Do you want to get good at the original arcade Pac-Man? The solution is here!
The Pac-Man Trainer will help you to improve your Pac-Man skills. It's an interactive
aid to learning the common patterns for completing boards - or helping you complete the
entire game.
You follow an on-screen path through each board.
To master the patterns, you must stay on track, with frame perfect accuracy, anticipating
the turns and steering early.
Here's a video review by GenXGrownUp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXgzogIQPOc
There are different pattern sets to help you get to achieve your goals. You may want to reach the 9th Key at level 21 from which point all of the remaining boards play the same. You may want to complete the game by reaching the infamous split-screen at level 256. You may want to achieve a "Perfect Pac-Man" score of 3,333,360 by eating every pellet, every bonus and every ghost possible. You may just want a new PB!
The HUD shows information which can help during gameplay.
On the left of the screen you will see the current level (e.g. "L. 001"), the current
pattern (e.g. "P. 02"), and the current status (e.g. S. ACE). The status will change
if you start falling behind from "ACE" to "OK" and finally "BAD" based on the number of
dropped movements/frames. It is still possible to complete the board with a "BAD"
status but following the now "red" path will not guarantee success and you should be
more cautious.
If you die then the pattern will automatically fail and you will see a blinking "FAIL"
message. You are on your own to complete the board.
The trainer also supports partial patterns. For these, you will be guided for a short
period before the path ends (or turns yellow). The HUD will display "F/S" (FREESTYLE),
and you will be on your own to clear the remaining pellets.
Press P2 button to toggle between the currently available pattern sets.
Use only three patterns to clear boards 1 through 255 and get to the kill screen!
Pattern 01 is used on boards 1 through 4
Pattern 02 is used on boards 5 through 20
Pattern 03 is used on boards 21 through 255
All three patterns clear the entire board and get both prizes.
More information Pacstrats patterns in the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKQy8LTTzC4
Uses 5 patterns but some of them are very similar so should be easier to learn.
These patterns are robust until near the end of each board. You may need to
freestyle to tidy up some remaining pellets on your own.
Pattern 01 is for board 1 only. It's freestyle near the end if you prefer.
Pattern 02 is for boards 2 through 4. It's a slight variation from pattern 1.
Pattern 03 if for boards 5 through 16 and 18.
Pattern 04 is for boards 17, 19 and 20. You'll need to freestyle near the end.
Pattern 05 is for boards 21 through 255
More information about Killerclown's patterns is to be found at: https://www.mameworld.info/net/pacman/patterns.html
An advanced pattern set for attaining the Perfect Pacman score by NR Chapman
There are 13 different patterns including the split-screen pattern.
Patterns 01, 02, 03 and 04 are for boards 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively.
Pattern 05 is for boards 5, 7, 8 and 11.
Pattern 06 is for board 6 only.
Pattern 07 is for board 9, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18. Freestyling is necessary near the end.
Pattern 08 is for board 10 only
Pattern 09 is for board 14 only
Pattern 10 is for board 17 only
Pattern 11 is for boards 19 and 20
Pattern 12 is for boards 21 to 255. There is a safe spot if you need a rest.
Pattern 13 is for board 256 (split-screen). Freestyling to collect 9 hidden dots on each life.
Archive web information can be found at
https://web.archive.org/web/20061103090947/http://nrchapman.com/pacman/
mame pacman -plugin pactrainer
Tested with latest MAME version
Compatible with all MAME versions from at least 0.196
The Plugin is installed by copying the pactrainer folder into your MAME plugins folder.
The Plugin is run by adding -plugin pactrainer to your MAME arguments e.g.
mame pacman -plugin pactrainer
Works with "pacman" and "puckman" roms only.
- Edit your PacMan game. Under Emulation, check the box to use custom command-line parameters. in the space below, add
-plugin pactrainer
- In the RetroPie Setup menu, under Manage Packages, under Experimental Packages, Install MAME via binary. This is a more recent MAME which supports plugins.
- Copy the pactrainer folder into /opt/retropie/emulators/mame/plugins
- Obviously, copy your pacman.zip into the new roms folder
- Edit the plugin.ini file which can be found at /opt/retropie/configs/mame/plugin.ini to include an extra line, as below. This enables the pactrainer plugin.
hiscore 1
pactrainer 1
The MAMEdev team at
Scott Lawrence (BleuLlama) for Pac-Man ROM Disassembly resources at
Pacstrats for his excellent 3 pattern video at
Killerclown for his Pac-Man patterns and strategy guide at:
NR Chapman for his perfect Pac-Man guide at:
Mr2Nut123 for his inspiration to create this trainer. Good luck with your journey to the Pac-Man split-screen.
Please send feedback to jon123wilson@hotmail.com
Jon