Comparing Ms Pac Man on Atari Consoles

Today we are going to compare the 3 versions of Ms Pac Man for the early Atari consoles. That is, Ms Pac Man for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200 Supersystem and the Atari 7800 Prosystem. Which ones are worth playing and which ones should be skipped? Lets find out!
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[@Jolt7800]

As nostalgic as I am for 2600 games, because it was my childhood console, I really enjoy the arcade feel of the 7800 version. I got that copy with a handful of games with my Prosystem. I did get a last chance copy of Atari Age Crazy Otto which is pretty much identical to Ms. Pac-Man but honors the GCC original dot eater.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Yeah Crazy Otto was the original name of the kit that GCC created for Pac Man and was sold to namco and became Ms Pac man. There are a ton of homebrew using the 7800 Ms Pac man code with enhanced or different graphics and Crazy Otto is a fun one to have!

[@markracer3281]

You nailed it on every level. Stay classy and seeya on the next one!!!

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I like the way you think!

[@rameybutler-hm7nx]

Im the odd ball in this sack. I prefer the 5200 ms. Pacman. I do not have the o.g. equipment i am playing on the my arcade atari gamestation pro using roms. That being said with all 3 roms using the same joystick, the 5200 is more responsive and has better graphics. The 7800 ghosts have unusual patterns and will random speed up. At first i thought it was my rom but i changed it out with a different rom and still the same result. However if i only had a 2600 i would be more than pleased with its version. I know the 7800 was done by guys that made ms pacman but it seems the 5200 had more care put in to it. Great video Now when are we getting popeye and frogger?🎉🎉🎉

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I definitely want to do more of these and have a few games in mind. I was thinking of looking at the 2600 and 7800 versions of Kung Fu Master, Frogger and Popeye would definitely be smart choices. Mario Bros is likely to be the next one however because it's another one that came out on many platforms and each one seems to be pretty distinctive.

[@GTV-Japan]

Ms. Pac-Man on that first 7800 commercial I saw way back when locked me in as a lifelong 7800 owner

[@TheAtariNetwork]

It's funny, when you think about what it was that attracted us to different things and the effect they've had on our lives. Playing Pole Position 2 and marveling at how the backgrounds moved in and out of sight made me fall in love with the 7800 as a kid

[@adm712]

The first thought playing 2600 Ms. Pac Man- "Gee, why couldn't you do this for regular Pac Man". Lol

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Ya know, I'd be lying if I said that thought didn't creep into my head too

[@heidifedor]

Same!

[@knelson1180]

Spot on assessment, however, I believe the 7800 version has better graphics. It had a closer aspect ratio to the truly vertical arcade version, rather than the smushed 5200 version.

[@sonomabob9043]

I had the Atari 8 bit computer version. It must have been slightly different than the 5200 version, because the ghosts would flicker when they happened to line up one the same line in the maze.

[@Atarifan72]

7800 version is the best. Great work!

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Agreed! But honestly all 3 are pretty good. Thanks for watching!

[@VEGANVANIA]

I know you won't believe me, but -sincerely- the _black and white Game Boy versions_ (of Mr. & Mrs. Pac Man) really do "outclass" all of these options on Atari hardware. If you're going to take a glance at screenshots, keep in mind: there is a difference between "zoomed out mode" and "zoomed in mode" for this one.

[@desiv1170]

-Pacman on the 2600 was considered a disappointment... People keep saying this nowadays, and I think some people have convinced themselves that it was true.... They look at it and think, "I must not have liked it either..." But it was the best selling 2600 game ever. By a lot... It wasn't a close to perfect arcade conversion, and yes MsPacman 2600 was much better. But we didn't expect VCS games to be even close to their arcade counterparts. They just needed to be similar enough and be fun.... And it was... And it sold like CRAZY...

[@twistedyogert]

Does anyone else think that Ms. Pac-Man was an upgrade to the original Pac-Man?

[@KrunchyTheClown78]

I think I agree with you. As far as graphics, it's pretty mind boggling that the 5200 versions looks better than the 7800 version, when you consider the 7800 is probably 15 times more powerful lol but all versions are great really.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Yeah I was surprised by how good the 5200 version looked but I had been told before that the 5200 was a pretty capable console. Overall there really isn't a bad game in the bunch

[@heidifedor]

Ms. Pacman saved Atari, but then ET offically killed it.

[@basicforge]

I agree about the 5200 version feeling choppy. I don't think the controller causes that. I play with an adapter to use a non-analog stick, and it's still the same. ;)

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I'm glad somebody else experienced it. I wasn't sure if the controller was causing it or not but it felt choppy

[@basicforge]

@@TheAtariNetwork It's definitely not you. I can even see the choppy animation in your video.

[@datacipher]

It’s because a delay was used to slow it down. If you progress to the higher levels you’ll see it gets faster and smoother.

[@510newguy]

I like the 5200 version the best for sound, graphics and gameplay. I agree with you about the controllers though. They really were terrible for that system.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

The 5200 version is very good. Graphically it seems way beyond the other too. The sound isn't bad and I like the gameplay but I felt that the difficulty curve and speed up was a little inconsistent. But again, maybe the controllers were affecting the experience.

[@MistaMaddog247]

I prefer the 7800 version overall... The 5200 version not only feels slower than the 7800 one, but also slower than 5200 Pac-Man because of the more complex graphics. I do like Ms. Pac-Man on the 2600 since I had that as a kid and it really was an improvement over the 2600's Pac-Man.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

2600 version of Ms Pac man is really good! It's a shame that all you hear about is how bad Pac man is on the 2600 and not more about the good Pac port!

[@danielespeziari5545]

​@@TheAtariNetwork and you hear even less about the awesome Jr. Pac Man

[@TheAtariNetwork]

@@danielespeziari5545 that's right junior is a fantastic port on the 2600. They just kept doing better and better after the PAC man fiasco but nobody cares about anything but the bad one. Well the Public at large it seems doesn't talk about the good ones.

[@datacipher]

Completely incorrect. The 5200 had no problem with the “complex” graphics. It looks a bit choppier at the lowest levels because a delay is used to slow it down. At higher levels it starts going fast and smooths out.

[@heidifedor]

Am I the only one bothered by the fact that Sue is green in the 5200?

[@daveperry2772]

I have the 7800 version

[@Bearcade]

All of them are great. I prefer playing it on a 800xl. Very similar to the 5200 but with the original stick.

[@mikematei]

Love this. Nice work

[@TheAtariNetwork]

Thank you

[@cryptocoffee13]

I love Mrs Pac-Man, I rank the 7800 version as my favorite, 2600 is next and 5200 last. Love the colors the 5200 gives you, but the gameplay is just not there for me. The 2600 is more fun to play than the 5200.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I don't think any of them are bad but I definitely have more fun with the 7800 version!

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

No Lynx?

[@Monhamd1000]

They're all better than the original Pac-Man Atari 2600 port.

[@djmario6586]

Antes Pensé que ms pa man era una skin para pacman xd

[@oldschoolcompsci]

call me crazy. But I prefer the 2600 version

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I wouldn't call you crazy at all. The 2600 version is great! They did a fantastic job redeeming themselves but at that point it was too late honestly.

[@mrp4242]

Crazy

[@basicforge]

You're crazy. Feel better? 😜

[@basicforge]

​@@TheAtariNetwork True. Ms. Pac-Man on the 2600 is an amazing followup to Pac-Man!

[@socrates0603]

Great comparison video! Everything you said made a lot of sense. I haven't put much time into playing Ms. Pac-Man on the consoles yet. Having said that, because of my nostalgia of the Atari 8-bit computers and games, I am guessing that I will probably prefer the 5200 version. As far as controllers are concerned, I definitely agree that the CX52 is not the best for playing arcade games. Being somewhat of a controller junkie, I have to have a 4-way joystick to play games like this, and I do have the setup to do so -- a Redemption adapter that acts as a Y connector to connect both a 7800 controller (for joystick and fire button) and the CX52 (keypad) to the 5200.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

I need that kind of controller setup. I'll have to keep an eye out for that. I heard before that the Atari 5200 is basically the Atari 8 bit computers so that makes sense. I'm hoping to add that computer line to the channel soon!

[@johnketo2150]

I agree with you about Ms. Pac-Man sounding good on the Atari 7800. I like playing the POKEY version of Pac-Man in Pac-Man Collection, but I prefer the Atari Corp. Ms. Pac-Man to the POKEY version of Ms. Pac-Man included on the collection cartridge. If I want to play Ms. Pac-Man FAST mode then I play Ms. Pac-Man in the TIA version of the Pac-Man Collection cartridge.

[@bi30]

Note that the 5200 was just an Atari XL computer turned into a game console. Games coded for the XL computers were simply ported to the 5200. The only coding change? Support for the GawdAwful controller. I don't know what hardware they used for the 7800. At least it wasn't just a repackaged 65XE.

[@The_Real_DCT]

What was even worse was they released a fully consolized Atari 8bit computer later as the XES 😂

[@JoeUzzolino]

The 2600 version was great in the 80’s when I was a grade schooler. The 7800 version I got as an adult all these years later really blew the 2600 version away. My 10 year old plays both but favors the 7800.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

My kids love the 7800 version too. They tried so hard to be good at it but Pac man is a tough game for kids really. Thanks for watching!