Super Pac-Man/How to play

Controls
A) Joystick: The joystick helps you direct Pac-Man through the maze. You can hold the joystick in direction that you would like Pac-Man to go before he is able to turn that way, and he will turn as soon as possible. B) Super Speed: This button can only be used while Pac-Man is in his large super mode. While holding this button down, Pac-Man will move substantially faster through the maze. Be aware that this makes turning corners a little harder to do. C) 1 or 2 Players: Push these buttons to begin a one or two player game.

Pac-Man
Once again, you control Pac-Man as you guide him through the maze and on to victory. Pac-Man's one and only goal is to gobble up every target item. He must avoid contact with the four ghosts unless they are temporarily afraid of Pac-Man as a result of eating one of the four power pellets, or when Pac-Man is super as a result of eating one of the two super power pellets. Pac-Man moves faster when he's not eating targets than when he is. He is also capable of turning around corners faster than the ghosts, so make as many turns as possible when the ghosts are on his tail. The number of extra lives given depends on the machine settings, but you typically get one extra life at 30,000 points, with the possibility of getting a second at 80,000 or 100,000 points, and an additional possibility to get even more.

Super Pac-Man
After eating one of the super power pills, Pac-Man becomes large and in charge. As Super Pac-Man, he gains a number of abilities, including: When Pac-Man's super power is about to expire, he flashes white just like the ghosts do when they are about to change back to normal.
 * The ability to eat through gates without needing to find the appropriate key.
 * The ability to fly over ghosts without colliding with them. (The ghosts actually change in appearance, becoming squat or thin depending on the direction they are moving.) This ability does not prevent Super Pac-Man from eating blue ghosts.
 * The ability to move faster when the Super Speed button is held down.
 * The ability to extend the duration of his super power by eating a regular power pill.

The ghostly quartet
The familiar ghosts are back, but this time they aren't even properly introduced. Regardless, they basically behave the same. The red ghost Blinky shadows your trail. The pink ghost Pinky tries to stay one step ahead of Pac-Man. The blue ghost Inky will usually turn away if you take him head on. And the orange ghost Clyde does his own thing for the most part. The ghosts behavior is a tad more random than in the original Pac-Man so patterns can not be relied upon. The ghost will also exhibit a "stutter" behavior from time to time where they seem to shake in one spot briefly before continuing on. This can some times save you if you are being chased, or it can mess you up if you are following behind a ghost too closely.

Scared Ghosts
When Pac-Man eats one of the four regular (blinking) power pellets positioned near the corners of each stage, the ghosts will turn blue for a short period of time. The higher the level, the shorter that time becomes, until the ghosts don't turn blue at all (but they do change direction.) Eating consecutive ghosts while they're scared can earn you 200, 400, 800, and 1600 points if you nab all four. But watch out when they start flashing because they're about to change back to their former ghostly selves.

Scoring
50 100 100 200 400 800 1600 200 (doubles after every 4th stage, up to 1600) 2000 5000 See Stages below.
 * Keys
 * Power Pellets
 * Super Power Pellets
 * 1st ghost
 * 2nd consecutive ghost
 * 3rd consecutive ghost
 * 4th consecutive ghost
 * Star (mismatched items)
 * Star (non-target matching items)
 * Star (target matching items)
 * Targets

Stage Targets
After stage 16, all targets are worth 160 points each.

Intermissions
Super Pac-Man remains true to the intermission formula established in the first Pac-Man. These intermissions are more like the simple humorous anecdotes found in the first Pac-Man, than the episodic stories told by the intermissions found in Ms. or Jr. Pac-Man.
 * Intermission I: Pac-Man enters from the left side of the screen, followed closely by the ghostly quartet. When Pac-Man exits the screen to the right, the ghosts stop. Super Pac-Man appears high up from the right, and the ghosts helplessly watch as Super Pac-Man flies over their heads and exits to the left. This intermission is played after Stage 2.
 * Intermission II: As a tribute to the first intermission from Pac-Man, regular Pac-Man enters from the right, and is followed by what appears to be a super version of Blinky. After they exit to the left, a scared (blue) version of super Blinky reappears from the left, and is now followed by an even larger version of Super Pac-Man. This intermission is played after Stage 6.
 * Intermission III: Pac-Man enters from the left side of the screen, followed closely by the ghostly quartet. Before Pac-Man makes it all the way to the right, he simply disappears, leaving the ghosts stunned and puzzled. As the ghosts look around for Pac-Man's where-abouts, Clyde looks up and notices the extremely large version of Super Pac-Man falling from the sky, instantly scaring all of the ghosts blue before this super-duper Pac-Man squashes them. This intermission is played after Stage 11, which is the third Bonus Stage.
 * Intermission IV: The extra-large Super Pac-Man enters from the left side of the screen, followed by a pack of 32 ghosts, 8 of each color. After exiting to the right, four scared (blue) super ghosts reappear from the right. Much to their misfortune, they are being chased by 32 regular sized Pac-Men. This intermission is played after Stage 16 and every 4th stage thereafter.