Have you played PlayStation today?
Namco is back on the Arcade Archives series, and this time is with another Pac-Man title. Super Pac-Man.
Originally released as part of the Pac-Man Museum compilation for XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3. Since the PS3 port is not compatible with the latest Playstations, this game makes an individual return to the PlayStations 4 and 5 along with the Nintendo Switch. The major difference in gameplay is the newly introduced mechanics. Unlike Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, Super Pac-Man ditches the Pac-Dots (Power Pills, if you grew with Atari) in favor of unlocking parts of the maze by eating keys. However, you don't have to pick ALL of them and there's a reason why. The game introduces the Super Pellets which enlarge Pac-Man's size transforming him into Super Pac-Man, this allows him to pass through the ghosts without being harmed, move slightly faster, and is able to break through the "gates" without needing the keys. You can open a good amount of them with one Super Pellet, and they can be combined with the Power Pellet to make Pac-Man an extremely effective Ghost-eating machine. After eating a certain number of food, a "match game" will appear on the center of the screen, the objective is to match the objects (Example: Burger with Burger) to obtain a 5,000 point bonus, otherwise you'll get 200 for trying. After a couple of stages, you'll be playing a bonus stage where you'll have to eat the objects as fast as possible. Fortunately you're in Super Pac-Man form and you can break through the gates saving time in the process.
One of the final additions was the inclusion of a name entry, allowing you to enter your initals and save your score, rather than just add your score when you hit the High Score like before.
As part of Arcade Archives, the game features the Hi Score and Caravan modes, which add a small plus valia to the game, although Hi Score mode and the regular game are the same since you don't have continues if you lose all of your lives and most of the trophies can be obtained on either mode. An unaddressed flaw of the Arcade Archives (and the PS4/Switch ACA Neogeo) titles is the lack of trophies for the Caravan mode. If you're gonna make a third game mode, you should at least add a trophy or two for it.
Graphically, the game takes a hit as the maze is "solid" rather than the original design. Honestly, the "Neon light" hollow walls made the original Pac-Man look retro-futuristic which gave it a timeless look that draws attention even today, while in Super Pac-Man, the solid walls look a little more Atari like and barely fits with the game. The change of Pac-Dots with food is very unique and interesting making Pac-Man look more "Alive" as he eats a much wider variety of food: Boiled Eggs, Burgers, Corn, Peaches, Donuts, Coffee, Cakes, but there's some weird choices like the Giftboxes and Shoes, the first Pac-Man wasn't exent of strange edibles like the Keys which are now a functional item rather than the score-giving object. There's new tunes for the cutscenes, level clear, Game Over and name entry, adding more sound to the game.
Unless you're a "Super" Pac-Fan, someone who wants to play Super Pac-Man on your PS4-5, someone who wants a small trophy boost or an Anti-XBOX Snob, you will be OK with this game.
It wouldn't be a surprise if Namco releases Pac & Pal in the series, that's one step closer to have a Pac-Man Museum on your PS4 and Switch.
That's a positive on the "Lea Scale".