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With the Great Videogame Crash of 1983, a lot of
completely finished games for the systems of the day - the Atari 2600, the Atari
5200, the Colecovision, and the Intellivison were left unreleased due to the company
making it going bankrupt, the game system it was devloped for being killed, or just due
to companies deciding that video games were now just unprofitable.
Among the fatalities of the Atari 5200 was this game, Super PacMan - which is a
nearly arcade-perfect (or as well as the 5200 can handle it) port of the acrade game.
Literally, all this game needed was a box and it was a commercial product - it was fully
completed.
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Note that the maze of the first level is arcade
perfect. Since the game's maze never change, the whole game is arcade perfect
- at least maze-wise.
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This port is absolutely amazing. There is not one element
from the arcade game that isn't represented here. The Atari 5200 version plays EXACTLY
like the arcade game. The two enlarging pellets are present - and just like the arcade game,
when you eat one, the ghosts shrink and you are completely invincible - as well as having
the ability to chomp through locked doors without grabbing the key to open them with.
No fruit dance through the level in this particular Pac Man game, but just like every
other Pac Man game ever mady, you can grab a power pellet and chomp on the ghosts for some
extra points.
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Unlike every other Pac Man game that was made - dots are not
really an issue in this game. Pac Man seems to have become vegitarian - Eat all of the power
pellets and fruit and you move onto the next level. To actually grab said fruit, you need to
grab the keys scattered around the playfield. Other than the Super Pac Man powerup pills,
this is the only way the doors can be opened.
One further addition this game has made to the original Pac-game style is a slots style
bonus in the middle of the round instead of the fruit. Matching two, of course, gives you a
bigger bonus.
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And, just like in every single other Pac Man game, eat
everything on the board, it starts flashing and you move onto the next level.
This time tho - you have to eat EVERYTHING - not just the fruit. You have to eat all
of the fruit, all four Power Pellets and both super pellets, but keys are optional.
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One more new addition to Super Pac Man is the bonus stages.
After every third level, you have a shot at a level with no ghosts and you are super the
whole time. Your time here is very limited, so you may want to ignore the keys and go
straight for the fruit, which is worth more points.
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Even the intermissions are here! This game is 100% complete
and is a 100% accurate reproduction of the arcade game.
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View The fullsize cart scan
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This is probably the biggest sleeper of the Pac Man family. I
don't think it fared too well in the arcades, but I like it better than the original. This
port is about as accurate as they come too. It's a shame the Video Game Crash of '83 wiped
this one off the shelves, because it would have made a great addition to any 5200 owners'
collection.
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