Justin De Lucia Posted May 16, 2020 Share Posted May 16, 2020 At the moment the only thing I'd say this game lacks, game mode wise, is a Random Ms. Pac Plus since Pac Plus has a random mode as well (unless the max number of modes was reached). But otherwise it's great that "real" Ms. Pac Plus exists (complete with a mix of Ms. Pac and Pac Plus' fruits, even!) and the package feels even more complete than it was before. I also have one very minor comment on the round selection feature- I know tying it to fruit changes has been the norm since something like the Champ Pac-Em games and the earlier Pac-Man home-brews for this system, but I thought what if it was tied to round number instead to allow Ms. Pac to start up to Round 13 and Pac to start on even-numbered rounds following Round 2 up to the first Key. Even if it was something like [Fruit 1] and [Fruit 2] for every fruit in-between the second and eighth fruits or in Ms. Pac's case, [Random 1] to [Random 6]. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 18, 2020 Author Share Posted May 18, 2020 Actually, I am using all 16 variations that I have reserved for this title. Same with the round selection. I am keeping it to 16/8 (respectively) as this is meant to be XM enhanced and I wanted to only use one HSC entry for it. As it stands now I'm not taking into account all variations a player can have: HSC ID: 1 byte - SPEED (NORMAL OR FAST) [7], STARTING LEVEL [6..4], GAME TYPE [3..2], PLAYERS (RESERVED; I CAN'T CHANGE THIS ONE) [1..0]. Game type is split into 4 categories: - Pac-Man Series (Pac-Man, Hangly-Man, New Puck-X, Popeye Pac-Man, Ultra Pac-Man) - Ms. Pac-Man Series (Ms. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Plus Arcade, Ms. Pac-Attack) - Pac-Man Plus Series (Pac-Man Plus, Ms. Pac-Man Plus, Hangly-Man Plus, New Puck-X Plus, Ultra Pac-Man Plus) - Random Maze Series (Pac-Man Random Mazes, Ms. Pac-Man Random Mazes, Pac-Man Plus Random Mazes) - There are 8 selections for starting level (which I believe are enough anyway) There is no provision for starting lives (3 or 5, set with left difficulty switch), nor when the opposite player controls Blinky in 'chase' mode (right difficulty switch) As such, at this point I believe I am keeping the game as it stands now, save for any bugs that are found. Thanks! Bob 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin De Lucia Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 28 minutes ago, PacManPlus said: Game type is split into 4 categories: - Pac-Man Series (Pac-Man, Hangly-Man, New Puck-X, Popeye Pac-Man, Ultra Pac-Man) - Ms. Pac-Man Series (Ms. Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Plus Arcade, Ms. Pac-Attack) - Pac-Man Plus Series (Pac-Man Plus, Ms. Pac-Man Plus, Hangly-Man Plus, New Puck-X Plus, Ultra Pac-Man Plus) - Random Maze Series (Pac-Man Random Mazes, Ms. Pac-Man Random Mazes, Pac-Man Plus Random Mazes) Feel free to comment on this but I'm wondering what led to the decision to add in Popeye Pac-Man when it's essentially a Hangly Man variant with no other differences beyond the player's sprite being swapped. Ms. Pac Attack and Ms. Pac-Man Plus Arcade at least have different maze ordering to warrant them being separate, but Popeye Pac-Man doesn't have any major gameplay differences to set it apart from Hangly. I'm guessing cause there was no other feasible option to take that spot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 (edited) Honestly? Because I wanted it there. Popeye Pac-Man has personal history with me. The first time I saw any bootleg of Pac-Man, it was the Popeye Pac-Man (with the Hangly-Man mazes) in a cabaret cabinet at a corner Stationary Store. Plus, I wanted *something* to be exclusive to this version. I originally also wanted 'Largest Pac-Man' in there to have something else exclusive, but that game keeps track of everything separately (the dot total points, energizer total points, blue monster total points, etc. and I was already starting to have issues with cycles so I didn't want to add to it by counting everything separately. As it stands, having the actual Ms. Pac-Attack, Popeye Pac-Man, and having a real random maze generator end up being the three things exclusive to this version (other than better TIA sounds and XM sound). Edited May 19, 2020 by PacManPlus 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SearsRoebuck Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 One cool feature from the original Pac Man Collection that I liked (that I didnt see on the video) was that when you selected a game in the menu but didnt actually start it, it would go into that game's attract mode - which is why I asked about Ms Pac Man's marquee lights.(nice to see them in the menu) But it was also neat to see Pac Man Plus's attract, being such a rare title. Does the new one still have the attracts? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Defender_2600 Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 (edited) 44 minutes ago, SearsRoebuck said: But it was also neat to see Pac Man Plus's attract, being such a rare title. Does the new one still have the attracts? Sure! Select one of the many games available in the options menu and wait a few seconds... Edited May 19, 2020 by Defender_2600 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SearsRoebuck Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 5 minutes ago, Defender_2600 said: Sure! Select one of the many games available in the options menu and wait a few seconds... Will def be pre-ordering in that case! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Defender_2600 Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 Bob, I always thought that you deserve a page on Wikipedia. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SearsRoebuck Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 In the earlier WIP videos attract mode only seems to show a game demo, are the ghost 'intros' something that had to be sacrificed? If this new collection had the intros/ms pac man marquee 'and starring ms pac man' bits that would be perfection as far as arcadey-ness goes. The other suggestion someone brought up earlier was the possibility of a 'Tengen' style ending instead of a kill screen? I just went through the thread again to make sure I didnt miss any updates, and it's funny that Bob mentions why he's including the 'popeye' bootleg - one of the first pac-mans I ever saw when I was about 4 years old was the 'piranha' bootleg - perhaps a bit too obscure to include in this! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 (edited) The introductions *are* there. There are 8 'intermissions' during the attract mode that are randomly chosen. One of them introduces one of the four monsters at random. Another one introduces Pac & Ms. Pac (together). Regarding Piranha - I *hated* that game. No mazes (even partially) = monster unfair advantage. Hangly man is different in that there actually is an (invisible) maze that the monsters follow. The player has the freedom to go wherever. Regarding the kill screen... I'm not saying anything. Edited May 19, 2020 by PacManPlus 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 (edited) By the way, I actually don't think this is something GCC could have done back then, as 320 mode looks HORRIBLE on an old style CRT. I have a feeling that is why 320 mode wasn't used much back then. I remember first trying out 320A/B when I was first programming the 7800 - I still had a CRT then (2005). Looked great in emulation, couldn't even make out the shapes on the CRT. 160 mode, however, was fine. ...and that's why I used such light colors for Space Invaders 7800. I noticed that the lighter the color, the more 'clear' the shapes were in 320 mode. Edited May 19, 2020 by PacManPlus 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 2 hours ago, PacManPlus said: By the way, I actually don't think this is something GCC could have done back then, as 320 mode looks HORRIBLE on an old style CRT. I have a feeling that is why 320 mode wasn't used much back then. I remember first trying out 320A/B when I was first programming the 7800 - I still had a CRT then (2005). Looked great in emulation, couldn't even make out the shapes on the CRT. 160 mode, however, was fine. ...and that's why I used such light colors for Space Invaders 7800. I noticed that the lighter the color, the more 'clear' the shapes were in 320 mode. I play all of the 7800 on a crt with and rf connection. So try those games on lets say a plasma it would help? Going to give this a try. So many people just emulate now I will NEVER be one.. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 19, 2020 Author Share Posted May 19, 2020 Ok, I'm curious now. could you take a picture of what this game looks like on your CRT/RF connection? This I gotta see... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted May 19, 2020 Share Posted May 19, 2020 I have a RetroTink now so I'm sort of future-proofed I guess? But I still prefer my retro consoles via Composite to a CRT whenever possible. I'm curious how this will look on a CRT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) Final (I hope) WIP - RC3: The only thing that's really left is the *actual* XM detection signature bytes. There isn't one yet, so I just need that to get going. Edited May 21, 2020 by PacManPlus 11 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Defender_2600 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) Edited May 21, 2020 by Defender_2600 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaryH917 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 The original Pacman Collection was amazing! This takes it a few notches higher. The sound in this collection is music to my ears! Amazing work again Bob ?. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 Thank you, but the sound in that video is because of the amazing @tep392 - thank you Perry! 6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlidellMan Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 Judging from the latest video, you don't pull any punches at all when it comes to enhancements. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 17 minutes ago, PacManPlus said: Thank you, but the sound in that video is because of the amazing @tep392 - thank you Perry! Thanks so much Bob! And thank you for letting me contribute to your latest masterpiece! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 3 hours ago, PacManPlus said: Final (I hope) WIP - RC3: The only thing that's really left is the *actual* XM detection signature bytes. There isn't one yet, so I just need that to get going. 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 LMAO! 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mksmith Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Great work Bob and Perry ??? 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted May 22, 2020 Author Share Posted May 22, 2020 Thank you "It was 40 years ago today Iwatani brought the world a game It's been going in and out of style But it's guaranteed to raise a smile So may I introduce to you A game you've known for all these years: Pac Collection 7800 XM!" Hi guys. I hope you like this. It's finally what I would call 'finished'. Perry did an amazing job with the music/sounds for the XM. It auto-detects PAL/NTSC, it auto-detects the XM (by enabling the XM RAM, writing to it and reading it back to see if the values match - this is temporary until we get an actual signature) PMC_XM.A78 PMC_XM.BIN 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 Outstanding and Phenomenal work! Thank you, Bob. Thank you, Perry. It is greatly appreciated. Standing-O and hats off! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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