Colecovision Pac-man

[Artlover]

So why exactly did Atarisoft's Pac-Man for Colecovision get canceled?

 

I was playing the old 1983 proto last night, and it dawned on me that considering the time period, it was one of the better home ports, even compared to Atari's version for the 800 & 5200.

 

Ghosts have whites of their eyes, look where they are going, have the pass-through feature when you clip a ghost looking the other way. It felt good playing it. Controlled well. I had a lot of fun with it.

 

It's a shame it never made it. Ok, I know CGE released one in 2001. I've never see that one myself, and I imagine the rom is not legaly avaialble?

 

As an afterthought, I was just looking into this more. Seems like most Atarisoft games for both the Colecovision and Intellivision ended up being cancled. Only the computer versions seemed to make it to production. Makes me wonder if this was more of a deliberate action on Atari's part as to not give competing consoles the same games that were basicly exclusive to their 2600/5200.

[birdie3]

Here is a theory.

 

Atari did not want to put themselves out of business by making a superior game for a system they were in direct competition with. Let me know what you think.

Edited November 6, 2005 by birdie3

[Vic George 2K3]

Birdie's theory seems very likely the truth. That would have been like Coleco porting Donkey Kong to the Atari 5200.

[kevin242]

In 1983 ALOT of great games not just from Atarisoft but from Atari proper (for the

5200, 2600, 400/800 etc..) that were almost ready to go (and in some cases 100%

ready) were cancelled. Atari didnt have a problem for instance the Commodore 64

version of Donkey Kong which some prefer over the 400/800/xl/xe version. It's

just that whole nasty videogame crash that spoiled things.

[JB]

And just to drive a nail into the "damage the competition" theory...

Atari wouldn't have spent the money to START development on competing products if they weren't intending to release them. Would be a horrific waste of cash for them to expend the effort to code games they knew they wouldn't release.

[birdie3]

And just to drive a nail into the "damage the competition" theory...

Atari wouldn't have spent the money to START development on competing products if they weren't intending to release them. Would be a horrific waste of cash for them to expend the effort to code games they knew they wouldn't release.

961176[/snapback]

 

I actually agree with you. Maybe some programmers would make games in their spare time with the idea that when Atari or who ever starts looking for a certain game to be developed - they would already have a polished version ready to demo.

 

I was only citing something I read once. What would be your explanation for the cancellation?

[jetset]

Here is a theory.

 

Atari did not want to put themselves out of business by making a superior game for a system they were in direct competition with. Let me know what you think.

961147[/snapback]

 

Lame theory. Why would they bother to even write the game then?

[JB]

And just to drive a nail into the "damage the competition" theory...

Atari wouldn't have spent the money to START development on competing products if they weren't intending to release them. Would be a horrific waste of cash for them to expend the effort to code games they knew they wouldn't release.

961176[/snapback]

 

I actually agree with you. Maybe some programmers would make games in their spare time with the idea that when Atari or who ever starts looking for a certain game to be developed - they would already have a polished version ready to demo.

I find that highly unlikely.

 

I was only citing something I read once. What would be your explanation for the cancellation?

As kevin242 pointed out, LOTS of games got cancelled across the board in that time period.

The industry was busy imploding in on itself, and what seemed like a good idea one month was a pretty bad one the next.

[wberdan]

So why exactly did Atarisoft's Pac-Man for Colecovision get canceled?

 

I was playing the old 1983 proto last night, and it dawned on me that considering the time period, it was one of the better home ports, even compared to Atari's version for the 800 & 5200.

 

Ghosts have whites of their eyes, look where they are going, have the pass-through feature when you clip a ghost looking the other way. It felt good playing it. Controlled well. I had a lot of fun with it.

 

It's a shame it never made it. Ok, I know CGE released one in 2001. I've never see that one myself, and I imagine the rom is not legaly avaialble?

 

As an afterthought, I was just looking into this more. Seems like most Atarisoft games for both the Colecovision and Intellivision ended up being cancled. Only the computer versions seemed to make it to production. Makes me wonder if this was more of a deliberate action on Atari's part as to not give competing consoles the same games that were basicly exclusive to their 2600/5200.

961143[/snapback]

 

 

you have an original atarisoft prototype of that game? interesting, i thought i had the only one.

 

i wonder if there are any differences between the two...

 

 

willie

[Artlover]

you have an original atarisoft prototype of that game?  interesting, i thought i had the only one.

961192[/snapback]

 

I'm talking emulation, not a real proto cart.

[CARTRIDGE STEALER]

you have an original atarisoft prototype of that game?  interesting, i thought i had the only one.

961192[/snapback]

 

I'm talking emulation, not a real proto cart.

961196[/snapback]

 

 

can someone send me the PAC MAN emulator file? thanks!

 

[email protected]