Difference between revisions of "Pac-Man"

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[[Image:Pac-Man - ARC - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|North American arcade cabinet.]]
 
[[Image:Pac-Man - ARC - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|North American arcade cabinet.]]
  
'''''Pac-Man''''', known in Japan as '''''パックマン [Pakkuman]''''', is an action video game developed by [[Namco]] in 1980 and distributed by [[Midway]] in the USA in 1981. Pac-Man is the best-selling arcade cabinet to date, and the second most profitable.
+
'''''Pac-Man''''', known in Japan as '''''パックマン [Pakkuman]''''', is an action video game developed and published by [[Namco]] on 1980-05-22, and distributed by [[Midway]] in the USA in 1980-10-26. Pac-Man is the best-selling arcade cabinet to date, and the second most profitable. Despite being so lucrative, the game's designer [[Toru Iwatani]] did not receive a bonus or even official recognition from Namco for his creation.
  
 
I remember first playing this game in the mid-1980s. I was with my mother and brother, I think at a laundromat in Pontiac. I remember my brother playing and getting to the second stage, but I, being 3-years-younger, couldn't get past the first. I've since watched people who are really good play Pac-Man in arcades, but I've never had much of a desire to get good myself. The game is just too primitive to keep my interest.
 
I remember first playing this game in the mid-1980s. I was with my mother and brother, I think at a laundromat in Pontiac. I remember my brother playing and getting to the second stage, but I, being 3-years-younger, couldn't get past the first. I've since watched people who are really good play Pac-Man in arcades, but I've never had much of a desire to get good myself. The game is just too primitive to keep my interest.
  
 
==Status==
 
==Status==
I do not own the game, and I have not reached the kill screen. I haven't tried to get a decent high score.
+
I do not own the game. I've never tried hard to get a decent score, and I've never even come close to the kill screen.
  
 
==Review==
 
==Review==
Line 14: Line 14:
 
===Good===
 
===Good===
 
* The game is pretty solid. It remains challenging and fast-moving the entire time you play.
 
* The game is pretty solid. It remains challenging and fast-moving the entire time you play.
* The increasingly difficult ghosts and shorter-length power pellets increase the challenge of the game and a nice steady rate.
+
* The increasingly difficult ghosts and shorter-length power pellets increase the challenge of the game at a nice steady rate.
* Adding a different "personality" to each ghost was a wonderful idea and really added to the challenge, as did having the ghosts systematically move toward their own corners.
+
* Adding a different "personality" to each ghost was a wonderful idea and really adds to the challenge, as did having the ghosts systematically move toward their own corners.
 
* Changing the bonus fruit is a nice change of pace.
 
* Changing the bonus fruit is a nice change of pace.
 
* The cut-scenes between levels was a nice break in the action.
 
* The cut-scenes between levels was a nice break in the action.
Line 23: Line 23:
 
* The game is too hard. Most players are unable to beat the first level on their first attempt, which is a bit frustrating.
 
* The game is too hard. Most players are unable to beat the first level on their first attempt, which is a bit frustrating.
 
* Overall, there isn't much to do with the game. You're essentially repeating the same actions the entire game.
 
* Overall, there isn't much to do with the game. You're essentially repeating the same actions the entire game.
 +
* Since the game uses a [[pseudorandom|pseudo-randomizer]], players can actually just repeat the exact same movements over an over again to beat the game.
 
* The game lacks a true victory condition. Sure, the kill screen ends the game, but it's insanely difficult to reach, and wasn't even intended in the first place.
 
* The game lacks a true victory condition. Sure, the kill screen ends the game, but it's insanely difficult to reach, and wasn't even intended in the first place.
 
* There is a minor bug with collision detection where you can sometimes pass right through a ghost.
 
* There is a minor bug with collision detection where you can sometimes pass right through a ghost.
Line 29: Line 30:
 
* Nothing
 
* Nothing
  
==Cabinet Art==
+
==Media==
 +
===Box Art===
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
 
Pac-Man - ARC - Japan.jpg|The original Japanese cabinet is mostly a dull white. The Puck-Man logo uses a ballony type set and there are various cartoon Pac-Mans running around on it wearing boots and gloves. The joystick is an annoying simple rod.
 
Pac-Man - ARC - Japan.jpg|The original Japanese cabinet is mostly a dull white. The Puck-Man logo uses a ballony type set and there are various cartoon Pac-Mans running around on it wearing boots and gloves. The joystick is an annoying simple rod.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Japan - Marquee.jpg|The Japanese Puckman marquee is a bit of an eye-sore.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Japan - Side Art.jpg|The Japanese Puckman side art.
 
Pac-Man - ARC - USA.jpg|The North American cabinet is a more interesting yellow, but while the ghost is pretty good, the cartoon Pac-Man is completely wrong. And the red eyes don't help much either!
 
Pac-Man - ARC - USA.jpg|The North American cabinet is a more interesting yellow, but while the ghost is pretty good, the cartoon Pac-Man is completely wrong. And the red eyes don't help much either!
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - USA - Marquee.jpg|The North American arcade marquee features the same creepy Pac-Man as the cabinet.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
==Documentation==
+
===Documentation===
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
 
Pac-Man - ARC - Manual.pdf|Arcade manual.
 
Pac-Man - ARC - Manual.pdf|Arcade manual.
 
Pac-Man - Arcade Instruction Card.png|The Japanese instruction card.
 
Pac-Man - Arcade Instruction Card.png|The Japanese instruction card.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Ad.jpg|Arcade ad.
 +
Pac-Man - 5200 - Manual.pdf|Atari 5200 manual.
 +
Pac-Man - C64 - Manual.pdf|Commodore 64 manual.
 +
Pac-Man - GB - Manual.pdf|Game Boy manual.
 +
Pac-Man - NES - Manual.pdf|NES manual.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - How to Win At Pac-Man.pdf|How to Win At Pac-Man.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Pac-Man - Ultimate Key to Winning, The.pdf|Pac-Man: The Ultimate Key to Winning.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Video Master's Guide to Pac-Man, The.pdf|The Video Master's Guide to Pac-Man.
 +
How to Win At Video Games.pdf|How to Win At Video Games.
 +
Pac-Mania - Top Strategies For Home & Arcade Pac-Man - Spiralbound - USA.pdf|Pac-Mania: Top Strategies For Home & Arcade Pac-Man.
 +
Pac-Mania! - Official Pac-Man Joke Book, The - Mass Market - USA.pdf|Pac-Mania!: The Official Pac-Man Joke Book.
 +
</gallery>
 +
 +
===Screenshots===
 +
<gallery>
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Screenshot - Demo (Japan).png|The original ghost names.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Screenshot - Demo.png|The American ghost names.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Screenshot - Game Start.png|Game start.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Screenshot - Intermission 1.png|Intermission 1: Pac-Man gets swoll.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Screenshot - Intermission 2.png|Intermission 2: Blinky tears his sheet.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Screenshot - Intermission 3.png|Intermission 3: Blinky is sewn up.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Screenshot - Kill Screen.png|The infamous kill screen on level 256.
 +
</gallery>
 +
 +
===Design Documents===
 +
<gallery>
 
Pac Man - ARC - Design Document - Toru Iwatani.jpg|Toru Iwatani showing off his original design documents.
 
Pac Man - ARC - Design Document - Toru Iwatani.jpg|Toru Iwatani showing off his original design documents.
 
Pac Man - ARC - Design Document - Labyrinth.jpg| The labyrinth layout.
 
Pac Man - ARC - Design Document - Labyrinth.jpg| The labyrinth layout.
Line 46: Line 77:
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
==Gallery==
+
===Gallery===
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
Pac-Man - Arcade Kill Screen.png|The infamous kill screen.
+
Pac-Man - ARC - Graphics.png|Arcade graphic memory. Top is background, bottom is sprites. I've matched most of the colors, but the program swaps the palette as needed. Dark blue is drawn black in the game.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Sprite Sheet.png|Arcade sprite sheet.
 +
Pac-Man - ARC - Fan Art - Travis 76 - The Madness of Mission 6.jpg|Fan art by Travis 76.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
 +
 +
===Videos===
 +
* [http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014631/Classic-Game-Postmortem-PAC gdcvault.com/play/1014631/Classic-Game-Postmortem-PAC] - Postmortem.
 +
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuoH0vz3Mqk youtube.com/watch?v=AuoH0vz3Mqk] - Longplay, perfect game & kill screen.
 +
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7-SHTktjJc youtube.com/watch?v=l7-SHTktjJc] - Ghost AI explanation.
 +
 +
==Credits==
 +
Although Pac-Man doesn't feature credits, fans of the game have discovered the majority of the design staff.
 +
 +
{| class="wikitable" |
 +
! Person !! Roles
 +
|-
 +
| [[Toru Iwatani]] || Game Designer
 +
|-
 +
| [[Shigeichi Ishimura]] || Hardware Designer, Audio Designer
 +
|-
 +
| [[Shigeo Funaki]] || Programmer
 +
|-
 +
| [[Toshio Kai]] || Sound Composer
 +
|}
 +
 +
==Color Palette==
 +
The original arcade version of Pac-Man uses a hardware-based color PROM to determine its colors. The PROM stores an palette of 256 colors in a [[Color Palettes#Single-Byte Palettes|single byte]]. The red, green, and blue channels are defined by the bit pattern BBGGGRRR which allows for eight levels of intensity for red and green and four levels for blue. The display hardware could only work with an index of 16 colors chosen from the palette of 256, and even then, each background tile or sprite could only be composed of up to four colors from the index of 16. Despite having 16 possible colors to work with, the designers occupied four slots with black, resulting in only 13 unique colors. These blacks appear to be used in certain graphics to color things invisible. For example, when a ghost is eaten, there isn't a separate graphic for just its eyes, instead, the ghost's sheet is drawn black, same with pellets. Also, the area inside the maze walls is colored a different black than the background.
 +
 +
In the table below I've converted the colors from the game into RBG equivalents using an increment of 36 for the red and green channels and an increment of 85 for the blue channel. As far as I know, this does not properly emulate the color PROM's method, and I'm not able to get the true binary value for each color, but it yields a fairly accurate result. More advanced emulators, like MAME probably emulate the PROM, but they also adjust each pixel based on its nearby pixels to better emulate CRTs, so they don't give a true result either.
 +
 +
{| class="wikitable" |
 +
! Index !! Swatch !! Color !! Converted RGB !! Binary / Hex / Decimal !! Uses
 +
|-
 +
| 0 || style="background-color:#000000;" |
 +
| Black || 0, 0, 0 || <tt>00000000 0x00 0</tt> || Background
 +
|-
 +
| 1 || style="background-color:#FC0000;" |
 +
| Red || 252, 0, 0 || <tt>00000111 0x07 7</tt> || Blinky, cherry, strawberry, apple, Galaxian ship
 +
|-
 +
| 2 || style="background-color:#D89055;" |
 +
| Brown || 216, 144, 85 || <tt>01100110 0x66 102</tt> || Orange top, cherry stem
 +
|-
 +
| 3 || style="background-color:#FCB4FF;" |
 +
| Pink || 252, 180, 255 || <tt>11101111 0xEF 239</tt> || Pinky, ghost house door
 +
|-
 +
| 4 || style="background-color:#000000;" |
 +
| Black || 0, 0, 0 || <tt>00000000 0x00 0</tt> || Background
 +
|-
 +
| 5 || style="background-color:#00FCFF;" |
 +
| Cyan || 0, 252, 255 || <tt>11111000 0xF8 248</tt> || Inky, player text
 +
|-
 +
| 6 || style="background-color:#48B4FF;" |
 +
| Light Blue || 72, 180, 255 || <tt>11101010 0xEA 234</tt> || Key top, bell bottom
 +
|-
 +
| 7 || style="background-color:#FCB455;" |
 +
| Orange || 252, 180, 85 || <tt>01101111 0x6F 111</tt> || Clyde, orange
 +
|-
 +
| 8 || style="background-color:#000000;" |
 +
| Black || 0, 0, 0 || <tt>00000000 0x00 0</tt> || Background
 +
|-
 +
| 9 || style="background-color:#FCFC00;" |
 +
| Yellow || 252, 252, 0 || <tt>00111111 0x3F 63</tt> || Pac-Man, ready!, bell, Galaxian ship
 +
|-
 +
| A || style="background-color:#000000;" |
 +
| Black || 0, 0, 0 || <tt>00000000 0x00 0</tt> || Background
 +
|-
 +
| B || style="background-color:#2424FF;" |
 +
| Blue || 36, 36, 255 || <tt>11001001 0xC9 192</tt> || Maze walls, flashing ghosts, ghost pupils, Galaxian ship
 +
|-
 +
| C || style="background-color:#00FC00;" |
 +
| Green || 0, 252, 0 || <tt>00111000 0x38 56</tt> || Melon, strawberry top, orange leaf
 +
|-
 +
| D || style="background-color:#48B4AA;" |
 +
| Teal || 72, 180, 170 || <tt>10101010 0xAA 170</tt> || Melon wrinkles and stem
 +
|-
 +
| E || style="background-color:#FCB4AA;" |
 +
| Salmon || 252, 180, 170 || <tt>10101111 0xAF 175</tt> || Dots, ghost body
 +
|-
 +
| F || style="background-color:#FCFCFF;" |
 +
| White || 252, 252, 255 || <tt>11111111 0xFF 255</tt> || Flashing ghosts, scores, text, ghost eyes, fruit highlights
 +
|}
 +
 +
More details about the Pac-Man color palette: [http://aarongiles.com/mamemem/part3.html aarongiles.com/mamemem/part3.html].
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
 
* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/pac-man mobygames.com/game/pac-man] - MobyGames.
 
* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/pac-man mobygames.com/game/pac-man] - MobyGames.
 
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man] - Wikipedia.
 
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man] - Wikipedia.
* [http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014631/Classic-Game-Postmortem-PAC gdcvault.com/play/1014631/Classic-Game-Postmortem-PAC] - Postmortem.
 
 
* [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Pac-Man_(ARC) vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Pac-Man_(ARC)] - Music.
 
* [http://www.vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Pac-Man_(ARC) vgmpf.com/Wiki/index.php?title=Pac-Man_(ARC)] - Music.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuoH0vz3Mqk youtube.com/watch?v=AuoH0vz3Mqk] - A perfect Pac-Man play through.
+
 
  
 
[[Category: Games]]
 
[[Category: Games]]
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[[Category: Action]]
 
[[Category: Action]]
 
[[Category: Multi-Player]]
 
[[Category: Multi-Player]]
 +
[[Category: 4-bit Color Graphics]]

Revision as of 16:50, 22 June 2018

North American arcade cabinet.

Pac-Man, known in Japan as パックマン [Pakkuman], is an action video game developed and published by Namco on 1980-05-22, and distributed by Midway in the USA in 1980-10-26. Pac-Man is the best-selling arcade cabinet to date, and the second most profitable. Despite being so lucrative, the game's designer Toru Iwatani did not receive a bonus or even official recognition from Namco for his creation.

I remember first playing this game in the mid-1980s. I was with my mother and brother, I think at a laundromat in Pontiac. I remember my brother playing and getting to the second stage, but I, being 3-years-younger, couldn't get past the first. I've since watched people who are really good play Pac-Man in arcades, but I've never had much of a desire to get good myself. The game is just too primitive to keep my interest.

Status

I do not own the game. I've never tried hard to get a decent score, and I've never even come close to the kill screen.

Review

  • Overall: 5/10
  • Best Version: Arcade

Good

  • The game is pretty solid. It remains challenging and fast-moving the entire time you play.
  • The increasingly difficult ghosts and shorter-length power pellets increase the challenge of the game at a nice steady rate.
  • Adding a different "personality" to each ghost was a wonderful idea and really adds to the challenge, as did having the ghosts systematically move toward their own corners.
  • Changing the bonus fruit is a nice change of pace.
  • The cut-scenes between levels was a nice break in the action.
  • The game has some pretty memorable sound effects and jingles.

Bad

  • The game is too hard. Most players are unable to beat the first level on their first attempt, which is a bit frustrating.
  • Overall, there isn't much to do with the game. You're essentially repeating the same actions the entire game.
  • Since the game uses a pseudo-randomizer, players can actually just repeat the exact same movements over an over again to beat the game.
  • The game lacks a true victory condition. Sure, the kill screen ends the game, but it's insanely difficult to reach, and wasn't even intended in the first place.
  • There is a minor bug with collision detection where you can sometimes pass right through a ghost.

Ugly

  • Nothing

Media

Box Art

Documentation

Screenshots

Design Documents

Gallery

Videos

Credits

Although Pac-Man doesn't feature credits, fans of the game have discovered the majority of the design staff.

Person Roles
Toru Iwatani Game Designer
Shigeichi Ishimura Hardware Designer, Audio Designer
Shigeo Funaki Programmer
Toshio Kai Sound Composer

Color Palette

The original arcade version of Pac-Man uses a hardware-based color PROM to determine its colors. The PROM stores an palette of 256 colors in a single byte. The red, green, and blue channels are defined by the bit pattern BBGGGRRR which allows for eight levels of intensity for red and green and four levels for blue. The display hardware could only work with an index of 16 colors chosen from the palette of 256, and even then, each background tile or sprite could only be composed of up to four colors from the index of 16. Despite having 16 possible colors to work with, the designers occupied four slots with black, resulting in only 13 unique colors. These blacks appear to be used in certain graphics to color things invisible. For example, when a ghost is eaten, there isn't a separate graphic for just its eyes, instead, the ghost's sheet is drawn black, same with pellets. Also, the area inside the maze walls is colored a different black than the background.

In the table below I've converted the colors from the game into RBG equivalents using an increment of 36 for the red and green channels and an increment of 85 for the blue channel. As far as I know, this does not properly emulate the color PROM's method, and I'm not able to get the true binary value for each color, but it yields a fairly accurate result. More advanced emulators, like MAME probably emulate the PROM, but they also adjust each pixel based on its nearby pixels to better emulate CRTs, so they don't give a true result either.

Index Swatch Color Converted RGB Binary / Hex / Decimal Uses
0 Black 0, 0, 0 00000000 0x00 0 Background
1 Red 252, 0, 0 00000111 0x07 7 Blinky, cherry, strawberry, apple, Galaxian ship
2 Brown 216, 144, 85 01100110 0x66 102 Orange top, cherry stem
3 Pink 252, 180, 255 11101111 0xEF 239 Pinky, ghost house door
4 Black 0, 0, 0 00000000 0x00 0 Background
5 Cyan 0, 252, 255 11111000 0xF8 248 Inky, player text
6 Light Blue 72, 180, 255 11101010 0xEA 234 Key top, bell bottom
7 Orange 252, 180, 85 01101111 0x6F 111 Clyde, orange
8 Black 0, 0, 0 00000000 0x00 0 Background
9 Yellow 252, 252, 0 00111111 0x3F 63 Pac-Man, ready!, bell, Galaxian ship
A Black 0, 0, 0 00000000 0x00 0 Background
B Blue 36, 36, 255 11001001 0xC9 192 Maze walls, flashing ghosts, ghost pupils, Galaxian ship
C Green 0, 252, 0 00111000 0x38 56 Melon, strawberry top, orange leaf
D Teal 72, 180, 170 10101010 0xAA 170 Melon wrinkles and stem
E Salmon 252, 180, 170 10101111 0xAF 175 Dots, ghost body
F White 252, 252, 255 11111111 0xFF 255 Flashing ghosts, scores, text, ghost eyes, fruit highlights

More details about the Pac-Man color palette: aarongiles.com/mamemem/part3.html.

Links