Pac-Mania

Infobox VG
title = Pac-Mania


developer = Namco
publisher = Namco / Atari Games
designer = St. Daimyojin
release = 1987
genre = Retro/Maze
modes = Up to 2 players, alternating turns
cabinet = Upright
arcade system = Namco System 1
display = Vertical orientation, Raster
input = 4-way Joystick, 1 button
platforms = Arcade, Amiga, Commodore 64, MSX, NES, Master System, Mega Drive, Sharp X68000, ZX Spectrum

"Pac-Mania" is an arcade video game in the "Pac-Man" series, released in 1987 by Namco and distributed by Atari Games in the United States and Europe. It is a pseudo-3D interpretation of the classic maze game genre and features most elements of the original "Pac-Man", as well as several new features. "Pac-Mania" runs on Namco System 1 hardware.

Gameplay

As in "Pac-Man", the objective of "Pac-Mania" is to score as many points as possible. The player controls Pac-Man and attempts to eat all the dots in a maze, while avoiding being caught by ghosts that roam the maze. The player can eat power pellets that cause the ghosts to turn dark blue and become vulnerable; the player can then eat these ghosts for extra points, sending them back to their pen to return to their original color and behavior.

Differences from "Pac-Man"

"Pac-Mania" contains several new features and significant differences from its original counterpart. The most noticeable change is the view used, Cabinet projection, an oblique pseudo-3D format, in which Pac-Man always occupies the center of the screen and a virtual camera moves around the level to follow him. In addition, the player can press a button to cause Pac-Man to jump, allowing him to evade most ghosts by jumping over them.

Joining Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde from the original "Pac-Man" are Sue (purple), and two new ghosts (green and steel grey) that jump whenever Pac-Man jumps. (It is hinted through the game's intermissions that the names of the new ghosts are Funky and Spunky, or "Common" and "Grey Common" in the Japanese version, though this is never made completely clear.) In later stages, larger numbers of ghosts appear in a single stage. Also, bonus objects in this game not only include traditional point-scoring fruits, but also power-up items that can have random effects, such as doubling the point values of ghosts or causing Pac-Man to move much faster than normal.

The game takes place in four environments: "Block Town" (made up of Lego-like building blocks), "Pac-Man Theatre" (a 3D version of the original "Pac-Man" maze), "Sandbox Land" (walls are made up of pyramids), and "Jungly Steps" (appearing as pathways with no railings, resembling a set of steps that rise toward the back of the maze). The game has a limited number of levels, after which the player is shown a brief ending and production credits, and is prompted for his/her initials if he/she has placed on the high score list. The number of levels varies by version.

Ports

"Pac-Mania" was ported to the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Mega Drive/Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Sharp X68000, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and the RISC OS operating system for the Acorn Archimedes. Teque Software developed the majority of these and were published by Grandslam Entertainment. The Amiga and Atari ST won the Golden Joystick award for Best 16 Bit Arcade Conversion. Many of these ported versions are considered to be easier than arcade version. The Amiga version features advanced graphics and a soundtrack that has been rearranged for digitized instrument samples by Ben Daglish.

An accurate arcade emulation of the North American version of "Pac-Mania" appears on "Namco Museum 50th Anniversary", the Game Boy Advance's "Pac-Man Collection", 128-bit Namco Museum, and "Namco Museum Vol. 5" for Playstation. "See the article Namco Museum for a chart of games, including Pac-Mania."

Production

*For a total of ten years, Pac-Mania for the Nintendo Entertainment System was the only Nintendo version of the game available. In 2002 it was one of the games included in Pac-Man Collection for the Game Boy Advance. Later, in 2002, the Arcade version was re-released and included as an unlockable in Pac-Man World 2. In addition to that being the second release on a Nintendo system, Pac-Mania in Pac-Man World 2 was actually the very first "official" Nintendo version of the game (the NES version was from Tengen).

External links

*KLOV game|id=8961
*moby game|id=/pac-mania
* (LHA file can be played with Deliplayer, a free music player for Windows)
*imdb title|0301696
*WoS game|id=0003583