Pac & Pal - ahbeef

In 1983, Namco followed up Super Pac-Man with a similarly styled sequel that aimed to round out its flaws with some new additions. Does the game succeed and hold up? Find out in my review!
Special thanks to Paruko for voicing Miru, check out her channel: / @parukosleepy
Consider supporting me on Patreon: / ahbeef
#ahbeef
0:00 Intro
1:07 Story
2:30 Visuals
3:52 Sound Design
5:27 New Mechanics
8:50 Ghost AI
10:25 Maze Design
11:49 Bonus Rounds
12:21 Regional Differences
13:12 Conclusion
14:21 Patreon
14:39 Outro

[@ultramaster2o1studios53]

Actually, the cards in the Bonus Rounds are actually based on your score. The 10s digits determine where Blinky is hiding.

[@ahbeef]

very interesting! wish i found out about that before making this review lol

[@RetroRulzMyTown]

5:18 Here's a fun fact, the high score theme is actually a remix of the theme from Sweet Licks, one of Namco's first ticket games.

[@ChildhoodReliever]

Man, this is a solid review. I've been playing this on the Pac-Man Museum + Collection recently as well as the other games. Like Pac-Man Arrangement (1996 & 2005) Pac-Land and Pac-Man Battle Royale just to name a few.

[@ZacharyDietze]

I think the main reason why they made a sequel to Super instead of the original is simply because Ms. and Jr. were already doing that, (Jr. and this came out in the same year after all, both coincidentally also having little ghost girls, although here it makes less sense with no story whatsoever) so rather than oversaturate their own market with more similar Pac-Man games they just tried to make a new take non Super’s formula, which was already pretty different. I still think this game is miles better than Pac-Baby and Professor Pac-Man, but that’s not much because other than those two, this is probably my least favorite Pac-Man arcade game. I’d much rather have Pac-Land over this since that’s yet *another* different type of game, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Land either, but I still see a lot more potential in that whereas here it’s basically just a slower and more strategic puzzle-like version of Super. Not bad, but there is certainly a whole lot better. I’d rather take Namco’s other offerings like Galaga, Dig Dug, Rally-X, Bosconian, Mappy, and more any day.

[@formansbasement2311]

I loved your review man! You really went in depth, and the presentation is great. I personally really liked this game! By the way, how did you get 200,000? Was that a legit score? I can’t get past 80k

[@ahbeef]

thank you so much! i put my all into these videos because this franchise is very special to me, i'm glad that people enjoy them :) i definitely had to use save states for that score, but i only did so for the sake of seeing a full loop of the game so i could review all of the game's content, i have no idea what my legit high score is lol

[@chrisedwards3214]

I love pac and pal

[@lunarasteroidshideout]

Good review. I will say, will you review PMW Re-PAC after the marathon as a Version Versus, or will you do it in the middle?

[@ahbeef]

i plan on covering every pac-man game by mostly chronological order in a series of marathons, so to start obviously i'm doing a marathon of the arcade games, after that i'll cover the early console games (pre-PMW), then another marathon dedicated to the PMW series (including the version versus episodes), then a marathon of the post-PMW console games, then a marathon of the ghostly adventures and CE games, and by that point i'll just cover whatever else has come out from now until then and keep up with the series as new games release. all that said the PMW episode won't be for quite a while, as i will be covering other games in between each of those marathons, but when i do get to it i'll be giving it the full VV coverage for all 3 versions!

[@PACNATIC]

Late, but the Retro Arcade Featuring PAC-MAN manual states Miru is a ghost.

[@ahbeef]

i actually dug up my plug and play manual (i have the plug and play in question but everything was packed up when i made this video because i was moving) and it did indeed also say that miru is a ghost. not sure just how canon these materials are, but still interesting

[@itsnathan9131]

I had no idea this game existed very interesting, I wish they made a collection of all the pac man games they've made like pacman, mrs pacman, pac and pal, super pacman, baby pacman. Idk if I missed any

[@smashingstargamer]

I think Museum+ has the Namco made arcade games (no Ms., Baby, Jr., Plus or Professor)

[@parukosleepy]

im in this one guys

[@ahbeef]

hi paruko

[@itsnathan9131]

Wow paruko from abxy

[@joerubi6249]

@ahbeef. Pac & Pal is a charming game even if not so memorable. I have been practicing this game a lot on my Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man Legacy Cabs and just recently added this game on my PS4. It's cute but not great.

[@negative1723]

i feel like i'm repeating myself everytime:
LEARN THE PATTERNS.
I can get to a million plus on this game. all you need to do is learn the patterns,
and they repeat.
the ghost AI is like super pac-man. not very hard to get around.
basically, its just a minor variation on super pac-man, but not very hard.
later
| || || || | |
ne gative1

[@ahbeef]

lol

[@MANGOM1LK]

ok but where is toc-man's nose

[@JTCT371]

Super PacMan is awesome and is just as challenging as the original....but of a different concept but if you seriously play it, its totally pattern oriented and the scores can get very high. If you like that sort of thing you'll love the game.
Pac n Pal is more along this line, and has its own challenges. Is this the weakest in the PacMan franchise? Perhaps, but it still is a challenge....even more so than Super PacMan. Its one negative is too much going on screen, and gets confusing.