Content | Pac-Man strategy/pattern guide
Author | Monkey
E-mail | [monkeynibjet@yahoo.com]
Version | 1.0
===============
---------------
\\Pac-Man FAQ\\
---------------
===============
________
|Contents
1. Introduction
2. Version history
3. Strategies
3.1 Notes on versions of the game
3.2 Basics
3.3 Strategies
4. Patterns
4.1 General tips on using patterns
4.2 Cherry pattern
5. Other stuff
5.1 Credits
5.2 Thanks
5.3 "Mastering Pac-Man"
5.4 Links
5.5 Copyright
===========================================================================
Section 1
____________
|Introduction
Welcome! Welcome indeed, to this humble Pac-Man FAQ. Its purpose is,
at the moment, to give you some strategies and general advice for playing
Pac-Man and helping you on the way with a pattern. If I make any more
updates - which will not be very likely, since I rarely finish what I begin
- it will be a collection of the Pac-Man patterns that actually work.
I love Pac-Man. Boy! Do I love Pac-Man.
Pac-Man needs, I hope, no introduction. And I couldn't write a good
introduction on him anyway, so let's just leave it at this.
===========================================================================
Section 2
_______________
|Version history
August 17th - August 19th, 2001
Version 1.0
First version. Strategies, patterns. (This may be the last one, who knows?)
===========================================================================
Section 3
__________
|Strategies
You can play Pac-Man with or without patterns, but you can always use
tips and strategies to improve.
[3.1: Notes on versions of the game
There are many, many versions of Pac-Man. This FAQ was written with
the NeoGeo Pocket Color version in mind, which is identical to the arcade
version. I tested everything on those two versions, so it should apply to
them, but there may be other versions on which it will work. (If you have
any information about this, please mail me @ [monkeynibjet@yahoo.com].)
[3.2: Basics
The basics of Pac-Man. You can probably skip this, but if you've
never played Pac-Man, read this first.
Okay. Let's see...
- Pac-Man is the round yellow guy.
- The goal is to clear every level of all 244 dots. If the board is empty,
you will go to the next. After 255 levels the game locks up.
- Every dot that Pac-Man eats is worth 10 points.
- There are four ghosts or monsters, trying to stop Pac-Man from clearing
the level. They are:
• Shadow | Blinky | red
• Speedy | Pinky | pink
• Bashful | Inky | blue
• Pokey | Clyde | yellow
- The ghosts start out in the ghost square, and emerge one by one (in the
above order).
- If Pac-Man gets eaten by a ghost, he loses a life. You start the game with
three lives (two Pac-Men down below in the corner), and you can get an
extra one by reaching 10,000 points.
- Four of the 244 dots are power pellets or energizers. If Pac-Man eats a
power pellet, the ghosts go the opposite way of the way they were going,
and in the early levels they turn dark blue. (Power pellets are worth 50
points instead of 10.) When the ghosts are blue, they cannot eat Pac-Man,
but Pac-Man can eat them (whoo!).
- If a ghost dies, its eyes return to the ghost square. After some time the
ghost returns again.
- The ghosts will be worth more points as Pac-Man eats more of them:
• 1st ghost | 200 points
• 2nd ghost | 400 points
• 3rd ghost | 800 points
• 4th ghost | 1600 points
- After some time, the blue ghosts will blink (five times) and then turn
normal again. This time shortens as the levels progress, but after a
'movie' or 'coffee break' it will lengthen a bit.
- There are two tunnel entrances, one on the right and one on the left. If
you enter the left one, you come out again on the right side (and vice
versa).
- In each level, two fruits will appear. Fruity, eh? I will refer to the
levels by the name of their fruit.
# Name of fruit Points
--------------------------------
1 Cherry 100
2 Strawberry 300
• [1st coffee break]
3 Peach 500
4 Peach 500
5 Apple 700
• [2nd coffee break]
6 Apple 700
7 Grapes 1000
8 Grapes 1000
9 Bird (?) 2000
• [3rd coffee break]
10 Bird (?) 2000
11 Bell 3000
12 Bell 3000
13 1st key 5000
• [4th coffee break]*
14 2nd key 5000
15 3rd key 5000
16 4th key 5000
17 5th key 5000
• [5th coffee break]*
18 6th key 5000
19 7th key 5000
20 8th key 5000
21 9th key 5000
22+ Keys 5000
(* The fourth and fifth coffee break screens are the same as the third
one.)
- The higher the level you are in, the faster Pac-Man and the ghosts will
move.
- From the fifth key on, the ghosts do not turn blue when Pac-Man eats a
power pellet. They do reverse though.
- Ultimately, the goal is to score as many points as possible.
[3.3: Strategies
Here are some tips to help you play Pac-Man.
- Be conservative. While playing Pac-Man, I mean. It's better to stay
alive longer and thus get more points by clearing more levels, than
risking your yellow ass to get that last ghost while he's blinking.
Especially in the later levels, where the fruits are several thousands
of points, it's best to keep out of the ghosts' way.
- Use the corners. When Pac-Man takes a corner, he goes faster. So when
the ghosts chase you, you can often outrun them in this way.
- Pac-Man also goes faster when not eating. The parts of the maze that you
have already cleared are safer, as the ghosts have less of a chance
of catching you.
- In the picture above you can see some special areas:
A: between the two As, there is a long run of dots. This is a dangerous
area, because the ghosts can enter it from many different places. The
safest thing to do is to clear it in the beginning, when the ghosts are
not around to eat you.
B: this point (and the other one,on the right) is usually safe from
ghosts.
C: the ghosts will never enter this point (and again, also the opposite
one) from the south. Remember this, and use it!
- The tunnels! They can be both life-saving and dangerous. The ghosts slow
down considerably in tunnels, so you can lose a hot ghost on your tail.
Sometimes, however, the ghosts try to trap you and wait at the other
side of the tunnel. So be very careful, and I recommend to play in full
screen mode (NGPC version), so you can keep an eye on the other end of
the tunnel (as well as all the dots, of course).
- If you are playing without a pattern (or if you are playing with one,
but you make a mistake), you have to improvise.
What I used to do: I went to a power pellet, waited for one or two
ghosts to come near, and then eat the power pellet (and the ghosts).
Then I would move on to the next power pellet and do the same. The only
time I really ate dots was when the ghosts were eaten for the moment.
This is not a good strategy. It's better to eat dots and fruit, and
then the ghosts. I advise you to eat most of the dots first, and leave
the power pellets for later.
- Ghosts are nice, and they can give you a lot of points in the earlier
levels, but in the end it's the fruit that gives you most points. (With
a good pattern, you can get 12,600 points each key level - WITHOUT
eating any ghosts!) So the best strategy is, in my opinion, to get a
lot of points is to clear a lot of boards, stay alive and eat many
fruits.
(Ken Uston wrote about this in "Mastering Pac-Man":
"...it is evident that the key to Pac-Man is to amass many boards. I
have often wondered if the designers of the game made the final symbol
a key for this reason.")
- The ghosts always move their eyes in the direction of the corner they
plan to take. So if you have unrealistically fast eyes, exploit this.
- When taking a corner, always push the joystick in the direction BEFORE
the corner is actually there. This is very important, especially when
using patterns (see section 4.1).
Also, when playing the NGPC version, I find the cross-rings very helpful
to play more precisely.
===========================================================================
Section 4
________
|Patterns
Patterns are predetermined routes to clear a board. They are possible,
because the ghosts always move the same way in a level (well, at least most
of the time). You need several patterns to clear all the boards, but most
patterns can be used for a couple of boards.
Before I started using patterns, I thought they were a rather cheap and
beardy way to play the game, and I considered them cheating. But then I tried
one, and I found it very fun once I got into it. It makes the game a lot
deeper, in my opinion. Making your own patterns is especially fun. I made a
pattern for the first (cherry) level, which took very long but was very nice
to do.
Well, I guess it's up to you to decide whether you want to use patterns. In
an eventual update of this FAQ I will show some more patterns, if there is
interest in it and if I can get myself to do it. So if you're interested: mail
me @ [monkeynibjet@yahoo.com] and I'll see what I can do!
[4.1: General tips on using patterns
Learning to use patterns is, at times, pretty difficult. Here are some
tips...
- The NGPC version of Pac-Man, fortunately, has a pause option. This can
be very, very handy, as you can pause the game to look up the next part
of the pattern. After playing several times this way, you can try to
play it without looking it up.
- Usually, your timing must be perfect. It helps a lot to push the
joystick the way you plan to go to before the corner is there, like
I've said before. Some patterns give you some time for errors, while
others require absolutely perfect timing.
- Sometimes a pattern breaks down, even with perfect timing. I don't
really know what to do then... try to stay alive! Improvise and play
conservatively, so you can get to the next board intact and pick up
the pattern again.
- Some patterns just don't work. Maybe it's me, but a lot of patterns
just don't seem to work. What I find especially annoying, is when you
have to eat a power pellet, and the creator of the pattern expects you
to "eat the monsters", but they also give you a strict route to follow.
I don't get it...
- Don't give up! Sooner or later, every pattern can be mastered. (Whoo!!)
[4.2: Cherry pattern
This is a pattern for the first level of the game, made by myself.
It works very well for me most of the time, giving me scores at times as
big as 14,800 (which is the maximum score of the first level. With some
practice, it's not so difficult.). It provides you at least with 5800
points: 2600 for all the dots (assuming you clear the board), 200 for two
pairs of cherries, 3000 for four ghosts in a row. Good luck!
[1] Okay. This is pretty straightforward, just eat all the dots.
[2] Now go up, eat the cherry and sneak past the ghost box, up and down
again on the left.
[3] If everything goes according to plan (and I don't know why not), all
the four ghosts are following you. (Note: it sometimes happens that
the last ghost in line breaks off. There is nothing you can do to
prevent this, but if it happens you'd best hit A + B + Option - it's
only the first level.) Eat the ghosts (check [A] for the correct
order, you have to follow ghost #4 down into the ring around the
ghost box) and swoop out again.
[4] Just follow the route and eat the cherry that appears. At point [B],
wait until the blue monster is at the place of the little dot and
begins to move upward. Then you must eat the power pellet and eat as
many ghosts as possible...
[5] ...continuing your way up. Your timing doesn't really matter here,
so just eat some ghosts and go up. At point [C], wait for the ghosts
to come close and then eat them. What comes next is pretty random
most of the time, but make sure you eat as many ghosts as possible
at the lower right power pellet (3/4 should be reasonably easy).
===========================================================================
Section 5
___________
|Other stuff
Well... other stuff!
[5.1: Credits
Okay...
Text | By me! I wrote everything, unless I quoted something.
Tips | Some are from Ken Uston's book "Mastering Pac-Man" (see section
5.3) or from websites.
Patterns | So far there is only one pattern, and I made it myself.
Screens | I made the screenshots, using the NGPocket emulator and a Pac-
Man rom.
For general reference, I consulted the NGPC Pac-Man manual (8 delicious
pages!), "Mastering Pac-Man" and some websites.
[5.2: Thanks
I don't know. I'm supposed to be funny and friendly here, right? Don't
expect too much, but here it is. I'd like to thank a lot of people
personally, but that would be rather bulky and not very relevant. So I'll
try to keep on-topic.
[The S:NGP forum bunch]
Thanks. Haha. Just thanks for everything.
[substance J]
Thanks for keeping S:NGP alive so long. And for all those spanky logos.
[www.classicgaming.com/sngp/]!
[Paleface]
Not for making the perfect board script in two-fold, but for testing
my pattern. So: thank you, Pale.
[Zero]
For proofreading... and for being a wonder milky bitch.
(He claims he ate banana ketchup when he was in the Phillipines. Remember
that if you stay still, he will not see you.)
[Nevermind the Salmon.]
For spewing mango-orange juice all over his keyboard.
[StormShadow]
For sharing some inspiring gardening tips with me.
[©]
Thanks for helping me with the copyright-section.
[Namco]
Thank you for making a game that proved impossible to improve.
[SNK]
Thanks for making the NGPC, and some fine games along with it.
[5.3: "Mastering Pac-Man"
"Mastering Pac-Man" is a fine book by Ken Uston. It has got a lot of
strategies and patterns and it is a very nice read. Some of the patterns,
however, seem not to work. Oh well.
It's out of print, but you can find used copies of it. I found mine at
Alibris - [www.alibris.com] - for an okay price.
[5.4: Links
Links... Here are some links to Pac-Man sites, with a short
description.
If you know any good sites, please mail me @ [monkeynibjet@yahoo.com].
How to win at Pac-Man
[www.hanaho.com/pacman/]
Good patterns and strategies. Nice!
1st Church of Pac-Man
[www.geocities.com/soho/lofts/8112/pac.htm]
Well... a lot of stuff, that's for sure. I'm not too crazy about it
though.
The Sound of Eating
[jongy.tripod.com/soundofeating.htm]
Lovely! Great info and tips. Good title, too.
Jeff Morris's Pac-Man site
[www.xensei.com/users/jeffm/www/pacman/]
Download his nice Pac-Man adaptation! There used to be a 'hot' Pac-Man scene
at his message board, but it shut down.
The Pac-Site
[www.classicgaming.com/pac-man/]
Pac-Man worshipping site @ ClassicGaming.com! Well, not very useful.
Some patterns @ ClassicGaming.com
[www.classicgaming.com/rcatt/pacpatterns.htm]
These patterns are... rad? Very nice, but a pain to read.
Pac-Man maze solution
[brainbug.tripod.com/pacsolut.htm]
A lot of patterns, some work and some don't. Brrrainbug!
[5.5: Copyright
This FAQ is copyright © 2001 Sam de Groot/Monkey, unless otherwise
stated. At the moment this FAQ can only be found at Sector: NGP -
[www.classicgaming.com/sngp/]. If you would duplicate this FAQ or put it on
your site, I guess that would be wrong. I wouldn't really mind though. I'd
be flattered. I hope people like this FAQ and I hope it helps you to play
the game better. In any case, I liked making this FAQ.
I suppose Pac-Man is a registered trademark of Namco (Inc.? Ltd.? GmbH?).
But "Namco", is that a trademark of Namco? I don't know. (And why is
ketchup called "tomato ketchup"? There's no banana ketchup, is there?)
I suppose NeoGeo Pocket Color is a registered trademark of SNK.
===========================================================================
Well, that's it. I hope you find it helpful. Keep eating dots, heroes.
Love ya. Take care.
...good luck!
===========================================================================