Level 256

[sandmountainslim]

Level 256 of Pac Man, passable or not? I have been reading somewhat on the Billy Mitchell versus some kid who got a letter from the President controversy and was curious as to what everyones theories on the subject were.

[Nukey Shay]

Not passable because you can't get the required number of dots (240) to clear the counter.

[Nukey Shay]

BTW you can invoke a Mame cheat to begin the game at level "zero" (level 256) to try this yourself.

[Stingray]

Here's a shirt for you to wear while you give it a try:

 

http://www.errorwear.com/huge-pacman.html

 

-S

[maibock]

Here's a shirt for you to wear while you give it a try:

 

http://www.errorwear.com/huge-pacman.html

 

-S

848467[/snapback]

 

 

That's a pretty cool shirt

[PacManPlus]

I actually have that shirt :-P (Yes, I know, I'm a geek)

[Stingray]

I was going to buy one, but their order page doesn't seem to work for me.

 

-S

[Bakasama]

Level 256 of Pac Man, passable or not? I have been reading somewhat on the Billy Mitchell versus some kid who got a letter from the President controversy and was curious as to what everyones theories on the subject were.

848216[/snapback]

 

Well, you can get pass that maze by using a hacked ROM. I there's one floating around somewhere.

[Major_Havoc]

Yeah a couple of people have posted fixes for it (like mark spaeth for one, etc).. for actual arcade machine collectors to put in their own Pacman machines.

 

Usually I think for pacman it's level 255 fix and for MsPac it's a level 141 fix. But yknow.. unless you're reeaaall good and desire to play these games for long marathon hours and hours, it's kind of moot

[Dav]

Yeah a couple of people have posted fixes for it (like mark spaeth for one, etc).. for actual arcade machine collectors to put in their own Pacman machines.

 

Usually I think for pacman it's level 255 fix and for MsPac it's a level 141 fix. But yknow.. unless you're reeaaall good and desire to play these games for long marathon hours and hours, it's kind of moot

848584[/snapback]

 

Ms pac is more like level 131 for the first of many bugs that can crash it. It's related to the code to draw the tunnel slowdowns.

[MegaManFan]

Here's a shirt for you to wear while you give it a try:

 

http://www.errorwear.com/huge-pacman.html

 

-S

848467[/snapback]

 

That shit is TEH AWES0ME! I just ordered one.

[sandmountainslim]

So I take it there's no way to just "guess your way through" level 256?

[Nukey Shay]

It's a glitch. To assume that there's a way through or around it would be to assume that it was intentional (the same as if somebody claimed that "world 0" in SMB is possible to complete).

However, the level 256 glitch in the hack game that I made IS intentional...tho it's not as spectacular.

[Tempest]

(the same as if somebody claimed that "world 0" in SMB is possible to complete).

 

Actually it IS possible. Well in the Famicom disk version anyway.

 

Tempest

[sandmountainslim]

Ok, another Pac Man mystery. Are the reputed "gold bars" and "screwdrivers" that show up on Pac Man just urban legends?? Could they really exist and only show up after you pass level 256? Maybe some of you folks know the answers.

[Nukey Shay]

Ok, another Pac Man mystery.  Are the reputed "gold bars" and "screwdrivers" that show up on Pac Man just urban legends?? Could they really exist and only show up after you pass level 256?  Maybe some of you folks know the answers.

854177[/snapback]

 

Total fabrication. Not a single person has been able to replicate the feat...and usually people refer to themselves as a spectator. "They" didn't do it, but they "saw somebody who did". The existing game aspects were probably misinterpreted by somebody. The bells are gold, and the keys are pointy. So both would be hard to distinguish if you are watching from a distance.

There's also the rumor that you would need to eat the eyes of a monster in order to make these 2 objects appear later. Complete bunk.

[Bryan]

Total fabrication.  Not a single person has been able to replicate the feat...

 

Plus, all you need to do is have a look through the graphics ROMs. There are some other unused images, though.

 

-Bry

[Tempest]

Total fabrication.  Not a single person has been able to replicate the feat...

 

There are some other unused images, though.

 

-Bry

854278[/snapback]

 

Such as?

 

Tempest

[Dav]

Total fabrication.  Not a single person has been able to replicate the feat...

 

There are some other unused images, though.

 

-Bry

854278[/snapback]

 

Such as?

 

Tempest

854316[/snapback]

 

 

The Namco logo is in the graphics roms on some versions. I'm pretty sure the explosion sprite is unused as well.

 

Ms Pac has the key from pacman still in the graphics tiles, but not in the sprites.

[pacmanfevr76]

The kill screen in Pac-Man is, until I am informed otherwise, impassable. The single largest piece of evidence to support this claim is an unclaimed bounty. Billy Mitchell offered $100,000 of his own money to the person that could clear the kill screen via conventional means. (As as example, an unconventional means would be having one of the player start buttons wired to trigger the rack advance.) Even though a score of people have claimed to have the knowledge to clear the kill screen, not a single person even attempted to claim said bounty. To sum up: if $100,000 is not incentive enough to showcase your skill, it's a skill you don't have.

 

However, there is a fellow in Maryland named Les Martin whose claims to pass the kill screen will not go away and remain a thorn constantly in the side of those who try to play the game to perfection. At a charity event of some sort, he allegedly put up a score of around 12.7 million. If he played the first eighteen boards point perfect, cleared all of the known dots on the kill screen on the first man, passed the kill screen, and continued to play, the score is still a LONG way off.

 

The kill screen is not a glitch, per se. It is caused by an insufficient amount of memory where the board counter is concerned. The board counter is an 8-bit device. This means there are only eight positions on this counter. Computers, counting in binary, would count 00000001 for the first board, 00000010 for board two, and so on, until it gets to 11111111 for board number 255. The fashion in which the game creates the mazes is left to right. It draws the maze from the left until it reaches the middle. It then reads the board counter, assigns the appropriate bonus fruit to the center of the maze, and then finishes the right half of the maze. When it reads board one, it assigns a cherry. Likewise, when it reads anything thirteen and higher, it assigns a key. When board 255 is cleared, the counter rolls back to 00000000. Therefore, when the maze construction begins for maze 256, it gets to the middle and reads the counter as zero. Since the board has no fruit programmed for a board zero, it has no idea what to do from that point, so it defaults the bonus item to a key, and proceeds to "puke" on the right half of the screen. Theoretically, if it were possible to clear that board, the board counter would go back to 00000001 and the game could continue from the cherry board, (albeit at ninth key speed.) The same situation would then occur at boards 512, 768, and so on. Every 256th board would be a kill screen. This can bring us back to the 12.7 million point game...

 

Playing point perfect on the first life, by the time you clear the kill screen for the fourth time you would have 12,719,640. This would also require playing through over a thousand consecutive ninth key boards. With no breaks, the feat would probably have lasted between sixteen and eighteen hours. This reported score denied another player, Tim Balderramos, of having his legitimate record score featured in a writeup in USA Today which focused on video gaming records. (His score, at the time of the printing, was 3,197,000 and change.)

 

Of course, someone also mentioned, although not by name, Jeffrey Yee. He was an eight year old who appeared on Starcade to receive a congratulatory letter from Ronald Reagan for setting the Pac-Man record of over 6.1 million. (By my calculations, that would require, at minimum, playing through the kill screen to board 486.) To think that an eight year old would have the focus, desire, or attention span to run 460+ plus ninth key boards over the course of nine hours is absolute nonsense.

 

3,333,360 is the five-man benchmark. Period.

 

As a sidenote, someone mentioned at the beginning of the thread that there are not enough dots to trigger the rack advance. This is correct. Play the kill screen in MAME on infinite lives and you will find that if you continue to eat the nine dots hidden in the jibberish on the right side of the screen, eventually you will trigger the rack advance and get to the next screen: the cherry board at ninth key speed.

 

That's pretty much the whole story on the controversy surrounding the kill screen and the reason for its existence.

[tiggerthehun]

Pacmanfever - thanks for the informed - and interesting reply! Love reading stuff like that.

I hate to admit it, but I'd actually like to meet Billy Mitchell some day. Really enjoyed reading Mr Days book (Twin Galaxy's high score book) about the escapades of the early "aces".

I've just gotten my very own Ms. Pac Man cocktail (YEA!)- and am now interested in learning how to "group". I've read tutorials on the web, but they're not the same as watching.

Anyone know of any "Grouping" videos out there?

[NE146]

Anyone know of any "Grouping" videos out there?

888752[/snapback]

 

Yes! O'l forum member Pacmanplus posted a .inp of himself playing to 227k on Ms. Pac. Just load that up in Mame and you'll see several nice examples of grouping technique I think it's always fun to watch good players techniques

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...pic=40787&st=29

[pacmanfevr76]

Ms. Pac-Man FAQ 2.0

 

This is written by the original Bozeman Think Tank. They are the fellows that publicly uncovered the secret of the junior boards. Though the link mentioned in the article is broken, I have copies of the referenced .jpg files.

 

(This game is definitely my next big project. I can only get 292,000 now.)

 

One day we shall learn the recently found trick to getting 141 boards every time.

Edited July 11, 2005 by pacmanfevr76

[Flack]

The kill screen in Pac-Man is, until I am informed otherwise, impassable.  The single largest piece of evidence to support this claim is an unclaimed bounty.  Billy Mitchell offered $100,000 of his own money to the person that could clear the kill screen via conventional means.  (As as example, an unconventional means would be having one of the player start buttons wired to trigger the rack advance.)  Even though a score of people have claimed to have the knowledge to clear the kill screen, not a single person even attempted to claim said bounty.  To sum up: if $100,000 is not incentive enough to showcase your skill, it's a skill you don't have.

 

However, there is a fellow in Maryland named Les Martin whose claims to pass the kill screen will not go away and remain a thorn constantly in the side of those who try to play the game to perfection.  At a charity event of some sort, he allegedly put up a score of around 12.7 million.  If he played the first eighteen boards point perfect, cleared all of the known dots on the kill screen on the first man, passed the kill screen, and continued to play, the score is still a LONG way off.

 

The kill screen is not a glitch, per se.  It is caused by an insufficient amount of memory where the board counter is concerned.  The board counter is an 8-bit device.  This means there are only eight positions on this counter.  Computers, counting in binary, would count 00000001 for the first board, 00000010 for board two, and so on, until it gets to 11111111 for board number 255.  The fashion in which the game creates the mazes is left to right.  It draws the maze from the left until it reaches the middle.  It then reads the board counter, assigns the appropriate bonus fruit to the center of the maze, and then finishes the right half of the maze.  When it reads board one, it assigns a cherry.  Likewise, when it reads anything thirteen and higher, it assigns a key.  When board 255 is cleared, the counter rolls back to 00000000.  Therefore, when the maze construction begins for maze 256, it gets to the middle and reads the counter as zero.  Since the board has no fruit programmed for a board zero, it has no idea what to do from that point, so it defaults the bonus item to a key, and proceeds to "puke" on the right half of the screen.  Theoretically, if it were possible to clear that board, the board counter would go back to 00000001 and the game could continue from the cherry board, (albeit at ninth key speed.)  The same situation would then occur at boards 512, 768, and so on.  Every 256th board would be a kill screen.  This can bring us back to the 12.7 million point game...

 

Playing point perfect on the first life, by the time you clear the kill screen for the fourth time you would have 12,719,640.  This would also require playing through over a thousand consecutive ninth key boards.  With no breaks, the feat would probably have lasted between sixteen and eighteen hours.  This reported score denied another player, Tim Balderramos, of having his legitimate record score featured in a writeup in USA Today which focused on video gaming records.  (His score, at the time of the printing, was 3,197,000 and change.)

 

Of course, someone also mentioned, although not by name, Jeffrey Yee.  He was an eight year old who appeared on Starcade to receive a congratulatory letter from Ronald Reagan for setting the Pac-Man record of over 6.1 million.  (By my calculations, that would require, at minimum, playing through the kill screen to board 486.)  To think that an eight year old would have the focus, desire, or attention span to run 460+ plus ninth key boards over the course of nine hours is absolute nonsense.

 

3,333,360 is the five-man benchmark.  Period.

 

As a sidenote, someone mentioned at the beginning of the thread that there are not enough dots to trigger the rack advance.  This is correct.  Play the kill screen in MAME on infinite lives and you will find that if you continue to eat the nine dots hidden in the jibberish on the right side of the screen, eventually you will trigger the rack advance and get to the next screen: the cherry board at ninth key speed.

 

That's pretty much the whole story on the controversy surrounding the kill screen and the reason for its existence.

888336[/snapback]

 

That may be one of the single most interesting posts I've ever read on a forum. Thank you for sharing that info!

[NE146]

As a sidenote, someone mentioned at the beginning of the thread that there are not enough dots to trigger the rack advance.  This is correct.  Play the kill screen in MAME on infinite lives and you will find that if you continue to eat the nine dots hidden in the jibberish on the right side of the screen, eventually you will trigger the rack advance and get to the next screen: the cherry board at ninth key speed.

 

Love your post but this one paragraph doesn't really make sense to me.. first you say you can't trigger the rack advance because there's not enough dots. But then you say w/ infinite lives if you continue eating the nine dots in the jibberish, you will eventually trigger the rack advance and get to a cherry @9th key speed? Would this not make it possible to pass the kill screen conventionally? I guess I'm not really too clear here..