Pac-Man Review from 1982

[Retro Rogue]

New blog post based on recent direct discussions with Frye to clear up a lot of the claims.

 

http://ataribook.com/book/what-are-the-real-facts-behind-pac-mans-development/

Edited September 27, 2015 by Retro Rogue

[Chris++]

Ms. Pac-Man wasn't a Namco release (the company wouldn't even acknowledge its place in the canon until one of the emulation anthologies came out many years later), so its associated terminology -- "ghosts," for instance -- doesn't really apply. They're called "monsters" on the Midway arcade instructions, which is why many players didn't see the term "ghosts" until it appeared in the VCS Pac-Man manual. Not terribly important stuff, I grant you, but I also wonder about the chronology behind Frye's claims that 8 KB wasn't an option. Surely Asteroids had bank-switching before then (to name one)?

 

Good article, though. Frye ultimately showed that he was a great programmer with enough time and kilobytes. Save Mary! is my favorite unreleased 2600 game.

[Retro Rogue]

but I also wonder about the chronology behind Frye's claims that 8 KB wasn't an option. Surely Asteroids had bank-switching before then (to name one)?

 

From the documentation we have the actual 8K board was first in development during Pac-Man's own development and became slated for 2600 Asteroids as the first upon completion because Brad wound up needing that much (luckily the timing was right). Both games were in development during the development of that board, and that would seem to fall in line with what Frye states. 8K wasn't an option at the time he started the project, and he never considered it an option during it's development. According to what he said in my interview, he didn't consider the ROM a major issue anyways compared to the RAM.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Retro Rogue

[Mr SQL]

Wasn't there a 6K board in-house that Video Chess initially was developed for with the first bank switching scheme?

 

I know they crunched it to 4K but I wonder how much better the logic could have been at 6K if they had put the board to mass production; Video Chess still impressive at 4K (about 1400 rating) and much better than Jennings 4K MicroChess (which only utilized 2K for the engine), though his 1K engine with no GUI was amazing.

[Chris++]

I just wonder if both of these guys are lying when they recall Frye "begging" for 8 KB:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmqzybUe9m4

 

(Shortly after 20:00)

 

 

Edited September 28, 2015 by Chris++

[Retro Rogue]

I just wonder if both of these guys are lying when they recall Frye "begging" for 8 KB:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmqzybUe9m4

 

(Shortly after 20:00)

 

 

 

That was addressed on Facebook by Tod, honestly it's just guys telling a good story they heard like they usually do at these things (and it's something we had to contend with a lot when doing interviews with people and they'd volunteer info about things they weren't directly involved with). Zdybel did it in Once Upon Atari as well. Tod was the only one directly involved with the project, he did not beg for 8K. Makes a good mental image either way though.

 

Racing the Beam didn't interview him on this particular stuff by the way (timeline, etc.) they just repeated stuff from another source.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Retro Rogue

[high voltage]

All this ranting made me pick up my Pac-Man game (I got 4 boxed copies) and give it a good playing. Yes, it still plays as awesome as way back.

[SoulBlazer]

Retro Rogue, on 28 Sept 2015 - 4:46 PM, said:

 

That was addressed on Facebook by Tod, honestly it's just guys telling a good story they heard like they usually do at these things (and it's something we had to contend with a lot when doing interviews with people and they'd volunteer info about things they weren't directly involved with). Zdybel did it in Once Upon Atari as well. Tod was the only one directly involved with the project, he did not beg for 8K. Makes a good mental image either way though.

 

Racing the Beam didn't interview him on this particular stuff by the way (timeline, etc.) they just repeated stuff from another source.

Speaking about Tod, it's not Pac-Man related, but there seems to be some confusion if he actually programmed Swordquest: Waterworld, as talked about in the recent episode of the Atari 2600 Game by Game podcast on that game. If you happen to speak to him again in the future, could you ask him if he programmed that, and if not, if he knows who did?

 

And on a related note, ask him what the hell happened with Fireworld. He's a better programmer then that! Yeesh, that game is bad.

[Opry99er]

I loved my 2600 PacMan back in the day. I knew it didn't move quite like the Arcade version and the sounds were different, but somehow that never mattered to me... It was a port, and therefore was unique and different... I played it quite a bit and never thought "This game sucks!!!".... it was 'my' Pac Man and I played for hours and hours.

 

Reading up on this thread caused me to plug in my PacMan 2600 and give it a whirl. I just did not remember anything "terrible" about the game....

 

It doesn't have fruit, the background color is a bit goofy, but I still don't see how anyone can call it a "bad game." Perhaps (in context) it does not match up to the Arcade version or the TI-99/4A version, but it is still a fine game and stands on its own merit. I have no problem saying "it is not as good as Ms. Pac Man," or "The Arcade was better," or even "The damn PacMan doesn't face up when going up or down when going down..."

 

Fact is, those are all true statements.

 

It is still a good game with a high replay value, and the ghost flicker isn't even a consideration for me. I'll likely play it again soon, just because the sounds and visuals bring back a flood of memories.

[Bill Loguidice]

It is still a good game with a high replay value, and the ghost flicker isn't even a consideration for me. I'll likely play it again soon, just because the sounds and visuals bring back a flood of memories.

 

It's all personal opinion, like the people who like and defend E.T., so of course it's not wrong of you to like VCS Pac-Man, but there really are a ton of things that are off about it that are not related to arcade authenticity, and we know that's not because of the hardware. To look at this another way, if it wasn't named Pac-Man and the sprite shapes were changed, I'm not sure many more people, if any, would consider it a particularly good maze game. In fact, it probably wouldn't be remembered much at all like many of the 2600's lesser third party games.

[high voltage]

But that's just it, for me, who never went to the arcades, Pac-Man could've had any other name. To me it was a good Atari game, like Donkey Kong was also a good Atari game.

 

Later, when I heard that it was an arcade port and should've been better (by then I've seen Pac-Man in some pub), I still thought sure, look at the arcade machine (huge) compared to the VCS console (small, made for home use), of course the arcade version looks better, but for home it was as good as it gets

 

(As it turns out, I was right: arcade = loads of processing power, one machine, one game, obviously cost 1000s of bucks or more to buy, home console = lot less power, plays multiple games, cheap for everyone to own, works on TV, entertainment for home, this and any other game will look less 'perfect', to me, it makes sense).

Edited September 29, 2015 by high voltage

[NE146]

That's what I thought too.. that it was the VCS, where we were all already used to "slimmed down" ports, and it was what it was. So even though I was very familiar with the arcade game as a kid, I took 2600 Pacman and figured that's the best the VCS could do and just lived with it and played it and had a good time.

 

... lol but then Ms. Pacman came out.

[Nukey Shay]

...which had double the romspace and did not require 2-player variations.

 

This is still the best original attempt (to date) in the latter respect. Had more time been put into it, the major gripes could have been addressed.