Western Animation / Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures

The Pac is back!

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (known as Pac-World in Japan) is the second and latest animated adaptation of the Pac-Man franchise, featuring a teenage Pac-Man (whose design is loosely based off of Pac-Man Party) fighting evil ghosts trying to take over Pac-World. It aired in June 2013 on Disney XD.

In 2010, filmmaker Avi Arad announced plans for a new 3D cartoon show featuring a reimagining of Pac-Man. In this reality, Pac-Man is a high school student, but his world is definitely not going through mundanization. Indeed, he will have to face ghosts who plan to Take Over the World. In fact, the only ghosts who are his allies are none other than Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. Aside from the conflict, Pac-Man's stories are told through slices of life, and he is ultimately a reluctant hero in a world of Magic Realism. A trailer can be viewed here!

The series could be seen on weekends on KidsClick until the block ended in 2019. Reruns can currently be seen on Discovery Family.

For the 1982 Hanna-Barbera cartoon, see Pac-Man. For the Licensed Game based on the series, see Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures.

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Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures provides examples of the following tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: In "Stand by Your Pac-Man", The Pacinator has a weapon that can shoot out frozen yogurt, and other frozen treats.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Stand by Your Pac-Man" for Cyli and Pinky.
• Adaptational Badass: Pac-Man gets a truly jaw dropping power boost in this series. While in the regular games, he can only defeat ghosts with power ups, here he can do it without said power ups. This is just the tip of the iceberg, as since he doesn't need power ups to chomp ghosts anymore, the powerups grant him a straight up Superpower Lottery, including, but not limited to, elemental abilities, transforming his body, flying at incredible speeds, fighting skills, and even becoming an entire planet.
• Adaptation Expansion: Pretty much inevitable, considering the game's simplicity and total lack of a story.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • In this series, "Pac-Man" is just a nickname, and his real name is simply "Pac".
  • Pac-Land is renamed "Pac-World".
• Adaptational Heroism: The four ghosts that always caused trouble for Pac in the games? Yeah, they're on his side now.
• Age Lift: Pac-Man is portrayed as a high school student in this continuity as opposed to the middle-aged family man he's usually depicted as being in the original continuity.
• The Ahnold: The Pacinator, he even has the shades.
• Aliens Are Bastards: Robo Woes has an alien befriend the President, only to let his guard down so he could take over Pac-World.
• All Just a Dream: The episode "Rip Van Packle," rather predictably.
• Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version uses "PAC THIS WORLD!!!" by Hyadain as its theme song.
• Always Chaotic Evil:
  • Averted, the ghosts aren't evil because they are ghosts, they were originally traitors who tried to Take Over the World, but failed and lost their physical bodies.
  • Also, like Fuzbits, not all monsters are bad.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: The entire show is populated with them from the Pac-Worlders to the ghosts. In this way the series makes it a plot point that Pac-Man is yellow, as yellow Pac-Worlders are the only ones that can eat ghosts and reliably use power pellets, which is why Betrayus got rid of them all except for Pac-Man.
• Animesque: Not surprising, considering Pac-Man's origins. The show is an American/Japanese/Canadian co-production, and going by the credits, at least 60% of it is produced in Japan.
• Amusement Park of Doom: The Dingaling Bros. Carnival in "Ride the Wild Pac-Topus", after Dr. Buttocks manipulates the rides.
• Apocalypse How: Dr. Buttocks nearly causes a Class 6 for Pac-World in "Planet Pac vs The Ghosteroid", due to a slight miscalculation. Luckily for all, the Tree of Life happens to also grow planetary form Power Berries.
• Artificial Limbs / Red Right Hand: Dr. Buttocks' right arm is a pincer.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Some of the Pac-Worlders have astonishingly appropriately shapes that reflect the sport they are into. A football helmet-wearing Pac-Worlder has a body in the shape of a football; some tennis-playing Pac-Worlders are green and tennis-ball shaped; a tall Pac-Worlder dressed to play basketball is basketball shaped.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: In "No Pets Allowed...Especially Monsters!", Dr. Buttocks creates giant monsters. Pac counters by eating a berry that turns him into a giant Super Pac-..., er "Paczilla".
• Bad "Bad Acting": The Ghost Gang tries to delivers news to Spheria from Betrayus results in this in "Pac-Pong Fever".
• Badass Bookworm: Pac qualifies, with all those books on ghosts that he had.
• Bad Boss: Betrayus.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Meanie Genie; what with the giant sandwich which that if landed on a normal Pac-Worlder, would have crushed them, and when Pac wishes that the ghosts were gone from the Underworld, they're just sent up to Pac-World. Though Jean doesn't even give Pac the chance to elaborate.
• Bedsheet Ghost: The basic design for all the ghosts as per Pac-Man.
• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • Betrayus. He may act like a brat but he was still the cause of Pac-World War 1, and almost took care of all the yellow ones.
  • Dr. Buttocks, in spades. While he may be a Butt-Monkey and stereotypical mad scientist, he also nearly wiped out all life on the planet via Ghosteroid, which he was able to summon through a scheme no more difficult than any other he's ever prepared.
  • There's also Count Pacula, the Pac-Man Universe version of a vampire^note A possibly unintentional shout out to "Pacula" from the Hanna-Barbera Pac-Man series, although that one was more like Frankenstein's Monster., residing in the Netherworld, who has the ability to hypnotize both Pac-Worlders and ghosts and upon the hypnosis, he tells them to do silly things: having Skeebo act like an ape, Spiral hop on one leg, and at the request of Butt-ler, make Dr. Buttocks swim like a blowfish and squeal like a pig.
• Big Bad: Betrayus.
• Big Eater:
  • However, it seems Pac-Man gets full pretty quickly trying to eat ghosts without Power Berries.
  • "All You Can Eat" revolves around Betrayus getting Pac so full so the ghosts can terrorize Pac-World. It takes almost all the food in both Pac-World and the Netherworld to do it.
  • "Mission: Im-Pac-able" revolved around Pac using self-control so he wouldn't eat impulsively. He even passed up on eating Betrayus' Butt-ler. Well, at least, until Butt-ler forcefully shoved himself down Pac-Man's mouth.
  • Spiral is a pretty big eater as well.
  • Fuzbits may not quite have Pac's appetite, but he can eat a lot, and fast.
  • Pac's parents also have voracious appetites.
• Big "NO!": By Betrayus.
• Bigger on the Inside: The repository that holds all of the ghosts' bodies are held is a large rainbow colored cylinder that can be carried around. The same effect occurs naturally in Pac's stomach.
• Bird-Poop Gag: In "Jinxed", Pac was hit by bird poop.
• Bittersweet Ending: "Happy Holidays and a Merry Berry Day" ends with what appeared to be Pac's parents revealed to actually be hard light holograms used by Dr. Buttocks to trick Pac into revealing the location of the Tree of Life, but Pac closely looks at the photograph of his parents and is given a lead on where they might be.
• Black-Hole Belly: Pac can suck up ghosts several times larger than he is, and eat an entire cafeteria's worth of food and still be hungry!
• Blind Without 'Em: Dr. Buttocks can't see if he loses his glasses.
• Body Surf: Specter's prime tactic, and he's very good at it.
• Bottle Episode: "Rip Van Packle". There's some slightly modified character models for the elderly versions of Cyli, Spiral, etc but there isn't a lot of complex animation in the episode and the lighting is much duller than usual. It's pretty obviously filler, especially since it turns out to be All Just a Dream and therefore completely pointless in the end anyway.
• Blue with Shock: The normal ghosts that look like the original designs from the games shrink and turn blue when scared.
• Bragging Theme Tune: "The Pac is Baaack / Ghosts chompin' at his feet / Pac's our hero / The Pac just can't be beat!"
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: When Spiral is naming all of the pizzas that are delivered by the ghost gang outside of the trio's dorm room, he mentioned that there's pepperoni pizza, sausage pizza, and mushroom pizza, as well as a combination of all 3 toppings.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Skeebo ends up wetting himself in fear after seeing the ghosts in "Meanie Genie".
• Butt-Monkey:
  • Butt-ler, pun intended.
  • The Ghost Gang are also sometimes this for a variety of reasons.
  • The President doesn't have an easy time with the ghost attacks and what-not happening around him.
  • Arguably, Skeebo and Spiral count as well since the former usually has his food accidentally stolen by Pac Man and Spiral usually has some trouble controlling his powers when he eats Pac's power berries (like the wind berry from Paclantis).
• Cain and Abel: Betrayus is President Spheros's brother.
• Captivity Harmonica: Spiral has one of this in the pilot episode and unfortunately plays badly, much to the chagrin to the guards outside.
• Cassandra Truth: Pac tells the class early on that ghosts are real. They don't believe him... at least, not until the ghosts escape!
• Cephalothorax : Orbs, Pacworld's dominant species, are theses.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
  • When Betrayus and Apex do a Villain Team-Up to conquer Pac-world, promising to split it between them, both groups plan to betray each other, Apex simply beats Betrayus to the punch.
  • Happens again in Cosmic Contest, though this time Betrayus makes sure to do the backstabbing first. The fact they cooperated at all is what saves their groups from banishment.
• Cliffhanger: The season 2 finale episode, "New Girl in Town" had Spheros' niece reveal to Pac-Man that she may have seen his parents alive and well and whispered to him the last location she saw them to avoid Betrayus' worm-like spies from picking up on it. As the scene irised out, it was clearly setting up the next season for Pac & the gang to travel outside of Pacworld and begin international adventures as they prepared to finally find his parents......and then the show got cancelled.
• Clingy Jealous Girl / Violently Protective Girlfriend: While the relationship is one-sided for the most part, Pinky gets really jealous when Cyli butts in between her and Pac-Man, even going so far as to eat her while in monster form. Pinky also gets rather aggressive if anyone dares harm Pac-Man, even if that someone is Betrayus.
• Conflicting Loyalty: The Ghost Gang often have this when deciding whether they should follow Betrayus especially when he asks them to personally do one of his schemes, or help Pac-Man and his friends to thwart said scheme. They usually side with Pac-Man but will sometimes do Betrayus' scheme either because they find that it'll not hurt anyone or is impossible to do, or because they were tricked into doing it in first place due to Betrayus not divulging enough details.
• Continuity Nod: In "Heebo Skeebo", Skeebo remembers that he was given some of Pac's Power Berries from the first episode.
• Continuity Reboot: The Show and games served as this for the PAC-Man series as a whole by changing to a futuristic setting, placing PAC-Man in his teens, redesigning the characters and adding slice of life aspects. However, in this interview, a representative from Namco stated that Pac's parents are the "original" Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, so it could be either or.
• Composite Character / Gender Flip: As opposed to Pinky being male in the first animated adaptation and in some American media, Pinky is female here, just as she was in the original games. Pinky is also similar to Sue from the first cartoon.
• Cool Aunt: Aunt Spheria, a former freedom fighter and a champion Pac-Pong player. She's still got it despite being one of the oldest characters.
• Covered in Gunge: Ghost slime.
• Cursed with Awesome: The ghosts have cool powers and are immortal but they still want their bodies back. The fact that they don't have fingers (and/or toes) or actual taste buds is apparently a factor (though considering how nasty the Netherworld's food is, that last one might not be so bad).
• Cute Ghost Girl: Pinky.
• Dastardly Whiplash: Betrayus has shades of this in his look complete with Mustache and Beard of Evil.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Cylindria.
  • Betrayus has a few moments of this as well.
• Deathbringer the Adorable: Fuzbits is a cute little monster, a round ball of fuzz with big ears, but he can change into a scarier form.
• Death Glare: Dr. B's clones do this to the original.
• Death Is Cheap: When Pac eats the ghosts, their eyes escape and can reconstitute themselves in a chamber in the Netherworld.
• Decided by One Vote: In "Peace Without Slime", President Spheros loses the election to Obtuse by one vote. It turns out Spheros forgot to vote.
• Demonic Possession:
  • The ghosts are to be able to do this but only for a few minutes unless aided like in "President Possessed!".
  • Specter, on the other hand, has trained himself to the point he can stay in a body for quite a while, and his frequent use of the Body Surf tactic makes him very dangerous.
• Destruction Equals Off-Switch: Dr. Buttocks makes a device that attracts a ghosteroid that'll destroy Pacworld while leaving the Netherworld unharmed. Upon noticing a miscalculation, Buttocks finds out the Netherworld will be destroyed as well and his boss tries to stop this by destroying the device only to be told that Betrayus just destroyed their only way to repel the ghosteroid.
• Dirty Coward: Betrayus, apparently. He is terrified of getting his eyeballs spat out by Pac-Man after being eaten, and both times Pac-Man has met him with intent to battle, he runs off and lets his minions take the fall.
• The Disembodied: The ghosts were stripped of their corporal bodies for trying to take over Pac-World.
• The Ditz: Pinky, definitely Pinky.
  Blinky: You're delusional!
  Pinky: Well, sure, but what does that have to do with anything?
• Disproportionate Retribution: Pacinator's reason for turning to a life of crime is because one day his mother got mad at him so he froze her and started his life of murdering the yellow Pac-Worlders.
• The Dissenter Is Always Right: In "The Adventure Begins: Part 1", Ms. Globular asks for a show of hands as to how many students believe in ghosts after Skeebo claims no one thinks they're real. Nobody raises their hands until Pac reveals that he still thinks ghosts exist. Later, Pac accidentally stumbles into the Nether World, where ghosts reside.
• Ditzy Genius: Sir Cumference.
• Divergent Character Evolution:
  • Like Pac-Man Party, the four iconic ghosts are given vastly different body designs in order to differentiate one another.
  • The native inhabitants of Pac-World qualify to an extent as well. In the first animated adaptation and many of the games, the Pac-Worlders looked like a case of Only Six Faces since they all looked like Pac-Man but with a few distinguishing physical characteristics and pieces of clothing. Here in this adaptation, not only do all of the Pac-Worlders have various different body shapes but they also vary in color, as they also did in the aforementioned Hanna-Barbera series.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: "Mean Genie" contains a reference to racism when Jean makes fun of Pac for being yellow and Cylindria calls Jean out on it by calling her politically incorrect.
• The Dreaded:
  • Yellow Pac-Worlders like Pac to ghosts. When the ghosts first see Pac in a strong light and realize that he's yellow, they completely freak out, and run scared back to the Netherworld.
  • In "Heebo Skeebo" it's evidenced that when Pac-Worlders that aren't yellow eat ghosts they spit them back out instead of spiting out only the eyes like Pac does.
• Dreadful Musician: Spiral playing his harmonica in the first episode and Robo Woes shows that Pac's singing is so bad he destroyed an alien robot and saved the day.
• The Dog Bites Back:
  • In "Mission ImPacable!", the microchip that was controlling Pac-Man gets stuck on Betrayus and its remote falls into Butt-ler's hands. Seeing that Betrayus will still torment him regardless if he gives the remote or not, Butt-ler takes the opportunity for some much needed payback for all the abuse, such as Betrayus forcing Butt-ler to let Pac eat him to get Pac to eat the chip in the first place.
  • In "Betrayus Turns Up the Heat", Dr. Buttocks enslaves a group of dragons, forcing them to stoke the furnace that is heating up Pac-World. When Pac-Man arrives, not only do the dragons refuse to protect Buttocks from him, one even breathes fire on his eyes after he was eaten.
• Don't Explain the Joke: In "Jinxed!" Inky pulls this.
• Easter Episode: The episode "Easter Egg Island" has Pac and his friends, along with Cyli's family and Betrayus, journeying to the titular island during Easter break to rescue all of the ghosts who were kidnapped from the Netherworld by the Easter Pac-Peep as revenge for a child Betrayus replacing her Easter eggs with stink bombs one year when he grew tired of never being able to gather any eggs like the other kids. When Betrayus asks the Pac-Peep why she chose to get back at him now instead of all those years ago, she replies that it's because she believed that taking revenge on a child wouldn't have looked very good on her resume.
• Eldritch Abomination: The cosmic beings that are woken up by the very loud fight between the Pac-Worlders, Ghosts, and Pointyheads in "Cosmic Contest." They only appear as a giant rainbow-light star and are capable of warping space at their leisure.
• Engineered Public Confession: Pac and the Ghost Gang trick Specter into admitting he plans to overthrow Betrayus, and broadcast the recording in front of the whole Netherworld.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • While Fluffy's three heads will all maul you, the middle head will at least send you a get-well card.
  • Also, Pac's zits were so nasty, a cyclops ghost actually said he'd rather have his eyeball spat out than touch them.
• Evil Versus Oblivion: Betrayus and his cronies reluctantly aid Pac-Man in contending with the Ghosteroid when they discover that it'll wipe out the Netherworld as well.
• Exact Words: When Jean tells Pac that she can grant him anything he wants on Pac-World, Pac wishes for his parents to return. Jean refuses to grant it because she said anything on Pac-World and pointed out that Pac's parents are not on Pac-World.
• Extreme Omnivore: Pac-Man will sometimes eat stuff outside of ghosts and normal food such as an entire statue and food only the ghosts would eat.
• Fangirl: Cylindria for most of the episode Pac-Pong Fever to Pac's Aunt Spheria comes to visit; the reason being the latter revealed to be a famous Pac-Pong (Pacworld's version of Ping-Pong) player.
• Fictional Holiday: "Merry Berry Day", which is a parody of Christmas.
• Fire-Breathing Diner: Pacster does this when he tries Sir Cumference's chili. Also a lesser example is when he ingests the berries that give him fire breath.
• Fisher Kingdom: The Netherworld gradually shrinks/weakens Pac-Worlders unless they constantly eat Power berries. Cosmic Contest attributes this to the atmosphere being filled with toxic smog.
• Flat-Earth Atheist:
  • Many of the Pac-Worlders initially don't believe in ghosts despite the Ghost Wars/Pac-World War One being only one generation old. Though most of the non-believers are kids who weren't born yet or were too young to remember.
  • Dr. Buttocks doesn't believe in witches or curses, but learns the hard way he might be wrong bout that.
• Flight: While the Power Berries all bestow different powers depending on type, flight is usually a secondary power also given if it's not a main one.
• Fluffy the Terrible: Fluffy the three headed poodle especially when he shows his Nightmare Face.
• Former Girlfriend of Jerk Jock: Cylindra was Skeebo's girlfriend, until he broke up with her because he was too scared to save her from a ghost. Though he occasionally tries to "win" her back, otherwise he now sees her as much of a loser as Pac and Spiral.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In quite a few episodes, mainly "All You Can Eat" if the viewer pays attention, they can see several puns such as "Pac-ger King" (Burger King).
• Friendly Enemy: In Cosmic Contest, Pac-Man develops a rapport with a strong-armed Pointyhead named Tip, especially when Apex and Betrayus's team-up results in their being thrown out of their vehicles. This team-up spares their groups from banishment, and they part as "frienemies."
• Funny Background Event: Happens often with Fuzbits.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Sir Cumference.
• Gassy Gastronomy:
  • In "Stand by Your Pac-Man", a ghost passes by the Ghost Gang, eating a chili slug hot dog, and farts in their direction.
  • In one episode, Spiral suggests that everyone in the world could eat a bean sandwich and fart at the same time to change the planet's orbit. Cylindria quips that his idea stinks.
  • In "Cosmic Contest", Pac has too much bean dip and cuts loose with Visible Odor, prompting Cylindria to comment that his flatulence will probably knock everyone out faster than alien invaders. Later, he farts again when he's in a spaceship with Spiral, much to the latter's horror.
  • In "Pac to the Future", Pac's baby counterpart soils his diaper. Betrayus notices the smell and then asks Corporal Hineyhead^note Butt-ler's name before he became a ghost if he had chili again.
• Genius Serum: In the episode "That Smarts!", Pac ingests a berry that increases his intellect (and turns him into a stereotypical nerd, which Cyli finds cute to square off against Dr. Buttocks in his giant robot. Pac almost wins until the berry wears off and is at a loss for what to do, until he decides that he does not have to be smart in order to save the day and manages to defeat Buttocks in his own way.
• Gentle Giant:
  • Clyde's kinda of a big fat softy.
  • Spiral also qualifies since he's bigger than Pac, Cyli, Sir Cumference, and Skeebo.
• Genius Ditz: Clyde knows 9 different languages, one of them being Monster. He's also prone to bouts of Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness.
• Ghost Pirate: Cap'n Banshee and his crew of ghost pirates (as well as Betrayus' army joining the crew), in "Cap'n Banshee and his Interstellar Buccaneers".
• Giant Mook: The Cyclops Ghosts, the Japanese thunder god-like Ghosts, and the gargoyle-like monsters that work for Betrayus.
• Girlish Pigtails: Cylindria
• Great Offscreen War: The Pac-War.
• Green-Eyed Monster:
  • Skeebo is rather jealous of Pac-Man's fame. Most notably in "Heebo Skeebo", where he tried (and failed at) being a hero.
  • Pinky is definitely this in "Stand By Your Pac-Man" It's a big part of the plot actually.
• Harmless Freezing: The Pacinator freeze gun.
• Haunted Technology: In the episode Honey I Digitized The Pacmancenters on cellphones, vehicles, and other computerized electronics getting possessed by digitized ghosts imbued with a virus.
• Herr Doktor: Dr. Buttocks has a rather noticeable German accent.
• Heel–Face Turn: The Ghost Gang become friends with Pac-Man after some bonding (and the hopes that Pac-Man and company can get their bodies back).
• Hidden Depths: In "Robo Woes" it's revealed Skeebo has an angelic singing voice.
• High-Heel–Face Turn: Pinky is pretty much the only prominent female ghost that becomes friends with Pac. Helps that she develops a crush on the guy.
• Hover Board: Pac-Worlders use hover boards for various things such as for their Pac-Pong matches.
• Hulking Out: When she gets really jealous, Pinky turns into a pink Cyclops ghost.
• Humongous Mecha:
  • Pointyheads use these.
  • Then Pac and Buttocks battle in two that look like giant grinders.
• Hypocritical Humor: Clyde once tries to stop a fight between Inky and Blinky, saying that violence is never the answer. He then dazes them by smacking their heads together and concludes that maybe it is.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Butt-ler is purple, wears a hat, has a small mustache, and has a very butler-like haircut. Dr. Buttocks, Butt-ler's twin, is blue, wears glasses, has a clawed glove, a bigger mustache, and Dr. Wily-like hair.
• If I Can't Have You…: In "The Adventure Begins Part II", Pinky briefly entertains the idea that it's okay to kill Pac when she thinks he doesn't have a crush on her.
• Impact Silhouette: Happens to Pac-Man, Cyli, and Spiral in "Ride the Wild Pac-Topis".
• Inhuman Eye Concealers: In "New Girl In Town", Betrayus has one of his ghosts possess his and President Spheros' niece so she can get info about the repository and the Tree Of Life out of Pac. Since people can tell when someone is possessed by looking at their change in eye colour and shape, Doctor Buttocks invents special contact lenses so that the victim's eyes will still resemble that of a normal Pacworld citizen.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: In "Pac-Pong Fever", Aunt Spheria replies to Betrayus' request for a rematch with some words that are muffled due to her mouth being covered by Pac. He explains that what she's saying isn't appropriate.
• Interactive Narrator: Kinda for "Spooka-Bazooka", the one arguing is Dr. Buttocks, and at times it feels one-sided.
  Narrator: Once upon a time, there lived a king and queen who hosted a feast for their new baby girl. An evil fairy that was not invented cursed the infant princess so that someday, she would prick her finger on a spinning wheel and fall into a deep, deep sleep.
  Dr. Buttocks: Look, who ever's out there, knock it off! This is a story about Lord Betrayus, not Sleeping Beauty!
• Interspecies Romance / Boy Meets Ghoul: Pinky has a major crush on Pac.
• In-Series Nickname: Pac has two nicknames. Spiral and Cyli call him Pacster, while the President, after they manage to save the Tree of Life, decided to start calling him "Pac-Man".
• Invisible Subtle Difference: Somehow the ghosts can tell each other apart even when they're just floating sets of eyes.
• It's All About Me: Betrayus has this general mindset. He takes credit for bright ideas his minions make, throws fits when he isn't acknowledged in various schemes, and passes blame onto others when he himself fails.
• Jackass Genie: Jean in "Meanie Genie", IN SPADES.
• Jerkass: Betrayus, Skeebo, and Secretary O'Drool.
• Jerk Jock:
  • Skeebo in the first episode leaves Cylindria, his girlfriend at the time, to be eaten by a Netherworld monster. When Spiral points this out, he says they broke up and continues running.
  • As of "Heebo Skeebo" it only increased due to Pac being a hero.
• Knight of Cerebus: The Pacinator—a mercenary for hire who specializes in cryogenetic weaponry, and single-handedly iced over every single yellow Pac-Worlder known to exist, save for our title character—and possibly his parents. We would like to remind you he did this simply as a hired job.
• Large Ham:
  • Betrayus, highlight from the second episode:
  Betrayus: WHAT?! I just paid my cable bill!
  • And later:
  Betrayus: OKAY, THAT'S IT! I'm switching to satellite!
• Laser-Guided Karma: A few times.
  • Skeebo teased Pac about his zits, but because of a paint allergy, he got allergy-induced zits from the paint he was using to paint a picture of Pac's zits, right in time for picture day.
  • See The Dog Bites Back.
  • Buttocks abused the dragons powering the furnace, and after they were freed they attacked him.
• Last of His Kind: Pac is the only known yellow Pac-Worlder in existence.
  • Questioned as of Stand By Your Pac
  • Subverted in ''Invasion of the Pointyheads. Check the Wham Episode and Wham Line for more details
• Lawful Stupid: The appropriately named Mr. Strictler in "Driver's Pac" who believes there's no excuse for breaking the law when Pac-Man's trying to save Pacopolis from The End of the World as We Know It.
• Losing Your Head: Happens to Betrayus in "Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime".
• Lovable Jock: Spiral has shades of this due to being friendly and his attire.
• Love Triangle: At least for Pinky, there is one between her, Pac-Man, and Cylindria.
• MacGuffin: The Repository, which holds the bodies of all the ghosts. If Betrayus ever got his body back, he'd start the war all over again, so President Spheros and Sir C are always switching its hiding place around.
• Made a Slave: Betrayus and the ghosts enslaved the monsters of the Netherworld.
• Mad Scientist: Betrayus has a ghostly one.
• Me's a Crowd: Betrayus in the third episode. Wears off later though
• The Mole:
  • The Ghost Gang serve this after becoming friends with Pac-Man. In "Jinxed", Dr. Buttock almost learned the truth.
  • Butt-ler was one working for Betrayus before he became a ghost.
• Mordor: The Netherworld. It's hot, rocky, the food is horrible, and it smells like feet.
• Miles Gloriosus / Small Name, Big Ego: Skeebo often spouts that he is better than Pac-Man at everything every chance he gets. However when push comes to shove, Skeebo always either fails or runs away screaming like a girl.
• Mythology Gag: There are a LOT.
  • Here's a bunch of them!
  • The music when you start up a game of Pac-Man shows up in the beginning and the end of the theme tune.
  • The ghost symbols look like the ghosts from the original Pac-Man game.
  • Pac's school is called Maze High School, and the hedge maze it's named after has patterns like the original game's maze.
  • The Power Berries look like the pellets Pac ate in the original game.
  • The maze containing the the door to the Netherworld is numbered #256, after the number of the killscreen from the original arcade game.
  • Betrayus is King of the Ghosts, much like Spooky from the second Pac-Man World game.
    • Not only that, Pinky's crush on Pac-Man was also carried over from Pac-Man World 2.
    • The Netherworld bears a passing similarity to Pac-Man World 3's Spectral Realm.
  • Paczilla brings to mind Pac-Man's ending in Street Fighter X Tekken.
  • Various vehicles are actually based on the fruits from the games. The tanks are based on pineapples and the helicopters are based on cherries to name a few.
  • During "Mission: Impacable" Betrayus calls Pac-Man a "Wakka Wakka Weenie", referencing to the pellet eating sound effect from the original game.
  • The make-up kits that Pinky and Cily have in "Is Zit you or Is Zit Me?" look like mazes from the first game.
  • Sound effects from the original game are used extensively throughout in the series.
  • The title "Pac-Pong Fever" references the song Pac-Man Fever by Buckner & Garcia.
  • Rubber Pac-Man looks like the original limbless design from the original game.
  • One of the recurring themes is a remix of the theme that played during cutscenes in the original arcade game.
  • "Rip Van Packle" uses the name and plot of a short segment that appeared in the previous TV series
  • In "Pac to the Future", Pac-Man calls his baby self "Packy", which was Ms. Pac-Man/Pepper's Affectionate Nickname for her husband in the previous cartoon. Also, Pac's mom has a beauty mark, just like Ms. Pac-Man in the games' official artworks.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: General Betrayus. To quote this article on the series, "If your mother named you something like Betrayus, could you honestly go through life and not feel obligated to live up to it?"
• Narcissist: Betrayus has a few shades of this.
• Never Say "Die":
  • Subverted and parodied constantly, as the writers are clearly having fun with this trope. Often results in hilarious Unusual Euphemisms such as in episode 2:
  Betrayus: Make them not exist... FOREVER!
  • Parodied in President Possessed!; the wanted posters have the "Dead" in the "Dead or Alive" tagline crossed out.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: It WAS Pac's fault the ghosts returned from the Netherworld, even though it was all purely by accident (though the fact that the Jerk Jock chased him in there and left him there should be mentioned).
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Dr. Buttocks created a device that would send pacworlders to sleep for 100 minutes, and got them spread by showing the effectiveness against ghost. And when they invaded, pac was able to fight back with lots of Buttocks own Spooka-Bazooka. (Which means once Sir C removes the sleep option, they have a new effective weapons against ghost.
• Noodle Incident: In "Happy Holidays and a Merry Berry Day", Cyli mentions that Pac-Man had to save Santa Pac from the Netherworld last Berry Day, but we never see it since this is the first episode where Berry Day is celebrated.
• Non-Standard Character Design:
  • While every character of the dominant sentient race in the show so far is either a circle shaped Pac-Worlder or was once one before becoming a ghost, Ghoulasha the witch in "Jinxed" stands out from everyone else due to being more human-like in body structure.
  • The same can also be said for Jean from Mean Genie and Cap'n Banshee from "Cap'n Banshee and his Interstellar Buccaneers".
• The Noseless: Betrayus and his minions became this after they were turned into ghosts.
• No-Sell:
  • Most weapons have no effect on the ghosts unless modified by Sir C.
  • Non-yellow Pac-Worlders can't eat ghosts like Pac-Man. Whenever they try, they just spit them out shortly afterwards instead of just spitting out their eyeballs.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: Mr. Strickler from "Driver's Pac" is an extremely Lawful Stupid driving instructor who penalizes driving students for every single little mistake regardless of the situation. His own daughter is not even exempt from his style of grading.
• Offto Seethe Wizard: “The Wizard of Odd” where Pac and Fuzbitz get sent to odd world where everyone are strange doppelgängers from different stories and even includes The Ghost Gang as Dorothy, The Tin-Man, Scarecrow and The Cowardly Lion.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Betrayus won't let Butt-ler forget how the latter screwed up that one time in the past despite it being mostly the former's fault.
• Orcus on His Throne: Betrayus actually states in "President Possessed!" that as the ruler of the Netherworld, he should stay behind in his castle while he lets his minions do the dirty work.
• Our Dragons Are Different: They have the typical western dragon body but have only one-eye.
• Our Gargoyles Rock: They are large fire breathing three-eyed winged demon-like creatures.
• Our Genies Are Different: Jean in Meanie Genie. She's always explicitly out to make sure the wish backfires on the wish-maker, and once freed from her bottle, she becomes a fearsome Reality Warper.
• Our Ghosts Are Different:
  • In addition of the Ghost Gang, there are more various types of ghosts present. Some look like the old designs of the original four and even turn blue when frightened. Others however look vastly different such as the red four-eyed black jellyfish-like ones and the large cyclops-like brutes.
  • Let's not forget the gigantic "Ghosteroid", a ghostly asteroid from outer space that can spit out smaller ghosts (that bear a resemblance to The Greys) to protect itself.
  • When looking for Paclantis, there is a jellyfish like creature implied to be a ghost, as well as ghostly sharks guarding a special berry bush.
• Overly-Long Tongue: Pac-Man has one in this adaptation and it gets transformed into a range of useful tools depending on the berries he eats.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • In "The Adventure Begins Part II", the Ghost Gang try to disguise Pac-Man and his friends as ghosts by pouring sewage over them. Subverted though, by the fact that a guard isn't fooled at all due to them not being see through.
  • In "Nobody Knows", Pac-Man, Spiral, and Cylindria pretend to be Inky, Cylde, and Pinky respectively after they've regained their bodies. The thing is all they do is adapt the ghost's mannerisms without any actual piece of disguise other than just their word. It completely works even with some ghost minions who should know better.
• Parental Abandonment: Pac-Man's parents are nowhere to be seen in the present time and he's an orphan. It's implied that Betrayus may have killed them but not outright stated. It turns out Betrayus himself doesn't even know what happened to the last yellow ones, Only the Pacinator (and his much more dangerous client) does.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": The Event of That Smarts occured due to Grinder picking I heart Grinder as the new password for Sir C lab (Buttocks even lampshades this by saying it's a bad password.)
• Perky Goth: Cylindria has shades of this.
• The Philosopher: It seems Clyde has taken on this role.
• Pie-Eyed: Naturally being a Pac-Man adaptation, many characters have this type of eye. Some like Betrayus (after being turned into a ghost) however do not.
• Playing with Fire:
  • There's a type of ghost with fire powers.
  • Betrayus has similar abilities, only his seem to be significantly stronger.
• Power-Up Food: The iconic power pellets from the games are now berries and come in many colors and surface designs in this adaptation. Incidentally, Pac-Man here doesn't need to eat one beforehand in order to eat ghosts. However, he does need to eat them in order to access a wide range of powers which differ with each berry type.
• The Punishment: For trying to take over the world, Betrayus and his followers were turned into unkillable ghosts that only rare yellow Pac-Worlders like Pac-Man can defeat... wait, what?
• Punny Name: Many of the characters have very punny names. The majority of regular Pac-Worlders for example, are all named after geometry related terms.
• Potty Failure: Skeebo has a Bring My Brown Pants moment in Meanie Genie when he sees the ghosts.
  Skeebo: I gotta get out of this miserable maze. Or....at least find a bathroom. (Sees ghosts) Oh hey, I'm like totally lost! Can you help me out? (Runs away screaming. A puddle is seen underneath him for a split second before he runs away.)
  Pinky: Well, at least he doesn't need the bathroom anymore.
• Raiders of the Lost Parody: "Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime" parodies many tropes commonly found in Indiana Jones.
• Raygun Gothic: Pacopolis seems to be built with style in mind, with flying cars, Tube Travel, hover boards, and several other incredible futuristic pieces of technology not unlike something you'd see in Futurama.
• Reality Warper:
  • Jean in "Meanie Genie," naturally.
  • Likewise, Pac eats a Wizard Berry — which basically gives him similar powers — to fight her.
• Retractable Appendages: The Pac-Worlders can retract their limbs. Among them, Pac-Man notably can become living Pinball Projectile via this.
• Ridiculously Alive Undead: The ghosts in the Nether World don't appear to sleep, but they are often shown eating (there's even a chef named Ogle), and one ghost farts in "Stand by Your Pac-Man". In "No Pets Allowed...Especially Monsters! Part 2", Inky mentions that ghosts can use the bathroom. Cylindria is quite disgusted to hear about this.
• Right Behind Me: Almost word by word with Buttler brother when he realize Betrayus was behind him.
• Save the Jerk: Pac has saved Skeebo the bully from ghosts in various episodes. Skeebo never treats him any differently, though.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The evil ghosts were banished to the Netherworld, but have managed to escape.
• Series Continuity Error:
  • In one episode Pac did some sort of spinning top attack with his legs, yet during "The Great Chase", he needed a Power Berry to do it. Although that berry might be a case of increasing a natural ability (Not all berry show a form change, take for example the kung fu berry, or that berry that uses the pac-worlder retractable limbs and increase bouncing to the point of ricochet ball.)
  • Could just be a case of the episodes being aired chronologically Out of Order, but in "Pac-Pong Fever!" Cylindria is surprised to learned Pac's "Aunt S." is Spheria Suprema, when she should already know that having met her in "Pac to the Future".
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Clyde is surprisingly prone to this.
• Shake Someone, Objects Fall: Spiral does this to Pac in Ride The Wilde Pactopus to help him find the key the president gave him.
• Sharing a Body: In "Nobody Knows", the Ghost Gang accidentally inhabit the same body when they try to acquire theirs from the repository. The experience is not only uncomfortable but so weird that they have to pretend that they are not sharing a body when confronting other ghosts.
• Shout-Out:
  • The poodle cerberus called Fluffy seems to be one referencing Harry Potter.
  • In "No Pets Allowed...Especially Monsters! Part I", Cylindria mentions while dancing in the air thanks to a Power Berry, that she should start a show called "Dancing in the Stars".
  • In "No Pets Allowed...Especially Monsters! Part II", Pac-Man grows large and calls himself Paczilla
    • The above is also a shout out to both the original video game and Super Pac-Man, which both feature a "big" Pac-Man sprite^note although in the former, it's only during the first intermission sequence, one of MANY in the series.
  • In "President Possessed!", a possessed President Spheros says "Gotta catch 'em all".
    • Another one is in how Pac freed the President from Dr. Buttocks is by use of a flashlight.
  • In "Is Zit You Or Is Zit Me?", when Pinky and Cylindria compete to see who can give Pac-Man a better makeover to cover his face, they give him one resembling The Joker, one resembling Groucho Marx and one resembling Lady Gaga.
  • The title and premise of "Pac to the Future".
    • Also a young version Pac-Man's Aunt Spheria looks like a Pac-World Version of Lara Croft.
  • The title of "Mission ImPacable!" and a particular hanging from a line scene references Mission: Impossible.
  • The cow farm from "Driver's Pac" looks similar to Moo Moo Farm.
  • Dr. Buttocks wears a single black glove like a certain other mad doctor.
  • The title and premise of "Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime" references Indiana Jones.
  • The appearance of the Ghosteroid looks a lot like the Void Wisp and the Indigo Wisp.
  • The Pacinator is an obvious parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger. His name references the Terminator...but his theme is more towards Mr. Freeze from Batman & Robin.
  • The title of The Spy Who Slimed Me is a reference to The Spy Who Loved Me and the episode itself has an obvious one to James Bond in the form of Specter (a pun on the name of the recurring criminal organization SPECTRE).
  • As if the show weren't enough of a love letter to classic arcade games, The Pointyheads being Expies of one of the alien types from Space Invaders^note Which was made by Taito, and whose game paved the way for Namco's own Galaxian in 1979, one year after Space Invaders was released. They have the same silver (white) coloring, tentacles, and uh, Pointyheads, as the aliens that appear on the top row.◊
  • Namco has stated that "Pac" (the character in this show) is the son of the original Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, which would make him... Jr. Pac-Man.
  • The Theme Music Power-Up is a remix of the Pac-Man Park theme from Pac-Mania.
  • The mere fact that the game is based on the show is one as a whole to Pac-Land. ^note Because it's a game based on a show based on a game (although in this show's case, it's based on a classic video game franchise as a whole). Furthermore, the game was released in Japan as "Pac-World". Get it? Pac-WORLD? Pac-LAND?...
  • One of the episodes in season two is titled "Pac Mania"
  • Possibly unintentional, but one week before the premiere, Pac-Man was announced for Super Smash Bros. 4 with the song "Pac Man's Park", which also came from Pac Mania
• Sibling Rivalry:
  • Butt-ler and Dr. Buttocks often don't get along very well.
  • Spheros and Betrayus, especially when they fight for their mother's love.
• Sigil Spam: Pac-Man's game sprite is everywhere. It even appears in the geographical formations of Pac-World!
• Sissy Villain: Betrayus has moments of this.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Cylindria
• Stalker with a Crush: Pinkie
• Strange Minds Think Alike:
  • Betrayus and Skeebo have the same opinions over Pac-Man's humiliating situation in "Is Zit You Or Is Zit Me?".
  • Pac and Butt-ler both express confusion over whether "who" or "whom" is the proper term in "A Hard Dazed Night".
• Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: This apology and get well letter written by Fluffy's middle head to Betrayus.
  Hope you're feeling better fast.
  Sorry I bit you on the...
• Summon Bigger Fish: Accidentally done when a battle between ghost, Pointyhead and Pac-Worlder accidentally awoke the Cosmic Overlords.
• Super Power Lottery: Power Berries. Each type does something different, and no one's completely sure which does what.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Clyde and Pinky would like people to know that the Ghost Gang do not know Pac-Man personally and are not friends with him (though technically, they're not so much friends as much as they have an uneasy truce with each other).
• Take Over the World: A failed attempt to do so by the not-yet ghosts occurs before the series starts, now Betrayus is trying again.
• Temple of Doom: In "Indiana Pac and the Temple of Slime", Pac and his friends went through one and judging by the hidden map, they are about to enter a second one.
• Thememobile: Various vehicles in the series are themed after the fruits present in the games.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Whenever the "Pac-Man Park" theme from Pac-Mania starts to play, you know everyone's favorite yellow fella's about to kick some ghostly behinds.
• Time Machine: The zucchini themed vehicle that Sir C made has some time traveling functions that he apparently put in unintentionally.
• Title Montage: The intro uses episode clips from Series 1. Series 2 replaces the footage with clips from Series 2.
  • The Japanese version does this as well, and also changed for Series 2.
• Toilet Humor: There are a lot of fart gags in the series.
• Too Powerful to Live: A non-lethal example; In "The Spy Who Slimed Me", Pac realises that Specter's ability to possess others indefinitely means he cannot simply eat him like any other ghost, as he would just regenerate and come back. With the help of the Ghost Gang, he sets events in motion so that Betrayus locks Specter up in the Netherworld, ensuring he won't be back to cause more trouble.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Betrayus is often seen eating fried fire slugs like popcorn while lounging and watching his plans unfold.
• True Companions:
  • Pac's companions include his friends Spiral and Cylindria, Sir Cumference, Fuzbits, the President, his aunt Spheria and (eventually) The Ghost Gang.
  • Apart from this, The Ghost Gang are extremely close to each other, even if they don't get along at times.
• Undying Loyalty: Fuzbits cares deeply about Sir C., and was willing to return to the Netherworld, which he hated, to rescue him.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Despite him and the Pac-World being constantly saved by Pac-Man, Skeebo is extremely ungrateful to Pac-Man especially in "Heebo Skeebo".
• Unskilled, but Strong: Pac when he eats a kong berry. His size and strength are multiplied greatly but his intelligence takes a rather severe drop.
• Victory Is Boring: Betrayus experiences this in "Rip Van Packle." Pac disappeared into a wormhole and appeared 70 years later. Betrayus finally won, but after seeing Pac, he admitted to having missed Pac, having no one to battle or sling insults at. Though given the end of the episode reveals it was All Just a Dream, whether it'd actually be the case if he truly won is up in the air.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: The Pacinator performs this.
• Villain Song: "Cap'n Banshee and his Interstellar Buccaneers" has Cap'n Banshee sing an a cappella one.
• Voodoo Doll: One is used by the witch in "Jinxed" to torture a disbelieving Dr. Buttocks.
• Voices Are Mental: Averted with ghostly possessions, particularly in the episode "The Great Chase!" where Betrayus possesses his mother. It basically leads to Tabitha St. Germain playing Betrayus for an entire episode.
• Wacky Racing: "Cosmic Contest".
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: While Pac and his friends are the main heroes of the Pac-World, they still attend school when not saving the day.
• Was Once a Man: The ghosts in this adaptation are specifically stated to be once Pac-Worlders who tried to take over the world. As punishment, they were stripped of their corporeal bodies.
• Weaksauce Weakness: The Pointyheads are grossed out by ghost eyeballs.
• Weapons That Suck: Spiral and Cylindria use specialized cannons that suck in ghosts to aid Pac-Man. The cannons however only trap ghosts and not reduce them to eyeballs like when Pac eats them. Should the cannons get broken, the ghosts trapped within can escape fully intact.
• Werewolves Are Dogs: In "The Shadow of the Were-Pac", anyone who's bitten by a flea becomes a Were-Pac. At one point, Sir Cumference finds that the Were-Pac (who was previously Cylindria) peed on the floor and comments that it's not housebroken.
• We Will All Fly in the Future: Flying cars and Hoverboards are used in abundance in Pacopolis. Heck, the police even use Rocket Boots.
• Wham Episode:
  • "Stand By Your Pac-Man". A single question throws one of the longest-believed notions into disarray. Betrayus didn't wipe out the yellow Pac-Worlders. In fact, he doesn't even know who did.
  Betrayus: Say—who originally hired you to take care of the yellow ones, anyway?
  Pacinator: THE PACINATOR NEVER DIVULGES HIS CLIENTS! Especially when they're far more dangerous than you.
  • "Invasion of the Pointyheads" is another. When Apex and his troops are at the eve of victory, we have him saying this bombshell:
  Apex: Oh little Lordy Betrayus, you were just a distraction to help us break down Pac-Worlder's resistance. So we can capture the last of the yellow orbs and imprison him with the last of his kind, usurping their powers for own unsavory purposes. You get all of that at home?
  • "Peace Through Slime", which ends with Obtuse winning the election and taking office due to the ghosts interfering with the election.
• Wham Line: With the reveal in Invasion of the Pointy Heads, we have Apex's final words to Pac before escaping:
  Apex: Any messages for your parents before I return?
  Pac is too stunned to say anything and Apex escapes.
• Who Even Needs a Brain?: One of the bad guys' plan was to steal Pac-Man's brain leaving him as a brainless vegetable.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: It's subtle, but it happens usually when someone is surprised or scared.
• Wolverine Claws: Betrayus has metal talons for fingers.
• World Tree: The source of the Power Berries, which also holds Pac-World together.
• Worthy Opponent: Tip feels this way about Pac.
• You Just Had to Say It:
  • The common response to whenever Clyde opens his big mouth and gives Betrayus an idea. Which he orders the Ghost Gang to pull off.
  • Blinky totally jyxned Pac during "All You Can Eat"
  Blinky: It's not like the yellow guys ever gonna get full...
  Everyone laughs for a moment, and then Pac begins to moan, indicating he's full.
  Blinky: Guess we were wrong!
  Pinky: Our bad.
  • Dr. B. has this reaction when Apex starts Tempting Fate.
• Yandere: Pinky more than has shades of this.
  Pinky: Pac is gonna be my date for Valenpac Day... OR ELSE!
• Your Costume Needs Work: Happens to Pac in the Halloween episode.

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