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Namco is following in Capcom’s footsteps for the forthcoming Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions – releasing the game cart with a permanent save system.
According to Wired the compilation will use the same setup that appeared in last month’s Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D – preventing players from deleting their save data.
If true, it’ll be particularly annoying for anyone who might want to share their game with friends or siblings: Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions features an Achievements/Trophies-style set of challenges to complete. If you find yourself playing a copy where these goals have already been ticked off, you’ll have no opportunity to beat them yourself.
Wired also says there’s no in-game scoreboard, with only the highest figure being kept on record. If that’s true, there’ll be no way to monitor your progress if someone else has already notched up a massive score.
And there could be more significant repercussions: HMV refused to take trade-ins for The Mercenaries, although GAME and gamestation had no objection.
At the time, Capcom insisted that the move wasn’t designed to combat second-hand sales.
Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions is due for release on August 26.
Despite getting half-decent scores, the Mercenaries dropped out of the chart like a rancid organ plopping out of a zombie’s stomach. While you’d be hard-pushed to entirely blame its lack of success on the save system, it can’t have helped.
It’ll be interesting to see if our hungry yellow friend suffers a similar fate. Either way, the idea of a Pac-Man game with no scoreboard is ridiculous.
