Pac-Man Reviews – The Famous Maze Game, but Is It Still Fun? Both NES and Arcade Versions Played!

With my last NES review, I’ve began playing early Namco titles such as the fixed shooter, Galaxian. I’ve now come to the famous and influential maze chase game, Pac-Man. To be upfront, this one isn’t exciting for me to try out, but I’ll do my best to be fair with the game.

Gameplay

As many of us know, Pac-Man involves playing as the eponymous main character as he makes his way through a maze. All the while he eats pellets in the stage until all of them are gone. Once that is done, he goes on to the next stage to do the same thing again. Meanwhile, there are four ghosts chasing him around. If one of them touches him, Pac-Man dies. The only way for him to defeat the ghosts is to eat a Power Pellet which causes the ghosts to turn blue and slow down. He can then eat them for extra points and force them to go back to the center of the maze.

While this gameplay loop was addictive and fun back in the day, I didn’t find it very compelling. It did change some as the levels progress, though. For example, the amount of time that the Power Pellets work decreases from level to level. Plus, one aspect I liked was that on either side of the maze there are warp tunnels that take you from one side of the screen to the other. The ghosts go slower than normal when traveling through them, which makes the tunnels an important aspect to the gameplay. You can also eat fruit to earn points.

Although the gameplay isn’t exciting for me, one of its strengths is that the game is easy to grasp and understand, making it quite approachable. Plus, it can be enjoyed by people of all walks of life and genders. I point out this latter fact because according to Wikipedia, one of the developers of the game wanted to create a title “…that could appeal to women as well as men, because most video games of the time had themes that appealed to traditionally masculine interests, such as war or sports.” For those curious, this was as of 1980.

Music and Sound Effects

Surprisingly, what impressed me most about this game was its sound design. Not that there was a lot of music in it, but the rhythmic sound of Pac-Man opening and closing his mouth and eating the pellets was very well done and kind of addictive. I also appreciate the repetitive nature of it, oddly enough. It really makes sense with the flow of the gameplay and the large number of pellets in the maze.

Musically, my favorite part is the little melody that plays during the comedic skits between some stages. The music and the animation during these moments go a long way in giving the game more personality and making it feel more lively.

Control

One significant challenge I faced in the game was that my control of Pac-Man didn’t seem very good. For example, when I would take turns, it was hit or miss on whether he would turn at the right time. This was rather frustrating and led to multiple deaths at the hands of the ghosts. I do wonder if part of my difficulty with it came from playing the game on a d-pad instead of a joystick like in the original arcade version.

Additionally, I think part of the problem stems from the game registering a diagonal input where Pac-Man was (maybe?) designed only for 4-way inputs. I did find that if I held a direction on the d-pad as my pellet-muncher guy came to a turn then I can do specific directions more accurately. If you’d like to see a video from The Underground Arcade about 4- and 8-way joysticks, please check this one out.

The Ghosts and AI

Turning again to what impressed me, I really liked how the different ghosts behaved around my character. It was clear that they had diverse ways of moving around the maze. The reason why I say this is because most of the games I’ve played on the NES so far have primarily used repeated patterns and increased speed of enemies to heighten a game’s difficulty.

In the case of Pac-Man, the ghosts actually have some form of artificial intelligence. They seem to be moving based on my location in the maze, and not entirely following a preset series of movements. As I write this, Donkey Kong (Review) comes to mind as a game that uses more preset movements of obstacles and higher speeds to increase its difficulty.

Graphics

I find this artificial intelligence of the ghosts, and the sound design, to be my favorite parts about the game. Beyond those, the graphics stand out primarily because of how closely they appear to the arcade game. The title was released on Nintendo’s Famicom (Japanese version of the NES) in 1984, while the original arcade game came out in 1980. The fact that one could play a similar version of an arcade title in the home after just a few years is impressive! In fact, this sense is similar to how I felt about the graphics in my review of Mario Bros. as well.

On the NES, the game is smooth looking, with good movement of the ghosts and Pac-Man as they travel around the maze. There isn’t even much flicker on the sprites as well. I only noticed that when the four ghosts and Pac-Man were all on the same horizontal line. Plus, the ghosts are kind of funny how they move their eyes to look where they are going as they hunt down Pac-Man. I know that is a minor thing, but I like it!

Final Thoughts

Even though I did enjoy the sound design and AI of Pac-Man, I still can’t say that I was too excited about it. It was a bit fun, but the control problems I faced were disappointing. Again, that latter issue is likely due to how my controller is designed (I played the game on the 8BitDo Pro 2 Controller through Steam). I hope that if one has a proper joystick with a 4-way gate then the title will be easier to play.

I liked Pac-Man some, but I don’t intend to play it again anytime soon.

I played the NES version of the game on the Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 on Steam. It’s also available on a variety of other systems, with links found below.

Like Pong (review), I know that this game was a very famous and popular arcade game. Even so, playing it today, I wasn’t very excited about it. However, I liked it a bit more than I thought I would so I will give it a Mixed rating. Still, I’m curious about trying other Pac-Man games. Thanks to the Pac-Man Museum+ (Steam page) I have a wide variety of them in my collection because. I want to see how the series progresses over time.

In the meantime, my next two Bandai Namco games I’ll be reviewing include Xevious and Mappy, both of which will be NES/Famicom versions.

Title: Pac-Man (Price Charting)
Genre: Maze Chase
Years Released: 1984 on the Famicom and 1993 on the NES by Namco Hometek
Developer: Bandai Namco
Available On: Sony PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, Microsoft Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and Steam through The Namco Museum Archives Volume 1.
Price Paid: $0.39 or $4.22 for the collection

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.

Arcade Game

As I just shared in the section above, I also have the arcade version of Pac-Man through the Pac-Man Museum+. In that collection, you play as Pac-Man at a new arcade that you can walk around in. You’re able to decorate your arcade and play the games located there.

Initially unlocked at the start of the game is, of course, Pac-Man. When I first started it, I was impressed at the vertical aspect of the game. Although the NES port also has a vertical orientation, the arcade release feels even more so. Another striking addition is the bezel artwork that is visible while you play. This adds a nice touch of authenticity to the game. It even includes info on how to play it, how many bonus points you earn by eating the fruit in the middle of the maze, and more.

As I played, I noticed the game’s higher resolution. This was particularly apparent from the look of the maze. Other than that, and the bezel artwork, the NES game captures a lot of the spirit of the arcade original. Of course, I am far from a Pac-Maniac, but I did enjoy the arcade a reasonable amount. That is to say, to a similar degree as the NES version.

One thing I appreciated about the Pac-Man Museum+ one is that it has built-in achievements that help me to play it further. Some examples include completing a certain number of stages on one credit, earning a specific score, and more. As these are done, various items are unlocked. In contrast, the Archives Volume 1 version has just one Steam achievement for completing stage 13.

Concerning gameplay, I did have a similar problem with the controls as in the NES game. The Music and sound effects are also similar.

Although I didn’t enjoy the arcade version of Pac-Man that much more than the NES version, I intend to play it more in the future so I can unlock additional items in the arcade.

Title: Pac-Man (Official Pac-Man Museum+ Site)
Genre: Maze Chase
Year Released: 1980
Developer: Bandai Namco
Available On: Sony PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch 1 and 2, Microsoft Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and Steam through Pac-Man Museum+
Price Paid: $0.06 or $0.72 for the collection

Remember, we can have different opinions about the games we play. If you like something more (or less) than I do, both of our perspectives are valid.