Pac-Man
• EASTER EGG: At the menu screen, press 0722626 (the last 6 #’s spell out “PACMAN” on a standard phone keypad). At the bottom, instead of the "Press START to play game" message it will say "By James Andreasen" (picture #1). {Ken Van Mersbergen}
• 2 versions exist! The original version has the power pill bug described below.
• A special demonstration version was made specifically for the 5200 kiosk display (pictures #3 and #4).
• There are some differences between the 5200 version and the 400/800 version. Besides the title screen, the 5200 version has all the intermissions and a higher sound f/x for eating dots, plus a sound f/x for earning an extra Pac-Man (at 10k). The 5200 version also plays faster.
• Hiding spots: The monsters use the same movement logic as in the arcade game. The Pac-Man Dossier by Jamey Pittman (LINK) describes an area of the maze where the monsters logic can be exploited. The two red zones (picture #7) represent the areas where monsters are forbidden to make upward turns. Once a monster enters either of these two zones, it may only travel from right-to-left or left-to-right until exiting the area (video #1). This same exploit can be used in the 5200 version once the monsters settle into their final chase pattern (video #2).
• BUG: On the Cherry screen, at the start go right and up into the tunnel. When inside it, you’ll hear a “chomp” sound - a dot from the left of the starting point will vanish (picture #2). {Bill Ajello}
• BUG: original version - Upon reaching the 5th key level, when you eat a power pill, the monsters will turn blue but won’t turn back (unless you eat them). This doesn't happen on the 6th level (after the intermission), but does for the 7th and beyond. On these levels, the monsters weren’t supposed to turn blue at all. Even if you eat them, you’ll continue to hear the sound f/x as though they were still blue (unless you either die or finish the level). {Scott Stilphen}
• BUG: The player’s speed doesn’t increase after each level, unless you lose a life. This only happens when working your way up to the level (ex: if you started on the first Apple, your speed was fine). If you worked your way up to the 1st Apple, the speed wouldn't increase until the 2nd Apple. {Bob DeCrescenzo}
• BUG: Starting with the 1st apple, the monsters only flash once before turning back. In the arcade version, they always flash twice. {Bob DeCrescenzo}
• BUG: If you have any reserve lives when you eat a monster and the points for it are shown onscreen, the top of the reserve icons will be the same color as the points numbers (picture #5).
• BUG: The top of the Atari symbol bonus items at the bottom of the screen) are a different color (picture #6).
