Jr. Pac-Man

General Computer Corporation

Industry	Video games
Founder	Doug Macrae
Key people	Tim Hoskins (project lead for Jr. Pac-Man)
Products	Jr. Pac-Man

Jr. Pac-Man is an arcade video game created by General Computer Corporation and launched by Bally Midway in 1983. It preserves the fundamental gameplay of earlier titles while introducing horizontally scrolling mazes that lack escape tunnels. Bonus items traverse the maze, converting standard dots into larger, more valuable dots that slow movement.

Gameplay

The player guides Jr. Pac-Man through mazes, aiming to consume all dots while evading four ghosts—Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Tim (who replaces Clyde). Consuming power pellets temporarily turns the ghosts blue, enabling Jr. Pac-Man to eat them for bonus points. Completing a maze allows progression to the subsequent level.

These mazes extend to twice the width of the screen and scroll horizontally. There are seven distinct maze designs; five of them include six power pellets instead of the usual four, and none feature wraparound tunnels.

Bonus items such as tricycles and balloons enter from above the ghost lair and move around the maze, transforming dots into larger versions that award more points but reduce Jr. Pac-Man’s speed when eaten. After a certain duration, these items seek out an uneaten power pellet and explode upon contact, destroying both themselves and the pellet. Colliding with a ghost when it is not vulnerable results in losing a life and causes large dots to either vanish or revert back depending on how many dots remain.

Between stages, cutscenes illustrate Jr. Pac-Man’s growing relationship with Yum-Yum, a small red ghost who appears to be Blinky’s daughter.

Development

Tim Hoskins, who led the project at General Computer Corporation (GCC) for Jr. Pac-Man, recalled that Doug Macrae, GCC’s founder, conceived the idea initially under the name Pac-Baby. Macrae pointed out that "Junior Arriving" had been featured as an intermission in Ms. Pac-Man. Building on the popularity of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, GCC expanded the series by modifying original arcade kits to incorporate features like horizontal scrolling and replacing fruit bonuses with toys.

Lacking access to the original source code, the development team reverse-engineered Pac-Man through ROM analysis. Unlike the swift production of Ms. Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man required several months due to difficulties managing off-screen objects within the scrolling maze environment. Hidden elements found in the ROM, including a "fat dot" and a flame-like symbol, inspired new gameplay innovations: fat dots slowed Jr. Pac-Man but granted higher points, while triggering power pellet explosions introduced urgency in collecting toys.

Visually, Jr. Pac-Man was distinguished by a spinning beanie cap and a unique lowercase font style. The developers enhanced the death animation by having Jr. Pac-Man shrink until only his beanie remained visible, replacing earlier more graphic concepts. Creating new intermissions involved designing additional graphics and programming—a demanding task for the team.

Jr. Pac-Man marked GCC’s last entry in the Pac-Man series. Hoskins had ideas for future projects such as a first-person perspective Pac-Man game; however, these plans were never realized.

Ports

The Atari 2600 adaptation was programmed in 1984 by Ava Robin-Cohen of GCC but only saw release in October 1986 amid a market revival spurred by Nintendo's success with the Nintendo Entertainment System. Atari had reintroduced a budget-friendly version of the 2600 in 1986 priced at $49.99, which encouraged renewed software releases including Jr. Pac-Man.

Versions for the Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computers were completed in 1984 but were canceled alongside Super Pac-Man after Atari's home division was sold to Jack Tramiel.

An unofficial port for the Atari 7800 emerged in 2009 courtesy of AtariAge.

External links

• Jr. Pac-Man on Arcade History
• ClassicGaming.com page for Jr. Pac-Man featuring screenshots of mazes and cutscenes