Arcade Game Info

Pac-Man
	This is the original Pac-Man game that started the Pac-Man craze. Eat the dots, avoid the ghosts, eat the power pellets to eat the ghosts. This game is still enjoyed by millions over 20 years after its initial release. Though many people like Ms. Pac-Man better, being a patterns user, I prefer this game to Ms. Pac-Man. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it an 8.

Pac-Man Plus

This is a modification of the original Pac-Man with many strange new features added. These include fruit that turns the ghosts invisible and blue, power pellets that sometimes only turn 3 ghosts blue and power pellets that sometimes turn the maze walls invisible. There are also graphical differences such as green maze walls, different fruits and blue ghosts that are shorter and have leaves or green flags on their heads. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 6.5.

Ms. Pac-Man

This is the first Pac-game in which you're not Pac-Man. This time around you're Ms. Pac-Man, a female Pac-person who's in love with Pac-Man. With 4 different mazes, moving fruit, random ghost movement and many other innovations, this game is the one that's found in more arcades than any other Pac-game. This game also marks the first appearance of a female ghost (Sue). On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 7.5.

Super Pac-Man

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Super Pac-Man! Okay, so Super Pac-Man just looks like a bigger Pac-Man rather than a flying Pac-Man but use your imagination. In this game instead of eating dots, you eat various food items that are behind closed doors. You can eat keys to open these doors or you can eat one of the 2 green super pills to become super Pac-Man. Super Pac-Man can eat through doors and he's invincible to ghosts. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 9.

Baby Pac-Man
	This is one of 2 games in existence which is a combination of a video game and a pinball game, the other being Granny and the Gators. This isn't one of the more popular Pac-Man games but I like it. It's an interesting concept, using the pinball part of the game to earn power pellets and stuff. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 7.

Jr. Pac-Man

This game is a return to the original "eating the dots in a maze" formula. This game boasts 7 mazes, each of which is nearly twice as wide as the mazes in Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. As the fruits in this game move around the maze, they make the dots bigger. These larger dots are worth 50 points each but they slow Jr. down more than the regular dots do. If a fruit reaches a corner power pellet, both the fruit and the power pellet are destroyed. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it an 8.5.

Pac-Land

This side-scrolling platform game beat Super Mario Bros. to the arcade by a year. This game is based on the Pac-Man cartoon from the early 1980s, so it's a video game that's based on a cartoon that's based on a video game. Platform games aren't really my genre. Someone who likes platform games might like this game better than I do. What I really hate about this game are the large bodies of water that you have to jump across every 3 rounds or so. Whose idea were those bodies of water, anyway? On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 4.

Pac & Pal

In this game, you're in a maze similar to the one in Super Pac-Man. Instead of keys, there are cards that open doors to specific items. Instead of power pellets, there are powerups in this game that turn Pac-Man turquoise. This seems to be an attempt to address an issue that I always wondered about: If Pac-Man eats the power pellets, why are the ghosts the ones that change color? These powerups let you freeze the ghosts in place in various ways. Pac-Man has a Pal who helps him by bringing the stuff to the ghost box. Pal is often misunderstood by many players to be "stealing your stuff" but that's not the case at all. Pal is there to help you get through the level. Granted, you get fewer points if Pal gets the stuff but Pal can really help in tight situations. Many people don't like this game but I do. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 6.5.

Pac-Mania
	This is my favorite arcade Pac-Man game. You're in a maze eating dots but you can jump over ghosts. What could be better? I like this game so much I gave it a separate page. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 10.

Pac-Man Arrangement

Now, granted, I haven't actually played the arcade version of this game yet but I figure the version in Pac-Man Collection for Game Boy Advance is close enough. This game is set in a maze where you're eating dots like in so many other games but there are plenty of weird things in this game to keep that set it apart. There's a 5th ghost, Kinky, who's almost always blue. If you eat him, he acts like a power pellet, turning the other ghosts blue. Watch out, though, because he can merge with each of the other ghosts, making them larger and granting each one a different special power. There are various powerups in this game such as a mirror Pac-Man that's invincible to ghosts and a couple things that trap the ghosts in the ghost box, among others. My favorite part of this game is the boss level. On a scale from 1 to 10, I give it a 9.5.