Every Atari 7800 Game #3/59 - Ms. Pac-Man
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Like Pole Position II and Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man is another Namco classic converted exceptionally well to the 7800. Again, this might be the best port of Ms. Pac-Man you could buy in North America up to this point (or at least I think it would be that way until the Tengen and Namco ports came out on the NES, though that doesn't matter chronologically because that was years after).
I'm no Pac-Man expert, but I feel like the ghosts move similarly to how they do in the original arcade release. Nothing on that felt odd or out of place. I note this because the ghost pathfinding is rather sophisticated in Pac-Man and in this game, so I feel like I can expect the ghosts to move differently in the home ports. Here, it seems to be the same (maybe). Then again, this port is coming from the company that made the original Arcade release, so a closet fit is expected. Ms. Pac-Man also controls as you would expect. movement is fluid and mistakes are never the game's fault.
Graphics are again chunky but they represent the original sprites perfectly fine.
The game's biggest flaws are merely flaws with the original game, like the occasionally random pathfinding and the poorly balanced stages. I will firmly state that Pac-Man as a much better game than Ms. Pac-Man.
There's not a lot of new content here compared to the arcade release. What we do get is a kid's mode like Dig Dug, which consists of an easier, slower beginner's level before the normal start. Also, we get a level selection up to the first banana stage. These additions, while few, are pretty great to have for a home experience, and it's not really a big deal that there's so few new content because the main experience is ported wonderfully. This seems to be another cheap pick-up, so you really don't have a reason to not have this one if you're collecting.
8/10
__________________________________________________________________________
Like Pole Position II and Dig Dug, Ms. Pac-Man is another Namco classic converted exceptionally well to the 7800. Again, this might be the best port of Ms. Pac-Man you could buy in North America up to this point (or at least I think it would be that way until the Tengen and Namco ports came out on the NES, though that doesn't matter chronologically because that was years after).
I'm no Pac-Man expert, but I feel like the ghosts move similarly to how they do in the original arcade release. Nothing on that felt odd or out of place. I note this because the ghost pathfinding is rather sophisticated in Pac-Man and in this game, so I feel like I can expect the ghosts to move differently in the home ports. Here, it seems to be the same (maybe). Then again, this port is coming from the company that made the original Arcade release, so a closet fit is expected. Ms. Pac-Man also controls as you would expect. movement is fluid and mistakes are never the game's fault.
Graphics are again chunky but they represent the original sprites perfectly fine.
The game's biggest flaws are merely flaws with the original game, like the occasionally random pathfinding and the poorly balanced stages. I will firmly state that Pac-Man as a much better game than Ms. Pac-Man.
There's not a lot of new content here compared to the arcade release. What we do get is a kid's mode like Dig Dug, which consists of an easier, slower beginner's level before the normal start. Also, we get a level selection up to the first banana stage. These additions, while few, are pretty great to have for a home experience, and it's not really a big deal that there's so few new content because the main experience is ported wonderfully. This seems to be another cheap pick-up, so you really don't have a reason to not have this one if you're collecting.
8/10