Oh man, this might be the first time I remembered Super Pac-Man existed since approximately 1989. No one talks about this game. And IIRC I never played it; it was another game I saw in an arcade, thought looked cool, but didn't have the quarters.
As an aside, that's a whole experience from my childhood that I wonder how many people can relate to -- having a parent drop me off at, or take me to, an arcade in the twilight years of the golden age of arcades, late 80s, early 90s. And giving me at most $1, but often just a quarter or two that they had jingling around. Even in those days, newer games usually cost $0.50 to play, though oldies like Galaga or Pac-Man might still be $0.25.
I suppose guys a few years older than me might have had more change to spare for the arcades. And those a few years younger (which includes you) probably have fewer memories of arcades in their heyday.
Also, when I say "arcade" -- there were arcade machines at a lot of random places in that time period, like restaurants, or even at the entrance to a K-Mart or Wal-Mart. Even our local Dairy Queen kept one around! So all that said, I had an extremely low ratio of "arcade games played" to "arcade games looked at longingly as I bemoaned my quarter-less pockets".
But speaking of arcade games in random places:
>Remember those Virtual Reality displays a lot of malls had in the mid-1990s?
No, I don't! I never heard of this. I don't think we had it anywhere that I lived or frequently visited. But I'm intrigued to know about what other games were in this format.
If you're interested in trying most of the games I listed (save for a couple), Pac-Man Museum+ has them all, and that compilation is regularly on sale for $9.99. Definitely worth it at that price point.
Thankfully I came of age when arcades started cookin' again around Street Fighter II. Yeah, I miss the days when nearly every random department store or convenience store, and even some restaurants had an arcade cabinet. Heck, my local Marie Callenders had a Pac-Man cocktail cabinet for years in the early 90s. While you wait for your table, get a libation, maybe a piece of pie, play some Pac-Man.
I only saw them a couple times, but the games they had to try were all games made for the device and they looked a lot like the cartoon show Reboot, except slower. They were all tech demos for sure, no legitimate full-fledged games.
I’ve watched someone play through the point-and-click one and was glad I never played it myself, haha.
I don’t know how it came to be in our house, but I grew up with PacMania on the NES. It’s one of those funny-shaped black carts by Tengen that feels a little wrong when all your others are the uniform grey squared-off official games. But the slanty/pointy shape of it was also cool, like sports cars from the 80s. Or rocket ships.
Anyways, it follows the original formula, but is an isometric view and you can jump. To my elementary-school brain it was more fun and challenging than the original, as it got up to some serious speeds and looked way cooler. The challenge of it kept me coming back, trying time and time again to beat it.
Then, after a long period of attempts (read: months) I finally did it! …or did I? After getting past the “last” level, it starts a second loop, but the first level has all the ramped-up mechanics that you built up to throughout your initial playthrough! *eyes wide and jaw dropped emoji* I remember my mind being blown by this new extreme difficulty. I don’t think I ever cleared a second loop (and I didn’t make it to the second loop very often), but I remember enjoying the challenge.
Perhaps if our house didn’t have a 1-hour time limit on playing games for a day I would have achieved more, haha. That game is about the extent of my Pac Man experience (outside of occasionally playing the original), but it was a key part of my gaming upbringing.
Yeah, you're not missing much, haha. I rented it a couple times, and I always wanted to get further than I did. Alas...
Pac-Mania is a solid late 80s update of the original Pac-Man formula IMO. At first it seems like it's going to be easier because you can jump, but the difficulty really ramps up in later levels, like you mentioned.
Honest question: in retrospect, do you think gaming time limits were a wise parental implementation, or do you think it wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway if they weren't there?
My response turned out way longer than I expected, haha.
The short answer is that I think there are much more productive ways to make sure a child isn’t too engrossed in gaming or stunting their development with gaming.
For the full Ultra Deluxe Collector’s Edition response, continue reading:
(Preface statement: my parents were of the mindset that “these new video game things are just going to rot your brain” and they saw no value in them, so gaming was often a point of contention and headbutting.)
As a kid, the time limits were frustrating and seemed very hypocritical given that my dad would just watch tv from the time he got home until he went to bed. The one-hour limit made it hard to complete challenges or get to new areas in games that didn’t have a save functionality.
As an adult, looking back on the time limits, I still find it hypocritical and haven’t been able to figure out what they were trying to achieve with it outside of the no-basis idea that “it’ll rot your brain” and a general fear of the unknown effects of something relatively new. I played outside, did art/drawing a lot, sometimes played with other kids, but I don’t know if limiting my time on video games actually contributed to how much time I spent in other activities or benefitted my development in any way.
What would have been beneficial is if my parents had participated in gaming with me and then made informed decisions based on their experience. The time we would have spent together and the shared adventures and challenges would have provided a strong bonding point and way for us to be involved in each others’ lives a lot more. And they would have seen how games contributed to things like problem solving and creative thinking. They would have been able to make judgement calls on content, (potentially) help me learn how to conduct myself when I was getting frustrated, and would have been able to tell when I was needing to do other activities.
A while ago I played through Tunic. I had a ton of fun figuring everything out on my own, including deciphering the language. In a pretty rare type of conversation with my mom (one where I talk about my interests or passions), I was telling her about it and all the different ways I had fun learning things and solving the puzzles. As part of that conversation is the only time I’ve heard either of them comment on the gaming restrictions they imposed growing up, where she said she sometimes felt bad about cutting us off after seeing us work so hard and getting to far points in games, knowing that the time limit was preventing us from beating the game or winning.
My parents’ opinion of video games is very much more accepting now than it was when I was a kid and I’m pretty sure they would do things differently if they had another go-round with the knowledge they now possess.
I appreciate you sharing all this. Yeah, there definitely was a sense that these video game things are gonna destroy our children back when we were young. As a result, adults acted a certain way, yet failed to realize the hypocrisy of watching several hours of TV a day. Which is arguably worse!
I'm thankful adults now that grew up with gaming and have kids are participating more with their kids in the gaming experience. Cause I agree, what a potential bonding point that could have been.
At least your parents are more open to games now and aren't stuck in 30-year-old perceptions!
Not sure why Pac & Pal never came out in the US, I read it came out in Europe with Pac-Man’s dog from the cartoon instead of Miru. Would love to see a cabinet of this game in person.
Professor Pac-Man was one of those Pac-Man games that Namco had nothing to do with, as Bally Midway had it developed independently from Namco. Another one of the Bally Midway Pac-Man games is my favorite oddball Pac-Man title - Baby Pac-Man, what a strange video/pinball game that is.
Yeah, I'm not sure why either. I read about the European cabinet, I think it was called Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp? I was too young to ever see the Pac-Man cartoon, so I'm not sure what his dog's name was.
I thought about including Baby Pac-Man, but decided against it. There are so many strange Pac-Man spinoffs!
I would argue that Namco did not make another good Pac Man game until Championship Edition in 2007. I appreciate thinking outside of the box, but sometimes it's better to just expand on what works.
I feel the same about Sonic too. The 3D games aren't all terrible, but it's only within the last decade that they've given the fans any 2D Sonic at all, when the latter is what *most* Sonic fans want.
Oh man, this might be the first time I remembered Super Pac-Man existed since approximately 1989. No one talks about this game. And IIRC I never played it; it was another game I saw in an arcade, thought looked cool, but didn't have the quarters.
As an aside, that's a whole experience from my childhood that I wonder how many people can relate to -- having a parent drop me off at, or take me to, an arcade in the twilight years of the golden age of arcades, late 80s, early 90s. And giving me at most $1, but often just a quarter or two that they had jingling around. Even in those days, newer games usually cost $0.50 to play, though oldies like Galaga or Pac-Man might still be $0.25.
I suppose guys a few years older than me might have had more change to spare for the arcades. And those a few years younger (which includes you) probably have fewer memories of arcades in their heyday.
Also, when I say "arcade" -- there were arcade machines at a lot of random places in that time period, like restaurants, or even at the entrance to a K-Mart or Wal-Mart. Even our local Dairy Queen kept one around! So all that said, I had an extremely low ratio of "arcade games played" to "arcade games looked at longingly as I bemoaned my quarter-less pockets".
But speaking of arcade games in random places:
>Remember those Virtual Reality displays a lot of malls had in the mid-1990s?
No, I don't! I never heard of this. I don't think we had it anywhere that I lived or frequently visited. But I'm intrigued to know about what other games were in this format.
If you're interested in trying most of the games I listed (save for a couple), Pac-Man Museum+ has them all, and that compilation is regularly on sale for $9.99. Definitely worth it at that price point.
Thankfully I came of age when arcades started cookin' again around Street Fighter II. Yeah, I miss the days when nearly every random department store or convenience store, and even some restaurants had an arcade cabinet. Heck, my local Marie Callenders had a Pac-Man cocktail cabinet for years in the early 90s. While you wait for your table, get a libation, maybe a piece of pie, play some Pac-Man.
I only saw them a couple times, but the games they had to try were all games made for the device and they looked a lot like the cartoon show Reboot, except slower. They were all tech demos for sure, no legitimate full-fledged games.
I’ve watched someone play through the point-and-click one and was glad I never played it myself, haha.
I don’t know how it came to be in our house, but I grew up with PacMania on the NES. It’s one of those funny-shaped black carts by Tengen that feels a little wrong when all your others are the uniform grey squared-off official games. But the slanty/pointy shape of it was also cool, like sports cars from the 80s. Or rocket ships.
Anyways, it follows the original formula, but is an isometric view and you can jump. To my elementary-school brain it was more fun and challenging than the original, as it got up to some serious speeds and looked way cooler. The challenge of it kept me coming back, trying time and time again to beat it.
Then, after a long period of attempts (read: months) I finally did it! …or did I? After getting past the “last” level, it starts a second loop, but the first level has all the ramped-up mechanics that you built up to throughout your initial playthrough! *eyes wide and jaw dropped emoji* I remember my mind being blown by this new extreme difficulty. I don’t think I ever cleared a second loop (and I didn’t make it to the second loop very often), but I remember enjoying the challenge.
Perhaps if our house didn’t have a 1-hour time limit on playing games for a day I would have achieved more, haha. That game is about the extent of my Pac Man experience (outside of occasionally playing the original), but it was a key part of my gaming upbringing.
Yeah, you're not missing much, haha. I rented it a couple times, and I always wanted to get further than I did. Alas...
Pac-Mania is a solid late 80s update of the original Pac-Man formula IMO. At first it seems like it's going to be easier because you can jump, but the difficulty really ramps up in later levels, like you mentioned.
Honest question: in retrospect, do you think gaming time limits were a wise parental implementation, or do you think it wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway if they weren't there?
Love the story, thanks for sharing, Chip!
My response turned out way longer than I expected, haha.
The short answer is that I think there are much more productive ways to make sure a child isn’t too engrossed in gaming or stunting their development with gaming.
For the full Ultra Deluxe Collector’s Edition response, continue reading:
(Preface statement: my parents were of the mindset that “these new video game things are just going to rot your brain” and they saw no value in them, so gaming was often a point of contention and headbutting.)
As a kid, the time limits were frustrating and seemed very hypocritical given that my dad would just watch tv from the time he got home until he went to bed. The one-hour limit made it hard to complete challenges or get to new areas in games that didn’t have a save functionality.
As an adult, looking back on the time limits, I still find it hypocritical and haven’t been able to figure out what they were trying to achieve with it outside of the no-basis idea that “it’ll rot your brain” and a general fear of the unknown effects of something relatively new. I played outside, did art/drawing a lot, sometimes played with other kids, but I don’t know if limiting my time on video games actually contributed to how much time I spent in other activities or benefitted my development in any way.
What would have been beneficial is if my parents had participated in gaming with me and then made informed decisions based on their experience. The time we would have spent together and the shared adventures and challenges would have provided a strong bonding point and way for us to be involved in each others’ lives a lot more. And they would have seen how games contributed to things like problem solving and creative thinking. They would have been able to make judgement calls on content, (potentially) help me learn how to conduct myself when I was getting frustrated, and would have been able to tell when I was needing to do other activities.
A while ago I played through Tunic. I had a ton of fun figuring everything out on my own, including deciphering the language. In a pretty rare type of conversation with my mom (one where I talk about my interests or passions), I was telling her about it and all the different ways I had fun learning things and solving the puzzles. As part of that conversation is the only time I’ve heard either of them comment on the gaming restrictions they imposed growing up, where she said she sometimes felt bad about cutting us off after seeing us work so hard and getting to far points in games, knowing that the time limit was preventing us from beating the game or winning.
My parents’ opinion of video games is very much more accepting now than it was when I was a kid and I’m pretty sure they would do things differently if they had another go-round with the knowledge they now possess.
I appreciate you sharing all this. Yeah, there definitely was a sense that these video game things are gonna destroy our children back when we were young. As a result, adults acted a certain way, yet failed to realize the hypocrisy of watching several hours of TV a day. Which is arguably worse!
I'm thankful adults now that grew up with gaming and have kids are participating more with their kids in the gaming experience. Cause I agree, what a potential bonding point that could have been.
At least your parents are more open to games now and aren't stuck in 30-year-old perceptions!
Not sure why Pac & Pal never came out in the US, I read it came out in Europe with Pac-Man’s dog from the cartoon instead of Miru. Would love to see a cabinet of this game in person.
Professor Pac-Man was one of those Pac-Man games that Namco had nothing to do with, as Bally Midway had it developed independently from Namco. Another one of the Bally Midway Pac-Man games is my favorite oddball Pac-Man title - Baby Pac-Man, what a strange video/pinball game that is.
Yeah, I'm not sure why either. I read about the European cabinet, I think it was called Pac-Man & Chomp Chomp? I was too young to ever see the Pac-Man cartoon, so I'm not sure what his dog's name was.
I thought about including Baby Pac-Man, but decided against it. There are so many strange Pac-Man spinoffs!
I would argue that Namco did not make another good Pac Man game until Championship Edition in 2007. I appreciate thinking outside of the box, but sometimes it's better to just expand on what works.
I feel the same about Sonic too. The 3D games aren't all terrible, but it's only within the last decade that they've given the fans any 2D Sonic at all, when the latter is what *most* Sonic fans want.