Pac-In-Time (1995). Play online

Summary

Pac‑In‑Time flips the classic maze‑chasing formula into a side‑scrolling puzzle platformer. As Pac‑Man, you wander through eight distinct regions—Desert, Lagoon, Forest, Pyramids, Mountains, Factory, Village, and the Castle—collecting pellets and power‑ups before finding the exit. The game drops four usable items: a rope for ceiling swings, a fireball for blasting enemies, a hammer for smashing obstacles, and swim shoes for underwater sections, each obtained by jumping through colored hoops and stocked simultaneously in your inventory. Health is restored with scattered fruit, and hidden treasure chests reward 1‑ups after you locate a matching key.

What makes the Game Boy edition unique is that it’s essentially the 1993 title Fury of the Furries with a Pac‑Man skin, so its level design and physics mirror the original. Every fifth stage hands you a password, letting you hop back into completed zones without starting over. The final area, The Machine, breaks the linear flow; each screen offers multiple exits that can send you toward—or away from—the ending. Reviewers praised the graphics, responsive controls, and clever item‑based puzzles, giving it solid scores across the board.

Storyline

In Pac‑In‑Time, you control Pac‑Man as he tries to get back to the present after the Ghost Witch casts a spell that throws him back to 1975, five years before his first appearance. The game is split into five distinct worlds, each containing ten levels, giving a total of fifty stages to explore. Every level’s objective is simple: collect every pellet (Pac‑Dots) scattered around the map, which then opens the exit door to the next area. The final level culminates in a showdown with the Ghost Witch herself; defeating her breaks the spell and sends Pac‑Man back to his own time.