Pacman On E's

Pac-Man? Again? Yawn... boring!!

Yes, there are already several examples of cracking Pacman games for the best 16-bit computer on the planet. So Pacman On E really needed to bring something extra special to the table. Well, this game has been developed specifically for the enhanced Atari STe and, unlike so many lost shareware titles, this download is actually the registered version! This comes with lots of cool gameplay/aesthetic extras which will impress!

The Pacman game is timeless but this version takes the familiar genre to a new level thanks to its furious speeds. There are 100 levels, zany visuals, funky music and a range of stereo sound effects: like the Road Runner's "meep meep" and the buzzer from Family Fortunes. Digital Dreams utilises the STe's extra colours, Blitter and DMA Audio. Interestingly, the Function Keys can change the bass, treble, volume (and more).

Credits

Stuart Innes - Programming/Graphics

Robert Thompson - Graphics/Sfx

Alasdair Macmillan - Graphics

Come on, play the game

PacMan On E's can be fully enjoyed solo for the most hilariously challenging take on the original concept. It's tripped out and stuffed with colourful visuals and a bucket load of whacky sound effects. The action and fast and exciting so never gets boring, which is how the original becomes. Well, after a while.

Best of all is the simultaneous two-player support especially when hunting for the power-ups. There are a variety of silly effects and my recording shows myself and my daughter playing it together in coop. Absolutely superb!! (When she lost she decided to cheat by covering my eyes with her hands. Hmm!)

Download me!

You can grab this belting Pac-Man game from most ST websites but Peter, aka 8BitChip, has adapted the registered version which you can download from my Dropbox (while his website is currently offline as I type). My personal greetings to Stuart Innes, Robert Thomson and Alasdair Macmillan for this wonderful game!!

Wait, don't go just yet!! Let's see some screenshots before you download this fantastic game...

An iconic opening intro. Love it!!

Oh yes, lots of STe-only features that you can tweak.

Super-duper colourful graphics to jazz up boring old Pacman.

Fine design spruced up using fantastic colour work.

What? This screenshot looks kinda dull. But the action is furious!

The final screenshot is here only to send your eyeballs crazy with a psychedelic design!

Crackman In The Search For His Dealer

What a belting name!!

Crackman was released for the Atari STe by Teenage [Pung] and has one of the most idiotic storylines I've ever heard - make sure you read the docs. Okay, I'm sure you've already guessed, Crackman is a PacMan clone but is also one of the most challenging I have ever played. Well, that's an understatement actually...

The maps are huge with a crafty design but it's the ghosts that cannot fail to impress with insanely intelligent AI. This dictates practice before considering matching wits as their AI isn't like previously seen, it's more like Lode Runner. My first game almost ended in tears - I needed many more attempts before recording a video.

Along with the crazy storyline are a few surprises like mines, hidden walls and power pad support. I love the ghosts and our little pill-popper has a full set of teeth but my favourite is when he dies and turns into a puddle of gore. The Atari STe produces silky smooth 50fps hardware scrolling and superb DMA audio.

Everyone knows Pac-Man but if you thought it was boring then take a look at this - I dare you!! Is it better than Crapman? I don't know... but what I do know is that we have yet another excellent Pac-Man game!!

CRAPMAN

Crapman was originally featured within the Synergy megademo and later released as a standalone product in 1993. Most Atarians rate this as one of the best Pac-Man and it's obvious why with spot-on perfect gameplay: those pesky ghosts are clever and a cunning level design helps make this extremely challenging.

The graphics are marvellous and the Scavenger music is just perfect - gorgeous and timeless! Crapman may have a silly name but it's a fantastic twist on the original and immensely addictive. Right, I cannot stress this enough, stop what you're doing and play this game right now. Quite possibly the best Pacman clone?

Download Crapman game from the Demozoo website.

The Synergy Megademo is one of the best Atari ST demos so download it.

I also recorded a few more videos from the superb Synergy:

1. Unfinished Demo
2. Megademo Music Disk
3. DBA #6 Intro
4. Megademo - Symbiosys
5. Megademo - Credits Screen

Mac Pan

Mac Pac, err, Pac-Man? What?

After yesterday's awesome (but mind-blowing!) technical flight sim I needed something a little less taxing on my old brain cells. So, I'm taking an easier route today and playing a Pac-Man clone called Mac Pan. Weird name and there are already lots of PacMan games but this one is more vanilla, so let's get pill-popping and ghost munching!

Mac Pan was released in 1987 by Richard Beith and works in ST High resolution. There are a few integrated features that I really liked: hold down the fire button and you can temporally increase the yellow guy's speed. Hang on, he's not yellow anymore! Anyhow, the game's speed can be tinkered with in the preference. The graphics and sounds are pretty good plus there is support for simultaneous 2-players.

It's not the best PacMan game I've played but I still enjoyed it and being able to choose the game's speed is a superb idea. It's easy to imagine German office workers in the 80s playing Mac Pan during their lunch break. Monochrome users should jump up & down with excitement because this is an excellent clone of the classic.

Downloads are available using Old Games Finder.

Video Games 1

A game for Spock!

Andrei Ellman of Wacko Software created a game made from three classic genres: Pong, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man. This release is different because all three games are playable at the same time. Yep, you heard correctly!

Pong is controlled by holding the fire button and moving up/down.
Pac Man is initially quite confusing so read the docs within the download!
Space Invaders is easy, left/right moves and pushing up/down fires the gun.

The controls are odd and things get very weird when trying to play everything at once! However, there's only so much my tiny brain could cope with and I found that I could play two games at once. But not three, I had no chance!! Visually, it works well but, if you're struggling to see things properly, then you can alter each game's appearance using the numeric pad. Also, there's an option to invert colours which makes everything look ugly but it's much better on the eyes.

I think Andrei was one crazy, mixed-up kid who had a good laugh when coding this. Don't take it too seriously and practice with the controls because Video Games 1 is ridiculously entertaining. You will love this maddening nightmare!!

- Downloads are right here -

PacMania

Popping pills & chasing ghosts!

Pac-Mania was released in 1989 by Grandslam and is based on the arcade classic which was a nice conversion and generally well-received at the time. This new "3D" game saw our pill-popper change from an overhead 2D perspective to a fancy isometric viewpoint and, because the play area was so large - it scrolled. Which is an ace idea I gotta say!

Pacman himself also had an upgrade by having the ability to jump - even though he has no legs! Sadly, the Atari ST version suffered a smaller screen because it lacked hardware scrolling and, as a result, featured a large status panel. Don't get me wrong, something had to give but the game still featured smooth scrolling and definitely wasn't a lame port.

Here is a screenshot of the original ST game (note, I've left in the top/bottom borders for a reason)...

As you can see, it looks great albeit with that overly large status panel taking up a lot of space.

Gee, how would an Atari STe have coped?

Well, I'm glad you asked! Entering into the 16-bit arena is Samuel (aka Zamuel_A) with an upgrade specifically designed to make maximum use of the Atari STe and its lovely enhanced hardware. Firstly, the gameplay now takes place in overscan opening up the gameplay arena in ways you cannot imagine. The entire screen flows along at a silky-smooth 50fps thanks to the hardware scrolling in all four directions (a much under-utilised feature of this computer).

But that's not all, the Blitter handles all the sprites and the DMA audio hardware plays the sampled sound effects with our sweet YM2149 banging out wonderful chiptunes - better than Tracker MODs!! Technically, this is far beyond impressive and I'm sure Samuel has utilised every part of the computer? Well, it certainly provides the wow factor!

Wanna see how it looks compared to the original? Of course, you do so scroll down a little further...

And this is how the same game appears on the Atari STe using overscan and all the other goodies!

The CryptO'pinion?

Okay, the original PacMania was a good game and a decent conversion - I don't want to appear negative about it whatsoever. Having said that, Samuel has completely blown away the original game with his upgrade! It has transformed our yellow friend for the 21st-century retro gamer. It's impossible not to be impressed by Samuel's dedication and hard work.

This is what happens when a talented chap takes a great game and rebuilds it in a way that would never have been possible back in the day. I doubt any software house outside of the mighty Thalion would have been more committed to developing for the Atari STe? Especially when you consider how the boundaries have been pushed in such incredible ways.

This is a fascinating revamp of the old favourite and far more enjoyable than ever. Absolutely superb!!

Downloads are on Atari-Forum! (another video I recorded)

H-Mec II

H Mec II carries on from where the first game nicely Jon and Sally Garry and appears to be a version of Pac-Man for the Atari STe. However, it's very different thanks to the monster AI which makes this more of a game of chase. The graphics are excellent and make use of the hardware scrolling, Blitter, and all those extra colours. Music is by a whole host of famous people like Tao, Big Alec, Count Zero and more. Timeless and utterly stunning tunes.

I could say that this is one of the better PacMan games out there but it's not. Sure, H-Mec 2 looks like PacMan and there are pills to nosh, but it actually plays differently when being chased around a maze by angry monsters. It's more like Lode Runner and pretty darn addictive too. You will love every second of this - it's a cracker!!

So waste no more idle time and get this downloaded from Atari Mania right now!