{"id":605,"date":"2009-10-18T00:59:52","date_gmt":"2009-10-18T08:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/?p=605"},"modified":"2010-02-18T07:40:40","modified_gmt":"2010-02-18T15:40:40","slug":"electronic-curiosities-pac-man-vs-k-c-munchkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/2009\/10\/18\/electronic-curiosities-pac-man-vs-k-c-munchkin\/","title":{"rendered":"Electric Curiosities: Pac-Man vs. K.C. Munchkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

The game is familiar.\u00c2\u00a0 You play a round creature that lives in a maze.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re chased by monsters and have to eat dots to survive.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of the dots let you attack the monsters temporarily.\u00c2\u00a0 When you get all the dots, the maze resets at a higher speed.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a lot like Pac-Man, but it isn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 The game is K.C. Munchkin, and you’ve probably never heard of it, let alone played it.<\/p>\n

If you have heard of K.C. Munchkin, then it’s probably because of the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Back in the early 80s, a widespread and highly contagious disease known as “Pac-Man Fever” infected millions of people around the world.\u00c2\u00a0 The only known cure for this pandemic was to eat lots of dots, power pellets, and ghosts in your local restaurant, bar, convenience store, or darkened rooms where people repeatedly paid good money to stand in front of a TV for five minutes, known as “arcades”.\u00c2\u00a0 ((Sadly, arcades are now thought to be extinct in the wild.\u00c2\u00a0 The last non-captive arcade died in late 1994, in Burlington, WA, when it was eaten by a Seattle’s Best Coffee.))\u00c2\u00a0 Eager to help fight the spread of this horrifying condition, Atari, who was the leading video game manufacturer at the time decided to help sufferers of Pac-Man Fever get their treatment in the convenience of their own home, and purchased the exclusive\u00c2\u00a0rights to develop and distribute a home version of the cure.<\/p>\n

Obviously, this was a big deal for Atari, who was starting to get a bit of competition in the home console market.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of it was weak and incapable of causing any harm, but some of it, like the Intellivision, constituted a clear and present danger.\u00c2\u00a0 By grabbing the license to the biggest video game in the history of video games ((Which, of course, was only about ten years at the time…)), they grabbed a license to print money.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only would the Atari 2600 have a sure-fire hit, their under development Atari 5200 console would have a sure-fire hit, their computer line would have a sure-fire hit, and, on top of that, the Intellivision would have a sure-fire hit, because Atari put profits before console exclusivity.\u00c2\u00a0 To summarize, Pac-Man == $$$.<\/p>\n

Naturally, mega hits will spawn imitators.\u00c2\u00a0 Magnavox, the makers of the Odyssey2 system, which was one of the legitimate competitors to Atari ((And by “legitimate competitor”, I mean that it had measurable market share, a decent library of games, and had survived for more than a year.\u00c2\u00a0 You may not have heard of this console, but it did exist.\u00c2\u00a0 Honest.)) decided to produce a Pac-Man imitator.\u00c2\u00a0 However, since it was clear that a straight Pac-Man ripoff would get them sued, they made some changes to the game play.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep the maze, but make change.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep the big round\u00c2\u00a0chomping\u00c2\u00a0critter, but make it blue and give it antennae and a smile.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep the creatures that chase you, but only include three of them and make them look like aliens.\u00c2\u00a0 Keep the dots and power pellets, but have far fewer of them, and, most importantly, make them move.\u00c2\u00a0 Throw in multiple mazes, invisible mazes, and a maze editor.<\/p>\n

And one more thing, release it first<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here is a leaked photograph of Atari executives at the very moment that they heard about K.C. Munchkin:<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"Scared<\/a><\/p>\n

Pac-Man == $$$.\u00c2\u00a0 Threat To\u00c2\u00a0$$$ == Lawyers.<\/p>\n

Atari sued to halt distribution, claiming copyright infringement.\u00c2\u00a0 K.C. Munchkin was clearly inspired by Pac-Man, and\u00c2\u00a0the differences\u00c2\u00a0clearly show that Magnavox knew that they were stealing.\u00c2\u00a0 Atari lost.\u00c2\u00a0 Although there were similarities, the court reasoned,\u00c2\u00a0there was nothing directly stolen and any reasonable person looking at both works could easily tell that they were different.<\/p>\n

But remember, Pac-Man == $$$.\u00c2\u00a0 Threat To\u00c2\u00a0$$$ == Lawyers.<\/p>\n

Yep, Atari didn’t go down that easily.\u00c2\u00a0 They appealed and this time, they won.\u00c2\u00a0 K.C. Munchkin was pulled from the shelves, Atari was free to make millions from the distribution of home versions of Pac-Man, and Atari, Inc. v. North American Philips Consumer Elecs. Corp.<\/em> entered into court precedents.<\/p>\n

The thing I don’t understand about all this is how this lawsuit didn’t completely devestate the video game market permanently.\u00c2\u00a0 As I’ll talk about, K.C. Munchkin is clearly not Pac-Man, but it is clearly Pac-Man like.\u00c2\u00a0 But the same holds true for many games.\u00c2\u00a0 The industry is founded on imitation.\u00c2\u00a0 Sonic stole from Mario and Mario stole from Pitfall.\u00c2\u00a0 Gradius is Space Invaders moving forward.\u00c2\u00a0 There are hundreds of Doom clones and GTA clones.\u00c2\u00a0 And I can’t even tell the difference between Guitar Hero and Rock Band.\u00c2\u00a0 All of these knock-offs should have been destroyed by the precedent set by the lawsuit, but it never seems to get used.\u00c2\u00a0 In fact, I don’t think Magnavox was sued for their Breakout clones Blockout\/Breakdown or their Space Invaders clone Alien Invaders – Plus! ((Where Plus == Suck)) or their Outlaw clone\u00c2\u00a0Showdown in 2100 AD or their Street Racer clone Speedway or their Indy 500 clone Spin-Out or…\u00c2\u00a0 The list can go on.\u00c2\u00a0 Why, then, was K.C. Munchkin singled out for the attack?<\/p>\n

Jealousy.<\/p>\n

Magnavox did it first, and, more importantly, Magnavox did it better.\u00c2\u00a0 ((See also the lockout chip lawsuit that Nintendo filed against Tengen\/Atari when Tengen released a better version of Tetris than the Nintendo one…))\u00c2\u00a0The existence of K.C. Munchkin was an embarassment to Atari.\u00c2\u00a0 It was not a real threat to Atari.\u00c2\u00a0 Atari was guaranteed to make bucketloads of money with the Pac-Man license, and K.C. Munchkin on its own wouldn’t have put a dent in it.\u00c2\u00a0 However, because Atari was guaranteed to make bucketloads of money with Pac-Man, they wanted it fast, they didn’t care about getting it right.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not going to say that Pac-Man for the Atari 2600 was an unmitigated disaster of a game, because it’s not.\u00c2\u00a0 As far as Atari games go, it’s not that bad.\u00c2\u00a0 Where it fails is in the comparison to the arcade version.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s blocky, the ghosts are all the same color and\u00c2\u00a0they flicker, the colors are all wrong, the sound is horrible, the maze is different, there’s a weird rectangle instead of fruit.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like ordering a reproduction of the Mona Lisa and getting a crayon drawing from a six year old instead.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just disappointing.\u00c2\u00a0 So to have K.C. Munchkin laughing from the sidelines,\u00c2\u00a0where a third-rate competitor one upped the official licensee,\u00c2\u00a0with its multi-colored non-flickering enemies, its decent sound and\u00c2\u00a0its sharper graphics, that was intolerable.\u00c2\u00a0 If the Atari 2600 of Pac-Man\u00c2\u00a0version had been a closer replica of the arcade game and had it come out first, Atari probably would have left K.C. alone and that game wouldn’t be remembered for anything today.<\/p>\n

So, then, let’s take a look at the legendary K.C. Munchkin for the Magnavox Odyssey2 and how it compares to the infamous Pac-Man for the Atari 2600.<\/p>\n

\"KCMunchkinvsPacMan\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"PacManPackage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"KCMunchkinPackage\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Straight away, it’s clear that KC Munchkin is not Pac-Man.\u00c2\u00a0 You would not have seen this game in a store and mistakenly believed that you were buying Pac-Man.\u00c2\u00a0 From the front, it’s hard to even tell that the game is Pac-Man like.\u00c2\u00a0 I do have to give KC Munchkin (And Odyssey2 games in general) bonus points for their box art, which always looks like it should be painted on velvet and viewed under a black light.\u00c2\u00a0 Bizarre smiling shaggy things and glowing cubes, and the wooshing Odyssey2 logo ruling over all.<\/p>\n

Pac-Man, on the other hand, just looks like the game.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s really boring, by Atari standards.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually the box art is so fanciful and wild that it barely resembles anything remotely related to the game inside, but for Pac-Man, it looks like the game.\u00c2\u00a0 Even worse, it looks like the Atari 2600 version of the game, not like the arcade version.\u00c2\u00a0 Consumers should have known what they were in for when they saw it.\u00c2\u00a0 Somewhat mysteriously, the large Pac-Man figure on the outside of the box looks nothing like the cartoony Pac-Man that’s on the cartridge itself.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t know of any other Atari game where the box art is different from the label art like that.<\/p>\n

As far as the back of the boxes go,\u00c2\u00a0 KC promises multiple mazes, invisible challenge mazes, and a maze editor.\u00c2\u00a0 Pac-Man promises …\u00c2\u00a0 a children’s mode.<\/p>\n

\"KCPMInstructions\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While KC Munchkin wins on the packaging, Pac-Man wins on the instruction manual front.\u00c2\u00a0 Inside the Pac-Man manual are detailed and whimsical drawings of the characters and items in the game.\u00c2\u00a0 Inside KC Munchkin’s official rules book\u00c2\u00a0is difficult to read\u00c2\u00a0white text on a\u00c2\u00a0black background, surrounded by game sprites and random numbers and letters, some of which have inexplicable\u00c2\u00a0Superman trails.\u00c2\u00a0 I think the glowing question mark sums up the KC Munchkin instruction book.<\/p>\n

\"PacManScreenshot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"KCMunchkinScreenshot\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Pac-Man playfield just looks sickly.\u00c2\u00a0 Blue and kinda sickly yellow.\u00c2\u00a0 Really?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The arcade game was blue walls on a back background.\u00c2\u00a0 The Atari is capable of producing the colors blue and black.\u00c2\u00a0 So why the change?\u00c2\u00a0 Even Pac-Man looks queasy in that environment.\u00c2\u00a0 K.C. Munchkin, however, has bold purple walls on a black background.\u00c2\u00a0 Easy to see, and look how happy KC is as he ((He?\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t know.\u00c2\u00a0 I suspect that KC is\u00c2\u00a0pulling a Samus on us.))\u00c2\u00a0strolls around the maze.\u00c2\u00a0 The Pac-Man maze is a symmetrical, rectangular affair, without the twists and turns of the original.\u00c2\u00a0 KC lives in an asymmetrical tangle of passageways, forcing you to develop different strategies for the left or the right of the board.<\/p>\n

If you look at the Pac-Man shot, you’ll see that there are only two ghosts and only two power pills.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s because the ghosts and power pills flicker like mad because the Atari has limited sprite capabilities.\u00c2\u00a0 The programmer actually only displayed one ghost every frame, and it just looked like four because the other ghosts hadn’t faded from the CRT yet.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re all the same color because he was lazy. \u00c2\u00a0Unfortunately, the all digital PC input device I’m using captures frames as they are.\u00c2\u00a0 I recorded at 30 FPS, which means that I got two frames of the Atari screen, therefore two ghosts.\u00c2\u00a0 There really are four ghosts and four pills. For the KC shot, what you see is really what’s there.\u00c2\u00a0 Three creatures, each of a different color,\u00c2\u00a0and four special munchies.\u00c2\u00a0 The special munchies will flash to an X every once\u00c2\u00a0in a while, so you can easily\u00c2\u00a0tell what they are,\u00c2\u00a0but that’s the only flickering you’ll get in this game.<\/p>\n

The KC characters are more detailed.\u00c2\u00a0 They have more visible features and\u00c2\u00a0have distinct up and down animations, as well as left\/right.\u00c2\u00a0 Pac-Man is always in profile and the ghosts never look like they’re moving in any particular direction.<\/p>\n

And then there’s the dots.\u00c2\u00a0 The dots are really what makes K.C. Munchkin stand out.\u00c2\u00a0 Most Pac-Man based games are full of dots.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re everywhere, and you have to go everywhere to get them.\u00c2\u00a0 Not so in K.C. Munchkin.\u00c2\u00a0 In this game, there are only twelve dots.\u00c2\u00a0 Four power dots and eight regular dots.\u00c2\u00a0 The catch?\u00c2\u00a0 The dots move.<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0 That one little feature is what makes K.C. Munchkin\u00c2\u00a0be powered by\u00c2\u00a0awesome.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only do you have to run away from the monsters, you have to chase down the dots.\u00c2\u00a0 At first, they’re lethargic, but as you eat their brothers and sisters, they become less complacent and more alert, until the last remaining dot is hauling ass at the same speed you move through the maze.\u00c2\u00a0 You have to plan ahead to cut it off, while at the same time, you have to make sure you’re not being drawn into an ambush by the three critters.<\/p>\n

Another major difference in the gameplay of KC Munchkin is that you only get one life.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a theme that runs through many Odyssey2 games ((Probably unsurprisingly, since half of them were written by one guy.)).\u00c2\u00a0 One life, no bonus lives.\u00c2\u00a0 Your score is only as good as your best run.\u00c2\u00a0 Make one mistake, and you’re back at zero.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a bit disconcerting at first, but it ends up working to the advantage of the game.\u00c2\u00a0 Your near death scrapes with the red critter as you hunt down that last dot are made much more tense and exciting by the fact that you don’t get to try again.<\/p>\n

Pac-Man Audio<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0| K.C. Munchkin! Audio<\/a><\/p>\n

And finally, the sound.\u00c2\u00a0 Pac-Man is about as pleasant to listen to as a trash compactor.\u00c2\u00a0 Every dot you eat sounds like an electric banjo being massacred, the death sound and start game sound are just grating.\u00c2\u00a0 Only the power pellet and eating ghost effects are remotely pleasant to listen to.\u00c2\u00a0 None of them sound anywhere remotely like the arcade sound effects.\u00c2\u00a0 The programmer didn’t even try.\u00c2\u00a0 K.C. Munchkin has a considerably mellower sound.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s still early home console sound, so it’s not all that great, but it won’t have you reaching for the mute button and a pack of earplugs to block out the horror while you play.<\/p>\n

Of course, all that text and all those pictures don’t really mean much.\u00c2\u00a0 You have to see the games in action to truly compare them.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

What came next?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, Pac-Man obviously continued on his path of fame and fortune and is still making games today.\u00c2\u00a0 On the Atari 2600\u00c2\u00a0front, Ms. Pac-Man was released a few years later and was simply awesome, fixing pretty much everything that went wrong with the original.\u00c2\u00a0 Fame, however, was not in store for K.C. Munchkin.\u00c2\u00a0 He starred in one other game, called “K.C.’s Krazy Chase”, which was a semi-autobiographical depiction of his legal battles.\u00c2\u00a0 Afterward, he retired from the video game scene, and is now a veterinarian in Upstate New York.<\/p>\n

Bottom Line:\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re a hard-core dot munching Pac-Fan or if you are considering buying an Odyssey2 system for your collection, you need to get a copy of K.C. Munchkin.\u00c2\u00a0 If you already\u00c2\u00a0have an Odyssey2 system and don’t have this game, there is something wrong with you.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re a more casual fan, not willing to drop $100 on a 30 year old console just to play this one game, then there might be emulators or Flash versions available.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never bothered to look, since I have the real thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The game is familiar.\u00c2\u00a0 You play a round creature that lives in a maze.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re chased by monsters and have to eat dots to survive.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of the dots let you attack the monsters temporarily.\u00c2\u00a0 When you get all the dots, the maze resets at a higher speed.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a lot like Pac-Man, but it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[112,8],"tags":[17,74,73,72,238],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":966,"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605\/revisions\/966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mathpirate.net\/log\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}