|
|
|
|
Super Pac-Man
|
| |
|
| |
Super Pac-Man, released in 1982 and taking a slant on the legendary comic book hero Superman, is the third installment of the Pac-Man series of arcade games and the second starring Pac-Man himself. It is also the second game to be created by series originator Namco, as Ms. Pac-Man (the second in the series) was originally created without Namco's involvement.
d and gameplay mechanics were altered radically from the first two entries into the Pac-Man series - instead of eating dots, the player is required to eat keys in order to open doors, which open up sections of the maze that contain what in earlier games were known as "fruits" (foods such as apples and bananas, or other prizes such as Galaxian flagships), which are now the basic items that must be cleared.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Super Pac-Man' Start a new discussion about 'Super Pac-Man' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Super Pac-Man, released in 1982 and taking a slant on the legendary comic book hero Superman, is the third installment of the Pac-Man series of arcade games and the second starring Pac-Man himself. It is also the second game to be created by series originator Namco, as Ms. Pac-Man (the second in the series) was originally created without Namco's involvement.
Characteristics and gameplay
Sound and gameplay mechanics were altered radically from the first two entries into the Pac-Man series - instead of eating dots, the player is required to eat keys in order to open doors, which open up sections of the maze that contain what in earlier games were known as "fruits" (foods such as apples and bananas, or other prizes such as Galaxian flagships), which are now the basic items that must be cleared. Once all the food is eaten, the player advances to the next level, in which the food is worth more points. In earlier levels, keys unlock nearby doors, while as the player progresses through the levels, it is more common for keys to open faraway doors.
In addition to the original power pellet which allows Pac-Man to eat the ghosts, an additional "Super" pellet was introduced which turns Pac-Man into Super Pac-Man—in this form, he is twice as large, moves much faster and has the ability to eat his way through barriers without unlocking them. In this state, he is invulnerable to the ghosts (which, for unknown reasons, become flat while moving horizontally and thin while moving vertically when Pac-Man is in this state), though he still cannot eat them without the help of the original power-up. This game also adds a speed button, which allows Pac-Man to move faster when in Super mode. Pac-man can enter the ghost house in this state, too, able to eat hiding ghosts.
History
Based on the Namco Galaga hardware, this is the first of the Pac-Man games to use the Motorola 6809 processor, unlike the earlier Pac-Man games which used the older Z80, and fell into the conversion class of the Namco Galaxian. The new gameplay mechanics were considered by many to be confusing, and too much of a change from the original two games. In particular, when Pac-Man transforms into Super Pac-Man, he was thought by some to be much more difficult to control. Whatever the reason, Super Pac-Man proved to be the least successful game in the original series, being outsold that year by Pac-Man Plus, a slightly updated version of the original game, which, like the aforementioned Ms. Pac-Man, was produced by the American licensee Midway without authorization from developer Namco. Midway also went on to create Jr. Pac-Man, also based on the older Z80 processor, and having the basic sound and feel of the older games with which fans were more familiar. In spite of this, the game's A.I. was celebrated as being one of the best of that era.
Game platforms
Super Pac-Man was only a moderate success in the 1980s as an arcade machine, and thus has not been as widely ported to home video game consoles as the original Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. Still, the game has been revived several times.
- In 1984, a port of Super Pac-Man was made for the Atari 5200 but was never released due to the big video game crash around that time.
- In 1988, DOS and Commodore 64 versions were released by Thunder Mountain.
- In 1998, Namco released Super Pac-Man as part of Namco History Volume 3 (a collection of classic Namco games similar to the Namco Museum series) for the PC in Japan only.
- Namco has released a portable version on select cell phone models exclusively on Sprint. .
As a promotion, Sprint and Namco ran a sweepstakes which offered the grand prize winner a Volkswagen New Beetle customized with Super Pac-Man art. The car was on display at major videogame tradeshow E3 in Los Angeles in May 2006. The Sweepstakes began June 1, 2006 and ended on July 31, 2006.
- In 2007, it was released for Palm PDA devices. a PDA software retailer.
- Namco has re-released Super Pac-Man on mobile phones only this time with a deluxe version with updated 3D graphics and better sound effects.
- In November 4th 2008, Super Pac-Man is released in Namco Museum virtual Arcade for the Xbox 360.
External links
- on mobile platform
- development notes (Atari 400/800 cart)
|
| |
|
|
