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Pac-Man

From NEC Retro

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  • PC-8801
  • PC-8001 mkII
  • PC-6001 mkII
  • PC-9801 VX
  • PC-8001 mkII SR
  • PC-8801 mkII SR

PacMan PC8801 Title.png

PacMan PC8001mkII Title.png

PacMan PC6001mkII Title.png

Pac-Man PC9801 Title.png

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Pac-Man
System(s): PC-8001 mkII, PC-6001 mkII, PC-8801, PC-9801 VX, PC-8001 mkII SR, PC-8801 mkII SR
Publisher: Dempa
PC-9801 VX
Wiz
Developer:
Licensor: Namco
Genre: Action































Number of players:
PC-8801
PC-8001 mkII
PC-6001 mkII
1,
PC-9801 VX
1-2 (alternating)
Release Date RRP Code
PC-8001 mkII
JP
¥3,500 DP-3102-231



PC-6001 mkII
JP
¥3,000 DP-1020



PC-8801
JP
¥5,800 DP-3101-055



PC-9801 VX
JP
¥7,200 300121



PC-8001 mkII SR
JP
¥6,800 DP-3101070



PC-8801 mkII SR
JP
¥5,800 DP-3101104



Non-NEC versions

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Pac-Man (パックマン) is a 1980 arcade game developed by Namco. It became incredibly successful to the point that it saw ports to consoles of the time and continues to see ports — made in-house, officially licensed, and homebrew — to today's systems. Ports have been made to various NEC computer systems, with the PC-9801 VX port handled by Wiz and other ports handled by Dempa.

Gameplay

PacMan PC9801VX Ready.png

The "Ready!" screen at the start of a new game in the PC-9801 VX version.

The basic goal of Pac-Man is to eat all the dots (or pellets) in a maze, avoiding ghosts. Pac-Man will automatically move forward in the direction that the keys are pressed until he reaches a wall, but can freely change direction by pressing a different direction. By eating one of four Power Pellets in the corners of the maze, all of the ghosts will become frightened and turn blue, Pac-Man is able to eat the ghosts as well for a short period to earn bonus points. Ghosts start from a "ghost house" in the center of the maze and will respawn from the center of the screen after being eaten.

Levels are completed once all the dots are eaten, and extra points can be achieved by eating fruit that periodically appears beneath the ghost house. As the player progresses further through each level, the game's speed increases and the Power Pellets get less effective at making the ghosts vulnerable. Every few levels the game will display brief, comical cutscenes featuring Pac-Man and Blinky. The game ends when all lives are lost from being caught by the ghosts.

Ghosts

Each of the four ghosts have a specific quirk in their AI and will pursue Pac-Man differently from one another. As all NEC ports were only released in Japan, Japanese names are used here, with Western names in brackets where available. Sprites displayed are from the PC-9801 VX version:

PacMan PC9801VX Sprite Ghosts.png
Akabei (Blinky)
Character:
Oikake (Shadow)
Blinky is always the first ghost out and will chase Pac-Man directly. After a certain number of dots are eaten, he will receive a boost in speed.
PacMan PC9801VX Sprite Ghosts.png
Pinky
Character:
Machibuse (Speedy)
Pinky targets the four tiles in front of Pac-Man, attempting to ambush him.
PacMan PC9801VX Sprite Ghosts.png
Aosuke (Inky)
Character:
Kimagure (Bashful)
Inky's movement is relative to both Pac-Man and Blinky's. He will try to position himself in front of Pac-Man, but will give chase if Blinky is close to Pac-Man.
PacMan PC9801VX Sprite Ghosts.png
Guzuta (Clyde)
Character:
Otoboke (Pokey)
Clyde alternates between trying to chase Pac-Man when far away, and largely ignoring him if he is close to him.

Scoring

Dots: 10 points

Power Pellets: 50 points

Ghosts: Various points depending on how many are eaten with a single Power Pellet:

  • 1st ghost: 200 points
  • 2nd ghost: 400 points
  • 3rd ghost: 800 points
  • 4th ghost: 1,600 points

Fruit: Various points depending on the fruit:

  • Cherry: 100 points
  • Strawberry: 300 points
  • Orange: 500 points
  • Apple: 700 points
  • Melon: 1,000 points
  • Galaxian: 2,000 points
  • Bell: 3,000 points
  • Key: 5,000 points

An extra life is awarded at 10,000 points.

Versions

Due to the limited colours available, some of the ghosts use different colours across the various NEC ports as opposed to the arcade version and other ports - Clyde is green in most of the ports, while Pinky is sea green in the PC-8001 mkII version and magenta in other versions. The PC-9801 VX version is the only NEC version where all four ghosts' colours are accurate to the arcade version.

Physical scans

PC-8001 mkII version

PC-8001 mkII, JP
PacMan PC8001mkII JP Box.jpg
Cover

PC-6001 mkII version

PC-6001 mkII, JP
PacMan PC6001mkII JP Box.jpg
Cover

PC-8801 version

PC-8801, JP (cassette)
PacMan PC8801 JP Box Cassette.jpg
Cover
PC-8801, JP (disk)
PacMan PC8801 JP Box.jpg
Cover

PC-9801 VX version

PC-9801 VX, JP
PacMan PC9801VX JP Box.jpg
Cover

PC-8001 mkII SR version

PC-8001 mkII SR, JP

PC-8801 mkII SR version

PC-8801 mkII SR, JP
Pac-Man PC8801mkIISR JP Box.jpg
Cover

References

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Sega Retro has more information related to Pac-Man


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Pac-Man games for NEC systems
Pac-Man (1983) | Pac-Land (1985)