Jump to content
IGNORED

Baby Pac-Man


PacManPlus

Recommended Posts

8 hours ago, jetpak12 said:

@x=usr(1536) Much appreciated!

 

I am fortunate to have a friend with a working Baby Pac coin-op, but we've both been curious about the 7800 conversion

I don't have that much access, but I have played the arcade game quite a bit (and recently).  Nothing can replace an original of course, but this homebrew is very good.  Go play it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you so much!

 

I do have to say whenever this is brought up, that if it weren't for @Kurt_Woloch doing the entire pinball movement and physics, this probably would not have been completed.  He is incredibly smart!

 

Bob

 

P.s...  I had finally acquired the actual arcade cabinet not long after the game was completed.  It needed a lot of work, but I got it up and running 😀

Edited by PacManPlus
  • Like 17
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

P.s...  I had finally acquired the actual arcade cabinet not long after the game was completed.  It needed a lot of work, but I got it up and running 😀

Very cool! I got to play a Baby Pac-Man in person a few months ago.

 

I'm absolutely terrible at it. ;)  But playing Bob and Kurt's version beforehand helped immeasurably, otherwise I would've been totally lost.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bob and Kurt’s version is excellent and it’s the only home console port of Baby Pac-Man. I can’t thank them enough for providing the community with this game. I’m looking forward to playing the coin-op at PRGE or Ground Kontrol (during my visit to PRGE). 

  • Like 6
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW, fun fact about Baby Pac-Man that I don't think I've seen mentioned before...

 

At least year's Midwest Gaming Classic, I learned from watching nateo's wife play that you can actually trigger the tilt on Baby Pac-Man while playing the video game portion! The cab that was at MGC wasn't level and it was constantly rocking back and forth when moving the joystick!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dauber said:

BTW, fun fact about Baby Pac-Man that I don't think I've seen mentioned before...

 

At least year's Midwest Gaming Classic, I learned from watching nateo's wife play that you can actually trigger the tilt on Baby Pac-Man while playing the video game portion! The cab that was at MGC wasn't level and it was constantly rocking back and forth when moving the joystick!

You can tilt the 7800 version as well.

BPM.jpg

  • Like 2
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some lights missing from the Pinball portion, but shout-out to Reply Museum for having a working machine present.   

 

If anyone is ever close to Tarpon Springs, FL area...  $14 for a day of unlimited pinball and arcade goodness with dozens of machines present.

 

Right next door is a classic/collectable toy store, and across the street, a very reasonably priced café/diner.

 

Of course, this 7800 port is the next, and quite frankly only, closest thing to it.  Another magnificent release from Bob.

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/8/2023 at 2:54 PM, Nathan Strum said:

Very cool! I got to play a Baby Pac-Man in person a few months ago.

 

I'm absolutely terrible at it. ;)  But playing Bob and Kurt's version beforehand helped immeasurably, otherwise I would've been totally lost.

The trick lies in learning how to group and lead the ghosts: they don't really behave like they do in any other Pac-Man game.  Once you can get into the swing of how to make that happen, the game becomes a lot less brutal and it becomes easier to reach the pinball playfield.

 

My recollection is that the ghosts have something of an affinity for homing in on you, but if you can get them at the right distance and change your direction, they'll change their direction of pursuit and it becomes possible to group and lead them.  Making use of the tunnels also helps with this.  Here're a couple of posts from earlier in the thread on the subject:

 

 

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
6 hours ago, GaryH917 said:

This copy is the one made by Robert, not the AA re-release, that is why I bid really high on it and still lost the auction...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just read through all 80 pages of this topic and it was truly fascinating into the complete development of a game from idea to release.  Congratulations on a job well done to Bob, Kurt and all involved.   This topic also saddens me a bit, as I learned that I missed out on yet another game I would have bought.  I've seen many other topics about homebrew games that were sold on the AA store and are no longer available, that I would have definitely bought.  And I don't even own any original consoles anymore.  But the games made and sold on AA would probably push me to start acquiring them again.

 

I'm also an old timer that played Baby Pac and other games back in the 80s arcades.  One thing I've always wondered about Baby is why the Pac protag looks like regular Pac-Man instead of distinguishing it as Baby?  Like maybe it could have the bonnet on or something, like how Ms Pac and Jr Pac are distinguishable from regular Pac Man.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Rockymin said:

I'm also an old timer that played Baby Pac and other games back in the 80s arcades.  One thing I've always wondered about Baby is why the Pac protag looks like regular Pac-Man instead of distinguishing it as Baby?  Like maybe it could have the bonnet on or something, like how Ms Pac and Jr Pac are distinguishable from regular Pac Man.

Likely to keep production cost down, the graphic capabilities is relatively less than Ms. Pac-Man (resolution is lower to state the least), and even more so compared to Jr Pac-Man, which featured a scrolling horizontal maze. 

 

Besides the Baby Pac-Man sprite, the monsters and bonus items are also simplified - mono color in design.  The maze portions too are also monochrome, unlike the dual color maze pieces (Outline one color - inside another color), of the other mentioned titles.

 

The video portion is added on to what was already a costly mechanical configuration, there are a lot of parts involved.  Evidently, some cutting back from the typical 'video only' arcade machines of the same era had to be done.

 

It utilizes a TMS9918 (just like a ColecoVision), on the Vidiot PCB board.   It is often noticed too with that console system, the one color design of the sprites.  The game was released to production (October 1982), a few months after the ColecoVision (August 1982).

 

https://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Baby_Pac-Man

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Trebor said:

Likely to keep production cost down, the graphic capabilities is less than Ms. Pac-Man (resolution is lower to state the least), and even more so compared to Jr Pac-Man, which featured a scrolling horizontal maze. 

 

Besides the Baby Pac-Man sprite, the monsters and bonus items are also simplified - mono color in design.  The maze portions too are also monochrome, unlike the dual color color maze pieces (Outline one color - inside another color), of the other mentioned titles.

 

The video portion is added on to what was already a costly mechanical configuration, there are a lot of parts involved.  Evidently, some cutting back from a typical arcade 'video only' machine of the same era had to be done.

 

https://pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php/Baby_Pac-Man

 

Yeah, the ghosts were the first thing I noticed back in the day.  They look like the ghosts in the Atari 5200/8 bit version of Pac Man.  It was just weird seeing the maze part of the game looking like that after Ms PacMan.  I was never very good at Baby either, but I did like to play it whenever I saw it.  My Pac game was always Super Pac Man.  I used to be really good at that one and was able to get really far into it every time. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, sramirez2008 said:

Mine will remain in my personal collection until I start pushing up daisies. Thank you Bob and everyone else involved with Baby Pac-Man.

BP.jpeg

BP_1.jpeg

Your light blue and my light pink that Bob made I think are the best going along with the classic boy or girl baby colours. That is what I thought in my mind when I requested the pink. 

So much work went into Bob's games. Money is not the greatest right now but I would consider a second job before cashing it out. 

 

Hopefully us collector types have family that can carry on the hobby for generations to come. 

Heck enough hardware and old crt tvs still out there if you hoard enough maybe another 150 years or so.  😁

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...