GCC was initially a company that modded arcade games in fact, they’re responsible for Ms. With some digging, I was able to find out that it was developed not directly by Atari, but rather by General Computer Corporation. Now details surrounding Pac-Man’s development are well-known and easy to find, but not so with the Atari 2600 version of Galaxian. Both games are of the score chase variety, but Galaxian is a more enjoyable experience thanks to its more appealing visuals and quality gameplay. There’s a lot happening on-screen, the graphics are vibrant, and the action is smooth and brisk. Firstly, Galaxian resembles its arcade brethren to a striking degree (considering it’s a 2600 game). Galaxian on the other hand was released a year after Pac-Man in 1983 on the newer, larger cartridge which provided more space for the programmers to work with. It went on to be a great seller at the time (a whopping 7 million copies), but it’s a game that nowadays is best left for those with nostalgia or a deep interest in the medium. The maze is unchanging, the ghosts constantly flicker, they’re indistinguishable, the sound effects are grating, the game doesn’t have as good a sense of control over Pac-Man, and so on. What Frye produced is totally playable, and resembles Pac-Man undeniably, but its differences are negatives. This factor, along with the reduced processing power of the Atari 2600 compared to the Pac-Man arcade cabinet, compromised the game’s quality. Tod Frye, a programmer within Atari, was tasked with the game’s development, not with the most capable tools though reportedly, rather than using a newer cartridge, one with more memory, his work was confined to the smaller cartridge to reduce manufacturing costs. Having previously obtained the rights to develop home versions of Namco’s arcade games, Atari sought to capitalize on the success of Pac-Man. The story behind Pac-Man’s development is an interesting one. Ironically both of these titles are based on Namco arcade games. Two games that well highlight the stark differences between landing on either end of the quality spectrum are Pac-Man and Galaxian. None of them were able to 100% duplicate the original arcade game due to comparatively paltry processing power, but many were successful to varying degrees. The Atari 2600 was host to plenty of arcade ports. Released a year apart from each other, it was enough time for Atari to redesign their box art template.
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