![]() Propeller-capped Junior chomped through mazes that were twice the width of the screen. The series went back to its roots for Jr. Pac-fans showed little interest and Professor Pac-Man swiftly disappeared. No mazes, no pellets, no ghosts – just Pac-Man in a cap and gown, asking multiple choice trivia questions. If Pac & Pal was a departure from the original game, Professor Pac-Man was a quantum leap. The “Pal” in the title was a small green ghost who wandered around the maze and grabbed items for his yellow buddy. Once Pac grabbed the items, players could press a button to fire off special attacks at the ghosts. By flipping over playing cards scattered around the screen, Pac unlocked the doors, gaining access to the coveted objects. This time, Pac-Man had to chew on a handful of special items, which were stuck behind locked doors. The little-seen Pac and Pal came on the scene in 1983. Baby Pac-Man was a pinball-video game hybrid, mixing the traditional maze action with fast-flipping pinball skills. Still, in 1982 (a busy year for Pac and company), Pac and Ms. Regular energizers still played a part, but the maze also included a pair of “super energizers” which would make Pac-Man twice his original size and impervious to the ghosts’ attacks. Fruits and other foodstuffs now took the place of power pellets, and Pac-Man had to eat keys to unlock certain doors to the maze. Super Pac-Man, also released in 1982, added even more new features. Power pellets now produced random effects – turning the maze temporarily invisible, making the ghosts themselves invisible or turning only three out of four ghosts blue – and the new bonus items created the same effects. ![]() The following year, Pac-Man Plus arrived, throwing in a few curves for players who had already mastered the original. The new game was another instant classic, considered by many to be the best in the series. Ms Pac-Man added a few new mazes, smarter ghosts, bouncing fruit, and new between-level scenes showing the courtship of Pac and Ms. Realising that Pac-Man was attracting as many female players as it was male players (the arcade had been pretty much an all-boys’ club to that time), Bally/Midway gave the game a feminine twist. Hanna-Barbera produced a successful Pac-Man cartoon series and Buckner & Garcia scored a #9 pop hit with Pac-Man Fever. Pac-Man merchandise ran the gamut from stickers, backpacks and bedspreads to toys, pasta and breakfast cereal. Pac-Man eventually moved out of arcades and into homes courtesy of Atari, and within a few years, Pac-mania had spread beyond the arcade into every aspect of American life. The arcade craze swept the nation, and Pac-Man’s colourful, playful look inspired hundreds of imitators and pretenders to the throne.Īrcade games now had a face, and that face had yellow skin and a gigantic mouth. This was a game everyone could understand and appreciate, and kids of all ages quickly turned Pac-Man into the biggest hit in arcade history. ![]() Pac-Man’s American conquest was instant and total. Once a maze was cleared, the dots reappeared for another try, this time with faster ghosts. The gobbling yellow hero could also escape the ghosts by slipping through a tunnel at the side of the screen. Pac-Man had to eat tasty fruits – cherries, strawberries, oranges, apples and more – which popped up near the centre of the screen. To regain strength and gain bonus points. The video game was simple – Pac-Man had to eat all the power pellets, dots of energy that lined the corridors of a bright blue maze.įour pastel-coloured ghosts chased our hero through the maze trying to kill him, stopping his feeding frenzy with a single touch.īut with one chomp of an energizer pellet (found in each corner of the screen), the hunter became the hunted as the ghosts turned temporarily blue and fled for their lives – Pac-Man could now eat the ghosts! The game was originally titled Puck-Man, until it was imported into the USA where Bally/Midway executives realised that American kids could easily alter the machines lettering to read. It will come as no surprise that Pac-Man originated in Japan, where a Japanese computer firm called Namco Limited, modelled the game after a classic Japanese tale about a creature that protected children from scary monsters by eating them.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |