The development team wanted the game to focus on the excitement of fleeing from ghosts, and to appeal towards a more casual audience.

Critics applauded the game's addictive nature, replay value, intense gameplay and electronic soundtrack, and for being a vast improvement over the original.

DX introduces a new type of ghost that sleeps in a stationary spot on the maze until Pac-Man moves past it and begins to follow him.

A slow-motion effect automatically kicks in whenever a ghost gets too close to Pac-Man, which offers players the chance to make a last-minute attempt to avoid being caught.

Players can also use a limited supply of bombs that return all the ghosts to the center of the maze, although it lowers the dot multiplier and game speed.

The game features nine courses, which include the original maze from Championship Edition, in which the sleeping ghosts are absent.

In addition to this, paid downloadable content was also released, including four new courses (Big Eater, Championship III, Highway II, and Mountain), three new skins (based on Dig Dug, Rally-X and Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures), and two new background music tracks (Pac-Steps and Re-Entrance).

Additionally, players can unlock a Classic skin, with visuals and sounds based on the original Pac-Man by collecting all the medals available in the game.

"[19] Giant Bomb gave it a score of 5/5, saying that the player experiences "sensory overload of the highest order, the kind of game that leaves your eyeballs dry, your nerves shot, and every last bit of you wanting more.