Any die hard PACMAN fans here?

edited December 2008 in Chit chat
I've played pacman clones all of my life and I always have to complete at least one screen of any new pacman clone I discover (which to date is probably several hundred of them).

But so far this COMX-35 game called "Happiehap" has got me stumped:-
http://www.comxclub.hobby-site.com/COMX-Club_Emulator.htm

You can grab the emulator via the above page where it says "The latest version of the emulator can be downloaded here".

This is a Windows emulator for the 8-bit machine "COMX-35" which I only found out about because of a previous thread.

The above download includes loads of games including the PACMAN game called "Happiehap".

I cannot complete the first screen though after quite a few attempts. Can you?

. You only get one life.

. The first level already has eight ghosts.

. There's no warning of the power pill about to expire.

. The game runs pretty fast (Is the emu running at the real speed? - it is set to this)

. Every time you die a new randomized maze appears making it very difficult to plan a route.

. The mazes are very restrictive with not too many open junctions.

. The keys seem at times to be a little sluggish.

As PACMAN games go, this one is pure evil genius!

Instructions to try this:-

Install the above emu and game bundle, start the emulator.

Leave all settings on defaults, click "Start". Press any key in the emulated machine window to make sure you get the "OK" BASIC prompt of the COMX-35 computer. You must have the "OK" prompt before loading the game or it just won't load.

Back in the emulator settings screen, click "load" and load the game "Happiehap.comx" from the "Spellen" folder.

Back in the emulated machine, type RUN to run the game.

EDIT: here is a screengrab of the game
Happiehap.png
Post edited by Digital Prawn on

Comments

  • edited December 2008
    i dont play every pacman game ever...but i do love it.
    i find its both exilerating and fast and frantic and also chilled out and puts you in "the zone" lol

    one of my fave games, cheers ill check it out
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • edited December 2008
    My favorite Pacman is Pacman for the Atari 2600.....everyone else 'pans' it and says its crap but its the one I still play above any.
  • edited December 2008
    Thanks all for the replies.

    @aowen: Yes, I haven't played Ms. pacman for a very long time although I remember that both "Jr pacman" and "Ms. pacman" were very much better than the rather poor original Pacman version on the Atari 2600 at least.

    @ghbearman: Thanks, I hadn't seen that before. I wonder if anyone ever made a PiMan piechart? :D

    @mel: Thanks for checking it out. I'll be honest and say the "Happiehap" game is probably more frustrating than truly enjoyable, at least at first. But it is clearly a real challenge to complete one screen on it - which is why I like the game.

    Cheers, DP
  • edited December 2008
    beanz wrote: »
    My favorite Pacman is Pacman for the Atari 2600.....everyone else 'pans' it and says its crap but its the one I still play above any.

    Hehe, including me in the previous post. :D

    Actually, I don't think it is absolutely dire, just could've been better.

    It is still quite enjoyable to play I agree, but playing Jr Pacman later on showed me what might have been with the original game.

    I still play it myself on one of those "Atari2600 TV boy" hand controllers that I have.

    But I think even some Atari 2600 homebrew fans have released an unofficial "good" version of Pacman for the console, which was their version of how they think it should have been done.
  • edited December 2008
    Thanks all for the replies.

    @aowen: Yes, I haven't played Ms. pacman for a very long time although I remember that both "Jr pacman" and "Ms. pacman" were very much better than the rather poor original Pacman version on the Atari 2600 at least.

    @ghbearman: Thanks, I hadn't seen that before. I wonder if anyone ever made a PiMan piechart? :D

    @mel: Thanks for checking it out. I'll be honest and say the "Happiehap" game is probably more frustrating than truly enjoyable, at least at first. But it is clearly a real challenge to complete one screen on it - which is why I like the game.

    Cheers, DP

    Pfft..no mention for me..Edit I take it back I get my own post!
  • edited December 2008
    Haha! This thread has made me pull this little beauty out.

    1203081334.jpg

    I'm going to bed in a min so I won't be firing it up until after work tomorrow, or maybe tonight if I'm still feeling a little ropey and don't make it into work.
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited December 2008
    Haha! This thread has made me pull this little beauty out.

    Hey that's nice. No home should be without one. :D
  • edited December 2008
    Talking of Pac-Man variants have you tried Pac n' Pal?

    That's an interesting one, I can't remember too clearly but I don't think it has pellets, I think the main thing you collect is fruit, and I think it has a variety of maze shapes.

    Can't be 100% sure though it's probably been a few years since I've played it.
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited December 2008
    @mel: Thanks for checking it out. I'll be honest and say the "Happiehap" game is probably more frustrating than truly enjoyable, at least at first. But it is clearly a real challenge to complete one screen on it - which is why I like the game.

    Cheers, DP

    i like playing pacman plus on mame too
    thats fast and hard as hell
    Professional Mel-the-Bell Simulator................"So realistic, I found myself reaching for the Kleenex King-Size!" - Richard Darling
  • edited December 2008
    Talking of Pac-Man variants have you tried Pac n' Pal?

    Yep, I've played that one quite a bit I also think it's a good one, adds something extra to the usual formula. Again, haven't played it for a while, I think either the pacman or the "pal" is green IIRC.

    Dare I admit that I have a cracked C64 disk image on my laptop right now with that game on it and three other really good pacman games on it too?

    One of the other games on that disk I think is called "Pacman+" where when you eat a power pill, the pacman sprite goes ridiculously large - it's another really good one.

    EDIT: it is probably the same "pacman plus" that mel just mentioned in the above post. :D I never played the MAME version though!
  • edited December 2008
    Haha! This thread has made me pull this little beauty out.

    1203081334.jpg

    I'm going to bed in a min so I won't be firing it up until after work tomorrow, or maybe tonight if I'm still feeling a little ropey and don't make it into work.

    I have one like that, but instead of having miss pac man, has the original pac man! hours of fun with that litle thing I've had!
  • edited December 2008
    I've never been any good at Pac-Man, I can rarely clear 4 screens, but I do like it anyway.

    I've managed to get every achievement on PacMan C.E on the 360 without help, which is my pinnacle. Especially as I fumbled the controller so many times, as i don't have an arcade stick.



    p.s I finally got to play SEGA Carnival again, for the first time in a coupla decades last month. :)
  • edited December 2008
    thx1138 wrote: »
    I've never been any good at Pac-Man, I can rarely clear 4 screens, but I do like it anyway.

    I've managed to get every achievement on PacMan C.E on the 360 without help, which is my pinnacle. Especially as I fumbled the controller so many times, as i don't have an arcade stick.

    p.s I finally got to play SEGA Carnival again, for the first time in a coupla decades last month. :)

    My first pinnacle was reaching the score of "HHH" (2000 that is) with six lives remaining on the handheld LCD electronic game "Mini-munchman", back around 1984 or so.

    Needless to say after "Mini Munchman", I was hooked.

    Later on I played the yellow round tabletop game "Munchman", and later eventually got into fully fledged video and computer pacman derived games.

    My most recent "pinnacle" was probably getting the high score on the speccy 48K version of Pacmania on mysepccy.org.

    But then when you think you are doing quite well, you find a game like "Happiehap" and feel humbled by it and actually not that skilfull all over again!
  • edited December 2008
    I loves pacman games.

    I think Ms Pacman is probably the best "official" version I've played although I've not spent enough time with Pac n Pal or Pacman Jr to really evaluate them.

    One of the best indie versions of Pacman I've played is Pacman 96 on the Amiga. It's great.

    http://www.lemonamiga.com/games/details.php?id=2859

    Also very keen on Mad Mix Game the 1988 ZX Spectrum title which is basically a homage to our yellow chum
  • edited December 2008
    I have this:

    cabinet.png

    (converted to a mame cabinet)
    and this:

    pinball.jpg
    which is pure awesome (not a photo of mine though).

    So, yeah, I guess you could say I'm a pacman fan :)

    Andrew
  • edited December 2008
    I've owned one pinball table, and I'm unlikely to get another :(

    my holy grail of pinball tables would be the Defender one though.
  • edited December 2008
    thx1138 wrote: »
    I've owned one pinball table, and I'm unlikely to get another :(

    my holy grail of pinball tables would be the Defender one though.

    mine would be the judge dredd pinball...not only I was a fan of the game, it was one of the first "real pinbals" I ever played, back in 92 or 93 at hard rock caf? in london...also it look amazzingly cool!
  • edited December 2008
    I love pac-man games(especially pacman+ - the big pacman powerup is brilliant). I always liked the not so direct copies like haunted hedges, spectres, gulpman and hungry horace too.

    I remember reading(or seeing on TV) an interview with a PacMan expert player who talked about being able to manipulate the ghosts in such a way as to be able to steer them around the maze like sheep - and hence clear a safe path as they moved around.

    This link explains the behaviours of the ghosts:
    http://www.webpacman.com/ghosts.html

    That's the first thing I look for in the many direct pacman clones when playing them - do the ghosts behave correctly? If so I deem it worthy and add it to the "good" pile :)
    "I should use simulator loosely 'cos I don't think it's quite like this on the beach with helicopters and fires and the jumping beach buggy" - paulisthebest3uk 2020.
  • edited December 2008
    alanspec wrote: »
    I remember reading(or seeing on TV) an interview with a PacMan expert player who talked about being able to manipulate the ghosts in such a way as to be able to steer them around the maze like sheep - and hence clear a safe path as they moved around.

    It's not so much manipulating the ghosts, as knowing where they're going to go. The ghosts always react in the same way, so if you find a path through the maze that avoids them, then it will always work. You do need different paths as you hit different levels because the ghosts speed up, and the power-pills are less effective. Ideal paths get all four ghosts with all four power-pills, and the fruit in the centre of the maze.

    If you fancy yourself as a pacman pro, then you need to learn the 22 patterns, including the fabled split-screen on level 256, required for a maximum score.
  • edited December 2008
    Thanks all for the further interesting replies.

    That's a great set-up you have there, Andrew.

    I guess there'll always be a part of me that regrets never setting up my own personal MAME cabinet.

    I even downloaded the plans to build one etc.. a few years back, but just got distracted with other things so never did get around to it.

    At the moment, I seem happy just with a laptop for gaming - but it must be truly great to relive those arcade days!

    Did anyone have a go at the COMX-35 "Happiehap" game mentioned in the first post? It'd be highly impressive to see a screen grab posted on here of someone on the second screen. :D
  • edited December 2008
    i suppose pacman was the first game i ever played on my bros 2600. i liked letting the ghosts come close to me and then muinching a pill and killing them, ha ha.

    can't say i ever kept up playing.
  • edited December 2008
    I prefer Pac-man games where the maze changes, I had a homebrew game on the Amiga called Mazeman

    My first experience of the game was on the 2600 so I can't knock that version

    of course It's hat off to Billy Mitchell the first perfect player.

    Has anyone tried Pac-Man Collection on the GBA

    oh yeah, and did you all collect Pac-Man stickers in you Pre-Spectrum years

    Wakka-Wakka-Wakka
  • edited December 2008
    chop983 wrote: »

    oh yeah, and did you all collect Pac-Man stickers in you Pre-Spectrum years

    Wakka-Wakka-Wakka

    No, but I did have the pacman boardgame which used white marbles for the dots and yellow marbles for power pills IIRC.

    Also I made some pacman figures out of clay, when I was at school.
  • edited December 2008
    my first pacman clone game, and indeed first Spectrum game that I bought with my own money was GULPMAN.

    It looks a bit pants these days, but I was dead impressed as a kid, and there are a lot of mazes. :)
  • edited December 2008
    thx1138 wrote: »
    my first pacman clone game, and indeed first Spectrum game that I bought with my own money was GULPMAN.

    It looks a bit pants these days, but I was dead impressed as a kid, and there are a lot of mazes. :)

    I just noticed there are two different GULPMAN games in the archive. One is available and one is MIA.
  • edited December 2008
    The Pacman I had was the Campbell Systems one in the archive.
    INLAY CARD TEXT
    I don't have this, so if anyone can help out.....etc...
    Full instructions are included as part of the game, though!

    CHEATS
    None that I know of.

    If anyone has this game with the comple instructions, then if I recall, there is a note in there about how to break into the game, and what lines to change, to alter the game, speed, lives etc. I'm not sure if you just break into the game and do it, or if you type some lines before you load the game.
  • edited December 2008
    thx1138 wrote: »
    The Pacman I had was the Campbell Systems one in the archive.

    Ah yes that one, I have just found 4 copies of it on my HDD (I used to collect speccy emulator CDs).

    I just loaded them up. All my copies are of the Campbell Systems game. None alas of the MIA game.

    I like the way you can select the maze in this one though.
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