Pac-Man unlimited lives?

[flammingcowz]

Here on Atari Age, under Pac-Man, there is instructions on how to get unlimited lives. I just wanted to know if it has worked for anyone else, because I have not been able to do it.

 

"Eat a ghost on maze 1, two ghosts on maze 2, three ghosts on maze 3, and four ghosts on maze 4. Then, press Up, Down, Up and intentionally lose a life."

[NE146]

Here on Atari Age, under Pac-Man, there is instructions on how to get unlimited lives.

 

 

That's not anywhere I know. Got a link?

[flammingcowz]

Heres the link

http://www.atariage.com/software_hints.htm...ftwareHintID=83

[brojamfootball]

I have heard that it does indeed work, but is VERY difficult to do correctly.

[Herbarius]

We had another thread about this, this hint seems to be a hoax (there's a lot of false or "half-true" trivia here on AtariAge, is there no one servicing that database? I noticed you can't submit anything anymore, but I think at some point you still could?)

 

Someone on that other thread noted that looking at the Pac-Man ROM there's no way the game could "remember" the number of ghosts you killed in the next round.

 

 

However, the other "cheat", the tunnel warp, seems to work, although the instructions given there don't make much sense. However, I did this inadvertently 2 times already, but can't reproduce it.

Edited July 19, 2009 by Herbarius

[Dauber]

I (unintentionally) did the tunnel warp several times in the past by going up and down really fast once inside the tunnel. Usually ended up costing me a life, too.

[brojamfootball]

We had another thread about this, this hint seems to be a hoax (there's a lot of false or "half-true" trivia here on AtariAge, is there no one servicing that database? I noticed you can't submit anything anymore, but I think at some point you still could?)

 

Someone on that other thread noted that looking at the Pac-Man ROM there's no way the game could "remember" the number of ghosts you killed in the next round.

 

 

However, the other "cheat", the tunnel warp, seems to work, although the instructions given there don't make much sense. However, I did this inadvertently 2 times already, but can't reproduce it.

I retract my previous statement(see above). I do now recall that statement Herbarius mentions that technically there's no way the ROM could 'remember' ghost deaths from round to round. Apologies.

[Nukey Shay]

$f53e -> $ea

$f53f -> $ea

 

That replaces the instruction that removes lives with NOP's (the 6502's "do nothing" instruction). Tho if you are playing on the Stella emulator, you could just have it force value #3 into ram location $98.

 

Cheetah codes use this format:

3 hex digits specifying the initial address to change. Since Cheetah only alters ROM, the first hex digit is ignored. $f53e becomes 53e

2 hex digits for the replacement byte value. NOPs are being used here to mask over the instruction...and NOP is opcode number $ea.

1 hex digit specifying if more than 1 consecutive address is being altered with that value (0=no). There's 2 bytes being changed here, so this is 1 (1 additional).

 

Thus, the code becomes...

Infinite lives for both players : 53eea1

 

 

Regarding the "tip"...it was a myth that has been completely debunked. As mentioned before, the game keeps no running track of how many ghosts you eliminate from board-to-board (not even from power pill to power pill). It also keeps no record of the directions you pushed the stick in (other than the most recent one).

Edited July 20, 2009 by Nukey Shay

[Nukey Shay]

BTW just how would the console know if you intentionally lost a life??

[Dauber]

There's a mod for that involving that headgear piece.

[monzamess]

Wouldn't unlimited lives in 2600 Pac-Man be considered a form of punishment?