Pac-Mania (Master System)

Pac-Mania (Master System)
How come the NES version is better than the Master System version of a game?
Genre(s): Maze Action Platform(s): Master System Release Date: 1991 Developer(s): Tengen Publisher(s): TecMagik Predecessor: Pac-Land

Pac-Mania (パックマニア Pakku-Mania) is an arcade game released by Namco in 1987. It was the final Pac-Man arcade game to be released in the 1980s, though was eventually succeeded by Pac-Man Arrangement a decade later.

This will only focus on the Master System version.

Why It Doesn't Deserve Any Power Pellet

1. While the game could have been good on the Master System, it's completely ruined by a horrible hit detection that makes it easier to die than it was supposed to.
   • Due to that, the game is almost unplayable and almost impossible to beat, especially for the time the game was released in the 90s. It's also extremely frustrating.
   • The jump is possibly the worst offender, as you can easily die from the ghosts, and the jump is much shorter than in other versions of the game.
   • The broken hit detection is also one of the main reasons why this port is so bad and extremely hard to beat; even on the easiest difficulty, this also makes the game have artificial difficulty.
2. The graphics are terrible compared to most versions of the game. Heck, even the NES version looks miles better than this port, and the Master System mostly has games with better-looking graphics than most NES games.
   • The ghost sprite is the worst offender, as they don't look anything like their NES or arcade counterparts; the only colors for the ghosts are red (Blinky), purple (Sue), and green (Funky). They are also way too small and extremely poorly drawn.
   • The backgrounds also lack details for most parts, mostly due to having bad color choices and being weirdly drawn.
3. Awful and abysmal soundtrack that sound like some notes of music being broken in it, especially Jungly Step, as it's sound like it's been broken and also sound like it's was composed by a 4-year-old kid who doesn't know anything in music. Yeah, it's that bad.
4. The game also has awful controls; Pac-Man is incredibly slow compared to most ports, and he can be way too fast sometimes too, but for the most part, he will always be slow, no matter what.
   • This is also one of the main reasons why this port is so bad and borderline unplayable, especially by Pac-Man standards, as, for example, Ms. Pac-Man on the same console had better controls, was a pretty decent port and more fun, and it's made by the same developer.
5. Dreadful sound effects that sound like ear bleeding compared to the console version of this game; some of them even sound like something out of an Atari 2600 game!
   • They also, along with the music, might make you want to turn off the sound of your television.
6. There's not any option menu before starting the game whatsoever; this can be a major problem due to the fact that the difficulty in that port is a nightmare, even for Pac-Man standards.
7. The difficulty is a nightmare and horribly unbalanced.
   • There's already the awful hit-detection that we already spoke of.
   • Sometime, especially at the end of the game, the ghosts are almost impossible to see before you die and run to them. This is one of the main reasons why this port is so hard, almost unplayable, and impossible to play and beat, respectively.
   • The fact that there's not any continuation (this will be explained in reason #8)
   • The extremely broken and awful controls that make the game even harder; this is also comparable to Kid Kool on NES, where that said game was ruined and hard due to the terrible controls; at least this port doesn't have the same controls as the NES port of Pac-Land.
8. There's not any continues at all, which is a huge problem considering how hard this port is, and you only get 3 lives when starting to play it.
   • To make everything worse, even the NES port (which was also developed by Tengen) has continues and is a much better version than this one; the Sega Genesis version (which was again developed by Tengen) also has continues; and even an option menu before starting the game.
9. Awful ending, even when compared to the other console versions of the game.
10. Coins World is pointless as it's only here to collect points most of the time, and it's confusing to get to Coins World.
11. The intro before the levels was downgraded, even compared to the NES version, and it's now bad in this version.
12. The ghosts AI is godawful, they would chase you to death and they barely leave you, even in the arcade original or the Sega Genesis port they weren't as horrible as this port, in fact it's so bad that even The Simpsons Wrestling have better AI than this and that game also have god-awful AI.

Redeeming Qualities

1. While the graphics are terrible, the Pac-Man sprite is not that bad and looks decent compared to the ghost sprite.
2. Despite how bad this port is, some could enjoy it.
3. It's at least faithful to the Amiga version (in which this version is based).
4. While it's pointless, the coin world is only in this port and not the other ports.
5. Porting Pac-Mania to the Master System was an awesome concept. Ms. Pac-Man had a decent port on the Master System along with the Game Gear version, and Pac-Attack got a good port on Game Gear too. Unfortunately, with Pac-Mania, it's been poorly executed.

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