Pac-man Update for Atari 8-bit

[tep392]

Hi All. Here's a version of Pac-man I've been working on. It's not complete yet, but it's far enough along to let people try out and get feedback. It's built off of Ms. Pacman but heavily modified. I've updated the monster logic and speeds to be a close to the arcade version as possible. I've upgraded the fruit sprites a bit to have two colors. I've also added PAL speed tables so that the characters will move at the same speed on NTSC and PAL machines. There are still a few things I need to work on.

- The menu screen is going to be completely changed to look like the arcade version with animations.
- I'm adding high score saving that will work with the Atarimax flash cart.
- The colors need some tweaking.

The file is a 16k bin that should be loaded into your emulator of choice as a standard Atari 16k cart.
Let me know what you think.

Tep392

 

edit: 28-Sept-2014

 

Here are the final shipping versions. The .bin is the full version and can be flashed to a 1mbit Atarimax maxflash cart.

I also have official carts available for $30 plus shipping. PM me if interested.

PacManArcadeFinalV2.0.rom

 

 

PacmanFinal.xex

[Rybags]

Pretty good. Someone did the start music using triangle waves and it sounds almost exactly like the arcade, it'd go nicely with this.

[FULS]

Very Good!

Please continue on the project!

Thanks for sharing with us.

Pac-man is one of the few games my wife will play.

 

Thanks for posting!!

[Bryan]

I re-did the music, and I don't know the source for it is. I've got a bunch of old backups and I keep hoping it'll turn up.

 

I remember that I figured out how to align three voices to make the triangle louder than the usual method.

Pokeytune.mp3

[tep392]

I re-did the music, and I don't know the source for it is. I've got a bunch of old backups and I keep hoping it'll turn up.

 

I remember that I figured out how to align three voices to make the triangle louder than the usual method.

 

I've played around with the triangle thing but never got it to sound right. I remember hearing your sample and it sounds great, I just havn't been able to recreate it. Please let me know if you ever find the source code.

[Bryan]

Will do. I began converting all the original Z80 arcade code to 6502 to create a better port, but life keeps getting in the way of my A8 projects.

 

I also did these other sound effect tests (first sound is arcade, then pokey):

munchtest.mp3

pacdie.mp3

[snicklin]

This is a very good update to Pac-man. I've enjoyed playing this. Just be careful of Atari's nasty legal team, make yourself as anonymous as you can be and remove your location off here.

[Heaven/TQA]

Re IP should be NamcoBandai...

 

@Brian... another unfinished project? shame on you...

[Rybags]

Whatever rights Atari had... probably long expired.

 

Then again, there's always the possibility they had perpetual home system rights but you'd expect if that's the case the modern-day Atari would still be milking it.

 

The easy way around this - release such things as a patcher/builder, ie the user supplies the original image and the program just performs the modifications.

[+Philsan]

Excellent!

 

It would be nice to have a .xex or .atr version too.

If possible, leave the chance to start pressing fire button like Ms. Pac-Man.

[snicklin]

Well, Atari / Namco / Bandai, whoever has it, just be careful!

 

I agree with Philsan, it'd be nice to have the fire button starting the game.

 

Funnily enough, I saw the British Pac-man champion the other week, his name is John Stoodley. Watching him play Pac-man over his shoulder was quite an education.

[+MrFish]

Nice job so far. It's good to see a version in this style, after all the years of Atari Pac-Man (which I love btw).

 

Here's a suggestion you might consider for making the ghosts and Pac-Man look a little more rounded:

 

Normal

 

 

Edited

 

 

It just involves shaving 2 pixels off each character.

Edited November 27, 2011 by MrFish

[mimo]

looking good.

Can any of the stuff pac man plus did for the 7800 be re-used? I would love to see a Pac Man Collection Cart with High Score saving on the XL/XE

[+therealbountybob]

ooh

Excellent!

 

It would be nice to have a .xex or .atr version too.

If possible, leave the chance to start pressing fire button like Ms. Pac-Man.

sure would, then I could play

 

Having games with speed adjusted for PAL is an excellent idea; especially for the High Score Club to make things more even

 

also pressing fire to start, saves us people with an Atari under the main TV from having to get up

 

What about a version with some new or extra boards too - were there any boards on other formats / the arcade ver ?

 

p.s. We played Ms.P at the start of the season, Marius added pause and the fire button, plus disabled the attract mode on the title screen, details here.

Edited November 27, 2011 by therealbountybob

[tep392]

Here's an xex to try out. There were a couple tricks Atari through in for copy protection, but I've found those so now it can run out of RAM.

pacman.xex

[tep392]

Nice job so far. It's good to see a version in this style, after all the years of Atari Pac-Man (which I love btw).

 

Here's a suggestion you might consider for making the ghosts and Pac-Man look a little more rounded:

 

Normal

 

 

Edited

 

 

It just involves shaving 2 pixels off each character.

 

Thanks! I'll try those out on the CRT to see out they look.

[tep392]

Excellent!

 

It would be nice to have a .xex or .atr version too.

If possible, leave the chance to start pressing fire button like Ms. Pac-Man.

 

I'll put the "start with firebutton" feature on my todo list. Thanks for the suggestion.

[tep392]

looking good.

Can any of the stuff pac man plus did for the 7800 be re-used? I would love to see a Pac Man Collection Cart with High Score saving on the XL/XE

 

I'm planning to add high score save using the Atarimax flash cart, but it will only be the high score. No initials. My vision for this is for it to replicate the look and feel of the arcade original, which did not allow entering ones initials, as far as I can tell. The other mazes and game versions are not in the plans either. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[+MrFish]

Nice job so far. It's good to see a version in this style, after all the years of Atari Pac-Man (which I love btw).

 

Here's a suggestion you might consider for making the ghosts and Pac-Man look a little more rounded:

 

Normal

 

 

Edited

 

 

It just involves shaving 2 pixels off each character.

 

Thanks! I'll try those out on the CRT to see out they look.

 

Cool... Meanwhile, here are a couple of possibilities for the Pac-Man chomp animation frames using this style:

 

 

Edited November 29, 2011 by MrFish

[José Pereira]

Nice job so far. It's good to see a version in this style, after all the years of Atari Pac-Man (which I love btw).

 

Here's a suggestion you might consider for making the ghosts and Pac-Man look a little more rounded:

 

Normal

 

 

Edited

 

 

It just involves shaving 2 pixels off each character.

 

Thanks! I'll try those out on the CRT to see out they look.

 

Cool... Meanwhile, here are a couple of possibilities for the Pac-Man chomp animation frames using this style:

 

 

Is he kissing or eating the ghosts?

[+MrFish]

In the first case "kissing":

 

 

 

In the second case "eating":

 

 

 

[+MrFish]

Left out a frame in the first two examples I posted.

 

 

[Shannon]

Very nice! Just did a quick test on an emulator.. just need to grab myself a pair of headphones.

Edited November 30, 2011 by Shannon

[Goochman]

Left out a frame in the first two examples I posted.

 

 

 

I like the first one - the second ones mouth is a bit too big.

[firestorm]

I love this Pac-Man,finally after 30 years we will get arcade like version.

I was playing it on Atari 800 PAL and noticed problem with cut scenes animations, sometimes big pac-man sprite while chasing the ghost was not completed(missing uper or lower part of "jaw"). In "bear" level ghosts are not moving smoothly.