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Pac-Man (Atari 2600)
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Pac-Man (Atari 2600)
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== Reception == Anticipation for the game was high.<ref name="CCVAG"/><ref name="Ultimate-1"/> [[Goldman Sachs]] analyst Richard Simon predicted the sale of 9 million units during 1982, which would yield a profit of $200 million.<ref name="time"/> ''Pac-Man'' met with initial commercial success, selling 7 million copies and eventually becoming the best-selling Atari 2600 title.<ref name="NG-40"/> More than one million of those catridges had been shipped in less than one month, helped by Atari's $1.5 million publicity campaign.<ref>{{cite news|last=Corderi|first=Victoria|title=Local Video-game Freaks Gobble Up Home Pac-Man|url=http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6K8lAAAAIBAJ&sjid=H_QFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1848,2535505|accessdate=28 February 2012|newspaper=[[The Miami News]]|date=March 30, 1982}}</ref> However, purchases soon slowed and, by summer 1982, unsold copies were still in large quantities.<ref name="CCVAG"/><ref name="NG-40"/> Many buyers returned the games for refunds, and Atari was left with 5 million excess copies in addition to the returns.<ref name="NG-40"/><ref name="Gama-2600"/> By 2004, the cartridges were still very common among collectors and enthusiasts—though the Sears versions were more rare—and priced at low amounts.<ref name="PriceGuide"/> [[File:Pac-Man Atari 2600 footage.ogv|thumb|alt=A video depicting the game's method of play. The main character travels through the corridors of a brown maze to eat white wafers, while avoiding four flickering ghosts.|Pac-Man must eat the wafers while avoiding the ghosts. The ghosts take turns appearing on the screen, creating a flicker effect that was widely criticized.]] Critics negatively compared the port to its original arcade form, panning the audio-visuals and gameplay. In 1983, ''[[Creative Computing]] Video & Arcade Games'' reviewer Danny Goodman commented that the game fails as a replica of its arcade form. Conversely, he stated that such criticism was unfair because the hardware could not properly emulate the arcade game. Goodman further said that the port is a challenging maze game in its own right, and it would have been a success if fans had not expected to play a game closer to the original.<ref name="CCVAG"/> In 1998, ''[[Next Generation Magazine]]'' called it the "worst coin-op conversion of all time", and attributed the mass dissatisfaction to its poor quality.<ref name="NG-40"/> In 2006, [[IGN]]'s Craig Harris echoed similar statements and listed it as the worst arcade conversion, citing poor audio-visuals that did not resemble the original.<ref name="IGN-Worst">{{cite web| url = http://ds.ign.com/articles/715/715236p1.html| title = Top 10 Tuesday: Worst Coin-op Conversions| first = Craig| last = Harris| date = 2006-06-27| publisher = [[IGN]]| accessdate = 2009-07-15}}</ref> Another IGN editor, Levi Buchanan, described it as a "disastrous port", citing the color scheme and flickering ghosts.<ref name="IGN-TopSelling">{{cite web| url = http://retro.ign.com/articles/903/903024p1.html| title = Top 10 Best-Selling Atari 2600 Games| first = Levi| last = Buchanan| date = 2008-08-26| publisher = [[IGN]]| accessdate = 2009-07-15}}</ref> Skyler Miller of [[Allgame]] said that although the game was only a passing resemblance to the original, it was charming despite its many differences and faults.<ref name="Allgame"/> [[Ed Logg]], a former lead designer at Atari, considered the development a rushed, "lousy" effort. Frye did not express regret over his part in ''Pac-Man''{{'}}s port and felt he made the best decisions he could at the time. However, Frye stated that he would have done things differently with a larger capacity ROM.<ref name="NG-40"/> Video game industry researchers [[Nick Montfort]] and [[Ian Bogost]] attribute the poor reception to the technical differences between the 1977 Atari 2600 console and the 1980 arcade hardware used in ''Pac-Man'' cabinets. They further stated that the conversion is a lesson in maintaining the social and cultural context of the original source. Montfort and Bogost commented that players were disappointed with the flickering visual effect, which made the ghosts difficult to track and tired the players' eyes. The two further said that the effect diminishes the ghosts' personalities present in the arcade version.<ref name="Racing"/> Chris Kohler of [[Wired News]] commented that the game was poorly received upon its release and in contemporary times because of the poor quality. However, he further described the game as an impressive technical achievement given its console's limitations.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/03/racing-the-beam/| title = Racing the Beam: How Atari 2600’s Crazy Hardware Changed Game Design| publisher = [[Wired News]]| first = Chris| last = Kohler| date = 2009-03-13| accessdate = 2009-07-29}}</ref>
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