Pac-Land (history and reception)

By Akagi Masumi's list of arcade games, Namco released Pac-Land in Japan in August 1984. Outside Japan the list dates it November 1984 under Namco America ("via Midway") and December 1984 under Bally Midway, and its overseas index gives Namco/Bally Midway, December 1984. pac-land-history/arcade

The list gives year and month only and names no source for its dates. It doesn't say what separates the November Namco America row from the December Bally Midway one.

Cited by: Pac-Land

The Famicom manual introduces Pac-Land as a "real animation game" that Namco announced in 1984, and recalls that an American TV cartoon starring Pac-Man had aired to great acclaim. pac-land-history/arcade-manual-intro

Cited by: Pac-Land

In August 1987 Commodore User's coin-op chart placed Pacland third, behind Out Run and Road Runner and ahead of Gauntlet II. pac-land-history/uk-coinop-chart

The column invites readers to send in their top five coin-ops; it doesn't say how the printed chart was compiled.

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Namco released Pac-Land in Japan as a Famicom cartridge on 21 November 1985. pac-land-history/release-famicom

A retrospective catalogue of Famicom cartridges in order of release; it doesn't name its source for the date and gives no price.

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No NES release of Pac-Land in North America has been found. Nintendo of America's list of NES games has none: its entries run from "Pac Man" (Namco, November 1993) straight to Palamedes. Chris Scullion's NES Encyclopedia, a guide to all 714 officially licensed NES games, has no entry for it. pac-land-history/no-nes

An absence from two lists proves little. Nintendo's list records North American releases only; the encyclopedia also notes European releases and covers more than 160 unlicensed games, but a missing entry doesn't rule out a release it overlooked, PAL-only or otherwise.

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In the Famicom manual Pac-Man sets out to take a lost fairy home to Fairy Land, leaving town, crossing the forest and climbing the mountains while monsters block his way. Having delivered her he can fly home, though the monsters still lie in wait, and reaching home ends one trip. pac-land-history/famicom-premise

The quotes were read on the page images by the scout; the OCR spaces and garbles them.

Cited by: Pac-Land

On the Famicom the control pad makes Pac-Man jump, B moves him left and A right, START begins and pauses a game, and SELECT isn't used. Pressing reset doesn't erase the high score. pac-land-history/famicom-controls

The numbers label a pictured controller, which the scout read on the page image: ① points at the cross-shaped pad, ② and ③ at SELECT and START, ④ at the B button and ⑤ at the A button. The manual doesn't say which direction on the pad jumps.

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The Famicom manual says that tapping B or A again and again makes Pac-Man run fast to the left or right, and the faster he runs, the higher and farther he jumps. Tapping the opposite direction's button while running stops him quickly, tapping left or right in mid-air changes his jump's curve, and he can jump off clouds and rising and falling logs. pac-land-history/famicom-run-jump

The quotes were read on the page images by the scout.

Cited by: Pac-Land

Pac-Man can jump onto a monster's head, but running into a monster, or failing to dodge its attacks, counts as a miss. pac-land-history/famicom-monsters

The quotes were read on the page image by the scout.

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A power pellet turns the monsters timid and sends them running; Pac-Man scores 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 for catching them one after another, and fruit adds to his score. At a checkpoint, where the "BREAK TIME" sign appears, a vigorous jump earns a bonus that depends on the pose he strikes in the air. pac-land-history/famicom-scoring

The quotes were read on the page image by the scout. The heading 中継点に着いたらJUMP! ("JUMP when you reach the checkpoint") places the sign.

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The manual hints at Pac-Land's hidden items: a helmet that lets Pac-Man take small monsters on the head for points, hinted at by a fire hydrant, and balloons that appear only on the way home, six in all, one of them worth a high score. pac-land-history/famicom-secrets

The quotes were read on the page image by the scout; the OCR reads 消火欄 for 消火栓.

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Quicksilva planned to preview Pacland, "its new licence", at its stand at the PCW show in autumn 1987, beside the original arcade game for visitors to play. pac-land-history/uk-licence

The guide lists exhibitors' plans for the show; it isn't a report of the show itself.

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In January 1988 Argus Press Software advertised Pac-Land for the Spectrum, Amstrad and MSX on cassette at £8.95, the Commodore 64 at £9.95 on cassette and £14.95 on disk, and the Atari ST and Amiga at £19.95. pac-land-history/uk-advert

Sinclair User's copy of the ad is in the pinned OCR in full; Crash's (January 1988) is the same ad. An advertisement lists formats on offer, not proof that each shipped then.

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By May 1988 the advertisement sent orders to Grand Slam Entertainments instead of Argus Press Software, and the cassette instructions for the Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and MSX say the game was licensed to Grandslam Entertainments. Grandslam's January 1989 advertisement still marks Pacland "coming soon" and prices the Amiga and Atari ST versions at £19.95. pac-land-history/grandslam

The ads name no programmers for the 16-bit versions, and no review of them has been read.

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The cassette instructions for the Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and MSX send Pac-Man across his island to take a lost fairy home to Fairyland, on four very different journeys, through towns, mountains, ravines and deserts, chased by Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. The Fairy Queen gives him a pair of flying shoes for the way home, and the game ends when he rejoins his family in Pac Town. pac-land-history/home-instructions

One sheet covers the Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and MSX cassettes; the Internet Archive files it as the Commodore 64 manual.

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In the cassette instructions for the Commodore 64, Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and MSX, Pac-Man runs left and right and jumps: on the Commodore 64 by 0 (as printed), P and CTRL, on the Spectrum by A, S and ENTER, on the Amstrad CPC by Q, W and ENTER, and on the MSX by the cursor keys and the space bar, or by joystick. Pushing twice in one direction and holding it gives top speed, Pac's energy runs down until the monsters go after him, and waggling left and right off a springboard keeps him in the air. pac-land-history/home-controls

The sheet prints a zero for the Commodore 64's left key, beside P for right; it is given here as printed.

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Zzap!64 reviewed Quicksilva's Commodore 64 version (£9.95 on cassette, £14.95 on disk) in May 1988. P.G. called it "the best arcade conversion I've seen since Buggy Boy"; G.H. found its appeal lay in its cute characters and colourful backdrops, with play of a child-like simplicity; and J.R. thought the programmers had crammed an entire Pac-Land machine into the 64. pac-land-history/zzap-review

Zzap!64 signs comments with caricatures; the scout read the reviewers' initials on their shirts on the page images (P.G. on p. 82, G.H. and J.R. on p. 83). The page carries a Sizzler badge.

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Zzap!64 gave the Commodore 64 version 92% overall, with 81% for presentation, 89% for graphics, 92% for sound, 91% for hookability and 90% for lastability. pac-land-history/zzap-score

{
 "review": "Zzap!64",
 "of": 100,
 "scores": {
  "presentation": 81,
  "graphics": 89,
  "sound": 92,
  "hookability": 91,
  "lastability": 90,
  "overall": 92
 }
}

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Ferdy Hamilton, reviewing Quicksilva's Commodore 64 version (£9.95) in Commodore User's April 1988 issue, gave it a CU Rating of 7. He found it "really very good", a faithful reproduction of "an old but gold arcade game" with its large colourful graphics and its jolly, if a little frustrating, tune, and advised readers to give it serious consideration. pac-land-history/cu-review

{
 "review": "Commodore User",
 "of": 10,
 "scores": {
  "overall": 7
 }
}

The CU Rating is one overall number from 1 to 10. The review also calls the game "the conversion of one of Pac-man's many spin offs", four years after it first appeared.

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Grandslam's Spectrum version, written by Steve Marsden, reached the reviewers in April and May 1989, more than a year after the earliest advertisements found (January 1988). Crash gave its price as £8.95 on cassette and £12.95 on disk; Sinclair User gave £8.95 and Your Sinclair £8.99. pac-land-history/spectrum-release

Sinclair User's fax box gives the author as "In-house", where Crash names Steve Marsden.

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Crash's April 1989 review of the Spectrum version split. Mike, in a boxed comment marked 84%, called it "one of the most gorgeously endearing games I've seen in ages", found the well-animated characters and attractive backgrounds made up for the monochrome, and called it "a jolly good basic game". The unsigned main review, marked 63%, called the conversion "so poor": a colourless game with flick screens instead of scrolling and no Fairyland sequence. pac-land-history/crash-review

The main review carries no reviewer's name; its mark is signed MARK. The boxed comment is signed MIKE, with no surname. The main review also faults a credit system that lets a player pick up to a hundred credits without extra lives.

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Crash gave the Spectrum version 73% overall, with 79% for presentation, 73% for graphics, 80% for sound, 78% for playability and 75% for addictive qualities; its two reviewers marked it 63% and 84%. pac-land-history/crash-score

{
 "review": "Crash",
 "of": 100,
 "scores": {
  "presentation": 79,
  "graphics": 73,
  "sound": 80,
  "playability": 78,
  "addictive qualities": 75,
  "overall": 73
 }
}

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Sinclair User's April 1989 review of the Spectrum version found a strange land of fluffy buildings, fruit and ghosts that drive cars and fly planes, crossed by left-right flip screens. The reviewer judged it more about playability than visual appeal, "and it's pretty good too", and called it a very faithful conversion of a game players would either love or hate. pac-land-history/su-review

The review is signed with a handwritten signature that the scout couldn't read with confidence, so the reviewer is left unnamed.

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Sinclair User gave the Spectrum version 70 overall, with 68 for graphics, 60 for sound, 74 for playability and 72 for lastability. pac-land-history/su-score

{
 "review": "Sinclair User",
 "of": 100,
 "scores": {
  "graphics": 68,
  "sound": 60,
  "playability": 74,
  "lastability": 72,
  "overall": 70
 }
}

Cited by: Pac-Land

Marcus, reviewing the Spectrum version in Your Sinclair's May 1989 issue (Grand Slam, £8.99), found Pac-Land "a sort of Super Mario Bros with a few teeth missing" that soon turns into formula action. He called it a good conversion of a bad game and a dull, very late sequel to Pac-Man. He noted that it keeps Pac-Man's basic formula of running about, picking up cherries and avoiding the ghosts, but that its play could not be more different. pac-land-history/ys-review

The header names the reviewer as "Marcus" only, beside a caricature.

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Your Sinclair gave the Spectrum version 58 on its verdict thermometer, with dials of 32, 67, 60 and 57. pac-land-history/ys-score

{
 "review": "Your Sinclair",
 "of": 100,
 "scores": {
  "pulse dial": 32,
  "palette dial": 67,
  "light bulb dial": 60,
  "letter A dial": 57,
  "verdict": 58
 }
}

The dials carry icons, not captions, so they are named here by their icons.

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Neil Randall's Turbo Players column in Game Player's (February 1990) covered the TurboGrafx-16 Pac-Land, which takes Pac-Man out of his mazes and lets him do more than scuttle about. He found its controls backwards (button I runs right, button II left, and the pad jumps), and grouped it with Space Harrier and Final Lap Twin as games that seem less impressive at first than they turn out to be. pac-land-history/tg16-review

The column's byline is on its first page. Page numbers follow the contents index's start for the column (p. 55) and the folio "56" in the OCR of image n58.

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Chris Scullion's NES encyclopedia, in its entry on Super Mario Bros., names Pac-Land as a side-scrolling platformer a year before it. pac-land-history/scullion-smb

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