Best VCS Pac-Man Variant

[VectorGamer]

Which is your favorite Pac-Man variant on the VCS?

 

It's easy for me to decide which isn't my favorite and that's that horrible excuse for an arcade port Pac-Man. Everything sucks about that game: maze, audio effects, Pac-Man, flickering ghosts...

 

For me Ms. Pac-Man edges out Jr. Pac-Man. I think Ms. Pac has a proper level of difficulty whereas Jr. Pac is relentless from the onset. Jr. Pac still has replay value despite being so difficult because it's a challenge just to get to the second screen. I'd like to see a video of someone scoring at least 100K on Jr. Pac.

 

Pac-Man Arcade I play a lot as well and I'm sure I would have loved it if that were the version released in 1982.

 

I don't have Pac-Man 4K so I can't comment on that. If you have Pac-Man 4K, I'd like to hear how that compares to Pac-Man Arcade.

 

 

[Big Player]

Nukey Shay's Hack'em! beats all of the above.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Definitely agree with Hack'em!

[almightytodd]

Another vote for Hack' em...

[copper20]

Either Ms. Pac Man or Jr. Pac Man.

 

The original Pac Man was such a huge scrap pile on the 2600.

[+TrekMD]

My vote went to Pac-Man 4K. When you consider that the game was written within the same memory limitation of the original port, it goes to show just how amazing it is. Nukey Shay's Hack'em, which isn't on the list, is fantastic as well because it is more complete. Ms. Pac-Man was Atari's vindication from the disaster that was their original Pac-Man port. Between Pac-Man Arcade and Pac-Man 4K, my choice goes to Pac-Man 4K.

[BrianC]

Poll is missing Pac-Man Arcade Enhanced (updated Pac-Man Arcade with intermissions), Ms. Hack, and Hack 'em, though Jr. Pac-Man is still my favorite Pac-Man for the system. There's also that well done 8k hack of the original Pac-Man (not my vote for best, but definitely an impressive hack).

Edited September 5, 2013 by BrianC

[Impaler_26]

Ebivision Pac-Man is also missing in the poll.

[Tin_Lunchbox]

I voted for Ms. Pac-Man, and I see most others did too. It's just so darn good. But as well to me just generally and without regard to any port "Ms. Pac-Man" is a more interesting game than original "Pac-Man." It has the fruit floating around and more personality and I think the mazes are better. Pac-Man Junior with scrolling mazes and this and that on the other hand had more stuff, but overshot the Ms. Pac-Man sweetspot in my opinion.

 

I'm not knocking the others. In fact it should be said that the 4k ones are laboring under an handicap compared to Ms. Pac-Man at 8k.

 

I had a look at Ebivision Pac-Man on online video, and wow that is interesting. Is that made-from-scratch, or adapted from Pesco (which is made-from-scratch, right?) at any rate it looks good though a bit plodding in the movement and gunshot in the sounds.

[+Gemintronic]

My impression is that Pesco started as an improved Pac Man but backed down due to fear of lawsuit. This actually spurred other homebrewers to make/hack their own better version of Pac Man.

[Impaler_26]

I had a look at Ebivision Pac-Man on online video, and wow that is interesting. Is that made-from-scratch, or adapted from Pesco (which is made-from-scratch, right?) at any rate it looks good though a bit plodding in the movement and gunshot in the sounds.

 

Actually it's the other way around - Ebivision Pac-Man is the original game made from scratch and Pesco is an adaption of it. IIRC they changed the theme of the game and reduced the enemies to 3 due to fear of a lawsuit (as theloon already said).

 

That's too bad because Pesco is just a decent Pac-Man clone as it is - would be much more fun with 4 enemies and a few different mazes.

[+FujiSkunk]

My money's on Hack 'Em, though it really could use some better intermission music. I have screenshot galleries of almost all of the different 2600 flavors here. I don't have Ebivision's version, and I decided not to have separate entries for Pac-Man Arcade and Pac-Man Arcade Enhanced, but everything else is present and accounted for.

[Brian R.]

I appreciate what was done with PacMan 4k and get the idea of working within the same memory limitation. But having bought PacMan Arcade before, I'm reluctant to buy another version of PacMan like this - I'd be more interested in a version lifting the self-imposed memory limitation and making the absolute best game possible. That I'd buy.

 

But when it comes to playing PacMan on an Atari system, I always go back to the 5200/8 bit game. I absolutely love it. The look, the feel, the play - it's polished and smooth. I remember playing it on my 600XL back in the day, and I still go back to it. I play it more than any other 8 bit or 5200 game still.

[oky2000]

I voted for the big lairy yellow boxed original! Why?

 

Because I don't like the scrolling on Jr Pac Man and Ms Pac-Man didn't do much for me at the time so out of those three the nostalgia factor being a huge part of enjoying playing on my VCS I plumped for the iconic original (you may not like it, you may call it infamous but to me it is iconic )

 

The hacks are nice sure but in this day and age I have many many ways to play Pac-Man (emulated or converted) so just like if there was a better version of Gauntlet made for the Amiga I would still play it via Mame or on the Sega 16 bit because it won't beat either.

 

Of course other people are voting the newer versions for different reasons and that's cool too

[Brian R.]

Me and my family played the heck out of the original 2600 PacMan back in the day. Initially we didn't know or care that it wasn't exactly like the arcade game. I don't think we did until we saw Ms Pac on the 2600. It was more so with Colecovision Donkey Kong vs 2600 DK that we started taking notice.

 

Ms. Pac is very good, but there's something about the way she moves through the maze that sometimes feels off - like she's gliding, and as a result you sometimes miss a turn.

 

But I remember being mesmerized simply by Ms. Pac's intro screen - that it even had one!

[Vega-Starscream]

I voted for Ms Pac-man, Pac-Man's hacks are great but I prefer a game with multiple mazes and Ms Pac-man is well balanced for me in term of difficulties compared to Jr Pac-Man

 

But when it comes to playing PacMan on an Atari system, I always go back to the 5200/8 bit game. I absolutely love it. The look, the feel, the play - it's polished and smooth. I remember playing it on my 600XL back in the day, and I still go back to it. I play it more than any other 8 bit or 5200 game still.

 

Totally agreed on every word, I just love this version, I have the 8 bit version that I play on my 600XL and its always a blast to play, off all versions of Pac-Man, included Arcade, that's the version that I prefer.

 

As for the Original 2600 version of Pac-Man, even if its been quite criticized, is still a fun game to play in its onw rights

Edited September 5, 2013 by Vega-Starscream

[BrianC]

I'm surprised at the lack of mention of Ms. Hack. It's basically Hack 'Em hacked into Ms. Pac-Man. It has the intermissions and mazes from the arcade Ms. Pac-Man.

Edited September 6, 2013 by BrianC

[+save2600]

Okay, finally catching up and really starting to get into Hack 'Em and Pac-Man4K... absolutely love both and both are incredible for what they are, but I have an observation and a question:

 

In both versions (Hack 'Em is more obvious), when Pac is traveling horizontally, he really zips along a lot faster than when he's traveling vertically. And yes, I'm talking about regular mode gameplay. Anyone else notice this? Is this a unique 2600 limitation of sorts or can the speed difference be equalized so he travels *slower* when running horizontally?

 

Oh and out of the poll, I'd vote Pac-Man 4K, but if Hack 'Em were on there... hats off to Nukey for sheer variety and minimal flicker!

[Brian R.]

In the videos I've seen of Hack 'Em, it seems the sound and video are out of sync. The video is ahead of the audio, or vice versa. It's hard to get an idea what the game is like.

 

I just got Pac4K and am getting into it. I have to say it has a better look and feel than PacMan Arcade.

 

It took me a while to top 20k in points, and when I did I got to just over 30k - once. I like the difficulty, maybe more like the arcade. While I really like 8bit/5200 PacMan, I can play a long time on those because they seem too easy. The difficulty in 4K seems about right - a challenge, but not as bad as Junior, which is just downright mean.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Brian R.

[DemonoidTentacle]

4K got my vote. Followed by Arcade.

[BrianC]

I wish there was a 2600 Ms. Pac-Man using the 7800 sounds. That version doesn't have a special chip, yet has better sounds than the 2600 versions. GCC really pulled off the sound in the 2600 Jr. Pac-Man, though. It actually sounds better than the final Atari 800 version, despite the 800 version using a better sound chip.

[WildBillTX]

I would have voted for Hack 'Em, so 4K gets my vote, though I think its unfinished. Ms Pac Man is nice, great mazes, but it's too easy.

Edited September 22, 2013 by WildBillTX

[high voltage]

Pac-Man

I never went to arcades, first time I played Pac-Man was at a friends house, I was fascinated, I couldn't stop playing. Mind you I didn't even know you could use the power pallets to 'eat' the ghosts, only found this out later....

To me Pac-Man is great.

Later I got a VCS system myself with 4 games, which included Ms. Pac-Man, I loved that too, and hey the graphics and game play improved, but I put this down to the difference, let's say Video Olympics vs RS Tennis, in better programming techniques over the years.

[NinjaWarrior]

Where can I download Pac-Man Arcade Enhanced?

[NE146]

My vote for the original stuff goes to Ms. Pacman for sure. It was THE game that renewed my faith in my VCS.. I'll never forget seeing it in the store, having my doubts but having my mom buy it anyway, then popping it in and being completely overwhelmed by the awesomeness. It brought me hours upon hours of playing time as a kid. Pacman Arcade of course is a hack of Ms. Pac so it gets my vote too.. especially since I remember when it was done by Rob back in the late 90's

 

Of course today, Nukeys stuff from the original VCS Pac, and Hack-Em, and all his other works just completely rewrote the entire book on the matter.

 

But when it comes to playing PacMan on an Atari system, I always go back to the 5200/8 bit game. I absolutely love it. The look, the feel, the play - it's polished and smooth. I remember playing it on my 600XL back in the day, and I still go back to it. I play it more than any other 8 bit or 5200 game still.

As someone who had the 5200 at launch with Pacman.. out of curiosity did the one you play on the 600xl have the "correct" waka waka sound effect? To me the crappy sound effects of the dot-eating on the 5200 version was ALWAYS the thing that made it feel so off. And when the internet came around and I found Atari 8-bit computer versions that had the proper sound in there it kind of made me pissed we got shafted on the 5200 version.