Pac-Man Connect-and-Play from BANDAI (coming in 2012)

[Atariboy]

Don't think I could get used to the left handed setup (Too used thanks to decades of it being all but standard to have the stick on the left and the buttons on the right on arcade cabinets to ever retrain myself to have their positions switched), but it looks like a nice job.

Edited September 23, 2012 by Atariboy

[onmode-ky]

I had to move two capacitors to the opposite side of the board, to make it fit. I also had to install a switch in the front (see pictures), and pull the excess A/V cord out of the back.

 

Looks good. I wish you had taken and posted pictures of the board while it was out, though. I'm guessing it's a globtop, but still.

 

So is the Bandai unit's shell now just functioning as a decorative object?

 

I asked Bandai whether the software was made up of ports or emulations, pointing out the differences from the arcade appearances, but they just reiterated the "original code" line without elaboration. Still no leads on who programmed it, too. But, at least they actually talk about the product. Jazwares, in contrast, seems intent on talking about all their other products rather than the one I try to ask them about (the Fruit Ninja plug-n-play they're supposed to have out this fall).

 

onmode-ky

[Andromeda Stardust]

Don't short-change yourselves. It's pricey, but you if you want an authentic experience, you've got to shell out the dough for the real McCoy:

Namco 30th anniversary coctail cabinet ($3500) - I wish I could afford one of these. Someday, when I have a really nice job and I get my own place, I'll convert the garage into a "game cave" and put a minibar, pool table, foosball (table soccer), darts, a homemade NEScade, a vintage "Console TV" cabinet with various retro systems attached to it, and one of these Namco babies (I try to avoid the term "man cave"; it's so sexist. I mean, can't the wife chill out in there too?).

Edited September 25, 2012 by stardust4ever

[Atariboy]

Has a mix of 4 and 8 way arcade games. I don't see a single stick style being able to do justice to Pac-Man style games and things like Xevious at the same time.

 

So it might not be as great in practice as it appears since it's going to run into the same issues discussed in this thread for $30 toys only except this time it's a $3,500 toy.

 

Should've killed the 8 way games and loaded up a few more games like Gaplus and Jr. Pac-Man on it instead (Although I suppose one could install an alternate stick on one side to get the best of both worlds).

 

It sure looks nice though.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Atariboy

[PacManPlus]

There are places that make 4/8 way switchable joysticks. you pull up on the handle and twist, left is 8 way, right is 4 way. I have a few on the cocktail cabinet I made:

http://www.ultimarc.com/controls.html

[AtariMagic!]

worth buying because of its look alone

[jhd]

While it is not exactly new anymore, it is now (finally?) available in Canada -- unlike many other PNP systems:

 

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/kids/toys/classic-pac-man-connect-and/045557884611-item.html?ikwid=pac-man&ikwsec=Home

 

 

 

the "exclusive" Level 256 game which begins where the original Pac-man left off

 

What exactly is this?

[onmode-ky]

That's just the original Pac-Man, hacked so that the game initializes with Board 255 as the first board, instead of, you know, Board 1. You play Board 255 and then view the kill screen that is Board 256, where the right half is a jumble of graphical garbage. Well, I say "view," but you can play Board 256, minus the expectation of ever clearing it.

 

Technically speaking, I'd expect the ROM for the game to be exactly the same as normal Pac-Man, except for the value of a single byte. This collection isn't really 12 games, but rather 11 games + 1 shortcut to the end of one of the 11 games.

 

Incidentally, a couple of months ago, I got a chance to see the inside of one of these units. Sadly, there was no text anywhere that identified the processor at the heart of the machine. All I could identify was an 8-MB SDRAM module. There were two glob-tops, presumably the microcontroller and the ROM module containing the software. Considering the size of the games, even if they were all ports (so that they all ran on the same architecture), 8 MB of RAM is way more than you'd need . . . if the CPU were running them directly. I surmise, then, that the large RAM area indicates that there really is an emulation layer at work, translating each game to the system's native language, whatever it is, in real time. Can anyone tell me if my reasoning is sound?

 

onmode-ky

[Marlos]

There s a hack possibility? Add more games?