Pacman question

[Skeleton Man]

Hi guys,

Just wanted to query a couple of things about classic pacman:

1) If pacman hits a ghost after eating the last dot in the maze, does he still die ?
2) Can the ghosts change direction when pacman approaches ? (ie. ghost is heading right, pacman is behind, ghost stops and goes left)

I ask about the first because I was playing a web version of pacman and I happened to get hit by a ghost just as I ate the last dot and finished the level. It loaded the next level and then immediately took one life.  Is this correct behaviour ?

As for number 2.. the ghosts in this copy keep moving the same direction until they either hit a wall or pacman eats one of the flashing dots (sorry I don't know the name for these).

I really wish I could play the real thing, but a cabinet or even a cocktail is way outta my price range, and as it is I have to get rid of my squaretop incase we move in coming months.

If I was to some day purchase a cheap dedicated upright, could I turn around and put a different board in for pacman or another classic ? (I know there are emulators with like 50+ games on one board, but I want the real thing)

[dr galaga]

#1 - After you eat the last dot, the screen is over - even if a ghost is right on the other side of the eaten dot - YOU WILL NOT DIE!
#2 - Yes, but the eyes will go the direction that the ghost is going to go a split second before it chagnes course.
#3 - In the older games the pin outs were different for each game (Ms. Pac Man is just a chip modification so Ms. Pac will play in a Pac cabinet).  You could put a JAMMA harness on a game and use a JAMMA adapter on each PCB.  JAMMA is a standard pinout.  If you want to look at some pinouts for games, Mikes Arcade has a good list here.

The Doctor is in!
Nice to have some arcade chat here.

I recently acquired a cocktail table arcade game for next to nothing that is a faux Ms. Pac-man. It is called "Pac-Gal". Except for the small Pac-Gal print on the initial splash screen, it is identical to the real thing. Still, I'd rather have an original coctail Ms. Pac-man... worth thousands more. '>

[Skeleton Man]

Something tells me a generic (ms) pac-man would be the closest thing I would get my hands on..

I love the classics like pac-man, space invaders, etc..  but these days you hardly see cabinets/cocktails and when you do it's something like street fighter..

I'm a big pinball fanatic too..  I can't play to save myself, but I still enjoy it.. '>

I must admit it's a lot easier to find anything coin operated in this part of the world.. back in Australia I couldn't find a single pop machine for sale.. (actually not a single coin-op of any variety)..

[petey64]

I love those games as well, i would like to get a pinball machine but i do not really know what to look for when trying to buy one.

[Skeleton Man]

Quote (petey64 @ April 10 2006,11:49)

I love those games as well, i would like to get a pinball machine but i do not really know what to look for when trying to buy one.

Sounds like you've come to the right place then..  If it's coin operated in any way shape or form, someone here will help  '>

[Skeleton Man]

Quote (dr galaga @ April 10 2006,10:35)

#1 - After you eat the last dot, the screen is over - even if a ghost is right on the other side of the eaten dot - YOU WILL NOT DIE! #2 - Yes, but the eyes will go the direction that the ghost is going to go a split second before it chagnes course. #3 - In the older games the pin outs were different for each game (Ms. Pac Man is just a chip modification so Ms. Pac will play in a Pac cabinet).  You could put a JAMMA harness on a game and use a JAMMA adapter on each PCB.  JAMMA is a standard pinout.  If you want to look at some pinouts for games, Mikes Arcade has a good list here.

That pinout information is quite interesting..  how does a JAMMA harness work ?  I'm guessing like this ??

PCB -> JAMMA -> ROM

How does the JAMMA know the pinout for a particular game ? is this something you set manually ?

[dr galaga]

If you look at an arcade PCB (Printed Circuit Board) you will see at least one long connector (my Atari cabinets have 2).  Each connection does something - electicity input, ground, player one left, player two up, player one fire, etc. (and there are connections on both sides of the board, which is why you see part side and solder side).  In order to have a JAMMA cabinet, it has to be wired with a JAMMA harness.  My Ms. Pac-Man cocktail has a JAMMA harness installed in it (probably when it was converted from it's original game - Galaxian).  The person then ran wires from the harness to all of the proper spots (joysticks, fire buttons, player start, coin door, monitor, etc.).  My Ms. Pac-Man PCB has a JAMMA adapter on it like this:

The blue side plugs in to the PCB and the other side connects to the cabinet harness.  This adapter then takes all of the pins on the PCB and routes them to the correct pins for the harness.
There are some good close-ups of PCB connections on this page.

[Skeleton Man]

Is that where the name Dr Galaga comes from ?

When you get to like level 10 or so in Pacman, do you really just keep collecting keys ?  I noticed it went fruits, then some battleship (?), then a bell, and from there just keys for every subsequent level..

This is what I'm playing:

http://www.smiliegames.com/pacman/index.php3

Maybe someone can tell me how close to the original pacman it is..  I'm almost certain it doesn't have the hiding spots above the ghost pen in middle of the maze.. (supposedly if the ghosts don't see you, you can stay there indefinately)