High Score Club Week 12: Ms. Pac-Man

[Tsukasa]

19,720

[Robert M]

53680

 

Thanks!

[Shannon]

My first play this week ended up with me getting 46,360.

 

What? No tips yet? Well, here's one from me... This is actually rather general Pac-Man strategy, but keep in mind that the ghosts can never really "turn around" the way you can... so if you follow behind one of them, you'll be generally safe... well, you'll still have to keep your eyes on the other three ghosts, but its a nice trick nonetheless.

 

--Zero

 

Hehe... I was wondering the same thing.

 

Here are some..

 

Eat the dots.

Eat the fruits.

The fat dots turn the ghosts blue, when they are blue, eat them too.

 

I think that about covers it.

 

[NE146]

Thing about Ms. Pac is it gets to be a crapshoot in later stages because of the random fruits. So you could go a couple of stages fighting for life and limb and get nothing but 100 pt cherries or crappy pretzels. This is especially true in the 2600 version where the fruit you get is for both instances in the entire stage (in the arcade version you could get a different fruit each time). But then on that note, if you luck out and get a 5000 pt banana, then you'll get it twice

[Malc74]

I wouldn't mind joining the club if you'll have me.

 

Best score so far is 29150.

 

Malc

[Shannon]

I wouldn't mind joining the club if you'll have me.

 

Best score so far is 29150.

 

Malc

 

Did you pass the initiation?

[Ze_ro]

I know the hardcore Pac-Man guys out there have figured out great patterns for the arcade games... do these patterns work on the 2600? If not, are there other patterns that DO work?

 

--Zero

[bjk7382]

I have been trying, but I have yet to surpass my previous high score (I hope some of the top scorers will share thier secrets )

[NE146]

Well, this is my first time actually participating. I figured I'd better since I picked the game!

 

I forgot how much I loved 2600 Ms.Pac. Now that I think about it, even though I had 5200 MsPac I preferred the 2600 version. It just has it's own charm for sure.

 

Here's my score tonight.. 68,700

 

No screenshot because I can do better

[crsdawg]

i couldn't believe i didn't have this cart. luckily i had a copy coming in on a ebay lot i picked up, which came in earlier today, good timing.....

 

anyway, here's my first effort for the week.

 

57,630

 

[Shannon]

I know the hardcore Pac-Man guys out there have figured out great patterns for the arcade games... do these patterns work on the 2600? If not, are there other patterns that DO work?

 

--Zero

 

Unlikely. The mazes are not the same.

 

But most patterns I read about were based on monster behavior depending on your location on the screen.

[crsdawg]

sorry for the double post, thought i'd throw out some tips.

 

ya know it's amazing how fast this stuff comes back. i haven't played this game(vcs version) for probably 15 years, but my old strats just came right back. pretty basic stuff really, but since nobody else has offered........here it goes.

 

on the first levels try to max out your score by eating all four ghosts per energy pill. in the early going that's the best way to gain decent points since the fruits aren't worth very much and they stay blue much longer than they do later in the game.

 

the beginning of each stage is a good time to take out the lower dots. the ones around the area where mrs. pac spawns especially. if your like me, and to lazy to have a pattern for the entire map, you can have a short pattern at the start of the rounds for this area. if done right you can pretty much wipe out the lower dots with little trouble. then head to an energy pill because the ghosts will be closing in.

 

when you have a ghost on your tail, turn as many corners as possible(not into other ghost of course) instead of going straight. they don't turn as quickly as mrs. pac and it's the only way to gain ground in the levels where they are faster than you. heading to a energy pill is a pretty good idea too, but you knew that i'm sure.

 

when chasing down blue ghosts, instead of following directly behind them, try to guess where they are going and cut 'em off instead, if done right you can cut your pursuit time down and get more of them.

 

energy pills are not just for scoring big points by eating ghost. you can use that safe time for a lot of things:

 

-clearing out those tough areas, where it's easy to get trapped

 

-clearing the maps in later stages when the ghost are moving fast( actually in the later stages, i don't worry to much about eating ghosts at all, i use that time to eat dots, usually i'm able to eat a ghost or two, but clearing that level is the most important thing)

 

-giving you time to go for fruits(in the later levels when fruits are worth thousands of points, eat a pill and b-line it to them)

 

working out a pattern for each round is the best way to succed. i'm pretty sure that the vcs version of this game is as vulnerable to this tactic as the arcade one. they take a lot of time to generate and memorize, but it is the best way for consistant hi scores. personally i'm to impatient/lazy for this. i usually play by the seat of my pants....... even still, i notice that my games tend conform towards a pattern after so many plays.

 

oh, yeah. one last thing(this is a good one for just about any game). take a breath between rounds and settle down a bit. this game can get hectic, and at times the action can be stressful if your not playing patterns. the calmer you are during the heated moments the better your chances are of doing well.

[Malc74]

Improved a little bit. 39230.

[Ze_ro]

Well, this is my first time actually participating. I figured I'd better since I picked the game!

Actually, it's your second time participating.... you got 836 points on Kaboom! 6 weeks ago But it's good to see people coming back for more.

 

--Zero

[Tsukasa]

6 weeks ago! Damn, the weeks fly by fast.

[Kuddy]

24,130

[Malc74]

Woohoo! Finally got both of those damn bananas! Latest hiscore - 61260

 

As for tips, I agree with crsdawg - maximising your score in the first two levels is vital, especially if you're normally scoring between, say, 20000 and 60000. If you catch all four ghosts with each power pill in the first two levels you can go into level 3 with a score of around 25000 - if you mess up you may only be in the 10000 or 15000 bracket. It can make a big difference to your final score.

[Chris++]

62,830

 

I think that's the best I can do, but I'll try it a couple more times tonight.

[Shannon]

Still waiting for my tips to be added to the tip list. :wink:

 

Seriously though, if I had more time to play this game I'd probably give more tips. In most decent pacman conversions the different monsters have different patterns/tendancies based on the movement of the player.

 

Just cant remember if the 2600 MS pac is the same.

[taxman]

Scored 40,380. This is much harder than the arcade version.

[crsdawg]

a little improvement:

 

61,780

 

things are going a little better now that i've found a fully working joystick.

 

[EricDeLee]

86,770

 

But I don't have a screen shot. Sorry about that... I just can't get my camera right now.

 

(I need to mod a joystick to make it a 4-Way!!!) LOL

[maibock]

58160

[NE146]

2nd try.. broke the 100k mark!

 

I'll stop there. I do know my personal best is about ~140-180k. But this is good enough

[Shannon]