Pac-Man Dossier: breathtaking
The “Pac-Man Dossier” was posted to MetaFilter on Thursday (I’m usually two days behind the curve), and it is about to be everywhere else. Because, friends, it is astonishing. I am going to spend the next several hours reading it more carefully.
I liked this paragraph a lot:
The game starts with Pac-Man at 80% of his maximum speed. By the fifth level, Pac-Man is moving at full speed and will continue to do so until the 21st level. At that point, he slows back down to 90% and holds this speed for the remainder of the game. Every time Pac-Man eats a regular dot, he stops moving for one frame (1/60th of a second), slowing his progress by roughly ten percent—just enough for a following ghost to overtake him. Eating an energizer dot causes Pac-Man to stop moving for three frames. The normal speed maintained by the ghosts is a little slower than Pac-Man’s until the 21st level when they start moving faster than he does. If a ghost enters a side tunnel, however, its speed is cut nearly in half.
The Pac-Man Dossier is full of diagrams, tables, and videos. It catalogues strategies, cheats, oral histories, and beyond, with plenty of anchor tags for easy skimming. It is blissfully, unapologetically intricate. I am slack-jawed.
About the author: Jenn thinks the Atari 2600, Game Boy Micro, and Apple iPhone are all viable game consoles. Email her at jenn at infinite lives dot net. See also
Pac-Man reinvented as a MUD
Christian Bale’s Pac-Man cereal ad
I Love the 80s: Michael Ian Black is REALLY into Ms. Pac-Man
Thanks for the incredibly nice write-up, Jenn!
It is at this instant that I realize I’ve misspelled your name! I’m off to correct it!
edit—P.S. Ah? Aha? Congratulations!