Play Pac-Man (J) Online

Pac-Man (J) on NES is exactly what you'd expect, simple, clean, and oddly hypnotic. You start in that familiar maze, chomping dots while the ghosts close in. The controls feel tight, though sometimes the turns don't register as fast as you'd like when Blinky's right on your tail.

Eating a power pellet and turning the tables on the ghosts never gets old. Watching them scatter in panic, then hunting them down for points, is still satisfying decades later. But that brief window of revenge makes the return to being chased even more tense.

The intermission cutscenes are a nice touch, little animated breaks that give the ghosts some personality. It's a small thing, but they add charm to what's otherwise a very straightforward arcade port. Pac-Man (J) doesn't reinvent anything, but it doesn't need to.