7800Lover Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Prof. Pac-Man...I've heard of this game, but never seen an actual unit. I do remember a few trivia video games I played at the now defunct South Beach Arcade in Staten Island, NY. Given it was from the Golden Age of the arcade (late 1970s/early 1980s), I was able to answer most of the questions since I'm a late Gen-Xer. Trivia games don't seem to pull in the same number of people that go for the usual Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 I remember first actually playing Prof. Pac at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland before it moved to SE Portland. OMSI was a cool place to be; haven't been back there since it moved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Wow! Professor Pac-Man units are really rare, I think they made less than 500 of them. It's not a bad triva type game, but the Pac-Man theme seems really tacked on. I've never seen one in person before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schuwalker Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 There was a Professor Pac at my local Alladin's Castle. Remember even being lame back then - trivia game really? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Here's another one: Loco-Motion from Centauri, 1982. This was a puzzle game similar to the old sliding tile puzzles. You had to drive a train to pick up passengers and you had to move tiles around too. There were a lot of ways to die: if you went into the barriers on the edge of the screen, if you ran off the track into the gap, or if you ran into a dead end. If you waited too long to pick up passengers at a station, they'd send a Crazy Train after you (those train riders mean business!) and if you went around constantly on a loop of track, you'd get a Sweeper sent after you. I played this game at a flea market in Eden, NC sometime in the early 1990s which was the same place where I played Mappy. Anyone else see/play this one in the wild? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mxyzptlk Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I remember first actually playing Prof. Pac at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland before it moved to SE Portland. OMSI was a cool place to be; haven't been back there since it moved. When did OMSI have this game? My dad retired from OMSI last year and I was there hundreds of times from age 5 or 6 til now. I definitely do not remember there ever being any coin-op video games. Where was it located? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Prof. Pac - Didn't know it exsisted until I found KLOV Loco-Motion - I actually do remember this one but never played it since I didn't understand it and it looked boring, why play with puzzles when I can blow stuff up right? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted February 13, 2012 Author Share Posted February 13, 2012 I remember first actually playing Prof. Pac at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland before it moved to SE Portland. OMSI was a cool place to be; haven't been back there since it moved. When did OMSI have this game? My dad retired from OMSI last year and I was there hundreds of times from age 5 or 6 til now. I definitely do not remember there ever being any coin-op video games. Where was it located? Oh boy, I can't remember the layout of the old OMSI location.. but PPM was there probably only in 1983, as the game bombed mightily and was either dumped or the cabs were reused for other titles. I think it was in the same area as the electronic "card memory game", if that helps. I don't know how old you are Mxyzptlk, so you might be too young to recognize my clue. I never saw Loco-Motion. I see that Intellivision has a port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I never saw the arcade port of Loco-Motion, just the Intellivision and 2600 ports. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulBlazer Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 INTV has two versions, actually -- the 'official' one by Matell and the 'ripoff' by Activision. If you go to the Blue Sky Rangers website, you can read the whole story behind it. Never played the arcade version, but played both thru emulation and like the Activision version better. BTW, Centauri is actually just a spin off company for Konami, much the same way that they used Ultra to publish extra games for the NES during it's lifetime. A lot of 'classic' Konami games got released originaly under the Centauri label. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 Wow...I didn't realize that Professor Pac-Man was such a rarity...probably because where I went as a child to play arcade games had it for the longest time! To this day I'm a big Pac-Man fan (literally and figuratively), but I was never once tempted to try Professor Pac-Man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polybius Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I used to play Mappy here often. One day the machine was broke some how.. sort of like how an Atari 2600 can be "fryed"? The game was giving out free games! So, this kid was playing the machine. My friend and I asked if we could play. We played for awhile and wouldn't give it up. Finally we said he can have the machine back, but first we pulled out the power so it reset itself and no more free games. Nice! Did you start laughing when you pulled the plug? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polybius Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I never saw a mappy arcade machine back in the day. (When I was a kid it was Tekken and Virtua Racer.), but, they did have mappy at my local walmart for a while. I loved that game! I played it more than the artic thunder machine nearby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polybius Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Its sad that arcades started dying as I was turning 11. (2003) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polybius Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Prof. Pac-Man...I've heard of this game, but never seen an actual unit. I do remember a few trivia video games I played at the now defunct South Beach Arcade in Staten Island, NY. Given it was from the Golden Age of the arcade (late 1970s/early 1980s), I was able to answer most of the questions since I'm a late Gen-Xer. Trivia games don't seem to pull in the same number of people that go for the usual Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, etc. Prof pac-man, never heard of it, but like i said before, I was a 90's kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dauber Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Confession: I've NEVER seen a Mappy machine. Ever. I don't even know what it's about or how to play it. And I'm 37 years old. And have loved classic video games since Pac-Man came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Confession: I've NEVER seen a Mappy machine. Ever. I don't even know what it's about or how to play it. And I'm 37 years old. And have loved classic video games since Pac-Man came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Confession: I've NEVER seen a Mappy machine. Ever. I don't even know what it's about or how to play it. And I'm 37 years old. And have loved classic video games since Pac-Man came out. YES! That's the machine I saw at the flea market! It's definitely different from your standard arcade cabinet - maybe that's why it caught my eye. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted February 23, 2012 Author Share Posted February 23, 2012 Yeah, it's got the same giant-sized marquee like Jr. Pac-Man did. Speaking of which... Next game: JR. PAC-MAN, 1983 Bally/MIDWAY Okay entry in the Pac-Man series. Steer a preteen through a giant, scrolling maze. Child-related prizes float through the maze, turning dots into bigger dots that slow Jr. down when eaten, and destroy energizers! I think I first saw this at an Aladdin's Castle in Vancouver, WA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I did eventually see Jr. Pac-Man in an arcade, but it was in the early 90's. Until that point I was only familiar with the Atari 2600 port which I thought was an original game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7800Lover Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I had Jr. Pacman for my Atari 2600. As for the arcade game, I spotted one a few years ago at an arcade in Chinatown NYC called Chinatown Fair. Sadly, that arcade is gone now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 NEXT GAME: MAG/MAX, 1985 Nichibutsu Probably one of their best games not named Crazy Climber. You are a spaceship flying above and below ground, shooting enemies and trying to add pieces to become a giant robot. Being below ground is a LOT more fun, seeing as how your firepower is a lot more wide-spread. As a giant robot, you won't die but parts will be destroyed until you're back down to your ship, which will explode with one hit. Pretty fun, but endless, with one boss showing up, and you just keep going right after you kill him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted March 16, 2012 Author Share Posted March 16, 2012 I think I first saw it at a pizza place called "Pietro's" that was near highway 217 in Beaverton. I think they also had "Jump Bug". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Tyler Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 Catching up... RETURN OF THE JEDI - Haven't seen it. INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM - Local arcade. JR. PAC-MAN - An old arcade. Also at Salem Willows, last time I checked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorussell Posted April 1, 2012 Author Share Posted April 1, 2012 In case I haven't put it out already.. JUMP BUG (1981, Rock-Ola) Good game where you drive a car that can jump (and slightly defy gravity), collecting money bags and avoid or shooting enemies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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