This is a topic that came to me, because I recalled how quirky the game "Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures" is, even among Pac-Man games. In fact, I would say that Pac-Man's spin-offs are generally rather quirky which is fitting, as Pac-Man is a rather quirky concept if you think about it. But I felt that even among the quirky nature of Pac-Man, this game stands out of the strangeness. Like for example, why is this game labelled as a sequel, yet is a different type of game? Certainly this game wasn't labelled as a sequel in Japan (it's called "Hello! Pac-Man"), so the need to label this game as a sequel is a pretty dubious decision. That doesn't make the game any less interesting though.
So you may be asking: what's so special about Pac-Man 2? First we look at a screenshot:
It looks like a platformer, but looks can be deceiving, because it's not actually one. In fact, it plays more like a point-and-click, where you point at something to interact with it. Pac-Man is still the star, so he had to interact with the environment. So how do you control? You interact by shooting things on the screen with the screenshot, which may even get Pac-Man's attention. Besides shooting pebbles at things, you can get Pac-Man to look at a direction to make him go the other way. And if you have a Power Pellet, you can get Pac-Man to eat one and transform into Super Pac-Man, who gained the ability to eat ghosts rather than being terrified by them.
Perhaps the best part of this game is Pac-Man's emotions. Pac-Man may start out happy, but there are ways to manipulate his emotions. For example, if you shoot at Pac-Man while he's happy, he will become irritated. Another example is when Pac-Man drinks milk, he will be drunk! Depending on his emotions, he will interact with the world differently. As an example, a happy Pac-Man would normally be happy to help a non-player character to push her couch, but when Pac-Man is full of himself, he will instead just lounge the sofa without a care. Because of the ways you can toy with Pac-Man (or bully him if you prefer) and make him interact with the environment, this is what makes this game stands out.
The game also has a cartoonish vibe to it, so things can certainly go wrong if you don't know the game. As an example, if Pac-Man buys a hot dog, a cat will snatch from him... unless you anticipate it and shoot the cat away. In fact, the game starts out with Pac-Man entering the TV as if he is entering a show, and on occasion he would break the fourth wall by expressing himself in front of the viewer, such as when he accomplished his objective.
The game did give us the best Pac-Man walk too:
So the key points we can take from Pac-Man 2 are:
So would you say a Mario game with this sort of setup would strike your fancy? It doesn't need to be about Mario, but could instead be starring another character.
Thank you for reading.
So you may be asking: what's so special about Pac-Man 2? First we look at a screenshot:
It looks like a platformer, but looks can be deceiving, because it's not actually one. In fact, it plays more like a point-and-click, where you point at something to interact with it. Pac-Man is still the star, so he had to interact with the environment. So how do you control? You interact by shooting things on the screen with the screenshot, which may even get Pac-Man's attention. Besides shooting pebbles at things, you can get Pac-Man to look at a direction to make him go the other way. And if you have a Power Pellet, you can get Pac-Man to eat one and transform into Super Pac-Man, who gained the ability to eat ghosts rather than being terrified by them.
Perhaps the best part of this game is Pac-Man's emotions. Pac-Man may start out happy, but there are ways to manipulate his emotions. For example, if you shoot at Pac-Man while he's happy, he will become irritated. Another example is when Pac-Man drinks milk, he will be drunk! Depending on his emotions, he will interact with the world differently. As an example, a happy Pac-Man would normally be happy to help a non-player character to push her couch, but when Pac-Man is full of himself, he will instead just lounge the sofa without a care. Because of the ways you can toy with Pac-Man (or bully him if you prefer) and make him interact with the environment, this is what makes this game stands out.
The game also has a cartoonish vibe to it, so things can certainly go wrong if you don't know the game. As an example, if Pac-Man buys a hot dog, a cat will snatch from him... unless you anticipate it and shoot the cat away. In fact, the game starts out with Pac-Man entering the TV as if he is entering a show, and on occasion he would break the fourth wall by expressing himself in front of the viewer, such as when he accomplished his objective.
The game did give us the best Pac-Man walk too:
So the key points we can take from Pac-Man 2 are:
- Point-and-click adventure with a unique control scheme.
- You don't control the main character directly.
- The main character has emotions that will change the way he/she interact with the world.
- A lively world with surprises that lurk around every corner.
So would you say a Mario game with this sort of setup would strike your fancy? It doesn't need to be about Mario, but could instead be starring another character.
Thank you for reading.
