Amazing that Pac-man still gets attention after 20 years.(posted 9203 days ago)In 1983, I became the World Champion with 3,197,360. At the time, I thought that was at least close to the high-end that you could get - color me wrong I guess! I only wished that the fraudulent scores of the day (some guy claimed 12 million once - and it made USA Today!) hadn't soured the milk of success for me. I guess I can only say that at least my place in history was finally secured with the TG Book of Records (thanks, TG!).
You'll need at least 5-6 patterns to reach the kill screen consistently. One for the Cherry, one for Strawberry to Apple, one for Apple to 3rd Key, one for 3rd Key to 7th Key (some Apple patterns work here too), one for 7th and 8th Key, and one for 9th Key on (assuming slow board - pacman gets eaten just above the lower-left energizer in the demo).
The "split-second boards" (1st Galaxian, 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 6th Keys) are indeed tough. Have you ever heard of the grouping strategy in Ms. Pacman - where you can crowd the ghosts on top of one another? This is what you have to do in Pac-Man. Get them on top of one another and then lure them to an energizer - it becomes as if you are contending with one ghost instead of four. I do have a pattern that can "almost" get one 1600 on these boards, but I get eaten by the fourth ghost just before I reach him as he turns back to his dangerous color about 95% of the time.
Check out the "How to win at Video Games" book. It lists patterns that are similair to each other and should be easiest to learn. Its 18 years old, so it may be tough to find. I have a copy that I could send the snapshots to if you need it....