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Baby Pac-Man
The Baby Pac-Man arcade cabinet showing the upper video game and lower pinball gameplay sections.
Manufacturer	Bally/Midway
Release date	October 1982
System	Bally/Midway MPU AS-2518-133
Design	Designer: Claude Fernandez Artwork: Margaret Hudson
Production Run	7,000 units

Baby Pac-Man is an arcade video game and pinball machine hybrid made by Bally Midway in 1982. Upon inserting a coin, the game begins its typical maze-style play like in the original Pac-Man, but upon entering an escape tunnel, a pinball is launched below on the main playfield where the player can gain extra points. The monsters are noted for being extremely aggressive, fast, and unpredictable, frequently breaking the rules of movement established in Namco's official Pac-Man games. Also, the game initially starts off with no energizers: the player is forced to earn them in the pinball portion of the game, making Baby Pac-Man notoriously difficult despite its infant hero. Baby Pac-Man is also notable for being one of only three games to combine video gaming and pinball - the other two being Caveman and Granny & the Gators.

Arcade flyer of Baby Pac-Man.

Baby Pac-Man was one of a series of games released by Midway that was not authorized by Namco, the creator of Pac-Man, and which led to the termination of the licensing agreement between the two companies.

Description from the arcade flyer:

Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man beam with pride as Baby Pac-Man follows in his parents' dot-chomping footsteps. A video game with a great pinball feature, Baby Pac-Man leads you where neither video nor pin has gone before.

Game action begins with the ever-popular Pac-Man maze where Pac-Baby happily munches away on white dots. However there are no helpful energizers to help you fight against the deadly monsters. Make your escape to the pinball playfield and enhance your video action by earning energizers, tunnel speed-up, and valuable fruits.

External links

• Baby Pac-Man at the Killer List of Videogames
• Baby Pac-Man guide at StrategyWiki
• Baby Pac-Man at the Internet Movie Database
• The Internet Pinball Database Presents Baby Pac-Man

Template:Arcade-game-stub

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

Baby Pac-Man
Developer(s)	Midway Games
Publisher(s)	Midway Games
Release date(s)	1982
Genre(s)	Action
System(s)	Arcade
Players	1-2
Preceded by	Ms. Pac-Man Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man (pinball table)
Series	Pac-Man

Baby Pac-Man ranks among one of the most bizarre arcade creations in video game history. It is one of only three video game/pinball hybrids ever produced (Baby is the first of two made by Bally Midway). This Pac-Man game, the second of three made by Midway without Namco's approval, was inspired by the pinball machine that Bally produced, entitled Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man. The last intermission of Ms. Pac-Man suggests that she and Pac-Man have a baby. Then a pinball game celebrates their marriage. Thus the game bearing the title Baby Pac-Man is a marriage between a video game and a pinball machine. But this marriage doesn't work very well.

In Baby Pac-Man, you begin the game in a familiar scene; the center of a maze filled with dots and four differently colored ghosts. Two things are decidedly different this time. First, you'll notice there are no power pills. Second, in addition to the escape tunnels on either side of the screen, there are two escape tunnels that go down. In order to earn power pills, the player must direct Baby Pac-Man down one of the south-bound tunnels in order to enter... the pinball part of the game. A ball will launch from between the two flippers and you must keep the pinball in play long enough to earn power pills for Baby's consumption.

In addition to the complicated play mechanics required to earn power pills, the pinball play field must also be used to increment the bonus fruit that Baby is presented with, since advancing the stage does not have any affect on the fruit, and it can also be used to increase the speed with which Baby Pac-Man can traverse the side escape tunnels. But the most frustrating aspect of the game by far is the complete disregard for the rules governing ghost movement that is established in the original Pac-Man games. The ghosts in Baby Pac-Man, have no distinguishing Artificial Intelligence, and they are entirely permitted to reverse their own direction at any time, leading to abysmally short maze durations for new players, even if they are expert Pac-Man players.

Naturally, this unusual combination of video game and pinball made the game unsuitable for home conversion. However, in this day of emulation and sophisticated pinball simulation, the game can be played through a combination of programs known as Visual Pinball and PinMAME, the pinball equivalent to MAME.

Story

Baby Pac-Man suffers the fate of his parents and is trapped inside a maze with ghosts, where he must gobble up every dot to proceed to the next stage. But unlike his parents, he must earn his power pills by entering the pinball dimension and lighting up the targets that award him with this precious power up.

Title screen

2nd Title screen

Table of Contents

From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!

Baby Pac-Man is a hybrid pinball and video game released in 1982. It is one of the few Pac-Man games developed by Midway outside of Namco's involvement or consent.

Gameplay

It generally plays like Pac-Man, though initially there are no power pellets in the maze. To earn them, the player must guide Baby Pac-Man into one of the chutes at the bottom of the maze, which then activates the pinball table part of the game. Rack up points and potentially earn power pellets by hitting bumpers and targets. Losing the ball will bring you back into the maze with the gates to the chutes closed.

Notes

It is considered the most difficult Pac-Man game to play, not just because of having to earn power pellets by playing the pinball part, but also the fast, aggressive, and random movements of the monsters as opposed to Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.