My Arcade 40th Anniversary Micro Player vs. Pocket Player Comparison - Which One's Worth Your Money?

My Arcade has put out plenty of Pac-Man releases, but two of the most notable are 2018's Pocket Player and 2020's 40th Anniversary Micro Player. Despite the very different review score awarded by GenXGrownUp, many commenters felt that the version of Pac-Man in these two releases was actually the same. But is it? In this comparison, Jon gets down to the fine details, particularly the audio, to help you decide which of these products delivers a better Pac-Man experience.

#pacman #myarcade #namco #genxgrownup

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✔ S P O N S O R S

00:00 Premise
01:01 Why these units?
02:08 The same ROM?
02:32 Controls
03:11 Gameplay
03:47 Sound Quality
07:15 Screen Quality
08:12 Summary

[thanos]

The 40th Anniversary sounds sad or sick. It almost sounds like a hardware issue :( But you made it clear it’s in the software. It’s a shame.

[Emceemur]

These are always interesting and fun. And great opportunities for glamour shots of the different gadgets. You really went in depth on the audio too! Great job, dood.

[DooD]

My only problem is that ghosts don't work the way they should. At 2:22 Blinky starts circling the top left instead of going towards the top right like he does in the Arcade. It seems they switched Blinky and Pinky's target zones because she starts going to the top right, where Blinky should be. Also not really useful info, but Pac-Man doesn't munch as fast as he does in the arcade game. I've played this so much I noticed his mouth isn't as fast. 1 more thing, the ghosts eyes look huge in these ports

Edit: Forgot to mention this, the screens too tall because some pixels seem doubled. It kinda gives the scared ghost sprite a bigger forehead

[SoulcatcherLucario]

I really love this video, because this reminds me of the early to mid 2000 plug and plays. The differences between the two to three revisions are stark and I would love to know how they were programmed. Apparently the 2003 version was written in assembly and the 2005/2008 revision was in C? Do you know anything about the hardware in the Jakks Pacific pnps like I grew up? Five year old me could tell the vast changes between the arcade and the plug and plays, but I still enjoyed it.

[Cyko..]

I got the Tiny Arcade Pac-Man and to me, it's awesome. Great sounds.

[cowciumchloride]

Woah...The 40th Anniversary Micro Player's intro music is 3 half steps lower than the intro of the original arcade version.

Original Arcade: Key of C

40th Anniversary Micro Player: Key of A

[TheKurtsPlaceChannel]

Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.

[KarynLaura]

Hi. I like how you’re able to unscrew the joystick on the 40th anniversary unit. Great idea. Why isn’t this a feature on any all two handed controllers? Seems like a cool option. Great video. 👍👍👍

[ethanshellington]

I agree with you with all of that. I do think the looks of the my arcade one looks better.

[jessragan]

The ghost munching noise is wrong in both of those games, to the point of distraction. However, I'd generally agree that the handheld sounds better than the cabinet. I heard that the handheld is running a custom made Genesis version of Pac-Man... has there been any effort to extract the ROM and port it to the actual system?

[thundermse]

So many Pac Man collectibles available, so much inconsistency! I play it on the Arcade1up countercade which seems to be the arcadeport or at least very close to it

[renefigueroa]

Can you review the Space Invaders Basic Fun game? I got it last week at a mall and while it isn't as accurate to the actual Space Invaders, it changes some stuff up like in the asteroids like how in the later levels, the invaders get faster.

[AbeM.]

@ 2:29 oh that’s weird, the title screen on my pocket player actually says “pac-man 1980 BNEI” 😮 so even within the pocket players there’s revision differences?

[marccaselle]

I wish my arcade would do a combo of WWF superstars and WWF wrestlefest arcade games that would be awesome. 🙂

[corellioncrusaderproductio]

I really wonder if this is a software issue. It's almost like they transposed the audio down an octive. It's not like it's the wrong sounds or the wrong music, its just played in the wrong key. The music itself all sounds exactly right, just played at the incorrect pitch. Huh.

[randysmith]

I think the ROM is probably the same (except for the date text). The units are most likely using two different "One Chip Genesis" ICs as well as different timing crystals, filters, and audio chips...

[Fungibe]

"What does all this mean in summary?" Easy, MyArcade doesn't give a damn and are just cranking these out for a buck. The Space Invaders was apparently just a case of accidentally failing upwards.

[dreadtheweekend]

I had the pocket player. Yeah sounds like the audio is a bit better and you get the two other games. But if you want something to display on a shelf and maybe only play very occasionally I guess you would go for the 20th anniversary my arcade.

[ButterSpider]

Another slam dunk review! Thanks Jon!!!

[andyrockett]

One thing Jon, I have the PAC-MAN Pocket Player also, can you maybe tell me why it plays the PAC-MAN song at the start of EVERY board please? I'd like your input (if you haven't explained that already). Thanks from one die-hard PAC-MAN fan to another.