PacManPlus

Hey! I just had an idea (it came to me after I pulled off the rubber boot on one of my 5200 joysticks...) What if we made a restrictor out of plastic to force a 4-way movement for those types of games? (e.g. pacman, joust, dig dug...) I made a mock-up in Publisher (the piece would have to be about 1.5 inches in diameter (or is it radius??? I can never remember) and have a square at a 45 degree angle inside... Like the pic below... I am going to cut a piece of plastic like that and see how it works... The piece would fit inside the round hole what the rubber boot was. The diamond shape would be cut out of the middle, and the 'line' you see at the bottom is so the piece 1) can go in and out without taking the joystick rod out and 2) hold the piece in (it is slightly bigger than the hole it goes in, so it would have to be 'squeezed' a little to be put in) Anyone willing to make these??? Bob

Hello: I'm just curious - last I heard, they were done... We were waiting for the price. Did something happen? Did Activision intervene and put a stop to it? Thanks for the info Bob

Thanks for the compliments, everyone Voltman - I guess I was using a different joystick than you are - my actuator is set for 8 way, and it is an 8-way joystick (although I never believed what they call '8-way' really is 8-way, the restrictors seem to favor the diagonals. 8-way, in my mind, would have more of an octogon shaped restirictor so that the joystick would 'center' in all 8 directions...) Just my 2cents

It handles well so far, but I have not played it for long periods of time yet (I'm still setting up 'Game Launcher' as the front end for the emulators). I hope the fan is powerful enough to keep it cool... I've since added Vectrex to the list of emulators (oh well, time to make a new front label) :/ I may also add Quake - just for fun Thanks everyone!

Hello! I just finished my second project, a 5200 digital stick (very similar to Voltman3's). I used his schematic (it worked beautifully), and here is the result... It's so much easier to play pacman now!

Pic of Top

Hello All! It's finally finished! I noticed a while back some company took the mini-itx board and put them in 2600, NES, and other classic cases. I had already had my idea for the 5200 case - it just took me a long time to find a non-working 5200 I wasn't sure which forum to put this in (it has a 2600, 5200, and 7800 emulator in it), but being that I made it so you can use 2600 controllers with it, I guessed here. I have some pics below (if anyone's interested), although the pictures of the open top are a little difficult to make out... The motherboard is dead center, with the power supply behind it. the 2.5" hard drive is underneath the motherboard. To the left is the keyboard encoder (IPAC) needed to emulate the two 2600 joystick inputs, and to the right is the Intellivision adapter which plugs into the Parallel port. It all fit!! I put a big fan where the flip top is, and you can plug s-video or composite in with audio connections as well. There is also an external keyboard connector, although you cannot see it from the pictures... All in all, this emulates the 2600, 5200, 7800, Odyssey2, Intellivision, NES, and Arcade games (and yes, I have all of those consoles - I'm working on the arcade games) The buttons on top are for ESC, START, SELECT, and PAUSE. What do you think?

This sounds Great! Is there any way to buy a copy? That's the only one I'm missing that I care about! Please let me know... Thanks!

Hello: I was told Jr. Pac-Man won't work with an actual 5200 burned on an eprom

Hello! Actually, in Pac Man Plus, the maze AND dots BOTH dissappear, (or actually, are the same color as the background - because you still eat dots and follow the maze) so that actually would be correct. The double points by the fruit thing is also correct, but the monsters turn insivible instead of blue, and they only show up when flashing.

I actually preferred Pac-Man Plus as well (hence my Avatar) That would be a *great* hack! I would think hacking Jr. PacMan would look closer (you could get the full size maze, and have it scroll - a la Ms. PacMan NES) Just a thought ... By the way, Inky - I notice that your avitar is also from PacMan Plus (or Pac & Pal) - I don't know if you noticed, but the monster eyes are closer together than normal in those two games (one pixel apart instead of two like the others) Boy - I should get a life, huh?

Just curious if anything more has happened with this? I am looking forward to knowing how much a set would cost, of if they are downloadable... etc. :) Thanks

I found the place that brings you outside the map - find the model of the Chalice and face it. The go left through the teleport. Hope this helps! Thanks again

Hey! First off, I have to say that you did one hellova job with this map. You are the *best* I do have a little feedback - two things... 1) Somewhere in the black castle maze there is a teleport that actually brings you *outside* the map. I was a little confused at first, but then I realized where I was - standing on top of the ceiling of the maze. I haven't been able to find that exact teleporter as of yet, but if I do I'll let you know. 2) I wish there was a way to make those teleporters *invisible* instead of black (so you can see where you are teleporting into - it would make the movement more fluid). It's a little confusing in dark areas what is a teleporter and what is a dead-end... I love the bots! Thanks for this wonderful piece of work. Signing off (for now)

Great Work! Yes, I would be interested in a set - I'm curious of the cost... Bob DeCrescenzo

Hey Charles! Asteroids (Arcade) *did* only use buttons - you are correct. They were laid out like this: ---------------------------- (1)---(2)--------(3)---(4) ---------------------------- ------------(5)------------- 1 - Rotate Left 2 - Rotate Right 3 - Thrust 4 - Fire 5 - Hyperspace / Shields (Asteroids Deluxe) Bob P.S. - I am going to connect the wires using your schematic tonight - I know about connecting resistors in series, but did not know about the parallel connection - thanks for the lesson!

Thanks, man - I sent you an e-mail It's odd it didn't work - I've been getting other e-mails... Anyway, let me know if you didn't get it and I'll haveto figure something out... Thanks! Bob

Definately: Sinistar Gauntlet Gauntlet II Defender (or Stargate) Jr. Pac-Man Homebrews, Anyone? Bob

Would you accept one more, please? :)

Hey Charles! BTW - The carts work great! and so does the Paddle!!! Thanks so much for the help on this - I'll give pics as well once I'm finished... (I think I'm going to use a wico-type ball-top leaf switch joystick instead, though...) Bob

Hello: I am building a joystick similar to Voltman3's - but I need to know what resistor values will give me the center values of the pots used... Does anybody know this? For instance, the PC analog joystick needs approx. 50k resistor for center, and 100K for the opposite end (I know - the actual values are a little higher) Thanks in advance for your help! Bob DeCrescenzo

I'm dying of curiosity!!!

I think Grindle has the third dimention, it's just dark (and so is the background - look closely) BTW - I found Warren Robinett's e-mail, and I told him about this wonderful creation. I asked him to take a look, and I gave him the link to this thread. I hope he does! I would think you do him proud! (I would be if I had created Adventure!) Bob DeCrescenzo

I'm sorry - I was under the impression that you went I read on a thrread that he was a speaker there and talked about Adventure. Again, please forgive me, I mis-read an earlier post and I thought you had mentioned something about the show, so I ass/u/med that you went

I have to say - I am sooooo looking forward to this, that I've been checking every day to see the next thing you've accomplished. I've even downloaded the map, and QuArK - because I couldn't wait. It looks awesome! This is coming from someone who played Adventure (and still does ) all the time in the early 80s. I am especially interested in the full game - (not just the DM environment) But I know - that will take a while. I guess the point of this reply is to say everything looks great and keep up the excellent work! (BTW - Did you get a chance to tell Warren Robinett what you were doing when you were at the show? I'm sure he would be impressed!) Bob DeCrescenzo Now all we need is to create the Ms.Pac-Man maze with the Bots as the monsters! he he