396th played so far
Genre: Platform
Platform: Arcade
Year of Release: 1984
Developer: Namco
Publisher: Namco
Time for a bit of catch up! In 1984, after gaining fame in his maze, Pac Man breaks out into his own platformer. Normally these genre shifts tend to be, at the best, dicey, but its presence on this list would indicate that this time, it worked out. We shall see.
Our Thoughts
It’s interesting to see how the platforming genre was ramping up for the next step in its evolution. This game was released a year earlier than Super Mario Bros., which was, in many ways, the template for later games. One of the big differences here, then, seems to be that Pac-Land seems to lack some… verticality? Does that sound like the right word? Pac-Land feels close to a modern infinite runner like Canabalt (although not forcing you to run), only rarely having real platforms, and even then it’s really a choice between . You need to jump to avoid enemies and water (which kills you), as well as gathering some bonuses.
It doesn’t make the game bad, but it does make it feel oddly dated as a game – even the runner association doesn’t match due to the lack of required running. But with a platform game, you do expect some platforms, some jumping up and down, and some related puzzles, while here it comes down purely to your reflexes when you jump and guessing whether, in specific areas, you need to go up or down to get a key or open a door. It still makes for a good fun game, but it feels simple as often. Not easy – there are a number of tricky segments and a few jumps that are incredibly difficult to make later on, with a water jump I still haven’t figured out yet. The controls feel a bit loose too – not as predictable as would be good.
Despite the name, Pac-land‘s only link to Pac-man comes through its character. The gameplay is obviously quite different, switching from collecting pebbles in a maze to moving through a level to (it seems) rescue your family. Pac-man the character even gained legs in this game, making him feel a bit unfamiliar when you’re used to just eating pellets. The ghosts, too, make a return, although without their different AI and in general being less aggressive. Even with them being eaten, the link isn’t clear. If I can give one criticism here – it seems as if the game could have easily been made without Pac-man tie-ins, and that their characters were just inserted later, and adjusted to fit the game.
What felt as notable were the graphics. They’re not outstanding compared to what we have now, true. They have a feeling of being simple MS Paint sprites, as if it were some sort of fan game put together – including some occasional seeming wonkiness. Still, it makes the game seem colourful and fun, bright enough to keep your interest in your environments. What feels as notable is that the game looks better than the first Super Mario Bros. game, already having a graphical quality that Nintendo needed a few years more to achieve in its flagship series.
Final Thoughts
While the game was fairly quickly outpaced by others in the genre, and the original Pac-man game is probably better remembered for a reason, this game is not without merit. It looks good – as good as it should in a way – and plays nicely for the most part, ramping up difficulty at a good speed (except for those spring boards). It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if Super Mario Bros. hadn’t come in a year later… especially since the leap from Pac-man to Pac-Land is similar to how Mario leapt from 2D to 3D.