Albert Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I remember the day when Pac-Man was released on the 2600. It was a big deal back then! I also remember being hugely disappointed with the game. It was obvious this was a cash grab by Atari to take advantage of the huge popularity of the license at the time. And I have to agree that this mentality did help with the crash to come. No, you can't pin it on a single title, but after paying $40 for a stinker like Pac-Man, you might be less likely to drop $40 on another game sight unseen. While the game certainly has the various elements from the arcade, that's about all you can say positively about it. And while you can make technical arguments for why various things were done (such as the unforgiving collision detection), there are ways to work around these issues, as has been demonstrated with other 2600 games. Just making the maze the correct colors would have made the game feel more like Pac-Man, and it still boggles the mind why this wasn't done, regardless of how it was justified. And making the ghosts flicker because they are ghosts? LOL. When you're creating a port of an existing game, the goal is generally to make it as close as possible to the source material, not interpret the source material as you see fit. ..Al 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Yurkie Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 To those saying that Atari Pacman had nothing to do with the crash because it came out in 82 and the crash happened later, you need to remember that part of the backlash was from people who dropped $35, $40, $45, $50 on cartridges that sucked. I would imagine dropping that kind of money back then (even now) and getting burned on crappy games, you are FAR less likely to do it again. Be honest there are a ton of horrible 2600 games. Back then you didn't have the resources to be able to read instantaneous reviews, there were a couple of magazines that would either be "fluff" reviews because they were advertisers and/or available months after the release. How many times are you going to buy games that suck? I also think its safe to assume that buying a top tier title (Pacman) from the premier software company and make of the console (Atari), you might feel safe throwing your money at a game sight unseen. To be burned by Atari Pacman hurts even more, than a noname game from a no-name company. Something was expected and it was far from delivered. Pacman for Atari was awful. Even if you can remove it from the arcade version. It's still awful. The sounds (BONK, BONK, BONK), the colors, the graphics (the chopping pacman animation is awful). But with that said it was sold as "Pacman" which makes the whole debacle even worse. Personally I think its the definition of a "Cashgrab" and it came back to bite Atari in the arse. I was 11 when it came out and I distinctly remember finding Atari Pacman in a video store. I asked the salesman to hold me a copy and he said he could "only for 2 hours." I raced back home on my bike to convince my parents to drive me there and spend their ~$40 or so bucks to get it for me. (and $40 for us was a decent amount of cash for a videogame back then.) Even with my 11 year old-strongest rose colored "Atari" glasses, I knew instantly Atari Pacman was a turd of a game. It was such a let down and disappointment. I am sure if I was a few years older to understand how it was a cashgrab by Atari and/or I spent my own money I would have been pissed. Just my two cents. I remember my stepbrother reserving a copy for around $40 bucks. He was disappointed and pissed and all the kids I knew that had the 2600 thought it sucked. It a money grab for sure. $40 was pretty much a Sh&%load of money in 1982. I think there were alot of people that were in denial because no places I knew would let you return a game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keatah Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 No amount of positive talking or reasoning or excuse-making will make a shit game good. Face it, pac-man did indeed suck. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keranu Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 I love Pac Man 2600's sound effects! Probably my favorite part about the port, it's very unique. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 There were many arcade ports to the 2600 that sucked, although many others got it right. Pacman was atmittedly one of the bad ones, but it was really ET that made people lose faith in Atari and contributed to the crash. Someone is currently begging in another thread to ressurect ET. Well, Pacman has at least been ressurected several times by now. I've got Pacman 4k and that Soviet Tetris clone whose name I can't pronounce (the story behind it is gold) ordered from the shop, just waiting for them to ship. At least we can all agree that Atari fixed their mistake by releasing Ms Pacman, the developement of which was outsourced to the same guys responsible for the original Arcade version. Ms Pacman VCS was everything Pacman should have been from the start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godzillajoe Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 Pac Man 4K is nice. Wish the power pills lasted a bit longer, seems a bit quick for the ghosts to turn back even on the first screen. Have to pick up a cart whenever I get a job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 When you're creating a port of an existing game, the goal is generally to make it as close as possible to the source material, not interpret the source material as you see fit.Of course, there are many examples of unnecessary "creative liberties" being used in games. Non-traditional invaders in SI, a cityscape in Defender, colored rocks in Asteroids, etc. I do understand why this is done...and I don't agree with it, either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbeliever Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 There were many arcade ports to the 2600 that sucked, although many others got it right. Pacman was atmittedly one of the bad ones, but it was really ET that made people lose faith in Atari and contributed to the crash. Someone is currently begging in another thread to ressurect ET. Well, Pacman has at least been ressurected several times by now. I've got Pacman 4k and that Soviet Tetris clone whose name I can't pronounce (the story behind it is gold) ordered from the shop, just waiting for them to ship. At least we can all agree that Atari fixed their mistake by releasing Ms Pacman, the developement of which was outsourced to the same guys responsible for the original Arcade version. Ms Pacman VCS was everything Pacman should have been from the start. I agree completely about Ms. Pacman. They more than made up for the Pacman release with this. However, I still enjoy Pacman for what it is, even though most everything about it is bad. It's a part of my game library and yes, I still enjoy playing it, whether or not people call it a "shit" game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schizophretard Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 The thing I'm having trouble seeing about it causing the crash by not measuring up to the arcade game is that almost everyone that had a VCS bought Pac-Man. How many of those customers played the arcade game first? It seems like it would be a minority that played the arcade game first. Everyone else wouldn't have experienced that disappointment. My family didn't. We loved it. It was my dad's favorite VCS game. When Ms. Pac-Man came out it seemed like it was just better because it came out latter. The same with Jr. Pac-man(my favorite of the three). Crap games that can crash an industry don't have sequels. It's a rarity 1 and the sequels are rarity 2. It seems like it was a very successful franchise for Atari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godzillajoe Posted October 20, 2012 Share Posted October 20, 2012 It definitely hurt their reputation. The emergence of home computers put the nail in the coffin though. Once I got a C= 64, Atari was dead to me until I rediscovered it years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAirhart Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) After reading an old Atari catalog,I now call BS on it being an ok game. stupid tapatalk won't let me rotate it.. But look at that description..... Did they even play the game when they wrote that?!? When does Pacman change color? Game differs slightly? Come on.. Edited October 22, 2012 by AAirhart 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8bit Processor Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Of course, there are many examples of unnecessary "creative liberties" being used in games. Non-traditional invaders in SI, a cityscape in Defender, colored rocks in Asteroids, etc. I do understand why this is done...and I don't agree with it, either. I also remember Nintendo and its 3rd party licensees taking creative liberties on many NES titles of the day. As a kid I wanted a 100% authentic Super Mario Bros and Double Dragon. What we got were drastic changes (ie: SMB had different screen layouts than the arcade original) or games that strayed wildly from their source material (ie; Double Dragon became some weird adventure game with level-up ability elements). Atari games usually got the gameplay aspect right despite the inferior or embellshed graphics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAirhart Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Super Mario makes sense to me, graphically the games are the same (different layouts, etc..i know), hardware is almost the same, gameplay on the arcade version is more difficult (they wanted your quarters). Having the same level of difficulty on home version wouldn't have worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 After reading an old Atari catalog, I now call BS on it being an OK game (stupid tapatalk won't let me rotate it). But look at that description..... Did they even play the game when they wrote that?!? When does Pac-Man change color? Game differs slightly? Come on.. You can link to the catalog page at AtariAge: www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=32¤tPage=10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbeliever Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Yeah...that was a little deceptive. Pacman changing color? Hmmm, I don't see that happening...and it doesn't happen in the arcade version, either. I have this catalog..Did you notice the ghosts are a little tilted? I love the line "Which differs slightly from the original".. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 Super Mario makes sense to me, graphically the games are the same (different layouts, etc..i know), hardware is almost the same, gameplay on the arcade version is more difficult (they wanted your quarters). Having the same level of difficulty on home version wouldn't have worked. In all reality, the VS unisystem games were released on Famicom first, then Nintendo messed with the game when they released it in VS Arcade. They fudged up the levels on the Arcade version just enough to annoy people, but not enough to make it feel like a new game, (example: Lost Levels). The Arcade version basically plays like an incomplete SMB ROM hack. Duck Hunt (you can shoot the dog in the arcade version, among other things), Super Mario, Hogan's Alley, Excite Bike were all ported from the Famicom to the Arcade. That's why the VS Unisystem is just modified NES hardware in a really big enclosure. Also remember the NES released in the states well after the Famicom in Japan, so many of those games were already out in Japan prior to NES launch in the USA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OBO Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 (you can shoot the dog in the arcade version, among other things) So, this urban legend that you can shoot the dog in Duck Hunt has some kind of truth in it ? whaou. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian O Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 (edited) You can link to the catalog page at AtariAge: www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?CatalogID=32¤tPage=10 "...the PAC-MAN..." Edited October 22, 2012 by Brian O 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennetzel Posted October 22, 2012 Share Posted October 22, 2012 I actually pre ordered mine back in the day. I foget which store it was, but I had my name on a list, and got it on release date. And being a HUGE fan of the arcade version, it was a huge let down. The flickering ghosts drove me nuts, the sound was terrible, even the pac man himself looks horrible...the mouth movement was lame compared to the familiar fast chomping done by the arcade version. Something which it seems Ms Pacman got right. But he looked like he was running in slow motion. And the sounds were terrible. what bugged me was, I thought the sound was the worse part of the game, yet I noticed on TV or in the movie Superman 3, they used the sounds from the game as their computer background noises. I can't see it being responsible for the demise of video games of the era. I am sure for someone who didn't play the arcade version a lot, it was a good game. But I played the arcade version so much, it just let me down. I do tend to play it once in a while, but I play Ms. Pacman more. I also ordered the new one and am looking forward to that arriving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AAirhart Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Nope...not misleading at all.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) So, this urban legend that you can shoot the dog in Duck Hunt has some kind of truth in it ? whaou. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0mx9dO3BxI You can buy the repro here if you want to "shoot the dog" on a real NES: http://www.retrousb....&products_id=96 Edited October 23, 2012 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 I wasn't a huge fan of the game in the arcades, but was excited when we got the game on the Atari 2600. From what I recall my step father just brought it home one day. In those early days of the Atari, every now and again my folks would just bring a game home. I'm guessing whatever the hot game was at the time, keeping up with Jones and all that maybe. I thought the game looked and sounded ridiculous. True I wasn't a fan of the arcade version, but I did know what it looked and sounded like. In spite of the thread title, Atari 2600 Pac-Man is that bad, if only because they tried to pass a turd off as Pac-Man. Shows how much respect Atari had for it's customers at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sqoon Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 So, this urban legend that you can shoot the dog in Duck Hunt has some kind of truth in it ? whaou. Umm, it was never an urban legend. Anyone who played Duck Hunt in arcades in mid 80's can attest to being able to shoot the snickering hound. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 Umm, it was never an urban legend. Anyone who played Duck Hunt in arcades in mid 80's can attest to being able to shoot the snickering hound. PETA would have been proud! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro Rogue Posted October 23, 2012 Share Posted October 23, 2012 In all reality, the VS unisystem games were released on Famicom first, then Nintendo messed with the game when they released it in VS Arcade. They fudged up the levels on the Arcade version just enough to annoy people, but not enough to make it feel like a new game, (example: Lost Levels). The Arcade version basically plays like an incomplete SMB ROM hack. Duck Hunt Ironically, it was an arcade game first. Duck Hunt was a ripoff of the far earlier Atari arcade game Qwak!, complete with dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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