Jr. Pac-Man/Gameplay

Controls

 * Joystick: Use the joystick to direct Jr. Pac-Man around each maze. Hold it in the direction that you want him to go before he can turn that way, and he will turn as soon as he can.
 * 1 or 2 Player Buttons: Push these buttons to begin a one or two player game.

Jr. Pac-Man
You control the progeny of the Pac-Man family as you guide him through the maze and on to victory. Jr. Pac-Man's one and only goal is to gobble up every regular pellet and power pellet in the maze. He must avoid contact with the four ghosts, unless they are temporarily afraid of Jr. Pac-Man as a result of eating one of the power pellets. Like his parents, Jr. Pac-Man moves faster when he's not eating pellets than when he is. Jr. Pac-Man is especially slowed down by eating the large pellets that are mutated from regular pellets when a bonus item travels over them, so eat them with caution. 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. At 10,000 points Jr. Pac-Man receives an extra life by default, but this setting can be modified to 15,000 points, 20,000 points or even disabled altogether.

Yum-Yum
Sporting a white bow on her head, Yum-Yum is a special character in the Jr. Pac-Man story. You never see her during the normal rounds. She only appears in the three intermissions as the object of Jr. Pac-Man's affections. She is guarded jealously by the aforementioned Blinky, who will stop at nothing to prevent the two from falling in love, and Ms. Pac-Man does not seem to approve of their relationship. They meet outside the Pac-Man home, and find ways to carry on their forbidden love - such as one bringing a balloon to the other as a gift on a bridge, and both of them running away together.

The ghostly quartet
The familiar ghosts are back, introduced during the attract mode of the game. While three of the ghosts retain their usual nicknames, Clyde (who was replaced by Sue in Ms. Pac-Man) is replaced by another orange ghost named Tim. Names aside, they basically behave the same. The red ghost Blinky shadows your trail. The pink ghost Pinky tries to stay one step ahead of Jr. Pac-Man. The light blue ghost Inky will usually turn away if you take him head on. And the orange ghost Tim does his own thing for the most part. All four ghosts will attempt to occupy the same portion of the maze as Jr. Pac-Man, but it is possible for them to be located off-screen. If they leave the area and cross the screen boundary, they will promptly do an about-face and return to view (unless a wall prevents them from doing so).

Scared Ghosts
When Jr. Pac-Man eats one of the six power pellets that are positioned around each maze, the ghosts will turn blue for a short period of time (shown left). The higher the level, the shorter that time becomes, until the ghosts eventually do not turn blue at all (but they will still reverse their direction). Eating consecutive ghosts while they're scared, can earn you 200, 400, 800, and 1600 points if you manage to gobble all four. But watch out when they start flashing (shown right) because they're about to change back to their former ghostly selves, and continue pursuing you.

Bonus items
After the seventh round of the game, the only bonus item that appears will be the 5000-point glass of root beer.

Intermissions
Jr. Pac-Man returns to intermissions that are episodic in nature, like those found in Ms. Pac-Man. His story tells of the blossoming love, between a Pac-Man and a ghost.
 * Act I - Jr. Meets Yum-Yum: Jr. Pac-Man steps outside his home to play. He spots Yum-Yum beyond the fence in his yard and goes outside to meet her. Blinky, hiding in the shadows, comes out from hiding to catch Jr. However Ms. Pac-Man, keeping a watchful eye over her child, sees the commotion from her window, and runs out to the yard to eat a power pellet and cause both of the ghosts to turn blue and run away while Jr. returns to the safety of home. This intermission is shown after Round 1.
 * Act II - The Gift: It seems that Jr. can't get the enchanting young ghost out of his mind, so he proceeds to bring a balloon, to her as a gift the next day. Excited to see her, he meets her on a bridge and gives her the balloon, when we catch a glimpse of Blinky lurking behind a bush. This intermission is shown after Round 3.
 * Act III - They Escape: Blinky quickly dashes from one bush to the another, startling Yum-Yum into releasing the balloon. Blinky attempts to capture Jr. once and for all, but once again, Ms. Pac-Man comes to the rescue. Blinky chases her away off the left side of the screen, while Jr. Pac-Man and Yum-Yum escape to the right. Once alone, they gaze into each other's eyes and fall in love, with hearts appearing all around them. This intermission is shown after Rounds 5, 7, and 9, after which point the game will stop showing them.