Pac-Man Collection - 40th Anniversary Edition

[Silver Back]

Gimme gimme gimme

[PacManPlus]

LOL!

 

Thanks, guys.

 

Quote

So, PMC 40TH ARBSE?

 No - I actually ripped all of the other code out, as I needed the space for the non-symmetrical mazes.  So this is just Red Bull Pac-Man with TIA sound.  On the positive side, it now fits on a standard cart board (i.e. no bankswitching).

 

Quote

 Wow  I didn't think I'd want another Pac-Man game, but I definitely want this. 

I know.  I've been hesitant to post any of the last few (i.e. the 'Short Maze' version of PMC 40th) because of this.  I made the Red Bull one for me, as I don't see the actual machine *anywhere*.  I ended up posting it, because I'm sure everyone can make up their own minds; if you want it, it's here.  If not, then just don't download it.   

 

Quote

Just make sure that nobody spells "Red Bull" as one word 

You ain't kidding...  Along those lines...

Here are my proposed changes that will differentiate this from 'Red Bull' (to avoid anything legal):

- Make the fruit have the same effect as the Red Bull can (a'la PacMan Plus) instead of a 'specialized' fruit. Make the 'Cola Can' be the first fruit as well for obvious reasons.  

- Change the 'Red Bull' maze to say something else.

- Remove the 'Red Bull' truck found in a few mazes, and replace with something else.

- I guess it should be called 'Energy Drink Pac-Man'?

- Change the player silver instead of the -static energy- from the Red Bull that surrounds the player.

 

Any issues?

 

NOTE: I noticed that in the arcade game after the player 'energizes' with Red Bull, he/she zaps any monster that is in the same corridor as them, no matter how far away, providing there isn't a wall in between the two.  This has been kept, although I replace the monster sprite with the '250' point indicator (instead of the eyes) that go back to the monster pen.  I like this.  The arcade game just made the 250 point indicator go off the side of the screen.

Edited December 2, 2022 by PacManPlus

[+sramirez2008]

I like ‘Energy Drink Pac-Man’ and I’d like a cart version.

[Hastor]

Just don't mention the Ghost Monsters (as the cartoon called them) or you'll have all the energy drinks after you!

Edited December 2, 2022 by Hastor

[Silver Back]

10 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

I like ‘Energy Drink Pac-Man’ and I’d like a cart version.

I'll second this for a Generic Energy Soda Pac Man physical release

[+Pat Brady]

1 hour ago, PacManPlus said:

I know.  I've been hesitant to post any of the last few (i.e. the 'Short Maze' version of PMC 40th) because of this.  I made the Red Bull one for me, as I don't see the actual machine *anywhere*.  I ended up posting it, because I'm sure everyone can make up their own minds; if you want it, it's here.  If not, then just don't download it.   

 

Where is the download?

 

I love the short maze version! Obviously it's a compromise, but I prefer that to not always being able to see all of the ghosts/monsters.

 

Don't know how much I'll play the RB version, but I really really like the look of the mazes with inverted colors.

[TrekMD]

That looks amazing!  Bob, you never disappoint!  I'll say it again, take my money!  LOL

[PacManPlus]

15 hours ago, Pat Brady said:

Where is the download?

Soon.  I just want to make the changes I mentioned in my last post.

 

Thank you!  

[PacManPlus]

Hello all:

 

Here's the 'Energy Drink' Pac-Man.  A few notes:

- The fruit now appears and disappears (like the arcade version) instead of coming in and out of the side tunnel like in Ms. Pac-Man.

- I think I still need to add the 'zap' sound when a monster gets zapped by the 'energized' player.

- As mentioned above, each fruit contains this power (a 'la Pac-Man Plus), instead of a specialized fruit.

- I left the maze that spelled 'Red', as that is just a color.  I changed the maze that spelled 'Bull' to 'Bob'.  (Red Bob?)

- I removed the Red Bull 'Truck' and just replaced it with more maze.

- There are 16 different mazes, which repeat the cycle after going through them all.

- The player turns white/grey after being energized by the fruit, instead of having a 'static halo' around it.

- Also, there is no indicator of the 'energy' wearing off.  From what I can tell, there is no indicator in the arcade version either.

- It is only Pac-Man, and it is only TIA Sound.  As I mentioned, this means it can be put on a 'standard' 48K cart.

- When energized, do not sit directly above the monster pen; you will die.  

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

PM_REDBL.A78 PM_REDBL.BIN

Edited December 3, 2022 by PacManPlus

[PacManPlus]

Update:

 

- Added the 'Zap' sound when a monster gets zapped

- When moving through the vertical tunnels, the maze now snaps to the opposite end of the maze (instead of slowly scrolling).  This is needed with some of these mazes.

 

Hope you all like.  This was just a pit stop from my other projects.  I'll be trying to comment the 2600 Stargate disassembly so I can study it for my 7800 Defender port.

PM_REDBL.A78 PM_REDBL.BIN

[Trebor]

Second Key Maze (Speed-Up Enabled - if it matters):

 

Whether it is points from being zapped, or the remaining eyes after munching the monsters, if it enters into the square area 'loop', it do not leave that area.

 

 

 

[+darryl1970]

9 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

Update:

 

- Added the 'Zap' sound when a monster gets zapped

- When moving through the vertical tunnels, the maze now snaps to the opposite end of the maze (instead of slowly scrolling).  This is needed with some of these mazes.

 

Hope you all like.  This was just a pit stop from my other projects.  I'll be trying to comment the 2600 Stargate disassembly so I can study it for my 7800 Defender port.

PM_REDBL.A78 48.13 kB · 6 downloads PM_REDBL.BIN 48 kB · 3 downloads

Very cool. I never saw this version.

[PacManPlus]

Trebor said:

Whether it is points from being zapped or the remaining eyes after munching the monsters, if they enter into the square area 'loop' they do not leave it.

 

Yep...

 

With all of these weird maze shapes, and odd placements of the monster's pen, this is going to happen quite a bit.  It will happen with the 'eyes' too.

Unless they've drastically changed the path finding algorithm in the arcade version, it would most likely happen there too.

 

It's because of how direction are chosen.  The 'destination' in that case is the center and top of the monster's pen. Let's take both cases (Clockwise and Counter-clockwise) separately:

- Clockwise: The '250' comes down on the right side of that loop.  It needs to go down-left to get to the pen. It can only go left (not down) so it goes left instead of right where there is an opening.  Then, as it passes the horizontal destination tile and comes up the left side of the loop, it will want to go right as going left will take it farther away from one of the destination tile's coordinates (horizontal position).  And so it repeats.

- Counter Clockwise: The '250' comes down on  the left side of that loop, and moves right.  The first intersection it gets to is the one that allows it to go up or right.  Since it has already passed the target tile both horizontally and vertically, both directions will take it farther away.  This is where the 'reverse priority' takes effect.  When two directions are equal-distant from the target tile (as in this case), it will choose one of the directions in this order: Up, Left, Down, and Right.  Being that 'up' is first on that list, it goes up, then left at the next intersection, then repeats.  Because of how the X,Y positions are used, the target tile is actually two tiles above the monster's pen (i.e. the bottom of the maze piece), and the 'left' side of the pen entrance.

 

Please note, this is also why the 'hiding spot' works in original Pac-Man.  Using 'Blinky' as an example:  If Blinky is moving left to right directly under the player who is in the hiding spot, he can't go up where the player is due to maze restrictions. So once he passes the player, he will take the first turn that doesn't keep him moving farther away from the target tile (the player)...  Which is down.  Even though there is a turn just after that which will make him go up and get to the player:

 

Because Blinky has already passed one of the target positions (horizontally) he will take the first turn that will turn him around (the yellow square) instead of the red square that would bring him closer to the target.  That keeps him in a loop around the lower 'T' in the maze.

 

The only thing I can really do is make an extra opening in the maze, which I have done.  Included here.

 

Thanks,

Bob

PM_REDBL.A78 PM_REDBL.BIN

Edited December 4, 2022 by PacManPlus
Forgot attachments.

[Trebor]

Awesome, Bob and thank you!  Not just for the 'Pac-Man - Energy Drink Edition' game ROMs, but also the explanations. 

I love the details on game behavior and overall development information.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

On 12/4/2022 at 5:47 AM, PacManPlus said:

 

Yep...

 

With all of these weird maze shapes, and odd placements of the monster's pen, this is going to happen quite a bit.  It will happen with the 'eyes' too.

Unless they've drastically changed the path finding algorithm in the arcade version, it would most likely happen there too.

 

It's because of how direction are chosen.  The 'destination' in that case is the center and top of the monster's pen. Let's take both cases (Clockwise and Counter-clockwise) separately:

- Clockwise: The '250' comes down on the right side of that loop.  It needs to go down-left to get to the pen. It can only go left (not down) so it goes left instead of right where there is an opening.  Then, as it passes the horizontal destination tile and comes up the left side of the loop, it will want to go right as going left will take it farther away from one of the destination tile's coordinates (horizontal position).  And so it repeats.

- Counter Clockwise: The '250' comes down on  the left side of that loop, and moves right.  The first intersection it gets to is the one that allows it to go up or right.  Since it has already passed the target tile both horizontally and vertically, both directions will take it farther away.  This is where the 'reverse priority' takes effect.  When two directions are equal-distant from the target tile (as in this case), it will choose one of the directions in this order: Up, Left, Down, and Right.  Being that 'up' is first on that list, it goes up, then left at the next intersection, then repeats.  Because of how the X,Y positions are used, the target tile is actually two tiles above the monster's pen (i.e. the bottom of the maze piece), and the 'left' side of the pen entrance.

 

Please note, this is also why the 'hiding spot' works in original Pac-Man.  Using 'Blinky' as an example:  If Blinky is moving left to right directly under the player who is in the hiding spot, he can't go up where the player is due to maze restrictions. So once he passes the player, he will take the first turn that doesn't keep him moving farther away from the target tile (the player)...  Which is down.  Even though there is a turn just after that which will make him go up and get to the player:

 

Because Blinky has already passed one of the target positions (horizontally) he will take the first turn that will turn him around (the yellow square) instead of the red square that would bring him closer to the target.  That keeps him in a loop around the lower 'T' in the maze.

 

The only thing I can really do is make an extra opening in the maze, which I have done.  Included here.

 

Thanks,

Bob

PM_REDBL.A78 48.13 kB · 18 downloads PM_REDBL.BIN 48 kB · 7 downloads

When I was testing Pac Jr for the Intellivision, many of the mazes there required edits due to the same issue with the ghost eyes going into infinite loops due to the ghost programmed behavior as you stated. Cool when it happens since you can then start to clear out the maze with only 1 or 2 ghosts actually being a threat to you but it does take too much of that challenge away.

 

[+sramirez2008]

I'll say it again, I didn't think I'd want another Pac-Man game, but I'm loving this. Thanks Bob!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Pac-Man Energy Drink Edition on tomorrow's ZPH stream LIVE on Twitch, hope you can join us!

 

Tue Dec 6, 2022 | LIVE @ 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 2AM GMT+1Day

WATCH LIVE: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/
WATCH LATER: https://youtube.com/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• Pac-Man Energy Drink Edition (2022 WIP | 7800) by Bob DeCrescenzo @PacManPlus
• Attack of the PETSCII Robots (2022 Retail | 7800) by ChunkyPixel Games / Matt Smith @mksmithand Mike Saarna @RevEng / Noelle Aman (Music) / David Murray (Originally Coded By) / Grazi Mello (Box and Manual Design) / Brendan Carmody (Box and Manual Art)

(WATCH AT 1080P60 FOR BEST QUALITY)

 

[Fierodoug5]

I'm not a big pacman player. But I am loving this energy drink version. Great job Bob!

[BobAtari]

Is there a non-XM version of the Short Maze game at all?

[Trebor]

7 hours ago, BobAtari said:

Is there a non-XM version of the Short Maze game at all?

The short maze - and original maze - game ROMs distributed already provide a "non-XM version".

 

The XM connotation for this title, denotes YM sound will be present, if the YM2151 chip is simulated or physically available to leverage.

 

Otherwise, default TIA sound (of which is quite excellently handled under this collection) will be present.

 

If curious, both scenarios can be setup under the A7800 emulator.

 

Utilizing the short maze ROM file with header (PMC_XM_S.A78) posted earlier, the following Command Lines are applicable:

 

YM Sound

a7800 a7800 -cart1 xm -cart2 "C:\PATH\TO\ROM\PMC_XM_S.A78"

 

TIA Sound

a7800 a7800 -cart1 "C:\PATH\TO\ROM\PMC_XM_S.A78"

[+Pat Brady]

Yeah, the TIA sound here is outstanding, so good that it's caused a lot of confusion.

[BobAtari]

7 hours ago, Trebor said:

The short maze - and original maze - game ROMs distributed already provide a "non-XM version".

 

The XM connotation for this title, denotes YM sound will be present, if the YM2151 chip is simulated or physically available to leverage.

 

Otherwise, default TIA sound (of which is quite excellently handled under this collection) will be present.

 

If curious, both scenarios can be setup under the A7800 emulator.

Ah, thanks for the reply. Sadly A7800 isn't available for the Raspberry Pi I do my emulation on, and Prosystem just black-screens these ROMs

[Trebor]

2 hours ago, BobAtari said:

Ah, thanks for the reply. Sadly A7800 isn't available for the Raspberry Pi I do my emulation on, and Prosystem just black-screens these ROMs

Argon is an option as a more compatible and up-to-date 7800 emulator for the Pi:

 

 

[BobAtari]

Cheers. Although sadly it doesn't look like it's a goer quite yet

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by BobAtari

[ALEXANDER]

On 12/3/2022 at 4:39 PM, PacManPlus said:

Hello all:

 

Here's the 'Energy Drink' Pac-Man.  A few notes:

- The fruit now appears and disappears (like the arcade version) instead of coming in and out of the side tunnel like in Ms. Pac-Man.

- I think I still need to add the 'zap' sound when a monster gets zapped by the 'energized' player.

- As mentioned above, each fruit contains this power (a 'la Pac-Man Plus), instead of a specialized fruit.

- I left the maze that spelled 'Red', as that is just a color.  I changed the maze that spelled 'Bull' to 'Bob'.  (Red Bob?)

- I removed the Red Bull 'Truck' and just replaced it with more maze.

- There are 16 different mazes, which repeat the cycle after going through them all.

- The player turns white/grey after being energized by the fruit, instead of having a 'static halo' around it.

- Also, there is no indicator of the 'energy' wearing off.  From what I can tell, there is no indicator in the arcade version either.

- It is only Pac-Man, and it is only TIA Sound.  As I mentioned, this means it can be put on a 'standard' 48K cart.

- When energized, do not sit directly above the monster pen; you will die.  

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

PM_REDBL.A78 48.13 kB · 58 downloads PM_REDBL.BIN 48 kB · 29 downloads

Awesome version !