Pac-Man Collection - Atari 7800

Pac-Man Collection is a homebrew cart (in other words, some guy made it in his house "unofficially" then pimped it out across a bunch of forums) that rounds up a bunch of Pac-Man games. Here it is, in all its custom-built glory:

On this cart, you get (deep breath):

Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Attack, Ultra Pac-Man, Hangly-Man, Random Mazes and Puck-Man. Aside from the first two, I'm not familar with the others (aside from Puck-Man - I had a small handheld version of it years ago).

The version of regular Pac-Man included blows the 2600 version out of the water, and as far as I'm aware the 7800 never got an "official" version of Pac-Man so it's all good. The other versions included are all variations on the main game, and include different mazes, crazy effects caused by power ups and (in at least one case) invisible maze walls(!) Oh, there are two options on the start menu - Plus Mode, and Fast Mode.

Fast Mode does exactly what it suggests - the game runs super fast, and provides a great challenge. The only problem with this is when you play the original version of Ms. Pac-Man, it'll feel like you're wading through treacle. Oh well. Plus mode throws in all sorts of weird effects - ghosts will turn invisible, power pills might be rendered ineffective, etc. There might be other effects, but I haven't seen them yet. Oh, there's another option with regards "Fast Mode" - you can control the speeding up of the game by hitting the fire button, otherwise it runs at normal speed (or was it the other way round? I can't remember).

My biggest issue I have with this game isn't the game itself - it's the 7800s bloody useless controller. It becomes increasingly difficult to control Pac-Man with the precision needed on later stages because of the controllers inherent crapness. Often, you'll find yourself going for sharp turns only to find yourself spooning it and running right into a ghost. Can't really blame the game for that though, but a general observation all the same.

Oh, the guy who made this came up with a stunning custom-made instruction manual, which goes into detail with regards each game type and really looks the part. Seriously, this looks better than 99% of the professionally made instruction manuals I've ever seen.

....isn't that awesome? Makes a change from 10 black & white pages of epilepsy warnings.

This is a fantastic cart, and highly recommended. The only slight problem is extremely limited numbers - I doubt the guy who made it created hundreds of cartridges, so its a case of watching EBay for months at a time and hoping someone is crazy enough to part with their copy.

Score: 5/5