I’m 51 years old but back in 2004 when this device was released I’m afraid I wasn’t ready for retro gaming. Now I can’t stop playing the “Old” stuff. Great find my friend!
Hi Jon. You got an amazing bargain. I bought two Jakks Pacific Plug-n-Plays when they were new. I had Pacman (incl. Bosconian, Rally X, Galaxian, Dig Dug) and Ms Pacman (Incl. Galaga, Pole Position, Zevious and Mappy). They were really well made. Despite a lot of use both units always worked flawlessly. I'm not surprised that yours fired right up. Jakks Pacific clearly cared about making a good product. Then I had a garage sale and sold them for a few dollars each. Even though I have a Pandora emulator now, I really regret that decision, not least because Bosconian is one of my all time favourites and it's nowhere to be seen on the Pandora. I remember reading some reviews of Jakks Pacific games as well. Reviewers often played them down, saying they'd soon be found for a few dollars in garage sales as people tired of them. I guess they were right in the short term but now some versions can be worth several times more than new prices. I've never seen the 2-piece, 7 game version. Maybe it never made it to Australia but I only recall the single piece units being sold here.
I see the one-piece unit versions at thrift stores occasionally. I think, even if I was in the market to play those games on a dedicated unit, I'd rather have the one-piece joystick that's wired directly to the television rather than the two-piece seen here since it takes fewer batteries and also because I find infrared controllers to be a bit janky. I only have small TVs so I sit super close to the screen when playing games anyway.
I bought one of these plug-n-plays in 2004 and it still works last I checked. Except it has Dig Dug and regular Pac-Man, but they play really well. Thanks for the review!
Only $2. What a great bargain. You really did score on this one. I'd like it for Mappy and Pole Position myself. We had a local pizza place here that had those two and my sister and I played them so much whenever we went there. I'm feeling some nostalgia for that now. Great video Jon and I look forward to the next.
Wow, just wow! What a diamond in the rough. The wireless feature is kinda mixed for me. I am curious how far it reaches. But, the game selection is top notch! I like all of those. And to see Bosconian included is quite rare. 2 bucks is a great gamble for that not knowing. I will definitely snatch one up if I see it for a decent price. Most of those units i see now are over priced now. Great find, Jon. And thanks for sharing. Love it!!
I have a ten-game version I bought in the early 2000s. I got it mostly for Pole Position. I don't think that the Joystick works great for Ms. Pacman. Too much wrong input. This is why I bought the Arcade1up.
I lucked into finding one of these at a thrift store a few years back myself. I paid double or triple what you paid (still very cheap). As a matter of fact, I now own most of the TV plug and play devices and most of them are very playable. I think my first one was the "regular" Namco Ms. Pacman Plug and play and it has since become an addiction. Thanks for the video!
There's a Jakks paddle unit that lets you play 2600 Circus, Super Breakout, Canyon Bomber , Warlords etc. it's a nice job - has arcade Pong and Warlords too - there's a 2 paddle unit that's obviously best if you can find it.
Nice! We got this when it came out for my wife because Ms. Pacman was her jam, and Galaga mine! I also loved that Bosconian was on it BUT!!! I never knew that you could resist to steer in Pole Position!! I'm glad watched this! I'm gonna go bust it out just to experience that!!
Its nice to see Pole Position on a namco game lineup. Pole Position seems to be forgotten by arcade 1up. A1up even included Bosconian on one of there party cades but still no Pole Position to this day
Most serious gamers dismissed plug-in place back in the day and while there were some very bad plug and play's out there there were some very good ones like this one. But for $2 you really couldn't have gone wrong unless it hadn't worked. Even a bad plug & play game is worth $2 for a good laugh or a quick video
I actually used to have that plug and play. Unfortunately, I decided to screw this and another Pac-Man plug and play up and a wire that connects to the battery compartment sort of came off. I can safely say that this is one of the better Pac-Man plug and plays with the best one being the Retro Arcade ft. Pac-Man also by Jakks Pacific.
I still have mine. Took me a while to figure out to twist the knob to drive in Pole Position. I actually have a couple of portable TV's which I intended to play these "on the go". I mostly played it at home for the nostalgia.
@@GenXGrownUp It's AT LEAST as good as the Jakks. Suffers from composite video (at the time it was released, HDMI was the dominant format) but is arcade-faithful to the point that weird arcade exploits will work. Shame about the pixel Pac-Man design, though. Counter-ergonomic!
Well done. What a bargain. While we travel around Australia in our caravan I always check out thrift shops in little towns just in case. No luck so far but always looking.
Nice find! I have the same device, but it’s a wired version. It has the same games and same rotating joystick (that works surprisingly well for Pole Position!). But I know I paid more than $2 for it. 😁
One of my best friends had a Jakks plug and play Ms Pac Man very similar to this (including the nice twisty joystick for Pole Position) except it didn’t have that kinda odd detachable arcade base. Otherwise the game line up was the same. That unit was also my introduction to Bosconian which I got kinda addicted to. Really fun, solid little devices for the time and perfect for a quick arcade (adjacent) fix. That is a fantastic find for only $2, especially since some of the Jakks units can go way higher than $35.
There's at least three different versions of this two of which are wired I believe them is Pac-Man one has a slightly different menu layout then the other two but all three of them have slightly different game list. Very odd
Great find, I almost picked up the Mrs. Pacman only plug-n-play by the same company at Goodwill for $5 bucks but also has the same NES rom version as this one so I put it back. I want the arcade fast version as a plug-n-play, even if its a NES rom one I want speed!
My daughter and had this back in the day, I did finnaly break but it worked a good long time, we bought it new, but we loved the twisty knob for pole position!
Got this used a few years ago, but it came with the joystick broken. Would up costing me nothing as a result, but I able to fix it some time later with some super-glue. Be careful with it as the joystick shaft is plastic unlike the non-wireless version that has a sturdier joystick. Got it for New Rally-X (I must have all versions) , Ms. Pac-Man and the unique Pole Position control. If you search for it, there is also a rom for it that works with the current version of MAME on Windows.
The thing with a lot of thrift stores is, the people they employ are usually elderly and have no idea of what the aftermarket prices on a lot of what their location carries really is. In short, it's like your parents selling your comic book collection for $2.00 a box in a yard sale and you have important books in those boxes like the first appearance of Superman, first Batman appearance, first X-Men, etc. The big money books that, if in good condition, can net thousands of dollars by themselves. Yet your parents have no idea that these books are worth more than $2.00 and the books get sold off at an incredible loss.
That is a great Plug n play i have one myself you got a great deal the regular crap ones are 10 at a thrift store so 2 for this is awesome i have a nice Activision plugger it looks great it has Imagic games on it i think they got the rights to them ill have to post it again on Twitter so you can see it also theres a good Intellivision plugger it is a controller style so no disk crap like the OG Intelly ok great job on the video!
I would love to get my hands on another one. Especially the one that has the seven and one. Know anybody that has one that might be willing to part with it? We can make arrangements and I can purchase it some way or another.
There’re million variantions of those pacman handhelds whether it’s based on sigmented display technology or current technology such as emulation,fpga or just a straight port to current chipsets,i honestly get tired from all those pacman handheld variantions,is it really necessary to have so much variations of it and would they still really do believe that those pacman variations of handhelds will fly off store shelves while making lots of money from it??? I hardly could believe that, Personally if i would own one of these then why would i ever want all those other variations of it, But apart from that you did a great gamble of buying that special pacman handheld for only 2 dollars😁
I have a plug n play of ms pacman that is a different model but the games are almost the same on the collection I have it since i was born and thats how i fell in love with retro gaming Edit: the version I have is the first version of ms pac man plug n play it's not wireless
@@GenXGrownUp I forgot to say the controller it's 100% metal and the buttons are super satisfying to click I would say that's the best version of this plug n play
@@GenXGrownUp They're totally ports. Good ports, though! Evidently handled by former members of Probe Development, but still very good in spite of that.
I have $100+ purchases that haven't worked out so well. And an absoluely amazing collection of games... Bosconian alone would made my day (one of my arcade favourites) but add get Pole Position, Xevious, Galaga, Mappy, Rally X, AND Ms Pacman (the BEST Pacman), and you've got a pretty solid collection of games. For $2. That beats a clone-and-duplicate-filled "250,000 games" plug-n-play console any day of the week! And lets never hear you talking about throwing things away ever gain with a collector audience watching !!! I've paid good money for stuff that doesn't work! (and landfills don't need more tech)
I bought this one in the US, not sure if it is wireless. Also have the other one. Both still unopened, probably because they were in NTSC instead of PAL, and I already had the Namco museum series for the PS1 and MAME of course.
I once had a Jakks Pacific plug-and-play unit similar to that. Only it had five games. Bought at a Target store in Austin Texas in 2006. Had until 2021 when I realized the batteries had exploded inside it.
I bought one of these back in their heyday (two actually) i bought it because it had galaga, ms pac man and dig dug on it. The big bonus for me was that it included Mappy and Bosconian, two games I was unfamiliar with despite having grown up when the games would have been popular. Man, it was fun discovering those games like they were brand new! These namco games are really timeless classics.
Dig-Dug was an obvious omission here, but I'd happily trade that out for the incusion of Bosconian. I love Dug, but Bosco just doesn't get enough love!
Great pickup Jon! I've had a few Jakks Pacific plug n' plays in the past and they're pretty good with the same sort of sounds issues you've highlighted. Keep your eyes peeled for more as there's quite a few different ones out there :-)
@@GenXGrownUp Well yes XD. They are more like custom ports. But they do use data from the original games. Even in the pac-man one, you can reach level 256 and find that famous glitch because of the fact that they are ports from the original roms. That's why they are so close to the original games
You have officially become the Video Game Whisperer! Awesome score on this one. I remember when these came out but always thought they would be hot garbage. You have definitely changed my opinion!
I’m 51 years old but back in 2004 when this device was released I’m afraid I wasn’t ready for retro gaming. Now I can’t stop playing the “Old” stuff. Great find my friend!
Hi Jon. You got an amazing bargain. I bought two Jakks Pacific Plug-n-Plays when they were new. I had Pacman (incl. Bosconian, Rally X, Galaxian, Dig Dug) and Ms Pacman (Incl. Galaga, Pole Position, Zevious and Mappy). They were really well made. Despite a lot of use both units always worked flawlessly. I'm not surprised that yours fired right up. Jakks Pacific clearly cared about making a good product.
Then I had a garage sale and sold them for a few dollars each. Even though I have a Pandora emulator now, I really regret that decision, not least because Bosconian is one of my all time favourites and it's nowhere to be seen on the Pandora.
I remember reading some reviews of Jakks Pacific games as well. Reviewers often played them down, saying they'd soon be found for a few dollars in garage sales as people tired of them. I guess they were right in the short term but now some versions can be worth several times more than new prices.
I've never seen the 2-piece, 7 game version. Maybe it never made it to Australia but I only recall the single piece units being sold here.
I see the one-piece unit versions at thrift stores occasionally. I think, even if I was in the market to play those games on a dedicated unit, I'd rather have the one-piece joystick that's wired directly to the television rather than the two-piece seen here since it takes fewer batteries and also because I find infrared controllers to be a bit janky.
I only have small TVs so I sit super close to the screen when playing games anyway.
Score, great find
Thanks. Haven't seen you around lately, Ice. Hope you're doing great!
@@GenXGrownUp yeah, I lurk a lot
I would have gambled on it too for $2.00. Great find John!
I bought one of these plug-n-plays in 2004 and it still works last I checked. Except it has Dig Dug and regular Pac-Man, but they play really well.
Thanks for the review!
i think thats from 2003
Only $2. What a great bargain. You really did score on this one. I'd like it for Mappy and Pole Position myself. We had a local pizza place here that had those two and my sister and I played them so much whenever we went there. I'm feeling some nostalgia for that now. Great video Jon and I look forward to the next.
Nice find. I wish I could find stuff like this in Thrift Shops.
The few thrift shops in my town don't usually carry plug and plays because they get snatched up real fast.
@@marccaselle8108 In the early 2000s I found an Atari 800 almost brand new for 25 bucks at Good Will but today there Is nothing.
@@wertz987 I would have got that
Wow, just wow! What a diamond in the rough. The wireless feature is kinda mixed for me. I am curious how far it reaches. But, the game selection is top notch! I like all of those. And to see Bosconian included is quite rare. 2 bucks is a great gamble for that not knowing. I will definitely snatch one up if I see it for a decent price. Most of those units i see now are over priced now. Great find, Jon. And thanks for sharing. Love it!!
That's an awesome find. Super jealous over here.
I have a ten-game version I bought in the early 2000s. I got it mostly for Pole Position.
I don't think that the Joystick works great for Ms. Pacman. Too much wrong input. This is why I bought the Arcade1up.
Great find John! These little namco units are pretty nice.
I lucked into finding one of these at a thrift store a few years back myself. I paid double or triple what you paid (still very cheap). As a matter of fact, I now own most of the TV plug and play devices and most of them are very playable. I think my first one was the "regular" Namco Ms. Pacman Plug and play and it has since become an addiction.
Thanks for the video!
There's a Jakks paddle unit that lets you play 2600 Circus, Super Breakout, Canyon Bomber , Warlords etc. it's a nice job - has arcade Pong and Warlords too - there's a 2 paddle unit that's obviously best if you can find it.
Nice! We got this when it came out for my wife because Ms. Pacman was her jam, and Galaga mine! I also loved that Bosconian was on it BUT!!! I never knew that you could resist to steer in Pole Position!! I'm glad watched this! I'm gonna go bust it out just to experience that!!
If it didn't work, I'd take it apart to turn it into a scale tabletop game for probably 1:12 scale action figures ; )
My Ms. Pac-Man unit looks different than yours. Paid $10 on a Black Friday one year. Had to replace it when a bedbug heat treatment broke it.
As Bubbles from the TPB would say, "DECEEENT"!!! If you ever get bored with it, (Bixby Snyder) "I'll buy it for a dollar"...🙂 Great find, JON!!!
Its nice to see Pole Position on a namco game lineup. Pole Position seems to be forgotten by arcade 1up. A1up even included Bosconian on one of there party cades but still no Pole Position to this day
Most serious gamers dismissed plug-in place back in the day and while there were some very bad plug and play's out there there were some very good ones like this one.
But for $2 you really couldn't have gone wrong unless it hadn't worked. Even a bad plug & play game is worth $2 for a good laugh or a quick video
I actually used to have that plug and play. Unfortunately, I decided to screw this and another Pac-Man plug and play up and a wire that connects to the battery compartment sort of came off. I can safely say that this is one of the better Pac-Man plug and plays with the best one being the Retro Arcade ft. Pac-Man also by Jakks Pacific.
I have the wired unit. Mappy is my favourite. Great shot in the wild. The dig dug one is great too.
I have one of these and I have another plug and play that have the exact same menu but one of them has more games than the other very odd.
A victory for $2.00, Cooll👍😎
I still have mine. Took me a while to figure out to twist the knob to drive in Pole Position. I actually have a couple of portable TV's which I intended to play these "on the go". I mostly played it at home for the nostalgia.
I like the look of the joystick because it has the design from the playboard art.
Can you review the bandi pacman plug n play controller that includes 12 games Baked in to the controller.
I don't own it, but I'll keep any eye out!
@@GenXGrownUp It's AT LEAST as good as the Jakks. Suffers from composite video (at the time it was released, HDMI was the dominant format) but is arcade-faithful to the point that weird arcade exploits will work. Shame about the pixel Pac-Man design, though. Counter-ergonomic!
Very nice, I'm kinda jealous now🤣
Well done. What a bargain. While we travel around Australia in our caravan I always check out thrift shops in little towns just in case. No luck so far but always looking.
Hang in there - your luck will come around!
Great video, i like you Chanel because u pay attention to your subscribers and inform quite good.
I appreciate that!
Not bad for $2.
those plug and play were another classic option for GBA and PS2 compilations
Congratz to your find. That's awesome!
Nice find! I have the same device, but it’s a wired version. It has the same games and same rotating joystick (that works surprisingly well for Pole Position!). But I know I paid more than $2 for it. 😁
I see the one-piece version quite a bit, but this was the first I recall running across this two-piece. Glad I took a shot!
Jakk's Pacific always made high quality products so that's no surprise, great price though.
These plug and plays were well made. I bought a Ms. Pacman one in 2004.
One of my best friends had a Jakks plug and play Ms Pac Man very similar to this (including the nice twisty joystick for Pole Position) except it didn’t have that kinda odd detachable arcade base. Otherwise the game line up was the same. That unit was also my introduction to Bosconian which I got kinda addicted to. Really fun, solid little devices for the time and perfect for a quick arcade (adjacent) fix. That is a fantastic find for only $2, especially since some of the Jakks units can go way higher than $35.
I see that one-piece much more often, but this was the first time I spotted the two-piece wireless variety in the wild. Bosconian FTW! 😀
There's at least three different versions of this two of which are wired I believe them is Pac-Man one has a slightly different menu layout then the other two but all three of them have slightly different game list. Very odd
Heck of a cool unit for $2! Great grab
Really cool!!! I have the atari joystick one with yars revenge, missile command, centipede
Great find, I almost picked up the Mrs. Pacman only plug-n-play by the same company at Goodwill for $5 bucks but also has the same NES rom version as this one so I put it back. I want the arcade fast version as a plug-n-play, even if its a NES rom one I want speed!
Great find Jon!
My daughter and had this back in the day, I did finnaly break but it worked a good long time, we bought it new, but we loved the twisty knob for pole position!
Got this used a few years ago, but it came with the joystick broken. Would up costing me nothing as a result, but I able to fix it some time later with some super-glue. Be careful with it as the joystick shaft is plastic unlike the non-wireless version that has a sturdier joystick. Got it for New Rally-X (I must have all versions) , Ms. Pac-Man and the unique Pole Position control. If you search for it, there is also a rom for it that works with the current version of MAME on Windows.
I'm surprised they marked it down that far. I always passed on the wireless stuff assuming the lag would have been trash. Guess I was wrong!
A lucky find. They are quite good, actually. They do eat batteries, though.
Treasure for $2.
love that controller over the mini mini console .. where the stick is smaller than a toothpick
The thing with a lot of thrift stores is, the people they employ are usually elderly and have no idea of what the aftermarket prices on a lot of what their location carries really is. In short, it's like your parents selling your comic book collection for $2.00 a box in a yard sale and you have important books in those boxes like the first appearance of Superman, first Batman appearance, first X-Men, etc. The big money books that, if in good condition, can net thousands of dollars by themselves. Yet your parents have no idea that these books are worth more than $2.00 and the books get sold off at an incredible loss.
That is a great Plug n play i have one myself you got a great deal the regular crap ones are 10 at a thrift store so 2 for this is awesome i have a nice Activision plugger it looks great it has Imagic games on it i think they got the rights to them ill have to post it again on Twitter so you can see it also theres a good Intellivision plugger it is a controller style so no disk crap like the OG Intelly ok great job on the video!
I would love to get my hands on another one. Especially the one that has the seven and one. Know anybody that has one that might be willing to part with it? We can make arrangements and I can purchase it some way or another.
There’re million variantions of those pacman handhelds whether it’s based on sigmented display technology or current technology such as emulation,fpga or just a straight port to current chipsets,i honestly get tired from all those pacman handheld variantions,is it really necessary to have so much variations of it and would they still really do believe that those pacman variations of handhelds will fly off store shelves while making lots of money from it???
I hardly could believe that,
Personally if i would own one of these then why would i ever want all those other variations of it,
But apart from that you did a great gamble of buying that special pacman handheld for only 2 dollars😁
$2 isn't a gamble. That's one less cup of coffee... Damn good call to buy that. #Jealous
the batteries costed more than the unit lol
You're about right! 😆
thats excellent jon! yeah i love the remote part of it and the top of joystick for pole position steering is very cool....
I have a plug n play with the same version of Galaga (looks the same, sounds the same,) and the no shoot bug works!
i had this one when i was much much younger. not completely sure if we still have it, though i do still have that pac-man 256 plug 'n' play somewhere
I have a plug n play of ms pacman that is a different model but the games are almost the same on the collection I have it since i was born and thats how i fell in love with retro gaming
Edit: the version I have is the first version of ms pac man plug n play it's not wireless
Nice!
@@GenXGrownUp I forgot to say the controller it's 100% metal and the buttons are super satisfying to click I would say that's the best version of this plug n play
Absolute result for two bucks - and now I'm off to have a look for a few myself!
What a great score.
Way better than Arcade 1Up
Well, I don't know about that. Cheaper, for sure.
Good score for $2!
Edit: Looks emulated to me.
Thanks, Leggo. I agree, but emulated WHAT? Not NES and not arcade. I don't recognize these particular ROMs (assuming they are ROMs and not re-writes).
@@GenXGrownUp Pole Position kinda looks like the arcade to me. Need a side by side comparison.
@@GenXGrownUp They're totally ports. Good ports, though! Evidently handled by former members of Probe Development, but still very good in spite of that.
@@GenXGrownUp Side by side, graphics very similar, but sound is a little different.
I wonder if the Galaga glitch works on that device.
I have $100+ purchases that haven't worked out so well.
And an absoluely amazing collection of games... Bosconian alone would made my day (one of my arcade favourites) but add get Pole Position, Xevious, Galaga, Mappy, Rally X, AND Ms Pacman (the BEST Pacman), and you've got a pretty solid collection of games.
For $2.
That beats a clone-and-duplicate-filled "250,000 games" plug-n-play console any day of the week!
And lets never hear you talking about throwing things away ever gain with a collector audience watching !!! I've paid good money for stuff that doesn't work! (and landfills don't need more tech)
Absolutely. Thanks for watching! 😀
can you add 10k games? (probably not) winner winner chicken dinner!
You can do anything if you try hard enough. 😉
I bought this one in the US, not sure if it is wireless. Also have the other one. Both still unopened, probably because they were in NTSC instead of PAL, and I already had the Namco museum series for the PS1 and MAME of course.
Also I bought all the Game & Watch keychain versions I could find, that were sold back then.
I once had a Jakks Pacific plug-and-play unit similar to that. Only it had five games. Bought at a Target store in Austin Texas in 2006. Had until 2021 when I realized the batteries had exploded inside it.
Argh! Old batteries have killed more cool old electronics than I care to think about. 🥲
What a bargain! Galaga was my favourite 😍
I bought one of these back in their heyday (two actually) i bought it because it had galaga, ms pac man and dig dug on it. The big bonus for me was that it included Mappy and Bosconian, two games I was unfamiliar with despite having grown up when the games would have been popular. Man, it was fun discovering those games like they were brand new! These namco games are really timeless classics.
Dig-Dug was an obvious omission here, but I'd happily trade that out for the incusion of Bosconian. I love Dug, but Bosco just doesn't get enough love!
Great pickup Jon! I've had a few Jakks Pacific plug n' plays in the past and they're pretty good with the same sort of sounds issues you've highlighted. Keep your eyes peeled for more as there's quite a few different ones out there :-)
This happens to me all the time. I ignore an entire segment of the market (Tiny Arcades come to mind), and then once I try one, I'm hooked! 😀
You got yourself a real bargain there!!
That’s awsome that it works! Could you please do a review off the arcade classics rampage though?
Thanks for the request. I have it on my list of possible future vids.
I'm super impressed with the responsiveness of the infared controller!
Me too!
I have this device. Not a bad deal.
“Tested” - Yes. And working.
I love arcades
Risky???
Too bad it’s designed for right handers
No more so than most arcade machines. And the titular game, Ms. Pac-Man, needs no buttons at all during play, so no problem there.
Actually, all the namco plug n' play froms jakks pacific uses real ports from the original arcade games
Except this one, you mean? 😆 This is close, but definitely modified. I'd like to learn more about what's running on this.
@@GenXGrownUp Well yes XD. They are more like custom ports. But they do use data from the original games. Even in the pac-man one, you can reach level 256 and find that famous glitch because of the fact that they are ports from the original roms. That's why they are so close to the original games
Bosconians with 4 direction Pac Man style controller is too easy. Jakks unit I has used 4 direction controller.
The original Bosconian has an 8-way joystick, so if anything, it's accurate. 😀
@@GenXGrownUp the extra duagonal makes it harder
Purple with chrome stripes on the front? Yeah, I hate that thing. Total Famiclone.
You have officially become the Video Game Whisperer! Awesome score on this one. I remember when these came out but always thought they would be hot garbage. You have definitely changed my opinion!
My breakfast burrito at McDonald's cost more than this. Very good find
🕹️💄🤩👍🏼
“..faster than a speeding bullet..” OH MY😱💗🙏🏼