Ms. Pac Man WORSE than Pac Man?!

[godzillajoe]

Now that I have a sorta working system again, I played both of these again for the first time in a while.

 

The original Pac-Man is far superior in my opinion

 

Better animation, no ghost flicker and smoother overall gameplay

 

You'd think that Ms. Pac-Man which came LATER would be superior.

 

Was this another rush job or just bad/lazy programming?

 

Some of these games are far less than I remember them

 

Dig Dug was another one I expected to look and play better

 

But it doesn't quite look and feel "right"

[Ferris]

Three words: Seventy Eight Hundred.

[Bryan]

I totally disagree here. Pac Man doesn't attempt to follow the arcade model very closely and is boring to play. Ms Pac may have a few graphics side effects, but it's a much more faithful port IMO.

 

-Bry

[chrisbid]

7800 ms pac man is the way to go

[Nukey Shay]

Since Mame allows the actual arcade programs to run on modern equipment, all home console ports seem more lacking than what I recall

Years of substance abuse doesn't help, I suppose.

[godzillajoe]

Yeah maybe MAME has spoiled me as I don't think the 7800 version is quite right either. Maybe it's the sound.

 

Of course that's the 7800 game I probably play the most since the day I bought the system at original release.

 

MAME is nice but it's not practical for parties and hanging out playing some old games and knocking back a few beers. You don't wanna crowd around the PC

[Nukey Shay]

Good thing Mame can be run on modern consoles as well

[godzillajoe]

Eh. I used to run it on my (modern-ish?) Dreamcast and it crashed quite a bit.

 

And I'm not buying an XBox or whatever just for MAME

[Cobra Kai]

Disagree here. The game doesn't seem to run right for the first few stages, but after you get to the Apple (I think), for some reason the game runs smoother and is more playable. I think it's all in how choppy Ms. Pac-man herself seems to be at the beginning of the game, and when she speeds up in the midgame, everything is way better.

 

Pac-Man is a fine translation, but its got ONE stage.

[Lord Helmet]

Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are a little too slow for me on the 5200. If I'm gonna play a Pac-Man game, it's probably going to be 5200 Pac-Man Plus, or 7800 Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man. Those 3 games are great. 5200 Pac-Man Plus is just fast enough to be a real challenge.

[PacManPlus]

Dude - you just made my day

[Lord Helmet]

[DEBRO]

I totally disagree here. Pac Man doesn't attempt to follow the arcade model very closely and is boring to play. Ms Pac may have a few graphics side effects, but it's a much more faithful port IMO.

I agree with you. IMO the 5200/7800 versions of Ms. Pac-man are more faithful to the arcade than the 5200 Pac-man. I guess it has to do with GCC doing the 5200/7800 versions of Ms. Pac-man. Since they knew the arcade game I guess they took measures to make the game play as close to the arcade as they could.

[Goochman]

Ms Pac Man on the 5200 may have a bit more junk in her trunk when moving but it a much more fun game to play IMHO. Multi mazes, ghost eyes, colors and ghost patterns - its all there

[darklord1977]

7800 ms pac man is the way to go

yep,the 7800 ms pac man is the best....but the 5200 pac man is great fun also... its hard to choose LOL..just stay away from the craptacular version of pac man for the 2600 ..

[jpfalcon2003]

I actually rather Pac-Man for the 5200 than Ms. Pac-man. I find Ms. Pac-Man to slow and sluggish. For Ms. Pac-man, play the 7800 or even 2600 version.

[HP Atari King of Michigan]

I have all three versions of Ms. Pac-Man, and I will also agree that the 2600 and 7800 versions are the better versions of the game IMHO.

[Chris-in-NJ]

5200 Ms. Pac-Man is just way too slow for me, and regular Pac-Man is too hard -- don't think I've ever been able to clear the first board without being eaten. Just love 7800 Ms. Pac-Man (and 2600 for a change of pace) and 5200 Jr. Pac-Man...

[Room 34]

I haven't played 5200 Ms. Pac-Man (so I probably shouldn't even join in this thread), but concerning 7800 Ms. Pac -- am I the only one who thinks that the controls are too "stiff" and the whole thing just doesn't feel right, even though it looks pretty close to the arcade original? I really don't like to play it at all.

[Lord Helmet]

To me the controlls feel stiff on EVERY 7800 game until you get rid of the proline stick.

[Paranoid]

I've got a Radica mod stick, and I agree completely with Room 34.

 

7800 Ms. Pac Man looks excellent but the gameplay is just off. Like most 7800 games, there is some part of the soul of the game that is missing.

 

I like almost all of the versions for what they are, including the original 2600 Pac Man, the look/play alikes and all the various homebrews and hacks since. Some are obviously better at faithfully recreating all or parts of the original experience than others, like Nukey's hacks... but each of them is a unique experience.

 

I agree that the 5200 version of Ms. Pac Man starts off monotonously slow... but once you get to the higher levels, it really picks up and plays a LOT better. 5200 Pac Man is still my all time favorite.

 

But, as Nukey points out, with MAME and genuine arcade controls, it all becomes a little redundant to argue what the "best" home version is. MAME is. And, when I throw parties, my full-sized MAME cabinet becomes a center of attention for people throwing back a few beers.

[darklord1977]

I've got a Radica mod stick, and I agree completely with Room 34.

 

7800 Ms. Pac Man looks excellent but the gameplay is just off. Like most 7800 games, there is some part of the soul of the game that is missing.

 

I like almost all of the versions for what they are, including the original 2600 Pac Man, the look/play alikes and all the various homebrews and hacks since. Some are obviously better at faithfully recreating all or parts of the original experience than others, like Nukey's hacks... but each of them is a unique experience.

 

I agree that the 5200 version of Ms. Pac Man starts off monotonously slow... but once you get to the higher levels, it really picks up and plays a LOT better. 5200 Pac Man is still my all time favorite.

 

But, as Nukey points out, with MAME and genuine arcade controls, it all becomes a little redundant to argue what the "best" home version is. MAME is. And, when I throw parties, my full-sized MAME cabinet becomes a center of attention for people throwing back a few beers.

yeah, the 5200 pac-man is the best..its my favorite version of it...as for ms pac-man the 7800 version rocks

[BrianC]

No mention of the 800 Ms. Pac-Man? It's pretty much the same as the 5200 one. I like that port. I wish it started out faster, though. I also like the 2600 Ms. Pac-Man.

 

I'm a bit confused about the slowness comments on the 5200 Pac-Man. It has been sped up quite a bit compared to the Atari 800 version. I don't feel the 5200 one is slow. It's still not arcade exact, but it is better than the 800 version. I like the 800 one, though. I also like the Intellivision Pac-Man. It's similar in some ways to the 5200 version, but the maze is smaller and the game seems to speed up as you eat more dots.

 

But, as Nukey points out, with MAME and genuine arcade controls, it all becomes a little redundant to argue what the "best" home version is. MAME is. And, when I throw parties, my full-sized MAME cabinet becomes a center of attention for people throwing back a few beers.

 

I don't feel MAME or closer ports makes the older ports of the games obsolete. Also, many of the more recent ports of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man in compliations like Namco Museum PSX and Namco Museum 50th are quite good. It's a bit unfair to compare older ports of games to MAME. Of course, the mame ones will be closer. A few of the games still aren't emulated correctly too. Many older ports do a good job with keeping the gameplay of the original and some of them are different enough to be worth playing in their own right.

Edited May 6, 2006 by BrianC

[Paranoid]

Don't get me wrong. I added most of my retro-console collection AFTER I had my Mame cabinet set up and working...

 

Like I said, I enjoy all the different versions for what they ARE. MAME Pac Man is the CLOSEST you'll get to arcade Pac Man in your home, today.

 

But, I liked 5200 Pac Man in 1983 for a completely different set of reasons. Because then IT was the closest I could get to arcade Pac Man at my home at that time. Today, I enjoy it because in 1983, it was one of my favorite home titles. But if I simply wanted the most authentic home Pac Man experience possible, using the arcade machine as a benchmark... I'd only play MAME.

 

Arguments about which were the "best" were relevent back then... but they're not now. It doesn't matter which one is the "most" accurate... because the MOST accurate is going to be MAME... even when the emulation is off a bit, MAME is using the original ROMS... it is going to be closer than any port.

 

So instead, it becomes an issue of which is your favorite console port, and why... is it because it is the most faithful to the arcade, or is it because the challenge, or is it simply nostalgia?

 

I think the slow issue is about Ms. Pac Man on the 5200, not Pac Man. Ms. Pac Man starts out VERY slllooooow on the 5200... but by the time you get to the red levels, things are moving along at a very nice clip. It *seems* choppy and hard to play at first... but it is actually more like it is slowed down for the kids or something, because on later, more complex levels, it runs at a pretty normal speed.

 

And yeah, a friend with an Atari 400 and Pac Man is what made me want the 5200 so badly.

[BrianC]

I think the slow issue is about Ms. Pac Man on the 5200, not Pac Man. Ms. Pac Man starts out VERY slllooooow on the 5200... but by the time you get to the red levels, things are moving along at a very nice clip. It *seems* choppy and hard to play at first... but it is actually more like it is slowed down for the kids or something, because on later, more complex levels, it runs at a pretty normal speed.

 

Umm. Go back and read some of the posts. There was a complaint about the 5200 Pac-Man being too slow. Also, I said nothing to suggest that I didn't know that Ms. Pac-Man for the 5200 starts out slow. I used to have the 5200 one and I still have the 800 one. The Atari 800 XL version is almost exactly the same as the 5200 one, right down to the initial slowness.

 

Here is the post that I was responding to:

Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are a little too slow for me on the 5200. If I'm gonna play a Pac-Man game, it's probably going to be 5200 Pac-Man Plus, or 7800 Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man. Those 3 games are great. 5200 Pac-Man Plus is just fast enough to be a real challenge.

 

I don't agree that a poorly emulated game in Mame is better than a good port. IMO, speed, sound, and bugs in emulation that affect gameplay are part of accuracy. In many cases, I found an overclocked or slow game in mame to be much less fun than a well done port. Lacking sound doesn't kill gameplay, but it does take away from the experience. The original ROMs alone don't make an emulation accurate to the original. How well it's emulated or ported is what makes it accurate, no matter what emulator is better used.

 

I know that Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are accurate in mame, but, as far as I know, there is no way to get the roms legally unless you own the arcade games. I don't like how pirated games are being used as a replacement for official versions. Some of the more recent versions of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man like the ones Namco Museum 50th (which also uses emulation BTW. The Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man in the GBA Namco Museum 50th are ports, but very close to the originals) are much closer to the originals than earlier versions and I rather play that than a pirated game in MAME. For me, it does matter how accurate ports/official emulations/conversions are because I like playing old ports and I rather get official versions than pirated ones.

Edited May 7, 2006 by BrianC