I4ve just watched Neil Chapmans first place inp.file on Pacman Midway (pacmanm) Great stuff Neil!! I was quit a good Pacman player myself back in the 804s (i scored 1 mil+ sometimes..) but I don4t remeber any patterns of my gameplay, only of the first 10 levels or so..

I have some questions for you pros at the game:

When Neil plays his Pacman inp file hes does like I did when I played the game in the arcade. He changes the pattern when the ghosts are blue for one second only and don4t even bother to take them.

Question 1: To score the maximum you must take all four EVEN when they ar blkue for on second?? If thats the case the maximum is MUCH harder than I thought!(And belive me I thought it was diffucult as it was..)

Question 2: Refering to Neils inp he changes his way of playing a lot in the beginning. Sometimes starting from the left and the next time from the right: Is this the "universal" pattern for the game to score over 3mil??

I remember that i only had 3 ways of playing i think.. One for the first 1-5 levels something and then i used the same pattern as long as i could,only changing it when those ghosts where blue so very short time.

My pattern involved great risks I remember hehe so it was not a good one...

Anyone who can explain a little more of the strategy of Pacman to me?

Regards

QRS

ps and once again Neil: Great Pacman inp.! AND Circus charlie as well!

-- QRS (qrs@telia.com), April 19, 2000

Answers

QRS:

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.

-- edward moore (emeprod@netzero.net), April 21, 2000.

Amazing that Pac-man still gets attention after 20 years.

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....

-- Tim Balderramos (pacmantab@hotmail.com), October 05, 2000.

Yes please send me some snapshots of the book Tim! I4m very inerested in finding out some strategies about that game!

Regards

QRS

-- QRS (qrs@telia.com), October 06, 2000.