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intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Thu Sep 16, 2021 4:46 pm

This quietly dropped 3 days ago: a stunningly well-crafted arcade port of the original Pacman to Amiga. Built "on Amiga 500 using 100% 68k assembly."
pacman2.png

The game-field looks perfect, and the audio sounds like the real deal. It's absolutely a marvel to witness.

It's not a pixel perfect port, as you'll see, because the programmer decided to (and rightfully, I think) move the score, level, men remaining and fruit to the right of the screen thus maximizing the 4:3 monitor's vertical height for the game's maze. Some other ports from back in the day used to do this, (Arkanoid, Time Bandit, Gauntlet, etc.) and it makes sense to do it here, too.
pacman1.png

That being said, the text centering looks a little off, but that seems an easily fixable issue.

Notable:
  • It appears the game is designed specifically for PAL machines as I think the developer is from France, so keep that in mind. The original Japanese/US Pacman arcade games would have been NTSC but he made the game appear to play at the correct speeds, and the sounds play as they should. They sound fantastic.
  • 1-player only
  • Uses Port 1, which means you need to remove your mouse and insert a joystick (something that makes me a little nervous to do on original hardware, especially my L-bracketed A1K metal-shrouded mouse plug)
pacman3.png

This new Pacman for Amiga this looks and sounds amazing. Not sure how it'll play out, but if you have the appropriate hardware (or even for emulation) I'd go grab it in case the IP folk come looking up games folks might play on obsolete hardware, stat.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:14 pm

I decided to use a program (PALcon) to flip my Rejuve'd Amiga 1000 to PAL mode so I could play this game on that system.

The downside of using that setup is that it uses a :commodore: 1080 monitor (which I love) and once I flip to PAL mode I have to use a long plastic TV adjustment tool to fix the vertical adjustment. It's a pain in the ass compared to a 1084S, for example. But after a bit of "trying to find that hole" I got it figured out just right.

Guys - this game is solid. It's one of the most perfect arcade ports on ancient hardware I've ever seen.

Sure, the original arcade Pacman was made on NTSC hardware, but the dev - in PAL Land - seems to have really taken his time in making sure the speed of his port matched the original very very well. And the sounds? They're freaking perfect (while, interestingly, in left/right stereo "Amiga style", which is kind of funny).
If you have a machine you can flip to PAL mode, this game is a massive win.

The most commonly stated words from EVERY Amigan: If Only.

If-Only this kind of amazing 80's arcade port had been made more and more and more beyond the dozen or so we got (Arkanoid, Gauntlet II, Golden Axe, Star Wars, etc.). But let's not go there and think about that. Just grab your favorite joystick and go for it.

No quarters required. <3

User avatar
BLUELiGHT

Posted Mon Sep 20, 2021 12:32 am

intric8 wrote:
Thu Sep 16, 2021 4:46 pm
  • Uses Port 1, which means you need to remove your mouse and insert a joystick (something that makes me a little nervous to do on original hardware, especially my L-bracketed A1K metal-shrouded mouse plug)
Uhm are you sure about this? I played it on my stock Amiga 1000 and I didn't have to switch the mouse and joystick around.
When the game loaded I pressed the fire button on the joystick (in port 2) and ta-dah! It worked seamlessly.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:48 am

Yeah, that was an error. The instructions I found said to use port 1 but in practice I was able to use port 2 as well. Maybe it was a French to English translation thing that meant “one port” or one joystick.

I didn’t have any issues with it. Thank goodness as the idea of wiggling out the metal-shrouded mouse kind of freaked me out now that the temps are cooling off and the heater is starting to kick on.

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obitus1990
USA

Posted Tue Sep 21, 2021 7:01 pm

And to think...guys were getting paid back in the day to produce positive crap ports of arcade games for the Amiga.

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fxgogo
Twickenham , U.K.

Posted Wed Sep 22, 2021 5:38 am

It looks amazing. Does it have the little loophole that the original arcade did where you can sit in a specific location in the top right of the map and none of the ghosts go there?
@intric8 I think you need to stop fighting it and just join the superior video format. PAL for life... :lol:

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Wed Sep 22, 2021 8:29 am

Does it have the little loophole
Not sure - good question! It is supposed to be programmed to utilize all of the original ghost patterns.

The only bug I've seen so far is when you use a power pill and eat a ghost, all of the ghosts disappear during that sound effect.

Good to see you around here again, Obitus. Hope you and yours have been able to pick up the pieces in Louisiana and are doing OK now.

User avatar
obitus1990
USA

Posted Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:31 pm

Thanks, Eric. Things are in the early stages of recovery, at least immediately near me. But large areas south of me still do not have power nor water safe to drink, going on 22 days now.





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