Atari Video Computer System / 2600

PAC-MAN

· Sound f/x trick: Eat a power pellet and immediately press SELECT. The sound effect for eating it will continue to play, and each time you press SELECT it will restart the sound. {Scott Stilphen}

· Pac-Man ghost: Exit the bottom tunnel, and then press UP + DOWN. Pac-Man will start to blink and 2 of the 4 ghosts can now pass right over you! {Scott Stilphen}

· If you look closely, you’ll notice that not all of the ghosts are the same color (while in their normal state).  2 are a light orange, and 2 are a light green, but all 4 are actually different from each other (let the game go into attract mode to see this more clearly).  The power pills also alternate between both colors (see picture).

· If you touch a ghost just as you enter a tunnel, it appears as though you are “splattered” against the wall on the other side.  {Erik Freeman}

· Hold down SELECT, and then hold down the FIRE button – you’ll flip through all the game variations super-fast!  {Tony Roy}

· BUG: When exiting the top tunnel entrance, occasionally the Pac-Man will appear to be “redrawn”, at which point if you are pushing DOWN you will go straight down the screen (see picture)!   {Charles Beaulien and Christopher Schreiber}   While moving through this “invisible” corridor it’s possible to eat a vitamin, get eaten by a ghost (you’ll keep moving as you “die”), and even to eat a ghost (if you grab a power pellet just before doing the trick)!  If you move to the bottom of the screen, you’ll re-enter the maze. {Greg Miceli and Scott Stilphen}

· BUG: Tod Frye mentioned a rare bug can happen, due to the way he made the random number generator, in which the ghosts may get stuck inside the tunnels, allowing you to clear the screen in peace.  For this to happen, all 4 ghosts must go in the same tunnel entrance at once.  Once inside, they will keep going back-and-forth inside the tunnel, and you’ll briefly see them at each entrance!  If the game is left idle at this point, it will eventually “time out” and end!  You can trigger this to appear by using a specific pattern on game 2 (see video).

· BUG: You cannot be killed by a ghost while inside the tunnel (you and a ghost can even “pass” each other inside it).  {Scott Stilphen}

· FRYING: Frying can cause the walls to start flashing at irregular intervals during the game, or sometimes Pac-Man will appear stuck on a wafer, which causes the score to quickly increase.  {David Holton}

· RUMOR: Although the game was released in April 1982, the game depicts a copyright date of 1981. This has led some to believe that Atari decided to use a prototype version of the game.

 

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