Xen's Revenge!

Here it is, my very own Pac-Man mod!

As a fairly good Pac-Man player, I wanted to add some challenges to the game not found in the original. I think my effort was a success - as you'll see below, there are a number of twists to this new version of the game which will require some interesting new strategies. Overall, I think Xen's Revenge is much harder than the original Pac-Man, although to contrast that, there are a (very) few things which are slightly easier.

I'm not trying to create a "better" Pac-Man here. Let's face it, there's nothing like the original. Hopefully though, this new version will re-kindle your interest in Pac-Man if you've mastered the original and no longer find it challenging.

Download

If you use MAME or another game emulator to play Pac-Man on your computer, or if you have an original Pac-Man arcade game and an EPROM burner, you can download ROM images of Xen's Revenge to play by clicking on the word "download" above. Please note that these are just ROM images, not a complete game for your PC. You MUST have an emulator, such as MAME or Sparcade (or a real Pac-Man machine and the ability to copy image files onto EPROM chips), in order to use these files. If you don't know what an emulator is, please visit my "Where to get a copy of Pac-Man to play on your computer!" page, and click on the MAME or Sparcade links. Also please note that although I have an original arcade Pac-Man machine, I don't own an EPROM programmer. :-( I therefore haven't tested Xen's Revenge on real Pac-Man hardware. As they say; "Use at your own peril." (I can't honestly imagine that any permanent harm could be caused however - you can always erase your EPROMs and reuse them if it doesn't work.)

NOTICE/DISCLAIMER: Please be aware that Xen's Revenge is only a new maze for Pac-Man. The game itself (which these ROM images are based on) is still copyright by Namco, and you should not download and play Xen's Revenge on an emulator unless you have a license to do so, which typically means owning an original Pac-Man or Ms. Pac-Man arcade game, or at least an original set of ROMs.

New Features and Strategy Tips

"The Pen" Probably the most unique twist, the monster pen is now open, and there are even dots in there! You always wanted to go in there, you know you did. (Well, now you have to!) Strategy Hint: Don't eat blue monsters while they're in the pen. ;-)

"The Tunnels of Death" or "The Black Holes". Whatever you call them, they're trouble, both for you and the bad guys! For you: They're dead-ends. You'll get cornered. 'Nuff said. There's a dot in each one though, so you can't avoid them! For them: Due to a quirk in the game logic, the monsters don't know how to back out of a dead-end. This is no doubt one of the reasons you've never seen them in Pac-Man before. Because of the position of these particular paths, the monsters aren't likely to go in on their own, only after you (in which case it's a moot point), but you may be able to chase them in while they're blue. If they hit the end, in most cases they'll vanish from play until you clear the rack or get killed! This makes for some interesting strategy, since getting rid of the monsters makes it easier to clear the rack, but it also makes for a lower score, since there won't be as many around to eat after a power pellet. Also note that there are no side to side tunnels in this game - no more narrow escapes! And because you have to reverse direction in a dead-end, as any Pac-Man master will know, developing patterns to beat the game will be significantly harder. Strategy Hint: Go for the right-most one after eating a power pellet and some monsters (as in the original, the monsters will always exit the pen to the left, buying you some time.) Save the left-hand one until the very last dot, so if they follow you in, it won't matter.

Long paths. First seen in Ms. Pac-Man, extra long paths pose an extra threat, since it's easy for the monsters to enter from both ends and trap you. These are not as dangerous as the tunnels of death, but still, be sure the monsters are all far away, or at the very least, that only one is near. Strategy Hint: Just try to avoid these areas while monsters are nearby, or try to lure them in behind you, so they can't trap you at the other end. Be sure to clear the super-long path in the bottom half of the screen at the beginning of the rack, and then avoid it entirely. (Not too difficult fortunately, since you start out in it anyway.)

Limited Access. There are now only two ways to move between the top, middle, and bottom portions of the screen. This makes it a lot easier to get trapped in any of these sections, especially in the bottom! Strategy Hint: None, really. Just something to be aware of. Watch your back.

The Zig-Zag. Unlike the original, there aren't any straight paths through the upper-most part of the maze. You'll need to get used to making quite a few sharp turns rapidly. Strategy Hint: Practice, practice, practice. :-)

Miscellaneous

Occasionally, you'll find that a monster does something stranger than disappear when it enters a tunnel of death. It may reappear randomly somewhere else in the maze, or it may get trapped outside of the maze boundaries altogether, in which case it will just sail down the screen vertically until you get eaten or clear the rack. Bizarre, but harmless.

The monsters' eyes sometimes take quite a while to find their way back to the pen after you eat them, due to the long paths in the maze, and the somewhat unusual maze layout. This makes life a little easier, since you'll have more time to go about your business, eating dots.

Real experts will know that there were 4 paths on the original which the Monsters could only travel through top to bottom, not bottom to top. This provided another easy escape route when they were hot on your trail. There are no such paths in this maze!

The Monsters in Xen's Revenge are named after four people I know, and yes, each bears some similarity to the personality of the monster they're named after. They know who they are. ;-)

Xen's Revenge is completely free, but if you try it, send me a postcard, so I can see where it's being played, and let me know what you think!

Jeff Morris c/o The Xensei Corporation 87 Newbury Ave Quincy, MA 02171-1937 USA