You can imagine the nostalgia, then, when old-school gamers first pop Namco and Nintendo’s Pac-Man Vs. into their GameCube. Even two decades later, the music foreshadows good things to come, and with the title’s 21^st-Century gameplay enhancements, Pac-Man Vs. is as fresh as the original was in pizza parlors of yore.

Given the nostalgia surrounding Pac-Man, though, Namco and Nintendo ran a huge risk by tweaking the gameplay. True, the series has always had a "versus" mode, but always on a turn-by-turn basis. With Pac-Man Vs., the companies have created a model that retains the classic flavor of the franchise while infusing the right amount of next-gen "versus" flavor to introduce the series to a new type of gamer.

When I first saw Pac-Man Vs. at E3 2003, it was immediately apparent that I’d finally found a reason to buy a Game Boy Advance. Some would argue that the requirement of a GBA system and system-link cable is asking too much; after all, you’re already paying for the game itself. But two things keep that statement from holding water. First, Pac-Man Vs. also comes packaged with a remake of Pac-Man World 2, so for $19.99 you’re getting two games for the price of one. Second, using both the GBA handheld and the GameCube console was an ingenious (and the only) way to make Nintendo’s and Namco’s gameplay vision a reality. And this is one gameplay vision you won’t want to overlook.

As basic as the original Pac-Man was, Pac-Man Vs. is equally simplistic and just as addictive. One player controls Pac-Man in the classic top-down interface via the GBA, rendering the handheld portion a perfect port of the original game. The "versus" moniker comes into play with support for up to three other players, all of whom use the TV screen and GameCube controllers to play as ghosts. That’s right: no more learning the ghosts’ patterns and playing accordingly. There are actually people taking over the perennial pursuit of Mr. Yellow.

Naturally this makes the gameplay more frenzied than the original, because human behavior and stalker-like tracking isn’t nearly as predictable as a computer’s. The game does support bots if you don’t have three humans, but to be perfectly honest, you’ll have no problem finding three people to play this game.

Adding to the frenzy is the lack of any radar for the ghosts, coupled with a limited field of view. Pac-Man, on the other hand, can see the entire board, making it easy to evade the pursuing players. When a ghost eats fruit, he/she gets a zoomed-out view, but never to the point that the entire map is revealed and Pac-Man is an easy target. As a result, ghosts’ pursuits can become quite frantic as they realize The Chomper has almost eaten through an entire level.

So what’s the point of all this hunting, evading and eating? The same as the original game: score more points than your opponents. At the beginning of each game you set a "goal," say, 10,000 points. As Pac-Man, points are accumulated by eating the dots, fruit and, of course, the ghosts. As a ghost, though, points are accumulated by eating fruit and, you guessed it, Pac-Man.

When a ghost eats Pac-Man, the person in control of that ghost takes over the GBA and Mr. Yellow, while the former Pac-Man player takes over the GameCube controller and becomes a ghost. The game keeps track of each player’s score, and the hunt-eat-switch process continues until a player reaches the pre-defined scoring goal. It sounds confusing, if not a bit cumbersome, with all the controller-switching, but it’s actually far from it. In fact, the game is so insanely simple, just like the original Pac-Man, that Pac-Man Vs. gaming sessions can go well into the night without players even realizing it.

Ironically, it’s that sleep-be-damned quality of Pac-Man Vs. that ultimately makes the inclusion of Pac-Man World 2 essentially lost. No matter which way you slice it, the only reason you’ll open the box is to play the former. Sure, Pac-Man World 2 is a capable remake of an existing game, but Pac-Man Vs. is simply has too much novelty and party-game fever to inspire you to play anything else with dots.

Pac-Man Vs. isn’t going to win any awards for its graphical ingenuity, especially since a core component involves the GBA and some very old-school top-down artwork. Still, its GameCube portion strikes a sublime balance between franchise-appropriate simplicity and next-gen flair.

Ghosts, for example, are rendered as cute, three-dimensional sprites, while levels are bright and use varied décor, be it a tropical motif or a more TRON-like feel. Each character has its own shadow, as well, which helps give some depth to an otherwise basic design. They may be simple, but the graphics are executed perfectly and somehow seem to "fit" within the context of the original game. Ditto with the sound and soundtrack.

Given its potential for party popularity, Pac-Man Vs. eats up hours of time like they’re Power Pellets. In fact, the only thing left to say about the game is this: If you plunked a fair share of quarters into the classic tabletop machines, prepare yourself to plunk down some cash for Pac-Man Vs., because you’re about to be hooked again.