QRS:(posted 9369 days ago)I'm certainly not in the Billy Mitchell, Chris Arya, etc. league in terms of perfect games but I have reached the kill screen a few times with a high score of 3,192,570. As you probably know, there are a number of different patterns for taking care of each different screen. I can tell you that some of them that I use start to the left and others start to the right. Even in the first 5 screens I use at least 3 different patterns and change them on the fly towards the end of each screen in order to grab as may ghosts as possible after an energizer.
And yes, the perfect score of 3,333,360 (or whatever it is) does require that every blue ghost be eaten! For those who think that a perfect game on PacMan is a breeze because of the ability to use patterns, this is an astonishing feet. Timing is oh so crucial on every one of those energizers in the latter rounds to get every point possible. Obviously, lots of time has been invested in learning how to play the game at that level.
I believe there are trade secrets to getting all of the ghosts together so that it is possible to eat every ghost at every energizer but I haven't the faintest idea what they are and I haven't the discipline or inclination to learn them on my own; so I'll be content with being one of those in the 2nd or 3rd tier of players who can play to the kill screen with little trouble but will never come close to a perfect game.