Notice how Pac-Man only eats ghosts while facing right. If Pac-Man eats a ghost while moving left, he will turn right to eat it and then turn back left.
Hmm, D+, you're too generous. I thought I'd point out though that you forgot to mention the fact that you can go through the holes in the wall to transport quickly to the adjacent side of the maze (although I'm sure anybody who knows anything about video games is more than aware of this ; )
Wow, I can't believe you just did a review of the old Atari Pac-Man game. Now THAT is a blast from my past. Even though I'm sure I enjoyed it, I'll never know how or why. : )
I have an atari 2600 I picked up my first atari game on 11/27/2011 yesterday and the game was pacman I know it's a crappy game but I needed an atari game
@DiabloArcade this game was created in a rush. they wanted to sell Pac Man during the holiday season (i think they had 6 weeks to finish? i could be wrong on that). the game probably could've had better reviews if they spent more time on it even if it is an old console
The reason the ghosts flicker is cause the atari 2600 only was able to show 2 sprits at one time so they failed in trying to make it look like there were 4 ghosts instead of 1
@mgabrysSF I definitely mis-remembered the fruit part. As for the maze, yeah there was only 1, but it could have been designed MUCH better in this port.
The 2600 version was my first exposure to Pac-Man and it left me baffled at anybody who said they liked Pac-Man. It was 20 years before I tried an arcade cab and I finally "got" it.
I remember getting this for my birthday. I actually cried when I played it because it was such a piece of shit. The weirdest thing about this game was that it's sound effects were used everywhere, including that annoying "do-dah do dah" thing at the beginning of each maze or life.
something avgn would say- the graphics on this game are balls and look at the ghosts there jumpin of the fuckin walls are they on crack or something maby they died from taking too much crack now there having a bitch fit from crack withdraw and look at pac man he doesnt even bother to turn his face when he moves hes like ''oh im pac man bitch i dont have to look around the corner '' what a douche....pac mans a fudge pacer
Just one little thing, the correct Pac-Man era name for "Power Pellet" is "Power Pill". I think the name Power Pellet is very early political correctness to prevent drug use by kids.
Sure this version has a shitty level, but you can't really go complaining about the number of levels if the arcade version had the same amount correct me if I'm wrong :D
@iopkluj123 The redundant maze design was the bigger problem. The fact that the only maze was really weak magnified the fact that it was the only level.
Why the ATARI company fucked up the Pac-Man franchise like this piece of crap in 1982 is still a mystery. The original Arcade version from 1980 is still today a very fun game to play :)
WEIRD, I had this game when I was little and I played the shit out of it...I don't remember it looking so HORRIBLE! I guess when you're seven and it's 1985 you don't know any different.
By the way, what emulator did you use? My Hard Drive just died. :(
But I got a new one and now my computer is like all over again. It has Vista, and Im wondering what the best emulator is that wont screw up the computer.
You brought up a good point here, saying that since this is Pac-Man, this should have really high expectations. But even still, back then when the Atari came out, it was an extremely huge deal to not need permission to go to an arcade with limited quarters. Just playing at home, no matter how bad this version of Pacman might be, I would say "Hell yeah! Screw Pitfall!"
If my computer's color scheme wouldn't screw up every time I emulate an Atari game, I would go right out and get a ROM for it.
Sure, maybe the maze didn't change, what with the limited memory of the 2600, but the ghosts did get faster as you went along, which made it rather challenging.
Yeah, but the person I was replying to said the fruit was an asterisk... or something.... and I asked "what is the square supposed to be?" meaning I think thats the fruit instead.
And I didnt even realize the ghosts got faster, thats cool.
@gamegod9000 ah. Also, the crazy flickering didn't exist when I played this on my 2600 back in 1983 or something. Flickering is just a problem with the emulation, I think.
@Dirtfire just to clarify, yes, there was some flickering with the ghosts when I originally played it back in 1983 or so --flickering similar to what you'd see in an old movie projector. The flicker was regular, and ghosts never disappeared.
There, I think that makes for a clear picture of what the game really looked like on the 2600.
@Dirtfire no Wrong, go online google and checkout the game crash with ET and Pacman Atari, they burried 5 million copies due to 95% of them being sent back from distrubutors. The game did flicker back in a day, and was fuckin horrible along with ET, mom dad bought these for me when i was 9yrs of age as the original game wasnt in homes then just in arcades!
that was a funny review. Lots of laughs. I was 10 years old in 1982. It was the 2600 for me and lots of pac man. Then pitfall harry. I dug the old 2600 out of the attic the other day. need a power cord.
I recently recieved an atari 2600 in the mail as part of a retro game colllection I've started, and got 4 games with it.
One of which is Pac Man. I played it and yes, there is fruit that appears randomly and in the same spot as the arcade, it just looks like a rectangle.
and oddly, my game does have flickering, but not to the point where it looks like the ghost are disappearing. it's a partial body fliccker where only part of there body flickers so it's easy for me to keep track of them.
Am I the only one who really doesn't see what's so great about Pac-Man? I thought there PLENTY of better arcade games back then than just eating dots and avoiding the "octopus ghosts" as I used to call them.
my dad had an old atari 2600 when he was a kid, and he told me he had this exact game. i told him it got bad reviews, and he was surprised because he said it was a blast. it looks okay actually. i mean they improved it a crapload with ms. pacman and junior pacman, but this was before those two games, so you cant expect much. it looks like a blast if you turn up the difficulty. the only problem i can find with it are the fliker ghosts. and i think the arcade game only had 1 level too
This is so nostalgic. The ATARI's sounds, the console, the game cartridges. I am 32, and can almost see myself playing with my firends in the eighties. God, time passages real quick.
4 years old and your first videogame system was the atari 2600?? That's exactly how I started, only it was one year earlier and my first two videogames were Ms. Pacman and Megamania.
Atari definitely does NOT receive a pass for how much this game sucked. Even Magnavox found a way to make their version (called K.C. Munchkin) much, much better with limited system power.
@johnrock882 That doesn't excuse it from being a poor game. Not to mention that this version was a prototype that was rushed to make a strict deadline.
@johnrock882 The prototype part is in question, but the fact that it was rushed is legit, which gives a lot of explanation to why it came out the way it did. I can't really give the game bonus points on my rating based on the fact that it was made too quickly, the bottom line is it was a sub-par port.
@johnrock882 I agree it's not fair to knock this games regarding visual quality. But I do remember buying Pac Man back in the 80's and was disappointed. I played Pele Football and Mission Command an awful lot. Still have the Atari somewhere..lol
The 2600 is more powerful than you think. The writer of Pac Man admitted later that he could have made a much better translation of the arcade game but was under pressure to get it done quickly so he didn't have time to code it properly. The other Pac Man based titles for the 2600 looked much better so it proves Pac Man could have been done a lot better than it was.
@gamewizard yea but they released the shit to the world and duped everyone and practically stole everyones $35.oo bucks! definitly the biggest failure of expectations imo.i got bored of this quick,and part of the PM legacy died. btw how much $ ya think has it/the name raked in up 2 now including all merch?
Ummm... no, there are actually a good # of VCS cartridges it won't play. It is due to the various cartridge designs that were made over the years. Sears in particular made some odd-shaped games.
If you go cwazy wit da joystick, you can make PacMan float. (At least that's what we used to do when we were bored.) Go into the bottom tunnel, come out the top, then go crazy on the joystick like you're jerking off to PacMan; no float/ repeat. Dude, I know you can make it work.
even tough these games where shitty , we loved them because it was the only thing available at that time plus the fact that we probably received them during christmast time made it like a magical ghift/game , anyway thats the way i see it .
Dude you are so funny about how you express yourself about the game. It was fantastic!! Hella funny all the way LMAF!!! Not bad for a 3 min video. I'm rating you a 5 STAR!!!!!!!!
Rush Job? Are you retarded? This is the Atari 2600 not Xbox 360. This was cutting edge at the time it was released. Pac-man was much better than Ms. pac man
@mikeusat Yes it was a rush job if you compare it to the arcade version or the adaptation on other platforms. At the time, it was a huge disappointment even though it sold a lot.
Yup, I remrmber playing this game back in the late 70s. I was only in first grade and my parents never let me spend money on arcade games (waste of a quarter I guess). So I never got to play the arcade version of Pac-Man until I was much older. When I got the Atari version I had no idea how unfaithful this port was to the original. So I thought it was great! LOL! Now I know better. NES version kicks this one's ass!
this is my batch file for running stella (atari emulator). this one gives the old crt tv feeling, which changes the graphics a lot. maybe you'd like to try: @echo off echo. echo Please specify native display resolution: set x=0 set /p x=Maximum supported number of columns: set /p y=Maximum supported number of rows: if %x% equ 0 goto bypass set /a z=%y%/240 stella -fullscreen 1 -fullres %x%x%y% -tia_filter zoom%z%x -video gl -tv_tex normal pacman.bin goto eof :bypass stella pacman.bin :eof
Nice review. Surprised you didn't comment on the hideous sound. DONK-DA-DONK-DONK-DONK!! I'm still amazed they released the game in this state. They were sitting on the most potentially lucrative arcade property in history, expecting to make millions of dollars on it, maybe you could put more than one programmer to work on it?
D+ reminds me of a bad school report! Anyway one of the reason why the port was so shit was because the 2600 did not even have video ram, can you believe it?! Everything on the screen had to be drawn "live" by tracing the electron beam across the TV and firing "colours" at it to generate an image!
I think I made myself believe this game was fun back in the day. I just didn't want to accept it was bad, so I think I imagined it was a great game, but now I know, it's one of the worst translations of all time.
Sadly, when I was young, Pac-Man was the first Atari 2600 game I had to get. It was a must-have game.
Yes, it was rushed.
Yes, the ghosts flicker was terrible.
Yes, the maze looked nothing like the arcade original.
No, this game did not stop me from pouring quarters into the arcade machine.
Yes, I should have gotten an Atari 5200 because it had a better version of this game, but that system came out after I had received the Atari 2600 as a birthday present.
I have an opinion about why Atari 2600 games were made like that. If they would of sold an Atari 2600 with the same exact graphics of the coin operated machines back in 77, the machine would have cost over $10,000.00. For Atari to cut it down to an affordable price, they did the best that they could even sacrificing the great graphics of the coin operated counterpart. If you understand what I am saying.
The graphics in pacman 2600 are WAY worse than other atari 2600 games. It's so bad because they spent no time porting it similar to the ET game that caused Atari to die.
ET didn't cause Atari to die. That's a myth. The Atari and its games continued to be sold nearly a decade after the release of ET. I know because I was buying them. ET was also one of the best-selling cartridges on the system, and I never knew anyone who hated it back then. Now, almost 30 years later, people look back on it, don't know how to play it, get frustrated, and assume everyone hated it and it caused a nonexistent "video game crash."
You evidently didn't realize I wasn't claiming that Atari died completely due to ET. It is still in existence today. They took huge losses on ET and Pacman by creating a supply far greater then actual demand, and that destroyed their complete dominance over the market. They existed afterward but never again would they have a monopoly on the market like they did before the crash.
You said "caused Atari to die." I know you didn't mean completely, but it didn't die at all because of it. Systems like the Famicom and others were coming out which were superior; ET or no ET, better systems were already beginning to compete with the 2600. There were a lot of factors, not just ET, that caused them to stop dominating the market.
Sorry but that is completely wrong. 2600 had been off the market for at least three years before famicon came out. In fact famicon had to come packaged with ROB because no store would sell video games after the crash.
2600 crashed in 1983-84.
Nintendo came out in 87 so your theory could not possibly work. No store was selling video games AT ALL following the crash, it was not because of competition. It didn't crash Atari, it crashed the entire VG industry in America.
One of the reasons Atari declined was Jack Tramiel(who founded Commodore Business Machines) bought Atari's consumer division and thought that computers would destroy game consoles so he focused on the Atari computer. He actually froze production of 2600 titles because he felt that a computer would do better. That's also why the 7800 was delayed so long.
So like I said, there were multiple factors, not "ET destroyed the Atari 2600." Tramiel destroyed it.
Okay so it was released in 85 but even then it was STILL to late for it to have had any impact on the game crash.
The 2600 was making barely any sales to begin with so a production freeze was not what hurt it. Nor were the titles frozen, as they continued to make them until the very end of the game crash. You are indeed correct about Tramiel doing these things and yet that is not what caused it.
ET was vastly overproduced and ended up having so many unsold cartridges they had to be buried.
Freezing production of games in order to focus on a completely different system - a computer - would certain hurt the frozen system. And if 2600 titles were not selling at all, then one unselling title cannot be blamed for that, anyway.
They were never buried. This is an unsubstantiated urban myth which various magazines and websites have continued to propagate.
I said the SYSTEMS were not selling, the games were continuing to sell at a huge rate. I have seen nothing to substantiate that Tramiel prevented new games from being developed and marketed, indeed the mere EXISTENCE of ET and Pac-Man proves he continued the development.
It was not ET failing to sell that was the issue, it was that they produced millions and millions of copies anticipating a huge sale that never came.
The burial is true. Bruce Enten issued official statements confirming it.
Tramiel did freeze production of games. That doesn't mean third parties couldn't continue to do so, unlike Nintendo, etc nobody needed permission to create games for the system. But he did freeze production of console games.
The freeze came a year after ET, so it doesn't prove he continued the development at all.
Enton's statement was that they dumped broken and inoperable copies. It was not exclusive games; it also included damages consoles, empty boxes, etc. I.E. they threw away trash.
I bought the game in 1981. Back then all my friends had a copy, so being a Pac-Fanatic I had to have one too. The game wasn't true to the original but I still played it more than any other game I had. Then we bought an Apple II with that version of Pac-Man. That was the best! It had a small effect on the crash, however along with ET it let some of us down. Both games were rushed, and could have been alot better.
dude no offence but in1987 nintendo was at its hype, so y get an a2600 rather den an nes???????????
orankeed 1 week ago
Notice how Pac-Man only eats ghosts while facing right. If Pac-Man eats a ghost while moving left, he will turn right to eat it and then turn back left.
acolyteman 3 weeks ago
What did you think of it when you were 4?
BigDuke6ixx 1 month ago
Hmm, D+, you're too generous. I thought I'd point out though that you forgot to mention the fact that you can go through the holes in the wall to transport quickly to the adjacent side of the maze (although I'm sure anybody who knows anything about video games is more than aware of this ; )
KurtKokaine1 1 month ago
Wow, I can't believe you just did a review of the old Atari Pac-Man game. Now THAT is a blast from my past. Even though I'm sure I enjoyed it, I'll never know how or why. : )
KurtKokaine1 1 month ago
I have an atari 2600 I picked up my first atari game on 11/27/2011 yesterday and the game was pacman I know it's a crappy game but I needed an atari game
whn68 2 months ago
@whn68, I love Atari, just hooked it back in my garage a few months back, but man you went for pure shit for your first and only game. lol
EastCoastDude99 1 month ago
i dont like this as much as the arcade version
kyogre192 2 months ago
Oh so you were born 1983?
sMCCarthyTV1 2 months ago
@AngelDelMar254 that was.ET for atari, which is far worse in this.
zombiekidcrazy 3 months ago
@DiabloArcade this game was created in a rush. they wanted to sell Pac Man during the holiday season (i think they had 6 weeks to finish? i could be wrong on that). the game probably could've had better reviews if they spent more time on it even if it is an old console
AngelDelMar254 3 months ago
Hate me,.... but i LIKE THIS GAME.
and people look at it as bad beacuse of its flaws, well guess what it was fucking 1981 when it was made.
DiabloArcade 3 months ago in playlist Atari Reviews
Didnt They Burry Left Over Pac-Man Games along with Left over E.T. Games
amrajr218 3 months ago
The reason the ghosts flicker is cause the atari 2600 only was able to show 2 sprits at one time so they failed in trying to make it look like there were 4 ghosts instead of 1
11TechGuy 4 months ago
You're confusing ms PAC man with the fruits and maze complaints
mgabrysSF 6 months ago
@mgabrysSF I definitely mis-remembered the fruit part. As for the maze, yeah there was only 1, but it could have been designed MUCH better in this port.
AqualungGameReviews 6 months ago
@AqualungGameReviews agreed...i was bored like crazy after playing this game after just 3 minutes
TheOusooner56 1 month ago
The 2600 version was my first exposure to Pac-Man and it left me baffled at anybody who said they liked Pac-Man. It was 20 years before I tried an arcade cab and I finally "got" it.
eventualdave 6 months ago in playlist Atari Reviews
he wont have kids ;0
pewe357 6 months ago
"pacman can see a ghost coming, but he doesn't give a shit. He might see it out of his preferable vision i guess" lol
cfasppt 7 months ago
dude just kiding friken funy!!
petisojavier 7 months ago
AQUALUNG IS A GREAT SONG!!
toot1231 7 months ago
shuuut UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
petisojavier 7 months ago
Because of the ghost flickering? I had no problem with my pacman game with that. It was working fine.
Johny2662 8 months ago
No et is considered the worst game of all time
newsonictheheadgehog 9 months ago
Isn't this game considered one of the worst video games of all time?
PigsSantaAndBacon 9 months ago
0:25im only going to show my kids (hope i dont have) im only showing them retro games like this i only play 80s and 90s games
MIBsecretagent 9 months ago
I remember getting this for my birthday. I actually cried when I played it because it was such a piece of shit. The weirdest thing about this game was that it's sound effects were used everywhere, including that annoying "do-dah do dah" thing at the beginning of each maze or life.
TheLastBrainLeft 9 months ago
25 people havent played ET
MegaFinnyboy 10 months ago
@MegaFinnyboy dood shut up. your not getting a thumbs up
247xReviews 10 months ago
@247xReviews 1; i have played ET and pac-man for the 2600. ET is rubbish
2: get an english lesson
MegaFinnyboy 10 months ago
@MegaFinnyboy ok i will..............blah
247xReviews 10 months ago
something avgn would say- the graphics on this game are balls and look at the ghosts there jumpin of the fuckin walls are they on crack or something maby they died from taking too much crack now there having a bitch fit from crack withdraw and look at pac man he doesnt even bother to turn his face when he moves hes like ''oh im pac man bitch i dont have to look around the corner '' what a douche....pac mans a fudge pacer
gta4rulesass 10 months ago
Just one little thing, the correct Pac-Man era name for "Power Pellet" is "Power Pill". I think the name Power Pellet is very early political correctness to prevent drug use by kids.
Bubo25 10 months ago
Better than CoD
GenTortosine 11 months ago
It's because of this game that the Japs were able to dominate the console & gaming for the next 20 years..
LordGeorgeRodney 11 months ago
Didn't the arcade version only have one level?
Sure this version has a shitty level, but you can't really go complaining about the number of levels if the arcade version had the same amount correct me if I'm wrong :D
iopkluj123 11 months ago 2
@iopkluj123 The redundant maze design was the bigger problem. The fact that the only maze was really weak magnified the fact that it was the only level.
AqualungGameReviews 11 months ago
Why the ATARI company fucked up the Pac-Man franchise like this piece of crap in 1982 is still a mystery. The original Arcade version from 1980 is still today a very fun game to play :)
kzbxvz 11 months ago
Aqualung????
joaofwolf 1 year ago
dude no words your just epic
KevinCarey 1 year ago
WEIRD, I had this game when I was little and I played the shit out of it...I don't remember it looking so HORRIBLE! I guess when you're seven and it's 1985 you don't know any different.
papatoony 1 year ago
Do one on e.t !
MrJokelife 1 year ago
By the way, what emulator did you use? My Hard Drive just died. :(
But I got a new one and now my computer is like all over again. It has Vista, and Im wondering what the best emulator is that wont screw up the computer.
gamegod9000 1 year ago
You brought up a good point here, saying that since this is Pac-Man, this should have really high expectations. But even still, back then when the Atari came out, it was an extremely huge deal to not need permission to go to an arcade with limited quarters. Just playing at home, no matter how bad this version of Pacman might be, I would say "Hell yeah! Screw Pitfall!"
If my computer's color scheme wouldn't screw up every time I emulate an Atari game, I would go right out and get a ROM for it.
gamegod9000 1 year ago
Comment removed
siboobooboo 1 year ago
I agreed with a lot of what you said at first but..THIS WAS THE ORIGINAL MATE! Ya can't diss it!
siboobooboo 1 year ago
i dont even see how this play able and i knew that when i was 6
i played this exact game i smashed it with a hammer the bad news is it was still working
soisyourface1234 1 year ago
Umm...Actually the "fruit" DOES appear in the game...as asterisks! Also, those are DASHES,not dots.
cowellwannabe71 1 year ago
@cowellwannabe71 I know, that was a major oversight on my part
AqualungGameReviews 1 year ago
@cowellwannabe71
Er.... so what was the square in the middle with another square inside it in the middle of the maze supposed to be?
gamegod9000 1 year ago
@gamegod9000 that square is an extra 100 points.
Sure, maybe the maze didn't change, what with the limited memory of the 2600, but the ghosts did get faster as you went along, which made it rather challenging.
Dirtfire 1 year ago
@Dirtfire
Yeah, but the person I was replying to said the fruit was an asterisk... or something.... and I asked "what is the square supposed to be?" meaning I think thats the fruit instead.
And I didnt even realize the ghosts got faster, thats cool.
gamegod9000 1 year ago
@gamegod9000 ah. Also, the crazy flickering didn't exist when I played this on my 2600 back in 1983 or something. Flickering is just a problem with the emulation, I think.
Thanks for the review. Interesting stuff.
Dirtfire 1 year ago 5
@Dirtfire just to clarify, yes, there was some flickering with the ghosts when I originally played it back in 1983 or so --flickering similar to what you'd see in an old movie projector. The flicker was regular, and ghosts never disappeared.
There, I think that makes for a clear picture of what the game really looked like on the 2600.
Dirtfire 11 months ago
@Dirtfire it flickers e vev on the real console
123stephenno 10 months ago
@Dirtfire no Wrong, go online google and checkout the game crash with ET and Pacman Atari, they burried 5 million copies due to 95% of them being sent back from distrubutors. The game did flicker back in a day, and was fuckin horrible along with ET, mom dad bought these for me when i was 9yrs of age as the original game wasnt in homes then just in arcades!
Liquadia1 6 months ago
that was a funny review. Lots of laughs. I was 10 years old in 1982. It was the 2600 for me and lots of pac man. Then pitfall harry. I dug the old 2600 out of the attic the other day. need a power cord.
beenthere1run 1 year ago
This game has fruit. Its this little yellow, fucked up square thing that appears in the middle for like 3 seconds.
randomdude581 1 year ago
Nice Jethro Tull song.
theif519 1 year ago
I liked both versions.
IIIIdepechemodeIIII 1 year ago
I actually like this game, though I have to play in black and white since the colors are screwed up, purple floor and neon green walls x_x
Zambaku 1 year ago
Jethro Tull!
StephenArgonneProd 1 year ago
the yellow ball face thing happens to be pac-man himself
haydenconnor 1 year ago
if people are looking for something like pac man for your atari 2600 then get ms. pacman.
OrinjFlames24 1 year ago
Hahaha! Iiked what you said about the army Metal Gears made out of quarters!
IvoryGecko1993 1 year ago
decent
highwaysonyfan87 1 year ago
I recently recieved an atari 2600 in the mail as part of a retro game colllection I've started, and got 4 games with it.
One of which is Pac Man. I played it and yes, there is fruit that appears randomly and in the same spot as the arcade, it just looks like a rectangle.
and oddly, my game does have flickering, but not to the point where it looks like the ghost are disappearing. it's a partial body fliccker where only part of there body flickers so it's easy for me to keep track of them.
It's
highwaysonyfan87 1 year ago
I love Pac-Man nontheless...
Been playin pacman since it come out....
I have every collection of pacman for ahy system ever made
XxGothSpikeXx 1 year ago
Who do you think is watching this that doesn't kno what "Pac-Man" is?
SECTOR52 1 year ago
wow 2 top games . You just needed space invaders and frogger and you good to go.
cisco760ca 1 year ago
I had pacman for the atari 2600 and mine had way better graphics (for atari anyways). i don't know what version this is.
FaithNoMore1977 1 year ago
@FaithNoMore1977
nvm just found it. was ms pacman.
FaithNoMore1977 1 year ago
Good vid! subscribed~
melloki76 1 year ago
I got an Atari 2600 for Xmas around 1984 (Pac-Man came w/ it). Allowed me to waste hours & hours in front of my 13" B&W TV!
Madness832 1 year ago
I grew up with this game, and my parents playing it for hours. They even would have neighbors come over for competition.
bretodom 1 year ago
This was a prototype but due to time constraits, they released this as the final game. According to the gaming historian
thenintendogamer 1 year ago
How can a popular pac man game suck on a 2600?
who knows. if I were that pac, I'd turn the creator of this game into a ghost and gobble him up.
bogercs 1 year ago
Am I the only one who really doesn't see what's so great about Pac-Man? I thought there PLENTY of better arcade games back then than just eating dots and avoiding the "octopus ghosts" as I used to call them.
mikeellerbeck1 1 year ago
atari's pole position was good on the 2600, they converted it for the ti-99/4a and it was awful.
jwades77 1 year ago
Excellent review!
ferLOLs 1 year ago
@AqualungGameReviews For your birthday, you should have got a Playstation.
playstation4evah 1 year ago
@playstation4evah The only problem with that is that the Playstation wouldn't be launched for another 8 years
AqualungGameReviews 1 year ago 36
@AqualungGameReviews LOL!
SparkBerri 1 year ago
@AqualungGameReviews well you know .... preorder it XD
PikaChamp112 1 year ago
@AqualungGameReviews Maybe if you had received a time machine you could've gotten a playstation. But then you might as well just get a Playstation 9.
ESPMV300 1 year ago
@AqualungGameReviews Ignore him he is a Playstation troll.
coppercabsucks 1 year ago
@playstation4evah PS3 & XBOX 360 FANBOYS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PLAY THESE AWESOME GAMES! (except this one)
nobluetown 1 year ago
@nobluetown and E.T
soisyourface1234 1 year ago
my dad had an old atari 2600 when he was a kid, and he told me he had this exact game. i told him it got bad reviews, and he was surprised because he said it was a blast. it looks okay actually. i mean they improved it a crapload with ms. pacman and junior pacman, but this was before those two games, so you cant expect much. it looks like a blast if you turn up the difficulty. the only problem i can find with it are the fliker ghosts. and i think the arcade game only had 1 level too
Roflmafao 1 year ago
my birthday is on April 15th
Jigsaw765 1 year ago
Your parents got you an *ATARI* in *1987*?
Did anyone call Social Services?
alwaysright10000 1 year ago
Let's not forget about Pac-Man's second cousin once removed, MathMan. And his arch enemy, he evil Mr. Glitch.
InsaneInfernape006 1 year ago
im doing the same for my brother hes not playing xnox or ps3 hes on atari nes and snes
agenttubsproductions 1 year ago
This is so nostalgic. The ATARI's sounds, the console, the game cartridges. I am 32, and can almost see myself playing with my firends in the eighties. God, time passages real quick.
InfraredVisor 1 year ago
4 years old and your first videogame system was the atari 2600?? That's exactly how I started, only it was one year earlier and my first two videogames were Ms. Pacman and Megamania.
THEsquirrel3d 1 year ago
wow i played that game for a long time back in the day,but i did not remember it looked so shitty,,but i had fun,,to young to care i think
hillo50 1 year ago
This brings back memories of my first getting Atari. Pac-Man was awesome. I remember my parents trying to play.
CadillacL 1 year ago
Atari definitely does NOT receive a pass for how much this game sucked. Even Magnavox found a way to make their version (called K.C. Munchkin) much, much better with limited system power.
dowhatthouwilt911 1 year ago
great review
jomommasmelz 1 year ago
not bad game and review
jessesullivan111 1 year ago
i dont see whats wrong with PM on the 2600.... ON THE FUCKIN 2600 wtf where u expecting -.-
johnrock882 1 year ago
@johnrock882 Like I said in the video, Ms Pac-Man and Jr Pac-Man were both done well on the 2600. That's wtf i was expecting.
AqualungGameReviews 1 year ago
@AqualungGameReviews yeah, but it was their first attempt
johnrock882 1 year ago
@johnrock882 That doesn't excuse it from being a poor game. Not to mention that this version was a prototype that was rushed to make a strict deadline.
AqualungGameReviews 1 year ago
@AqualungGameReviews thats just a myth
johnrock882 1 year ago
@johnrock882 The prototype part is in question, but the fact that it was rushed is legit, which gives a lot of explanation to why it came out the way it did. I can't really give the game bonus points on my rating based on the fact that it was made too quickly, the bottom line is it was a sub-par port.
AqualungGameReviews 1 year ago
@johnrock882 I agree it's not fair to knock this games regarding visual quality. But I do remember buying Pac Man back in the 80's and was disappointed. I played Pele Football and Mission Command an awful lot. Still have the Atari somewhere..lol
Bolkiebasher 1 year ago
@johnrock882
The 2600 is more powerful than you think. The writer of Pac Man admitted later that he could have made a much better translation of the arcade game but was under pressure to get it done quickly so he didn't have time to code it properly. The other Pac Man based titles for the 2600 looked much better so it proves Pac Man could have been done a lot better than it was.
gamewizard 1 year ago
@gamewizard yea but they released the shit to the world and duped everyone and practically stole everyones $35.oo bucks! definitly the biggest failure of expectations imo.i got bored of this quick,and part of the PM legacy died. btw how much $ ya think has it/the name raked in up 2 now including all merch?
1WhoMee1 1 year ago
hah, your cool deffintly cool vids my bad for bshing on your voice
flyeagles24 1 year ago
This takes me back.
stepheng1483 1 year ago
flickering ghosts and a weird face that chews vertical lines?
nooblet911 1 year ago
I like the vocal drawl, gives the review a taste of the narrator's real personality.
This vid was fun to watch
KHayes666 1 year ago
I have an Atari 7800, and they can play all Atari 2600 games.
TheSpore99 1 year ago
Ummm... no, there are actually a good # of VCS cartridges it won't play. It is due to the various cartridge designs that were made over the years. Sears in particular made some odd-shaped games.
adog262 1 year ago
im geting this
113dsc 1 year ago
I got a chance to play this game once. I was like WTF?!
crazyzach5 1 year ago
good review
NufffRespect 2 years ago
You had a really great birthday present.
Binkysuperstar 2 years ago
Havan't you heard? pac-man on the Atari 2600 was only a prototype.
alexjseguin 2 years ago
LMFAO...1:25...."you advance to the same fuckin maze you were just in"
mireaux7 2 years ago
If you go cwazy wit da joystick, you can make PacMan float. (At least that's what we used to do when we were bored.) Go into the bottom tunnel, come out the top, then go crazy on the joystick like you're jerking off to PacMan; no float/ repeat. Dude, I know you can make it work.
amygdala51 2 years ago
Powa pewets
Jeffmetalz23 2 years ago 3
You received a 2600 as a present in '87? Man, you were robbed.. That was a pretty dated machine by then.
amygdala51 2 years ago
even tough these games where shitty , we loved them because it was the only thing available at that time plus the fact that we probably received them during christmast time made it like a magical ghift/game , anyway thats the way i see it .
iscrapman 2 years ago
The fruit did not bounce around the screen in Pan Man, only Ms. Pac Man did that happen. Go eat some Devil Dogs.
mikecronis 2 years ago
I've acknowledged that I fucked that part up. Devil dogs???
AqualungGameReviews 2 years ago
By Drake's Cakes. I thought you were from the NorthEast.
Anyway, great review. Honest and true. Good job!
mikecronis 2 years ago
Haha well yeah I know what devil dogs are, but I thought that was pretty random.
AqualungGameReviews 2 years ago
Dude you are so funny about how you express yourself about the game. It was fantastic!! Hella funny all the way LMAF!!! Not bad for a 3 min video. I'm rating you a 5 STAR!!!!!!!!
4age20vbt 2 years ago
Rush Job? Are you retarded? This is the Atari 2600 not Xbox 360. This was cutting edge at the time it was released. Pac-man was much better than Ms. pac man
mikeusat 2 years ago
@mikeusat Yes it was a rush job if you compare it to the arcade version or the adaptation on other platforms. At the time, it was a huge disappointment even though it sold a lot.
arclight2012 2 years ago
my birthday is april 15 =D
mcgstudmuffin 2 years ago
Yup, I remrmber playing this game back in the late 70s. I was only in first grade and my parents never let me spend money on arcade games (waste of a quarter I guess). So I never got to play the arcade version of Pac-Man until I was much older. When I got the Atari version I had no idea how unfaithful this port was to the original. So I thought it was great! LOL! Now I know better. NES version kicks this one's ass!
Caztro72 2 years ago
twipley 2 years ago
this game sucks soooooo bad!
facistleader 2 years ago
Nice review. Surprised you didn't comment on the hideous sound. DONK-DA-DONK-DONK-DONK!! I'm still amazed they released the game in this state. They were sitting on the most potentially lucrative arcade property in history, expecting to make millions of dollars on it, maybe you could put more than one programmer to work on it?
hypersphere 2 years ago
at the begining also at april 15,1987 was the exact day when titanic sank.well pac man and et sucks.i bet donkey kong rules.
themaker9876 2 years ago
Well, the Titanic actually sank April 15, 1912, 75 years earlier...
bruceclarkemexico 1 year ago
Yeah, my birthday falls on the anniversary of the sinking of the titanic and Abraham Lincoln getting shot, plus it's taxday. A lot of tragedies lol
AqualungGameReviews 1 year ago
Worst port ever. Even worse than the 3600's port of Defender.
TheLastBrainLeft 2 years ago
D+ reminds me of a bad school report! Anyway one of the reason why the port was so shit was because the 2600 did not even have video ram, can you believe it?! Everything on the screen had to be drawn "live" by tracing the electron beam across the TV and firing "colours" at it to generate an image!
iggykoopa5059 2 years ago
Hey forgeddaboutit!
dbonanno 2 years ago
Actually, there are "fruit." That big square in the middle, I guess, is the fruit.
edsucksfredrocks 2 years ago
I know, that was a major oversight on my part.
AqualungGameReviews 2 years ago
what does ''glaringal mission mean?
Beany695 2 years ago
This has to be a joke that i'm just not getting....oh well, i'll bite. He said "glaring omission".
AmericaFyeah1776 1 year ago
ok....now tell me what that means please
Beany695 1 year ago
Glaring = Obvious
Omission = Leaving something out
AmericaFyeah1776 1 year ago
thank u
Beany695 1 year ago
i also had this game. the graphics were great at the time.
DragoDillPepper 2 years ago
well thats kind of wierd-today i want to the flea market and picked up an atari 2600 and donky kong and pac man- the guys first games
MHSGamer33 2 years ago
overconfidence and not giving a shit.
Luigi84289 2 years ago
It's easy when the person in charge of its programming doesn't like the arcade game to begin with. :/
kurisux 2 years ago
you should watch the video reponse
stevencollins1 2 years ago
I think I made myself believe this game was fun back in the day. I just didn't want to accept it was bad, so I think I imagined it was a great game, but now I know, it's one of the worst translations of all time.
GisherJohn24 2 years ago 2
@GisherJohn24
Sadly, when I was young, Pac-Man was the first Atari 2600 game I had to get. It was a must-have game.
Yes, it was rushed.
Yes, the ghosts flicker was terrible.
Yes, the maze looked nothing like the arcade original.
No, this game did not stop me from pouring quarters into the arcade machine.
Yes, I should have gotten an Atari 5200 because it had a better version of this game, but that system came out after I had received the Atari 2600 as a birthday present.
TechTalkGuy 2 years ago
hey check out my donkey kong reviews fo nes n atrai you tooo aqua lung
lukemew 2 years ago
haha nice i have the same theory with my 'future' kids.
downscale 2 years ago 3
When I was a kid I used to play Atari until my wrists start to hurt.
Oh, good times.
RodrigoCFD 2 years ago
i played this quite a bit when i was a kid lol. what a crappy asshole of a game
MajorasFlask 2 years ago
when pac man died, he looked like a banana peel.
peterson282828 2 years ago 7
Por causa desse atari é que virei rato de fliperama!!
marciodiniza 2 years ago
As years went on, the value of those graphics went down, thus causing videogame systems today to have great rich graphics.
Compression was also a major issue
MrBlogman 2 years ago
I have an opinion about why Atari 2600 games were made like that. If they would of sold an Atari 2600 with the same exact graphics of the coin operated machines back in 77, the machine would have cost over $10,000.00. For Atari to cut it down to an affordable price, they did the best that they could even sacrificing the great graphics of the coin operated counterpart. If you understand what I am saying.
MrBlogman 2 years ago
The graphics in pacman 2600 are WAY worse than other atari 2600 games. It's so bad because they spent no time porting it similar to the ET game that caused Atari to die.
DarkSunGod 2 years ago
ET didn't cause Atari to die. That's a myth. The Atari and its games continued to be sold nearly a decade after the release of ET. I know because I was buying them. ET was also one of the best-selling cartridges on the system, and I never knew anyone who hated it back then. Now, almost 30 years later, people look back on it, don't know how to play it, get frustrated, and assume everyone hated it and it caused a nonexistent "video game crash."
happypranksgiving 2 years ago 2
You evidently didn't realize I wasn't claiming that Atari died completely due to ET. It is still in existence today. They took huge losses on ET and Pacman by creating a supply far greater then actual demand, and that destroyed their complete dominance over the market. They existed afterward but never again would they have a monopoly on the market like they did before the crash.
DarkSunGod 2 years ago
You said "caused Atari to die." I know you didn't mean completely, but it didn't die at all because of it. Systems like the Famicom and others were coming out which were superior; ET or no ET, better systems were already beginning to compete with the 2600. There were a lot of factors, not just ET, that caused them to stop dominating the market.
happypranksgiving 2 years ago
Sorry but that is completely wrong. 2600 had been off the market for at least three years before famicon came out. In fact famicon had to come packaged with ROB because no store would sell video games after the crash.
2600 crashed in 1983-84.
Nintendo came out in 87 so your theory could not possibly work. No store was selling video games AT ALL following the crash, it was not because of competition. It didn't crash Atari, it crashed the entire VG industry in America.
DarkSunGod 2 years ago
Famicom was originally released in 85.
One of the reasons Atari declined was Jack Tramiel(who founded Commodore Business Machines) bought Atari's consumer division and thought that computers would destroy game consoles so he focused on the Atari computer. He actually froze production of 2600 titles because he felt that a computer would do better. That's also why the 7800 was delayed so long.
So like I said, there were multiple factors, not "ET destroyed the Atari 2600." Tramiel destroyed it.
happypranksgiving 2 years ago
Okay so it was released in 85 but even then it was STILL to late for it to have had any impact on the game crash.
The 2600 was making barely any sales to begin with so a production freeze was not what hurt it. Nor were the titles frozen, as they continued to make them until the very end of the game crash. You are indeed correct about Tramiel doing these things and yet that is not what caused it.
ET was vastly overproduced and ended up having so many unsold cartridges they had to be buried.
DarkSunGod 2 years ago
Freezing production of games in order to focus on a completely different system - a computer - would certain hurt the frozen system. And if 2600 titles were not selling at all, then one unselling title cannot be blamed for that, anyway.
They were never buried. This is an unsubstantiated urban myth which various magazines and websites have continued to propagate.
happypranksgiving 2 years ago
I said the SYSTEMS were not selling, the games were continuing to sell at a huge rate. I have seen nothing to substantiate that Tramiel prevented new games from being developed and marketed, indeed the mere EXISTENCE of ET and Pac-Man proves he continued the development.
It was not ET failing to sell that was the issue, it was that they produced millions and millions of copies anticipating a huge sale that never came.
The burial is true. Bruce Enten issued official statements confirming it.
DarkSunGod 2 years ago
Tramiel did freeze production of games. That doesn't mean third parties couldn't continue to do so, unlike Nintendo, etc nobody needed permission to create games for the system. But he did freeze production of console games.
The freeze came a year after ET, so it doesn't prove he continued the development at all.
Enton's statement was that they dumped broken and inoperable copies. It was not exclusive games; it also included damages consoles, empty boxes, etc. I.E. they threw away trash.
happypranksgiving 2 years ago
That should say "not exclusively games."
happypranksgiving 2 years ago
I bought the game in 1981. Back then all my friends had a copy, so being a Pac-Fanatic I had to have one too. The game wasn't true to the original but I still played it more than any other game I had. Then we bought an Apple II with that version of Pac-Man. That was the best! It had a small effect on the crash, however along with ET it let some of us down. Both games were rushed, and could have been alot better.
Bleich95 2 years ago
A lot of inaccuracy in this thread. Atari continued to produce and sell the 2600 until 1990...
bruceclarkemexico 1 year ago