Super Pac-Man

About Super Pac-Man

Super Pac-Man (1982) is Namco's own sequel to Pac-Man, designed by Toru Iwatani, in which Pac-Man eats keys to open doors and can grow into a giant, ghost-proof Super Pac-Man, a game its own designer called boring.

Super Pac-Man in Depth

Sound and mechanics changed radically from the first two Pac-Man games. Instead of dots, Pac-Man eats keys to open doors to sections of the maze holding what were once bonus fruit, such as apples, bananas and Galaxian flagships, which become the items that must be cleared. Clearing all the food advances to the next level, where it is worth more. Early keys unlock nearby doors, but later ones often open doors far away, and Pac-Man can enter the ghost house at any time. Alongside ordinary power pellets, two "Super" pellets turn him into Super Pac-Man for a short time: much larger, faster with the "Super Speed" button, able to eat through doors and invulnerable to the ghosts, who look flattened as he flies over them, though he still needs a power pellet to eat them. He flashes white before reverting, and another pellet prolongs the effect.

A star appearing between the two centre boxes, while symbols flash inside them, gives a bonus: 2,000 points if two symbols match and 5,000 if they match the current level, or otherwise a ghost-like 200 to 1,600. Bonus levels fill the maze with food and no ghosts, with Pac-Man permanently Super, to clear against a countdown.

Making Super Pac-Man

Namco developed Super Pac-Man and released it in Japan and Europe in 1982, with Bally Midway releasing it in North America in 1983. By May 1983 it was the top-earning arcade game of the month, and Arcade Express gave it 8 out of 10, calling its keys, locked doors and "Super Energy Dots" "the latest thrill for gobbler-lovers". Iwatani himself was critical, disliking Pac-Man's enlarged Super form and calling the game boring. Home versions came to the Commodore 64 in 1988 and IBM PC in 1989, and it appeared on the Game Boy Color in Ms. Pac-Man: Special Color Edition in 1999. It has since featured in many compilations, including Namco Museum Vol. 2, Namco Museum Virtual Arcade, Pac-Man Museum and Pac-Man Museum+, and Jakks Pacific plug-and-play joysticks. A 2006 Sprint mobile version was promoted with a sweepstakes for a Volkswagen New Beetle painted with Super Pac-Man art, shown at E3, and Hamster added the arcade game to Arcade Archives in 2022.