Baby Pac-Man/Gameplay
Controls
- Joystick: The joystick helps you direct Jr. Pac-Man through the maze. You can hold the joystick in direction that you would like Baby Pac-Man to go before he is able to turn that way, and he will turn as soon as possible.
- Flippers: Push the left and right flipper buttons to raise the left or right flipper respectively during the pinball portion of the game.
- 1 or 2 Players: Push these buttons to begin a one or two player game.
Characters
Baby Pac-Man
You control the youngest of the Pac-Man family as you guide Baby through the maze and on to victory. Baby Pac-Man's one and only goal is to gobble up every dot in the maze. He must avoid contact with the four ghosts unless they are temporarily afraid of Baby Pac-Man as a result of eating one of the power pills. But power pills are hard to come by and Baby must transport himself to the pinball dimension in order to earn them. Baby can use the lower escape tunnels to go there, but if the ball drops between the two flippers, her way back will be barred until he either completes a maze, or loses a life. While in the pinball dimension, he can also increase the fruit bonus that he can earn, and increase the speed with which he can travel through the side escape tunnels.
The ghostly quartet
These are not your typical Pac-Man ghosts. They don't even give Baby the courtesy of an introduction. They are meaner than the ghosts that you find in other Pac-Man games because they no longer play by the old ghost's rules. They can double back and reverse their own path any time they like. They all seek out the closest path to Baby Pac-Man's position and have no individual behaviors. Special care must be taken to ensure that these ghosts do not gang up on Baby and surround her. When Baby Pac-Man earns and eats one of the power pellets positioned around of each stage, the ghosts will turn blue for a short period of time (but unlike regular Pac-Man ghosts, they don't ordinarily change direction). The higher the level, the shorter that time becomes, until the ghosts don't turn blue at all but they do change direction.
Scoring
Since Baby Pac-Man was designed to appeal to the pinball crowd as well as the arcade crowd, points are effectively multiplied by 10 over the usual Pac-Man point values.
- Dot
- Power Pellets
- 1st ghost
- 2nd consecutive ghost
- 3rd consecutive ghost
- 4th consecutive ghost
- Bonus
100
500
2,000
4,000
8,000
16,000
See Bonuses below.
Bonuses
| Bonus | 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points | 1,000 | 3,000 | 5,000 | 7,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 30,000 | 50,000 |
Mazes
Maze 1
- This is the introductory maze. The extended size of the pinball escape tunnels make them suitable for hiding from the ghosts briefly since they will never follow you down there.
- In this game, almost every area of the map is equally dangerous, but take special care around the area directly above the ghost pen, and make sure no ghosts are about to come out before tackling that area.
- Double back as little as possible. Try to make clockwise or counter-clockwise sweeps around the maze.
Maze 2
- Once you get the hang of it, this maze can be somewhat easier than the previous maze. The long uninterrupted corridors give the ghosts fewer opportunities to close the distance between you.
- Again, try to move in circular sweeps around the maze. By the time you reach this stage, you should have a tunnel speed of at least 2. If too many ghosts are on your side of the screen, quickly traverse to the other side through the tunnel.
- The faster your speed through the tunnel, the less likely they are to follow, which can be good or bad depending on the situation. Sometimes it's good to have them follow and be forced to slow down. Just remember that the ghosts can also turn around in the middle of the tunnel, so don't be so keen on chasing them in.
Maze 3
- The third and final maze design is clearly an homage to the original Pac-Man maze. It is the only maze whose path at the top of the screen is interrupted. This can often work to your advantage.
- Because of the break at the top, it can be a little more difficult to work in a circular fashion. Instead, watch for signs of ghosts following you to the top of the screen, but on the wrong side. If it's safe, clear out the dots around one block, and return to the bottom, cross over and repeat on the other side.
- If there are no power pills on the screen, always return to the pinball game in order to earn more and give Baby a chance to save herself if she's being followed to closely.
- After this maze, the mazes will repeat themselves.
Pinball
In order to do well at Baby Pac-Man, a good understanding of how the pinball playfield works is a must. Though it is mostly wide open in the middle, the key points to focus on are the drop targets at the top, and the lanes along either side of the field. One especially important feature to note is the ball that is trapped inside the lane along the top of the field. It is your key to instant power pills. Unless you are focused on increasing your tunnel speed or bonus fruit, that ball should be your constant target, although hitting it intentionally can be quite challenging. The biggest feature of the play field is the four power pill columns that occupy the center of the field. In order to earn power pills (besides hitting the top lane ball,) all of the lights that spell P-A-C-M-A-N must be lit in any of the columns. If the player misses the ball and it passes between the flippers, Baby Pac-Man is expelled from the pinball game and returns to the maze, unable to return through the lower escape tunnels until the maze is cleared, or Baby loses a life. A break down of the entire play field features follows.
Features
- A) Passing the ball through the far left lane lights up another letter in the word F-R-U-I-T-S. If every letter is lit and the ball passes through (A) again, the bonus fruit will increase to the next highest point value. One of the center arrows which leads to a bonus life will light up as well.
- B) This is a challenging lane to drop the ball through, but it's very rewarding. It will compare the first and second column of the power pill lights (above the left flipper) and even them up. For example, if the first column has four lights lit and the second column has three or less, the second column will automatically adjust to having four lights lit as well. If both columns have the same number of lights lit, they will each get one additional light. If one column has the power pill light lit, passing through this lane will cause the other to light up automatically.
- C) Landing in the left saucer has the same effect as passing through the far left lane (A), as well as lighting up the spinner light above it, and the power pill lane (B) below it. If either power pill 1 or 2 is lit, landing in this saucer will cause Baby Pac-Man to emerge from the left lower escape tunnel and return to the maze. The left escape tunnel will remain open while the right one will be closed.
- D) There are five drop targets here. The far right or the far left will always be lowered depending on the position of the ball in the lane above the targets. Hitting any of the yellow drop targets adds a light to the word P-A-C-M-A-N in the respective power pill column. This will also cause the blue center drop target to appear momentarily. Hitting the blue target lights up another of the center arrow lights, which can lead to a bonus life once all of the arrows are lit. The number of arrows lit shortens the length of time that the blue drop target will be available.
- E) Landing in the right saucer has the same effect as passing through the far right lane (G), as well as lighting up the spinner light above it, and the power pill lane (F) below it. If either power pill 3 or 4 is lit, landing in this saucer will cause Baby Pac-Man to emerge from the right lower escape tunnel and return to the maze. The right escape tunnel will remain open while the left one will be closed.
- F) This lane has the same effect as the lane described in (B) except that it evens up (or adds to) the lights in the third and fourth column, above the right flipper.
- G) Passing the ball through the far right lane lights up another letter in the word T-U-N-N-E-L. If every letter is lit and the ball passes through (G) again, Baby's tunnel speed will increase by one, up to a maximum speed of 8. One of the center arrows which leads to a bonus life will light up as well.
