Pac-Man™ CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION 2 is a sequential game from the Championship Edition saga (and apparently the last, and reminiscent since the publication of this guide, we hope so) which brings to light subtle innovations in comparison with its predecessor.

In this guide, we don’t intend to provide a deep, step-by-step breakdown of every stage; instead, we aim to offer a general perspective on the game’s basic concepts and strategies, enough for you to beat it with the least amount of miserable suffering possible on Earth velocity, sooner rather than later.



Before we begin, I hope you — at least once in life — come minimally into contact with our super charismatic character, the Pac-Man. Otherwise, you might be living life upside down (nothing personal).

In case you don’t know him, the traditional game consists of a cheerful yellow protagonist (affectionately known as come-come in the country of origin of this guide), whose job is to devour every small pellet scattered around the maze — all while avoiding a few ghosts trying their best to retire our friend from existence. Here’s an interesting article about ghost behavior[medium.com] in the game.

Without further ado, let’s get down to business.

We will have a focus on in-game achievements here: if you are willing to finish 100% of the game, you’ll find out, sooner or later, that you are required to obtain S Rank on every difficulty of the levels, classified in: Training, Regular and Extreme. The following image specifies to be the toughest achievement to acquire in Score Attack mode (and the one that I slightly disagree about its positioning).


You certainly want to obtain S Ranks on every difficulty, and consider this: the extreme mode is ain’t that extreme. The solo and unusual problem here is that you are NOT going to face randomly 1-ups spawned by the Pac-Man’s beginning-local (or its spawnpoint) once you reach one million score, anymore.

In other words: when you’re not fighting for an S Rank in Extreme mode of whatever map, stay at home with your scoreboard, because once the progressive one-million score mark is hit, a sweet and cute life-up-Pac-Man-miniature-shaped will arise somewhere.


Notice how this life-up appeared very close to the point of entry of the in-game character, fruits and energized pellets (Pac-Man’s power, to simplify). Normally, the extra life ALWAYS will sprout next to this concavity, and this pushes you to pick it far away from the misfortune of losing a life while doing so. Now you’re probably wondering:


Oh yes, my young padawan! Very simple. At the very end of each session (around the five minutes of duration), the game will settle accounts regarding how many extra lives and bombs you’ve collected — a scoreboard value that gives a real chance if you, obviously, didn’t reach the desired score. This way, you make it easier to obtain your precious S Rank on this level.

For comparison purposes (do not compare yourself under any circumstances; this is not healthy), here’s a small leak of my actual Score Attack mode that, from now on and for eternity, embodies this very form until the end of times:


You’re wondering too:


And I return: you don’t need to!

Sorry. I lied — just like the shepherd boy who falsely cried “Wolf!” to amuse himself, until one day a real wolf came — and no one believed him. Hopefully, I haven’t come across any wolves in my life yet, nor in human form.

You only need to have the three S Rank divided by, also, the three difficulties.

“Yeah, but there are no three S Ranks.”

I must confess. I LOST MY GAME PROGRESS, OKAY?

The events happened in this order: I formatted my computer, I didn’t save the files, I realized, I cried, I sought medical assistance, and then accepted this horrendous fate.

If you have not read the last topic, that’s okay. You certainly have strong expertise in this game and do not need superficial hints. Now, if you’re in a marathon of this guide, I will spook you.


Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you to the bone. Actually, it’s another kind of nightmare… A terrible and hazardous achievement that made me cry and struggle for a minimum trace of help. Well, this hasn’t happened (yet), but I did fry my brains collecting every single hint I could from the real Gods of this game, and I hope I can make a difference in your life with meaningful hints that will REALLY help you.



The achievement description says: Clear area 6-15 in ADVENTURE! (notice how they are excited and happy with the single addition of an exclamation mark) mode. Is this the only task I am supposed to do? Absolutely! (look how happy I am, too.)


NOT necessarily. We have an imperative condition to play the last level of the game: obtain 222 stars.


Sooner or later, you realize you must collect ALL three stars (and much more in special levels) on every level. And if you premeditated what I want to say: it’s not enough to look for all the stars — you also have to finish the Pro mode to acquire them all.

Are all the levels dreadfully dangerous, boring, and gloomy to go against? Only until Area 5 (I don't deny that its predecessors also had a reputation for being difficult), where levels appear assorted between obtaining 5 million score or collecting all the apples, fruits, or whatever you want to call it. Listen carefully to this last one:


Obviously. But the message I want to convey is, actually: use your bomb with wisdom. That’s because some of the levels where you have to pick up apples are “enhanced” to give them a well-handed, detestable packaging that allows them to enter a chase and duck away from you. This can only mean big trouble — and it is exactly what it looks like.

Some levels give you a tiny window of second chances in case you run straight into a ghost (who, from now on, will look for you with great heaps of pure hatred), up to third chances if you’re lucky, but don’t tempt fate: tempus fugit, well known as time being a very real thing that runs out. And you could be really close to your end.

I hope I sounded poetic.

There are some techniques to avoid those phantoms while chasing these little red things. And you’ll probably have to pull some mind-games on the apples on your highway.


In this case, my Pac-Man was insanely running after the apple at the bottom, and to get it, I forced a mind-game so the apple would think (do apples think?) that I’d consistently follow that path — but I didn’t. I turned left and, with a rear naked choke, I got it turning right. And here’s something about rights: the apple doesn’t have the right to mind-game me.

It’s basically you doing, always, a mental reading of all behaviors of the game. It also sounds good to replicate as long as the timing is convenient; in that regard, it’s very important to have learned the “notion” of the game.


Here, you want to preserve all your lives, because each of these special levels allows you only a limited number of Pac-Man deaths. For example, in the penultimate boss level, you can (retrieving this from memory) die a total of ONLY TWO times. This is extremely hard to control, because you need to catch many apples until you reach the “Big Boss.”

The chances of you dealing with a ghost during the foraging are extremely high, but don’t fall into despair. As I said, you can die sometimes. But once you exceed the limit, restart the level. Notice that, as the apple appears, two extra lives will appear in the maze to be collected.

(Pinky is looking directly at you)

And you have to catch all those lives without losing your own! Interesting, huh? In the image above I collected the two, which now add up to a total of seven lives.

Observation: don’t forget that your own life counts (haha… thank God, right?), so I counted seven including my own.

Also, there isn’t much to say about these levels, because in general, they’re not as complex as the ones we’ll see next. Look at how many lives you need for your objective and just keep playing! I recommend always using bombs as soon as the apples show up, prioritizing non-contact with looming ghosts and putting the apple on the back burner — because you’ve got time for it. And don’t follow that saying:




Now the real chaos begins — right in the last stage of ADVENTURE! (happiness again) mode.
The Ghost Trains are a peculiarity in this game, and they possess an extremely curious intelligence. Sometimes they simply won’t follow the suggested path.


Sometimes you’ll face this, and sometimes not. Does it mean that the Ghost Trains’ movements are completely arbitrary? Perhaps! I really wanted an answer for that, but I couldn’t find any information. But notice the opposite also happens: on rare occasions, the Ghost Trains will dodge directly… into your mouth. Does that sound weird? Absolutely — but once it happens, it becomes a beautiful moment of great accomplishment.

If possible, as soon as you get the energized pellet in these levels, take a breath and try to study your options and the paths the Ghost Trains may take (even if this requires a “pause”). When a single Train remains, things get really off the rails.

You’ll probably want to threaten the Ghost Trains, forcing them into a path that, this time, will be completely under your control — and then you counterattack, hitting the nail on the head. At this point in the game I’m sure you’re sharp on this and familiarized with the mechanic, but train this at your best, because every second is precious and non-returnable.

Many people end up looking for videos of players doing these levels and come across tiny, specific movements that are almost impractical. Nonetheless, the best thing to do is understand how the score works in the game — instead of replicating all that stuff.

Let me point something out: they certainly did those movements because, in their situation, that was the most favorable thing to do!

I say this because in some videos, many players are worried about subtle movements in the video as a whole, or at a specific moment of the game, and this makes your task incredibly costly. Sometimes you’ve got to observe the dynamics of the game and have your own perspective on how to finish the level and reach the 5 million score.


Mainly in slow levels, it’s recommended that you don’t give too much time to eating pellets. If you do, eat all of them in that stage to maintain your bonus per pellet. To visualize this better, start noticing when the fruit appears and then ask yourself: is it viable for me to eat all the pellets now, or is it better to move to the next stage?


In this case, I’m at my first fruit, in a level that starts really slow. If you see it, the fruit is about to appear, and as soon as it does, I go straight to it, ignoring all the other pellets.

I did this because, first: collecting all the pellets would probably take too long. And second: if you really know the game, you’re aware of the bonus per pellet. If you don’t finish eating all the pellets in the stage, the bonus regresses 100 units. So keep in mind that in slow levels, you should base your run either on fruits or Ghost Trains — not on picking up every pellet on your way.

Think about it: if the level is slow, does it make sense to waste time going through all the pellets? You’d only waste time chasing them while you’d get more score — and more time — going directly for the fruit.

It’s always an optimization of your time! And playing this game is, well… none of that~

Look at this example:


Here it’s simpler than ever! If, after some stages, you see a level like this — short path — just enjoy it and eat all the pellets. Besides earning an additional bomb right after you finish, you keep your bonus per pellet.

In summary: include (or prioritize) the bonus per pellet only if the level is faster, because you’ll get greater value from it — and it surely makes a difference.


Your exhaustive journeys of minutes and long minutes per level are irritating, aren’t they? If you’re not willing to lose more time, accept death as it is, because once dead, it is difficult to say you’ll reach the five million score at the end.

Note that I am not ruling out the possibility of death; the level becomes harder if you die near the end, when you need that fabulous 500 bonus per pellet. But there are exceptions, and I myself confess: I managed to complete it even after dying once. Sometimes it’s because, from that level onward, I prioritized fruits and Ghost Trains instead of pellet bonuses — even in faster levels.

The truth is: death, sometimes, isn’t the end of the world. If you die right at the start, don’t hesitate to restart; if it’s at the end, don’t even think about giving up.

I want to gift you some insights I gathered during my journeys:


I. A good score surplus is 2.5 million with up to 2m30s remaining.
II. 3.1 million is very good if there are a little more than two minutes left.

I think item I is the most reliable of all, and it’s really a basis — use it in your play.


III. 35s and 4.7 million: do not despair. Focus directly on the Ghost Trains, take the fruit as soon as possible, and keep eating all pellets to maintain your 500 bonus.

If possible, in this situation, ignore any pellets left behind. Read the game. They don’t compensate for the very last second of your time. Note that this only works if you haven’t died recently — still with your 500 bonus, or close to it.

In general, it’s absolutely possible to earn all the achievements in this game — just like I did!

Don’t get discouraged: I also thought it would take forever, but with a few days of steady dedication, I managed to complete it in a surprisingly short time. The secret is to keep up the momentum!

If you’d like to add any extra information to this guide, feel free to share it in the comments. I’ll be happy to read it — and if it helps other players, I’ll include it in the guide.

And of course, good luck!