Tag: Pac-Man article series

Genesis Reviews

Pac-Attack

I can imagine the executives at Namco back in ’93, as they brainstormed about how else to use their yellow mascot Pac-Man. As they ran through the gamut of genres, one young suit shot his arm into the air. ” I’ve got it!” He exclaimed, “what about a puzzle game?” All the other executives nodded in agreement, their faces slowly growing wide with a grin of satisfaction. It was time to collect another cash crop, and as he had always done before, Pac-Man was about to ensure a bountiful harvest. Thus, Pac-Attack was born, and the Genesis received another quality puzzler.

Genesis Reviews

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Namco has maintained Pac-Man in the public eye for almost three decades, reinventing him every so often so that younger generations of gamers never forget the premier mascot of the industry. The incredible Pac-Man Championship Edition on Xbox Live Arcade, for example, shows how the yellow icon still has what it takes to make an impact. It hasn’t always been this way though. Over the years, Namco has tried all kinds of different formulas with Pac-Man, and some weren’t as successful as others. One of the more offbeat variations of the theme was Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, which adopted a graphic adventure interface and took a lot of the chomp out of the gameplay.

Genesis Reviews

Pac-Mania

One of the few video game icons that always finds a way to reinvent himself, Pac-Man has done just about everything but grab a gun and fight terrorists (I think that one’s coming to consoles soon). Namco has always endeavored to bring its hungry yellow mascot to new fans, with the most recent attempt being the simple yet incredible Pac-Man Championship Edition on Xbox Live Arcade. One other incarnation that benefited immensely from a simple gameplay addition was Pac-Mania, which simply altered the gameplay perspective and added a jump button. The result was an arcade hit that was ported to about forty billion systems the galaxy over.

Genesis Reviews

Ms. Pac-Man

Genre: Maze Developer: General Computer Corp. Publisher: Tengen Players: 1-2 Released: 1991 You’d think that a 10+ year-old port of a 20+ year-old game would be a pretty direct translation. Well, in the case of Ms. Pac-Man on the Genesis, you would be wrong. I’m not going to bore you with the details on the basics of Pac-Man, as pretty […]