A rather stupid idea for a Ms. Pac-Man hack

[Dauber]

I brought this idea up to Inky, who suggested I check the 2600 Hacks section to see if this had been done (he thought it had been done), but I didn't see it...

 

Anyhoo....my idea: hacking Pac-Man into Ms. Pac-Man --- as if it had been programmed by Tod Frye.

 

Dig:

- It would be easy to tell that Ms. Pac-Man is Ms. Pac-Man because she looks just like Pac-Man....except she's pink.

 

- Instead of one lousy escape tunnel on the top and bottom, have....are you ready?.....TWO...on the top and bottom!

 

- No more of that boring old rectangular "vitamin" that sits there under the ghosts' hideout! Now....the vitamin MOVES around the hideout!

 

- Sick of playing the same orange-and-blue maze over and over? Well, kiss that goodbye -- after you clear the second, fifth, and ninth mazes -- they CHANGE COLORS!

 

Of course, due to technical limitations, we would have to put up with this:

 

- In the original arcade game, when Ms. Pac-Man gets chomped by a monster, she spins around. Well, because limitations of the 2600 prevent Ms. Pac-Man from spinning, when she "spins" she only faces left and right.

 

- The Atari 2600 just doesn't have the power to play a full-length startup theme, so to compensate, there's a shorter, four-note musical sequence not just at the beginning of the game, but also before every life!

 

- Unfortunately, as was proven by Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man, the Atari just doesn't have enough processing power to have the intermissions. But almost as good -- every few mazes you clear, the screen will blink....TWICE!

 

Now.....all I have to do is learn how to hack.

 

Oh...and to prevent confusion between this and the official Atari Ms. Pac-Man, I'd rename it "Ms. Fry" -- in honor of both Tod Frye and my senior-year high school English teacher.

Edited October 25, 2006 by Dauber

[Atariboy2600]

This looks like a job for PAC-MAN PLUS!

[Feralstorm]

Seems not TOO difficult by those specs. Heck, some of that stuff could almost be handled by bit-hacking as opposed to assembly-hacking.

 

Most of the ideas there could be done without exceeding much from the original program. I don't know how much 'free space' is in the 4K ROM, if any, but I don't see anything that would push it. The 'vitamin' was made with a missile and ball I believe, so shouldn't be much to moving it around.

 

No biggie to change the Pac-graphics, unless a Pink Pacman is exactly what you're going for.

[Pac Munchkin]

I brought this idea up to Inky, who suggested I check the 2600 Hacks section to see if this had been done (he thought it had been done), but I didn't see it...

 

Anyhoo....my idea: hacking Pac-Man into Ms. Pac-Man --- as if it had been programmed by Tod Frye.

 

Dig:

- It would be easy to tell that Ms. Pac-Man is Ms. Pac-Man because she looks just like Pac-Man....except she's pink.

 

- Instead of one lousy escape tunnel on the top and bottom, have....are you ready?.....TWO...on the top and bottom!

 

- No more of that boring old rectangular "vitamin" that sits there under the ghosts' hideout! Now....the vitamin MOVES around the hideout!

 

- Sick of playing the same orange-and-blue maze over and over? Well, kiss that goodbye -- after you clear the second, fifth, and ninth mazes -- they CHANGE COLORS!

 

Of course, due to technical limitations, we would have to put up with this:

 

- In the original arcade game, when Ms. Pac-Man gets chomped by a monster, she spins around. Well, because limitations of the 2600 prevent Ms. Pac-Man from spinning, when she "spins" she only faces left and right.

 

- The Atari 2600 just doesn't have the power to play a full-length startup theme, so to compensate, there's a shorter, four-note musical sequence not just at the beginning of the game, but also before every life!

 

- Unfortunately, as was proven by Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man, the Atari just doesn't have enough processing power to have the intermissions. But almost as good -- every few mazes you clear, the screen will blink....TWICE!

 

Now.....all I have to do is learn how to hack.

 

Oh...and to prevent confusion between this and the official Atari Ms. Pac-Man, I'd rename it "Ms. Fry" -- in honor of both Tod Frye and my senior-year high school English teacher.

 

 

This does exist someone did turn Ms Pac-Man into Pac Man I downloaded it a long time ago think it was called Mr Pac-Man if I remember? I have it in my emulator Oh Rob Kuda I think was the one that made this.

 

Wade

[Dauber]

Nonono, I mean the other way around -- taking the Atari 2600 Pac-Man and hacking that to make it a just-as-sucky Ms. Pac-Man.

[Pac Munchkin]

Nonono, I mean the other way around -- taking the Atari 2600 Pac-Man and hacking that to make it a just-as-sucky Ms. Pac-Man.

 

 

Ohhhhhhhhhh

 

"to make it a just-as-sucky Ms. Pac-Man. "

 

I like your description!

 

No I don't think anyone ever did that.

 

Wade

[Nukey Shay]

All of what you mention could fit within 4k...with a bit of optimization to the program to free a bit of space. But I'm puzzled by what you mean when you say that the 2600 lacks processing power to handle intermissions?

[Breakpack]

Man,Id like to see that on cart with a label

lol

[Dino]

 

 

This does exist someone did turn Ms Pac-Man into Pac Man I downloaded it a long time ago think it was called Mr Pac-Man if I remember? I have it in my emulator Oh Rob Kuda I think was the one that made this.

 

Wade

 

Would it be possible to create a simultaneous 2 player version or am I dreaming?

[Feralstorm]

This thread is about doing the opposite: 2600 Pac-Man to a substandard Ms Pac.

 

(whoopsie, just realized I was replying to the quoted. Sorry)

Edited January 5, 2007 by Feralstorm