down in between extended play sessions of other games. The lack of content besides Elimination Mode and ranked Mode does bring the experience down somewhat; we’d have liked to see an offline single-player mode against bots as an extra option. Still, there’s fun to be had here if you enjoy the maze format. If you’re not, though, Chomp Champs won’t do a whole lot to change your mind.

Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs copy provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.