Ms. Pac-man Rant

[hepcat]

I spent the Christmas holidays at my parents place in upstate NY. Last Friday, I went to the local mall to use a gift card I received the previous day. As I walked by the arcade, I noticed the Ms. Pac-man/Galaga 20th anniversary combo. Cool! Here was an unexpected opportunity to play Ms. Pac-man the way it was meant to be played for the first time in a couple years. Hope rose within me as I saw from the attraction screen that Ms. Pac-man was moving at a normal speed!! I paid my two tokens, but sure enough, as soon as the opening tune ended, the Missus began zipping around the maze like she was on crack. Once again, I had been foiled by the dreaded Ms. Pac-man speed up chip.

 

Variations on the above story have been happening to me for over a decade now. It is true that Ms. Pac-man is probably the pre-1985 game you’re most likely to see in an arcade these days. However, it is almost impossible to find one that does not have the speed up chip! I’m hoping one of the experts here can explain this phenomena to me. Why do arcade operators insist on perverting the game play of one of the best games of all time in this manner? Is it because they think it’s too easy when Ms. Pac-man moves at normal speed? I think just the opposite is true. It took me nearly 10 years to break 200,000 on Ms. Pac-man at normal speed, but I’m pretty sure I got 200,000 the very first time I played with the speed up chip.

 

Any other ideas?

 

--Jason

[Adrian M]

I'm not sure. Over in the Northeast where I live, finding a Ms. Pac-Man cabinet (original or the re-released Namco verson) where the speed up is in effect is quite rare. For some reason, all the Ms. Pac-Man machines I seem to come across run the game at the original speed.

 

The speed up kit required some installation by arcade ops. My guess is that once it was installed the ops enjoyed the brief spike in popularity and then neglected to remove the chip(s). As to why the Anniversary Edition was set at fast speed, perhaps the operator is experimenting to see which setting will bring him the most revenue. Maybe he earns more from that particular setting, hence that's why he keeps it that way.

 

Personally, I prefer my Pac-Man/Ms.Pac-Man original and unbastardized!

[Dr Galaga]

Yea, after Ms. Pac Man started to fizzle a little bit a lot of operators installed the speed chip and probably lost the original chip. Personally, I perfer the speed-up mode. I feel as if it gives me a little more of an edge.

BTW: I was in a restaurant the other day and they had a Ms. Pac/Galaga game and it cost $1.00 to play!!!!

[ussexplorer]

I remeber running into my first mrs. pacman speed up. I always thought it was a dip switch. You know just like changing 3 ships two 4 or the point amount you get for an extra ship. But, to make a long story short. I hated it very, very, very much. Talk about another quarter sucker compaired to just sitting and playing for a few hours.

[ATARIPITBULL]

I hate it very much when I come across a classic game like Pac-Man & Ms Pac-man that have been speed up, it is just not fun to play.

 

[NovaXpress]

Wheras I only enjoy the sped-up Ms.PacMan. The original is too slow for me and I score much higher with the "meth" version. Every old school machine in this area (we have over half a dozen still in operation) is sped-up while the new combo version always has slow speed.

[NE146]

I dunno.. but I've played the "regular" speed Ms.Pac and Pac to death about a billion times in the 80's and early 90's in arcades and in all home versions. So now I prefer the sped up versions for a change over the past 10 years or so. You figure.. I got about a million or more plays of them to get tired of them and finally go back to regular speed

 

They ARE different games though. Try playing sped-up MsPac and see how much you can score. If you can score 200k you're good. But the REAL challenge is scoring 300k. You get to the point of course when the ghosts don't turn blue, and you have random fruits (unlike Pacman where you always get the 5000pt key). So with no consistent 5000 bonus, and no points on ghosts, scoring that extra 100k is actually a lot more difficult than you imagine... it becomes a trial of endurance. Try it out!

 

Of course in the unsped up version of MsPac, I'd consider 150k to be a good score for me And of course in Pacman, you can score whatever you want with patterns... if you decide to use them.

[PacManPlus]

I try to play the regular version whenever possible - the speedup makes it too easy.

 

About 3 or 4 years ago I entered one of the Olympics on MARP (Mame Action Replay Page - http://marp.retrogames.com/ ) For Ms.Pac-Man. It was the speedup version - but with one life and no bonus. I got the Silver! My score was somewhere in the 400K bracket...

 

I just did a search on the site; can't find my replay It would probably help if I could remember which Tournament it was (1, 2, or 3)

 

BTW, my high score on 'normal speed' is @220K

 

**UPDATE: It was an 'Olympiad' entry, (in 2001) but I still can't find the winning entry. I found the Qualification entry (only 234,000) but not the good one... (I used the handle 'PacFan' there)

[tmx]

I just went to pick up a original Ms. Pac Man! It's sitting about a foot behind me at the moment, not positive as to what's wrong with it though and also have no key so i'm trying to use a paper clip or something to get into the lock. But anyways, just thought i'd share that...

[goatdan]

I've got one with the speed-up chip myself, and I want to get a replacement chip for it ASAP.

 

Arcade operators have replaced the chip probably because the sped-up version eats quarters quicker than the original version. If you are good with the original, you can go for a long time on one quarter. If you are just as good with the sped up version, it takes you about half the time to show that off.

 

Since picking up that Pac-Man, I haven't played it much until just recently when I thought what the heck and took it for a spin. Now I'm quite addicted to the fast mode.

 

I know of four different arcades within a fifteen minute drive that have a Ms. Pac-Man on slow in Milwaukee...

[ZylonBane]

I like the sped-up version. Easier and more exciting... it's a win-win!

 

Regular Ms. Pac feels absolutely glacial now.

[Tempest]

Other than on the various consoles I don't think I've ever played Ms. Pac-Man without the speed up chip. It seems that every machine I've seen has one and now I'm used to it.

 

Was there ever a speed up chip for Pac-Man?

 

Tempest

[hepcat]

They ARE different games though. Try playing sped-up MsPac and see how much you can score. If you can score 200k you're good. But the REAL challenge is scoring 300k. You get to the point of course when the ghosts don't turn blue, and you have random fruits (unlike Pacman where you always get the 5000pt key). So with no consistent 5000 bonus, and no points on ghosts, scoring that extra 100k is actually a lot more difficult than you imagine... it becomes a trial of endurance. Try it out!

 

Hmm, the last time I played the sped up version was about six months ago. (A couple weeks ago I just walked away from the game...) I got over 300,000 having lost two of four (wo)men and then quit out of boredom.

 

The only "challenge" is learning to control Ms. Pac-man at the faster speed.

 

I still think playing Ms. Pac this way is like playing basketball with the basket 5 feet off the ground instead of 10.

 

--Jason

[hepcat]

Other than on the various consoles I don't think I've ever played Ms. Pac-Man without the speed up chip.  It seems that every machine I've seen has one and now I'm used to it.  

 

Was there ever a speed up chip for Pac-Man?

 

Tempest

 

I don't know if the original ever had the speed up, but if you enter the code to play Pac-man on the 20th anniversary version, and Ms. Pac-man is fast, Pac-man will also be fast. Kind of defeats the purpose of hiding the original, don't you think?

 

--Jason

[NE146]

They ARE different games though. Try playing sped-up MsPac and see how much you can score. If you can score 200k you're good. But the REAL challenge is scoring 300k. You get to the point of course when the ghosts don't turn blue' date=' and you have random fruits (unlike Pacman where you always get the 5000pt key). So with no consistent 5000 bonus, and no points on ghosts, scoring that extra 100k is actually a lot more difficult than you imagine... it becomes a trial of endurance. Try it out! [/quote']

 

Hmm, the last time I played the sped up version was about six months ago. (A couple weeks ago I just walked away from the game...) I got over 300,000 having lost two of four (wo)men and then quit out of boredom.

 

The only "challenge" is learning to control Ms. Pac-man at the faster speed.

 

Tell me however.. was this on the Anniversary edition with MsPac/Galaga? Or was it the ORIGINAL cab with a speed up chip. I'm betting it was the Anniversary Edition.

 

Despite what most think, there IS a difference between the two. The Anniversary edition is far easier. You will often find high scores in the range of 500k+! (The same for Galaga). I don't know how to explain it as I haven't spent enough time with the Anniversary edition. But you will find that at any original cab with a speed up chip, the scores are usually 200k+, w/ lower 300k scores. I think it may have to do with the consistency of the 5000 pt. bananas that come out... not sure though.

 

Put it this way, by the time you get to the stage where ghosts dont turn blue you should have less than or about 200k. If you have a string of 100pt cherries, you only get the points of the dots + the 200 for the cherries on one stage. That's only about 2 or 3000 pts per stage. It easily could take many stages to earn what it used to take just one or two stages to get (with high scoring fruits + ghosts). It's all luck.. and time

[hepcat]

I got the 300K on the Anniversary version. But you've given me an idea. If more bananas appear in the Anniversary edition, perhaps this is a way to pad my high score, if I can ever find one at regular speed?

 

--Jason

[Cassidy Nolen]

I think ops put them on fast play to make more money. I have two Ms. Pac originals on location. Both have speed up chips in them. IMHO kids don't have the patience to get good at something like Pac, so the challenge is to hook them right away. Sped-up play is considerably eaiser. I admire you Hep, better man than I being able to play on slow speed (first thing I did to my Pac was swap out a fast chip for the slow one).

 

Just a side note; there are several ways to speed up the original game machines. There were extra boxes that Namco released back in the day that sped it up that required hard wiring onto the boards. Some of them even feature a super speed version if you hit both one and two player start buttons during the game. Hit them both next time you find a Pac. You may be amazed at what happens. The other (and more common) way to do it is a formatted EPROM that contains the speed up data. F6 (iirc) is the chip.

 

The new combo is just a dip switch. That whole pcb is the size of a post card. Way cool to see. Wish I had a few of those boards as spares for the originals!

 

Cassidy

[goatdan]

The other (and more common) way to do it is a formatted EPROM that contains the speed up data.  F6 (iirc) is the chip.

 

You don't happen to know where I can get a slow EEPROM chip, do you

[Cassidy Nolen]

Check your PM

 

Cassidy

[hepcat]

IMHO kids don't have the patience to get good at something like Pac, so the challenge is to hook them right away.  Sped-up play is considerably eaiser.  I admire you Hep, better man than I being able to play on slow speed  (first thing I did to my Pac was swap out a fast chip for the slow one).

 

Well, I think some very helpful answers have been posted in this thread. I was not surprised at all to hear that money had something to do with it. But Cassidy raises an good point. Ms. Pac-man is a very tough game once you get past the first few boards, and it doesn't have the bells, whistles and gratuitous violence of so many modern games that can be learned alot more quickly.

 

Maybe someone else here can help me improve my score. Right now my highest is 232,000 and I made it to level 25 once. I've heard about this "grouping" technique that supposedly lets you get all 4 monsters with each energizer, but I can't get it to work. I've tried watching MARP files, but I can never get them to work either. Any ideas?

 

--Jason

[PacManPlus]

Maybe someone else here can help me improve my score. Right now my highest is 232,000 and I made it to level 25 once. I've heard about this "grouping" technique that supposedly lets you get all 4 monsters with each energizer, but I can't get it to work. I've tried watching MARP files, but I can never get them to work either. Any ideas?  

 

Are you talking about fast or slow?

 

I use 'grouping' ( I didn't know it had a name ) constantly. The first two boards I never miss every monster, and many times I can get to the Apple that way (It's a bit more difficult when the energizer only lasts 3 seconds) Granted, my games usually last much longer this way... BTW This is with the game at regular speed.

 

If you are using the fast machine, you don't have to worry about grouping as much because you can pretty much catch up to them quickly.

 

Well, I am much better at answering specific questions than rolling ideas off the top of my head, so is there anything specific? I can attempt to make a replay file in the next day or two if you want ... Let me know

[hepcat]

Maybe someone else here can help me improve my score. Right now my highest is 232,000 and I made it to level 25 once. I've heard about this "grouping" technique that supposedly lets you get all 4 monsters with each energizer, but I can't get it to work. I've tried watching MARP files, but I can never get them to work either. Any ideas?  

 

Are you talking about fast or slow?

 

I use 'grouping' ( I didn't know it had a name ) constantly. The first two boards I never miss every monster, and many times I can get to the Apple that way (It's a bit more difficult when the energizer only lasts 3 seconds) Granted, my games usually last much longer this way... BTW This is with the game at regular speed.

 

If you are using the fast machine, you don't have to worry about grouping as much because you can pretty much catch up to them quickly.

 

Well, I am much better at answering specific questions than rolling ideas off the top of my head, so is there anything specific? I can attempt to make a replay file in the next day or two if you want ... Let me know

 

I got the 232,000 score at an arcade in August of 1997. The game was set at regular speed. I actually only made it to level 23 that day, but the fruits were being quite generous.

 

The first three or four boards are not a problem. The apple board is harder, but these days I'm still usually able to score between 65,000 and 70,000 by the end of that board.

 

So I guess my specific question is how to get three or 4 monsters everytime on boards 9, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18, when the monsters only change for a second.

 

If you could make up a Mame32 video, PMP, that would be great! Anybody who can score over 200K on this game is worth watching!

 

--Jason

[NE146]

Just make a .inp file. As long as everyone uses the same Mame version, everyone can watch it

[PacManPlus]

Jason:

 

Very cool - you and I sound like we are at about the same level of play on the regular version (although you might be a little better than me; I think my high is about 220K) It is hard to get all four when the energizer lasts 1 sec, just on those boards I usually don't bother to try for all four

 

Anyway, it would problably be cool to have a .inp file anyway; It would be cool to see if our techniques are similar

 

In my MAME cab, I use DOS MAME .56 - will that be a problem for the .INP file?

[hepcat]

Right now I'm using Mame 32 version 77. My computer is using Windows XP. I guess that's OK as long as my computer can run Dos Mame .56, and the Ms. Pac-man rom hasn't changed between versions 56 and 77. Let me look into that tonight and get back to you. Thanks!

 

--Jason