Play Pac-in-time Online

Pac-in-Time came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1995, developed by Kalisto Entertainment. It was part of that wave of mid-90s platformers that tried to give classic characters a new dimension, moving Pac-Man from his familiar maze into a side-scrolling adventure. You don't see it discussed as often as the big names from that era, but it had its own particular flavor.

You control Pac-Man himself, navigating through a series of interconnected, screen-by-screen levels. Your main goal is to find keys to unlock doors and ultimately defeat the wizard who has trapped you in this timeline. The game gives you a sword for close combat and a bow for hitting enemies from a distance, which is a significant shift from just eating dots. You also collect pieces of a medallion to progress, a common objective in these kinds of exploratory games. The pacing can feel deliberate, even slow, as you figure out the route through each multi-screen area, and the difficulty has some sharp spikes, especially with the platforming. It feels like a thoughtful, sometimes clunky, reimagining of what a Pac-Man game could be.