[PAC-MAN Museum+ 4/14]

Hey, look! They made a game based off of that one Smash stage that everyone hates!

A decent, if not super remarkable 2D platformer based off of, oddly enough, the Hanna-Barbera PAC-MAN cartoon that has a pretty good heaping of charm to its name. Level design is decent, controls are a bit odd but workable, and the presentation is good with colorful locales and expressive characters. It's a decently fun time, though it is a bit antiquated in some aspects.

Also notable for being... surprisingly influential? Like, this game was directly cited by Shigeru Miyamoto as a inspiration for Super Mario Bros.' gameplay. If Pac-Land was never made, the platforming genre as we know it would not exist. Thanks, Pac-Land.

Back around the Wii U era, I saw the Famicom version of this game on Virtual Console and tried it out and didn't think too much of it outside of it's questionable controls. I would try it again in 2020 and didn't think much of it again. I thought it was decent and probably a good enough port of the original. Honestly I regret thinking that as looking back, while I still think it's OK, it's clearly a downgrade. So now I've tried out the PC Engine version.

Firstly I find it interesting that this is was the only Pac-Man game on the console. A dumb little theory of mine but I feel like this may have been done to make the PC Engine look better than the Famicom. I'm sure that probably wasn't the actual reason but I do like to wonder.

This game is a platformer where you go through each round with 4 rounds in 1 trip. There are 8 trips in the game and this is pretty good for how early the genre was when the arcade version released. This game would go an inspire other games like Super Mario Bros. It's also got a good amount of variety for an old arcade game.

Now while it may seem colorful and cute, this game can get very tricky especially with ghosts hunting you down every chance they can get. There's even one chasing behind you throughout every level. Just don't run out of time or else that ghost is coming for you.

One nice thing about this port is it lets you continue if you game over letting you play the rest of the game if you're determined without too much issue. The controls also have a special option to let you play the game by moving with the d-pad and jump with the buttons. It wasn't like this in some other ports and the original arcade version. The game's presentation and sound are nice for a PC Engine game even if it feels like some sound effects cut off the music too much.

Overall it's worth your time and I think it's a very fun game and it's even got a 2nd playthrough you can do if you want more Pac-Land in your life. Still kind of mad Smash Bros. gave this game such a bad rep to casuals. Maybe I need to lower the score for Ultimate more...

Damn, they made a whole game based on that MS Paint stage in Smash Bros!

Pac-Land holds up remarkably for being basically the first true 2D platformer, all things considered. It genuinely feels like someone tried to come up with the idea of "What if Pac-Man just needed to get to a place?", and tried to integrate it around the base concept of Pac Man being a guy who gets chased by and eats ghosts, with the four being as much a threat to you as the environmental hazards. its status as an high-score chasing arcade title focused on running to build up points, it feels kind of like a proto-endless runner if you think about it. Also makes Pac-Man getting a cameo in Sonic Dash really funny in hindsight.

There's definitely some "pre-Mario" conventions the game struggles from, but I didn't find double tapping the move button to dash to be one of them; I've played enough Smash Bros and Kirby to not really flinch at the double input dash like some may. That being said, I hope that whoever thought needing to spam the D-pad to increase time gained from springboards falls into a river IRL. Beyond that, the game looks kinda putrid, but the soundtrack's got some memorable melodies that are held back by less than stellar instrumentation; the real Sonic 4 problem of a 2D platformer. Beyond all that, there's not much to say about Pac-Land. More so than a game of any defining quality, it's more an interesting little period piece of what one of gaming's most beloved genres was before Super Mario Bros redifined and became the baseline for it a mere year later.

Pac-Man should have stayed home.

While the game does have some good ideas (like turning a level into a puzzle game starting at Trip 4) and appealing graphics, there are a lot of things that hold it back from anything other than "Meh".

- The running mechanic is way too awkward. Rather than have a separate button for it, you have to tap the joystick right twice. This can be a problem when you don't have much room, or there are a bunch of enemies surrounding you.
- It took me so long to figure out how to jump the lakes (Constantly pushing right while you're in the air). It really feels something you figure out through trial-and-error, and in the arcades, that was probably after you wasted several dollars on the machine.
- On small platforms, Pac-Man interprets any light left/right movement as a sign to swan dive to his death.

I always felt a weird connection to the PAC LAND stage in smash 4. since the game dropped i remember endlessly people complaining about how shit the stage was for nebulous "gameplay reasons" when i played on it over and over just cuz i loved the vibes of it. the strange 2d/3d perspective, the ms paint looking line quality, the flat colors and lack of detail on anything, the fairy that looked like she belonged in a different game. had them bumpin ass namco tunez too, smoked the fuck out of the music in the rest of the game (99% of smash songs that arent just original rips are bad dont @ me). i think its fair to say that pac land's prolly my favorite stage in smash history, nothing really spoke to me as much as it did. no idea how i went so long without playing it since i fucked with everything it had going on already but here we finally are.

game fucks. love everything the game has going on visually. pac man's hat and long nose! the ghosts riding around on pogo sticks! the door to heaven! the victory screen of pac man having a nice chill on his porch! hes got a fuckin pac table!!! it all feels so warm, so happy, so pleasant, and it comes with one of my favorite of the ol' namco tunes. gameplay takes a bit to get used to, namely the strange jumping mechanics but once you get the hang of it its real sweet weaving between obstacles making a mad dash to the exit. basically everything i could ask for in an early 80s arcade title. dunno if i like it as much as my beloved mappy but def up there as far as namco goldies

played the tg16 version because it lets you control pac with a d pad instead of having walking buttons(?) like the arcade does. port's basically arcade perfect with a very good enhancement so i dont think i really missed much.

~ Juegos que Hay que Jugar Antes de Morir ~

Juego 68: Pac-Land (1984)

Más feo que pegarle a un padre y con unos de los peores controles que he visto yo en un plataformas. De verdad que siento que por culpa de este juego soy peor persona, y eso que no he tenido narices a pasármelo...

Si tengo que decir algo bueno, el momento en el que se introduce el cono de visión reducida me ha sorprendido para bien.

There's a reason the game this one inspired, Super Mario Bros., went on to become a household name bigger than Mickey Mouse, while Pac Land is "That stage nobody wants to play on in Smash"

Imagine a platformer where you use A and B to move and the dPad to jump. And you have to make a fair amonut of precise jumps here, including on enemies. Imagine the insanity of having to adjust your muscle memory after decades of platformers to play wrong. Pac Land starts out fine enough but then becomes unfair really fast. With only 4 levels (divided into 4 rounds), it ramps up really fast. Special shoutouts to the first three levels of the 4th round, especially round 15, for being extra bullshit.