Miyamoto's pretty happy to talk about his admiration of Pac-Man these days. Pac-Man Vs. was fairly unprecedented in its time, with Nintendo reaching out to work with a rival publisher's property. What has turned into respect was once youthful jealousy. Everyone loves Mario, but Pac-Man is one of the first things kids learn to draw. Miyamoto has Pac-Man Fever.
Devil World is a very strange game, but if you view it as a Pac-Man clone from the guy who made Donkey Kong, it starts to seem a little more coherent. You play as Tamagon, a little guy going around mazes controlled by The Devil. There are demons swarming throughout. I don't know what the Nintendo-brand power pellets are called, but they're here too. To attack the demons and collect thepower pellets, you must pick up a crucifix, which grants you power for a few seconds. You have to take care around the edge of the screen though, as The Devil is constantly making it shift, however he likes, and can easily crush you if you're not careful. Once you've collected all the pellets, you're onto the next stage.
The second level has you collecting four floating bibles from each corner of the screen, all while it shifts. You must deposit each bible in a hole at the centre of the stage. When all four bibles are in their spot, you move to the bonus level. This works similarly to the second level, with a little more control over the scrolling, but it's just for bonus points and extra lives so you don't have to worry about it. Then, like Donkey Kong, it loops back to a harder version of Level 1.
Devil World's mechanics are odd and convoluted, but once you get a grasp of them, the game's pretty fun. It's nowhere near as coherent as Pac-Man. I think that's standard for early 80s Nintendo games, and something they got better at once the locations and characters of their titles became less abstract and more definite. The Clu-Clu Lands and Wrecking Crews would soon be set aside for Metroid and Zelda. Games with hard lore, characters and settings. Things you could latch onto and reflect upon. Devil World's satanic/religious theme's just an arbitrary topic to base a handful of the game's enemies and items upon. They could have been anything, and it wouldn't have changed the game. It's a little curious that Nintendo of America didn't opt to bring this over with different sprites, ala Mario 2, but then, the game's nowhere near as good as Doki Doki Panic, so maybe it wasn't worth the bother.
I can't give the game too much shit for ripping off Pac-Man. Taito only came out with Bub's design two years after Nintendo introduced Tamagon.
Devil World is a very strange game, but if you view it as a Pac-Man clone from the guy who made Donkey Kong, it starts to seem a little more coherent. You play as Tamagon, a little guy going around mazes controlled by The Devil. There are demons swarming throughout. I don't know what the Nintendo-brand power pellets are called, but they're here too. To attack the demons and collect the
The second level has you collecting four floating bibles from each corner of the screen, all while it shifts. You must deposit each bible in a hole at the centre of the stage. When all four bibles are in their spot, you move to the bonus level. This works similarly to the second level, with a little more control over the scrolling, but it's just for bonus points and extra lives so you don't have to worry about it. Then, like Donkey Kong, it loops back to a harder version of Level 1.
Devil World's mechanics are odd and convoluted, but once you get a grasp of them, the game's pretty fun. It's nowhere near as coherent as Pac-Man. I think that's standard for early 80s Nintendo games, and something they got better at once the locations and characters of their titles became less abstract and more definite. The Clu-Clu Lands and Wrecking Crews would soon be set aside for Metroid and Zelda. Games with hard lore, characters and settings. Things you could latch onto and reflect upon. Devil World's satanic/religious theme's just an arbitrary topic to base a handful of the game's enemies and items upon. They could have been anything, and it wouldn't have changed the game. It's a little curious that Nintendo of America didn't opt to bring this over with different sprites, ala Mario 2, but then, the game's nowhere near as good as Doki Doki Panic, so maybe it wasn't worth the bother.
I can't give the game too much shit for ripping off Pac-Man. Taito only came out with Bub's design two years after Nintendo introduced Tamagon.