First off, I’d like to thank Peter McDuff from the Star Trek fan club (“TrekPulse.com”) for giving me feedback on the Many Faces of “Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator”. Peter confirmed that there was indeed an Apple ][ version, and that its programmer has his own web site. This of course led me to Robert.

Despite having just completed an interview for that very same Star Trek fan club, Robert was gracious enough to do an interview for us Retrogamers. Robert was confident that he’d have much to tell us and he did. Only bad news is that there was too much to include here in the Retrogaming Times. So we’ve cut it down and focus on Robert’s stories about the Apple //, Sega, Activision and his Apple // programming of “Ghostbusters” & “Star Trek: SOS”. The director’s cut (full interview) will still be available at Robert’s web site. Read about his early computer experiences, visits to TV studios for “Tic-Tac-Dough” and “Buck Rogers” and much more at:

I was born in Hollywood, CA in 1965, and at age 8 my family moved to Granada Hills, in the San Fernando Valley (of "Valley Girl" fame). I think my first contact with a computer came in 1976 when I was in 7th grade. My school had a mysterious room with an old minicomputer in it (I don't remember the make or model, only that it was about the size of a refrigerator.) I never took the class, but managed to spend a little time in the room watching older kids load programs from paper tape and laboriously enter programs on the teletype. I was fascinated, but my interest never took root, because as I said, I hated school, and math was my most-hated subject. Only older kids who were good at math got to study on that machine.

Then one day in 1977 I had made a slight detour on my usual route home from school, and discovered Rainbow Computing. The front of the tiny computer store featured a rack of computer mags like "Creative Computing" & "ROM Magazine". On a table at the back of the store sat a stylish plastic case with an integrated keyboard hooked up to a color television and a cassette player-- The Apple ][. And it played games! I basically became a tolerated daily nuisance to the store entrepreneurs Gene Sprouse and Glenn Dollar. My parents, who couldn't afford to purchase a computer at that time, stopped expecting me home before the store closed. I made myself useful in the store by copying the cassette tapes on which Apple ][ programs were distributed, and Gene and Glenn paid me in computer magazines that I took home and absorbed. Eventually my parents scraped together enough money to buy an Apple //+ (which had an amazing 48K of RAM instead of the original 4K, and by that time floppy drives were even available!

While hanging out at Rainbow Computing, I met Gary J. Shannon, who is the brother of Sargon author Kathe Spracklen, and he became something of a mentor to me. Through little programs he wrote that did amazingly cool things in assembly language, Gary showed me why I should be interested in going deeper into the machine. Gary later moved to San Diego to work for arcade game manufacturer Gremlin, which was later bought by Sega. He was my introduction to Sega where I was hired as a programmer.

Pretty much from the time I played my first computer game.

Mostly self-taught. Most of my early experience was acquired by reading programming guides, studying others' code, and tons of experimentation. As time has gone on I've read many more academic books on the subject. The primary skill that got me started was 6502 assembly programming on the Apple ][.

The 8-bit computers and game systems that I have programmed primarily include the Apple // and its descendants, the Atari 400/800, the Atari 2600, and the Commodore 64.

I was around 14 when “Camera Obscura,” was published by Programma International. They were the original "cassette in a bag" software publishing company. But I don’t recall whether I actually made any money on it.

I was hired for my ability to program 6502 assembly. Mostly I studied techniques for programming the 2600, and I started designing a stunt-car game. But I was moved to the Apple // before that game was very far along.

RT: Tell us about getting the opportunity to program the Apple // version of “Star Trek: SOS” and did anyone else contribute?

The move actually came as a relief to me, as I found the Atari 2600 environment terribly restrictive when compared to the relatively roomy Apple //. I did all the programming. One of Sega's artists did the shapes that appear in the lower viewer. I especially like how he drew the star base so it appears to be rotating as it comes closer -- in the coin-op the angle is static. I did all the other art and sound, including the front page Star Trek logo.

Moderately. I enjoyed watching Star Trek as a kid, played the Star Fleet Battles board game of years ago, and watched the first few seasons of ST:TNG. I've seen most of the Star Trek movies.

I played the arcade version tons. I essentially didn't "convert" the game code so much as I "replicated" the coin-op play as much as possible on the Apple //.

When I was hired at Sega/Gremlin, the youngest engineer working there was Sam Palahnuk, who had designed and co-developed the original coin-op “Star Trek: SOS” in his early 20s. Sam was the youngest programmer Sega had hired to date until I was hired at age 17. I received quite a bit of good-natured ribbing for it. Sam and I subsequently became long-time friends.

Nomad has what appears at first to be a very evasive behavior, but actually it simply flies the same direction as the Enterprise but at twice the speed. The wrap-around nature of the board means that it’s always on the board somewhere, though. The trick is to fly directly away from Nomad, and it will fly right up to you. Stop before it touches you (or it will drain your shields,) and turn around and shoot it. Its behavior is actually quite stupid.

I have the front panel of a box, which I cut out and had displayed in a picture frame for a number of years. I have a manual, which is a single sheet that measures 19" wide by 10" high unfolded, printed on both sides in two colors (red and dark blue). Alas, I currently have no scans of these materials, and do not have a scanner readily available.

As I recall the coin-op version had a voice that introduced each level with "Entering Sector 3" or some sort, and also warned of low resources. But it didn't add much to the gameplay and there was no expectation that the Apple // version would talk, so I didn't try to add that in.

It took seven or eight months, I believe. I wrote Star Trek on an Apple // (I think it was a //e) that Sega provided in their offices.

Sega was owned by Paramount Pictures at that time, and there was a big push to do games based on Paramount properties, including Star Trek. Near the completion of SOS I felt rightfully proud of how it had turned out. While not as attractive as the arcade version, it faithfully reproduced the gameplay and I was pretty happy with it overall. To celebrate, I decided to put in an easter egg that would provide me with credit (which was against Sega policy). I programmed it such that if, during gameplay, the user blindly typed "Who programmed this game?" It would display "ROBERT MCNALLY" at the bottom of the screen for 30 seconds. Sadly, I made the mistake of showing the easter egg to a couple of colleagues who I thought I could trust, and one of them reported my escapade to my supervisor, who made me disable the code. The release version does NOT have this code, and contains no other easter eggs.

Well, I understood that not giving credit was company policy, so I suppose I didn't feel cheated. If anything, I was trying to cheat them by flouting their policy and putting in an easter egg. At the same time, I felt that they had good reasons to give programmers credit, and were not doing so to their own detriment. I felt vindicated that giving credit became the norm.

I wonder if the low-key nature of the Apple retro gaming community is basically because although the Apple // was the first of its generation, it didn't turn out to be one of the better overall game machines. Lack of sprite hardware, limited color palette, lack of character-mapped graphics, lack of scrolling hardware, and lack of multi-voice audio hardware really hampered the Apple // play experience. I loved my Apple // days, but when I started working on the Atari 400/800, I realized how much better those machines were for playing games.

I don't recall who my introduction to Activision was, but I worked under a producer named Brad Fregger. I did not work on anything else for Activision.

I vividly recall being asked by Brad to bid on the Ghostbusters project, and after agonizing about it for a couple days, calling him back. “So, how much do you want for the Ghostbusters project?" Brad asked.

Well, I've thought about it a lot and I'd like to ask for seven thousand," I said cautiously.

Immediately Brad shot back, "That's not enough."

"What?" I choked.

"I said that's not enough. I'll give you fifteen."

Of course I accepted. And while looking back on the exchange I realize that even back then $15K was probably at the low end of the price range for such work, I felt quite motivated to get the job done well and on time. Essentially we both ended up feeling like we got a good deal, so I have no regrets.

I was the only programmer, and I did the graphics and sound, including the speech.

CODE: I almost never looked at the original code. I re-wrote the program from scratch to function as much as possible like the original, and only queried the original programmer a couple times when I wasn't quite clear how it should act under certain circumstances. I found a two-voice music synthesis package for the Apple // and reverse-engineered it to figure out how it worked. My own version included some improvements, including the ability to sync the lyrics. The speech was not as good as I wanted it to be, but the algorithms to encode and decode it were my own. The voice in the game is my own.

GRAPHICS: I did all the art based on the C-64 version, drawing it on graph paper and then entering tables by mentally converting the dots on the paper into hex. The Apple // had a non-square aspect ratio, so re-doing the art was the only way to get things to look right, and also to line up on byte boundaries.

SOUND: I arranged the musical score myself and typed the music and lyrics in as hex tables.

There is no other speech as I didn't have the RAM to include that in the Apple // version, so I just had a "squish" sound instead of “He slimed me!” speech sequence the C-64 had. Because the C-64 version had independent voice synthesis and timed interrupts, it could play music during the entire gameplay. The Apple // just didn’t have that capability.

I don't recall exactly, but I do remember that having separate overlays for each scene made things a lot simpler. Frankly, I never worried about those factors. But I'm sure I would have avoided burning the disk if I felt I had a good approach to it. I believe minimum RAM requirements were just too constricting, but I also had a lot of time pressure to work under, so I don't recall having a lot of time to work out a better way.

I visited Activision when David was there, I think, but I don't recall meeting him, and although Ghostbusters bore his credit, I really don't recall him having anything to do directly with the Apple

version. I have never met him since.

Well, you always have fond memories of your first. I recall my Apple // days as some of the best. But the Atari 400/800 was a very exciting platform, as its graphics and sound capabilities were far beyond the Apple's. The Commodore programming I did was mostly graphics utilities for in-house artists at Sega, and the platform never really grew on me.

This is easier answered by listing the genres I don't particularly care for: Fighting games (other than “Karate Champ”, which was cool), Driving games (Unless they are really off-the-wall, like “Spy Hunter” or “Stun Runner”), Sports games (I have never been a fan of team sports. My grandfather was a golf fan, so for that reason I kind of enjoyed working on “PGA Tour Golf”.)

Like many, I spent endless hours at my local arcades playing the best games the 80s had to offer. Cutting my original list to 10 was tough, but here goes... (alphabetical order)

Beneath Apple Manor - First Apple game I saw hooked up to a coin slot!

Castle Wolfenstein - The 2-D forerunner of today's 3-D FPS

Crazy Climber - Blisters on the knuckles of both hands!

Lemmings - Brilliant concept, perfectly executed

Marble Madness - Loved the attention to detail

Mario Bros. - Deceptively friendly- play it 2-player competitively and it rocks!

Populous - The first "god game"

Star Raiders - Flawless

Tempest - The best color vector game ever

Tetris - Addiction reduced to its simplest terms

Oh, games are in my blood alright. It was never "just a job" for me, it has always been a labor of love. I've always loved being able to write computer programs that average people can understand and enjoy, and games are at the pinnacle of that concept.

I have been married to my wife Rebecca for almost 10 years and have a 3-year old son, Bevan. I also have two younger brothers, both of whom are involved in the computer games industry. Steven is a video and computer game designer and Michael, who has worked for the past 3 years on developing artificial intelligence technology for games. He has just accepted an offer to work at Google!

Although I'm not into the scene much, I'm well aware of it, and am very happy to see the old systems and games being enjoyed.

I'm a MAME fan, and still visit some of my favorite coin-op ROMs from time to time. I used an Apple // emulator to get screen shots of some of my old projects for my web site. Sadly, I no longer have any of my old hardware. It just never seemed like a priority to preserve it. I actually did preserve the case from my family's original Apple ][ for many years, intending to make an herb planter out of it. When I moved out of my last place I forgot to take it with me and the

landlord threw it out thinking I had abandoned it. *sigh*

My interests have grown to include areas outside of games as such, but I would still like to create more games (or game-like projects) at some point.

RT: Your resume shows that you continued to work on some game projects, but not just games. Is it just the way the cards fell, or because you did not stay at one company long, or with one platform long?

I think that a big part of it is that my interests are all over the place, and that I grow restless when I feel like I'm doing the same thing over and over again. I never want to live the same day twice.

Of course the flip-side to the "Jack of all trades..." saying is "...and a master of none." But I think in all the time and experience I've had, I have mastered one fundamental and fairly rare skill: communicating successfully with, and facilitating communication between, creative, technical, and business interests. I speak all three "languages" fluently, and enjoy being the bridge between parties that often must work together, but have intrinsically conflicting ideals and goals. The thing that keeps this skill lively and honed for me is that I don't set myself in a category apart from artists, programmers or business people -- I actually practice all three disciplines on an ongoing basis -- I am an artist, an engineer, and a businessperson. My work in games really got me moving in this direction, as game development is a quintessentially interdisciplinary process.

Rainbow Computing was one of the first stores to offer the Apple Lisa, the forerunner of the Macintosh. Of course I played with it extensively (I still have a Lisa paperweight on my desk.) I admired its ground-breaking approach to user interface, but at $10K I would never buy one. When the Macintosh appeared in 1984 I knew this was the wave of the future, and bought my first Mac, the 512K model, in 1985. The only viable development language for the Mac at that time was 68000 assembly, so that was what I mastered first, and my first commercial Macintosh product was a port of the C-64 planetarium package “Sky Travel”. Later I moved to programming in C.

In retrospect I think that my progression through languages made a lot of sense-- Basic to get my feet wet, 6502 assembly to learn how to get performance out of a system, then 68000 assembly to understand the next-generation processor architecture, and then C as a sort of compact shorthand for assembly. Eventually of course I learned C++, Java, and a host of other languages as well.

The Macintosh became my "home" system. I use it for everything I can, and I also run Mac and Linux servers in my office. I have a PC laptop I use when I must. Even though the PC gaming world has always been much more robust than the Mac gaming world, I just can't stomach using Windows as my every day operating system. Elegance and aesthetics mean a lot to me, and the Mac has it all over Windows in those areas. The Mac took a homogenous approach to its media hardware (you pretty much used whatever Apple provided, and it "just worked" trouble free, and programmers had to change very little as the Mac hardware advanced) and the PC took a rather heterogeneous approach (you picked from the plethora of video and sound cards available and had endless compatibility issues, but when it worked, it worked well, especially for games). The Amiga was a great games and multimedia machine in its day, but it's architecture was closely tied to its generation of hardware, and the state of the art just ended up passing it by.

For the past couple years my big project has not been a game, but a toy. PixelBlocks were invented by Jay Simmons over 15 years ago. In 2001, Jay offered me the opportunity to bring PixelBlocks to market. I accepted and brought together four other talented partners to start PixelBlocks LLC. I also developed the company web site. PixelBlocks launched in October 2003, and have received a wonderful response.

http://www.pixelblocks.com

The best way to stay current on what I'm involved with is to check out my personal web site. I've had a web presence since 1995, and I always add links to ventures I'm closely involved with to the link bars featured on every page.

I'm very happy that retrogaming will always be there when I feel like walking down memory lane. It always startles me how much I remember when I browse web sites about, and play games from, that brief but golden age.

Thanks for the opportunity to "unpack" a lot of my personal/professional history-- I've really enjoyed it. Thanks to the following sites for helping jog my memory:

The Killer List of Video Games: www.klov.com

The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers: http://dadgum.com/giantlist/list.html

[I'm listed in the Giant List as McNally, Bob, even though I always go by Robert.]

http://www.dangerousgames.com/~ironwolf.html

Alan Hewston can be reached at hewston95NO@SPAMstratos.net

(Robert McNally and his lovely family)

Sometimes you stumble across something that you did not even think existed.  While at a retail store, I came across a collection of games from a company called Cosmi.  One of them was Forbidden Forest.  I read the back and sound like the original.  But it also came with a $20.00 price tag and I was not going to pay that for the chance it was a remake of the beloved Commodore 64 game.  Well, I went online and found out it was remake of the original.  And I also found that I could get half the collection for a much lower price on ebay.  The one at the retail store was 20 programs with half being arcade games and half being puzzle games.  I only really wanted Forbidden Forest.  The one on ebay only had the 10 arcade games with Forbidden Forest and I picked it up for $3.00 plus shipping.  Much better than the $20.00 retail price.  Now onto a review of the game.

This version of Forbidden Forest keeps the spirit of the original alive.  The basic game is the same with you going through the Forbidden Forest trying to kill all the unfriendly creatures that populate the woods.  But this time you are actually moving through the forest.  You are still armed with a bow and arrow and have to load the bow like before.  The creatures still come after you and many of your favorites are back like the spider and dragon.  But this time there are more creatures and they are alot harder to kill.  Some take multiple hits and this time they can move around you.  The game is very similar to a Tomb Raider as it is the same view.  You do switch to a first person angle when you are shooting at the monsters. 

The game offers alot of stuff the original did not.  There are over 100 levels, items you can pick up and different weather patterns.  The game is pretty involved for a remake of a game that most people have never heard of.  While the graphics are quite nice, they are not exactly amazing.  But I found the game to be quite addictive, much like the original.  But enough of talking about this game, for the low price it is a no brainer.  If you like the original, you should like this one as it is better than the Forbidden Forest sequel aptly titled Forbidden Forest II.  It also has the original game included, so you can enjoy the new or the classic for one very low price (shop around, you should find it pretty cheap, I did).  Here are some links for you to read more about it and see some screenshots:

http://www.cosmi.com/html/product%20pages/entertainment/forbidden_forest.htm

The official Cosmi website.

http://www.webfootgames.com/catalog/forest.htm

The website of the programmers with some nice screenshots.

http://www.monroeworld.com/forbiddenforest/main.htm

Here is the unofficial website for the original game.  The memories!

Billy the Block, as Tom calls our beloved hero from the Atari 2600 game "Adventure" is still part of the Retrogaming scene. Billy will return to action in the upcoming Atariage.com homebrew "Adventure ] [", by Ron "Cafeman" Lloyd. Besides this new Atari 5200 game, Billy has not landed many good paying jobs, and he's had some hard times over the years. The picture above is Billy finding ways to pay the bills - using himself as a 3-D billboard to advertise for classic games.

Alan came up with “Billy in 3-D” idea and Tim Roach brought it to fruition. First pulling in some classic game system/computer logos, then modifying them to work with the 3-D CAD graphics packages. A final touch using yet another graphics tool to give Billy some aging (texture). Tom thinks that the 3-D Billy might make a good mascot for the possible continuation of the newsletter. That is, staff Writers Adam King & Alan Hewston will try to keep the “Retrogaming Times” going, and Tom has given us his blessing, but we have not settled on the revised name as yet. The frontrunner is the "Retrogaming Monthly". We'll plan to continue regular features, like the "Many Faces of", the "Commercial Vault", "Vic 20 Reviews by Tonks", 8 Bit Face Off” etc.

Stay tuned for more about a possible continuation of this newsletter, but probably with a 1 month delay. If you have any feedback on keeping this newsletter/magazine alive, and/or would like to see “Billy the Block” above be the new mascot, contact Alan at hewston95NOSP@AMstratos.net

This is not in place of the Many Faces of, as I will review “Pac-Man” this month – see below. I’ve wanted to fill in a few of the Many Faces – the “Lost Faces” but never seem to make the time. These Lost Faces were versions that I did not have or overlooked somehow. In fact, when I reviewed Q*bert WAY back in RT #33, it was my very first review (very meager compared to my reviews today) so, I decided that my original scores were no longer valid. Each version had to be re-played, each category re-scored and then check one versus the other, and versus all other games/categories/scores. Hopefully this makes amends, especially for the Intellivision, O2 and Atari 8 bit ports. Since you all know Q*bert . . .

Lost Face of the Q*bert - courtesy of TI-99 gamer/historian Bryan Roppolo.

Arcade: 1982 Warren Davis (Gottlieb/Mylstar). All home versions by Parker Brothers in 1983

Atari 2600 Dave Hampton. Atari 8 bit & Atari 5200 Daniel Small

Unknown: Colecovision, C-64, Vic 20, Intellivision, Odyssey 2 & TI-99.

MSX (Konami 1986)

Classic Sequels: “Faster Harder More Challenging Q*bert” 1983, never went to arcade production.

& “Q*bert’s Qubes” in 1983 at the arcade, and at home on the 2600 & CV.

Home Version Similarities: Except those in <>: all home versions have: a full, arcade sized playfield <Vic20>; Red balls (deadly), Green ball (least common item which momentarily freezes the action), Slick & Sam (Green but turn blocks back to their original color), purple ball (becomes Coily at the bottom), Wrong Way & Ugg <2600> (who jump along the sides of the blocks), the floating, swirling, multi-colored flying disks <2600 & O2 have a platform with 1 color> which take you to the top of the pyramid & if Coily jumps overboard, this gives you bonus points & clears the playfield; display on-screen info such as the target color, your score <2600 partially blocked>, lives remaining, level & round <2600>; Q*bert visually curses ("@!#?@!") when he is hit (O2); individual sound effects include bouncing/moving sounds by everything, Q*bert, Coily, Slick & Sam <2600, O2, Vic>, Wrong Way & Ugg (talk jibberish) <O2>, swirling disk, Q*bert cursing or getting squished, Q*bert over the edge, Coily over the edge, hear your extra lives earned <O2>, special music during the green ball freeze, end of round music, end of /beginning of level music different than the end of round <Vic, O2, 2600>; intermission/tutorial between levels <Vic, 2600, TI, Inty, Atari 8 bit, 5200>; and bonus points & sound for unused flying discs <most have it, but I didn’t track everything>, and probably a few more . . . whew!

Disqualified only because I do not have this version or system to review.

Atari 8 bit
My first reaction was not recalling having reviewed this one before and my old scores were much too low. All the 5200 scores and comments apply here except for Controls, which are perfect (10). I must also mention the awesome pause here, the “fire” button – couldn’t be any better. Available on disk & cart.

TI-99
My first reaction was that since RT #33, I’ve finally found some great TI-99 games. It was about my fifth TI system in the wild before I actually found “real” TI games, and thus bought the system for the first time. TI-99 fans assured me that this port was very good & that my journey would not be complete without reviewing it here. Gameplay is all there (8) and Addictiveness is fun to play (7). Graphics are super (9), as good as the C-64 with lots of detail, color, animation and 3-D look to them. Sound is all there (8) and Controls are flawless (10). But Controls took some time, before I gave them a 10. You see, instead of holding the joystick rotated 45 degrees clockwise (with the fire button on top), you rotate it 45 deg CCW. Makes it awkward to hold and I would surely have lowered the score if you needed to use the fire button for anything. Dumb programming – almost cost them a medal here. Keyboard option might be available.

Colecovision
My first reaction was that I was previously too harsh on the controls. After trying all the controllers, I found that the Amiga stick might take some getting used to, but will yield a perfect Controls score (10). Gameplay is well-done (9) all elements are in place, plus 3 skill levels of play – not found on any other version. Addictiveness is pleasant (8) helped by the intermissions and music between levels. Graphics are beautiful (8) with lots of color and multicolor, but quite as animated or 3-D like the 64. Sound is crisp (8) and all there.

Commodore 64
My first reaction was the 3-D look to the graphics usually makes the difference and so you’ll probably like this one a little better. The CV has the 3 skill choices, but it doesn’t take long to become hard, so I’d rather have it look better and take a little while longer to become hard. Gameplay is all there (8) and as hinted before, Graphics are wonderful (9), the best with nice 3-D animation. Addictiveness is pleasant (8) matching the CV with the intermissions as well. Who’d figure that the O2 would be the only other version with the Intermission? Controls are perfect (10) & Sound is sharp (8) - all there. Found on both a cart & disk.

Overall a tough battle from these top 4. They all are good, and yet no one version has it all. If one version had a pause, intermission & skill choices then that would have been the decisive winner.

In a change in theme this month, issue #80 will be an arcade hit from “80”. 1980, that is, in “Pac-Man”, one of the all time greats. Also voted in as your number one game choice for 1980. This game was specifically made to be a non-violent game, geared towards attracting woman, and children to try video games. In Japan, a slang word “paku paku” describes the opening and closing motion of the mouth while one eats. The name “Pac-Man” came from that slang, but it was initially translated to PuckMan. This was quickly modified by Midway when they distributed the game in the US market. You all know the game, the mania, and you probably know how many keys there are and even have your own theory what happened to the Atari 2600 version. Was the 2600 port the end of the beginning? One of the earliest failures/problems that helped to bring about the VG crash. Will the 7800 version win the gold medal? Keep on reading to find out ;-) See also RT issue #9, where Tom first reviewed this game for the 3 consoles.

Arcade: 1980 Namco/Midway, by Toru Iwatani with help from four others.

Home versions all programmed by Atarisoft

Apple ][ ’83 Brian Fitzgerald

Atari 2600 ’82 Todd Frye

Unknown from ‘83 (Atari 5200, Colecovision, Commodore 64)

Atari 8 bit ’83 Joe Helleson

Commodore Vic-20 ’83 TBD + Jimmy Huey

Intellivision ’83 Mike Winans (Graphics/Eric Wels, Sound/Russ Haft)

TI-99 ’83 Howard E. Scheer

Sinclair Spectrum 1984 Atarisoft.

MSX Namcot 1984

Rumor Mill: Atari 7800 in works

Classic Sequels: Several, with countless clones and many spin offs as well.

Home Version Similarities: Except those in <>: all home versions have: 1 maze pattern which includes a tunnel, ghost hide-out in the middle, 4 ghosts, who can pack and hide each other, power pills in the corners, and a similar number of dots (compared to the 240 at the arcade) <Vic 20 (132), 2600 (126), Inty (105)>; entire maze is shown on-screen at the same time; on-screen display of the scores, cumulative prizes <Inty>, and lives remaining; pretty close to the arcade sequence of the prizes per each screen <2600>; sound effects that include background sounds <Apple ][, 2600>, eating, death, new life, eating ghost, ghosts eyes returning <Vic 20>, eating prize, bonus life <C-64, Atari 8 bit, Vic 20>, power pill & music; start level options at screens 1,2,3,5,7,9,11,13 <Inty, 2600, AP2 & CV (none), Vic 20 (only 7)>; Pac-Man 20% slower when eating <TI99>; “Blinky”, fastest ghost, has max speed equal to yours; other ghosts max ~15% slower; bonus life at 10K; ghosts equal to 200, 400, 800, 1600, shown on-screen; max difficulty at ninth key; ghosts occasionally reverse directions; approximately at final 20 and then 10 dots ghosts go into chase and then faster chase mode <2600, Vic 20>; a pause <2600>; intermissions <2600, C-64, TI-99, Vic 20>.

Original Arcade sequence

Level / Prize

1/Cherry
2/Strawberry
3/Peach
5/Apple
7/Pineapple
9/Galaxian
11/Bell
13/Key
21/Ninth Key - I’ve got all the patterns down, up until the ninth key . . .

Home versions substitute the Atari logo as well as other slight variations.

DQ is only because I do not have these versions.

Have Nots: Atari 2600 (31)
My first reaction was just like everyone else – disappointed. Screen was even 90 degrees rotated. This may have been the first game where pre-orders were taken (a standard practice for blockbuster wannabees today), which was all the more reason to absolutely despise it, when it clearly did not live up to anyone’s expectations. Sure, you didn’t need to pre-order it, perhaps played a friend’s copy and when the price came down, you still bought it - I did. It was not what we wanted, but it captured the essence and was still the best version of Pac-Man you could buy on your 2600. No doubt this disappointment and lack of quality inspired many players to become home programmers to prove that they could do better. I heard this often in the 1980’s, which helps to explain why there are countless home computer clones out there. I’d even suggest this port encouraged even more 3rd party 2600 companies to spring up or chuck out inferior products. ‘If Atari can sell millions on this crap – why not us? Yes . . . we all realize that Atari rushed this out the door to take advantage of the market ASAP, and then eventually follow up with better versions for the home computers. Atari cut corners on this cart – fully aware that with just a couple more weeks and a little bit more memory, and time spent programming would yield a non-flickering, well programmed, fun game. But management was adamant about keeping this as a simple 2 K cart – perhaps a 2K wart would save them even more money – since they were about to finally start paying incentive royalties to the programmers for sales. That is, after the 2nd wave of Atari programmers left to form “Imagic”, Atari was forced to offer better incentives, like a 10? cent per cart sold bonus to designers or programmers. They knew what they were forced to do – stop losing more programmers – but yet not risk too much of that immediate profit. Maybe this helped to do them in – in the long run. Regardless of the complexity of the issues, Atari did release the first official licensed home version of Pac-Man in the US.

Gameplay is passable at best (4) with a recognizable maze & most elements represented. With only one prize there was no reason to provide start options rounds/levels. Instead, adding a child’s version and two player games with 2 different skill “A/B difficulty” settings. “A” provides less time eat the Vitamin Wafer, and shortens the duration of the power pill’s effect. This handicap / difficulty option was clearly something worth while to include in all other versions and other games as well but was not. Addictiveness is exciting (7) and although instantly repetitious, still kept early players playing it for quite a while. Graphics were blah (5), with weak colors, mono colored & flickering ghosts, and a non-arcade maze with only 126 dots. Sound may have been worse, but was acceptable (5). To paraphrase my friend Tim Roach – ‘If everyone hated this version, why is it that in movies and TV shows, the definitive background sound effect of a video game is usually from 2600 Pac-Man. The death sequence (4 blurbs in a row) and the next man/coming to life sequence (also 4 sounds) are heard all the time – regardless of what game or system is shown. Weird homage? Controls are perfect (10).

At Atari “Why Todd Frye.” Or why not. Not having a college degree in programming, the lesser paid Todd Frye put in his time and did not leave Atari, and then cashed in the most royalties to date on 2600 “Pac-Man”. Why not? It wasn’t his fault it disappointed us.

Have Nots: Vic 20 (34)
My first reaction was that this game was started, then shelved, then released really late – why? Was finished by expert Vic 20 programmer Jimmy Huey. Gameplay is average (5) with such a small playfield (132 dots), awkward maze and sprites right on top of each other all game, the playability is just not there. Addictiveness is fun to play (7) but still hampered by the size. The pause is the <space bar>. One ghost is white, making it quite painful to die eating him thinking he is still eatable. Graphics are good enough (6) with everything there but the size – making it but ugly or childish. The Sound is effective (7) but could be better if not for some missed effects. The Controls are superb (9), but sluggish, and then tarnished by the tight turning maze layout which is impossible to make the quick turns as necessary.

Have Nots: Apple ][ (38)
My first reaction was this is the only version with a true to scale (ratio) arcade maze. But since the TV/monitor is essentially landscape and the arcade screen is portrait, every other version went with a squished landscape appearance. Going with the arcade portrait ratio makes the screen so very, very small, and space becomes wasted. But then, Gameplay is impressive (8), and despite no options, this version looks the most like the arcade. It has a demo perfect layout and the information screen. Addictiveness is impressive (8), with a pause <Esc>, intermission and demo. But there is the same white ghost problem as the Vic 20, keeping this from being the most addictive version. Graphics are all there (8) with 244 dots, good detail but limited color (white ghost). Sound is decent (6), most noticeable is the missing background noise and then factor in the odd sounding internal speaker effects. Controls are sharp (8) if you enjoy playing via keyboard. I don’t and the analog stick is too accident prone for me – would only score a (7). Available only on disk.

Have Nots: TI-99 (39)
My first reaction was it is too ssslooowww. Gameplay is (7) effective, and most elements are there, but Pac-Man should be slower when eating, compared with not eating. The fruits remain on-screen too long. Addictiveness is exciting (7) with pause <space bar>, then move your stick to continue playing. The collision detection seems a bit too harsh on this version, and did I mention it was too slowwww? Graphics are well-done (9) among the best, with detail, color and animation. 202 dots is satisfactory. Sound is OK (6), but drops a point since nearly all sound effects can only occur if there is no chomping of dots. Controls are flawless (10).

Have Nots: Intellivision (39)
My first reaction was impressed at the controls. What did they do, because using a stickler, I can do pretty well here. Controls are outstanding (9) among the best Intv games I’ve played. Why couldn’t Q*bert do this? Gameplay is pretty decent (6), hindered by the small playfield (105 dots) and no start level options to see/practice higher screens. Addictiveness is very fun (8) with the intermissions and the standard Inty pause (diagonals). Graphics are all there (8), but could be better if a little smaller & more detailed. Sound is pleasant (8). All effects & music are good.

Have Nots: Commodore 64 (43)
My first reaction was bummed out that there are no intermissions and 3 ghosts look. Red, Pink and Orange ghosts look alike. The Gameplay is all there (8) with the 8 start level options, but the difference in the Gold medal is omitted intermissions. Addictiveness is enjoyable (8) with the “fire” button as the pause. There is a bit of a demo, but then that is not enough to cover up the missed intermissions. Graphics are outstanding (9) only the 3 similar colored ghost problem. Full, 256 dot playfield. Sound is all there (8) with good music and effects. Controls are perfect (10). Available on cart & disk.

Gold Medal: Atari 8 bit, 5200 & Colecovision (44)
A close 3 (4) way tie. I may have been too harsh on the C64 scoring.

Atari 8 bit
My first reaction was the really cool centerfold to the manual. Gameplay is all there (8) including all start level options & 256 dot playfield. Addictiveness is fantastic (9) with a pause <space>, and the intermissions. Graphics are among the best, superb (9), with color, animation, and all details. Sound is pleasant (8), all there and as good as any version. Only thing missing is the not needed, but obviously missing 10 K bonus life chime. Controls are perfect (10). Available on cart & disk.

Atari 5200
My first reaction was this is the same game as the 8 bit computer. It probably was ported exactly to or from the 8 bit. All the scores and notes are the same, except that this version does have the 10K bonus life chime. Surprisingly, the controls are excellent, but I bet you’ll need a Masterplay Interface (or equivalent) to really get these perfect results.

Colecovision
My first reaction was that we got ripped off, as this cart was never officially released. The recent release of this cart through the CGE is fantastic. I think the ROM is out there and thus we can all play it or buy the cart and enjoy it today. Clearly among best. Gameplay is impressive (8) - almost the same as the others, but instead of 8 starting levels, we get 3 skill variations. I tend to favor the start levels/rounds myself, but there is no need to penalize it. Has 214 dot playfield. Addictiveness is wonderful (9) with the pause <#> and intermissions. Graphics are great (9), all there, and probably the best, with added special effects from a cool title screen that sparkles in, to the awesome re-materialization of every ghost inside the ghost chamber. Sound is all there (8) matching the best of the rest. Controls are perfect (10) using the CV controller. Cart is a bit rare, but this is the most collectible/desired version to have.

FINAL THANKS:
I owe much to Tom Zjaba, his Tomorrow’s Heroes store, online site, and finally to this online magazine / newsletter. I’ve really appreciated the opportunity to write for the Retrogaming Times on a monthly basis, and particularly to have been able to assume control of a prominent feature, the Many Faces of reviews. Writing for the RT has become the priority of nearly all of my gaming and spare time activities. It has affected what I play, what I look for, and buy, what I do historical research on, and how I write my reviews. I feel that I am helping to give a lot back to the retrogaming community – more than I could in any other way. The Many Faces of has also focusing my own interest in classic gaming better, by being a jack of all trades – playing every version is unique. Writing for the RT has led me to meet and interact with many fellow gamers, and I thank you for your continued support. I’ve even been able to expand my collection and get rid of my duplicates due to my articles. ‘What will I do without the Retrogaming Times?’ asks my wife. The “RT” has surely been the highlight and most cherished of my gaming experiences and I will never forget these past 6 years. With any luck we will find a way to continue the magazine, and if not, I’ll still keep on writing these Many Faces of reviews. Until next time . . .