5 ms·

The Perfect Pac-Man (2006)

36 points by JacobAldridge 11y ago

raldi 11y ago
I don't get this article's math re: Billy's age. It says he's 40, so he was born in 1975. Then it says he was the inaugural recordholder for several Guinness video game categories in 1985 -- i.e., when he was 10 years old. Then it says he started playing video games at age 16.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- CmdrKrool 11y ago
  Although it says "July 1, 2015" there's also a small "ISSUE 53, SPRING 2006" above the article title. It was nagging at me too, I just knew I'd read this before sometime in the past.
  - raldi 11y ago
    Mods, please add "[2006]" to the title.
ridruejo 11y ago
If you are into this, you will love King of Kong (he is featured as part of the documentary) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/
- unknownzero 11y ago
  And if you're into King of Kong you'll probably also love Ecstasy of Order - http://watch.ecstasyoforder.com/ http://watch.ecstasyoforder.com/ Similar in that it's about competitive retro gaming personalities, focused on Tetris however. I actually found it through an HN comment so I'm paying that back :)
- kqr2 11y ago
  There's some controversy that the documentary overplays the drama and casts Billy Mitchell as a villain: http://www.mtv.com/news/1560691/ex-donkey-kong-champ-finally-speaks-after-getting-bruised-by-new-doc/ http://www.mtv.com/news/1560691/ex-donkey-kong-champ-finally...
  - mistermann 11y ago
    That was probably Billy's idea.
- shabble 11y ago
  Also "The Smash Brothers"[1] is a ~4 hour episodal documentary about the competitive history of Super Smash Brothers Melee, which evolved out of what was originally thought to be a gimmicky party game. I do feel like it could have been plausibly edited to half the length or so, but its impressive how much material they managed to gather. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9hbbA-WP4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9hbbA-WP4
bbx 11y ago
On a related note, I highly recommend the Pac-Man Dossier, which explains the game's mechanics: http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html
- undershirt 11y ago
  interactive version: http://pacman.shaunew.com/play/index.htm#learn http://pacman.shaunew.com/play/index.htm#learn
coffeevradar 11y ago
He comes off as so full of himself when he claims that the original programmers didn't know about the different ghosts' "personalities" (algorithms). He's referring to this: http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html#Chapter_4 http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html... And there's just no way that the game's creators didn't know how they programmed the behavior of the ghosts. More likely they were humoring him and he took it as him "knowing more about the game than its creators" or whatever the quote was. Plus, I would never claim to be able to execute a perfect score (or even a very impressive one) but I can definitely put Pac-man into a blind spot. His claim that "you couldn't do it even if I told you how" comes off as pretty egotistical.
- mistermann 11y ago
  You have to watch King of Kong documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/ Here's a youtube clip of Billy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIBrcU768Cg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIBrcU768Cg He is like a real life WWF wrestling character. You can't help love/hate him, he's just too over the top, and it's impossible to tell if he's partially taking the piss.
- jgeorge 11y ago
  I've met him a couple of times at gaming/pinball events. He's definitely one who suffers from being told one too many times that he's a genius. Walter Day is as guilty of that as anyone else is. If you get him talking about something other than arcade games he's a bit more down to earth, though. Definitely a larger-than-life personality.
teh_klev 11y ago
There's been a few interesting articles posted on HN about Pacman's internals and gameplay: http://www.donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get2.htm http://www.donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get2.htm http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-m... http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html#Chapter_5 http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html... You can find the relevant HN discussion by searching HN algolia: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=pacman&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=pacman&sort=byPopularity&prefi...

36 points by JacobAldridge 11y ago

raldi 11y ago

I don't get this article's math re: Billy's age. It says he's 40, so he was born in 1975. Then it says he was the inaugural recordholder for several Guinness video game categories in 1985 -- i.e., when he was 10 years old. Then it says he started playing video games at age 16.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
CmdrKrool 11y ago
Although it says "July 1, 2015" there's also a small "ISSUE 53, SPRING 2006" above the article title. It was nagging at me too, I just knew I'd read this before sometime in the past.
- raldi 11y ago
  Mods, please add "[2006]" to the title.

ridruejo 11y ago

If you are into this, you will love King of Kong (he is featured as part of the documentary) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/

unknownzero 11y ago
And if you're into King of Kong you'll probably also love Ecstasy of Order - http://watch.ecstasyoforder.com/ http://watch.ecstasyoforder.com/ Similar in that it's about competitive retro gaming personalities, focused on Tetris however. I actually found it through an HN comment so I'm paying that back :)
kqr2 11y ago
There's some controversy that the documentary overplays the drama and casts Billy Mitchell as a villain: http://www.mtv.com/news/1560691/ex-donkey-kong-champ-finally-speaks-after-getting-bruised-by-new-doc/ http://www.mtv.com/news/1560691/ex-donkey-kong-champ-finally...
- mistermann 11y ago
  That was probably Billy's idea.
shabble 11y ago
Also "The Smash Brothers"[1] is a ~4 hour episodal documentary about the competitive history of Super Smash Brothers Melee, which evolved out of what was originally thought to be a gimmicky party game. I do feel like it could have been plausibly edited to half the length or so, but its impressive how much material they managed to gather. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9hbbA-WP4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX9hbbA-WP4

bbx 11y ago

On a related note, I highly recommend the Pac-Man Dossier, which explains the game's mechanics: http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html

undershirt 11y ago
interactive version: http://pacman.shaunew.com/play/index.htm#learn http://pacman.shaunew.com/play/index.htm#learn

coffeevradar 11y ago

He comes off as so full of himself when he claims that the original programmers didn't know about the different ghosts' "personalities" (algorithms). He's referring to this: http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html#Chapter_4 http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html... And there's just no way that the game's creators didn't know how they programmed the behavior of the ghosts. More likely they were humoring him and he took it as him "knowing more about the game than its creators" or whatever the quote was. Plus, I would never claim to be able to execute a perfect score (or even a very impressive one) but I can definitely put Pac-man into a blind spot. His claim that "you couldn't do it even if I told you how" comes off as pretty egotistical.

mistermann 11y ago
You have to watch King of Kong documentary: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/ Here's a youtube clip of Billy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIBrcU768Cg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIBrcU768Cg He is like a real life WWF wrestling character. You can't help love/hate him, he's just too over the top, and it's impossible to tell if he's partially taking the piss.
jgeorge 11y ago
I've met him a couple of times at gaming/pinball events. He's definitely one who suffers from being told one too many times that he's a genius. Walter Day is as guilty of that as anyone else is. If you get him talking about something other than arcade games he's a bit more down to earth, though. Definitely a larger-than-life personality.

teh_klev 11y ago

There's been a few interesting articles posted on HN about Pacman's internals and gameplay: http://www.donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get2.htm http://www.donhodges.com/how_high_can_you_get2.htm http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-man-ghost-behavior http://gameinternals.com/post/2072558330/understanding-pac-m... http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html#Chapter_5 http://home.comcast.net/~jpittman2/pacman/pacmandossier.html... You can find the relevant HN discussion by searching HN algolia: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=pacman&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=pacman&sort=byPopularity&prefi...