Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (SNES)

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
Also known as: Hello! Pac-Man (JP) Developer: Namco Publisher: Namco Platform: SNES Released in JP: August 26, 1994 Released in US: September 1994 Released in EU: 1994 This game has unused areas. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused music. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has regional differences. This game has a Data Crystal page

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures is an "interactive cartoon" starring Namco's iconic mascot, Pac-Man. In this game, rather than controlling the hero himself, you influence his behavior by either shooting objects with a slingshot (including Pac-Man himself!) or telling him to look in a certain direction.

Debugging Feature

Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 82BE5F05 (82BE5305 in the Japanese version) will enable two hidden options on the title screen. Simply move the cursor past ))STEREO(( to select them (note that both options are blank).

Option 1

Unknown function. The game appears to start normally, but then crashes immediately after the intro scene ends. May reference debugging code that is no longer available.

Option 2

Used to access both an animation test (PAC TEST) and a sound test (SND TEST), both of which are completely different from the ones normally available via passwords.

PAC TEST

Press B or tap Start to access PAC TEST, where you can view all of Pac-Man's animations. The number next to Pac-Man indicates his current pose; press Left or Right to highlight a number, and then press Up or Down to change it (don't go past 5A6 or the game will crash). You can also press L or R to change Pac-Man's face, which will then be displayed for all subsequent poses (leading to some hilarious results).

Pressing Select will change the 000 on the right side to 200, as well as shuffle the dots in the hex grid around. What the dots actually represent is currently unknown.

SND TEST

Hold Start to access SND TEST, which is (oddly enough) a sound test. Press Up or Down to choose one of the five sets of numbers, and press Left or Right to change it. Press L or R to cycle the number next to SND TEST between 5, 7, and 8 (this seems to limit the number of available sound channels or something).

The available options are:

• DATA NO. - Selects which bank of sound data to load. Takes effect immediately.
• P.0 to P.3 - Correspond to SPC700 ports 0-3. Sending a value to port 0 will select a music track (press B to play). Note that most values will crash the SPC700.

Playing sound effects from this screen isn't possible, since the game plays sound effects by sending the value F0 to port 0 before sending the sound effect number, and the available values in the sound test only range from 00 to 7F.

Sending values directly to ports 1 through 3 doesn't do anything, since the game's sound driver only uses those ports to receive data when loading a new sound bank.

(Source: Rusty)

Sound and Pattern Tests

More polished versions of the sound and pattern tests can be accessed by entering the following passwords:

• Sound Test: BGMRQST (international), PAC*OTO (Japan)
• Pattern Test: PCMNPTT (international), PACFACE (Japan)

However, while they are more polished, both tests are missing music and graphics that are available in the unused versions.

Secret Password

Enter PCMN0VR. You'll appear outside of Pac-Man's house. Enter the house to view the credits.

Unused Music

The opening of "Haste Makes Waste", the theme for the Mountain area, is unused in-game, as the song always starts as the loop area. It can still be heard in the Sound Test however. This part of the song is completely absent from the Genesis port.

Unused Areas

"Secret"

Enter the Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E050203. This is a glitched Pac-Man's House, but in the Japanese version this is called "himitsu" or "secret", seemingly for no reason. In the English version it's just labelled Pac-Man's House again. It should be noted that there is no solid ground here, so Pac-Man will instantly fall.

Debug Room

Enter the Pro Action Replay (PAR) code 7E05021F. It is a debug room taking place (appropriately?) in the Old Game Center. There are 13 targets. Shooting the target reticules will make Pac-Man do certain actions automatically. The Japanese version labels this room as "Renshuu", which is the same name as the tutorial.

Unused Graphics

A face of a horrified(?) mouthless Pac-Man can be found in Pattern Test. While this (And the face below) technically aren't unused, they're never seen in-game, and can only be seen here. They are also present in the Genesis version.

Two faces of a happy-scared(?) Pac-Man, also seen in Pattern Test.

Developer Credits

A list of developers' names can be found right at the beginning of the ROM:

(C)NAMCO-STAFF- 
YUMISAKA  KATO  
 ONODA  KITAMURA
 OKAMOTO  WADA  
 HANDA   SAKAKI 
 TAJIMA  SAITA  
KUMAGAI  SAITOH 
TAKAYAMA

It is unknown who most of the developers are, but Tajima is Katsuro Tajima, the game's sound composer.

(Source: Rusty)

Regional Differences

To do: The "Look!", "Higher!" and "Faster!" voice clips are different in the Japanese version. Also, get a gif of the Namcot screen.

Namco Screen

In the Japanese version, the NAMCOT logo (Namco's old Japanese console publishing division) glows slightly, and a voice says "Presented by Namcot".

Presented by

Namcot

Intro

International	Japan

The whole Pac family looks a little different between versions. The international versions mostly just use heavier shading, though Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Jr. (seemingly not Jr. Pac-Man) were given a bit of a facelift in the Japanese version.

Tutorial

In the Japanese version, the Tutorial is labelled as such. In the international version, the tutorial is simply called "Pac-Man's House".

Passwords

International	Japan

The password system uses different characters between versions. As was the norm at the time, the international versions have no vowels (a trait which would carry over to the GBA port of Pac-Man World 2, which featured password-based saving), and the special passwords were also changed:

Special Passwords
(Note: * refers to the Pac-Man symbol.)

Effect	International Password	Japanese Password
Play Pac-Man	PCMNDPW	PACMANP
Play Ms. Pac-Man	MSPCMND	MPACDPW
Pattern Test	PCMNPTT	PACFACE
Sound Test	BGMRQST	PAC*OTO
Time Trial	TRLMDPW	OMAKE**