Pac-Man is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. It is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture. Players control Pac-Man, who must eat all the dots inside an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating large flashing dots called Power Pellets causes the ghosts to temporarily turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points.
In 1982, a sequel to the incredibly popular Pac-Man was introduced in the form of his girlfriend, Ms. Pac-Man. This sequel continued on the "eat the dots/avoid the ghosts" gameplay of the original game, but added new features to keep the title fresh. Like her boyfriend, Ms. Pac-Man attempts to clear four various and challenging mazes filled with dots and ever-moving bouncing fruit while avoiding Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Sue, each with their own personalities and tactics. One touch from any of these ghosts means a loss of life for Ms. Pac-Man. Ms. Pac-Man can turn the tables on her pursuers by eating one of the four Energizers located within the maze. During this time, the ghosts turn blue, and Ms. Pac-Man can eat them for bonus points. The Energizer power only lasts for a limited amount of time, as the ghost's eyes float back to their center box, and regenerate to chase after Ms. Pac-Man again. Survive a few rounds of gameplay, and the player will be treated to humorous intermissions showing the growing romantic relationship between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, leading all the way up to the arrival of "Junior".
Puzzle / Strategy / Arcade / Action
Super Pac-Man is a game in Namco's Pac-Man family, but instead of gobbling up dots, Pac is required to eat fruit and prizes, such as apples, bunches of bananas, doughnuts, hamburgers, fried eggs, ears of corn, sneakers, pieces of cakes, raspberries, limes, cups of coffee, mushrooms, Galaxians, bells, and shamrocks. Most of these items are hidden in passages that have locked doors at either entrance, and in order to unlock the doors, Pac needs to eat the key that is closest to the passage that he wishes to unlock. As usual, ghosts will keep chasing Pac around the maze until he has lost all his lives. However, Pac can enter the warp tunnels at either side of the maze to lose the ghosts quickly. There are two types of power pellets in the maze: green and yellow. Yellow power pellets cause ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac to eat them for points, whereas green ones cause Pac to enlarge and will also cause the ghosts to become much thinner and wider, allowing him to fly over them. He can also break open the doors without the need of keys. The effects of the pellets, unfortunately, only last for a number of seconds. During the time that he is enlarged, a flashing star will appear besides two boxes that are located in the middle of the maze. The first box will display the current fruit or prize, and the other will display a rotating selection of them. If Pac manages to eat the star when they match there will be a large bonus score. Occasionally, after three or more stages, there will be a bonus stage where Pac automatically gets enlarged. The object of these stages is to eat everything in the maze before the time runs out and, during these stages, there will be no ghosts to pursue him.
Pac-Man Championship Edition is similar in basic gameplay to the original 1980 Pac-Man: players have to eat dots, while avoiding the four ghosts that roam around the maze. Championship Edition, however, also brings many gameplay differences. The game was designed by Tōru Iwatani, the creator of the classic original 1980 arcade game Pac-Man, and it was Iwatani's final game before his retirement.
Puzzle / Arcade / Action / Educational
Pac & Pal is an arcade game that was released by Namco on July 30, 1983 exclusively in Japan. It runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware, and the object of the game is for Pac-Man to eat all the items before he is caught by the ghosts. Most of the items are fruits from the original Pac-Man game, with a few new additions. Their value varies, starting with cherries at 50 points, and ending with keys from 700 to 5000 points. The items had to first be unlocked by turning over cards distributed around the maze (instead of eating keys like in Super Pac-Man). Very few cabinets still exist today, and this is possibly one of the rarest Pac-Man titles to find in playable format outside Japan.
Mario Bros. is an arcade game published by Nintendo and developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. The platform puzzle which first introduced Luigi to the world has both single and multiplayer action with two differing game types, but with the same objective. Crabs, turtles and fighter flies must be cleared out by jumping underneath the platform they sit on, then kicking them away. Each level is cleared when a set number of coins is collected. For the two player mode, the first to collect the set amount of coins wins.
The gameplay of Jr. Pac-Man is similar to that of its predecessors: The player controls the titular Jr. Pac-Man and scores points by eating all of the dots in the maze. Four ghosts roam the maze and attempt to capture him. The player can eat an energizer to turn the ghosts blue, making them vulnerable for a short time and allowing the player to eat them, sending their eyes back to their home base. When all the dots are cleared, a new maze is presented and gameplay resumes.
Pac-Man Plus is an Action game, developed and published by Bally Midway, which was released in 1982. Gameplay is nearly identical the original Pac-Man. However, the game features new gimmicks that make the game harder, such as faster speed, disappearing mazes, and invisible enemies.