Ms. Pacman question

[KAZ]

Has anyone played Ms. Pacman on Mame?

 

Ever notice how the first screen is sometimes all blue instead of tan?

 

I know that this is EXACTLY the way it was in the arcade, and because it is a rom dump it is the same.

 

Does anyone know why this random color change occurs? Sometimes it is blue, but most of the time it starts with tan.

 

I've been curious about this for a long time, and finally got around to asking

 

Thanks!

[NE146]

I don't know why this occurs but you're right in that it does it in the arcade game(generally after a boot/reset). Who knows why.. maybe it's a glitch along the lines of why Ryu's fireball is occasionally red in the original Street Fighter 2.

[Dav]

The bug is in the way it uses a variable. It happens if you coin up during the attract mode before the red ghost comes out. Which happens if you coin as soon as it boots, which is why people notice it more in mame.

 

Dave

[Tempest]

Now that is just awesome. I love to hear about all the bugs and weird hidden features you find in arcade machines. Is there a page that goes into detail on such things?

 

Tempest

[KAZ]

What is the attract mode...you mean that very very first screen, where the ghost monsters circle that big square?

 

The red ghost IS the first to make his appearance to get into line.

 

I see what you are saying tho...in the real arcade, you'd have to start the game right after plugging it in, but BEFORE the red ghost comes out to get in this line around the square.

 

By the way, I never considered the dip switch that controls the speed to be a "speed-up cheat" (but that's how they word it in the dip switch settings in mame). I've played pacman sped up in the arcade, and ms pacman sped up in the arcade. I like ms pacman better at the slower speed, and pacman is good at the faster speed.

 

A cheat would be something that the arcade game wouldn't normally be able to do, like choosing a stage.

 

[ 05-15-2002: Message edited by: KAZ ]

[Nukey Shay]

There is at least one version of Ms. PacMan that is not Mame'ed yet. A version where everything is sped up (I've heard of this game from a few people, so I guess it exists).

 

And there is a version of PacMan called New Puck-One mentioned in Ken Uston's book Mastering PacMan, that features a yellow frog and "Richard Nixon"-type ghosts.

[Dav]

quote:

---

Originally posted by KAZ:

What is the attract mode...you mean that very very first screen, where the ghost monsters circle that big square?

 

The red ghost IS the first to make his appearance to get into line.

 

I see what you are saying tho...in the real arcade, you'd have to start the game right after plugging it in, but BEFORE the red ghost comes out to get in this line around the square.

 

By the way, I never considered the dip switch that controls the speed to be a "speed-up cheat" (but that's how they word it in the dip switch settings in mame). I've played pacman sped up in the arcade, and ms pacman sped up in the arcade. I like ms pacman better at the slower speed, and pacman is good at the faster speed.

 

A cheat would be something that the arcade game wouldn't normally be able to do, like choosing a stage.

 

[ 05-15-2002: Message edited by: KAZ ]

---

 

 

Right, attract mode is the marqee, demo mode is the game play demonstration. You have to coin up after the end of demo and right before the red ghost comes out. Which if you put coins in at random time like at an arcade would be very unusual.

 

It's a cheat because it's doing something the rom can't do. The normal roms won't run at full speed unless you cheat. If it were up to me they would include the roms for the version that runs faster, since it is more prevalent now. I have no explanation for why they're not included.

 

The version with everything sped up is the normal rom version, but they modified the board to run the clock faster. It used to be common and should be included in mame also.

 

There is a set of roms with a yellow frog and funny looking ghosts in pacmame, I forget what they call it though. It's not included in regular mame because it's a just graphics hack and they don't include those.

 

There are several other bugs in pacman, some times you can go through ghosts w/o getting killed, If you eat a ghost right as he comes out of his house he sometimes goes nuts, walks through walls etc.

http://www.csh.rit.edu/~jerry/arcade/pacman/

Has a lot of pacman info, and a listing of the program code, but it's not very interesting unless you're a programmer.

 

Dave

[KAZ]

That walking through ghosts thing, I didn't realize that was a bug! I thought the game intended for that to happen, like they ARE ghost monsters after all.

 

Like you notice how each time you die, you get "embedded" in the ghost to a different degree each time. Sometimes it kills you right at the surface (you hardly touch it), but other times, you are all the way inside the ghost that killed you!

 

I saw a friend of mine eat a ghost right inside another regular ghost-Ms. Pacman. (they were both in the same place at the same time) He was not harmed, and just turned right around. It was the coolest pacman move I'd ever seen!

 

This same friend of mine once went completely through TWO ghosts (the two ghosts were again in just about the same exact place). This guy has pac-luck.

[Nukey Shay]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dav:

The version with everything sped up is the normal rom version, but they modified the board to run the clock faster. It used to be common and should be included in mame also.

 

There is a set of roms with a yellow frog and funny looking ghosts in pacmame, I forget what they call it though. It's not included in regular mame because it's a just graphics hack and they don't include those.

---

 

The faster one should be included as an option, then...but it's not.

New Puck One is not just a graphic hack, as Ken described the game...

"When you get caught, the monsters appear to chew the frog."

The maze layout is the same as New Puck X in Mame...but in that game, the characters are unchanged (same goes for getting caught).

[Dav]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Nukey Shay:

The faster one should be included as an option, then...but it's not.

New Puck One is not just a graphic hack, as Ken described the game...

"When you get caught, the monsters appear to chew the frog."

The maze layout is the same as New Puck X in Mame...but in that game, the characters are unchanged (same goes for getting caught).

---

 

 

The chewing thing is just a graphics hack and not as interesting as it sounds. After pacman is eaten by the ghosts the ghosts sit on top of him for a second. They changed it so the ghosts have teeth and the teeth are moving.

 

There are a lot of good pac bootlegs that aren't in mame. Check out this one http://www.klov.com/N/NewPuc2.html

A slot machine between levels and the ghosts are named "Smokey the Bandito","kermit is froggy","Charlie the tuna", "tony the tiger"