Difference between revisions of "Pac-Man"

From Sega Retro
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{{Bob
 
{{Bob
−
| bobscreen=PacMan GG title.png
+
| bobscreen=PacMan GG US title.png
−
| publisher=[[Namco]]
+
| bobscreen2=PacMan GG title.png
 +
| tab1=US
 +
| tab2=JP
 +
| publisher={{company|[[Namco]]|region=JP}}{{company|[[Namco Hometek]]|region=US}}
 +
{{company|[[Majesco Sales]]|region=US; re-release}}
 
| developer=[[Namco]]
 
| developer=[[Namco]]
 
| system=[[Sega Game Gear]]
 
| system=[[Sega Game Gear]]
 
| sounddriver=
 
| sounddriver=
 
| peripherals=[[Gear-to-Gear Cable]]
 
| peripherals=[[Gear-to-Gear Cable]]
−
| players=1-2 (alternating)
+
| players=1-2
 
| genre=Action{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20130101202427/http://sega.jp/fb/segahard/gg/soft_licensee.html}}
 
| genre=Action{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20130101202427/http://sega.jp/fb/segahard/gg/soft_licensee.html}}
 
| releases={{releasesGG
 
| releases={{releasesGG
Line 15: Line 19:
 
| gg_rrp_us=29.95
 
| gg_rrp_us=29.95
 
| gg_code_us=T-14018
 
| gg_code_us=T-14018
−
| gg_date_us_m=2000
+
| gg_date_us_m=2001
 +
| gg_rrp_us_m=14.97{{magref|gamepro|152|26}}
 
| gg_code_us_m=T-14018
 
| gg_code_us_m=T-14018
 
| gg_rating_us_m=e
 
| gg_rating_us_m=e
 
}}
 
}}
−
| otherformats={{NonSega|Arcade|APPLE2|2600|5200|A8B|C64|FM7|GB|GBA|INTV|MSX|NGPC|NES|FDS|PC60|PC88|PC98|IBMPC|MZ|X1|TI994A|VIC20|Spectrum}}
+
| otherformats={{NonSega|Arcade|APPLE2|2600|5200|A8B|C64|FM7|GB|GBA|INTV|MSX|NGPC|NES|FDS|PC6001mkII|PC8001mkII|PC8801|PC9801VX|IBMPC|MZ80K|MZ1500|MZ2000|X1|TI994A|VIC20|Spectrum}}
 
}}
 
}}
−
{{stub}}'''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' (パックマン) is a 1980 arcade game developed by [[Namco]]. It became incredibly successful to the point that it saw ports to consoles of the time and continues to see ports — made in-house, officially licensed, and homebrew — to today's systems. The only port of the game to a Sega system, however, was an in-house port to the [[Sega Game Gear]] in late 1990 (consequently, it was released early 1991).
+
'''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' (パックマン) is a 1980 arcade game developed by [[Namco]]. It became incredibly successful to the point that it saw ports to consoles of the time and continues to see ports — made in-house, officially licensed, and homebrew — to today's systems. The only port of the game to a Sega system, however, was an in-house port to the [[Sega Game Gear]] in late 1990 (consequently, it was released early 1991).
  
 
On an interesting note, Sega's 1982 arcade game ''[[Ali Baba and 40 Thieves]]'' runs on modified Pac-Man hardware.
 
On an interesting note, Sega's 1982 arcade game ''[[Ali Baba and 40 Thieves]]'' runs on modified Pac-Man hardware.
  
 
==Gameplay==
 
==Gameplay==
−
The basic goal of ''Pac-Man'' is to eat all the dots (or pellets) in a maze, avoiding ghosts. By eating a power pellet, Pac-Man is able to eat the ghosts as well for a short period, and the ghosts will then respawn from the center of the screen. Levels are completed once all the dots are eaten, and extra points can be achieved by eating fruit.
+
{{ScreenThumb|PacMan GG Ready.png|The "Ready!" screen at the start of a new game.|width=192}}
 +
The basic goal of ''Pac-Man'' is to eat all the dots (or pellets) in a maze, avoiding ghosts. Pac-Man will automatically move forward in the direction that the D-Pad is pressed until he reaches a wall, but can freely change direction by pressing a different direction. By eating one of four Power Pellets in the corners of the maze, all of the ghosts will become frightened and turn blue, Pac-Man is able to eat the ghosts as well for a short period to earn bonus points. Ghosts start from a "ghost house" in the center of the maze and will respawn from the center of the screen after being eaten.
 +
 
 +
Levels are completed once all the dots are eaten, and extra points can be achieved by eating fruit that periodically appears beneath the ghost house. As the player progresses further through each level, the game's speed increases and the Power Pellets get less effective at making the ghosts vulnerable. Every few levels the game will display brief, comical cutscenes featuring Pac-Man and Blinky. The game ends when all lives are lost from being caught by the ghosts.
 +
 
 +
Unlike other versions of the game, the 2-player mode is a competitive mode where players play four rounds and compete to score the most points without running out of lives. When setting up a game, both players can decide which rounds they'll play and how many lives they start out with. The winning player is determined based on the score when either player completes all four rounds - in a tie for score, the player who cleared all four rounds first is declared the winner. The game will also end if a player runs out of lives with the surviving player being declared the winner, and the winner will be decided by score if both players run out of lives simultaneously.
 +
 
 +
===Ghosts===
 +
Each of the four ghosts have a specific quirk in their AI and will pursue Pac-Man differently from one another:
 +
{{InfoTable|
 +
{{InfoRow
 +
| title=Blinky
 +
| sprite={{sprite|PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png|3|crop_x=0|crop_width=14}}
 +
| bgcolor=#000000
 +
| info1name=Character
 +
| info1=Shadow
 +
| desc=Blinky is always the first ghost out and will chase Pac-Man directly. After a certain number of dots are eaten, he will receive a boost in speed.
 +
}}
 +
{{InfoRow
 +
| title=Pinky
 +
| sprite={{sprite|PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png|3|crop_x=14|crop_width=14}}
 +
| bgcolor=#000000
 +
| info1name=Character
 +
| info1=Speedy
 +
| desc=Pinky targets the four tiles in front of Pac-Man, attempting to ambush him.
 +
}}
 +
{{InfoRow
 +
| title=Inky
 +
| sprite={{sprite|PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png|3|crop_x=28|crop_width=14}}
 +
| bgcolor=#000000
 +
| info1name=Character
 +
| info1=Bashful
 +
| desc=Inky's movement is relative to both Pac-Man and Blinky's. He will try to position himself in front of Pac-Man, but will give chase if Blinky is close to Pac-Man.
 +
}}
 +
{{InfoRow
 +
| title=Clyde
 +
| sprite={{sprite|PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png|3|crop_x=42|crop_width=14}}
 +
| bgcolor=#000000
 +
| info1name=Character
 +
| info1=Pokey
 +
| desc=Clyde alternates between trying to chase Pac-Man when far away, and largely ignoring him if he is close to him.
 +
}}
 +
}}
 +
 
 +
===Scoring===
 +
{{multicol|
 +
'''Dots:''' 10 points
 +
 
 +
'''Power Pellets:''' 50 points
 +
 
 +
'''Ghosts:''' Various points depending on how many are eaten with a single Power Pellet:
 +
*'''1st ghost:''' 200 points
 +
*'''2nd ghost:''' 400 points
 +
*'''3rd ghost:''' 800 points
 +
*'''4th ghost:''' 1,600 points
 +
 
 +
'''Fruit:''' Various points depending on the fruit:
 +
*'''Cherry:''' 100 points
 +
*'''Strawberry:''' 300 points
 +
*'''Orange:''' 500 points
 +
*'''Apple:''' 700 points
 +
*'''Melon:''' 1,000 points
 +
*'''[[Galaxian]]:''' 2,000 points
 +
*'''Bell:''' 3,000 points
 +
*'''Key:''' 5,000 points
 +
 
 +
An extra life is awarded at 10,000 points.
 +
}}
  
 
==Versions==
 
==Versions==
−
The Game Gear version of the game is relatively faithful, though due to the smaller resolution, graphics are smaller in size and the full maze cannot be shown without scrolling. This problem can be addressed by selecting 1/2 screen size where the graphics are drawn smaller but the full maze is displayed at once.
+
{{ScreenThumb|PacMan GG Ready Full.png|The alternate screen setting available in the Game Gear version.|width=192}}
 +
The Game Gear version of the game is relatively faithful, though due to the smaller resolution, graphics are smaller in size and the full maze cannot be shown without scrolling. This problem can be addressed by pressing {{Left}} or {{Right}} on the title screen to select a 1/2 screen size where the graphics are drawn smaller but the full maze is displayed at once. This feature is also shared with the [[Game Boy]], [[Game Boy Color]] and [[Game Boy Advance]] versions of the game.
  
 
==Magazine articles==
 
==Magazine articles==
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}}{{Scanbox
 
}}{{Scanbox
 
| console=Game Gear
 
| console=Game Gear
−
| region=US ([[Majesco]])
+
| region=US ([[Majesco Sales]])
 
| front=PacMan GG US Box Front Majesco.jpg
 
| front=PacMan GG US Box Front Majesco.jpg
 
| back=PacMan GG US Box Back Majesco.jpg
 
| back=PacMan GG US Box Back Majesco.jpg
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===ROM dump status===
 
===ROM dump status===
 
{{romtable|
 
{{romtable|
−
{{rom|GG|sha1=D78B6AAC927692F1B67E6A4B7494E2C7E709AE17|md5=E6985998D25D6C4FE36C2B8041244BB4|crc32=A16C5E58|size=128kB|date= |source=Cartridge (JP)|comments=|quality=|prototype=}}
+
{{rom|GG|sha1=D78B6AAC927692F1B67E6A4B7494E2C7E709AE17|md5=E6985998D25D6C4FE36C2B8041244BB4|crc32=A16C5E58|size=128kB|date=|source=Cartridge (JP)|comments=|quality=good}}
−
{{rom|GG|sha1=ED27BAE791E2B24966C282AD307A1B8D2140F55C|md5=8B8663CF7EF0A0BD595306FE28957441|crc32=B318DD37|size=128kB|date= |source=Cartridge (US)|comments=|quality=|prototype=}}
+
{{rom|GG|sha1=ED27BAE791E2B24966C282AD307A1B8D2140F55C|md5=8B8663CF7EF0A0BD595306FE28957441|crc32=B318DD37|size=128kB|date=|source=Cartridge (US)|comments=|quality=good}}
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
 +
{{NECRetro}}
 
<references/>
 
<references/>
  
 
{{PacManOmni}}
 
{{PacManOmni}}
 
{{PacMan}}
 
{{PacMan}}

Revision as of 23:20, 22 May 2024

n/a

  • US
  • JP

PacMan GG US title.png

PacMan GG title.png

Pac-Man
System(s): Sega Game Gear
Publisher: Namco (JP) Namco Hometek (US)

Majesco Sales (US; re-release)

Developer:
Peripherals supported: Gear-to-Gear Cable
Genre: Action[1]

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Game Gear
JP 		¥3,5003,500 T-14017
Sega Game Gear
US 		$29.9529.95 T-14018
Sega Game Gear
US
(Majesco) 		$14.9714.97[3] T-14018
ESRB: Everyone
Non-Sega versions

Pac-Man (パックマン) is a 1980 arcade game developed by Namco. It became incredibly successful to the point that it saw ports to consoles of the time and continues to see ports — made in-house, officially licensed, and homebrew — to today's systems. The only port of the game to a Sega system, however, was an in-house port to the Sega Game Gear in late 1990 (consequently, it was released early 1991).

On an interesting note, Sega's 1982 arcade game Ali Baba and 40 Thieves runs on modified Pac-Man hardware.

Gameplay

PacMan GG Ready.png

The "Ready!" screen at the start of a new game.

The basic goal of Pac-Man is to eat all the dots (or pellets) in a maze, avoiding ghosts. Pac-Man will automatically move forward in the direction that the D-Pad is pressed until he reaches a wall, but can freely change direction by pressing a different direction. By eating one of four Power Pellets in the corners of the maze, all of the ghosts will become frightened and turn blue, Pac-Man is able to eat the ghosts as well for a short period to earn bonus points. Ghosts start from a "ghost house" in the center of the maze and will respawn from the center of the screen after being eaten.

Levels are completed once all the dots are eaten, and extra points can be achieved by eating fruit that periodically appears beneath the ghost house. As the player progresses further through each level, the game's speed increases and the Power Pellets get less effective at making the ghosts vulnerable. Every few levels the game will display brief, comical cutscenes featuring Pac-Man and Blinky. The game ends when all lives are lost from being caught by the ghosts.

Unlike other versions of the game, the 2-player mode is a competitive mode where players play four rounds and compete to score the most points without running out of lives. When setting up a game, both players can decide which rounds they'll play and how many lives they start out with. The winning player is determined based on the score when either player completes all four rounds - in a tie for score, the player who cleared all four rounds first is declared the winner. The game will also end if a player runs out of lives with the surviving player being declared the winner, and the winner will be decided by score if both players run out of lives simultaneously.

Ghosts

Each of the four ghosts have a specific quirk in their AI and will pursue Pac-Man differently from one another:

PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png
 Blinky
Character:
Shadow
Blinky is always the first ghost out and will chase Pac-Man directly. After a certain number of dots are eaten, he will receive a boost in speed.
PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png
 Pinky
Character:
Speedy
Pinky targets the four tiles in front of Pac-Man, attempting to ambush him.
PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png
 Inky
Character:
Bashful
Inky's movement is relative to both Pac-Man and Blinky's. He will try to position himself in front of Pac-Man, but will give chase if Blinky is close to Pac-Man.
PacMan GG Sprite Ghosts.png
 Clyde
Character:
Pokey
Clyde alternates between trying to chase Pac-Man when far away, and largely ignoring him if he is close to him.

Scoring

Dots: 10 points

Power Pellets: 50 points

Ghosts: Various points depending on how many are eaten with a single Power Pellet:

  • 1st ghost: 200 points
  • 2nd ghost: 400 points
  • 3rd ghost: 800 points
  • 4th ghost: 1,600 points

Fruit: Various points depending on the fruit:

  • Cherry: 100 points
  • Strawberry: 300 points
  • Orange: 500 points
  • Apple: 700 points
  • Melon: 1,000 points
  • Galaxian: 2,000 points
  • Bell: 3,000 points
  • Key: 5,000 points

An extra life is awarded at 10,000 points.

Versions

PacMan GG Ready Full.png

The alternate screen setting available in the Game Gear version.

The Game Gear version of the game is relatively faithful, though due to the smaller resolution, graphics are smaller in size and the full maze cannot be shown without scrolling. This problem can be addressed by pressing Left or Right on the title screen to select a 1/2 screen size where the graphics are drawn smaller but the full maze is displayed at once. This feature is also shared with the Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance versions of the game.

Magazine articles

Main article: Pac-Man/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #6: "Fall 1991" (1991-xx-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
ACE (UK) NTSC-U
75
[6]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
70
[7]
Console XS (UK) NTSC-U
76
[8]
Computer & Video Games (UK) NTSC-U
82
[9]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
60
[10]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
50
[11]
Joystick (FR)
65
[12]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC-U
70
[13]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-U
49
[14]
Play Time (DE)
34
[15]
Power Unlimited (NL)
90
[16]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC-U
92
[17]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
79
[18]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-U
79
[19]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
66
[20]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
80
[21]
VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (US)
60
[22]
Sega Game Gear
 69
Based on
17 reviews

Pac-Man

Game Gear, JP (Namcot cart)

Game Gear, JP (Sega cart)
PacMan GG JP Box Back.jpgNospine-small.pngPacMan GG JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
PacMan GG JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Game Gear, US (Namco cart)
PacMan GG US Box Back Namco.jpgNospine.pngPacMan GG US Box Front Namco.jpg
Cover
PacMan GG US Cart Namco.jpg
Cart
Pacman gg us manual.pdf
Manual
Game Gear, US (Sega cart)

PacMan GG US Cart.jpg
Cart
Game Gear, US (Majesco Sales)
PacMan GG US Box Back Majesco.jpgNospine.pngPacMan GG US Box Front Majesco.jpg
Cover
PacMan GG US alt cart.jpg
Cart
Pac-Man GG US Manual Majesco.pdf
Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Game Gear
✔
CRC32 a16c5e58
MD5 e6985998d25d6c4fe36c2b8041244bb4
SHA-1 d78b6aac927692f1b67e6a4b7494e2c7e709ae17
128kB Cartridge (JP)
Sega Game Gear
✔
CRC32 b318dd37
MD5 8b8663cf7ef0a0bd595306fe28957441
SHA-1 ed27bae791e2b24966c282ad307a1b8d2140f55c
128kB Cartridge (US)

References

Necretro-round.svg
NEC Retro has more information related to Pac-Man
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://sega.jp/fb/segahard/gg/soft_licensee.html (Wayback Machine: 2013-01-01 20:24)
  2. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "October 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 27
  3. ↑ GamePro, "May 2001" (US; 2001-0x-xx), page 26
  4. ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "October 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 139
  5. ↑ GamePro, "December 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 93
  6. ↑ ACE, "February 1992" (UK; 1992-01-08), page 94
  7. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "February 1991" (JP; 1991-01-08), page 85
  8. ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 148
  9. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "December 1991 (Go! Issue 2)" (UK; 1991-11-15), page 7
  10. ↑ GamePro, "December 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 126
  11. ↑ Hippon Super, "February 1991" (JP; 1991-01-07), page 43
  12. ↑ Joystick, "Avril 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 130
  13. ↑ MegaTech, "Xmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-06), page 38
  14. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 143
  15. ↑ Play Time, "(8/9)/92" (DE; 1992-07-08), page 97
  16. ↑ Power Unlimited, "Nummer 3, Oktober 1993" (NL; 1993-09-29), page 55
  17. ↑ Sega Power, "December 1991" (UK; 1991-10-30), page 42
  18. ↑ Sega Pro, "November 1991" (UK; 1991-xx-xx), page 64
  19. ↑ Sega Pro, "March 1992" (UK; 1992-02-20), page 20
  20. ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 74
  21. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 88
  22. ↑ VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "November 1991" (US; 1991-1x-xx), page 88


Pac-Man

PacMan GG US title.png

Main page | Comparisons | Magazine articles | Reception


No results



Pac-Man games for Sega systems
Sega Game Gear
 Pac-Man (1991) | Ms. Pac-Man (1993) | Pac-Attack (1994) | Pac-In-Time (unreleased)
Sega Master System
 Ms. Pac-Man (1991) | Pac-Mania (1991) | Pac-Man (????)
Sega Mega Drive
 Ms. Pac-Man (1991) | Pac-Mania (1991) | Pac-Attack (1993) | Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (1994) | Pac-Man (2018) | Pac-Man Pocket Player (2018) | Pac-In-Time (unreleased)
Sega Dreamcast
 Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness (2000)
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