Pac-Man 2 - Final Rating

How I might have felt getting this for Christmas 30 years ago...

Written by Michael

Well, this game wasn’t quite the adventure we hoped, but that doesn’t make it a bad game.  So how will it fare in the scoring?

Pac-Man 2 - Won!

Written by Michael

Not how my mother taught me to greet others in polite company.

We’ve played through three of the four levels in this game so far.  Perhaps it's time to finish this off?

Is he related to Uncle Pennybags?

After restoring Junior’s guitar, dad sits in his bean bag chair and turns on the television.  Before we discuss his viewing habits, let’s just take a moment to check out this room, now that the rest of the family isn’t blocking our view.  First, inside the house shaped like Pac-Man is a table shaped like Pac-Man.

How many of you have human-shaped tables?  30 bonus CAPs to anyone who sends in a picture of themselves standing next to their family’s human-shaped table. 20 extra CAPs if a computer with the TAG blog is visible in the picture.  (No cheating with AI, please.)

Pac-Man 2 - Hot Dogs & Cats Living Together

Written by Michael

Junior: I was late submitting my game review to TAG and now I’m sad

Welcome back, fellow chompers!  Let’s play some more of this game based on the two major food groups for teenagers in the 1980s, pizza and gumballs.

When last we left, we had just gotten a flower for Lucy, Pac-Junior's rather pale-faced girlfriend.  Now, it seems that Junior is sad.

Pac-Man 2 - Riding the Midnight Train

Written by Michael

The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only.

Welcome back!  I’m going to admit to being a little less-than-eager to write this post.  See, the game is a lot more arcade and a lot less adventure than we originally hoped.  

But I’m a trooper.  I’ll get through this.

I don’t have the reflexes (or the patience) for arcade games like I did 30 years ago.  But I suppose that’s many of the people in this room right now, because those of us who still prefer adventures often prefer using our brain over our brawn.  It’s why, when the comments exploded on our coverage of Fate of Atlantis, the majority of us seem to prefer the “team” and “wits” paths over the “fists” choice.

Still, this is a fun game, and a lot less “arcade” than some other titles.  

Game 161: Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (1994) - Introduction

Written by Michael

This might be the most unlikely game I’ll review for the blog, and I’m the one who volunteered for it.  An adventure-ish sequel to one of the most important coin-op games of all time.  Yes, this was added to the blog with a CAP purchase during our year-ahead planning.  Will I regret this?

It’s important to start with the original, I suspect.  In 1979, a team of programmers at Namco aimed to design a game with universal appeal to both genders, since most of the games before then were based on “manly” pursuits like sports.  Simple concept for the game:  our generic character runs around the game board, eating as many dots as possible, avoiding being caught by ghosts.  Not really aimed at any specific gender or demographic, the only requirement was good reflexes.