Customer Reviews

Pac-Man (Atari 2600)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Pac-Man and ET were the two games for the Atari to cause the "end" of videogames. But I don't understand what's wrong with the game. So what if the maze is different? So what if the graphics are different? So what if the sounds are different?

At least the gameplay is the same! You guide Pac-Man around, munching off all the dots in the maze.

The sounds are beeps and bops. Like how every Atari game has them.

There's no music.

I mean, seriously. People are making a big deal out of nothing. This game is good the way it is.

Pac Man was and is an awesome game. It was the beginning of everything. Anyone who remembers opening their console on Christmas morning knows exactly what I am talking about. The only down side to the games of yester year is the crap that is produced now. Yes the game flickers and if you TV is too big you have to wait for the screen to move but SO WHAT! It is a fun and easy game to play that can be played for HOURS and any age group from the toddler in your home to your great grand ma. So to those who are dogging this game go back and respect your gaming history!!!! Without it you could not blow things up or hear bones break today.

Hello! Now lets see the graphics :
Well some people say they su**ks. But im not gonna blame because they could only do SO much on a early 8 bit system.
controles: Now ive found it hard soetimes to controle pac man (which makes it hard to play). But just make sure you press the joystick all the way.
gameplay (set up): well Atari made this pretty good. Its hard to control pac man,ghosts are flickering but it does't mind me.
I have 5 copies so I might sell one here.

I did not grow up with this game...the PAC-MAN for the 2600(VCS). Everyone apologizes for this game. If you remember this game and want to try it again...get it. Otherwise don't waste your money if you are looking for graphics from the arcade...in fact...don't look for anything that was in the arcade. The ATARI VCS (2600) was released in 1977 but PAC-MAN did not come out until 1982. Also they used a cheaper CPU for the Atari which led to poor graphics in the game. The pellets are now rectangles and the maze looks more like COMBAT filled with DOG DOO. The "FRUIT" is now a vitamin and is a hollow box and they didn't even try to name any of ghosts since they all look the same. Also the ghosts flicker a lot. The 2600 didn't allow a lot of moving opponents at one time so to fix this they turn on one ghost while tuning off another one causing them to flicker. Don't say I didn't warn you!!! IF you want a PAC game but you don't want a huge arcade. Get MS. PAC-MAN on the ATARI 7800 I really like this port for the ATARI!!! OH and the 7800 plays 2600 games and uses the same controllers as far as I know!!!

This is the first pac man on the atari 2600 and it became the most famous game ever. It is on almost every arcade machine and the joystick is a help to beat the game. The porpose of the game is to beat each maze by eating all of the pebbles without getting eaten by the ghosts. Each maze gets harder and harder and the ghosts get faster. This is a great game but it is hard and does not fit on most new tv's because it was made in 1983.

I was born in 1969. I grew up with video games and the arcade was my second home. When there was an Atari 2600 under the tree, I knew there really was a Santa Claus. I remember the hype and the commercials on TV months before it was released in 1981. I bought it the same day it was released.

That said, my experience entitles me to rate Atari 2600 Pac-Man as the worst video game port in history.

I opened up the box with some of the biggest anticipation of my life. I inserted the cartridge, turned on the console and the first thing I remember thinking was "What the hell is this?" This wasn't Pac-Man! The dots were rectangles. The fruit was a yellow square. The ghosts flickered. The tunnel was at the top and bottom of the maze. Pac-Man had eyes and he "chewed".

Game play is just as horrible. There is no opening music, just a series of 4 tones. There are no intermissions. The games collision detection is so sensitive that if one pixel of Pac-Man touches one pixel of a ghost, you die. When you eat a rectangle you hear a springy "boing" noise. None of the ghosts are smarter than the other and they don't chase you. They just wander around the maze randomly.

That didn't stop Atari from selling 10 million units. Had there been time after it's release for word of mouth to catch on, they would have sold considerably less. Because there was such little time to develop the game, programming was rushed to get the game out before Christmas. Knowing this, programmer Tod Frye practically black-mailed Atari into giving him a share of the sales or he would quit. While this may have made him a millionaire, his name is etched on this game forever. Why Atari didn't fire him after the games release is a mystery. While the rushed time schedule forced him to cut corners, his name will be forever associated with ruining Pac-Man on Atari.

Back in the day Pac-Man Fever was the fad. Naturally the 2600 conversion was one that made anyone who didn't seem like not being "hip" to the fad remain silent about how shoddy this release was.

This game was nothing like the arcade version. Due to the limitations of the hardware the monsters were turned into ghosts, Pac-Man becomes a one-eyed gumming monstrosity, abuse of various tones that made the game a DTMF simulator (a poor one at that) and the mazes were just...well, filled with cheap pills and wafers.

I was a child back then and I didn't know any better. I thought this was what the VCS was capable of. But then Ms. Pac-Man showed how a solid conversion could be done. It wasn't perfect but it was by far much better than this shoddy clone.

For the ultimate in irony, the game which offered a lot of Pac-Man gameplay including sound effects and more quite similar to the original wasn't even a Pac-Man game. The 2600 game was "Alien". Yeah, the 2600 game based on the film!

Anyway, here's a mystery solved: What was the real purpose of the 2600's E.T. cartridge? Simply to make the 2600 port of Pac-Man look good.

Viva Eddie Torres!

I unfortunately don't have this game anymore, I have not had my system for 7 years due to life circumstances. I have the Jakks games, and MAN! I love the sound effects of Atari 2600 better! The eating of pellets and power pellets, and ESPECIALLY when Pac Man crashes into the ghost monster. I love the sound effect of Pac Man eating ghost monsters! YEAH BOY!!!
Call me a dweeb if you must, but those are way better sound effects than the arcade version!

Atari fans had big hopes when Atari scored the home console rights for Pac-Man. Pac-Man debuted on the Atari 2600 in late 1981. Sales were very strong, but fans were disappointed in the overall product with its VERY poor graphics, constantly flickering ghosts, the "wonk" sound Pac-Man made when he ate a "video wafer", the bleeps and bloops when Paccy ate a ghost/power pellet/special treat, the weird layout of the maze, and the notorious and infamous Pac-Man "death scene" sound effect. Atari proved that the 2600 could have a good Pac-Man game the next year with Ms. Pac-Man, but Pac-Man on the Atari 2600 was the beginning of the end of Atari's reign as the Video Game Kings.

Well ac man was a fun game.


Pros
Its fun
good controls(if using sega genesis controller)if not ok then

Cons
Picture is bad.


Ps If you switch your picture to black and white it is much clearer.