Ms. Pac-Man Issue on the 2600+

[mpizzileo]

Hey Everyone,

 

So I got a 2600+ for Christmas like many of us here and love it!  Great product!  It's taken me back to my childhood and retro-gaming in general.

I have 30 or so vintage cartridges, from Atari and various publishers (Parker Bros, Activision, M-Network...etc) and they all work fine, except one, Ms. Pac-Man.

I've tried two copies and both fail to load.  I've cleaned the contacts numerous times and it refuses to work.  Oddly enough, my second copy works fine on my original "Vader" 2600 but not on the plus.

(I returned the first copy to the store I got it from).  I'm sorry if this has already been addressed elsewhere, but does anybody know why this is happening to a cart that got a "pass" on the compatibility list?

 

I'd appreciate some insight.

 

Best Regards,

mpizzileo

[Major Havoc 2049]

I play the Atari 2600 version of Ms. Pac-Man (NTSC) on my 2600+ all the time and it works fine. 

[2LTIME6100]

My PAL Ms.Pac Man works fine.

 

[tradyblix]

Cart is dirty and you need to clean contacts. And by clean I mean get in there and scrub, not lazily wipe and once over.

 

If that doesn't work, then time to source a new cart, life is too short to waste on bad carts when there are good ones getting snapped up every minute. 

 

Edited January 18 by tradyblix

[mpizzileo]

I cleaned with alcohol and a swab numerous times.  Anything else (other than a liquid contact cleaner) I should be doing to clean the contacts more aggressively?

[CPUWIZ]

Try a hard pencil eraser.

[tradyblix]

Deoxit

[Flyindrew]

My Ms. Pac Man cart works great on my 2600+. Your cart might need a cleaning. There are times when the 2600+ is a bit moody reading carts that might be a bit dirty. A dab of rubbing alcohol on a Q tip and a rub on the cart connectors  fixes this every single time.

[tradyblix]

I've had quite a few carts that start off problematic and after cleaning, sometimes multiple cleanings, and use, started behaving better.

 

And then I've had carts, mainly only Activision carts, that are just like... I don't know what's wrong with them but they don't align correctly or something as well as being dirty.

 

They're definitely carts I can't stand because I don't want to spend a lot of time not being able to load the game. it annoys me. Especially as Atari games are kind of that get in there and get your 10-minute fix type of thing.

[mpizzileo]

OK, so I tried cleaning the contacts with an eraser, then more alcohol, still getting a Loading Failed message.  Guess I will try using Deoxit next.  Thanks all for your input.

[tradyblix]

11 hours ago, mpizzileo said:

OK, so I tried cleaning the contacts with an eraser, then more alcohol, still getting a Loading Failed message.  Guess I will try using Deoxit next.  Thanks all for your input.

If that doesn't work, then you may have a dead cart. Best of luck. 

[mpizzileo]

11 hours ago, tradyblix said:

If that doesn't work, then you may have a dead cart. Best of luck. 

It does work on my original "Vader" Atari console, so the cart isn't broken.  Seems like the 2600+ is just being finicky here.

[tradyblix]

What I mean is if the cart doesn't work on the 2600+ since everybody else has Ms Pac-Man's that do work on the 2600 plus, then that cart will not work for you on the 2600+ and you should move on.

 

For example I have a Ms Pac-Man that doesn't have this issue on my 2600 plus. and there's really no point in trying to assign blame between the console and the cart. yes the 2600 plus doesn't always play every single cart, and there's all different types of reasons why that not everybody is completely clear on yet ( most of the time they are just dirty and people haven't cleaned them properly but not always as I have also found out )

 

We have to keep in mind that these carts are 40 years old so the fact that they even work at all is kind of amazing at this point

 

Edited January 20 by tradyblix

[scifidude79]

There have been a few instances of different versions of games not working on the Atari 2600+, such as the one where one specific version of the white Donkey Kong Jr. cartridge doesn't work, but another version that looks nearly identical works fine. And Donkey Kong Jr. is also a pass on the compatibility list, because the folks testing these things at Plaion obviously have one that does work on the system. I don't know if there are different versions of Ms. Pac-Man or not. But, it's a possibility. I only know my copy of Ms. Pac-Man works on my 2600K+ and has since the first time I tried it. In fact, it's one of my favorite cartridges to play on my 2600+.

[Lantesh]

Sometimes if the contact pins are extremely dirty you need to take extreme measures.  I've brought dead carts back to life using the metal polish Brasso.  A light touch is very important here so you don't damage the pins, but it's worth a try.

[BillDMatt]

i also second Brasso,,, it  is a great last resort, when isoproyl isn't enough,  sometimes the dirt is so grimed in that normal cleaning won't touch it.  Brasso can be rough so a little goes a long way but it's  my Go To on my Activision and NES Carts when all else fails.  

Edited February 3 by BillDMatt

[mpizzileo]

Just to update...so after many cleaning attempts I gave up on that particular Ms. Pac-Man cartridge and bought another on eBay that I received tonight.

I just fired it up a few moments ago on the 2600+ and thankfully it loaded up on the first try.

Thanks again for all your advise.

 

(Not sure this has anything to do with anything, but I noticed the cartridge I just got has orange lettering on the "MS. PAC-MAN" end label vs red lettering on the previous cartridge).

[KainXavier]

My end label for Ms. Pac-Man is also red.  Or at least more red than the end label on my Pac-Man cart.  What does the front of your problematic Ms. Pac-Man cart look like?  Is it silver with a copyright date of 1982?

[Varanis Ridari]

I can relate to your Ms. Pac-Man issues. Glad you got it resolved with replacement.

 

I had extreme issues with a Jr. Pac-Man cart, even after many cleanings, using alcohol and metal polish, just did a corrupt partial load with missing music, graphics, and progression issues. I returned it and got another one.

 

2600+ systems pull the whole ROM all at once from all banks of a bankswitched cart (Ms. Pac-Man is 8k), then run it back from memory.

 

It just uses the presence of the cart to validate the dump (which is why you can't remove it).

 

If you've cleaned it a ton and it still won't work, one of the internal traces or pins may have oxidized to a point where the 2600+ can't read the rom at the speed it needs to (but original hardware can interact intermittently with the banks and thus play).

 

Or maybe there's a pin alignment issue as some have mentioned. A truly dead cart is a rarity, but my first faulty copy of Jr. Pac-Man was clearly giving my 2600+ issues reading the bank containing the missing data, yet somehow pulled enough down to "run".

 

I did all I could and saw the $15 I paid as not worth the headache and set it back for a different one. Unless you have a particularly rare/expensive game (like the MetalJesus-hyped H.E.R.O on 2600), I'd not bother trying to bring it back.

 

Someone using OG hardware can still enjoy it, so I'd let them have it, or eventually get an OG myself if compatibility problems persist and you're super determined to play something specific.

Edited February 16 by Varanis Ridari

[MikeM_]

Age does play a part in all of this as well. 
 

The majority of my carts have been in my possession for around 30 years, stored inside and in boxes. Even so, many still needed to be cleaned (and re-cleaned) before they played nice in my 2600+. 
 

I just purchased a bottle of DeoxIT and will be giving all my games a good cleaning to see if I can extend their life another 30+ years.