Ms. Pac Man is nearly identical to Pac Man, with "fewer" levels. Both games suffer from a kill screen, however, Ms. Pac Man is a bit different than Pac-Man.
Description
Technically, board 133 is the final board. However, beyond that the game does not know how to handle the rest of the boards, so it produces a "kill screen," essentially ending the game. Ms. Pac Man suffers from a maximum of 8 kill screens. These screens first begin to occur at board 134. After board 134, you may get seven more, up until 141. Board 141 is a guaranteed kill screen.
These kill screens occur because the game code does not run all the way to the final board, board 255. The code only actually runs to board 133. After that comes 8 glitchy maps, which can have strange effects such as an upside down board.
The Kill Screens
Boards 134-137
A "chase" board maze pattern; screen is not yet not upside down.
Board 138-140
These boards have the "Junior" maze pattern.
Board 141
The final kill screen.
Using a MAME emulator, you can jump right to the 256th board. This can prove that the game would indeed get to his board if the code lasted that long.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/Mspacman-splitscreen.PNG/200px-Mspacman-splitscreen.PNG - what board 256 looks like.
Why it works
We are currently not sure.
Credits and acknowledgements
- Wikipedia
- Twin Galaxies
Links
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z81myPRWvI - A short video, showing the final kill screen.{| align="center" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" class="article-table article-table-selected" style="height: 500px; width: 500px;"
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