Atari Pac-Man Prototype (1983)

[BillyHW]

So I've been playing quite a bit of the Atari Pac-Man Prototype ROM from 1983 that's out there on the internets.

 

Does anyone know if it was fixed up before the ROM was released to the community, or if it was released as it was found? Because it's really quite good as is. (Who found it and released it BTW?) Except for the screen being shifted a couple centimetres to the right (why?), and a couple of graphical glitches on the eyes of the ghosts, it's a complete game, ready for commercial sale.

 

With save states I managed to get to level 17 on the hardest difficulty setting and it has all three intermissions, though they are harder to reach than the arcade (after levels 2, 5 and 9 here). It plays great, if maybe a bit on the difficult side. The graphics are far superior to the Atari 5200 version, which seems like it's just a lazy port of the A8 version.

 

I realize that Atari based some of it's advertising on the argument that ColecoVision could only play Pac-Man via the 2600 expansion module, and that there was a feud because of the ADAM Donkey Kong port...but I can't fathom why this wasn't released commercially, especially after the bankruptcy and sale of Atari in 1984. Why would they bother investing in development and not get a return? It's a shame because it's a great port.

[Pixelboy]

I realize that Atari based some of it's advertising on the argument that ColecoVision could only play Pac-Man via the 2600 expansion module, and that there was a feud because of the ADAM Donkey Kong port...but I can't fathom why this wasn't released commercially, especially after the bankruptcy and sale of Atari in 1984. Why would they bother investing in development and not get a return? It's a shame because it's a great port.

 

You kinda answered your own question there, Billy.

 

Pac-Man prototype = AtariSoft.

 

You can't sell a game when your company no longer exists.

[Yurkie]

Your right it is a great game, but if you want even better. Click the link below for Opcode's Pac-Man Collection and buy it. It is arcade perfect other than the color of one ghost and that is due to the ColecoVision color pallet, not the programming

 

http://www.opcodegames.com/pacmancol_cv.htm

[BillyHW]

I realize that Atari based some of it's advertising on the argument that ColecoVision could only play Pac-Man via the 2600 expansion module, and that there was a feud because of the ADAM Donkey Kong port...but I can't fathom why this wasn't released commercially, especially after the bankruptcy and sale of Atari in 1984. Why would they bother investing in development and not get a return? It's a shame because it's a great port.

 

You kinda answered your own question there, Billy.

 

Pac-Man prototype = AtariSoft.

 

You can't sell a game when your company no longer exists.

 

Creditors usually want their money back. An asset like this could have been sold for something, at least.