The good and the Bad: Pac-Man

[Godzilla]

seems like a shameless dodge'em ripper-off (ie would only take a hack of 2600 dodge em to make space chaser...)

[NE146]

seems like a shameless dodge'em ripper-off (ie would only take a hack of 2600 dodge em to make space chaser...)

 

Well it sort of is in the sense that you eat dots.. but the gameplay dynamic was much different.

 

You could go in any direction just like Pacman, whereas in Head-On you more or less circled around clockwise only changing lanes. In dodge-em you sped relatively smoothly around the track. In Space Chaser the feel was much more slower and methodical.. and you had a speed up button that lasted for a short time. In Space Chaser, the Missile/Missiles chased you around like the ghosts in Pacman. Whereas the cars in Head-On just try to ram into you.

 

So in a sense.... it's closer to a predecessor of Pacman than Head-On. (Although Head-On is clearly the "dot-eating" innovator). I don't think a hack of 2600 Dodge-Em would come close to Space Chaser.. Rather I think Dodge-Em/2600 Pacman SHOW that a good Space Chaser is obviously 100% possible

 

Since the game is poorly emulated in Mame (poor sound, etc.), your best bet to "get" the full version of the game is to play the PSX version (or find the arcade version).. good luck

[Godzilla]

is it part of one of those suncom classics psx sets?

[NE146]

It's Space Chaser 2000 and it's from the same line of classic psx titles like Qix, and Crazy Balloon 2k that came out.

 

 

If you want a copy, you know where to get it dude

[Video]

If that's an actual screen shot, or a close representation throught an artists view, then it would be easy to do on the 2600 I'd think.

 

I believe someone earlier said Jr Pac-Man was hard, doesn't that have something to do with the ghosts doing a 180 when they hit the edge of the screen? It seems to me they do that or something, and it keeps them all way to close to the player. It's fun though, and the scrolling screen was an awesome Idea.

 

I tell you what I'd like to see, as far as Pac-Man/dot muncher games. I'd like to see something like Chomp. It's a blatant rip off of pac-man, but one of the awesome things about it was it didn't repeat the levels. It played each once, and may have recycled if you beat all of them or something I don't remember though. One of the more interesting things was it's life system. Instead of having set lifes, you get sent to the previous stage when you get killed, of course, if your on the first stage then the games over, but beyond that, it's basically unlimited lifes, and you get practice in on the levels that you need practice on.

 

I doubt anybody would do that, everybody would hat it cause it ain't pac-man.

[Nukey Shay]

I believe someone earlier said Jr Pac-Man was hard, doesn't that have something to do with the ghosts doing a 180 when they hit the edge of the screen?  It seems to me they do that or something, and it keeps them all way to close to the player.  It's fun though, and the scrolling screen was an awesome Idea.

That's correct...in the arcade game the monsters aren't normally allowed to turn 180º. The 2600 version maintains this unless they hit the edges (probably so the game can function well with less AI...the start of the levels prove that they can follow the off-screen portions of the maze). If this were removed, I think that the game would be more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find the routine that does this.

 

I doubt anybody would do that, everybody would hat it cause it ain't pac-man.

I disagree. It sounds like a fun game...and the main beef that people have with PacMan is that it was hyped as such when it not only does not look like the game it's based on, but also that it doesn't play very much like it either. So it's partially due to the bad memory attached to it...but the control issue kinda kills the game regardless. Would I have enjoyed the game if it had been called "Wafer Dash" or something? I don't think so...as it stands, it comes across as too "Aliens Return"-ish.

[hanglyman]

the main beef that people have with PacMan is that it was hyped as such when it not only does not look like the game it's based on, but also that it doesn't play very much like it either

 

Thats it Exactly

 

I read somewhere that the guy programming it was'nt finished either, It

was very much a "Rush Job" I imagine the final product would have been

much better if he had another couple months to complete it

[atariprincess]

The beauty of Pac-Man is it's simplicity. I got my Atari 2600 for that reason. Life is hectic when I want to unwind by playing games I don't need 8 buttons a touchpad and two joysticks. All I want is a button and a stick. The best part about pac-man is you only use the stick. You can methodicly weave your way through the maze systematicly eat the ghosts, which in my mind usually replace annoying co workers. The graphics could have been better but why? Why waste the effort when it was and is perfect with it's nobely ghosts and Pac-Man. What I dislike is 3-D pac games that have come out. The Adventure Pac is okay when I am not stressed and I feel like using multiple buttons and sticks.

[Video]

The beauty of Pac-Man is it's simplicity. I got my Atari 2600 for that reason. Life is hectic when I want to unwind by playing games I don't need 8 buttons a touchpad and two joysticks. All I want is a button and a stick.

 

Hell yeah, I think that's why Atari games in general are loved. It's cause of simplicity. Now you need to play a game for a while, just to figure out the controlls (after reading the 30+ page instruction book which useually tells you nothing) Not Atari, it's pick it up, slap in a game, and your off, unless you happened to get a paddle game or something. But most carts are marked with what they used.

[surfnmadness]

Pac-man - Arcade 1980

Pac-man - 2600 1981

Dodge-em 2600 1980

 

A good history lesson at

 

http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pong.html

 

and a longer version....

 

http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/

[Shannon]

Interesting observation about Jr. Pacman there... I did not notice what the monsters were doing until I got tired of the difficulty, then I realized what was going on.

 

2600 Pac-man? I actually had a maze pattern that could clear the level without dying and get all 4 ghosts almost every time with every power pill.

 

As for comments. I didn't like the maze layout... too generic. I guess a victim of the 2600's inability to make both sides of the screen different?

[Shannon]

Pac-man - Arcade     1980

Pac-man  - 2600       1981

Dodge-em  2600       1980

 

A good history lesson at  

 

   http://www.designboom.com/eng/education/pong.html

 

and a longer version....

 

  http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/

 

Interesting observation on the first link there, on page 3. They have a picture of a galaxian cabinet, but the screen shot itself is actually galaga. Either that or the subtitle is incorrect. Also looks like they have a picture of stratovox subtitled as galaxian. Whooops.

[Nukey Shay]

The 2600 is not incapable of having different graphics on the left & right halves. Just not very many games use it...since mirroring/reversing requires less memory. BTW only 1/8th of the screen is stored in PacMan (the section is repeated downward and reversed to the side).