- Jr. Pac-Man
Infobox VG|title = Jr. Pac-Man
developer = Bally Midway
publisher = Bally Midway
designer =
release =1983
genre = Retro/Maze
modes = Up to 2 players, alternating turns
cabinet = Upright
arcade system =Namco Pac-Man
cpu = z80|1|3.072
sound = 1xNamco WSG (3-channel mono) @ 3.072 MHz
monitor = Raster, vertical orientation, 224 x 288 resolution
input = 4-wayJoystick
platforms = Arcade"Jr. Pac-Man" is an
arcade game released in1983 by Bally Midway. It is based on "Pac-Man " and its derivatives, but is not officially part of the "Pac-Man" series — along with "Baby Pac-Man ", this game was created without the authorization ofNamco . This was one of the games that eventually led to the termination of the licensing agreement between Namco and Midway.Fact|date=June 2007Gameplay
The gameplay of "Jr. Pac-Man" is largely identical to that of its predecessors, with a few differences. The maze is now two times the width of the display, and a virtual camera pans left and right along the maze to follow Jr. Pac-Man, sometimes resulting in the ghosts being off-screen. A total of seven mazes appear throughout the game, and unlike previous "Pac-Man" games, none of the mazes have tunnels that wrap from one side of the screen to the other.
As in prior games, bonus prizes appear in each level. These prizes were called fruits in "Pac-Man", but none of the prizes in this game are fruits. Similar to "Ms. Pac-Man", prizes appear in the middle of the maze and bounce around for a time, but as a prize encounters dots, it changes them into larger dots that slow Jr. Pac-Man down more than regular dots but are worth more points. If not eaten beforehand, a prize self-destructs when it encounters an energizer (also known as a power pellet) and destroys them both.
There are also a few cosmetic differences: The main character is Jr. Pac-Man (who wears an animated propeller beanie); Clyde, the orange ghost, is now called Tim; and the game's graphics and sound have been updated, including a lower-case
anti-aliased font for scores and game text. The game's intermissions center around the developing relationship between Jr. Pac-Man and Yum-Yum (apparently the daughter of Blinky).Like "Pac-Man" and "Ms. Pac-Man", "Jr. Pac-Man" has a
kill screen : when the 146th screen is reached, the maze is invisible and there are no dots to eat, effectively preventing the player from completing the level.Home versions
Between the effects of the
video game crash of 1983 and the unauthorized status of this game, the only sanctioned port of this game was released for theAtari 2600 in1987 with a 1984 copyright date. It is generally considered a faithful port of the arcade game, especially given the console's limitations. A version for theAtari 5200 was nearly completed, but was never officially released. A ROM image for this game can be played with anemulator . A version for theCommodore 64 was released as well, but did not retain the scrolling screen. Instead, the entire maze was shown at once.A similar game called ' was released as a minigame in the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version of ' in
1994 . This version is an official release byNamco and bears only a passing resemblance to "Jr. Pac-Man", playing much more like "Ms. Pac-Man " instead.External links
*KLOV game|id=8246
*moby game|id=/jr-pac-man
*
* [http://www.classicgaming.com/pac-man/Pac-Games/JrPacMan/ ClassicGaming.com entry on "Jr. Pac-Man"]
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