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{{Short description|1983 video game}}
⚫ {{Infobox Arcade Game |title = Jr. Pac Man
{{Distinguish|Baby Pac-Man}}
|image = ]
{{More citations needed|date=July 2019}}
|developer = ]
{{Infobox video game
|publisher = ]
⚫ | title = Jr. Pac-Man
⚫ |designer =
| developer = ]
|release = ]
| publisher = {{vgrelease|NA|]{{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=67}}}}{{vgrelease|]/]|]}}{{fact|date=June 2022}}
|genre = ]/]
| image = Jr pac flyer.png
⚫ |modes = Up to 2 players, alternating turns
| caption = Arcade flyer
|cabinet = Standard
|released = '''Arcade'''{{vgrelease|NA|1983}}'''Atari 2600'''{{vgrelease|NA|October 1986}}'''MS-DOS'''{{vgrelease|NA|1988}}'''C64'''{{vgrelease|NA|1988}}
⚫ |arcade system =
| genre = ]
|monitor = ], standard resolution
⚫ | modes = 1-2 players alternating turns
|input = ]
⚫ | arcade system = ]
|ports =
⚫ | designer = Tim Hoskins
|notes = None
|series = '']''
| platforms = ], ], ], ]
}} }}


'''''Jr. Pac-Man''''' is an ] developed by ]<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.fastcompany.com/3067296/the-mit-dropouts-who-created-ms-pac-man-a-35th-anniversary-oral-history|title = The MIT Dropouts Who Created Ms. Pac-Man: A 35th-Anniversary Oral History|date = 3 February 2017|access-date = 12 January 2022|archive-date = 15 June 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180615004912/https://www.fastcompany.com/3067296/the-mit-dropouts-who-created-ms-pac-man-a-35th-anniversary-oral-history|url-status = live}}</ref> and released by ] in 1983. It has the same gameplay as prior entries in the series, but the maze in ''Jr. Pac-Man'' scrolls horizontally and has no escape tunnels. The bonus item which moves around the maze changes dots into a form which slows Jr. Pac-Man as they are being eaten.
'''''Jr. Pac Man''''' is an ] released in ] by ]. It is a sequel to '']'' and '']''. As with the latter in addition to ], and ] this game was created without the authorization of ], the original creators of Pac-Man. These games among others were what ultimately led to the termination of the licensing agreement between Namco and Midway.


==Gameplay== ==Gameplay==
]


The core gameplay of ''Jr. Pac-Man'' is similar to its predecessors. The player controls the eponymous Jr. Pac-Man (who wears an animated ]), and scores points by eating all of the dots in the maze, while ] (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Tim, who replaces Clyde) chase him around the maze and attempt to catch him. Eating a power pellet turns the ghosts blue, briefly allowing the player to eat them for extra points. Once the maze is cleared, a new maze is presented and the gameplay continues.
The gameplay of ''Jr. Pac-Man'' is largely identical to that of its predecessors, with a few differences.


The mazes are now twice the width of the monitor and scroll horizontally. A total of seven mazes appear throughout the game, and five of them have six power pellets instead of four, but none of them have tunnels that ] from one side of the screen to the other.
*The maze is now three times the width of the display. The maze will scroll left and right as Jr. Pac-Man travels through it, and it is possible for ghosts to be off-screen sometimes.
*There are now seven different mazes. They all now have six energizers (except for the last two, which only have four energizers). There are no longer any "warp tunnels" at the edges of the maze.
*Each prize (known as "fruit" in ''Pac-Man'' and ''Ms. Pac-Man'', though none of the prizes in this game are fruit) appears from offscreen, and as it roams the maze, it turns any dots it touches into larger dots worth 50 points but which slow Jr. Pac-Man down quite a bit. If a prize wanders for long enough without being eaten, it will "]" itself into an energizer, destroying itself and the energizer.


Bonus items (such as tricycles, kites, and balloons) appear in each round, starting above the ghosts' lair and moving around the maze as in '']''. As an item encounters dots, it changes them into larger ones that award more points but slow Jr. Pac-Man down while he is eating them. After a certain length of time, the item will move toward one of the remaining power pellets (if any) and explode on contact if not eaten, destroying both itself and the pellet. Contact between Jr. Pac-Man and a non-vulnerable ghost costs the player one life and makes any large dots either disappear or revert to normal ones, depending on how many dots overall are left in the maze.
There are also a few cosmetic differences. The character controlled by the player is now Jr. Pac-Man, resembling a small Pac-Man with an eye and a ]. The orange ghost is now named Tim. There are new sound effects including new music at game start and a new "death" sound. All game text is now in a lower-case ] ].


The between-level intermissions show the developing relationship between Jr. Pac-Man and a small red ghost named Yum-Yum who is apparently the daughter of Blinky.
The prizes are, in order of appearance:


==Development==
*Tricycle
Tim Hoskins worked at ] (GCC) as ''Jr. Pac-Man''{{'}}s project lead. Hoskins recalled that GCC's founder Doug Macrae came up with the idea, referring to the game as ''Pac-Baby'' in his project notes. Macrae echoed this, adding that "Junior Arriving" had been an intermission scene in '']''. As ''Pac-Man'' and ''Ms. Pac-Man'' were what Macrae described as "huge successes", the company continued with the series.{{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=67}} During this period in arcade development, they had the option to develop the game as a new arcade cabinet or implement a new hardware kit. Macrae had a plan to edit the original ''Pac-Man'' kits, implementing horizontal scrolling and changing the collectible fruits to toys.{{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=67}}
*Kite
*Drum
*Balloon
*Train
*Cat
*Glass of root-beer


Just like with ''Ms. Pac-Man'', there was no source code available to the team to develop the game, requiring the team to reverse-engineer ''Pac-Man'' from ]. Unlike ''Ms. Pac-Man'', which was developed in a few weeks, ''Jr. Pac-Man'' took months to make. The scrolling play area led to difficulties handling off-screen objects, such as the ghosts.{{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=67}} When investigating the ''Pac-Man'' ROM, the developers found unused elements such as a "fat dot" and another that resembled a flame, inspiring features in the new game. They introduced a fat dot that slowed the player down more than regular dots when Jr. Pac-Man ate them but which was worth more points. For the bouncing toys, they thought of the flame items they discovered and decided to implement an explosion when the fat dot interacted with a power pellet, giving the player urgency to collect the toy item before risking losing a power pellet. Upon the player's death, the fat dots would vanish, rewarding skilled players who avoided losing them.{{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=69}}
There are three new intermissions:


The team also adjusted graphics from the original game, giving Jr. Pac-Man a twirling beanie-cap and giving the game a lower-case font.{{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=67-68}} The group experimented with several ways to show the characters death-sequence, eventually settling on having him shrink down only leaving his beanie-cap. Earlier experiments were coarser, including having Jr. Pac-Man pause then slowly ooze a red substance before the top of his body fell off. {{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=68}} The team described creating the new intermissions as difficult, involving creating new graphics and software to drive them.{{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=68}}
#"jr. meets yum-yum": ''Jr.'' sees an ''Yum-yum'' and leaves his yard to play. ''Blinky'' approaches. '''Ms. Pac-Man''' eats an energizer from her garden to rescue ''Jr.''
#"the gift": Jr. brings a red balloon to the ''Yum-yum''. They meet on a bridge. ''Blinky'' watches from behind a bush.
#"they escape!": ''Blinky'' traps ''Jr.'' between himself and the ''Yum-yum''. '''Ms. Pac-Man''' appears and ''Blinky'' leaves to chase her, while ''Jr.'' and ''Yum-yum'' leave together in the other direction. Hearts appear around them.


The game would be the final ''Pac-Man'' game made by GCC. Hoskins envisioned other ideas to potentially make as a follow-up, such as a ''Pac-Man'' game from a first-person perspective, but this was never made. {{sfn|Grannell|2011|p=69}}
This humorously incorporates the theme of "forbidden love", and parodies the previous games' intermissions, since Jr. is sneaking away with a young, female ghost.


==Home versions== ==Ports==
The ] version of the game was programmed in 1984 by Ava Robin-Cohen of GCC. The game was not released until 1986 when the Atari 2600 was experiencing what game historian Brett Weiss described as "a resurgence of sorts" after ] had success in the marketplace with the ].{{sfn|Weiss|2014|p=119}} Atari had just re-released the system as a smaller budget-priced revision in 1986.<ref name="Atari50">{{cite video game |title=Atari 50 |developer=] |publisher=] |date=November 11, 2022 |platform=Nintendo Switch |quote='''Highs and Lows: The 2600 "Jr."''': In addition to the 7800, Atari also rolled out a smaller, budget-priced revision of the 2600. Retailing for just $49.99, it was a very affordable alternative, and Atari began to put more 2600 games on the shelves.}}</ref> ''Jr. Pac-Man'' was released for the Atari 2600 in October 1986.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=]|date=November 1986|page=14|title=Availability Update}}</ref>


Ports for the ] and the ] were finished in 1984, but were scrapped along with '']'' when the home divisions of ] were sold to ].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atariprotos.com/5200/software/jrpacman/jrpacman.htm |title=Jr. Pac-Man (Atari 5200) |last=Reichert |first=Matt |work=AtariProtos.com |access-date=2011-03-05 |archive-date=2011-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429063422/http://www.atariprotos.com/5200/software/jrpacman/jrpacman.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/jrpacman/jrpacman.htm |title=Jr. Pac-Man (Atari 8-bit) |last=Reichert |first=Matt |work=AtariProtos.com |access-date=2011-03-05 |archive-date=2011-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707182033/http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/jrpacman/jrpacman.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
Because of the ], ''Jr. Pac-Man'' was not widely made available in home versions. An ] version was complete except for the intermissions, but it was not released. The ] image for this game has been made available online and can be played with an ].


A port of ''Jr. Pac-Man'' to the ] was released in ]. An unofficial port for the ] was published in 2009 by ].


==External links== ==References==
{{reflist}}


===Sources===
*

*
* {{cite magazine|title=The Making of: Jr Pac-Man|last=Grannell|first=Craig|magazine=]|issue=85|year=2011|publisher=]|ISSN=1742-3155}}
⚫ *
* {{cite book|title=The 100 Greatest Console Video Games 1977-1987|last=Weiss|first=Brett|year=2014|isbn=978-0-7643-4618-7|publisher=]}}

==External links==
* {{KLOV game|id=8246}}
* at the Arcade History database
* {{atarimania|id=18225}}
* {{lemon64 game|id=1389|name=Jr. Pac-Man}}
⚫ * with screenshots of all the mazes and cutscenes


{{Pac-man series}} {{Pac-Man series}}
{{Portal bar|Video games|1980s}}


] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
] ]
]
{{namco-stub}}
]
]
]
]
]
]

Latest revision as of 15:23, 7 December 2024

1983 video game Not to be confused with Baby Pac-Man.
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1983 video game
Jr. Pac-Man
Arcade flyer
Developer(s)General Computer Corporation
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Tim Hoskins
SeriesPac-Man
Platform(s)Arcade, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, MS-DOS
ReleaseArcadeAtari 2600
  • NA: October 1986
MS-DOSC64
Genre(s)Maze
Mode(s)1-2 players alternating turns
Arcade systemNamco Pac-Man

Jr. Pac-Man is an arcade video game developed by General Computer Corporation and released by Bally Midway in 1983. It has the same gameplay as prior entries in the series, but the maze in Jr. Pac-Man scrolls horizontally and has no escape tunnels. The bonus item which moves around the maze changes dots into a form which slows Jr. Pac-Man as they are being eaten.

Gameplay

Title screen

The core gameplay of Jr. Pac-Man is similar to its predecessors. The player controls the eponymous Jr. Pac-Man (who wears an animated propeller beanie), and scores points by eating all of the dots in the maze, while four ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Tim, who replaces Clyde) chase him around the maze and attempt to catch him. Eating a power pellet turns the ghosts blue, briefly allowing the player to eat them for extra points. Once the maze is cleared, a new maze is presented and the gameplay continues.

The mazes are now twice the width of the monitor and scroll horizontally. A total of seven mazes appear throughout the game, and five of them have six power pellets instead of four, but none of them have tunnels that wrap around from one side of the screen to the other.

Bonus items (such as tricycles, kites, and balloons) appear in each round, starting above the ghosts' lair and moving around the maze as in Ms. Pac-Man. As an item encounters dots, it changes them into larger ones that award more points but slow Jr. Pac-Man down while he is eating them. After a certain length of time, the item will move toward one of the remaining power pellets (if any) and explode on contact if not eaten, destroying both itself and the pellet. Contact between Jr. Pac-Man and a non-vulnerable ghost costs the player one life and makes any large dots either disappear or revert to normal ones, depending on how many dots overall are left in the maze.

The between-level intermissions show the developing relationship between Jr. Pac-Man and a small red ghost named Yum-Yum who is apparently the daughter of Blinky.

Development

Tim Hoskins worked at General Computer Corporation (GCC) as Jr. Pac-Man's project lead. Hoskins recalled that GCC's founder Doug Macrae came up with the idea, referring to the game as Pac-Baby in his project notes. Macrae echoed this, adding that "Junior Arriving" had been an intermission scene in Ms. Pac-Man. As Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man were what Macrae described as "huge successes", the company continued with the series. During this period in arcade development, they had the option to develop the game as a new arcade cabinet or implement a new hardware kit. Macrae had a plan to edit the original Pac-Man kits, implementing horizontal scrolling and changing the collectible fruits to toys.

Just like with Ms. Pac-Man, there was no source code available to the team to develop the game, requiring the team to reverse-engineer Pac-Man from ROM dumps. Unlike Ms. Pac-Man, which was developed in a few weeks, Jr. Pac-Man took months to make. The scrolling play area led to difficulties handling off-screen objects, such as the ghosts. When investigating the Pac-Man ROM, the developers found unused elements such as a "fat dot" and another that resembled a flame, inspiring features in the new game. They introduced a fat dot that slowed the player down more than regular dots when Jr. Pac-Man ate them but which was worth more points. For the bouncing toys, they thought of the flame items they discovered and decided to implement an explosion when the fat dot interacted with a power pellet, giving the player urgency to collect the toy item before risking losing a power pellet. Upon the player's death, the fat dots would vanish, rewarding skilled players who avoided losing them.

The team also adjusted graphics from the original game, giving Jr. Pac-Man a twirling beanie-cap and giving the game a lower-case font. The group experimented with several ways to show the characters death-sequence, eventually settling on having him shrink down only leaving his beanie-cap. Earlier experiments were coarser, including having Jr. Pac-Man pause then slowly ooze a red substance before the top of his body fell off. The team described creating the new intermissions as difficult, involving creating new graphics and software to drive them.

The game would be the final Pac-Man game made by GCC. Hoskins envisioned other ideas to potentially make as a follow-up, such as a Pac-Man game from a first-person perspective, but this was never made.

Ports

The Atari 2600 version of the game was programmed in 1984 by Ava Robin-Cohen of GCC. The game was not released until 1986 when the Atari 2600 was experiencing what game historian Brett Weiss described as "a resurgence of sorts" after Nintendo had success in the marketplace with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Atari had just re-released the system as a smaller budget-priced revision in 1986. Jr. Pac-Man was released for the Atari 2600 in October 1986.

Ports for the Atari 5200 and the Atari 8-bit computers were finished in 1984, but were scrapped along with Super Pac-Man when the home divisions of Atari were sold to Jack Tramiel.

An unofficial port for the Atari 7800 was published in 2009 by AtariAge.

References

  1. ^ Grannell 2011, p. 67.
  2. "The MIT Dropouts Who Created Ms. Pac-Man: A 35th-Anniversary Oral History". 3 February 2017. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  3. ^ Grannell 2011, p. 69.
  4. Grannell 2011, p. 67-68.
  5. ^ Grannell 2011, p. 68.
  6. Weiss 2014, p. 119.
  7. Digital Eclipse (November 11, 2022). Atari 50 (Nintendo Switch). Atari. Highs and Lows: The 2600 "Jr.": In addition to the 7800, Atari also rolled out a smaller, budget-priced revision of the 2600. Retailing for just $49.99, it was a very affordable alternative, and Atari began to put more 2600 games on the shelves.
  8. "Availability Update". The Video Game Update. November 1986. p. 14.
  9. Reichert, Matt. "Jr. Pac-Man (Atari 5200)". AtariProtos.com. Archived from the original on 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2011-03-05.
  10. Reichert, Matt. "Jr. Pac-Man (Atari 8-bit)". AtariProtos.com. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-03-05.

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