Any Love for Baby Pac-Man?

[8bitgamer]

As I mentioned in a previous post on the Events & Gatherings forum, I played the heck out of Baby Pac-Man at the Texas Pinball Festival.

To elaborate, I had dismissed the game before at a previous convention, playing it a couple of times just for novelty value and nostalgia's sake (I played it maybe two or three times back in the 80s at Malibu Gran Prix), but I really got into the game this time out. Playing it enough to learn the strategies is the only way to truly appreciate this surprisingly great game.

The maze is deviously difficult, making it tough to pass even two screens. You have to do well on the pinball table down below to earn energizers, fruit, and a faster tunnel. I probably spent at least 7 hours through the course of Friday night and Saturday on the game. Switching back and forth between maze action and pinball is an addicting conconction, especially since you think you can do better the next game (and the next).

My high score by the end of the weekend was just over 200,000, but someone had posted a score of roughly twice that much (my score was near the bottom of the leader board, but was still posted by the time I left late Saturday night).

Anyone else out there a big fan of this game? I'm actually thinking about buying the cabinet for my game room.

[shopkins]

I like it. I only really remember playing it once, at the arcade at Camden Park in Huntington, W.Va., when I was a boy. But I remember thinking it was a neat idea to combine video games and pinball.

Are those cabinets harder than usual to maintain? Also, I suppose this game wasn't that popular or widely produced?

[8bitgamer]

I like it. I only really remember playing it once, at the arcade at Camden Park in Huntington, W.Va., when I was a boy. But I remember thinking it was a neat idea to combine video games and pinball.

Are those cabinets harder than usual to maintain? Also, I suppose this game wasn't that popular or widely produced?

Probably no harder to maintain than the usual pinball machine. In other words, pretty high maintenance.

Not sure how many cabinets were produced, but the one I played at the convention was on sale for $900 in nice condition. Talked to another guy who bought one for $600 in similar condition.

[scooterb23]

I was under the impression that Baby Pac-Man tended to be quite a bit more delicate than a regular pinball machine, and broke down a lot.

Having said that, I absolutely love the game. I doubt I've ever passed the second screen, but if I had a chance to play again right now, I would love to.

[8bitgamer]

[QUOTE=scooterb23;1531315]I was under the impression that Baby Pac-Man tended to be quite a bit more delicate than a regular pinball machine, and broke down a lot.QUOTE]

Hmmm...That makes me not want to buy one.

[Superman]

Never heard of Baby Pac-Man, but it sounds fun. I liked Pinball Quest for the NES and it sounds like there may be some similarities between the two.

[kainemaxwell]

Only time I ever saw it was the machine I used to play when I was a kid at 7-11.

[Flippy8490]

Never played Baby Pac-Man. Sounds interesting!

[brykasch]

I always loved baby pac-man and its on the list of machines I would buy if I had the room.

[guitargary75]

The ghosts on that were brutal. But, I loved that game.

[Kid Ice]

I can't think of a game I admired so much that I also disliked so much.

[Steve W]

I played it for the first time at that same convention, and I enjoyed it, but it's a bit on the difficult side. The ghosts move like lightning, and you don't have any energizers at first (I wasn't aware that you earned them by playing the pinball portion until I read about it after the convention), so it's pretty difficult to stay alive. The pinball portion is a bit on the simplistic side, considering how little room there is for a pinball board inside an arcade cabinet. Still, it was surprisingly fun to play, and I wouldn't mind having one at home if I were into collecting arcade cabs. My only (petty) complaint with it was that the maze portion looked like crap, like it was running off a more primitive motherboard than all the other Pac-Man series games. The ghosts started to flicker when they were swarming me! I've never seen flicker in any arcade Pac-Man game.

This game makes me wonder how well the only other arcade/pinball hybrid plays, called Granny and the Gators. It looks like they improved on the idea a bit, but chose a type of game that I never really cared for, the 'paddling up a river avoiding obstacles and enemies' genre (like White Water, Toobin', or Raft Rider). Still, it'd be nice to try that one out once.

[Motherbrain]

I remember seeing Baby Pac-Man for the first and only time at Good Time Charlie's here in KC back when I was...I don't know...9? I went there intending on spending all my money on Tutankhaman and Robotron but was immediately drawn to it. Unfortunately after a couple of games I more or less dismissed it. I was never big into pinball, and as others have mentioned the maze was freakin' tough. The combination became a bit discouraging and I moved on. They didn't have that game for long so I never got a chance to play it again. I would love to find it again but the odds of that are pretty slim.

Jr. Pac-Man though...I rocked at that game and there's a place in Omaha (around three hours from home) that has it. Good stuff.

John

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I can't think of a game I admired so much that I also disliked so much.

This sums me up fairly well - I really wanted to like Baby Pac-Man. I'm a sucker for just about any member of the Pac-family, in fact, even moreso back in the day. My problem is that I'm just not terribly good at pinball - there's always more physicality to it than what I can ever instinctually put into the game, so I suck at pinball...therefore I tended not to do very well with Baby Pac-Man.

But no hard feelings - it made its way into PDF Level 2, so it's not all bad.