It's in the platforming that Fut Coins Pac-Man reaches its potential. There are so many ways to navigate these colorful worlds that you're always doing something different, and that alone keeps you invested. Zipping across vanishing platforms is very different from walking vertically along magnetic columns, and that not only nicely mixes up your actions, but also pushes the levels to new places. The tired designs of the early levels fade away when you have to figure out how to cross a lava lake (freeze the geysers!) or reach that floating island (find an air draft!).

All of these elements have been found in previous platformers, but that doesn't diminish their appeal here. Zooming through a tunnel on a crumbling piece of rock is still fun because you have to think fast as obstacles rush toward you. And the repulsive way that Pac-Man just shoves any old thing into his mouth is good for some gross-out chuckles. And the repulsive way that Pac-Man just shoves any old thing into his mouth is good for some gross-out chuckles.

Through all of this ridiculousness is the surreal undercurrent that flows through the game. Pac-Man eats ghosts, it's what he does, but there's a joy to his consumption that's unsettling. He eats the entire spook (those eyeballs no longer escape), and then keeps track of how many eyes he's digested. It's a little unnerving. After playing through every level, I have eaten exactly 2,426 ghost eyes. How could Pac-Man pal around with Pinky, eat her kin, and keep a morbid running tally of his conquests? And your victory animation when you nab the fruit at the end of each level cements just how twisted this game can be. When Pac-Man burps as any foodie would, you can actually see the eyeballs in his mouth fumes. It's as if the game repeatedly wants to remind you exactly what Pac-Man (and, by extension, you) are doing, so your actions swirl in your head even when you go to sleep for the night.