Championship Edition follows the basic concept of the original Pac-Man, with collecting dots, avoiding ghosts, and grabbing bonus icons. This time around, however, the action takes place in a constantly changing maze, where each bonus you collect reveals more dots, along with more ghosts that chase you down as you pass by. Most of these foes will also follow you directly, with dozens gathering over time, creating a multi-colored line of death. That is, until you grab a power pellet, allowing you to plow right through them in a chain of destruction that’s intensely gratifying. The longer the game progresses, the faster things get, until you’re rocketing around the screen at high speeds, gobbling up higher scores, and the slightest slip of the controller may kill you.
While the original game challenged you to try and survive as long as possible, DX splits its various mazes into different challenges, ranging from trying to get a high score under a certain time limit, to seeing how many ghosts you can chomp while under the effects of a power pellet. The longest of these stages runs for 10 minutes, with most others taking far less time, meaning it's easily played in bite-sized chunks. All of these are ranked individually, so those with the drive to get the best scores will have plenty of work to do. Plus, you can change the graphical themes – from neon lights to the Lego-style blocks of Pac-Mania – to give it some variety.
The focus is definitely on high scoring, though. You'll earn so many lives, you'll probably never end up running out, which encourages you to play in as risky of a manner as possible. It's also incredibly forgiving, as it automatically slows down time when you’re in danger, allowing you to dodge enclosing ghosts, and gives you bombs to push them back for a few fleeting moments. Despite its forgiving nature, it's still incredibly tough to earn the best scores, providing an addictive nature that easily trounces its many predecessors.
Like Pac-Man Champion Edition, Taito's Space Invaders Extreme takes the basic aspects of the arcade game and expands them into a modern context. The goal is to still shoot down little pixelated aliens, but the emphasis is on creating chains by matching colored enemies, among other scoring complexities. Each stage consists of several waves of enemies in different configurations, with numerous extra weapons. The visuals have a very dance rave feel, and the timing of the sound effects help create the soundtrack, similar to Rez. The first game was released for the DS, PSP, and XBLA, while the second is DS only. Owners of the older DS models with the GBA slot can also use the paddle provided with Arkanoid DS for authentic arcade control.
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