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| Munchman | |
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| Publisher(s) | Grandstand |
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| Genre(s) | Maze |
Munchman is a tabletop electronic game that was released under licence in 1981 [1] in the UK by Grandstand. [2] It is a rebadged version of the Tomy game known as Pac Man in the United States and Puck Man in Japan. [3] The games are all based on Namco's Pac-Man arcade game and use a VFD screen.
The Munchman game runs on six volts DC and can be powered by four 'C' type batteries or alternatively via a low voltage mains adaptor. [4] As the display is based on VFD technology, it allows bright, multicoloured in-game elements to be rendered but at the cost of a relatively small screen size. The VFD display is manufactured with the pre-formed, immutable in-game objects effectively fixed in place onto a dark background. Each element can be individually lit or unlit during play, giving the illusion of animation and movement. In-game objects cannot touch or superimpose one another, which is not ideal for a Pac-Man clone, as in the arcade version, the Pac-Man and ghosts do collide.
As with most Pac-Man derived games, the player must guide the Pac-Man character around a maze, eating all of the dots whilst avoiding the ghosts. Notable features of this version are that the maze is small, containing only eighteen dots plus two power pills. [3] Also, dots are only eaten if the player happens to move over them from right to left. There is a bonus cherry item sometimes available near the centre of the maze and horizontal warp tunnels can also be used by the player. The score is kept at the top of the display area, above the maze. There are two difficulty levels, [5] "ama" and "pro", physically selectable by a switch.
In the 21st century, the game has been described as "a weak version" of the Pac-Man arcade game. [3] The elementary sound has been described as "shrill" and "beepy" [2] and the sound during an active powerpill as "an irritating clicking noise". [6] The graphics have also been criticised as the collisions are unrealistic because the ghosts and munchman can never occupy the same space. [6] However, the product design has also been described as "gorgeous" [6] and has been generally praised. [2] [7]
Pac-Man, originally called Puck Man in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The player controls Pac-Man, who must eat all the dots inside an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating large flashing dots called "Power Pellets" causes the ghosts to temporarily turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points.
Berzerk is a multidirectional shooter designed by Alan McNeil and released for arcades in 1980 by Stern Electronics of Chicago. Following Taito's Stratovox, it is one of the first arcade video games with speech synthesis. Berzerk places the player in a series of top-down, maze-like rooms containing armed robots. Home ports were published for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Vectrex.
Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade video game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to Pac-Man (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's wife, the player is tasked with eating all of the pellets in an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating the larger "power pellets" lets the player eat the ghosts, who turn blue and flee.
Pac-Man Vs. is a 2003 maze video game developed by Nintendo EAD and published by Namco for the GameCube. In the game, one player takes control of Pac-Man, who must eat all of the pellets in the maze, while the others control the ghosts to try to catch them. The objective is to be the first to reach a set number of points, selected before the game begins. The player controlling Pac-Man uses the Game Boy Advance to play, while the others use the television to control the ghosts. The game requires the GameCube - Game Boy Advance link cable in order to play.
Pac-Man Plus is an arcade game that was released by Bally Midway on March 13, 1982, and it is the third title in the Pac-Man series of games.
Super Pac-Man is a 1982 maze chase arcade game developed and published by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Midway Games. Super Pac-Man is Namco's take on a sequel to the original Pac-Man; Midway had previously released Ms. Pac-Man, which Namco had little involvement with. Toru Iwatani returns as designer.
Handheld electronic games are very small, portable devices for playing interactive electronic games, often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit. Rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they usually have custom displays designed to play one game. This simplicity means they can be made as small as a smartwatch, and sometimes are. The visual output of these games can range from a few small light bulbs or LED lights to calculator-like alphanumerical screens; later these were mostly displaced by liquid crystal and vacuum fluorescent display screens with detailed images and in the case of VFD games, color. Handhelds' popularity was at its peak from the late 1970s into the early 1990s before declining. They are the precursors to the handheld game console.
An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common forms of electronic game including handheld electronic games, standalone systems, and exclusively non-visual products.
Pac-Man is a 1982 maze video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. under official license by Namco, and an adaptation of the 1980 hit arcade game of the same name. The player controls the title character, who attempts to consume all of the wafers while avoiding four ghosts that pursue him. Eating flashing wafers at the corners of the screen will cause the ghosts to turn temporarily blue and flee, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points.
Snapper is a clone of the Namco arcade game Pac-Man programmed by Jonathan Griffiths for the BBC Micro and released as one of the launch titles for Acornsoft in 1982. It was also one of Acornsoft's launch titles for the Acorn Electron in 1983.
Pac-In-Time is a platform game developed by Kalisto and published by Namco, featuring the arcade character Pac-Man. It was released in 1995 for MS-DOS, Macintosh, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and Game Boy.
Pac-Mania is a cavalier perspective maze game that was developed and released by Namco for arcades in 1987. In the game, the player controls Pac-Man as he must eat all of the dots while avoiding the colored ghosts that chase him in the maze. Eating large flashing "Power Pellets" will allow Pac-Man to eat the ghosts for bonus points, which lasts for a short period of time. A new feature to this game allows Pac-Man to jump over the ghosts to evade capture. It is the ninth title in the Pac-Man video game series and was the last one developed for arcades up until the release of Pac-Man Arrangement in 1996. Development was directed by Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani. It was licensed to Atari Games for release in North America.
Pac-Man Championship Edition is a 2007 maze video game developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. It has since appeared on several other platforms, including iOS, Android, and the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable as a PSP mini title available on the PlayStation Store. It is an HD reimagining of the original Pac-Man arcade game; players navigate Pac-Man through an enclosed maze, eating pellets and avoiding four ghosts that pursue him. Clearing an entire side of the maze of dots will cause a fruit item to appear, and eating it will cause a new maze to appear on the opposite side.
Grandstand is a video game console and electronic game manufacturer and distributor. It was based in the United Kingdom and New Zealand and was active in the 1970s and 1980s.
Mini-MunchMan is a handheld electronic game that was released in 1981 in the UK by the manufacturer Grandstand. The game is a rebadged version of Epoch-Man from Epoch.
Pac-Man Battle Royale is a 2010 maze battle-royale arcade game in the Pac-Man series. Developed by Bandai Namco Studios and manufactured by Bandai Namco Amusement, it was made in celebration of Pac-Man's 30th Anniversary. The game sees up to four players control multi-colored Pac-Men as they try to compete to be the last Pac-Man standing.
Jungler is an arcade maze game developed by Konami and released in 1981. Distributed by Stern in the United States beginning in 1982, the game has players controlling a multi-segmented creature attempting to destroy similar enemy creatures by either shooting them or eating them. A sequel titled Battle Jungler was planned for the PC Engine on 1992, but was cancelled.
Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is a 2010 maze video game published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, later ported to Steam and iOS. It is the sequel to the 2007 game Pac-Man Championship Edition, which was the last game developed by series creator Toru Iwatani. The player controls Pac-Man as he must eat all of the dots in the maze while avoiding colored ghosts that pursue him. A bonus item will appear once the player has eaten all dots on one side of the maze, causing the layout to change. Several additions were made over the original, such as bombs that send all ghosts to the regeneration box and sleeping ghosts that will give chase when Pac-Man moves past them.
Pac-Man 99 is a maze video game with battle royale elements developed by Arika and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment for the Nintendo Switch. It was released through the Nintendo Switch Online service on April 7, 2021.
Grandstand Munchman Handheld Pacman game. Year 1981
It was circular with a bulge at the back for the display and was made from bright yellow plastic, with a transparent black plastic cover over the display.
a weak version of Bally/Midway's Pac Man arcade game where you can only eat the dots when moving from right to left...
It wasn't long before an investment was made in an AC/DC adapter
Two skill levels and unlimited scoring. Made in Japan
Of all the electronic hand-helds to have at school in the early 1980s, the Grandstand Munchman was the king at my school
the experience is surprisingly robust, despite the ravages of time.