MAME ROW #8: Pac & Pal
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When I was a kid, our local movie theater chose to add Prof-Pac to it's collection. I clearly remember that in a crowded room full of children and teenagers, the prime real estate that this cabinet occupied was a complete void of activity for at least five feet around the unit. I took naps there when I got sleepy until some older boys drew a swear word on my forehead.
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@GtBFilms said in MAME ROW #8: Pac & Pal:
Does a score achieved on the PC count?
Sure! We talked about it on the first round (the Phoenix round) and decided that it's OK to play on any platform you want. I forgot to mention it on the "rules". I'll put it from now on. ;-)
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@mediamogul Thanks for that, a google on 'mame 0.78 roms' soon got me the right version, and in lr-mame2003 my weird sound delay problems are gone.
Still can't manage to beat my PC score though - closest I've got was 37,000. I think I just got lucky one time!
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@GtBFilms said in MAME ROW #8: Pac & Pal:
my weird sound delay problems are gone.
Glad it's working for you. Man, we really have a great turn out this week. Pac-Man really brings out the players.
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Didn't get to play it yesterday, hopefully I'll manage today. Very much looking forward to it :)
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I've mentioned this in other areas of the forum, but in the spirit of level-grounded competition, I'll repeat it here. It should be noted that with all maze-based Pac titles, you'll always be working at a disadvantage through MAME's default control scheme. In an effort to maintain compatibility with all possible input devices, MAME allows full directional control from almost any input device. This raises a problem in games that were designed with only four directions in mind. When using a typical hatswitch DPad, an analog axis, or even an arcade setup with more than four directions, the controls become momentarily unresponsive and even confused when angles are input from the control device. Some of you may have already noticed this when navigating the tight corners in this game.
The easiest way to combat this is to stay away from analog joysticks entirely and stick to digital input. Even then, making clear and concise movements in four directions will allow for greater control with any digital input device that allows for more than four directions, which pretty much includes every modern digital input device. For anyone looking to get the type of control found in the original machine, I have posted instructions on the RetroPie wiki, explaining how to restrict a controller's movement to four ways using xboxdrv. Unfortunately, this technique only works with standard joystick input devices and not devices that identify as keyboard input.
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60780, round 8. That's my score for tonight. I'll try again tomorrow - I'm tired, it's been a long day.
The majority of my games I ended up getting scores around 20k or so, losing around stage 5. It definitely helps a lot to do well in the bonus stage. Also, stunning the ghosts is quite helpful and gives you points as well, so make the most of that.
I can't seem to upload the photo from my phone as it claims that it is too large:/ Anyone has any tips for that? Maybe try lowering the camera resolution, I suppose?
EDIT: pulled up my laptop, cropped and resized the image so it can be uploaded.
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@pjft wow, nice score! I'm getting better slowly but my best is still only 45700 and that was with a lucky bonus round too.
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74690!
I'm visiting the inlaws this weekend, so I guess I'll just have to stick that score to the wall and see if anyone can smash it by the time I get back!
I'm actually really enjoying this game now I've got the hang of it. The bonus level is still totally random though. It looks like if the ghost is the last card uncovered you get even more points, but there's no skill in it, it's just luck.
According to Twin Galaxies, I've got the 11th highest score in the world at this, and @pjft has the 14th highest!
http://www.twingalaxies.com/scores.php?platformid=46&gamename=Pac & Pal
That'll shut the wife up when she says I'm wasting my time!
Still a bit to go to beat the world number one though (1,206,050)!
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@GtBFilms Haha, great news - and congrats on the great score!
You have a very nice setup there - did you build it out of an actual Pacman machine, or did you get some decals for your cabinet?
At the moment I just have the Pi connected to the living room TV and play with PS3 controllers, but I do plan on building a proper cabinet with two joysticks and 6 buttons for each, for when the kids grow up. I do have to get some space at home, though.
I suspect that the fact that our scores end up in the Twin Galaxies high score list is more a factor of people not playing Pac & Pal that much in MAME rather than people having actually achieved those scores. I'd imagine that when the game was doing the rounds in the arcades, that these scores would be somewhat manageable - after all, we're getting them after just a dozen attempts or so :)
Still, it's certainly a good ego boost, haha! Enjoy the weekend with the inlaws good sir, and congrats on the score!
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Thanks @pjft ,
It's a picade kit from www.pimoroni.com, with a few modifications and embellishments.
It's not actually very big as you can see (beer for scale!).
Also it's only single player. But I got it because it's portable and very moddable. I added the Pacman decals, artwork etc. separately. Replaced a few bits of hardware etc. too.
My latest mod was having the bright idea to paint the joystick knob, which as you can see is wearing off already. Not my best idea then! The next upgrade planned is swapping out that 8" screen for a 12" one.
Yeah, I think most people have skipped over this game in MAME. I think I read somewhere that it wasn't available in many arcades and was pretty rare, so not many people will have persevered with it I imagine.
Still, I'm clinging on to that '11th in the world at a relatively unknown game' claim to fame! Ha ha!
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@GtBFilms said in MAME ROW #8: Pac & Pal:
I think I read somewhere that it wasn't available in many arcades
It was a Japanese exclusive. However, during the run of the Hanna-Barbera 'Pac-Man' cartoon series, Miru was sprite swapped for the Pac-Family dog Chomp-Chomp and was given a wide release under the title 'Pac-Man & Chomp-Chomp'. I played it a few times at my local skating rink when I was a kid. All I really remember is surprise and frustration at that damn dog dragging my fruit away.
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@mediamogul said in MAME ROW #8: Pac & Pal:
I played it a few times at my local skating rink when I was a kid
It's a bit off-topic but... Do you like skating? :-)
Aggressive inline skating is one of my favorite hobbies. I like it so much that I even put a hand rail on my backyard, just to do some tricks. You can see it on this video I posted on youtube:
I know that it looks a bit weird an adult doing this, but I can't help it! :D This is my hobby since I was 14. :-)
Cheers!
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Fantastic video! Those are some cute kids you got there too.
Do you like skating?
That's a loaded question, because I used to enjoy it very much. I had a pair of Roces that I used primarily a means of transportation around my city, but I also carried an aggressive wheel set that I would trade out for trick practice. I was never anywhere as good as you are now though.
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@meleu Just awesome. Clip 9 and 10 are insane! And of course you have cute kids: Chip of the old Block.
Annother question, did you ever skated on ice?I know that it looks a bit weird an adult doing this, but I can't help it! :D This is my hobby since I was 14. :-)
Even worse! I heard of lots of adults do retro gaming in spare time :) Unbelievable!
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@GtBFilms Thanks for the note. I had never seen one - that's good for reference.
I am planning on building a regular sized one, but I am now curious about the PiCade. What's the screen resolution, and how comfortable is the joystick? Is it 8-way? 4-way? Just curious, as it might be an interesting alternative - or stopgap measure.
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@pjft the standard 8" screen is only 800 x 600 resolution. It looks okay on most games because the screen is so small, but I wouldn't like to have that resolution on a larger screen. The replacement 12" ones are 1024 x 768 generally I think.
The kit is kind of expensive at £180, but they occasionally do deals for 10% off at random intervals (I got their Star Wars 'May the Fourth' 10% discount)
You have to add your own raspberry pi and power supply.
Although its expensive I priced out all the components and to be honest, reckoned I couldn't do it much cheaper myself, once you factor in several lots of postage costs from different suppliers.
Downside is the small screen, and it's only single player.
The joystick is an 8 way zippyy stick, it has a restrictor plate underneath to limit it to 4 way if required. It's okay, but a bit too clicky. I replaced it with a Seimitsu stick (LS-32-SC) which does feel nicer, especially with a heavier aluminium bat handle on it. The standard kit buttons are fine, not too clicky or stiff and I have kept the stock ones (although I've now moved them all around and used the black ones on the control panel instead of the coloured ones) apart from the two new illuminated buttons I put on the front for COIN and 1P START.
I play it a lot more than my bartop as it's lighter and more portable. Also handy for taking along to our monthly retrogaming club meetings. However the bartop has a PC in it and can handle Future Pinball etc, and also is two player. The bartop also looks a lot better with vector based games such as asteroids, star wars etc as it's got a lot more graphic processing power. I would love a full size cab but sadly don't have the space (plus my wife's arcade cab tolerance level has definitely now been reached!)
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@meleu wow, that's amazing. I have a friend who is into skateboarding tricks but nothing like that! Pretty cool!
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@GtBFilms said in MAME ROW #8: Pac & Pal:
Future Pinball
I love Future Pinball! Talk about a project, I'd love to make a full size virtual pinball table with a giant flatscreen monitor and a few smaller ones for the back glass and score readouts. Time, money and available space sadly prevent me from living the dream though.
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@mediamogul yeah, I've seen a few of these electronic pinball machine builds using full size HD TV and force feedback etc. on YouTube. They do look absolutely awesome.
I know a guy locally who was talking about building one, he's built a full size arcade cab with switchable control panels previously, but I don't think it's come to anything yet.
Sadly I have neither the cash, the expertise, nor the space for such a build. They look incredible though.
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