Your favorite HOME version of Pac-Man?

[gamingguy]

Please list your favorite for every system you own.




ARCADE: Pac-Man Plus (invisible mazes and cokes; cool!)

2600: Jr. Pac-Man

7800: Ms. Pac-Man

Commodore Amiga: Pac-Mania (near flawless port!)

Original Nintendo: Pac-Man (first perfect version at home)

Super Nintendo: ??? (does Pac-Man even exist for SNES?)

N64: Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness

PS1: Pac-Man World 1 (every time I hear those sampled Pac sounds I can't help smiling!) (but I don't like the old-school Pac-Man emulation...too low-res and too hard to control)

[ventrra]

Two of them that seem good to me aren't on the list:
Colecovision and Atari 400/800/XE, both of which are just Pac-Man.
Tengen did pretty good ports of Pac-man, Ms.Pac-man and Pac-Mania on the NES.

[oesiii]

Don't forget Super Pac-Man for the Atari 5200, great arcade translation. It was never officially released but easy enough to play in an emulator or to get a cart from AtariAge these days.

[ubersaurus]

Pac-Mania for NES is my fav. Just plain awesome.

[NE146]

Well first of all, my NEW favorite version is oddly enough the 2600 hack "A Better Pacman". I play that in my cuttle cart CONSTANTLY (seriously)

The next of course is the 5200 version. But that version always bugged me for some reason. I think that it was because you didn't have much leeway when it came to you dying. Although it's not as bad as the original 2600 version, a Ghost doesn't have to touch you too much to kill you (unlike the arcade version where you have quite a bit of leeway under the ghosts skirts).

Also, what's funny is I played a .ATR file of Atari pacman on Atari800 win, and what surprised me is that there are versions of it that have a MUCH BETTER "dot eating" sound! I mean it really sounds like the correct "waka waka" sound we are all familiar from the arcade game. The 5200 version which doesn't have this sound just isn't the same to me anymore :P

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

My favorite home version of Pac-Man is K.C. Munchkin.

[gmyers31]

I liked Munch Man

[CrazyImpmon]

Mac Man for Macintosh is a very good imitation of Pac Pan, just short of outright emulation of Arcade game. I think it's the only version I've really played much on any platform.

[opcode]

Ok, let me see...

2600: Ms. Pac-Man (I find it more enjoyable than Jr. Pac-Man)

Odyssey2: K.C. Munchkin Chase Krazy Chase (ok, it isn't Pac-Man, but still very fun anyway)

5200: Ms. Pac-Man (thought I still need to give Super Pac-Man a try)

7800: Ms. Pac-Man (again...)

ColecoVision: Atari's Pac-Man

Famicom: the original Pac-Man is really good...

And I think there were a Pac-Land and a Ms Pac Man for SNES...

[boatofcar]

Two of them that seem good to me aren't on the list:
Colecovision and Atari 400/800/XE, both of which are just Pac-Man.
Tengen did pretty good ports of Pac-man, Ms.Pac-man and Pac-Mania on the NES.

I never understood why the 400/800 version of Pac-Man didn't include the cinemas. Anyone know why?

[Daniel Thomas]

Hmm...favorite console Pac-Man's, eh? I was just talking to someone today about how much of a disappointment the original Atari Pac-Man was back in the day. Fortunately, things were greatly improved after that. In fact, between Ms. Pac, Jr. Pac, and the "improved" homebrew Pac, I can't pick just one, so I'll have to cop out and say they're all great.

On the Genesis, Ms. Pac-Man is another personal favorite; a textbook example of how to recreate a classic videogame for a more modern console (much like Tempest 2K). There are a few other Pac's on the Genny (Pac-Man 2, Pac Attack, Pac-Mania), but this is by far the best.

For the Super Nintendo, my favorite is an easy choice: Pac-Man 2. That this game passed through virtually unnoticed is one of gaming's biggest tragedies. And this was back in the heyday of gaming zines, dagnabbit! What the heck was I writing about back then? Pac 2 is so inventive as to practically invent its own genre, gleefully predicting the coming of the "virtual pet" (Tamagotchi and their kin) through the lens of "Duck Amuck." It's entertaining in a way that almost no other videogame can be.

On a side note, I passed by the local coin-op distributor, and noticed that they have a fully working Baby Pac-Man. Just when is somebody going to give us a home version of this game; better yet, how about an "enhanced" version, with multiple mazes and a larger, Devil's Crush-esque pinball board?

[opcode]

I never understood why the 400/800 version of Pac-Man didn't include the cinemas. Anyone know why?

I am not 100% sure here, but I think the [Atari] 800 version of Pac-Man was just an 8KB cartridge. It would explain...

[Ruudos]

I know that many people dislike Pac-Man 2. I even have an old mag where it gets below a 2 (out of 10).
BTW, in Pac-Man 2 you can play the arcade versions of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.

[Cafeman]

Atari 5200 Pac-Man. I like it better than 5200 Ms Pac-Man. I like it because it is fast and challenging, with great 'ghost eaten' sound effects and it has different AI from the coin-op, and it has the intermissions. I like the look of the 5200's 'fat' sprites and the stretched out screen ratio just makes it a bit unique, not a negative thing.

[Daniel Thomas]

I know that many people dislike Pac-Man 2. I even have an old mag where it gets below a 2 (out of 10).

It's no secret that Pac-Man 2 is not an easily accessable game. It really is such an unorthodox concept (relegating the player to the role of stage director) that belies its mascot-platformer looks. But I always have an affection for anything that's unique and different, and Pac-Man 2 has heart; far more a labor of love than the glut of boring mascot clones and beat-em-ups of the day. Ugh. Why are consoles always slaves to the three or four over-saturated genres? Another dozen Final Fight ripoffs? Yet another pile of "extreme sports"? How 'bout some more Tomb Raider wannabees with computerized hot chicks? For the outrageous prices game publishers charge (look at how cheap DVD's are), you'd think they'd put at least five minutes of original thought into their work.

Y'know, I wouldn't mind seeing old prozine reviews of the various Pac-Man games over the years. That would make a terrific database. How about it?