The good and the Bad: Pac-Man

[Video]

Ok, We've all heard about how bad pac-man sucks and all. But I've never actually heard someone say "Pac-Man Sucks. Period" Most people say "Pac-Man on 2600 sucks, compared to the arcade" So What I'm wanting to know, without comparing it to the arcade game. What did people like, or dislike about this game?

 

For me, what I liked about it, well, it was just so simple, walk around eat the dots, eat a ghost or two, maybe whatever the hell that middle thing is. With such a simple concept in gameplay, it was just easy to pick up and hard to put down as a kid. Of course, I've played a few games since then, and it's not nearly as appealing to me now. Though I still play it quiet regularly. I think I gotta put it in at least once every time I play 2600.

 

What was bad about it? It looked kinda sorry, even for a 2600 game at the time. I mean, I do believe the ghosts and Pac-Man could have been smoother looking. The second thing, it seems the power pill doesn't last long enough, I rarely get all the ghosts. And the last thing. One maze. I know, many games of the time were like that, but I just don't like playing the same maze over and over. Though I did play a single game through 100 mazes once (though I doubt that'll ever happen again)

[AtariDude]

I think you hit most of the major points as to why the Atari 2600 version of Pac Man was not well liked. In addition to the blinking and the fact that you had to play the same boring, poorly designed maze, the power pellets never lasted long enough

 

Pac Man was a success for Atari in terms of number of units sold but a failure in terms of getting more people until buying the Atari 2600 like Space Invaders did.

 

Followed by E.T., this was the beginning of the end of Atari's reign as the videogame king of the world.

[surfnmadness]

Pac-Man Sucks. Period

 

Happy now?

[Zloch]

I have to admit. I loved Pac-Man when it came out. I even still play it once in a great while. I never thought Pac-Man was a bad game until Ms. Pac Man came out. That's when I realized that Pac-Man could have been better. I remember a lot of people liking Pac-Man when it came out. Even my parents played it non-stop.

 

Of course, I liked ET when it came out too, so what do that tell you?

 

Sean

[Video]

Yeah, but in what way does it suck (remember my first post)

 

Heh, yeah, I overlooked the flickering. I guess cause lots of games flickered.

 

have to admit. I loved Pac-Man when it came out. I even still play it once in a great while. I never thought Pac-Man was a bad game until Ms. Pac Man came out. That's when I realized that Pac-Man could have been better.

 

I imagine that's a lot of cases right there. People didn't hate pac-man when it came out (even those that say it sucked cause it wasont' like the arcade) They aquired the hate for it only after Ms Pac-Man came out and showed that it could have looked resonably like the arcade.

[Zloch]

Yeah, but in what way does it suck (remember my first post)

 

Heh, yeah, I overlooked the flickering.  I guess cause lots of games flickered.

 

have to admit. I loved Pac-Man when it came out. I even still play it once in a great while. I never thought Pac-Man was a bad game until Ms. Pac Man came out. That's when I realized that Pac-Man could have been better.

 

I imagine that's a lot of cases right there. People didn't hate pac-man when it came out (even those that say it sucked cause it wasont' like the arcade) They aquired the hate for it only after Ms Pac-Man came out and showed that it could have looked resonably like the arcade.

 

I think you have a good point. I remember thinking that Pac-Man was the way it was because of the limitations of the system, not becuase it was poorly made. When Ms.Pac-Man came out, it was a bit of a surprise. Jr. Pac-Man just blew me away.

 

With so many genuinely God-awful games for the 2600, I'm surprised that Pac-Man is always singled out as it is.My friends and I all loved some 20 or so years back.

 

Sean

[NovaXpress]

I enjoyed the game when it first came out. I also thought that the Atari probably couldn't do better and I wasn't enough of an arcade fan to demand accuracy. After Jawbreaker and Ms.PacMan I never wanted to play the original again. Much like I stopped playing Breakaway IV (Sears version guys) when Super Breakout was released. (BTW, Super Breakout was a Sears exclusive over its first Xmas season).

 

I say that if it wasn't called Pac-Man, it would be appreciated today for being the first Atari dot-eater. We all know it's easier to improve on an original than it is to make the first game. Would Ms.PacMan have been as ood without Tod Frye's game to build upon?

 

There's still no excuse for using the wrong colors.

[MegaManFan]

As a game, period, Pac-Man is okay. It can be pretty fun to play over short spurts.

 

As an arcade conversion, period, Pac-Man is a failure. Looks sounds and plays ALL wrong.

 

So which one is more important? Historically speaking the latter, because for VCS it was the beginning of the end.

[NE146]

As a game, period, Pac-Man is okay.  It can be pretty fun to play over short spurts. As an arcade conversion, period, Pac-Man is a failure.  Looks sounds and plays ALL wrong.

 

Absolutely.. It's really hard to ignore the "port" aspect of Pacman because.. well.. it's PACMAN! Only one of the most popular videogames (if not THE most popular videogame) of all time and certainly in the 80's when Pacmania was rampant

 

So although of course there were some little kids at the time who had no idea of the arcade game, but the rest of the videogaming world had an absolute MANIA for the arcade game and that's why the 2600 version was received so poorly.

 

I know what you're saying though. For example, it's easy to forgive 2600 Zaxxon of it's weak translation and like it as a game in it's own right. But Zaxxon (while popular) was no Pacman. Pacman as an early 2600 game is ok.. but Pacman's huge popularity overpowers that and it's "badness" is what people remember after all these years. Pacman was just an amazingly big deal, and Atari squandered it. Like it or not, that is it's legacy.

[ZylonBane]

Would Ms.PacMan have been as ood without Tod Frye's game to build upon?

You seriously think the two games shared any code?

 

The only useful function Tod Frye's Pac-Man served to 2600 games after it was as an example of how NOT to do things.

[Video]

I believe what they mean is, Without TodFry[s Pac-man, Ms Pac-Man on 2600 may have been what Pac-Man is, Little like the arcade.'

 

I did play the Arcade version of Pac-man, and wasn't all that thrilled personally. The reason as a Kid I liked 2600 Pac-Man was that it was different from the arcade. Rather than being the same game I was already sick of. Of course Ms Pac-Man came out, and not only did people grow to hate pac-Man cause they found out it could have been more like the arcade, the grew to hate it because Ms Pac-Man, was simply a superior game (even in the arcades)

 

Come to think of it, I would have never bought Pac-Man for the 2600 had a friend not bought it first.

 

Yeah, I agree, as an arcade conversion Pac-Man sucks ass. But I did ask people to describe what they liked/disliked about it without comparing it to the arcade. That seems to be more than most people have tried, simply asking the question "what's wrong with Pac-Man" and having everybody just say "It sucks cause it's not like the arcade"

[NE146]

But I did ask people to describe what they liked/disliked about it without comparing it to the arcade.  That seems to be more than most people have tried, simply asking the question "what's wrong with Pac-Man" and having everybody just say "It sucks cause it's not like the arcade"

 

Hey let me be the first to say I played the heck out of 2600 Pacman. Matter of fact it won me a new 2600 console back in the day! It was a local contest where we all played Pacman to win it.. I had the advantage as I had played it so much.

 

If you don't compare it to the arcade, it's really not all that bad a game of that genre... i.e the "eat the dots in a maze" clones that were all over the place back then. If you like 2600 Pacman as a stand alone game (not in comparison to the arcade), it might help to compare it to other similar 2600 offerings such as Mousetrap, Lock 'N' Chase, Alien, and a bunch of others I can't think of off the top of my head.

 

It's really not too bad. The sound effects are a little drab. But that's about it.

[Video]

it might help to compare it to other similar 2600 offerings such as Mousetrap, Lock 'N' Chase, Alien, and a bunch of others I can't think of off the top of my head.

 

That's one of unfairnesses to Pac-Man. People always say it sucks, cause it's 'not like the arcade', but they fail to ever mention, that it's just as good as many of the other dot munchers on the 2600. And all new comers just stay away cause they assume it just in general compared to atari games sucks. Of course, there's enough of them out there, that everybody's bound to get one anyways, weather they play it or not is a different story

 

Wow, your comunity store had contests to win systems? That's cool. I think we had a few around here to win games, but nothing like that. That sure would have been enteresting to see. Yeah...well, very late congrats on that. LOL

[Room 34]

I played 2600 Pac-Man ALL THE TIME when I first got it. And I loved it. Now I think it sucks, but for that matter I think Ms. Pac-Man kind of sucks too. I'm not even that big a fan of Jr. Pac-Man, because the game is finally interesting and generally well-done but it's too damn hard!

 

I'm just not really sure the whole "run around a maze eating dots and avoiding the bad guys" concept is really that interesting anymore. Even its modern equivalent (of sorts), the FPS, is not that thrilling to me.

[Velvis]

I was really disappointed with pacman even as a 12 year old. I hated how pacman moved only facing left or right and the mouth movement looks awkward. Pacman seemed to glide through the maze.

 

I guess I just never liked the feel of it.

[Godzilla]

DOOOOWANNNNUHWEEEEEEH UNGH UNGH UNGH UNGH

 

^ 2600 pac man starting up.

 

even though I enjoyed 2600 pac as a kid when it came out,

I remember literally being revulsed when I first started the

game, not by the way it looked, (I wasn't expecting dali out of my

2600's graphics,) but the way it sounded. Where the hell did frye

get that hideous opening cacophony? and the god awful dot-eating

sound. Almost as bad as the sound of coleco's tabletop pacman

(but not quite as 'drive you to suicide' bad.)

[NovaXpress]

You seriously think the two games shared any code?  

 

The only useful function Tod Frye's Pac-Man served to 2600 games after it was as an example of how NOT to do things.

 

Of course they didn't share code, I'm just asking if we should give him credit for figuring out how to do the first 2600 dot-eater. We don't condemn Indy 500 just because they would later do a much better racing game (Sprint). It's always been said that the first programmer to attempt a new trick has it the hardest. Of course Ms.Pac-Man was better, just like Stargate was a better translation than 2600 Defender. Don't we have to start somewhere? If Pac-Man had been released after games like Lock'N'Chase then I would be slamming him too because he already has examples of better code. I will believe you 2600 programming wizards if you say he was simply lazy but I've always wondered if we should give him the benefit of trying it first.

[Big Player]

Yeah, I agree, as an arcade conversion Pac-Man sucks ass.  But I did ask people to describe what they liked/disliked about it without comparing it to the arcade.  That seems to be more than most people have tried, simply asking the question "what's wrong with Pac-Man" and having everybody just say "It sucks cause it's not like the arcade"

 

I was the first on the block to get Pac Man and here's what's wrong with it as a game aside from being a port.

 

1. Gameplay--not fun. See below.

 

2. Controls--lousy. Moving around the maze is a chore. Tight turns are nearly impossible.

 

3. Colors--the pale scheme looks like it was chosen for its awfulness. Bleh!

 

4. Collision detection--this is the biggest reason flickering games suck. Generally unfair to the player.

 

5. Sound--see colors. Was Tod Frye tone deaf and color blind?

 

I could go on. . .but that's enough. I still did play it as a kid, since I didn't have that many other games.

[Big Player]

You seriously think the two games shared any code?  

 

The only useful function Tod Frye's Pac-Man served to 2600 games after it was as an example of how NOT to do things.

 

Of course they didn't share code, I'm just asking if we should give him credit for figuring out how to do the first 2600 dot-eater. We don't condemn Indy 500 just because they would later do a much better racing game (Sprint). It's always been said that the first programmer to attempt a new trick has it the hardest. Of course Ms.Pac-Man was better, just like Stargate was a better translation than 2600 Defender. Don't we have to start somewhere? If Pac-Man had been released after games like Lock'N'Chase then I would be slamming him too because he already has examples of better code. I will believe you 2600 programming wizards if you say he was simply lazy but I've always wondered if we should give him the benefit of trying it first.

 

No credit for creating the first 2600 dot-eater. That goes to the designer of Dodge 'Em--whomever that is.

 

It would be funny if it turned out to be Tod Frye.

[NovaXpress]

No credit for creating the first 2600 dot-eater. That goes to the designer of Dodge 'Em--whomever that is.

 

Ah, touche. I totally blanked on that game.

[Stella'sGhost]

I was kind of young to realize that pac-man for the 2600 wasn't so great, I liked it. But ultimately it looks really lame and graphically it resembles the even more limited Channel F or Balley Astrocade which is a step back for what the 2600 is capable of.

 

It's just a lousy port, blame Todd Frye. However the arcade version was wonderfull.

 

Pac Man Jr. is a better game, so is Mrs. Pac Man no doubt.

 

There are alot of lousy ports from arcade to the 2600, largely due to the massive limits of the system but there's no excuse for Pac-Man, it doesn't even require a scrolling maze for example and has only a few moving objects at any given time... I mean, didn't anyone take a look at the demo and go " hey wait a minute, this game looks lousy, lets tweak it up a bit."... oh yeah, time is money.... whatever.

[Room 34]

No credit for creating the first 2600 dot-eater.  That goes to the designer of Dodge 'Em--whomever that is.    

 

It would be funny if it turned out to be Tod Frye.

 

I was just going to mention Dodge 'Em.

 

BTW, according to this it was Carla Meninsky.

 

Now a question: Does Dodge 'Em actually predate the ARCADE version of Pac-Man? I see Dodge 'Em has a copyright of 1980, which I believe was also the year Pac-Man came out in the arcades, wasn't it? Which was first?

[Velvis]

I might be wrong but wasnt Dodge 'em an arcade game before the Atari cart?

[Godzilla]

sí, señor velvis.

[NE146]

Now a question: Does Dodge 'Em actually predate the ARCADE version of Pac-Man?  I see Dodge 'Em has a copyright of 1980, which I believe was also the year Pac-Man came out in the arcades, wasn't it?  Which was first?

 

Not sure about 2600 Dodge Em itself.. but it is based upon Head On (and that other game name I can't remember) that obviously did come out before Pacman arcade.

 

As far as 2600 Dodge Em itself.. good question. It's hard to remember but my guess is that you're right.. it probably came out about the same time as arcade Pacman You figure by the time it took them to port/translate an arcade game like Head On to the 2600, the arcade scene had already advanced to games like Pacman. Makes sense to me.. and seems to jibe with what I remember.

 

Speaking of which.. you know what would make a great 2600 port? SPACE CHASER!