Pac-Mania

For the series of computer games by Alawar, see PacMania

Pac-Mania
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Namco Grandslam Sculptured Software SPS Tengen Teque Interactive Westwood
Publisher(s)	JP Namco NA Atari Games NA Tengen EU Domark EU Grandslam
Designer(s)	St. Daimyōjin
Composer(s)	Junko Ozawa
Platform(s)	Arcade Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MSX2, Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Atari Jaguar, X68000, ZX Spectrum, Zeebo, Game Boy Advance, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, Virtual Console, iOS
Release date(s)	November 1987 Arcade JP November 1987 NA 1987 Amstrad CPC EU 1988 Atari ST EU 1988 Commodore 64 EU 1988 ZX Spectrum EU 1988 X68000 JP March 18, 1989 MSX2 JP March 28, 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System NA 1991 Sega Genesis/Mega Drive NA 1991 EU 1991 Acorn Archimedes EU 1991 Sega Master System EU 1991 Amiga EU 1992 Zeebo SA June 16, 2009 Wii Virtual Console JP August 4, 2009 iOS WW November 25, 2010
Genre(s)	Retro/Maze
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	Namco System 1
Display	Vertical orientation, Raster

Pac-Mania (パックマニア, Pakku-Mania) is an arcade video game in the Pac-Man series, released by Namco in 1987 and distributed by Atari Games in the United States and Europe. It runs on Namco System 1 hardware^[1] and was the last Pac-Man game to run on an arcade cabinet until 1996. It is a pseudo-3D interpretation of the classic maze game genre using an isometric view and features most elements of the original Pac-Man, as well as several new features.

Gameplay

Screenshot of the second level on the US version of Pac-Mania.

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 colour and behaviour.^[2]

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 bounce, allowing him to evade most ghosts by bouncing over them. However, Pac-Man cannot as easily bounce over the green and steel gray ghosts because they bounce whenever the player presses the bounce button.

Enemies include the returning Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde from the original Pac-Man and Sue (who is now purple instead of orange) from Ms. Pac-man. Unlike her original appearance (where she was a replacement of Clyde) she now homes in on Pac-Man's direction and will follow him around. There are two new ghosts (green and steel gray) that bounce whenever Pac-Man bounces. (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's Park (an isometric 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. DIP switches in the game can be set to make the game endless.^[3]

Reception and legacy

The game was converted to most of the popular home formats of the time. These versions of the game were generally well received, especially on the 8-bit systems. The game was runner-up in the category of Best Coin-Op Conversion of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards, behind Operation Wolf.^[15]

Home conversions

Pac-Mania was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990, and the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1991 by Tengen, with the NES version being unlicensed. Neither port was released in Japan. The arcade version of Pac-Mania appeared in Namco Museum Volume 5, the 2001 Namco Museum release, Namco Museum 50th Anniversary and Namco Museum Virtual Arcade. In 2001, 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 2007, Pac-Mania was also released in Namco Museum Remix with Pac & Pal, Pac 'n Roll, Super Pac-Man and other non-Pac-Man games and was re-released in 2010 as part of the follow-up compilation Namco Museum Megamix, along with 17 other Namco arcade games and six remix games, five of which appeared in Namco Museum Remix. In 2010, the design of Pac-Man and the ghosts from Pac-Mania appear in Pac-Man Championship Edition DX and the game itself is released as an app in the App Store for iOS devices. Pac-Mania was also re-released as part of the Pac-Man's Arcade Party arcade machine in 2010 for Pac-Man's 30th anniversary.

References

External links

• Pac-Mania at the Killer List of Videogames
• Pac-Mania at the Arcade History database
• Pac-Mania at MobyGames
• Pac-Mania guide at StrategyWiki
• Soundtrack of Amiga version (LHA file can be played with Deliplayer, a free music player for Windows)
• Pac-Mania at the Internet Movie Database
• Pac-Mania at World of Spectrum