Jr. Pac-Man(Arcade) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.0 by schultw.andrez@sbcglobal.net(anti spam spoonerism)
Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting
much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and
I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I
could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if
you'd like to post it on your site.
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OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS AND SCORING AND LEVELS
3. STRATEGIES
3-1. GENERAL
3-2. BY LEVEL
4. VERSIONS
5. CREDITS
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1. INTRODUCTION
Despite the name, Jr. Pac-Man is not a kiddie version of Pac-Man. The boards
are bigger and varied, and you have moving goodies like Ms. Pac-Man, and of
course you have some new skits. It is still the same Pac-Man action old
schoolers have come to love, but you have some new dodging techniques that
will make it an interesting variant for a while. Inky, Pinky, Binky and
Clyde(well, he's Tim now, but same shy ghost) are back, but now Jr. Pac-Man
has a beanie propellor. He also has twice the size of a board that Pops had
to deal with and only 50% more power pills.
I guess Jr. Pac-Man is a bit of a mama's boy since his game is closer to Ms.
Pac-Man in difficulty, variety, and layout, with different levels and amusing
little mobile goodies to gobble. Though you may eventually get exasperated
with having to remember everything off screen that you took, and the mazes
are a bit unweildy, it's still a lot better than different Pac-Man knock-offs,
and I know when Ms. Pac-Man came out I'd hoped for a game roughly like this.
This FAQ has an accompanying map which makes text maps pointless. Basically,
the text takes up 7*56*30=11760 bytes, while the PNG takes up 5417.
Efficiency.
2. CONTROLS AND SCORING AND LEVELS
Jr. Pac-Man is as fast as the monsters when not eating anything.
Jr. Pac-Man is slightly slower when eating.
Jr. Pac-Man is faster when going around bends. The monsters seem to take time
to think. This is the best way to shake them.
You can anticipate moves when you are about to hit an intersection. The only
way for Jr. Pac-Man to stay still is to hit a T-intersection or a 90 degree
turn.
You get 10 points for a dot, 50 for a power pellet.
You get 50 points for each dot the special item ran over. If it hits a power
pellet, you get points for that, but you don't get the power pellet. Special
dots remain if you die.
200/400/800/1600 points for gobbling ghosts. As in Pac-Man, they go back to
the pen as little eyes and come back.
Extra guy at 10000.
Level layouts:
Level 1, trike, 100, 3-4 seconds of blue before flashing
Skit for winning: Jr Meets Yum-Yum: Ms Pac-Man by the window, Junior walks
out, goes behind the fence and sees a small red ghost. Ms. Pac-Man alertly
grabs a power pill to chase the small red ghost, Yum-yum, and Blinky(big red
ghost) away.
546 dots.
Level 2, bike, 200, 1-2 seconds of blue before flashing
542 dots.
Level 3, drumkit, 500, 0 seconds of blue before flashing
526 dots.
Level 4, balloon, 700, see 3
526 dots.
Level 5, train, 1000, see 3
528 dots.
Level 6, cat, 2000, see 3
512 dots.
Level 7, root beer, 5000
540 dots.
Level 8+, root beer, 5000
The levels after this are quasi-random but copy earlier levels.
Every 2 levels the post-level 5 skit seems to repeat here.
The goodies are not qualitatively different.
3. STRATEGIES
3-1. GENERAL
--Fake enemies out to one direction, then the other. It's in general a good
way to grab those last few dots instead of going after them right away.
--Don't worry about grabbing the goodies right away. In fact, you get more
points if you don't, and it takes forever for them to hit the power pellet.
--Turn and twist a lot, but you also have to make sure that monsters cannot
come down the side next to you. You may wish to fake to the side so the
monster coming down to your side runs at you, then you can keep going down.
--Clyde, the yellow one, is as bashful here as in Pac-Man, so when you are
running at him, let him turn first. He probably will.
--Inky(green) is also not quite as bad, but if you are stuck, he may turn at
an intersection leaving you to go ahead. Pinky(pink) is a bit sharper.
--Blinky(red) is deadly. Don't mess with him. He is the monster you most want
to avoid.
--Power pills should be more for getting enemies to change direction, since
they don't last very long at all. But if you can eat two enemies then clear
out a tough loop, do so.
--If a level has a long loop, clear it out first or when monsters are gone.
--the same gutters above the monsters' starting pen that the monsters can't
go up also don't let them go up here.
--monsters generally use the "smart" strategy to locate you, seeing if they
are closer horizontally or vertically and going that way. This is bad for
them with a lot of twists and turns, so try to confront monsters that may try
to trap you that way. Also beware that monsters can also veer from this and
trap you. There's a random element that works for you(1 monster doesn't do
what he should) and against you(if 2 monsters chase and 1 is unexpected, then
you are trapped.) On the later levels it seems the game has a heuristic so 2
enemies do not follow each other unless there is no better alternative. So
beware--this is not a kiddie game!
3-2. BY LEVEL
1: there aren't really any big loops or dead ends here except for the bottom
center and maybe the top center. You have lots of places to turn and move
around.
2: this level looks like it has a lot of nice long simple rows and columns of
dots, but don't be fooled. They can trap you if you eat too much at once.
Detour and bend around to get enemies to flee from you, then take out the
long bits at the top and on the sides when you have eaten a power pill and
can't catch anyone.
3: here you may grab the power pills at the intersection by accident, or you
may just wish to get rid of them right away. Once you have the hang of
ducking by turning and twisting, you should have no problems keeping ahead of
the monsters. The only long rows are in the corners, and you can just use
power pills for that, or take out a half of the long row/columns at a time.
Just watch for monsters that may be in your path and if you see where they
are going ahead of time, duck away from them.
4: this level has a lot of rows you will want to go up and down. You may need
a couple tries to take out the loops left and right of the center, and don't
forget that power pills near the center are at the intersection. The grids
below are best done by weaving, and if you can get enemies to chase you, go
through the center loops on the left and right edge with anyone following you.
If all else fails, weave your way to the UL and come back right, or vice
versa.
5: a lot of straight lines again. The long columns to go down make it easy to
get trapped in the corner, so your best bet is probably to go down the full-
screen-height one if people are chasing you, then grab the power pellet and
go back up. The loop on the center of the edge also presents some problems,
as enemies will follow you into it and split up if two are behind you. The
loops at the very top should be enough to shake monsters off, though.
6: uh-oh. You're down to four power pellets now, and to be safe you will want
to use them to cover discrete areas. Clear the bottom loop first then clear
the bottom loop to the right of it. You can also use a power pellet in the DL
to clear the other bottom loop. The rest should be okay. You can use the UL
and UR power pellets to close out the UL and UR corners--take the power
pellet with one zigzag to the left or right and then go to the UL/UR. Come
back for the other when you have a lot of space. Lead the enemies around a
long loop at the bottom when you can, then circle back around to the far
corner. Use the DL and DR power pills if possible to clear out the DL and DR
areas.
7: double uh-oh. Lots of loops and little time to get through with them. You
can start easily enough by taking out the bottom one, but then you have the
center ones on the edges. You may wish to save one for the end of the level
in case you almost get trapped. For the big long ones in the corner, you
probably have to move all the way through a zigzag at the top to lose your
enemies some time, then maybe eat the power pellet that is nearby to get all
the loop with no risk of getting trapped. If you are way ahead of your
enemies, just take the big loop and save the power pellet for another cross-
board trip for a side loop.
End of FAQ Proper
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4. VERSIONS
1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 12/28/2007
5. CREDITS
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and
others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message
board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of
mine.
Special thanks to Retro for notifying me about this version of the game.
