Page 27 - OSG Presents Classic Gamer Magazine #8

Key feature(s): Hoping the answer to continued Pac-Man success involved additional family
members, Bally/Midway creates a decidedly unhip youngster that wears a propeller beanie, likes
tricycles, and is romantically interested in Blinky's daughter (!). Fortunately, Junior has the same
voracious appetite for dots as Pac-Man and the missus.

The key change, other than the pint-sized protagonist, is the maze itself, which is now twice as wide
and features a horizontal scrolling camera. There are seven maze layouts and six power pellets to
consume instead of four. Bonus items like kites, tricycles, and root beer bounce their way across the
maze, but they do more than add points to your score. They increase the size of the dots they come
into contact with and function like energizers when consumed.

Say what? Junior's love interest in the little red ghost, named Yum-Yum, is more than a little
strange. Mere contact with the girl should theoretically kill him, but if it didn't, it could lead to a
union that would forever end the ongoing feud between the ghosts and Pac-people -- which is just
bad for business.

Key feature(s): Easily the most striking of the Pac-Man-inspired arcade games, Baby Pac-Man
combines video game and pinball in a single upright cabinet. The 13" display at the top of the
cabinet has Baby Pac-Man gobbling up dots within a maze, but there are no energizers to eat. To
turn the tables on the ghosts, Baby Pac must enter a table -- a pinball table -- by moving through a
warp tunnel positioned at the bottom of the screen. Players then attempt to spell out various letters
on the table for bonuses in the video game.

What went wrong? The small video monitor and drastically shortened pinball machine meant
that fans of either format were going to be disappointed. Potential maintenance headaches had to
make arcade owners skittish, and good luck convincing patrons to spend their precious quarters on
an odd-looking machine with incongruent play styles.

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