I have received data stored in Excel in this format & I need a way to
convert a lot of these records into "Shape" files describing
"polygons" in a GIS program (ArcMap 9.x)Would be great if there was an
off the shelf program to do this.

Example of data format.

MapPolygon{ N=13(-118.18153579812677, 34.13497899084968, ) 
(-118.18156233338784, 34.13491797569245, )  (-118.18184624985733,
34.135003997003835, )  (-118.1817517661122, 34.13512265487116, ) 
(-118.18155039689655, 34.1350668733853, )  (-118.18155195198526,
34.1350525546308, )  (-118.18155080038511, 34.13503964135678, ) 
(-118.18154667242122, 34.13502568836115, )  (-118.1815375152753,
34.135008857651535, )  (-118.18153498889676, 34.135001991762834, ) 
(-118.18153390971702, 34.134991991125425, )  (-118.18153626440424,
34.13498066635203, )  (-118.18153579812677, 34.13497899084968, ) 
GCS_NORTH_AMERICAN_1983}

Not sure if this helps, but the shapefile format is described here ...
http://www.esri.com/library/whitepapers/pdfs/shapefile.pdf

It seems that the example data may not be sufficient to fulfill the
shapefile format requirements without some interpretation and
assumptions, but it would seem a data conversion utility could be
written fairly easily.

Hope this helps,
Kindageeky

First rework your list into a dbf file. Use
Lat-Long-PolygonID-Pointorder as fields. Import it in ArcGIS and
create a shape file.
Goto http://www.ian-ko.com/ and download the ET Geowizards for ArcGIS. 
It has several free tools. Use Point to Polygon.
Look into the userguide for examples.

Succes,
Arid

I would convert the coordinates in ArcINFO workstation.  It seems the
easiest way unless you plan on writing code to use your current
output.  I would format your coordinate file and use the generate
command in ArcINFO workstation.  This will output a coverage which can
easily be converted to a shapefile.  You may need some additional help
with this.  But if you have the software, it is the preferred method.

Jeff