Review: Multi-Pac 24-in-1 by Clay Cowgill

Here’s a repost of a review I did quite a few years ago. It’s a bit dated, but this is still one of the best Multi-Pac kits available. I’ll be posting a similar review for the new Donkey Kong 2 kit within a few weeks

Originally Posted 6/17/2000

Introduction:

I’ve had the enjoyment of collecting classic arcade games for about five years now. One of the reasons that I like to collect games is because I grew up with them. I can remember the first time I saw Pac-Man. There were about 10 people huddled around a yellow machine in the back corner of the local pizza< arcade. There were more quarters spread across the monitor bezel than I ever carried in my pocket. Not sure what was so appealing about the game, but we all loved it. I used to get excited when I would see friends make it past the "10th Key" using patterns and lots of luck. After a while the interest started moving away from the game, and to the new Donkey Kong, Tempest, Missile Command, and Tron. The old Pac was replaced with some weird Pac-Man Plus to drum up some more quarters. It had some interesting gimmicks, but it< really didn't bring anything new to the game. Finally, I ran into a totally new Pac game called Ms. Pac-Man. I remember not wanting to play it at first because I thought it was a chick game. It turned out to be one of my favorite games of all time! Just glad the cabinet wasn't pink!

Throughout the time I’ve collected games, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many other people who have the same interest. I also got to know the names of the select collectors who’ve had fantastic collections, great web sites, or just passion for the games that I admired. One such person is Clay Cowgill. I remember reading a web site a long time ago that had pictures of him as a kid visiting Atari at the peak of their popularity. I knew he truly enjoyed the same games I did. A few years ago, Clay sent out a message that he was going to make a multi-game for Pac-Man that allowed you to play Ms. Pac, Pac Plus, and some other variants. I’ve heard of multi-games before, namely Sean Riddle’s Williams Multi-game (which I still lust after more than any other add-on), but never had a chance to get one. He was going to make a small run of them and offer them for $99 or so. I didn’t have a Pac at that time, or the $99, so I passed on it. A couple years later I finally obtained a Pac and I couldn’t pass on the MultiPac kit again. I had a very difficult time obtaining it however, because Namco decided that they still wanted to cash in on the Pac-Man trademark. They started to go after individuals who were selling reproduction parts for the games, and anything they didn’t officially endorse. Clay did the smart thing and got out of the MultiPac business immediately. It so happens that the remaining stock was sold off and may still be available, but good luck finding it.

Specifications:

The MultiPac kit is a set of small PCB’s that replace the Ms. Pac-Man daughtercard, and all of the ROM’s on the original board. It requires an original Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man board, and cannot be used on bootleg boards. It allows your Pac board to play 24 different games, many of which are variants of some of the main titles. The following table is a list of the games available. The games marked in Bold Blue are the one’s that I feel are the main titles, with the rest being minor variants of the mains.

Ordering Experience:

As I mentioned before, these kits are no longer being made or officially distributed. I was lucky enough to know someone with one for sale. The going rate for them at this time is $189, but it is sure to go up since the supply is getting low. Please do not email me asking where to get them, because I probably won’t be any help to you in finding one. The only recommendations I have would be to frequently check Ebay, or post a WTB message in the newsgroups at rec.games.video.arcade.collecting.

Delivery:

Delivery was a piece of cake once I found one. This may not eventually be the case when dealing with a seller on Ebay. The kit came with four small PCB’s connected together with wires and an installation manual. I’ve actually seen the same manual on the internet as a PDF file prior to the purchase, so I knew what to expect. It was packaged very well in a static proof bag to protect the components.

Installation:

If you are a collector of these old classics, you can’t really be afraid to mess around with the inside of the game. This kit is not terribly difficult to install. It can be a little intimidating to someone who has never touched a PCB before. Basically to process is to remove all of the ROM chips from the board, replace specific chips with the small PCB’s from the kit, and plug it back in. The main Z80 microprocessor needs to be removed and placed in one of the MultiPac PCB’s, so a certain amount of care must be taken to preserve the original chips. The manual that comes in the kit has very detailed instructions on how to perform this installation, as well as some very nice photos of the PCB’s as they are modified. There is also an email address inside the documentation for any questions or problems to report. One recommendation I would make if this kit was still being developed would be to provide a reset button that plugs right into the MultiPac PCB. There is a connect there to add your own button, which I did and hid in the coin return, but it made installation a little bit more of an effort. I’m sure this was left out to allow for different button options.

Play/Use:

As I mentioned before, the MultiPac kit is intended to be used to play 24 different games on one arcade machine. Most of these games are related, so it is a nice way to add some variety to a machine intended to play one game. If you are one of the many Pac-Man fanatics out there, this kit is not only a fantastic way to play some odd variations of the game, but it is doomed to be a collector’s item as well.

When a machine with a MultiPac is turned on or reset, a menu appears with the list of 24 games to choose from. A game is selected with the joystick and pressing one of the start buttons. Games requiring a fire button use the Player 1 Start button for firing. Once a game is selected, it boots up with a ROM test just like if it were a dedicated PCB. To get back to the menu screen, the game must be shut down or reset. A reset button can be wired into one of the MultiPac boards to make this easier.

The games play just like they were intended. Since the games are being played on the hardware they were designed to be played on, there are no problems present typical in hacks, bootlegs, or emulation. The one thing I should comment on is that it is far too easy to just reset the game to jump around to all of the games available. With a single game machine, you tend to spend more time playing the game. With this machine, I catch myself thinking of playing some of the other titles available instead of concentrating on the one I am playing at the time.

After spending some considerable amount of time playing with this kit, I really feel that this is a six title multigame, not 24. The Ms. Pac RIP and other ROM variations are cute, but when it comes to gameplay, I always go back to the original main titles. I imagine that the variants were put in the kit more because they could be than because they really added value. Once a ROM is planned, it probably was no sweat to add the variants. The unique game titles are another story. I’ve followed this kit’s development enough to know that there were many difficult experiences trying to get some of the titles incorporated in the kit. One title that was planned but dropped at the end was The Glob, due to the amount of trouble it took. I personally would have liked to see it since it was a unique title, but I can’t blame him for leaving it out. I really love the fact that Crush Roller was added to this kit. It’s a very challenging game that gives a nice twist to the maze chase genre. Go to Multigame.com and look up the story on hacking the Pac-Man Plus modification to get a full appreciation of the amount of work the developer invested in this kit.

Final Thoughts:

This is a MUST HAVE kit if you at all like the Pac-Man franchise. I really enjoyed playing many of these games in my younger days, and I love the fact that I have them all in one game, without using a MAME cabinet. The only reason I didn’t give this kit a ‘5 cherries’ rating is because it is so darn hard to find. If anyone from Namco happens across this page, please look into making a similar kit available for all the collectors out there, most of which really made you who you are today.

Ratings:

Order*
Delivery
Build Quality
Installation
Play/Use
Final Rating
*Poor Order rating due to this item being pulled from the market to avoid Namco lawsuits

Rating Scale:

Poor
Fair
Average
Good
Excellent

Links:

KLOV Entry: http://www.klov.com/M/Multi_Pac.html
Mulitgame.COM: http://www.multigame.com