Jr Pac-Man fix?

[jetset]

Is there a fixed version of the Jr Pac-Man game anywhere? That damn power-pellet bug always seems to find a way to ruin a good run!

[0078265317]

Not familiar with that bug? What happens?

[jetset]

So if one of the floating prizes, like the bicycle, or the kite...collides with a power pellet at the same time a ghost kills you, the power pellet stays and can't be eaten. At that point the level you're currently on can't be finished, so all you can do at that point is start the game all over. It makes the game virtually unplayable. It sounds like a rare occurrence, but it's an inevitability if you're decent enough at the game to make it past the first few screens. It's still fun to play as a quick novelty, but the bug ruins any chance of playing for long. Shame too it's a great game.

 

 

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

Edited May 1, 2019 by jetset

[Tempest]

Bump.  Did anyone ever fix this bug?

[SoundGammon]

There's an 8-bit version too and I wonder if it has the same bug?

[Tempest]

41 minutes ago, SoundGammon said:

There's an 8-bit version too and I wonder if it has the same bug?

It does.

 

Maybe @Kr0tki can take a look at it?   1-24 is the 5200 rom and 7-10 is the 8-Bit rom.

Jr Pacman (1-24-84).bin Jr. Pac-man (7-10-84).rom

[+Cafeman]

NM, there is evidently a fixed version already.

 

 

[Kr0tki]

Methinks it would be a better idea to just port the 8-bit prototype to the 5200 instead. The 8-bit proto is full 6 months later in development, so besides the fixed power pellet bug it has some other improvements. The ones I've noticed:

* Ghost sprites added on the title screen,

* Improved sounds (the 5200 proto mostly reuses sound effects from Ms. Pac-Man).

Speaking of which @Tempest, the description of the 8-bit prototype on Atariprotos.com claims that the power pellet bug is present in that version. Could you fix that? Also, the game seems a good candidate to describe in the "5200 vs 400/800 Differences" section.

[Tempest]

24 minutes ago, Kr0tki said:

Methinks it would be a better idea to just port the 8-bit prototype to the 5200 instead. The 8-bit proto is full 6 months later in development, so besides the fixed power pellet bug it has some other improvements. The ones I've noticed:

* Ghost sprites added on the title screen,

* Improved sounds (the 5200 proto mostly reuses sound effects from Ms. Pac-Man).

Speaking of which @Tempest, the description of the 8-bit prototype on Atariprotos.com claims that the power pellet bug is present in that version. Could you fix that? Also, the game seems a good candidate to describe in the "5200 vs 400/800 Differences" section.

I thought it was still in the 8-Bit version?  Are you saying that it has been fixed?

 

I'll have to look at the 5200 vs 8-Bit version, I didn't think they were different.  

[Kr0tki]

Yes, it's been fixed.

 

More differences:

* The purpose of the ghosts being visible on the title screen in the 8-bit version is that it is possible to select the number of ghosts in-game with the Select key.

* In the 8-bit version the easy "bear" mode (selectable with Option) is unavailable.

[Tempest]

19 minutes ago, Kr0tki said:

Yes, it's been fixed.

 

More differences:

* The purpose of the ghosts being visible on the title screen in the 8-bit version is that it is possible to select the number of ghosts in-game with the Select key.

* In the 8-bit version the easy "bear" mode (selectable with Option) is unavailable.

Wow.  Very very interesting.  Thanks for taking a look at this for me.  Let me know if you see anything else, I'll have to do a thorough inspection tomorrow.

 

Since GCC didn't do 8-Bit development (only 5200), I'd bet there's a  5200 proto out there with these changes, we just haven't found it yet.  
 

How hard would it be to port the 8-bit version to the 5200?  Or at least fix the bug in the 5200 version?

[scotty]

There are several 8-bit versions out there...  Back in the 80s, I, like everyone had the Glenn the 5200 Man version, and the ghosts would hesitate every second or so.  The scrolling was not smooth at all.  Once you cleared more of the screen they got better.  Fast forward to modern times, and that version is still around, but there is another version, where they scroll normal.   Not sure if it is a later beta, or a hack someone did to fix the problem.  Not sure on the energizer bug, as I was not aware of it till reading this post.

 

UPDATE:   I am excessive compulsive, and would have trouble sleeping tonight if I did not find out, so long story short, I tried it, and the bug is fixed on the version with the smooth scrolling.  The Version above for dated 7-10 is the version I used.   Here is the Glenn 5200 man version where the ghost movement is jerky from way back when.  

 

UPDATE 2:  WITHOUT A DOUBT, The 5200 version is WAY harder than the 8-bit version.  I cleared the board no problem on the 8-bit version.  5200 version in THREE ATTEMPTS, I could not clear the screen, let alone test the energizer bug!!!!  Ghost AI in the 5200 version is similar to Baby Pac-Man in the arcade.  CRAZY!!!!!

 

UPDATE 3: FINALLY!!!  Confirmed bug exists in the 5200 version.

 

 

Jr. Pac-Man (1984)(Atari)(US)[h Glenn][unreleased][5200].xex

Edited October 21, 2023 by scotty

[Kr0tki]

Glenn's conversion seems to be identical to the 5200 prototype, except for the aforementioned issue with the ghosts stopping/starting every second on the 1st life, and for the fact that the power pellet bug has been fixed.

 

I don't think Glenn based his work on a different version of the 5200 prototype, but rather that he introduced both these changes when porting the 1-24 proto. Binary comparison of the 1-24 proto and Glenn's version shows that the two are mostly identical.

Edited October 21, 2023 by Kr0tki

[Tempest]

So there's still only one WIP version of the 5200 prototype that has the following differences from what is presumed to be the final 8-Bit version:

 

1. Has different sounds for most things, some are from Ms. Pac-Man (power pellet sound, ghost eaten sound, death sound, 'eyes' moving sound)

2. Doesn't let you select the number of ghosts

3. Has the teddy bear mode

4. The enemy AI is harder

5. Has the energizer bug

6. Title screen is a little different.  The LEVEL and PLAYER text are further apart because they don't need space for the ghost select.  Also the Y and V are filled in.

7. At Game Over the game doesn't go back to the title screen.  It will just sit at the Game Over text until you press a key.  The screen saver will eventually kick in too.  In the final version it goes back to the title screen almost immediately, it won't even wait for the screen to fully finish scrolling back to the center if you died on one of the far edges of the maze.

 

 

 

[NE146]

Wow I had no idea there were different version of the game with varying difficulty (bug notwithstanding). I'll have to check it out 

 

On that note.. speaking of difficulty another one that always bugged me was 5200 Super Pac-Man where the blue-time of the ghosts on all the versions I've tried was way shorter than it's supposed to be. Did anyone ever get around to hacking that to be fixed? I seem to remember someone doing it but my memory is getting pretty bad

[Tempest]

13 minutes ago, NE146 said:

Wow I had no idea there were different version of the game with varying difficulty (bug notwithstanding). I'll have to check it out 

 

On that note.. speaking of difficulty another one that always bugged me was 5200 Super Pac-Man where the blue-time of the ghosts on all the versions I've tried was way shorter than it's supposed to be. Did anyone ever get around to hacking that to be fixed? I seem to remember someone doing it but my memory is getting pretty bad

Yes there is.

Super Pac-Man (Fixed).bin

[+Cafeman]

Where does one find the A8 version of Pac-Man Jr that doesn't have the choppy ghost-halting movement?  The Glenn version is the only one I've ever seen. 

[scotty]

38 minutes ago, Cafeman said:

Where does one find the A8 version of Pac-Man Jr that doesn't have the choppy ghost-halting movement?  The Glenn version is the only one I've ever seen. 

Sixth post down on this thread.

 

[Tempest]

Found another bug in the 5200 proto.  I'm not sure how this happened but it was after the power pellet bug happened on the Teddy Bear level.  The red ghost monster somehow got trapped below the maze and wandered around there until I died.  Sometimes the Teddy Bear icon would turn into a brown ghost and sometimes he'd turn into a white bar.  I'm not 100% sure if this is a legit glitch or an emulator issue but it was cool to see.

 

[Tempest]

So I looked through some documents I have and the 2/28 prototype should be the final version.  No further work was done after this point.  For some reason I had the 2/28 prototype listed as being the same as the 1/24 prototype but that doesn't make sense.  I must have made a mistake.  Does anyone have a rom for the 2/28 version?  There are at least three copies out there, but I don't know who owns them.

 

Just to be 100% certain, can someone confirm that the intermissions are NOT in the completed 8-Bit version?  I played up to the balloon level and didn't see them, but maybe I just didn't go far enough?  This game is HARD!

[cx2k]

19 hours ago, Tempest said:

So I looked through some documents I have and the 2/28 prototype should be the final version.  No further work was done after this point.  For some reason I had the 2/28 prototype listed as being the same as the 1/24 prototype but that doesn't make sense.  I must have made a mistake.  Does anyone have a rom for the 2/28 version?  There are at least three copies out there, but I don't know who owns them.

 

Just to be 100% certain, can someone confirm that the intermissions are NOT in the completed 8-Bit version?  I played up to the balloon level and didn't see them, but maybe I just didn't go far enough?  This game is HARD!

Jr. Pac (arcade) has intermission screen after the first level so doubtful they're in there if you didn't see them.

 

[Tempest]

58 minutes ago, cx2k said:

Jr. Pac (arcade) has intermission screen after the first level so doubtful they're in there if you didn't see them.

 

Ah thanks for that.  I assumed I got far enough.  I wonder if they were planned or if they knew they couldn't fit them in?  Is there any free space in the rom?

[Kr0tki]

About 1500 bytes free. For comparison, the difference between the original Pac-Man and the prototype with intermissions is ca. 5200 bytes.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Kr0tki

[Tempest]

4 hours ago, Kr0tki said:

About 1500 bytes free. For comparison, the difference between the original Pac-Man and the prototype with intermissions is ca. 5200 bytes.

So it sounds like intermissions were not planned.  Thanks for checking on that.

[Kr0tki]

Well, if we consider that Atari were prototyping their first bank-switched cartridge around that time... Who knows what the final version would look like if not for the Tramiels.