Difference between revisions of "Pac-Man (2600)"

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[[Image:Pac-Man - 2600 - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|North American box art.]]
 
[[Image:Pac-Man - 2600 - USA.jpg|thumb|256x256px|North American box art.]]
  
'''''Pac-Man''''' is an action game designed and programmed by [[Tod Frye]] and published by [[Atari]] for the [[Atari 2600]] in 1982. It is meant to be a port of the arcade game [[Pac-Man]], but it is so inferior to the original, it can't really be called the same game. Atari made two primary blunders during the development of this port, they gave Frye an unusually short length of time to create the game in order to make it available for Christmas, and they required him to fit the game in 4K, rather than use the more expensive 8K ROM chips that had just been made available. These constraints led to this monstrosity. Despite being a terrible port, Atari 2600 Pac-Man went on to sell 7 million copies, and became the best-selling video game at the time. However, its poor quality ultimately hurt the video game industry and contributed to the crash of 1983.
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'''''Pac-Man''''' is an action [[maze game]] designed and programmed by [[Tod Frye]] and published by [[Atari]] for the [[Atari 2600]] in 1982. It is meant to be a port of the arcade game ''[[Pac-Man]]'', but it is so different from the original, it can't really be called the same game. Atari made two primary blunders during the development of this port, they gave Frye an unusually short length of time to create the game in order to make it available for Christmas, and they required him to fit the game in 4K, rather than use the more expensive 8K ROM chips that had just been made available. These constraints led to this monstrosity. Despite being a terrible port, Atari 2600 ''Pac-Man'' went on to sell 7 million copies, and became the best-selling video game at the time. However, its poor quality ultimately hurt the video game industry and contributed to the crash of 1983.
  
I first played this version of Pac-Man on my home Atari around 1986. Having seen the original in the arcade, everyone in my family saw that this was a mockery.
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I first played this version of ''Pac-Man'' on my home Atari around 1986. Having seen the original in the arcade, everyone in my family saw that this was a mockery.
  
 
==Status==
 
==Status==
I own this game. It can't be beaten.
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I own this game. It can't be beaten and I have no desire to try for a high score.
  
 
==Review==
 
==Review==
* '''Overall:''' 1/10
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{{Video Game Review|1|3|1|1|2|16%|Atari 2600}}
* '''Best Version:''' Atari 2600
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 +
{{Spoilers}}
  
 
===Good===
 
===Good===
* Had I never seen the original Pac-Man, I may have thought this game was a passable Atari title.
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* Had I never seen the original ''Pac-Man'', I may have thought this game was a passable Atari title.
 
* The speed of the ghosts and length of the power pills can be customized to fit your playing needs.
 
* The speed of the ghosts and length of the power pills can be customized to fit your playing needs.
 
* The manual is well-made and the cartoons are pretty good.
 
* The manual is well-made and the cartoons are pretty good.
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==Media==
 
==Media==
 
===Box Art===
 
===Box Art===
 +
This is a good cover. Unlike the art on most other ports, Pac-Man isn't given legs or other mysterious appendages, and the ghosts, though monochromatic, look great. And, unlike many other Atari titles where the box art is one of the best features, the artist accurately depicts the terrible maze and wafers.
 +
 
<gallery>
 
<gallery>
Pac-Man - 2600 - USA.jpg|This is pretty impressive artwork. Unlike the art on most other ports, Pac-Man isn't given legs or other mysterious appendages, and the ghosts, though monochromatic, look great. And, unlike many other Atari titles where the box art is one of the best features, the artist accurately depicts the terrible maze and wafers.
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Pac-Man - 2600 - USA.jpg|2600 box.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
  
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<gallery>
 
<gallery>
 
Pac-Man - 2600 - Manual.pdf|Game manual.
 
Pac-Man - 2600 - Manual.pdf|Game manual.
Pac-Mania - Top Strategies For Home & Arcade Pac-Man - Spiralbound - USA.pdf|Pac-Mania: Top Strategies For Home & Arcade Pac-Man.
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Pac-Mania - Top Strategies For Home & Arcade Pac-Man - Spiralbound - USA.pdf|''Pac-Mania: Top Strategies For Home & Arcade Pac-Man''.
Winners' Book of Video Games, The - Paperback - USA.pdf|The Winners' Book of Video Games.
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Winners' Book of Video Games, The - Paperback - USA.pdf|''The Winners' Book of Video Games''.
How to Beat Atari, Intellivision, and Other Home Video Games - Mass Market - USA.pdf|How to Beat Atari, Intellivision, and Other Home Video Games.
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How to Beat Atari, Intellivision, and Other Home Video Games - Mass Market - USA.pdf|''How to Beat Atari, Intellivision, and Other Home Video Games''.
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
 +
 +
==Credits==
 +
{| class="wikitable"
 +
! Role !! Staff
 +
|-
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| Entire Game || [[Tod Frye]]
 +
|}
  
 
==Links==
 
==Links==
* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/pac-man mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/pac-man] - MobyGames.
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{{Link|MobyGames|http://www.mobygames.com/game/atari-2600/pac-man}}
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man_(Atari_2600) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man_(Atari_2600)] - Wikipedia.
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{{Link|Wikipedia|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man_(Atari_2600)}}
* [http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=342 atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=342] - AtariAge.
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{{Link|AtariAge|2=http://atariage.com/software_page.php?SoftwareLabelID=342}}
  
  
 
[[Category: Games]]
 
[[Category: Games]]
 
[[Category: Video Games]]
 
[[Category: Video Games]]
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[[Category: Video Game Prime Order - Action, Strategy, Adventure]]
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[[Category: Video Game Genre - Action]]
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[[Category: Video Game Genre - Maze Game]]
 
[[Category: Atari 2600 Games]]
 
[[Category: Atari 2600 Games]]
[[Category: Action]]
 
 
[[Category: Single-Screen]]
 
[[Category: Single-Screen]]

Revision as of 14:21, 1 November 2019

North American box art.

Pac-Man is an action maze game designed and programmed by Tod Frye and published by Atari for the Atari 2600 in 1982. It is meant to be a port of the arcade game Pac-Man, but it is so different from the original, it can't really be called the same game. Atari made two primary blunders during the development of this port, they gave Frye an unusually short length of time to create the game in order to make it available for Christmas, and they required him to fit the game in 4K, rather than use the more expensive 8K ROM chips that had just been made available. These constraints led to this monstrosity. Despite being a terrible port, Atari 2600 Pac-Man went on to sell 7 million copies, and became the best-selling video game at the time. However, its poor quality ultimately hurt the video game industry and contributed to the crash of 1983.

I first played this version of Pac-Man on my home Atari around 1986. Having seen the original in the arcade, everyone in my family saw that this was a mockery.

Status

I own this game. It can't be beaten and I have no desire to try for a high score.

Review

Video Game Review Icon - Enjoyment.png Video Game Review Icon - Control.png Video Game Review Icon - Appearance.png Video Game Review Icon - Sound.png Video Game Review Icon - Replayability.png
1 3 1 1 2

Best Version: 16%

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • Had I never seen the original Pac-Man, I may have thought this game was a passable Atari title.
  • The speed of the ghosts and length of the power pills can be customized to fit your playing needs.
  • The manual is well-made and the cartoons are pretty good.

Bad

  • Graphically, the game is quite dull. The maze and dots are the same color, there's not much variation, Pac-Man doesn't look correct or display up and down movement, the ghosts look wrong, etc.
  • The flicker of the ghosts makes them difficult to see, and even harder to distinguish their color (although, since they all use the same AI, it doesn't matter).
  • All the additional variation of the game like the cut-scenes, fruit, music, etc., has been removed.

Ugly

  • The game utterly fails as a port. Atari 2600 games are expected to be inferior, but this one is garbage.

Media

Box Art

This is a good cover. Unlike the art on most other ports, Pac-Man isn't given legs or other mysterious appendages, and the ghosts, though monochromatic, look great. And, unlike many other Atari titles where the box art is one of the best features, the artist accurately depicts the terrible maze and wafers.

Documentation

Credits

Role Staff
Entire Game Tod Frye

Links

Link-MobyGames.png  Link-Wikipedia.png  Link-AtariAge.png