If you’ve paid any remote attention to the above bits, I’m willing to bet how you figure it plays. Essentially, it’s just that. Blocks drop, some blocks have ghosts (there’s a whole lotta Blinky’s up in here!)  others have a Pac-Man. The blocks/ghosts/Pac-Man (Pac-Men?) will break apart/drop once placed if there’s a visible area below them to do so, as you’d expect in the likes of Puyo Puyo. When a Pac-Man does drop, the player’s gotta manoeuvre that lovable nom-nom ball toward a (hopefully) carefully placed line of ghosts, who will turn blue at the very appearance (no pills needed) of our hero and subsequently get chomped to oblivion. The easiest way to think of the gameplay is that of Baku Baku Animal for the Saturn/GG (or Master System in Brazil!) as it’s essentially the same thing. A fairly simple, yet addictive puzzle title with charm in spades. Easy to learn, difficult to master. Like Tetris! 

You crash down lines, chomp on ghosts and build up your Fairy Meter (yup) to try and clear the board as best as you can, or at least keep it at a manageable rate as the difficulty level (or rather, lightning speed of blocks dropping) ramps up. It has nice little breather periods however, I noticed, similar to the original Pac-Man arcade game, in which the pace levels out slightly as if to ease the pressure on the player and let you collect your frustration-filled nerves from the other room. I personally love the touches and nods made toward the franchise, in a subtlety befitting one of my writings. Why? Everybody loves Pac-Man, because he’s awesome. Having the traditional jingle ring out in glorious 16-bit and the audio/visual-based sensory experience of the ghost-chompin’ is decidedly lovely. 

Much like with Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine (from Puyo Puyo) the fact it’s just a random conversion of a non-specific title with a popular franchise tag is particularly well done, so all the credit in the world to Namco there, as it’s a job well done. The only thing that does feel out of place, is the Fairy. Yup, that Fairy Meter thing. The move ghosts you rid, the more your meter fills, when it completes a Fairy will drop and get rid of the 8-lines of ghosts below her/him/it. It’s a handy power up, but I’d prefer it to be Ms. Pac-Man with a wand or something. Oh, well. The mechanics are well implemented and the games is a treat to play overall, from its sheer playability standpoint. If the player messes up, the player regrets it – but it isn’t as harshly punishing as some of the Columns titles, all the same. It’s a well-balanced mix, which is what you want.