This is a review of the NES conversion, my general understanding is PAC-Land in arcades is a ahead of its time style of 2D scrolling platform Ed that inspired the likes of Shiguru Miyamoto when creating Super Mario Bros. as well as coming from a similar place as Alex the Kidd and Advrnture Island.

However much of that vintage just is not applicable to the FDS/NES port, with Super Mario Bros. released a month or two beforehand PAC-Land is just messy.

Basically you navigate through many levels avoiding the ghosts who are flying in planes, on pogo sticks while a ghost follows behind you encouraging you to move faster, the ghosts eventually need to be jumped on… much like Super Mario Bros. 2 USA to progress over larger obstacles Pac-Man can’t jump alone.

In additIon to this there’s a Pac-Man shaped timer than depletes gradually, fruits to boost your score as well as Pac-Man shaped pellet that in classic style renders the ghosts in a quivering navy that Pac-Man can gobble up for even more points.

There’s a story about a fairy I don’t quite understand, it’s based on the animated TV show.

There are some unconventional controls take some getting used to using the B button to move to the right and the A button to move to the left, jumping is handled by the D-Pad. I found Pac-Man at times hard to control, his jumps and movement aren’t as responsive as Mario’s and the later stages offer little space for movement with some tight building structures and ghosts closing in it’s easy to game over if you’re not constantly moving past these hazards, rote repetition is necessary to learn some stage gimmicks - for example a bridge falling from under you.

Really, it’s a so-so platformer.