Development of the game was headed by California-based studio Mass Media, who previously worked on several Namco Museum collections for other platforms.

Ms. Pac-Man is excluded from the compilation due to the game already being present in the Namco Museum collection for the system from a few months prior.

[4] Pac-Attack and Pac-Mania also have their soundtracks cut down due to storage capacity, while Arrangement's is in a lower bit-rate.

[1] Pac-Man Collection was released on July 12, 2001 in North America,[5] December 7, 2001 in Europe and Australia,[6][7] and on January 11, 2002 in Japan.

[9] The game was first announced on April 24 under the working title Pac-Man Fever,[2] before being presented at the 2001 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) convention in Los Angeles, California.

[16] GameSpy found the selection of titles and solid emulation quality to make it "worthwhile addition to any retro fans portable library", saying that the original Pac-Man alone made it worth a purchase.

[17] GameSpot especially praised its high-quality ports and replay value, saying that it helps prove that classic video games and handheld systems blend well together.

[18] Some critics disliked the game's lack of additional titles and inability to save high scores.