Pac-Man was, and still is, an absolute video game phenomenon. The first game, which was released way back in 1980, was one of the earliest titles with a recognisable, distinctive main character, and the arcade original was a huge success that remains a fantastic experience to this day.

Now, with Pac-Man dominating what was then a very strong arcade scene, and Atari having a stranglehold over millions of homes thanks to their Atari 2600, surely a conversion of Pac-Man for the console would be an unqualified success, right?

Well, commercially, yes. The Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man sold a then-astonishing 8 million copies, and for many years after release was the highest selling console game of all time.

Yet it’s simply not very good.

The maze layout, the animation, the flickering ghosts and the lack of colour are all factors that contribute to the feeling that, despite being an officially licensed conversion, this particular port of Pac-Man feels like a cheap rip-off, rather than the real deal.

It’s a game that I used to play a lot as a kid, not knowing any better; revisiting it now reveals just how awful it is, especially as there are so many ways to play the arcade original at home, which does it no favours at all!

So if you do have an Atari 2600+ and you’re at all curious about Pac-Man, don’t bother.

The sequels Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man are both vastly superior games, and I’d definitely advise tracking down one or both of them to play instead, if you really want a Pac-Man game for your Atari.