54 replies to this topic

[Nukey Shay]

A bunch of stuff added to Rob's hack to bring it more up-to-date with other Pac games.  

Debro's speedup cheat is allowed when left difficulty = B.  Press the trigger to speed up.
Right difficulty sends monsters out of the pen quicker when in A position.
Color/B&W is used to pause the game at any time (7800 compatable).


Current (final?) NTSC, PAL, and PAL60 versions:

Attached Files

•  PacmanArcadeEnhanced.zip   56.39K   340 downloads

Edited by Nukey Shay, Thu May 5, 2011 2:16 PM.

[Corby]

Awesome job as usual  Nukey!  

[raindog]

Anything with dots + Nukey = epic win.  (Should that be "winning" now?)  Thanks for revisiting my old hack; you made it much better.

[dwane413]

Thanks.

[TrekMD]

Very nicely done!

[Nukey Shay]

New version posted up top.

Reserve players glitch corrected (previous version was only showing 1).

Debro's speedup cheat has been added (when left difficulty = b, use the fire button to move double speed).  However, this still needs a little tweaking.

The TV type switch (for pausing) should work on a 7800 now.

GAME OVER text added (in addition to all the rest), and I also added all the intermission sprites in the data tables.  Now I just need to squeeze in the routine itself.  The remaining fruit-moving code has been eliminated, so there should be enough space to deal with the "actors" now (3 pages & a nybble of ram free).

I noticed an interesting glitch when both sticks are moved.  If one is held left and the other right, the player rapidly flips left and right.  If you then also press downward on either stick, the player will travel right through walls   Kind of a neat throwback to the original Pac-Man...so I left it unfixed.

Does this version work on a real television?  Or is it still rolling occasionally?

[dwane413]

I tried this on an Atari 2600 jr with the Harmony cart.

Nukey Shay, on Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:13 PM, said:

Debro's speedup cheat has been added (when left difficulty = b, use the fire button to move double speed).  However, this still needs a little tweaking.

I like that.

Nukey Shay, on Fri Apr 15, 2011 5:13 PM, said:

Does this version work on a real television?  Or is it still rolling occasionally?

It rolled on me occasionally.

[Nukey Shay]

More kernel time saved (passed the savings to VBLANK).  This might fix those screen rolls.

Intermission sequences added...but they are very glitchy still (and need music added).

Game Reset will now automatically bump the game selection down to the cherry board with 4 monsters...use the fire button to start a game on other variations (the fire button will still also continue a game at the last board reached on the previous game).

[Nukey Shay]

Intermission sprite movement and music added...needs a little work still (such as allowing sprites to run offscreen).

I've only got 6 bytes left...so this needs some more trimming to make further additions

[Nukey Shay]

Current version changes...

I added borders to the intermission screen that characters run behind   This "broke" the nail at the present time (it shows up a couple of scanlines too high in the 2nd intermission).

The release order has been corrected...Pinky should exit first, followed by Inky and then Clyde.  However, an additional game difficulty has been assigned to the previously-unused right difficulty switch: when in the (A)dvanced position, they will only circle one time in the box before being released.

Fast-mode (left difficulty = B & trigger pressed) dot-eating sound is clipped so it ends properly.

Some minor tweaks to colors and music.

Edited by Nukey Shay, Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:32 PM.

[TrekMD]

Thanks for posting the updated file.  This keep getting better.  

[dwane413]

Thanks.

Nukey Shay, on Mon Apr 25, 2011 8:24 PM, said:

Fast-mode (left difficulty = B & trigger pressed) dot-eating sound is clipped so it ends properly.

I like this sound fix.

[Nerf Herder73]

Nice to see this version of Pac-Man getting an update. All of this hard work, on the original hack and the enhancements, is appreciated.

[dwane413]

Here's a bug report. I've seen it a few times on Stella 2.4.2 (old version). Today I saw it on a real 2600 Jr & Harmony cart.

You can sometimes go through the power pills without eating them.

http://www.ipernity..../dwane/10469834

Note: I may delete the video off my account after it's no longer needed. If anyone wants to archive it, feel free to.

EDIT: I think I'm always using fast-mode when this happens, but don't know if it is related. I like fast-mode, so I use it a lot.

Edited by dwane413, Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:39 PM.

[Nukey Shay]

You can also go though regular dots (especially when cornering) on occasion when using the cheat.  This is because the player's X/Y is being changed twice in a row without checking if anything was hit the first time.  Reading energizer collisions is done with the hardware collision register, so it's much more noticable - if an energizer is "blinked off" as you cross it's position, it won't be eaten.  The hardware never registered a collision in such a case.

Consider it a penalty for using the cheat unless a fix can be found

[dwane413]

Nukey Shay, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 3:59 PM, said:

You can also go though regular dots (especially when cornering) on occasion when using the cheat.  This is because the player's X/Y is being changed twice in a row without checking if anything was hit the first time.  Reading energizer collisions is done with the hardware collision register, so it's much more noticable - if an energizer is "blinked off" as you cross it's position, it won't be eaten.  The hardware never registered a collision in such a case.

I see now that you mentioned this in the first message. Sorry I forgot.

Nukey Shay, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 3:59 PM, said:

Consider it a penalty for using the cheat unless a fix can be found

That sounds good to me. Thanks for the reply. You've done a great job with the game.

[Nukey Shay]

Fixed.  I just increased the blink rate when the character is speeding so that the collision register has a chance to hit

The screensaver byte was still (basically) unused, so I reactivated it.  It should timeout and shift the maze and background colors when the stick or select/reset haven't been for about 9 minutes.

A quick way to take a look at level 255 added (hold UP on both sticks when hitting game reset).  Should I make this level to be winnable?

Are screen rolls still a problem?

[mrjodyhong]

Thank you so much Nukey Shay for the hard work.  This is Awesome!

[dwane413]

Nukey Shay, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:41 PM, said:

Fixed.  I just increased the blink rate when the character is speeding so that the collision register has a chance to hit

Thanks. That seems to have worked nicely.

Nukey Shay, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:41 PM, said:

The screensaver byte was still (basically) unused, so I reactivated it.  It should timeout and shift the maze and background colors when the stick or select/reset haven't been for about 9 minutes.

Nice.

It is kind of neat to put it on pause until it's gone into screensaver mode. Then take it off pause, but don't touch the joystick. The ghosts start moving and you're in a real game, but it stays in screensaver mode. Is this a bug or more like an easter egg. It doesn't bother me.

Nukey Shay, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:41 PM, said:

A quick way to take a look at level 255 added (hold UP on both sticks when hitting game reset).  Should I make this level to be winnable?

I don't know.

Nukey Shay, on Tue Apr 26, 2011 8:41 PM, said:

Are screen rolls still a problem?

It seems to be alright now.

[Nerf Herder73]

Wow! The killscreen is included, too! A great detail. Does anyone know of this level been present in other hacks/homebrews before?

[Lord Helmet]

Nerf Herder73, on Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:54 PM, said:

Wow! The killscreen is included, too! A great detail. Does anyone know of this level been present in other hacks/homebrews before?

I believe it's in Hack-Em

[Nerf Herder73]

Lord Helmet, on Wed Apr 27, 2011 3:46 PM, said:

Nerf Herder73, on Wed Apr 27, 2011 12:54 PM, said:

Wow! The killscreen is included, too! A great detail. Does anyone know of this level been present in other hacks/homebrews before?

I believe it's in Hack-Em

Great! Thank you! I found the posts revealing how to get to it in Hack 'Em. I figured that there must be a hidden treat like that somewhere since I stumbled upon the color bug for Ms. Pac-Man in PMC.

[Nukey Shay]

There is a hidden feature in Hack'Em...but it's not the simulated level 255 bug (or the hiding spot, either).  The actual split-screen glitch should be present in Opcode's Colecovision port.

[Nukey Shay]

Some edits done to improve execution time.  I can't find the last bug in the intermissions (when exactly halfway through, the monster may flicker using the wrong bitmap for a single frame).

[Trinity]

Just downloaded it today! Damn sweet!!!

How it should have been bitd!!!