Post subject: Ms. Pac-Man (Tengen version)
Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498
Yeah, yeah, I know. Just from the name Pac-Man, it sounds like a run of this might not be all that entertaining... :/ Well anyway...Atari, alias Tengen, put out a rather kick-ass version of this. Quick list of the features: - 36 maze layouts, spread out across four 32-level sets of Arcade, Mini, Big, and Strange. - A "Pac Booster". Similar to the arcade version's speedup hack, it lets you move faster while the ghosts still move at the same slow speed. :p - 4 speed settings: Easy, Normal Hard, and Crazy - 2-player simultaneous. Hell yes. :) - You get four 1-ups: the traditional 10000 points, and also at 50k, 100k, and 300k. - Power pills do work in the levels past 17, although they still don't work on 17... ;) - Ends at level 32. Stupid, because if you cheat to start at 33, you can just keep going until 255 and wrap around to 0 and then 1 again, with no problems...d'oh! >_< - The Strange levels have 7 new fruits, worth 3000 to 10000, so randomness doesn't start until level 15. So...I was wondering what a perfect-score run of this might look like, so I did four levels of hardest settings. This is just a test. A "real, gonna submit to Bisqwit" run would probably be 2 players, and have better ghost manipulation (i.e., not take a great hell of a time to finish level 4...especially since the two players can cover more of the screen, now that I think about it)...I did try to provide some entertainment while waiting for an opening though. Another thing to keep in mind for anyone that might want to do a real run of this, that I didn't get the chance to show in the video: fruit manipulation will account for half of the points, and is quite easy to do. When I tested in the later levels (past 14), it didn't even take much moving around differently for me to force the 10000-point flowers every time. :p So...thoughts? Main thing I'm worried about is, how good-looking would this type of run be able to get?
Former player
Joined: 5/31/2004
Posts: 375
I'd most definitely like to see a 2p run. I'm curious, though; are there any differences between the NES, SNES, and Genesis versions?
Joined: 4/25/2004
Posts: 498
Not that I know of...the NES/SNES/Genesis versions are pretty much identical. In fact, the only non-gfx/sound change I found was that the 16-bit versions fix the 3rd Arcade maze (pear/banana level...there are extra dots along the sides in the two earlier NES and Game Gear versions)... The "most different" one, I feel, is the Game Gear version. Same 36 mazes and settings and all, but the graphics and controls are so altered that it feels like a whole different game...even the new Strange mode fruits are different. o_O ...Well, actually, now that I think about it...the "start past the end of the game" RAM cheat/glitch works differently between the NES and SNES versions, I've found. If you start at level 33 of Arcade mode in the SNES version, you play a few more levels of Arcade...then start doing the other three maze sets (Mini, Big, and Strange), one after the other, with wacky neon glitch colors. And after you beat Strange, the game crashes. o_O I'd love to see a rec of that, but it would have to start from a savestate, since there's no "legit glitch" I know of to start at level 33... :/
Post subject: Ms. Pac-Man (Tengen)
Player (56)
Joined: 10/16/2012
Posts: 233
Location: Milwaukee, WI
As I first started playing Ms. Pac-Man for the NES with my brother, I saw that if you crash into the second player in 2P mode, you fly in the opposite direction at max speed. That got me thinking...how fast can Ms. Pac-Man get? I decided to make a little test in TASEditor here. It turns out, rather fast. Could something like this be accepted on TASVideos? I believe the crash mechanic especially gives extra entertainment value to this game. Here is a temp encode of the first level, for those who don't wanna download the movie file.
If I could have a tool-assisted real life, I'd... Being a novice, I'd probably load the wrong state, have the IRS AI bankrupt me, and eventually make me want to kill myself and redo 11 years of hard work.
Joined: 7/10/2013
Posts: 33
Location: Małopolskie, Poland
If it is faster, why not?
Editor, Experienced player (848)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
Looks sweet. The thing I would criticise is your goal choice: with the bounce mechanic, I definitely think a run aiming for score would be more entertaining.
Player (56)
Joined: 10/16/2012
Posts: 233
Location: Milwaukee, WI
xy2_ wrote:
Looks sweet. The thing I would criticise is your goal choice: with the bounce mechanic, I definitely think a run aiming for score would be more entertaining.
I got ya. That would be very cool to watch, especially with 2 players eating ghosts at once. Time to get to work on a demo of the first level like this. EDIT: I just started working on the demo, and so far, I've eaten almost all of the board (save for two corners of Power Pellets), and not one cherry has showed up. I'm sure it should have shown up by now, though. My hypothesis is that I'm going too fast for the game to recognize I've eaten enough dots for it to show up (even though that sounds stupid), so can someone investigate exactly how this version of the game decides when to give you the fruits? The movie file is right here for investigation.
If I could have a tool-assisted real life, I'd... Being a novice, I'd probably load the wrong state, have the IRS AI bankrupt me, and eventually make me want to kill myself and redo 11 years of hard work.
Player (56)
Joined: 10/16/2012
Posts: 233
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Finished a small movie of the first level in 2567 frames (or 42.71 seconds). Ms. Pac-Man disappears at the end lol Unless there's a different way I can optimize it through a change of route, I'd say that's pretty nice for a first run. How's this play style through all the level up until [when is the end of the game according to TASVideos standards? I say 9 because of the Junior cutscene, but I remember it being 32 levels long]?
If I could have a tool-assisted real life, I'd... Being a novice, I'd probably load the wrong state, have the IRS AI bankrupt me, and eventually make me want to kill myself and redo 11 years of hard work.
Editor, Experienced player (848)
Joined: 5/2/2015
Posts: 696
Location: France
For the end of game, you can let the TAS run until the kill screen. After maze 21, the levels are the same, so you can copy paste input until the kill screen.
Spikestuff
They/Them
Editor, Publisher, Expert player (2633)
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xy2_ wrote:
For the end of game, you can let the TAS run until the kill screen.
Kill screen is only in the Arcade port of Ms. Pac-Man, not the NES port. If you are focusing on points, you want the Arcade version for the Kill screen.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
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Spikestuff
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Before I make a third post... What did I do wrong with FCEUX?
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
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Player (56)
Joined: 10/16/2012
Posts: 233
Location: Milwaukee, WI
By using a level select code on the game, I discovered that there is an "ending cutscene" to reach after level 32. It says "Act 4: The End", and what happens is Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man wave goodbye to you, and exit. Then, a few juniors move around randomly on the screen, and the game ends.
If I could have a tool-assisted real life, I'd... Being a novice, I'd probably load the wrong state, have the IRS AI bankrupt me, and eventually make me want to kill myself and redo 11 years of hard work.
jdaster64
He/Him
Joined: 12/1/2012
Posts: 103
Location: New Donk City
Fruits in Ms. Pac-Man appear after eating two specific numbers of dots (64 and 176, iirc); I think it works the same in this version. In any case, if you hit the second trigger while the first (or its score) is still visible, you won't trigger the second. Happened all the time on certain boards when I played casually on the SNES version, notably Strange-4. I'm curious if there are any major differences between the NES version and the others; SNES / Genesis are identical except for the graphical style on Strange-32.
Spikestuff
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Did this on FCEUX yesterday, found out that NesHawk can actually show it, instead of random garbage. -video deleted- Scratch that, I fixed my issues, so I can use FCEUX just fine. Here's the first 2 levels done. Link to video
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
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Wow, that really was Crazy! It didn't stop being entertaining; in fact, I watched it over a second time. Looking forward to more progress!
Spikestuff
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I might have to look into it again, as it doesn't look like bumping saves any time, it's more of an entertainment tradeoff... well, except for that last bump on stage 1 where it's actually useful and faster... I'll do a no bumps over a large area to verify it, and upload that one and bring out an answer... also it gives me an excuse for a second and possibly much better route.
CoolKirby wrote:
Wow, that really was Crazy! It didn't stop being entertaining; in fact, I watched it over a second time. Looking forward to more progress!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed... and very punny.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
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Joined: 1/13/2007
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so what if pac-booster is used AND you bounce? :)
Player (56)
Joined: 10/16/2012
Posts: 233
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Here is my WIP for the Max Points run. I got two levels done. There's one close call in this one And here is my own encode, for those that don't wanna download. Spikestuff, whoa. You were way more clever than me coming up with that :O . That's a nice run, I love it! Makes me wanna go back and improve the first level of my WIP.
If I could have a tool-assisted real life, I'd... Being a novice, I'd probably load the wrong state, have the IRS AI bankrupt me, and eventually make me want to kill myself and redo 11 years of hard work.
Spikestuff
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Video (ReHawkedv1) Link to video What Changed?
    Switched to BizHawk. Avoids the Love Bumps. (Unless Required, no love bumps so far.) Orb Eating Madness. Avoids Ghosts (No shit)
Bumps waste time, unless when turning (it was performed in the other video). I am updating Stage 2, I did it half awake. :V
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Post subject: A single maze complete, two more to come.
Spikestuff
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I hate this maze layout: Link to video
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Spikestuff
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I really do. Link to video
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Spikestuff
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3 to 5 in a single video Link to video And that's another maze done, now wha... actually, this is better than the one I just did.
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Looking good! Does the ending take any more time when you let that "big power pellet" sound effect play out (end of Level 4) as opposed to not (end of Level 5)?
Spikestuff
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CoolKirby wrote:
Does the ending take any more time when you let that "big power pellet" sound effect play out (end of Level 4) as opposed to not (end of Level 5)?
No, it's the same amount of time, when you compare the two (when I checked).
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Spikestuff
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Link to video I'll be fixing the input around the ending bit most likely if I can. Nope, it's slower if I want to fix it.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
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