A more ergonomic controller scheme that’s more comfortable in your hands would put this unit one step closer to perfection. Pac-Man Collection TV Games unit is the case design. The unit gets a huge thumbs-up in this category - the games are extremely playable and actually fun.īy far, the biggest opportunity for improvement of the Ms. The translations of the arcade games presented in this unit are near spot-on, with accurate sounds, graphics, and gameplay (as far as I can tell, anyway - I haven’t exactly lived and breathed Mappy Land like I have Super Mario Bros., for example). If they replaced Mappy Land with Dig Dug, they would have made a much better collection ( Xevious can stay - it adds refreshing gameplay variety, and Pac-Man and Ms. Obviously Jakks Pacific and Namco wanted to milk the market for all it’s worth, separating the high-profile games into two different units ( Pac-Man and Galaxian in one, Ms. The collection of games in this unit is excellent, save for perhaps the inclusion of Mappy Land, which I personally could live without. But what about the games?” I’m glad you asked, Reader Steve. “That’s great RedWolf, I’m glad you like the buttons. All the controls use microswitches for a more durable, clicky, and arcade-like feel than you’d expect in a $25 novelty game toy. Not to be forgotten is the regular 8-way joystick, which is also very responsive - although any time you throw diagonal controls into the mix, it makes Pac-Man games a little tricky. It makes the experience of playing Pole Position at home actually fun for a change. It feels smooth and responsive, and allows for really nuanced and accurate control of your car in the game. I was shocked when I tried it and learned how incredibly well it actually worked. When you release it, it springs back to a center position. That’s right: for steering in Pole Position, you twist the joystick post itself left and right as if it were a tiny steering wheel. I’m speaking of the “twist control” built into the joystick. Interestingly enough, the feature of this console that I find the downright niftiest also seemed the most gimmicky to me before I tried it. Also, this unit has two regular play buttons instead of only one button found on earlier units, which allows for improved functionality on some games (like using it to shift gears in Pole Position). Try taking a bathroom break from a game of Galaga in the arcade and you’ll see why this is a good feature (of course, pause buttons have been standard on home consoles for years… oh well). And not only that, but when you press the pause button (labeled “Menu”), you are given a choice to either continue the current game or return to the main menu. The unit also has a really neat feature that is a drastic improvement from Jakks’ earlier TV games: a pause button. Pac-Man, Pole Position, Galaga, Xevious, and Mappy Land) with the built-in joystick and buttons. It’s easy to select from any of the five included games ( Ms. The built-in game selection menu is professional and nicely done. But the true beauty of this puppy comes when you install four AA batteries, hook it up to the RCA phono jacks on your TV and switch it on. Pac-Man Collection is probably about $25, but I paid $15, so I am happy. For starters, the console’s presentation is appropriate for the casual player that is likely to buy it: nostalgic and fun. Jakks Pacific got just about everything right with this unit. And being the picky vintage game enthusiast I am (as some might have noticed by my harsh NEX review), this is a miraculous thing. Sure, this thing has probably been reviewed to death by now, but I really wanted to share with you how cool I think this thing is. I have the venerable Atari TV Games unit that looks like a vintage Atari 2600 joystick, the highly underrated and very hackable Commodore 64 30-in-1 unit, the Namco 5-in-1 unit (with Pac-Man, Galaxian, etc), and of course, the subject of this mini-review, Jakks Pacific’s Namco TV Games – Ms. So far I am an owner of four “TV Games” units.
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