| Pac-Mania | |
|---|---|
 Japanese arcade flyer | |
| Developer | Namco[a] |
| Publishers | Namco
|
| Director | Tōru Iwatani |
| Programmer | Taro Shimizu |
| Artist | Akira Usukura |
| Composers | Junko Ozawa
|
| Series | Pac-Man |
| Platform | |
| Release | |
| Genres | Maze |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
| Arcade system | Namco System 1 |
Pac-Mania[b] is a 1987maze video game developed and published byNamco for Japanesearcades; it was licensed toAtari Games for release in North America. In the game, the player controlsPac-Man as he must eat all of the dots while avoiding the coloredghosts that chase him in the maze. Eating large flashing "Power Pellets" will allow Pac-Man to eat the ghosts for bonus points, which lasts for a short period of time. A new feature to this game allows Pac-Man to jump over the ghosts to evade capture. It is the ninth title in thePac-Man video game series and was the last one developed for arcades up until the release ofPac-Man Arrangement in 1996. Development was directed byPac-Man creatorTōru Iwatani.
Pac-Mania gained a highly positive critical reception for its uniqueness and gameplay. It was nominated for "Best Coin-Op Conversion of the Year" at theGolden Joystick Awards in 1987, although it lost toTaito'sOperation Wolf.Pac-Mania was ported to several home consoles and computers, including theAtari ST,MSX2,Sega Genesis andNintendo Entertainment System, the last of which being published byTengen. SeveralPac-Man and Namco video game collections also included the game. Ports for theWii Virtual Console,iOS andmobile phones were also produced.
Pac-Mania is a maze game viewed from anoblique[7] perspective, with gameplay similar tothe franchise's original installment.[8] The player controlsPac-Man, who must eat all of the pellets in each stage while avoiding five coloredghosts: Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (cyan), Clyde (orange) and Sue (purple). Eating large Power Pellets will cause the ghosts to turn blue and flee, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points and send them to the house in the middle of the stage. Clearing the stage of dots and pellets will allow Pac-Man to move to the next. Mazes scroll both horizontally and vertically, and the left and right edges of some layoutswrap around to each other. Touching a non-vulnerable ghost costs the player one life.
New to this game is the ability to jump over the ghosts, allowing Pac-Man to evade capture. Later rounds of the game introduce two new ghosts, Funky (green) and Spunky (grey), who also have the ability to jump. While Pac-Man can still barely jump over Funky, it is impossible to jump over Spunky.[8] Eating a certain number of pellets will cause a bonus item to appear in the middle of the stage, which can be eaten for points. Some of these bonus items are called Special Items, which are items from later levels, or are Red and Green Power Pellets. Red Power Pellets double the point values of blue ghosts (this bonus is lost if Pac-Man loses a life), and Green Power Pellets temporarily increase Pac-Man's speed. If the player takes too long to clear a stage, Pac-Man's jumping power begins to decrease steadily until it is entirely lost.
Four different mazes are available: Block Town, Pac-Man's Park, Sandbox Land, and Jungly Steps. Upon completing a set number of rounds in each maze, the player progresses to the next; after playing through all four, the cycle restarts. At the beginning of the game, the player can choose to start in any of the first three mazes and will earn a score bonus for choosing either Pac-Man's Park or Sandbox Land and completing the first round in it.
The game ends when the player has either lost all lives or (depending on the machine setting) cycled through all four mazes a set number of times.
Pac-Mania arrived on all of the major 8- and 16-bit systems in Europe in 1988, which wereAmiga andAtari ST in October,Commodore 64 later that year, andAmstrad CPC,MSX andZX Spectrum in December. The conversions were designed and ported by Teque Software, then composed of the duo Peter Harrap and Shaun Hollingworth, and the games were published byGrandslam Entertainment.[9][10] Grandslam also developed anAcorn Archimedes port,[11] which was published byDomark in 1991.Sharp Corporation developed and published a port of the game for itsX68000 computer in early 1989.[12] Namco also released anMSX2 port of the game in mid-June that year.[13]
Pac-Mania was later ported to theNintendo Entertainment System in late 1990 and theMaster System andSega Genesis in 1991 byTengen. The Genesis version was released in North America and Europe, while the NES version was exclusive to North America and the Master System port (developed and published byTecMagik) was exclusive to Europe.[14][15] The Genesis port was outsourced toSculptured Software, while the NES port was outsourced toWestwood Studios.
| Publication | Score | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amiga | Arcade | Atari ST | C64 | Master System | Sega Genesis | ZX | |
| ACE | 775[16] | 727[16] | |||||
| Amiga Computing | 85%[17] | ||||||
| Crash | 82%[18] | ||||||
| Computer and Video Games | 83%[19] | 87%[19] | |||||
| Sinclair User | 79%[20] | ||||||
| The Games Machine (UK) | 92%[21] | 89%[21] | 87%[21] | 86%[21] | |||
| Your Sinclair | 8/10[22] | ||||||
| Zero | 90%[23] | ||||||
| Zzap!64 | 93%[24] | ||||||
| Commodore User | 9/10[2] | ||||||
| Console XS | 88%[25] | ||||||
| Entertainment Weekly | B−[26] | ||||||
| MegaTech | 70%[27] | ||||||
| ST/Amiga Format | 80%[28] | ||||||
| The One | 84%[29] | ||||||
In Japan,Game Machine listedPac-Mania as the fifth most successful table arcade unit of December 1987.[30] In North America, Atari sold 1,412 arcade cabinets in 1987, earning about $2.82 million ($7.8 million adjusted for inflation) in cabinet sales.[1]
Entertainment Weekly gave the Genesis version a B− in 1991.[26]
Polish magazineTop Secret gave the NES version 5 out of 5 checks, commending the music, graphics, the comical cut scenes and the ability to jump.[31]
The game was runner-up in the category of Best Coin-Op Conversion of the Year at theGolden Joystick Awards, behindOperation Wolf.[32]
The arcade version ofPac-Mania appeared inNamco Museum Volume 5, the 2001Namco Museum release,Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary andNamco Museum Virtual Arcade. In 2001, it was one of the games included inPac-Man Collection for theGame Boy Advance. Later in 2002, the arcade version was included as an unlockable bonus inPac-Man World 2. In 2007,Pac-Mania was also released inNamco Museum Remix withPac & Pal,Pac 'n Roll,Super Pac-Man and other non-Pac-Man games. It was re-released in 2010 as part of the follow-up compilationNamco Museum Megamix, along with 17 other Namco arcade games and six remix games, five of which appeared inNamco Museum Remix.
In 2010, the design of Pac-Man and the ghosts fromPac-Mania appear inPac-Man Championship Edition DX, and the game itself was released foriOS devices.Pac-Mania was also re-released as part of thePac-Man's Arcade Party arcade machine in 2010 for Pac-Man's 30th anniversary. In February 2014, it was included in thePac-Man Museum forPlayStation 3,Xbox 360 and PC viaSteam. In 2018, it was included in thePac-Man's Pixel Bash arcade cabinet, along with otherPac-Man, and different Namco games. The game is included in the 2022 compilation titlePac-Man Museum+, released for PC via Steam,PlayStation 4,Xbox One andNintendo Switch. On December 8, 2022,Pac-Mania was also included as part of theArcade Archives byHamster Corporation.
The music from Pac-Man's Park was later used inPac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures as the "power up" theme for "Pac" (the show's version of Pac-Man). The same theme, along with Block Town's music, was remixed and used inSuper Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and laterSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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