Pac-Land

Pac-Land

Game No.	129
Voting	5.96 points, 24 votes
Developer	Martin Gannon & Allan Ogg
Company	Namco
Publisher	Quicksilva
Musician	Jason C. Brooke
HVSC-File	Pac-Land.sid
Release	1987
Platform	C64, Arcade, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Atari, Amiga, Amstrad CPC
Genre	Jump & Run
Operation
Media
Language

Description[edit | edit source]

The Jump & Run game Pac-Land, known through its arcade version (1984), was published also in the C64 in 1987.

Pac wants to help a fairy to get back to Fairyland, which lies at the other end of Pac-Land. For this he hides her unter his hat and starts his adventure...

On his travel he needs to cross towns, woods, mountains and deserts, in which all kinds of perils lure. Additionally, he is chased by his eternal enemies Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. If he makes it to get to Fairyland, the fairy gives him in thanks a pair of magic shoes that allow Pac to fly. Now he has to cross Pac-Land anew into the other direction to get back to his family. When he has arrived there he made the trip and can help another fairy.

The game contains altogether 4 trips with each 4 levels. After that the game starts again with the first level.

Design[edit | edit source]

Differences to the arcade version

The C64 version of the game is rather similar to the one on the arcade machine. The graphics are multi-coloured and look neat. The only differences are:

Only 16 levels
Items (hydrants, etc) cannot be moved
One cannot stand on or travel with cars and airplanes
There are no extras such as helmet, warp, invulnerability, etc.

Hints[edit | edit source]

Controls[edit | edit source]

Starting screen:

F1 Credit +1
F3 1 player
F5 2 player
F7 Pause

Joystick:

Port 2

Keyboard:

O Left
P Right
Control Jump
Q "Suicide"

Miscellaneous:

To walk fast, the joystick or the key for the direction needs to be press twice in the same direction.

To jump far from a platform, the joystick or the key for the direction needs to be pressed several times consecutively and fast into the desired direction during the jump.

Points[edit | edit source]

Object	Trip	Points
Cherry	1	100, 300, 500, 1000
Strawberry	2	300, 500, 1000, 1500
Apple	3	500, 1000, 1500, 2000
Apple	4	1000, 1500, 2000, 2500
Ghosts	1 - 4	200, 400, 800, 1600, ...

Yellow energy pills turn the enemies into small ghosts for a short time, which then can be eaten by Pac.

Landing on some objects can man additional fruits appear.

Solution[edit | edit source]

Cheats[edit | edit source]

The version by Remember offers next to the manual and a highscore list saved to disk also the following cheat modes: unlimited lives, collision query off, keys are not needed in round 14.
If you press the keys [S], [T] and [G] during the game, you can run three times as fast and jump better over obstacles and cars.
(64er-So-90 page 21)

Voting[edit | edit source]

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
5.96 points at 24 votes (rank 830). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
C64Games	6	08th February 2010 - "good" - 5183 downs
Lemon64	7	08th February 2010 - 62 votes
Happy Computer	62	Issue 5/88
Zzap!64	92%	Issue 05/88

Reviews[edit | edit source]

H.T.W: "Pac-Land was played by me extensively on the machine and as soon as the C64 version was released, I added it "to my collection". Interestingly, the C64 version is a bit easier to play, regardless that almost all features of the arcade version have been taken over. And as everything that looks like Pac Man has a bonus, I also like this version...".