Pac-Man Atari 2600 Review - The No Swear Gamer Ep 34
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- Опубліковано 4 лип 2024
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Retro Reviews with The No Swear Gamer contain no swearing and plenty of retro goodness in an informative and entertaining, family friendly way. Today's episode continues the ABCs of Retro Gaming series in which I review one game for each letter of the Alphabet. Today's letter is “P” as in PacMan for the Atari 2600 system. This is game is notorious for being a poor port of the Namco arcade game and along with E.T. is often cited for causing the great video game crash of the mid 80’s. But is it as bad and the reputation it has? Time to bust out the video wafers and find out! - Ігри
When I got my Atari for Christmas at age 6 this was the first game I got with it, so I have always loved Pac Man. I remember the manual, the box it came in, and playing it for hours and hours.
As a 10 year old kid, I had no idea this game was hated. My friends and I loved it and we played it to death. I wish I still had my 2600 because I would be playing this as an adult.
Five year old me didn't care that it wasn't arcade perfect. It was Pac-Man, at home.
on the arcade Pac-Man, Pac-Man never stopped unless hitting a wall also
great review, I loved this game as a kid - I noticed the funny look compared to the arcade version but it never ruined the fun for me ;)
And that's what it's all about
Anyone else play 2600 Pac-Man in black and white mode? It was programmed with black and white support and I think the game is sharper looking that way and looks more like the arcade with the dark background
dogeymon83 interesting...
dogeymon83
I did... Since my family didn't have a colour TV until the late 80s :P
Was this a great port of a classic video-game? Probably not.
Did I love it when I played it for hours on my Atari 2600? Yes.
I first played this at my friend's house. I was disappointed, but I had asked my dad to get me my own Atari countless times and he kept saying no, so I was used to disappointment. If this was the only way you could play Pac-Man, it was all right.
BigAL68xyz it was better than nothing... Well said!😀
Many people hate this game but I can tell you one thing about it that is better than the arcade version. It was free. It could be played without spending a ton of quarters. Not every copy of Pac-man was free but a lot were. I got it free when my mom bought me an Atari 2600 in 1983. I've never hated the Atari 2600 Pac-man. I like it better than Combat which also came with the 2600. I liked it better than Combat because Combat was a two player only game. If a 2nd player wasn't around, it was useless.
Good points!
???? Ok
Randy Johnson Strange. It wasn’t free in Sweden I believe.
Somebody paid for it. How soon would you go through $30 in quarters?
On the other hand, the Atari 800 computer version is really decent!
There's a pacman homebrew for the 2600 that is arcade perfect
The blink programming trick is genius. It's easy to be critical from one's couch. But these programmers were brilliant in my opinion.
There was one mom in our neighborhood who placed a mail-order for this cart when it was about to be released. I can't even remember from which store she ordered it, but she must have bought a half dozen for various kids in our neighborhood. I didn't order it but my best friend did. On the day it came in word spread like wildfire, but unfortunately he and I had to do our paper route after school so we had to wait a little bit longer than everyone else. We raced through our routes, picked up the game, and then headed straight for his house. We didn't expect an arcade clone but the box was promising and just the name "Pac Man" was thrilling enough.
Then we plugged it in... There was the awful maze layout, the flickering ghosts, the oddly shaped Pac Man, the rudimentary sound effects, the horribly unforgiving collision detection, etc., etc., etc. We both mumbled some faint praise, trying to put a shine on it, but when I went home for dinner an hour later it wasn't with the promise that I'd return as soon as desert was over. If they had taken their time and put out something akin to the port they gave Ms. Pac Man a year later, this would have been a roaring success. Instead, it truly soured us on Atari. Even as 11 year old kids, we knew that they'd half-assed this and it was nothing more than a money grab.
I was enamored with Pac-Man and called my local store almost daily when it came out due to it selling out so much. I bought Pac-Man Fever the music record the same day. Overall I really liked it and still play it. I guess I understood the limits of Atari even as a kid.
I`m from that era and i`m guessing most of the critics of this game aren`t because this Pac man was awesome highly addictive and as close as you could get at that time to the arcade game.....You have seen the old lcd table top versions....Then this came along I Never heard anyone complain about this game at the time.
No, they were just older teenagers and adults. You can see in the comments so many said they were 5 or 6 years old. It had really been a hand-me-down system in 1982, but so many teenagers couldn't level up to the next one. "You already have an Atari." But they did get computers. In the show _Stranger Things_ the kid says he wants an Atari, but it was out of date by the time the show is set; he really would have asked for a Commodore 64.
Bad decisions by Atari, squandered all the money people spent on consoles and games in 1982-3 manufacturing cartridges that weren't going to sell any more.
@0:32: That's not an urban legend. The man who invented the original, arcade coin-op _Pac-Man_ [1980] for Namco (in Japan; dist. by Bally/Midway in the US), Toru Iwatani, did that, it was his pizza. It's a true story.
And that pizza parlor was haunted, hence the ghosts.
Who knows? Pac-Man may have been a prequel to Five Nights at Freddy's. lol
Love your videos, I know this is a really old video, I was wondering how many levels are in the 2600 version if you know? Is there a kill screen or anything weird like the arcade? Keep up the great work.
Has anyone ever made a better version of Pac Man for the 2600?
Yes. Look up Pac Man 8k.
The ghosts are actually color. The flickering on the blue just makes them appear white.
Will be sharing a recommendation, and a link to your video on my channel's review video Wednesday.
This game was a product of it's time and a must-have game of Spring 1982. People with Pac-Man fever would play anything with dots in a maze (e.g. KC Munchkin?). I heard about them producing more carts then they sold. I guess anyone buying a cartridge in 1982-3 from Atari, their money went to producing games people didn't want! This probably resulted in the 15% increase in profit for 1982 instead of the 50% increase they initially forecast. I imagine this was also the reason I didn't get a new Atari catalog with any game I bought in late 1982 through 1983, since they probably printed too many too and reused them! They also used a cheaper 4K ROM than the current 8K ROM (Coleco did the same with the 2600 port of Donkey Kong, a must-have game for late 1982). In 1983, some of the manuals were printed in black & white!
Today there's no reason to play this game when the 1983 Ms. Pac-Man for the 2600 shows what this game could have been. They did sell a lot of consoles in 1982 (2-5 million?), just as they did in 1980 when they were the exclusive licensee of Space Invaders. Unfortunately, they torpedoed their own new system the 5200 in Fall of 1982, releasing it with a '70s game, Super Breakout, instead of Pac-Man or Galaxians, the latter was not yet out for the 2600.
Thanks for mentioning the sounds being put in movies. I just saw the clip of _Superman III_ which uses it!
Retail glut was the primary cause of the crash.
Pac-Man for the 2600 convinced retailers, even drug stores, to increase inventory to sell video games. Atari's Pac-Man caused the glut.
It's a fun game, though Ms. Pacman was a great improvement. Although I'm looking in hindsight, I kind of like the asthetic changes from the arcade game. The orange on blue looks nice, the maze layout is just as good as the arcade in my opinion, Pacman has an eye now, and I like that the siren is not here. This game just feels cozy, for a lack of a better term.
Perspective plays a big part in the way you receive this game. See, I wasn't born when Pac Man hit the arcades. And I was too young to even know when it hit the Atari 2600. Pac Man wasn't a thing in my life, I'd never heard of it. So my first introduction to it was in the later part of the 80's on a friend's Atari. Because I had nothing to compare it to I accepted it for what it was. And I liked it. It was a simple, challenging, addictive... it was Pac Man. I don't think I was even aware of what other versions looked like until some time into the 21st century. So when someone says Pac Man, this is what I think of. I accept that it has many shortcomings in comparison to the arcade original. Even compared to early computer ports. It's certainly the worst like-for-like conversion out there. So I do understand what made people feel so disappointed by it. But I think its unfavorable reviews all come down to the way it holds up in comparison, when it's actually not a bad game at all when you take it simply for what it is. I'd say that it delivers just about the same quality of game play. I'd also say that it's on the must-have list of 2600 games.
Used to play this game 4 hours. My little sister would hate being player number 2. She would get up and go to college and come back and I would still be playing on my first man
I actually enjoyed playing this as a kid, but even as a young tike, I recognized the deficiencies. But I think just three changes would've saved this game, and yes, averted the crash:
1. Make the maze like it was in the arcade, except stretched horizontally rather than vertically. This is what Atari did for all of its home versions of this game, except the 2600 (the DOS version, the Atari 8-bit computer version, the C-64 version, the 5200 version, etc).
2. For whatever reason, Frye tried to implement "pixel-perfect collision detection". Which makes this game frustrating. The arcade version didn't use pixel-perfect collision detection to kill you. In order to be killed, a monster/ghost had to be at least 25% on top of you. Not only does that make for a much better game, it's actually much easier to program, since the collision detection need not be so precise.
3. The sound is horrible. That "bonk bonk bonk bonk". Just change the sound to something, anything, else.
I think just those three things would've saved this game. With just those three fixes, people would've forgiven all the other issues (like having vitamins rather than fruit, and the ghosts flickering and being all the same color, and Pac-Man not turning his face up or down when moving up or down, etc).
I just saw videos on Pac-Man that was supposedly made to be released on Intellivision and ColecoVision. They squashed the map instead of turning it sideways. Arcade games used a TV that was "portrait," while the ones at home were "landscape."
Atari was known for so many game variations in it's initial run of games 1977-1981. So why didn't Pac-Man have different mazes or layouts? They got cheap. Eventually the public would get frustrated with low-quality carts like this, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Donkey Kong, by Coleco, which was a cheap port too. But they also wasted the money people did spend in 1982-3.
NSG answers the eternal question: E.T. or Pac-Man? (E.T., by a nose.)
They are playable. There may be games that a kid might not want to play much after getting it. However, so many were manufactured just to be returned or sent to the landfill that that's where the profit went.
4:17 died at that point, nearly fell off the chair laughing
Pac man jr was awesome on the 2600 growing up
I actually liked this as a kid.
Sounds like you should have helped them write the story in the manual, that was a pretty good assessment of the graphics. ;) Not sure why he wouldn't just match the basic colors of the arcade game but I heard stories of Atari that there was some kind of rule at one time that only space games could have black backgrounds. :S
Honestly this game doesn’t deserve the bad reputation that it has. Now, I’m a gen Z, I’ve never played Atari, I never grew up with Atari. But I have played a few 2600 games. Mainly on a JavaScript emulator online and with some Atari compilations on my PC and DS. Pac-Man for the 2600 is not a bad game, it’s honestly pretty enjoyable. Graphics don’t mean crap if the game plays well, and pacman does! I like this game, highly recommended!
The maze was awkward, though--too much cornering. A better layout would've improved it drastically
I can't get over that. "Video Wafers"
Sweet review Phil! This game gets a lot of as I see it unfounded hated. It's still a Pac-Man game. Granted the Atari VCS/2600 Pac-Man port doesn't really hold up compared/contrasted to the arcade cabinet original. It's a good game in it's own right though.
The "vitiman" looks like a belt buckle from the days of King Arthur/Sir Lancealot!
Awesome!
i like the sounds too
This is one of my favourite Atari 2600 game
I bought it recently and still one of my favorites
To me this was the definitive version of PacMac
I've always felt the retrospective narrative around this game is exaggerated. Even as youngsters, we knew the VCS wasn't the arcade, we loved this game for what it was, and actually the sounds and things were/are so much part of its charm. Yes, could have been better, but still a fun conversion.
Hindsight is 20/20, but considering how well Atari did on sales with this cartridge, an upgraded port likely would have been more profitable than designing a new game system with better graphics.
Looks like it plays well, the only real complain that I see is that you can't tell how long you can eat the ghost.
This was my first 2600 game apart from Combat which came with the console. My previous game console was Pong. I thought PAC MAN was great compared to those games and still enjoy the sounds today
I don't care what anybody says, I really liked Atari 2600 Pac Man ! And I agree with you... the sounds particularly are so nostalgic... they hit all my nerd buttons ! Even to this day !
I heard they came out with a superior version of the game for Colecovision. But, for some odd reason, it was never released. Unless Namco gave Atari exclusive rights for their console only.
The Intellivision version was okay; looked good but was too slow.
Sadly - there are HOMEBREW 2600 programmers that faithfully reproduced PAC-MAN - this could have been MUCH BETTER than what was released..
It was pretty obvious that Atari didn't care by 1982. Their 2600 programmers left for Activision or Imagic. They said their focus was to make arcade machines, not home video games. They produced a couple good games like Berzerk, but if you bought something by "Atari" in 1982-3, chances are it was either enjoyable just by little kids who never got to go to the arcade, or their parents had to return it because it was too difficult like Raiders of the Lost Ark, Swordquest: Earthworld, or E.T.
i thought the ghosts were the same color. the emulators have different colored ghosts. i wonder if it was a modification later on in the release
One video said it flickered so much you couldn't see the different colors like in the arcade.
I would turn these copies of Pac-Man for the Atari VCS and turn them into i dunno,Pepsi Invaders copies.
Jel bolji pacman na Nes-u ili na Atari-ju? :)
PAC-MAN 8K for Atari 2600, it looks better than the Original in the arcade, it looks really good, and all in just 8k
It was the pack in tittle
At the time, I was the age I accepted it for what it was: Pac-Man at home.😸
they kind HAD to do this 1 flickering to fit more 2 sprites 2ataris memory so small THIS best they can do like Donkey Kong 3 THIS is the PRE RELEASE the deleloper was NOT done but atari said just push it out aka shovelware Have you seen firefly LOL
I think this game simply needs to be considered on its own terms. It wasn't perfect but frankly no 2600 game was. It was more fun than much of its competition. Plus it had a zillion game options so you could dial in the difficulty level just right.
As a kid i loved this game. Adults of the time evilized this game. But the game was a good pass time.
This game controls extremely well with a Slik Stik by Suncom, btw. You really have to get one if you're serious about playing Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man on your Atari 2600. The Genesis controller is actually pretty terrible for games like these!
I remember how disappointed I was with this game. Amazing the difference between this game and this Miss Pac man game!
Great review! VERY disappointing game. I played it once at a neighbor's house and couldn't believe how inferior it was to clones like Mouse Trap and Lock 'n' Chase. Not "bad", but I think gamers of the day were justified in expecting better, even from the 2600.
The crash was in 1983. Pac Man came out in early 82. Bit of lag to that theory.
Just because it was released a year before the crash doesn't mean it didn't contribute to it greatly
Investors panicked when they heard Atari profits for 1982 weren't going up 50% but only 15%. So much money was paid for manufacturing carts that exceeded the demand and would go to the landfill, as well as paying for licenses of arcade games, as well as Raiders fo the Lost Ark and E.T.; and so little money and time went into the actual games!
Atari 800 Pac-Man vs Atari 2600 Pac-man are radically different. I really loved the 800 version, but the 2600 version looked more like a ripoff version of Pac-Man. K.C. Munchkin was way more fun than the 2600 Pac-Man. What were they thinking with that version of Pac-Man?
Money, money, money, money, money.
to put it another way for the ultra conservative side:
Jesus came back as a ghost, eating wafers and demonic spirits while popping the occasional blood of christ pill
😉✌👍❤
It was..a mortal Sin to release this video abomination!
Tigervision's Jawbreaker was so far ahead of this game. I played that WAY more than I played this. Honestly the biggest disappointment of the time.
Alien was somehow a batter pacman game than this.
the poor programmer had the game ripped out of his hands at the alpha stage and is blameless.
what people forget is that even IF it was great, atari would never be able to push that many consoles due to consumer financial impact. the average consumer had at best, enough money for one console, so they'd need to buy 12 per to recoup atari's losses.
just a bit of info
I don't think so. But I did hear that he was not allowed to use a black background because it was reserved for "space games." Also they decided to save money by releasing it on a 4K ROM (like Coleco would do for Donkey Kong) instead of the 8K they used in other games for 1982. And of course, if you manufacture too many carts then for every one that sells, some of the money goes to the cart sent to the landfill.
this too me is the worst atarti 2600 game , was a huuuuge disapointment when came out , i had 2600 and many games my older sister somtimes played , but loved arcade pacman , she got for xmas ,her 1 and only vid game ever , when she played her exact words were , wtf is this , my sister was goodie 2 shoes didnt swear at all , thats how bad this game was , and still is
WintersLair. I guess you did not see the commercial, or look at the screen shot on the back of the box... don't know how you could think you were gonna get an exact arcade replica by looking at those...
Great story!
James Campbell who's gonna do that in 1981?
WintersLair. You haven't played ET or Raiders of the Lost Ark.
@@IslandBoy-808 Add Swordquest: Earthworld to the list. Their stupid contest made me think they were just throwing money away.
Also Pac-Man fever was sweeping the country. Kids would have played anything with dots in a maze. You can't expect 8-12 year-olds to be savvy consumers. But by late 1983 kids would be spending their money at the arcades or on software for their home computers. Of course to parents, a cartridge was a better time-for-your-money than rolls of quarters at an arcade.
Awful, terrible. Wasted my money on this piece of junk.