Underappreciated. One of the great games that couldn't save the dying Atari mammoth from the likes of ET and beyond.

User Rating: 8.5 | Jr. Pac-Man 2600
By Sensei_Pong | Review Date:
Most people aren't familiar with Jr. Pac-man. But on a game complexity level; Jr. Pac-man dates as the most difficult classic Pac-man game devised. Even in the arcade, the crap that Jr. Pac-man has to go through is like Dante's Inferno compared to his parents Garden of Dot Eden. After two, not so well-received 2600 versions of Pac-man; Atari finally gets things right and comes out with the third game in the Pac Series.

This is possibly one of the best Atari 2600 games to date. It still offers a very hard challenge, great replay value (coupled with level select), and just plain great music for the time. Even today, you'd be some-what startled with the music this game was able to produce.

For those who don't know anything about Jr. Pac-Man, it was "the next step" in Pac design. Pac-Man had one grid and stationary fruit. Ms. Pac-man had multiple grids, moving fruit, and smarter ghosts. Jr. Pac-man had multiple MASSIVE grids, deadly smart ghosts, no quick escape portals, and moving objects that Jr. Pac-man surprisingly doesn't choke on (how he eats that balloon and doesn't die is beyond me).

Luckily, just like the arcade version, Jr. Pac-man's massive grids had the scrolling feature so everything wasn't cramped. Though it added a higher level of difficulty since you can't see the entire board. Unlike the arcade though, the Atari version scrolls vertically, not horizontally. But this small difference means nothing since the game itself is designed well. This was truly one of the most beautiful Pac-man games ever devised, even with the 2600's blocky graphics. That's not to say the graphics for the 2600 Jr. Pac-man were simple. It offered nice colorful differences, smooth animation with Jr. Pac-man's sprite, and easier to recognize ghosts (without that horrible flicker... well, not so horrible flicker).

(*sigh*) But too little, too late... E.T. ruined it for this very possible 2600 hit. Video game buyers lost faith in Atari at the point this game came out. And sales for this baby couldn't save the crumbling Atari Fortress...

:-(

I recommend this game to pretty much everybody. It's great for Pac-fans, people that want that old-school challenge, or just a plain great game. Jr. Pac-man has my vote.

Find it. Play it.
Load Comments (0)