Even though it's summer and I'd much rather be outside swimming, it is raining, so I guess I am stuck inside. Alone. With my computer. Now, instead of wanking, I've decided to play one of my favorite games, Pac-Man...but not just any Pac-Man. I want to see how many Pac-Mans (Pac-Men?) I can play, including clones, Hacks, sequels, offshoots etc. I'm hoping to do at least eight or nine today, so my descriptions/reviews are going to be short. So here we gooooooooooooo...
#1: Puckman
The one that started it all. That's right, Pac-Man was originally Puckman (or Puck Man) when it was released in Japan. Rumor has it that they ended up changing the name because they were afraid that us silly Americans would scratch out part of the P to make it say Fuckman...pretty smart thinking, actually, if that is the case. It pretty much plays exactly like the original Pac-man (that's next just to confirm this). It feels somewhat slow to me, but this is probably because most of my Pac-man and Ms. Pac-man playing has been on Anniversary machines that have the speed hack on (I love that, I'll have to do that later.) I was always decent at Pac-man, always able to at least get an extra life (10,000 points).
#2: Pac-Man - Arcade (1980)
As expected, the game plays identically to Puckman, as far as I can tell. There may be little AI differences that I wouldn't be able to tell in just playing one game of each. One thing that's becoming abundantly clear, though, is how superior Ms. Pac-Man is, if for no other reason, than the maze changes every few levels.
#3: Pac-Man 25th Anniversary Edition - Arcade (2005)
While this wasn't the first way I'd ever played Pac-Man in the arcade this was definitely the most common. With the "speedup hack" on, it makes the game much more playable in these modern times as it plays much quicker. This maze is getting really boring now. Which means it's time for a hack!
#4: Hangly-Man - Arcade Hack (1981)
Well, I wanted a different maze, and I sure got that, but there were two more unique features to Hangly-Man. First, in the second level, the maze disappears when you get the first power pellet. Secondly, the maze changes in the third level...to no maze at all...it's just an open room with pellets in a formation as if there were a maze. That was the most unique level of all.
#5: Ms. Pac-Man - Arcade (1981)
This is by far my favorite Pac-Man game of them all. Even more than the modern Pac-Man Worlds, etc. First off, the maze changes, so I don't get bored of doing the same maze 10 times in a row. Second of all...look how cute she is! Lara Croft may have bigger boobs, Aeris may be more of a sweetheart, and Jill Valentine may be more of a bad ass, but Ms. Pac-Man is the video game woman for me.
Like Pac-Man, she plays much better with a speedup hack, but Ms. Pac-Man is a little faster even without it. Another gameplay difference is that instead of staying stationary in the middle of the screen, the fruit bounces from one end of the maze to the other. At times this makes it easier, others it makes it harder. I've been well on my way to an excellent score, when suddenly I'm down a couple of lives for trying too hard for a couple pears (2,000 points) or bananas (5,000).
One of my favorite memories of playing Ms. Pac-Man was on a Walt Disney World trip in 2000. The 20th anniversary cabinet had just came out (yes, speedup hack was on) and I was determined to reach 100,000 points. One of my last games, I fell just short. I was so close, that I considered putting a quarter in, since this machine allowed you to continue...I decided that it wouldn't be right. As you can see from the screenshot above, I did eventually hit 100,000, and well beyond just about a year ago, but I'll always remember the dozens of games I played on that Disney World trip, fondly.
6: Pac-Man - Atari 2600 (1981)
This game is shit. Next!
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| There's actually four ghosts here, but the 3 in the chamber are overlapping each other. |
#7: Ms. Pac-Man - Atari 2600 (1982)
While the arcade version of Ms. Pac-Man is my favorite, the Atari 2600 version is probably the one I played the most, especially as a kid. It was far, far superior to whatever the hell the Pac-Man for 2600 was supposed to be. For one, the fruit actually looked like fruit, and while not nearly as graphical or advanced as the arcade version, the game actually plays much closer to its original than Pac-Man. My favorite feature of this version is the ability to play with only one ghost. This allowed me time to come up with strategies for playing the game when I was growing up, and something I will still do once in awhile, just for fun.
#8: Pac-Man - Atari 5200 (1982)
This was a much better effort than the 2600. It actually looks and plays like Pac-Man. The home consoles still weren't up to par with the arcade machines of the day, but it was much much closer with this iteration. The game is hard, as it seems the ghosts are just a tad faster in this version than in others. Not so much that it's unplayable, but enough to make it a challenge to get through the first couple of levels.
#9: Pac-Man - Nintendo Entertainment System
Sticking with the 8-bit systems a little longer, I decided to try out Pac-Man on the NES. I've actually never played either Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man on the NES. The game looks better than the less powerful 8-bit systems could provide, but the arcade version is still superior, and Pac-Man looks huge, in comparison in this one. This game is actually slower than either the 2600 Ms. Pac-Man or the non-hacked arcade versions. It's actually a little depressing.
#10: Ms. Pac-Man - NES
Other than using the Ms. Pac-Man theme and mazes, and being a little faster (but still slower than the arcade version) this game is identical to the Pac-Man NES game.
Well, that will wrap up this play session. It's getting close to dinner time, though there are still many, many iterations of Pac-Man to go. I'm sure I will revisit this again, possibly on another rainy Saturday.
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