This is a perfect game on the MAME emulated original version of Pac-Man from 1980.
At the end of the final board I decide to get myself caught in the side of the board rather than give the ghosts the satisfaction of ending my game :)
This perfect game attempts to exclusively use patterns rather than grouping. I say attempts because I do go off pattern twice during the game. First, on the board that starts at 1:22:50, and second, on the board that starts at 1:42:16.
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= History of the patterns =
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Here is, as best as I know, the origin of the patterns used in this perfect game.
An important source of these patterns needs to be explained in more detail because it's a bit convoluted.
Around 1983, through unknown means (I don't know if it was in a magazine, in-person contact, etc.), Randy Tufts from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada discovered a person who had impressively fast, high-point patterns. These patterns were used by this mystery person in Pac-Man competitions where you would play for a maximum of one hour and try to achieve as high a score as possible. Randy wrote to this mystery person and the guy mailed the details of his patterns to Randy. Then, in 1989, Rick Fothergill, who had known Randy since 1984 and lived in the same home town, started playing Pac-Man and acquired the patterns from Randy. Lastly, I met Rick in 1996 and obtained the patterns from Rick.
You can see we are missing a very important part of Pac-Man history. We refer to this mystery person as "The guy from Tennessee", because that's all we know about him. And unfortunately, Randy Tufts is no longer with us, so this mystery person may never be known.
With that explained, here's a breakdown of the patterns used in this video and who "discovered" the individual parts of each one.
1 ║ Cherry ║ Neil Chapman
2 ║ Strawberry ║ guy from Tennessee
3 ║ 1st Peach ║ guy from Tennessee
4 ║ 2nd Peach ║ guy from Tennessee
5 ║ 1st Apple ║ 1st, 2nd, 3rd Energizers - guy from Tennessee, 4th energizer - Neil Chapman
6 ║ 2nd Apple ║ guy from Tennessee
7 ║ 1st Grape ║ 1st, 2nd, 3rd Energizers - guy from Tennessee, 4th energizer - Neil Chapman
8 ║ 2nd Grape ║ 1st, 2nd, 3rd Energizers - guy from Tennessee, 4th energizer - Neil Chapman
9 ║ 1st Galaxian ║ 1st and 2nd Energizers - Rick Fothergill, 3rd Energizer - Adam Sweeney, 4th Energizer - Neil Chapman
10 ║ 2nd Galaxian ║ guy from Tennessee
11 ║ 1st Bell ║ 1st, 2nd, 3rd Energizers - guy from Tennessee, 4th energizer - Neil Chapman
12 ║ 2nd Bell ║ 1st and 2nd Energizers - Rick Fothergill, 3rd Energizer - Adam Sweeney, 4th Energizer - Neil Chapman
13 ║ 1st Key ║ 1st and 2nd Energizers - Rick Fothergill, 3rd Energizer - Adam Sweeney, 4th Energizer - Neil Chapman
14 ║ 2nd Key ║ 1st Energizer - guy from Tennessee, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Energizers - Neil Chapman
Fun Fact: Segments of the 2nd Key pattern were used in the movie Pixels. You can see this in both the opening credits and when the two young guys are playing Pac-Man in the arcade.
15 ║ 3rd Key ║ 1st and 2nd Energizers - Rick Fothergill, 3rd and 4th Energizers - Neil Chapman
16 ║ 4th Key ║ 1st and 2nd Energizers - Rick Fothergill, 3rd and 4th Energizers - Neil Chapman
17 ║ 5th Key ║ Ken Uston's Pattern P4-Tunnel, slightly modified, with board cleanup by Neil Chapman
18 ║ 6th Key ║ 1st and 2nd Energizers - Rick Fothergill, 3rd and 4th Energizers - Neil Chapman
19 ║ 7th Key ║ Ken Uston's Pattern P4 ("The Square"), slightly modified, with board cleanup by Neil Chapman
20 ║ 8th Key ║ Ken Uston's Pattern P4 ("The Square"), slightly modified, with board cleanup by Neil Chapman
21 to 255 ║ 9th Key ║ guy from Tennessee
256 ║ Split-screen ║ Rick Fothergill informed me that the safest way to get to the BC park-spot was to go out the tunnel and immediately pull down
As for the nine invisible dots on the right side of the split-screen, Rick and I discovered them together using MAME. At the time, we were unaware of anyone else who had done so. Among other Pac-Man players, I do not know who was the first to discover the nine hidden dots on the split-screen.
As you can see, I by no means came up with all these patterns myself and owe a great deal to people before me. At least one of them seemingly lost to history.
