Super Pac-Man

IBM EGA version of Super Pac-Man

Super Pac-Man is an action/maze game first released in 1982. It is a sequel to Pac-Man and, although there are some similarities, it features numerous differences from other games in the series. In the game players again control the titular Pac-Man in a maze; this time around the goal is to eat all of the fruits in a maze instead of dots.

As with other Pac-Man games, Super Pac-Man takes place in a simple maze; instead of eating all of the dots in the maze, the goal is instead to eat the fruits which are located behind a series of locked doors. Scattered throughout the maze there are keys; when a key is eaten, one of the doors will open. Early in the game the keys are placed next to the door it opens, but as difficulty increases keys may open doors anywhere in the maze. When all of the fruits have been eaten, the game then proceeds to the next, more difficult level.

Constantly pursuing the player through the maze are four ghosts; if a ghost catches Pac-Man, a life is lost and the game ends when players have no more reserve lives. Pac-Man is mostly defenseless against the ghosts and they simply need to be avoided; however, there are two types of bonuses that can be eaten to help out. Like other Pac-Man games, there are several power pellets in the maze; eating one of these will turn the ghosts blue and allow them to be eaten by Pac-Man. There are also two super pellets; these transform Pac-Man into Super Pac-Man. In this form, the character is shown much larger than usual and can't be harmed by the ghosts, can move through doors without unlocking them, and can move faster than normal when the button is pressed. The effects of both pellets is temporary and last for shorter and shorter periods of times as the levels increase. The game also includes bonus levels at certain intervals; there are no ghosts here, instead players have a limited amount of time to eat all of the items in the maze.

Super Pac-Man was originally released in arcades. In Japan, home versions were released for the Casio PV-2000 and the Sord M5 (with the alternate titles Mr. Packn and Power Pac); In North America, versions for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC computers were released. Versions for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers were completed, however they were never released.