User:Namcokid47/Pac-Man Ghost Zone

Pac-Man Ghost Zone is an unreleased 3D open-world platform video game under development for the PlayStation by Namco Hometek. Beginning development early in 1997 and intended for release in the fall of that year, it was set to be the first fully-3D video game in the Pac-Man franchise. Gameplay involved controlling Pac-Man throughout several open-world areas while defeating enemies and collecting pellets. The plot involved a teenager being sucked into a Pac-Man arcade cabinet after calling it "stupid and old" by the ghosts and their leader, the Ghostlord.

Development of the game was headed by director Bill Anderson and designer Scott Rogers, featuring music composed by Tommy Tallarico. The game was made to be more grittier in tone compared to the overall light-heartedness in earlier Pac-Man games. It was presented at E3 1997, where it was openly disliked by reviewers for its poor controls and confusing stage layouts, often being compared to the critically-panned Bubsy 3D. When the game was presented to Namco's Japanese division, the company became unhappy with the project and cancelled it for quality reasons, firing the entire team aside from Rogers and a few others. The project was later revived and turned into Pac-Man World, released two years later in 1999.

Premise
Pac-Man Ghost Zone was a 3D platform game, set to be the first Pac-Man video game to use polygonal graphics. The plot involved a kid being sucked into a Pac-Man arcade cabinet after kicking it and calling it "old" and "stupid". Inside the machine, the ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde and their leader, the Ghost Lord, send the kid to a realm known as the Ghost Zone. The kid, who transformed into Pac-Man himself, had to defeat the ghosts and escape the Ghost Zone.