Classic of the Month - Baby Pac-Man

Manufacturer:	Midway
Genre:	Maze / pinball hybrid
Board:	Taito F3
Year:	1982

Here on Arcade Throwback, when I write a classic of the month feature, I talk about games I've played. Usually I've will have played the original arcade machine, but sometimes I've only ever played a port, conversion or occasionally, an emulated version (if it's something rare, like Aztarac, which I covered in February. This month's classic is a game I've never seen or played in any form, but boy do I want to.

As you'll know, Arcade Throwback loves video games and pinball in equal measure, and so why wouldn't I crave a machine that combines these two loves and wraps it in one of the biggest arcade franchises of all time -- Pac-Man!

After the initial success of Pac-Man in the arcades, development of the sequels was split between the original developers (Namco) and the US/EU distributors (Bally/Midway). So while Namco gave us Super Pac-Man, Bally/Midway produced games like Ms Pac-Man and it is that spin-off that spawned Baby Pac-Man, a character who first appeared in the intermissions of Ms Pac-Man, courtesy of a stoke (what else?).

The machine itself is noteworthy as a brilliant piece of design. Its form factor is hardly any different to a standard upright arcade machine. The difference is that where the monitor would traditionally sit (in the bottom of the cabinet, facing up), is a compact pinball table. The display of the video game portion is then a 10" monitor, housed horizontally. The playfield of pinball table goes underneath the monitor, making the best possible use of the space.

In terms of gameplay, this is one of the most different games in the entire series. The video game portion is your usual ghosts and maze combo, however there are no power pills. In order to get one of those, you have to guide Baby Pac down one of the tunnels at the bottom of the maze, where upon the video game halts and a silver ball is released on to the table.

The playfield for the table is relatively simple and also quite symmetrical. Hitting the 4 targets at the top of the playfield lights up a letter of the word PACMAN in the corresponding column. Complete a column and you earn a power pellet. You can also earn a power pellet by hitting the captive ball that loops between the 1st and 4th columns. In the centre is a blue target. Hit it 6 times and you get an extra life. In the top corners are are loops, each of which leads to a rollover and an inlane (there are no outlanes). The left the loop has the letters FRUITS, which will light up one at a time with each successive rollover. Every time you complete all six letters a higher scoring fruit appears on the maze. On the right is a same thing, but with the word TUNNEL. Spell this out and you effectively power up the tunnels, so you can evade the ghosts more quickly.

In a unique twist, losing the ball is integral to the game, as this is how you get back into the video game portion. Only here can you lose a life and lose a life you will, because this game is even more relentless than Ms Pac-Man. If you've been successful in the pinball portion of the game then you'll have some better fruit and (crucially) some power pellets, but now the tunnels to the pinball table are closed. They will only re-open if you clear the level or die (I'll leave you to guess which is the more likely).

In theory you can play whichever part of the game you choose, but in reality you have to think when it will benefit you the most to drop down into the pinball game and whether or not you play the pin game for as long as possible or just long enough to get what you want to play the video game. The balance of the game is such that the chances are you will have to flick between both to be truly successful.

When I think of arcade machines (not just the games) I would love to play these days, this is right up there with a hydraulic Space Harrier, a G-Loc 360 and a Star Rider, because it offers something so few games have ever offered. Despite how good this game is, it wasn't very popular and as such there are very few examples of other hybrid machines. It's an idea that Williams tried to resurrect with their Pinball 2000 system, by adding holographic video game sequences to Revenge from Mars and Star Wars: Episode 1 pinball tables, but by all accounts neither game were as good as Baby Pac-Man.

Here's some footage from John's Arcade which shows the game off really well, although warning, there is some swearing between 6:05 and 6:20.

MTW