Let’s go back to a simpler time. The 1980’s. A time when the rumor mill was alive and well, the Internet was a science fiction trope, and arcades ruled. One title that ruled the arcades in the early 80’s was Pac-Man by Namco. By 1984 though, the yellow dot eater was running long in the tooth. Namco decided to change things up a bit with this in mind. Keep in mind, Pac-Land predates Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros by a good year. This is one of the earliest attempts at expanding the repertoire of a mascot character.

Gone are the mazes and for the most part and power pellets being in the corners. Power pellets do make an appearance and they have the same effect here. The fruits still make an appearance as do the ghosts, though both are used slightly different in Pac-Land. The enemy ghosts have learned new tricks since leaving the maze as well. Here they are driving cars and attempting to run you down. Yes, the ghosts have apparently gone to Car-Mart and gotten themselves some wheels. No more walking for them.

That is not the only “interesting” change that Namco went with for Pac-Land. The controls are another area that things went awry for fans of, well, gaming in general. Instead of the standard stick to move Pac-Man around, players must press two buttons representing left and right movement. There is a third button for jumping. I am serious here. Not even joking.

There is an actual story powering your goals in Pac-Land. Pac-Man is on a trip to return a fairy that is under his hat to Fairy Land. Yes, Pac-Man now wears a hat and that is not the weirdest thing in this game. This was something we saw in the cartoon so it is canon, I guess.

The kicker here is, when you complete your quest to deliver the fairy safely home, you must return home yourself. Luckily you don’t have to traverse every level to complete this goal.

This is all done in 2D side scrolling action scenes. Nintendo ate the Namco mascots lunch a year later as far as this genre goes.

This is not the last time Namco would attempt to expand the Pac-Man universe with new game styles and genres. They would take their yellow dot eater into many different genres. Potentially more than Mario himself has attempted so far. Anyone care to do the math? If so, let me know in the comments below.

Pac-Land came home to many platforms. Such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Atari Lynx, and TurboGrafx-16 to name a few. Hit eBay for a copy if you want to take Pac-Man on this fairy returning quest.

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Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams