Pac-man Collection - Pokey cart or XM only

[Marc Oberhäuser]

Here is my take on a Pac-Man Collection XM box. Many thanks to Atariboy2600 for the original front art and PacManPrime for the grid art:) The look is borrowed from the first game boxes for the 7800 from 1984.

[Underball]

I've bought every game Bob has made for the 7800 from either the AA store or him directly. This version is excellent, and I would love to own it, but I am at a crossroads here, in that - I already own the non-pokey version, and I don't know if I plan on buying an XM. I'm waiting on more/better software support, and a more positive out outook for the XM's actual release date before I decide to go for it.

 

It's really kind of a bummer if people who don't buy into the XM get excluded from owning this version of the game, especially since it doesn't feature anything that requires the XM to operate.

[Metal Ghost]

Here is my take on a Pac-Man Collection XM box. Many thanks to Atariboy2600 for the original front art and PacManPrime for the grid art:) The look is borrowed from the first game boxes for the 7800 from 1984.

 

 

Wow, absolutely gorgeous!! As always your boxes are A++ work.

[AtariNerd]

Awesome and beautiful.

[mimo]

I'm playing this cart right now the POKEY sound is awesome, adds a new dimension to the game IMO

[TrekMD]

Very nice box design, Marc!

[PacManPlus]

I've bought every game Bob has made for the 7800 from either the AA store or him directly. This version is excellent, and I would love to own it, but I am at a crossroads here, in that - I already own the non-pokey version, and I don't know if I plan on buying an XM. I'm waiting on more/better software support, and a more positive out outook for the XM's actual release date before I decide to go for it.

 

It's really kind of a bummer if people who don't buy into the XM get excluded from owning this version of the game, especially since it doesn't feature anything that requires the XM to operate.

 

Hey man - I'm really sorry about this, but I figured it like this: So many people had it by now, that the only way I would update it is if something were added to make it 'new', and not just a few more mazes (which BTW have been added in this version - there are 32 now for the 'Random Mazes' option). It actually does use two of the three main features of the XM (High Score and Pokey sound). There just aren't many Pokey boards left (Commando is already rare, and Ballblazer - as I explained in another thread - will be becoming rare shortly because of one company's idiotic practices). Plus the Pokeys themselves aren't that easy to find. I think it's better to fit an add on to the system (one Pokey per user) than to try and fit Pokeys on every cartridge (one Pokey per user *per game*).

 

I don't mean to start anything here. Perry did such a wonderful job with the sound we thought (or at least I did) it would help with the XM's sales, and we wouldn't have to worry about getting Pokeys any more for newly created games that we wanted to make carts for.

 

 

On another note, Marc did a *great* job with the box art. The cart labels look very similar

 

Bob

[BrianC]

Is it possible to rescue pokeys from broken Atari 400/800 etc. computers? One problem with using Commando or Ballblazer for pokeys is that both games are very good. I wish Karateka or Hat Trick had pokeys so they could be used as donor carts.

 

Ballblazer still has a mulitiple copies available on places like eBay, so I don't think it's too rare, despite the O'Shey's thing. Demand may have increased a bit. But I hate to see a game like Ballblazer getting sacrifaced.

Edited March 24, 2011 by BrianC

[+batari]

Hey Perry

 

The Pokey only 32K version will be much harder to make. There are no homebrew boards that support the Pokey Add-On, so Commando and Ballblazer carts are the only option... (That's why I haven't made them yet). I'm not sure if the H2 will support Pokey or not.

 

Bob

Sorry, I didn't see this thread until now. H2 has a socket for a POKEY chip, and can support POKEY sounds either in the normal address range or the XM's address range for the chip.

[Lynxpro]

With the XM module release quickly approaching, I would like to get some opinions on the Pokey version of Pac-man Collection. I've made two versions of this code. There is a 32k version for use with a Pokey (Ballblazer) cart. And then there is an XM version that would use a standard 48k cart. This version support both TIA and Pokey sound. It will use Pokey sounds if an XM is detected or use the original TIA sounds if not.

So my question is, with all the people that have pre-ordered the XM, does it make sense to offer a Pokey cart and XM version or should we just do the XM version? What do you see as the pro's/con's of offering both versions? I like the XM version because it doesn't require doner Pokey carts. The obvious con is that it requires the XM module for the enhanced sound effects and some people may not want to buy the XM. I'm not sure what the cost difference, if any would be since I don't have experience producing these. Maybe Al can chime in on the cost implications. I suppose it will come down to demand, which is why I've created the Poll.

Let me know what you think.

 

Regards,

Perry

 

 

 

I vote for XM only because "the scene" should be conserving the supply of available Pokey chips..

 

 

Forgot I posted earlier in this thread...

Edited March 26, 2011 by Lynxpro