Show profile
Link to this post
Subject: PacMan Championship Edition DX Strategy Guide
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-NFGGuide.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-NFGGuide.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-NFGGuide.png")
PacMan Championship Edition DX is a game that seems to be the result of a significant amount of playtesting. Many of its mechanisms seem obvious when you learn how they work, but almost certainly weren't obvious when the game's development started.
The focus of the game, as always, is score. Unlike previous Pacman games, high scores are achieved by stringing together long chains of ghosts and eating them in massive crunchy sequences. The game is very fast and there's a lot going on. It may help to be aware of the intricacies of the PacMan world, and to that end, here's a strategy guide.
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-family.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-family.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-family.png")
Meet the Ghosts
The original PacMan had only two ghost types: wandering and vulnerable. In CE DX, there are five kinds, each with its own behaviour. The first two are the same as the old ghosts, you should avoid them or eat them depending on how blue they are. The other three are slightly different:
- Angry ghosts will chase you
- Alerted ghosts may chase you or join the ghost train
- Sleeping ghosts will remain stationary until you are adjacent to them, at which time they will become alerted ghosts
In addition, angry ghosts will chain (see ghost trains below).
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-wake-1.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-wake-1.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-wake-1.png")
Sleeping Ghosts
- Ghosts will only wake up when you are immediately adjacent to them.
- If you have no train following you, the first woken ghost will start the train.
- If you wake a ghost and the train does not pass him within a few seconds, the ghost will go back to sleep rather than follow you. After using a bomb, you may wish to wait for the train to catch up to you again, or any woken ghosts won't be added to it.
- Any ghosts still sleeping when the maze changes will be removed from the maze.
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-train.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-train.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-train.png")
Ghost Trains
Ghost trains are long lines of angry ghosts intent on your destruction, and are responsible for the lion's share of your point scoring. They are not particularly dangerous, as they match your speed and slow down when you stop, as if they're reluctant to kill you.
- The first angry ghost will start the train. Subsequent angry ghosts will follow you for a few seconds, but will give up unless they bump into the train which they will then join.
- Wandering ghosts will join the train only if they're angry. If a wandering ghost joins the train, his eyes return to the ghost house, and another wandering ghost will enter the maze in its place.
- Ghost trains max out at thirty ghosts.
- If you bomb a ghost train it will return to the ghost house. A train may take a while to catch back up to you, so you may sometimes want to wait for it to rejoin you, so it doesn't mess up your routes later.
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-avoid.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-avoid.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-avoid.png")
Ghost Avoidance
Wandering ghosts will never hit you head-on if they can avoid it. If you're traveling along any corridor and there's an exit between you and the ghost, the ghost will avoid you. Often you'll be waggling in slow-time waiting for a ghost to finally make its turn. It makes more sense to wait than hit the bomb in most cases 'cause the train won't return to the ghost house and you won't lose your dot multiplier or speed.
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-carry.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-carry.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-carry.png")
Carrying Ghosts
Some ghosts carry a payload, either a bomb or a power pellet. It's visible no matter what phase the ghost is in. If you eat one, you get whatever they're carrying, either another bomb in reserve or an extension on the current vulnerable timer (top center of the screen).
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-scoring.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-scoring.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-ghost-scoring.png")
Scoring
Scoring is easy. The first ghost eaten is worth 400 points, every ghost after that is worth 400 more, to a maximum of 3200. As long as your vulnerable timer is active, the maximum value is maintained.
Dots also increase in value, from the starting 10pts to a whopping 100pts each. The value increases as you eat, at a much faster rate than the first PacMan CE.
![[Image: http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-Speed.png]](http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-Speed.png "http://nfgworld.com/grafx/games/PMCEDX/PM-Speed.png")
Speed
PacMan increases in speed based on score. At pre-determined intervals the speed ratchets up by one (the score required varies for each game type and difficulty). PacMan will lose speed - up to ten at a time - for each death or bomb used. This can have a serious effect on your scoring, so both are discouraged.
BLEARGH
This post was edited 9 times, last on 2010-11-28, 16:23 by