New Pac-Man World Record Set

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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New Pac-Man World Record Set


Almost three decades after the arcade phenomenon first appeared, the fever lives on: A new Pac-Man world record has been set, slipping just under the previous mark by less than a minute.

David Race of Beaver Creek, Ohio, joined a very exclusive club last week, becoming the sixth gamer in history to achieve a perfect score in the original Pac-Man arcade game and setting a new world record in the process. He accomplished the feat in three hours, 41 minutes and 22 seconds, beating the previous record, held by Chris Ayra, by 42 seconds.

A perfect Pac-Man score of 3,333,360 requires players to gobble every dot, bonus and blue ghost in every level of the game, 256 in all, at which point a software glitch breaks the game and prevents further progression. The first person to achieve Pac-Man perfection was Billy Mitchell, who hit the mark in 1999, taking about six hours to do so.

Despite the magnitude of the feat, the new record-holder doesn't plan to just idly bask in the glory of his accomplishment. According to Twin Galaxies [http://www.twingalaxies.com/index.aspx?c=19&id=1849], which tracks videogame-related world records, the 40-year-old Race intends to continue to work at improving his record to ensure he remains at the top of the heap.

via: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5357260/pac+man-world-record-broken]


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Clashero

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Aug 15, 2008
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Wait... every blue ghost? I thought the ghosts respawned endlessly.

Also, it's not really a glitch... they just forgot to set the variable "level" as a long int or something.
 

CyberKnight

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Clashero said:
Wait... every blue ghost? I thought the ghosts respawned endlessly.

Also, it's not really a glitch... they just forgot to set the variable "level" as a long int or something.
I can't believe I'm about to explain the rules of Pac-Man.

There are four ghosts. Eat a power pellet, and they turn blue for a short time, and you can eat them. As you eat each of them, they do respawn as a normal (non-edible) ghost. At best, you can eat all four ghosts before they turn back, for up to 3000 points total (200 + 400 + 800 + 1600). The idea behind the "perfect" game is, on each power pellet, you eat all four ghosts, every time.

It's a coding error that causes incorrect behavior from the game when certain criteria are met (in this case, level number = 256) -- it's the very definition of a "glitch".
 

Fat Hippo

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I love video games as much as anyone, but this is just scary. And a little sad.
 

BobisOnlyBob

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Amarok said:
Uncompetative said:


The Kill Screen.

That would freak me the fuck out...

I hated Missingno for a similar reason :(

҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚M҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚I҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚S҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚SIN҉҉҉҉̡̢̡̢̛̛̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑G҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡N҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚O҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚.
҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚͡ ̒̓̔̕̚ ҉̵̞̟̠̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟̠͇̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̊̋̌̍̎̏̐̑̒̓̔̿̿̿̕̚̕̚
͡ ̒̓̔̕̚,
 

pilouuuu

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That's what I call über pwnage! That guy is my new hero!

He must have been playing non stop since the game has been released to achieve that kind of skill.

And yes, it is a bit sad considering there are so many other better newer games that he is probably not playing because he is playing Pacman.

I probably haven't played more than 2 hours of Pacman in my entire life, so I suck at it. But this guy is simply amazing (or has no life at all).
 

The_Healer

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Jun 17, 2009
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I wonder how many times he tried in order to achieve this...

And how many times he missed just one ghost.

Oh he is obviously either very driven, or very boring.