Jump to content
IGNORED

Attention Pac-Man Haters


phitter

Recommended Posts

In hynesite looking back on how the 2600 works this is what I now think of the Pac-Man game for the 2600. This VCS (2600) was prototyped and builed in 75, sold in 77 means that the 2600 was already outdated before it hit any store shelves and for all intended purpose the 2600 was and still is a PONG UNIT and to have anything else made other then low type games like Tank and Ping Pong games would be super hard and for anyone to make a Pac-Man game game to run on a 2600 is really a miracle. The 2600 should never got to run any games like Pac-Man, Ms Pacman, , Pitfall, Dig-Dug, Battlezone, Star Raiders hell some one told me that knows how the 2600 run seeing a game on the 2600 like Pole Position is like seeing a Halo game running in fully 3D grafx on a NES system.

 

SO yeah hats off on seeing that pac-Man game running on a "Pong System" m like the 2600.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pacman and ET were both hated for the same reason. They didn't meet the high expectation placed on them by gamers at the time they were released.

The quickest way to fix both games would have been to release them with different names and then no one would have complained.

 

There were other Pacman clones out for just about every system. Most of these clones played better than the official 2600 version. Some clones even looked more like Pacman than 2600 Pacman did!

The screen flicker was hard to sit through. If this was some game no one had heard of then the backlash wouldn't be there. This was Pacman and it was for the Atari. Fans were expecting an A+ product and nothing less.

Edited by Buyatari
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a friend who had Pac-Man right at launch and for a while I went over to his house every day to play it (among other games, but when he got Pac-Man, we played it for about a week straight).

 

I personally think it's one of those cases where sure, some people were *extremely* disappointed with it off the bat, but most people were just kind of "meh" and the problem is just that this was one of the very early examples of "overhype" for a game. The 2600 had a few cases of that; Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man, ET... although Space Invaders turned out pretty good. But the others had problems big enough that they fundamentally changed the game.

 

When a game has too much hype and then comes out and it's just okay, the disconnect between what people thought they were promised and what they got can dramatically hurt its reputation. If it hadn't been so hyped, people would have just said "well, this is okay, nothing special" but they wouldn't have hated it... they hated it because Pac-Man was one of the biggest arcade games of the time, they were promised that experience at home and it was not the same game. Some people even bought a VCS just for Pac-Man.

 

Also, it's pretty clear that it *wasn't* as good as it could have been, because Ms. Pac-Man fixed most of the glaring problems Pac-Man had. I think Ms. Pac-Man, while obviously also different from the arcade, was "close enough" that people were able to accept "hey, this is a low-spec home console, so this is pretty good, considering", whereas Pac-Man wasn't quite there even with that same consideration.

 

You have to remember also that at the time, a lot of people had been living with and in many cases playing on their 2600's for years by that point. They knew what it was capable of. They knew Pac-Man didn't really fully take advantage of the system.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I personally think it's one of those cases where sure, some people were *extremely* disappointed with it off the bat, but most people were just kind of "meh" and the problem is just that this was one of the very early examples of "overhype" for a game. The 2600 had a few cases of that; Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man, ET... although Space Invaders turned out pretty good. But the others had problems big enough that they fundamentally changed the game.

 

I strongly disagree with this. Asteroids and Space Invaders were great ports and met if not exceeded expectations of the day. If anything these 2 games help set the high expectations gamers had for arcade ports that Pacman failed to live up to. Both are still very playable to this day. In my experience as a game store owner, people who don't like 2600 Asteroids don't like Asteroids and those who don't like 2600 Space Invaders just don't like Space Invaders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I strongly disagree with this. Asteroids and Space Invaders were great ports and met if not exceeded expectations of the day. If anything these 2 games help set the high expectations gamers had for arcade ports that Pacman failed to live up to. Both are still very playable to this day. In my experience as a game store owner, people who don't like 2600 Asteroids don't like Asteroids and those who don't like 2600 Space Invaders just don't like Space Invaders.

 

2600 Asteroids has asteroids that only move vertically. That didn't meet expectations even at the time.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

2600 Asteroids has asteroids that only move vertically. That didn't meet expectations even at the time.

 

You are the first person that I've have ever heard say it didn't meet their expectations back in the bay. Even today I'd say that most people feel it meets expectations. Both Space Invaders and Asteroids are in the top 10 of best Atari 2600 games as voted on from users here on this forum.

 

Original Carts:

1. Pitfall II (425 points, 57 votes, 16 first place votes)

2. Pitfall! (402 points, 62 votes, 8 first place votes)

3. Adventure (393 points, 57 votes, 16 first place votes)

4. Kaboom! (334 points, 51 votes, 12 first place votes)

5. River Raid (297 points, 49 votes, 6 first place votes)

6. H.E.R.O. (291 points, 48 votes, 6 first place votes)

7. Warlords (255 points, 38 votes, 8 first place votes)

8. Space Invaders (250 points, 44 votes, 6 first place votes)

9. Yar's Revenge (234 points, 40 votes, 3 first place votes)

10. Asteroids (216 points, 39 votes, 5 first place votes)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are the first person that I've have ever heard say it didn't meet their expectations back in the bay. Even today I'd say that most people feel it meets expectations. Both Space Invaders and Asteroids are in the top 10 of best Atari 2600 games as voted on from users here on this forum.

First, I'm not sure you really read my post before flying off the handle, because you seem to have missed the part where I said Space Invaders was "pretty good".

 

Second, things change. You're talking about a poll taken *now*. I'm talking about expectations *at the time*. I lived through that era; you probably did too, but I'm just telling you what I remember from people who had bought Asteroids at that time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BTW, does anyone have a screen capture of Electronic Games' review of Pac-Man for the VCS they could upload? Would be interesting to see what they said at the time.

 

I can't do a screen grab at the moment, but I found it online, There's am amusingly fake "screen shot" with wobbly ghosts and better colors than what we actually got. Electronic Games, Volume 1, Number 4, June 1982, page 71:

 

 

Pac-Man/Atari/Atari VCS

All right, folks, first the bad news about the most eagerly-awaited videogame of all time. Atari's VCS version of Pac-Man neither looks nor sounds anything like the coin-op original. The graphics are clunky and unsophisticated --there are no changing bonus items such as cherries, limes, keys, but simply an orange square with a blue dot inside --and the sounds, except for an inappropriate metallic "boing" whenever the gobbler consumes a pill, are virtually nonexistent. Joystick response on all game variations, but especially game 1, is horrible. Getting the gobbler to drop down through an opening is an ordeal. The goblins blink constantly, making them difficult to see, and their eyes do not looking the direction they're "seeing" or traveling but simply rotate through four positions.

 

Now, what about the good news? Well, there's finally a gobble game available for the Atari VCS. Beyond that, it's disappointingly difficult to find anything positive to say about this game. Considering the anticipation and considerable time the Atari designers had to work on it, it's astonishing to see a home version of a classic arcade contest so totally devoid of what gave the original its charm. There is none of the whimsy of the Namco/Midway version, nor any of the delightful graphic elements. Even the famous Pac-Man theme is missing. The game looks suspiciously like a project where the creators were so afraid of not measuring up to their source of inspiration that they simply avoided any conflict. The only area where the games go head to head is in the gobbler himself, and here Atari's version makes the transition quite satisfactorily.

 

As in the coin-op classic, players maneuver the hungry Pac-Man around a labyrinth stocked with pills and patrolled by ravenous goblins. Unlike the coin-op version, the maze is single-line and the "pills" look like hyphens. The "bonus thingie" has a stationary value of 100 points.

 

This Pac-Man is no pushover, however, and even top-flight gamers will have their hands full racking up many thousand points. Patterns can be developed, to a certain extent, but the whole play mechanic depends on the game variation chosen. On those games where the gobbler moves very fast, joystick control is improved, though still far from slick.

 

In the final analysis, those Atarians who are desperate for a gobble game will find that this version fits the bill. Those arcaders who demand that home versions match their-coin-op cousins will be seriously disappointed.

 

This was in the "Programmable Parade" section by Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel, along with reviews for Grand Prix, Astrosmash, and Super Breakout, which helps place it in context. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find some dedicated VCS-Pac language, since many of the articles in this early issues were themed lists of interesting games that didn't contain much criticism, but there it is, disappointment and desire for something better way back when, just like we remember.

 

I must admit that for me, there's a bit of "so bad it's good" going on with this game. I think of it fondly, not for what it is/was, but for it being what we had at the time, and how embarassingly bad it was. That's worth something. Like how Hawaiian people eat a lot of SPAM.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yo' Buyatari, make that at least the second person you've ever heard that didn't and doesn't care for 2600 Asteroids. lol And yes, there's a variation or two that has *some* diagonal movement, but hardly. As someone who grew up with the arcade game in their living room, 2600 Asteroids is not a version I would have ever played or even wanted among my small collection of 30 or so games back then. Space Invaders either and it wasn't. ;) (though today I recognize 2600 Space Invaders as being pretty darned good for what it is - Asteroids still not so much)

 

We also had the real arcade Vanguard game for quite some time BITD (took forever to finally sell is why) - talk about a great conversion! 2600 version is brilliant, especially considering the limited control scheme. Surprised it doesn't get more praise. Even if you're unfamiliar with the original, it's one hell of a multi-screen shooting fest for the VCS.

 

Getting back on topic, even BITD when 2600 Pac-Man was released, I didn't know a single soul that stopped buying games afterwards due to expectations or disappointment. Some might have been a little more careful about their purchases, but remember… Ms. Pac-Man followed fairly close and quickly squashed any doubts to how well the VCS could handle arcade translations. By that time, a ton of silver label and third party arcade ports were on market and I remember there being a "surge" of sorts when it came to game purchases. For me and my circle of friends anyway. And again around the "crash", which allowed us to buy even more titles thanks to heavy discounts (damn you Mythicon!). And once more by the late 80's/early 90's when games like Solaris and Midnight Magic were heavily discounted. :love:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First, I'm not sure you really read my post before flying off the handle, because you seem to have missed the part where I said Space Invaders was "pretty good".

 

Second, things change. You're talking about a poll taken *now*. I'm talking about expectations *at the time*. I lived through that era; you probably did too, but I'm just telling you what I remember from people who had bought Asteroids at that time.

 

I'm not sure what this means. Are you saying that Asteroids has gotten better with time?

It didn't meet expections then but it does now?

 

For ET and Pacman - I agree there were people and still are people who expressed major disappointment the first time they played the game. These are the titles that some even blame for the videogame crash. They may not have caused the crash but it shows you the extreme level of disappointment that some fans experienced. They stopped buying games after this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We also had the real arcade Vanguard game for quite some time BITD (took forever to finally sell is why) - talk about a great conversion! 2600 version is brilliant, especially considering its control scheme. Surprised it doesn't get more praise. Even if you're unfamiliar with the original, it's one hell of a multi-screen shooting fest for the VCS.

 

Meh...I never got into Vanguard the arcade game BITD. But I put a lot of time on it at ReplayFX the last two years and discovered what a great game I was missing. The 2600 and 5200 versions just aren't up to the task due to the controller limitations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yo' Buyatari, make that at least the second person you've ever heard that didn't and doesn't care for 2600 Asteroids. lol And yes, there's a variation or two that has *some* diagonal movement, but hardly. As someone who grew up with the arcade game in their living room, 2600 Asteroids is not a version I would have ever played or even wanted among my small collection of 30 or so games back then. Space Invaders either and it wasn't. ;) (though today I recognize 2600 Space Invaders as being pretty darned good for what it is - Asteroids still not so much)

 

We also had the real arcade Vanguard game for quite some time BITD (took forever to finally sell is why) - talk about a great conversion! 2600 version is brilliant, especially considering its control scheme. Surprised it doesn't get more praise. Even if you're unfamiliar with the original, it's one hell of a multi-screen shooting fest for the VCS.

 

Even if you had some disapointment I still fail to believe that a single person on earth could have felt the level of disapointment that some Pacman fans felt with 2600 Pac-man.

My Coleco handheld was a better port.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Meh...I never got into Vanguard the arcade game BITD. But I put a lot of time on it at ReplayFX the last two years and discovered what a great game I was missing. The 2600 and 5200 versions just aren't up to the task due to the controller limitations.

Obviously you weren't playing with the right people. Luther destroys the Gond. Huh huh huh huh huh.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfzA6JhgWAc

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I grew up with Atari and the NES. I personally liked Pacman and still do. It's not the arcade one for sure but it's still a version of Pacman. Sounds were grating but memorable.

 

I felt it caught the feel of Pacman. If you were looking for a direct port then yes you will be disappointed.

 

I'm personally not a huge fan of the early 3d mario games. I don't think they are nearly as good platformerst. But that doesn't mean they aren't Mario games or still good in their own way. I feel like atari Pacman is same.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me, back then I was horribly disappointed by 2600 Pac-Man and my friends all felt the same way.

 

Today, the big problem for me is that it looks like Atari didn't even try. The sound is so grating that even if it weren't called Pac-Man, it would be called out for the terrible audio. And why does the game have a maze colored murky blue and poo-brown? It would have been trivial to choose a black background and blue walls. Pac-Man's chomping animation happens all the time, not just when he's moving. And his mouth doesn't look like a missing pizza wedge - to fix that is just tweaking the sprite bitmap.

 

There's so many things that would have been drop-dead simple to change in order to get them to better resemble the arcade. Even with only 4K of ROM space, and with the dev tools of the time, Atari could have produced something that wasn't a total embarrassment. If I were running Namco I would seriously have considered pulling Atari's license.

Edited by FifthPlayer
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember seeing Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 for the first time.

 

The ghosts flickered.

 

We thought the VCS was broken.

 

Fortunately Space Invaders got better novelty single treatment.

It's very early house music, just as Disco was on the way out.

 

Edited by Neo-Rio
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Pacman, I think what threw EVERYONE off were the Atari commercials that Pacman "was coming to Atari", and it showed the arcade version. So it blew up everyone's expectations that we'd at least get a closer proximity than we did..... Does that commercial exist on youtube at all? Anyone know? :?

 

Re: Asteroids: That was the FIRST thing I noticed about VCS Asteroids as a kid. That the rocks only went up and down!!! Of course the variations allow the small rocks to move diagonally but a lot of people just played the default game, so the up & down asteroids is what they got. Anyway yes for that reason I WAS disappointed for real, with Asteroids.. but I grew to like it once I got familiar with it.

 

Re: Space Invaders: I was a pure arcade rat as a kid so I was very good with arcade Space Invaders and could flip the score over several times without thinking. I actually think I could've given the current world record a run for the money.. that's how familiar I was and am with the game. In the late 70's and early 80's.. there was only playground talk of a mythical home version, and finding it was my quest. It was only when we traveled for vacation to California (from Guam) and saw it at a Sears.. yes I thought it wasn't like the arcade game. But you have to realize at that time seeing ANYTHING resembling it was such a revelation.. man I jumped on it. I loved that game even though I knew it was inferior to the arcade version, which I loved first. By the way, everyone saying 2600 Space Invaders is better than the arcade version is dead wrong. :lol: But that doesn't make it not good. :)

Edited by NE146
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In reading that old 80s review of VCS Pac-Man, it seems to align quite well with the general consensus on internet forums decades later.

 

 

 

In the final analysis, those Atarians who are desperate for a gobble game will find that this version fits the bill. Those arcaders who demand that home versions match their-coin-op cousins will be seriously disappointed.

 

You could probably take the “Atarians who are desperate for a gobble game” descriptor and make it more general to say “Atarians who aren’t familiar with any standard maze game in particular but would probably enjoy playing one on their VCS,” but the general point is the same; namely, that players hankering for an arcade-authentic experience tend to be the most disappointed with the VCS version, while everybody else forms varying opinions of the game based simply on its own merits.

 

I was alive when arcade Pac-Man was taking the world by storm, but I was too young to know anything about it. So, when I got VCS Pac-Man as my 2nd Atari game, I held it to no particular standard, and enjoyed it a lot. With the benefit of decades of hindsight, I can see that it’s a mediocre VCS title at best, and an example of a poorly executed arcade port.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...