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Thread: Woah! Slow down, Ms. Pac-Man!

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    Default Woah! Slow down, Ms. Pac-Man!

    In the last few years I have noticed a trend regarding Ms. Pac-Man as well as Ms. Pac-Man/Galage 20th Anniversary arcade machines. Ms. Pac-Man seems to be moving as if she just snorted a line of coke! At first I thought I was just imagining things, but then I would go back to Namco Museum 50th Anniversary on the PS2 and Xbox and both versions have her moving at a regular pace.

    And it wasnt just the one location. Literally every single one of these machines were changed to make her move much faster than the ghosts. I asked about this at highscore.com and they have a category for it called "Turbo Ms. Pac-Man." I had asked a clerk (who appeared to be about 10 years younger than me) about why she was moving so fast and he said "thats how it always was in the original arcade" um yeah sure...

    The other day I was at Mall of America and I noticed Galaga had been sped up as well. I noticed the high score was almost at 1 million which is about 3 times higher than some of the highest scores Ive seen for Galaga at its normal speed.

    I dont know the logic behind speeding up these games. Did every arcade operator get together and say "studies have shown that gamers prefer a fast-paced Pac-Man." It makes the game somewhat easier because you can outrun the ghosts but you need faster reaction time to make it around the corners.

    Am I the only one who wants to play these games as they were originally intended? Its hard enough finding an arcade machine that isnt a light gun or racing game as it is, even harder to find one that is working the way the game designers intended it to.

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    With the way arcades are struggling as it is, I'm sure they're doing whatever necessary to keep customers paying. I imagine the average player probably prefers the games to be easier and move at a swift pace. They're more concerned with having fun than getting the original, authentic experience. Truthfully, a lot of old games were pretty sluggish. A bigger problem to me is that practically every arcade I've been to in the last, say, 15 years is full of half-broken machines and LCD monitors.
    Last edited by Aussie2B; 05-27-2019 at 07:31 AM.

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    Super swift Pac-Man is funny, though.

    I believe it is the roller coaster principle. A slow roller coaster is no fun. A speedy roller coaster is fun. A super speedy roller coaster is more fun. Plus the player-character being so much faster than the enemies makes it simpler for inexperienced players of all ages to avoid instant death and a 10 second "Game Over."

    Something else to keep in mind is that some arcades are set to free play for the individual games. These places make money by charging a set entrance fee per person. So to these operators, the "3 minutes per credit" rule doesn't really apply as they make the same money per customer whether said customer plays a game for 30 seconds or 30 minutes.

    However there is something to be said for the original, unaltered experience of the arcade game.

    Personally speaking, I'm a game player that likes the games to be nimble and challenging, ones where my character is barely on the edge of staying alive at almost all times. That's how my mind enters "the zone." So I say, "Make the player-character and the enemies all swift and dangerous!"

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    I Even Saw At The SilverBall Museum Here In New Jersey!

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