Sucker for 1980s nostalgia? Sick of pumping quarters into that broken down Pac-Man machine in the laundromat? Then this is the toy for you.
Jakks Pacific Namco Plug N Play games unit is probably one of the best collections of classic video games you can find in one, easy to use unit for a reasonable price. These units are a few years old now so chances are you can pick them up at a yard sale or a thrift store for a very minimal amount of money.
The games are contained in a single small joystick unit. The joystick itself is very sturdy and should be able to stand up to the abuse of children (and adults) well. The whole thing feels very well built. The buttons feel sturdy and are easy to use and press. The joystick on this unit feels like a real joystick that is commonly found on a real arcade machine. I know using this unit is a whole lot better than pumping quarters into that arcade game near you that has only a half working joystick, or has other broken controls. Other than an On/off switch and a reset button the only controls here are a joystick and a single fire button. There are AV cords attached to the unit and you plug these into the AV ports on the front of your TV. These are the yellow, white and sometimes red plugs commonly found on many electronics and children's toys. If you have an older TV that does not have AV ports (or have an older TV in the kids room that doesn't have them) I do not recommend buying this unit as you will not be able to use it as that is the only way to hook it up.
Of course unlike the other Plug N Play collections from Jakks this unit is not only for children, parents will really enjoy this unit because it contains the games you played in the arcade as a kid. Children will enjoy the simplicity of the games as well. Overall if you purchase this unit, I can guarantee you will be getting a lot of use out of it.
Now, onto the games, the unit contains 5 games:
Pac-Man - Arguably one of the most influential video game characters of all time. Play as a yellow pie-shaped character and gobble up ghosts.
Galaxian - Space shooter where you have to shoot down hoards of ships and enemies.
Rally-X - Driving game where you have to dodge red cars and falling rocks and pick up flags as you go along.
Dig Dug - Dig tunnels and blow up enemies for points.
Bosconian - Space shooter where you move around the screen and shoot enemies and other objects for points.
Games are simple enough to play without instructions. Graphics are similar to that of an 8 bit NES or other 8 bit systems. These are the classic arcade games from back in the day and they look the same and are faithfully reproduced.
There is a single high score for each game, and as far as I can see there is no high score table on this game. The difficulty level is well balanced as the games are well made and not crappy like some games that can be found on these units. These games aren't too hard because the game has bad programming that will not let you pass, so I would recommend this unit for children as they should be able to easily play the games with a minimal amount of frustration.
I cannot help but think that Jakks Pacific gets a cut from the battery companies because this game takes 4 AA batteries. If you accumulate a few of these Plug and Play games as I have it can be pretty expensive to feed these games with batteries since each takes 4 AA batteries. I would suggest buying bulk packs of AA batteries online, you can find some deals if you look for them. Despite what the instructions say this game DOES work with rechargable AA batteries as I tested it with them. Another solution if you are skilled with electronics is you can probably wire up a power adaptor to this game after taking it apart but I would only recommend doing this if you really know what you are doing and have done this type of electronics work before.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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