Ms. Pac-man

[RCorcoran]

Nukey Shay:

 

Sorry, I missed the original point of this thread, and I apologise to you and everyone else for getting off-topic.

 

To answer your question, no. You cannot take a behaviour set from Arcade Ms. Pacman to VCS Ms. Pacman. They are two completely different games. You can apply some of the methodologies from the Arcade version to the home version, in that you manipulate the ghosts (to a degree) and you clear the boards in a quadrant fashion. However, the behavioural AI in the two games are not close enough to draw a direct parallel.

 

Does that address the question or did I make it worse?

[PacManPlus]

Ron:

 

Gotcha - thanks for taking my misunderstanding as just that - a misunderstanding

 

Maybe I can submit my game to Twin Galaxies (if I start playing again) :-/ I was lucky enough to win Silver in the MARP Ms. Pac-Man tournament two years ago... (Fast, 1 life, no bonus lives, around 400K)

 

oops - got off track of the topic again, sorry

[NE146]

a.  Actually, yes, you can execute patterns in Arcade Ms. Pacman.  Chris Ayra, the current Ms. Pacman WR holder and Victor Kunisada, the current Turbo Ms. Pacman WR holder both use patterns as well as behaviours in their gameplay.  While I'm not a 900k level player, I am in the 600k (Turbo) and 489k (Normal) range and can state that you do execute a pattern (with variation due to ghost behaviour) in Ms. Pacman Arcade.

 

So what you're saying is there ARE patterns for MsPacman but the variation is dependent upon how the Red/Pink ghosts react?

 

If so, I would definitely like to see at least ONE variation depending on the red/pink ghost behaviour that you have. Maybe on the cherry level, where it'd be easy to test out (i.e. in Mame start a level each time until the desired red/pink ghost behaviour occurs).

 

I know of some real basic patterns like the one below that allows you to pass through the blue ghost on the 2nd board. But even that sometimes fails because the Red Ghost occasionally interferes (very rarely though).

 

If there is a doable pattern for a majority of the 1st wave of MsPacman (even if it's one variation of many). I would love to see it proven!

 

oh as an aside.. I am at most a 300k turbo mspac player. At a regular msPac.. I don't recall ever scoring over 150k

 

[NE146]

While what he does may not be considered a "pattern" from a purist prespective, it is, to an extent, pattern-like behaviour that he executes to manipulate the ghosts and force them to move in a fashion that he desires. In other words, Victor moves in precisely the same way to produce the desired result, ergo a pattern (loosly translated).  Granted, he cannot run a defineable "path" each and every board, as you can in Pacman, as the ghosts do move with their own behaviour logic. You can, however, manipulate them into a set behaviour and then exploit that, as he does consistantly.

 

AHA!! Sorry I typed the above post without reading this. THERE is the breakdown in communication right there.

 

I guess we have to be careful when using the term "Pattern". Most of us refer to pattern as precisely that, an EXACT duplication and definable path on a particular board where the ghosts react in exactly the same way.

 

What you're describing is manipulating the ghosts behaviour and anticipating their tendencies in ways that become 2nd nature after playing the machine a couple of countless hours. i.e. "grouping" and whatever else you might call it. Any super experienced Pacman/MsPac player has some sort of intuition of ghosts personalities and movements (or respective A.I) and how they'll react if you face or head in a certain direction vs. another. But what I've been talking about is Patterns in the purest form of the Pacman sense

 

But that was a good explanation. I see where you're coming from now Ron But maybe we shouldn't use the term "pattern"? What do you think.

[KAZ]

Consider this...

 

I'm pretty good at Pac-Man, and know little secrets to stay alive.

 

In Ms. Pac-Man on fast mode in the arcade, I can easily make it to the point where the power pellet no longer function.

 

 

I am best at escaping the pink ghost.

 

In Pac-Man, if you are in the lower right hand/or left corner of the screen...and the Pink Ghost is travelling right towards you...you do not have to worry about it killing you.

 

It was ALWAYS travel up the tunnel towards the power pellet, if you give it room to do so. It is programmed to always seek a spot where it thinks Pac-Man is going to travel to.

 

2600 Ms. Pacman is awesome tho, I just love this game!

 

Those scanlines on the left side are plain sexy, IMHO.

 

j/k, it is hard core fun.

[KAZ]

Oh my god!! I never never never knew that trick on the 2nd stage of Ms. Pac-man...!!

 

It totally works, I just tried it. You go straight through that blue ghost, that is unbelievably cool!!

 

Thanks!