Anyone who may have been familiar with the Magnavox Odyssey 2 original will find this an excellent homebrew port! On a side not I think the way the court case was settled over that one originally was correct. K.C. Munchkin! was obviously inspired by the Pac-Man fever of the time, but has enough different that I can't see justifying it being regarded as a direct clone, or rip-off. In any case this Atari 7800 homebrew port is definitely faithful to the original, and has a nicely updated look regarding it's graphics, and sprites. My compliments to Me. DeCrescendo on this work.

This really plays just like the original, and that might be where Andy's criticism about laggy controls is coming from. Unlike Pac Man where you can change direction on a dime, KC follows a grid. He(?) must complete movement into a grid square before changing direction. To someone unfamiliar with KC Munchkin this will seem laggy. To those that have played the Odyssey2 version, this is spot on.

Having zero experience playing the original on the O2, my initial thought when first seeing the game and learning of its development, was it is a “cheap” Pac-Man clone.

Playing the game and getting a feel for it, and its play style mechanics, while there is an undeniable similarity with Pac-Man, this is a very good game in its own right with considerable and distinct differences.

Off the bat, there are no patterns that can be memorized as an easy way to complete any of the mazes. KC is more like Ms. Pac-Man in this regard, including a variety of maze layouts; like the aforementioned, there are four different ones.

The key though involves understanding that unlike any of the Pac-Man maze series of games, a player cannot change direction on a whim. KC moves in a grid-like pattern throughout the maze*. Once a direction has been selected, KC must complete moving into that next grid space before selecting a new direction.

For those familiar with the Arcade classic Q*bert in which once a direction is selected to hop to, Q*bert must land on that cube, in that chosen direction, before being able to select a new direction, KC moves with a similar movement rule set. There is no way of changing Q*bert's direction midair, and there is no way of changing KC's direction when travelling to the next grid space.

That gameplay movement feature coupled with the typical, trying to plan your movement ahead of time while the "munchers" are coming for you, is one of the ways it is very similar to, yet very different from, (Ms) Pac-Man.

Unlike the familiar Arcade games, KC only has twelve dots ("pills") in each maze. Three pills at a time come together at the start of a new maze to form four groups. The pills though, move throughout the maze. Last pill remaining is extra challenging as it moves at the same speed of KC and cannot simply be followed and eaten, it must be intercepted. There are flashing pills which turn the tables on the “munchers” in the same way energizers allow Pac-Man to turn the tables on the “monsters”.

Players have the choice of which of the 4 mazes they wish to play, or make it random. There is also a level editor for individuals to design their own maze. Last but not least, when and if one 'masters' the four mazes of the game, the invisible maze option ramps up the challenge considerably.

KC Munchkin goes above and beyond the O2 experience by not only providing gameplay mechanics that are spot on to the original**; additionally, there is the choice of graphics. Default graphics being the updated set for the 7800. Hold down the Pause button on the console while powering on the system and throughout the BIOS check/logo and the original O2 graphics will appear.

While it may not be for everyone, especially if one finds themselves insisting to try movement and planning just like (Ms) Pac-Man, if the game can be seen and appreciated as its own standalone experience, it is a rewarding one and worth the endeavor. KC Munchkin is a fun and addicting title.


Footnotes:
*Defender_2600 did an excellent job in illustrating the grid of KC Munchkin here:
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/220324-kc-munchkin/page-11#entry3162313

**High praises for the game came from The Odyssey2 Homepage using terms to describe the 7800 port as:
"...impressively accurate...faithfully recreates...strikingly accurate.”

If you're familiar with the Odyssey2 version of K.C. Munchkin!, you'll find the 7800 conversion to be very faithful, right down to the endless start-game-immediate-after-game-ends pattern. If you're not familiar with the Odyssey2 version, you'lll find this to be a very challenging andn interesting alternative to your typical Pac-Man clone.

Have to disagree with Andy. On my 7800, at least, I'm finding the controls to be very responsive with no lag whatsoever. The Atari 7800 notoriously varies in quality between consoles (mine is a console that has no hint that an expansion port was ever going to exist), though, so YMMV.

The one star I docked was because this game was a perfect candidate for the AtariVox / high score device, sadly not used here. You'd really hope there'd be a way to save your scores, especially because you're prompted for your name. It would be nice if there were a way to save your maze creations, too.

I'd heard about K.C. Munchkin due to it's noteriety, as Magnavox was sued by Atari over it's release. I had no exposure to the game prior to Bob's homebrew and had no idea what to expect when I first tried it in emulation. I was blown away! I'm actually surprised about the lawsuit as the game is noticeably different from Pac-Man in a very good way. The dots move around the maze and you only have one life! As you collect more of the moving dots they increase in speed. The graphics are smooth and flicker-free and the difficulty ramps up quickly which leads to some brief but fun game play sessions. The last dot eventually moves at the same rate of speed as you, so it takes some clever strategy to chomp it. Bob also added a hidden feature, if you hold down the pause button when you start up the game it will feature the original Odyssey2 graphics. This truly is a fantastic game and is one of my favorite 7800 homebrews. I've been playing it in emulation for quite a while and just recently ordered a copy on cart. I've enjoyed it so much I had to support Bob's work.

Graphically, this is everything you could want from a 7800 port of KC Munchkin. However, the controls are embarrassingly laggy, making the game nearly unplayable. Spend your money elsewhere. While the game may look good, actually playing it is an exercise in complete frustration. It may look faithful to the Odyssey 2 classic, but it contains none of the actual fun.

Great game a must have for any 7800 owner
here is my video review/ look at
https://youtu.be/WWL-VbfMT2A