Pac-Man Collection - 40th Anniversary Edition

[Silver Back]

Thank you @CPUWIZ and @tep392 I was very curious how to get the XM enhanced audio from the manual. When I get a 7800 game drive (hopefully next batch) I'm definitely doing this!

[Jason aka Superjay]

10-07-23 Saturday

 

The various game line-up for most of these various Pac-Man collections (from the Atari 7800 to the GameBoy Advance/SP, PSP, Playstation, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch, etc....) all look solid however I do have a question for ALL the makers of these Pac-Man compilations: Why isn't JR. PACMAN ever included in any of these collections? JR. PACMAN is such a decent, well constructed, fun, yet very challenging game for Atari 2600, it truly stands in its own and is quite difficult to master in my opinion and should be getting recognized for its authenticity and easy playability as it has some very interesting mazes making you want to conquer this challenging game! So, to all the makers for future Pac-Man/Namco Museum Compilations: PLEASE START INCLUDING JR. PAC-MAN!!!! I suspect there must be some copyright issues or something prohibiting this missed gem of a game for the Atari 2600 must have something tagged to it prohibiting it from being included in compilations as such. Perhaps it is not owned/copyrighted by Namco or perhaps there are laws prohibiting it from ever being reissued by its original creator or current owner! Hopefully I am wrong as JR. PAC-MAN is definitely one of the best games to bless the Atari 2600 and should have been made for the Atari 5200/7800 by now as well, even as a prototype! Check it out people, please don't sleep on JR. PACMAN for the Atari 2600 because once you play it, you will find yourself replaying it over and over and over then asking yourself: Why hasn't it been included in such Pac-Man/Namco Museum compilations after all these years? Jr. Pac-Man surely deserves to be included In the next compilation I believe on whatever platform(s)!!!

 

Jason aka Superjay

[+groundtrooper]

I think you are barking up the wrong tree.

 

Chances are slim that another Pac-Man Compilation will ever be offered for the 2600,5200, or 7800 via Atari Age since it was purchased by Atari SA unless a license deal is obtained. 

[PacManPlus]

16 hours ago, Jason aka Superjay said:

...it truly stands in its own...

There's your reason right there.

 

Actually, I can only speak for myself as the reason I didn't include it is because internally it's quite different than the other Pac-Man variations (Pac, Ms. Pac, Hangly, Plus, Puck, etc.) as those are all just slight AI rule changes with additional mazes.  Jr. (and Super) are different enough internally (believe it or not, the scrolling mazes are enough, as are Super's 'keys') to have to have it's own release.

 

Thank you,

Bob

[JagChris]

4 hours ago, PacManPlus said:

There's your reason right there.

 

Actually, I can only speak for myself as the reason I didn't include it is because internally it's quite different than the other Pac-Man variations (Pac, Ms. Pac, Hangly, Plus, Puck, etc.) as those are all just slight AI rule changes with additional mazes.  Jr. (and Super) are different enough internally (believe it or not, the scrolling mazes are enough, as are Super's 'keys') to have to have it's own release.

 

Thank you,

Bob

Dude you are amazing. Absolutely @#$%&&% incredible. I am not a big Pac Man fan but everything else you have done is just wow. 

 

Even the Pac Man stuff is incredible.

[PacManPlus]

Thank you for the kind words - they are very much appreciated  

[Zonie]

On 5/15/2023 at 12:10 PM, tep392 said:

I think this is currently the only way to get Yamaha sound using the Cartridge.  The other option is running the A78 file on a Dragonfly or the upcoming 7800GD. I'm still hoping someone will develop a passthrough device someday.

 

So any update on the XM? There was talk after Curt's sad passing that it may be resurrected by some of the other folks on the project team.

[tep392]

7 hours ago, Zonie said:

So any update on the XM? There was talk after Curt's sad passing that it may be resurrected by some of the other folks on the project team.

At this point, I think it is unlikely, as there are quite a few roadblocks.  Not the least of which is how are the XM's owed to the people that pre-ordered them going to get completed without additional funding?  All the pre-order money went toward the cost of the XM shells, name plates, and some, but not all of the  electronic components.  There are other major roadblocks I can think of, but I don't see the point in discussing it.  The XM is history.  All that remains of it is it's virtual implementation in the a7800 emulator.

[+MrZarniwoop]

3 hours ago, tep392 said:

The XM is history.  All that remains of it is it's virtual implementation in the a7800 emulator.

And also the bits of it that matter to released homebrews with Concerto (POKEY) and CEM (HSC), Dragonfly (POKEY/YAMAHA) and 7800 GameDrive (HSC, POKEY/YAMAHA).

[Zonie]

22 hours ago, tep392 said:

At this point, I think it is unlikely, as there are quite a few roadblocks.  Not the least of which is how are the XM's owed to the people that pre-ordered them going to get completed without additional funding?  All the pre-order money went toward the cost of the XM shells, name plates, and some, but not all of the  electronic components.  There are other major roadblocks I can think of, but I don't see the point in discussing it.  The XM is history.  All that remains of it is it's virtual implementation in the a7800 emulator.

Yeah, for sure. I'd expect to pay additional if they were to come out.
So, who has the shells? Can I get the one I paid $100 for? I'm sure glad I had the things I ordered with the XM shipped separately about a year after I asked for it.
Serious question. I could think of a couple of things to use it for, mainly to cover the sad condition of my 7800. 🫤

18 hours ago, MrZarniwoop said:

And also the bits of it that matter to released homebrews with Concerto (POKEY) and CEM (HSC), Dragonfly (POKEY/YAMAHA) and 7800 GameDrive (HSC, POKEY/YAMAHA).

Yeah, I have a Concerto and put a Pokey in it, but the 7800 GD is looking good.

[edweird13]

I wrote my money for the XM off a long time ago.

[Bakasama]

18 hours ago, MrZarniwoop said:

And also the bits of it that matter to released homebrews with Concerto (POKEY) and CEM (HSC), Dragonfly (POKEY/YAMAHA) and 7800 GameDrive (HSC, POKEY/YAMAHA).

Didn’t the XM come with more RAM and mappers too?

[+Karl G]

I'm not a mod, but I'm thinking that XM discussion should be moved to a separate topic so as not to clutter up this one? 

[+MrZarniwoop]

2 hours ago, Bakasama said:

Didn’t the XM come with more RAM and mappers too?

I don't believe any games were released that used anything beyond HSC/POKEY/YAMAHA, like Pac-Man Collection - 40th Anniversary Edition using the HSC and YAMAHA.

[Albert]

16 hours ago, MrZarniwoop said:

I don't believe any games were released that used anything beyond HSC/POKEY/YAMAHA, like Pac-Man Collection - 40th Anniversary Edition using the HSC and YAMAHA.

A lot of newer 7800 homebrew games are using onboard RAM. But I have no idea if that aligns with how the RAM is setup for the XM. 
 

  ..Al

[+karri]

2 hours ago, Albert said:

A lot of newer 7800 homebrew games are using onboard RAM. But I have no idea if that aligns with how the RAM is setup for the XM. 
 

  ..Al

Onboard RAM is a really cool thing. You can have two 16k banks in the same spot $4000. One is active during display and it can contain tiles and other graphics that do not need holey DMA. The other bank is active during the blanking time and that is perfect for keeping all music. You can update all sound registers during the blanking time.

 

This allows you to use bankswitching at all times for your characters and levels. The RAM usage is not depending on any ROM banks