Calling all Pac Man versions

[ACML]

I've been in the Atari 8-bit scene since 1981 and have found a few versions of Pac Man out there, but I'm wondering if I've seen them all.

 

Pacman (ATARI).XEX The original cartridge version.

Pacman (Fast with Intro ATARI).xex Has the introduction and the Pac Man goes about 20% faster than stock.

Pacman (Freeze ATARI).XEX In this one the ghosts freeze when you hit the power ups.

Pacman (Intermission ATARI).XEX Pretty much stock, but with intro and intermissions.

Pacman (Throttle).xex This one speeds up the Pac Man when you press the joystick fire button.

Pacman Arcade (2014).xex This is the arcade version not based on the Atari 1982 version

[atx4us]

Nice collection! Pac-Man was the reason I bought my Atari 800 in 1982 Somehow I remember there was a version that was a hack from Ms. Pac-Man.

[tjlazer]

Thanks for posting them all in one thread!

[Warhawk]

I have at least a couple different versions of Pac Man. Still trying to wrap my head around the differences between them.

 

I have an Atari 800 with floppy disc drive. My dad worked at Atari in the 80's and brought home a hunch of discs copied from guys at work. Lots of them boot into a menu that lists the games available to play on that particular disc. I found one today that lists "Big Pac Man" I gave it a try and it's definitely different than the cartridge version. Some differences I've noticed:

 

1. There is an intro screen that lists the ghosts names

2. The dots are red

3. The ghosts freeze when you hit the power pellet (instead of running away like in the cart version)

4. The ghosts like to guard the entrances to the tunnel, which I haven't seen in the cart version

5. There are cut scenes between some levels.

 

Anyone familiar with this version? I noticed one of the other games on the floppy says 5200 version, so I'm wondering if this pac man is the 5200 version, or some other port.

[SS]

Anyone familiar with this version? I noticed one of the other games on the floppy says 5200 version, so I'm wondering if this pac man is the 5200 version, or some other port.

 

I am going to guess that it is not the 5200 version but instead one of the prototype versions that Atari produced. One of these was an all but completed version with cut-scenes and all and was later released on floppy disk in 1985 by Datasoft. I have seen this prototype mis-labeled as the 5200 version a number of times.

 

Here's how you can easily identify the difference between A8 and 5200 Pac-Man versions : Blinky's movement pattern and speed at the beginning of the game is completely different on the 5200 than it is on all of the A8 versions that I have run across. If you move Pac-Man to the left and then head down to the bottom right corner of the board at the beginning of the game, watch Blinky to see what I mean. Blinky will always be the first ghost to find you in the corner but his way to get there differs. In the A8 games, Blinky will head to the top of the maze and then head down the right hand corridor but will take a left to travel past the "home" box before heading to the bottom corner. In the 5200 version he will also head to the top of the maze but then will not detour towards home on his way down but will instead go straight down the corridor and end up in the bottom right corner. He moves slightly faster in the 5200 version as well.

 

I got a little obsessive about this A8/5200 Pac-Man idea last summer. I looked all over but was unable to find a 5200-to-A8 conversion of Pac-Man ANYWHERE, only misidentified prototype versions. I am reasonably convinced that Pac-Man never did get a conversion back in the day (or at least that it was never really publicly shared) and that enough people had the mis-labeled prototype to make this fact easily overlooked.

 

Luckily, tep392 swooped in and made the 5200 conversion himself. He did a straight conversion version as well as one that fixes a few bugs that were present in the original 5200 release. I am attaching his conversions to this post.

Pac-Man 5200 conversions (tep392).zip

[tep392]

 

Luckily, tep392 swooped in and made the 5200 conversion himself. He did a straight conversion version as well as one that fixes a few bugs that were present in the original 5200 release. I am attaching his conversions to this post.

My memory is really getting bad. I totally forgot about that conversion.

[zzip]

I remember seeing an 8-bit version BITD where the maze was green instead of blue, and it had the sound effects from the 2600 Pac Man. Did I dream this version?