"Pac-Man with a Super Mario twist"

The Pac-Man TV show was short-lived, but some of the resulting ideas, like Pac-Man having a face and pets, remained. Pac-Man, with a determined half-frown on his face, not to mention arms, legs, eyes and a hat, must run right through three screens with neat backgrounds like city or forest, pick up a pair of magic boots and let a fairy bless him, and run back to his home. On the way, there are ghosts that bounce up and down on pogo sticks, fly in the air, ride buggies which Pac-Man can jump on, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. There's even a trailer ghost which will nail a dawdling Pac-Man but can also net you 3200 points. In later levels the ghosts fly planes and drop miniature versions to hurt Pac-Man. Along the way, Pac-Man will encounter fire hydrants and cacti that he can jump on and over, revealing cherries to eat. There are pools and canyons that Pac can fall into as well, costing you a life. The power pills are pretty tough to overlook, being as big as Pac-Man himself. The level usually ends when Pac-Man gets into a church, falls into a flower, or(and on the final stage of a level, he scrolls from right to left as opposed to the usual left-to-right.) Pac, if he jumps at the right time before the end, can get 7650(where'd they get that number?) points but usually winds up with 10, 100, or 300. Scoring per level depends on a bonus when it's completed, points for how far you get, points for how much life you have at the end(little Pac-Men grow and burst at the bottom of the screen so you can keep track) and cherries or ghosts you've eaten. The reverse level is a compilation of the first three, with each cut by two-thirds. Often Pac-Man gets a special pair of boots that will allow him to move more quickly or even fly for the remainder of his life.

There are three buttons for controls: left, right and jump. Hitting one direction button repeatedly, as opposed to holding it down, speeds you up and is necessary to get any sort of time bonus. Going faster means you jump higher. It's especially necessary when you need to jump on a diving board past a pool, which is tough but not particularly fun, even if Pac-Man drowning looks neat. Reversing direction causes Pac-Man to go skidding before turning around, and not hitting buttons slowly brings him to a stop. You can't change directions in mid-air. It's a bit different from the start/stop action of Mr. and Ms. Pac-Man, but it's realistic. You're also allowed to start at any level from one to five, which allows you to see scenery from later levels without taking a chance on losing early, etc. You even have the chance to enter your name in a high score list, with a quick accompaniment that is your death-tune speeded up and much more cheery sounding.

The graphics are of course far more detailed than anything from previous Pac-games. Pac-Man still vanishes after a ghost touches him, but he falls over with a pained expression first. There's a ''hurry'' graphic if you dilly-dally, and the city background passing by is nice. I've already mentioned the logs, and I like the forest as well, surely one of the cuter haunted woods I've seen, because the ghosts disappear behind the tops of trees, so you can only see their eyes. The major background tune is also effective, and the death tune is the best of the lot. The first time you get through certain levels is also a nice surprise, but I don't want to give what few things I know away. Overall, though, the ghosts are really cute. Yes, they still turn blue when you eat a power pill, but the hands with goofy mittens are fun details.

Pac-Land is a really clever game, and it's a sort of mix between Super Mario Brothers and Pac-Man. Objectively, Pac-Land's graphics are better, but perhaps the mystique of Mario and the warp tunnels, beanstalks, firepower and secret treasure troves you could uncover in Super Mario pushed it more to the forefront. Pac-Land is a straight shot from left to right, and although the journey is nice(one of the cleverer sub-scenes has a bunch of logs that start to fall off the screen when Pac-Man jumps on them,) it doesn't quite have Mario's possibilities. Still, it's an unjustly overlooked game at the end of a craze.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/09/01, Updated 04/09/01