Overall 8.7 Graphics 7.5 Sound 8.5 Addictive 9 Depth 10 Difficulty 6
8.7
A Pac and white game, boy Pacman+Mariofan
Review PreviewHey, vizzed members! As you can tell, this whole month I’ve been in the mood to review some Pac-Man games. This is yet another one: Pac-Man for the Game Boy.
Quick story: I played this version before I played the NES version. The website I played it on didn’t have sound, so I thought it was just the NES version but without colors and sound. Later on, I played the NES version and much later than that, discovered that this one was a different version!
Even though I reviewed the NES version of the game, I’m still torn between that one and this one being my favorite. I don’t think I’ll ever decide, so let’s get on with the whole review thing.
GRAPHICS
8/10I rated this an 8 for multiple reasons, one of which is that the strawberry is ugly in ½ mode. Like I said in the intro, I used to think this was the NES version. I can still look at it now and understand why I thought that. Other than the maze scrolling in the regular display, it looks very similar to the NES game. However, some of the dots are missing! The ones in the original game that were closest to the ghosts’ box are now gone.
Even ½ mode, which is the whole maze squished into one view instead of scrolling, looks good. You can tell what everything is supposed to be, and Pac-Man is shaped correctly.
I actually like that this version has no color. For one thing, it allowed there to be a color version of the game on the Game Boy Color that includes Pac-Attack on it. Also, the lack of color gives it an added retro feel!
I realized a problem with the black and white (and gray) graphics: all 4 ghosts look the same. You can’t tell which one is which. If you knew that each ghost has specific strategies in the original, you’d see why that’s bothersome. I think Namco could have at least made each ghost a different shade of gray and introduced each ghost as a beginning animation. Oh, speaking of animations, I should talk about those now…
ANIMATIONS
8/10I rated this an 8 because all of these animations look well-polished except one. One thing that stands out to me is that when the maze blinks, letting you know it’s complete, the fruits on the right side of the screen blink too.
The flawed animation is the ghosts blinking before they return to normal. It starts too early, fooling you into thinking you have less time. It’s hard to learn when you’re supposed to stay away from the ghosts, so you might end up losing a couple lives to a stinking animation mess-up!
SOUND EFFECTS
10/10Wow. This category is the biggest factor in this version being my tied favorite. I rated this a 10 because every sound is even better than all the other versions I’ve played, especially the background noise! Instead of it being loud and maybe even annoyingly repetitive, it’s quiet so the other sound effects are louder than it. That helps me focus on the game, which is a huge plus.
Also, the sounds are more unique. There’s just something about them that makes them positively different from other versions, especially the pausing sound. Sorry, I couldn’t say it better because I don’t know what to say! The sound effects are just fantastic!
MUSIC
10/10I rated this a 10 simply because I find nothing wrong with it! There are only 3 themes: start-up, cutscenes, and losing a life. All of them resemble the original game quite well and the instruments sound sweet. I feel bad for actually enjoying the theme that plays when Pac-Man loses a life. As always, the cutscene theme is dance-worthy. And the start-up theme gets me hyped to play Pac-Man.
ADDICTIVENESS
8/10The sound effects, lessened difficulty mentioned later in the review, and the general uniqueness of this version make me come back to it again and again. Plus, once in a while I think it’s cool to play video games that don’t have color. It’s different in a good way.
STORY
N0nexistent/10Pac-Man goes into mazes, chomps dots, fruits, and ghosts and tries not to die. That would be kind of a lame story, wouldn’t it? Yeah, that’s why there is no story. That’s just what Pac-Man does every day. Ms. Pac-Man must be proud because she and Jr. do the same exact thing.
DEPTH
10/10There’s too many levels and too little time to beat them. Plus, I don’t think I’d be able to without cheating or TASing it. It might even get boring to play the same maze over and over after the first 20 levels.
The modes are 1 player and 2 player, but there’s also a maze-size option. You can leave it at regular size and scroll through the maze, or you can choose ½ mode to fit it all on one screen.
DIFFICULTY
7/10I rated this a 7 for multiple reasons, one of which is that Pac-Man can glitch through ghosts a little too often in this version. He can even do so while the ghosteater pellet is activated! That brings the difficulty down a bit, but another thing that brings it down is what I mentioned earlier. Not all the dots are present so there are 2 empty spaces where you can go to hide from the ghosts a little longer without getting points for it.
The ghosts aren’t too smart so the game is fair. What’s unfair is when you go through things. Isn’t that what ghosts do, not Pac-Man? Come on, man.
OVERALL (not counting story)
8.7/10As I mentioned in the intro, this version of Pac-Man is tied as my favorite with the NES version. I love almost everything about it and it’s a unique version. I recommend it for those who want to play something really retro (since this isn’t in color) and those who like trying out different Pac-Man games.
Thank you for reading this review and have a great day!
Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 8 Depth 10 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 5/5
Submitted: 07-26-17
Review Replies: 0
7.8
A Classic for Game Boy mlb789
Pac Man is one of those games that everyone knows about, even if you aren't really a gamer. From the franchise's original release in the nineteen eighties, to the present day with the 3DS version out. If you are unaware what happens in a Pac Man game, you need to know that you are a little ball with a mouth that runs from ghosts and tries to collect as many balls as it can. There are also four special balls per level that allow you to eat the ghosts and gain more points. The basis of the game is to score the most points, which is usually the best part of any game.
Graphics 7: Now, lets be honest here, and compare the graphics to tetris. Tetris has horrible graphics on this system, while I like the graphics on this game because you can actually tell what you are doing. I like how the ghosts actually look like what "ghosts" look like in the cartoon world, and that there aren't really any blocks in the game.
Sound 7: The sound in this game aren't really that bad, and are definitely better than other games on the system. I like how the sounds differ from when you aren't grabbing balls, to when you are grabbing balls, and whenever you have the special ball that you have just eaten.
Addictiveness 10: Pac Man is one of those games that you can play and play again without getting bored. The thrill of trying to get a high score definitely increases how much longer you can play the game at a time.
Story : In this particular Pac Man, there is no story. In some of the other games there is a "story", but not in the one for the Game Boy.
Depth 10: This game is actually very deep, even though it may seem like there isn't much to do. This is probably because you have only reached the fifth or sixth level, and can't get past that at all. But, if you were able to play through the whole game without dying, you would encounter 255 levels for your enjoyment. This makes the game harder and almost impossible to beat, making it really deep.
Difficulty 5: Pac Man isn't really a hard game, but I had trouble with this game because of the D-Pad system. Not only does the D-Pad system make it hard, but the amount of levels that are in the game also make it hard to fully beat the game.
Overall 7.8: This is a very good game for anyone to play, whether you are a really good gamer, or just someone who likes to occasionally pick up classic games. Not only is this game almost identical to the arcade version of the game, but it is portable, so if you had a Game Boy, you could take it on a trip. Any gamer who has heard of the Pac Man series has to play one of the games in the series, just because it is such a quality series.
Graphics 7 Sound 7 Addictive 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 4.8/5
Submitted: 08-24-12
Review Replies: 4
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-2.png "Ms. Pac-Man (Namco)")
-2.png "Ms. Pac-Man (Tengen)")
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