Abandoned Arcade is a hack created by misplet for the Retro Hack Competition, in which it placed 11th.
Of this hack's 10 Stars, 7 are located in course 1, 2 are located in the secret course, and one is given to Mario by the Toad behind the counter in the arcade.
Course 1: Level 257[]
This level is based off of the real urban legend surrounding the original Pac-Man game- the 256th level. This final level of Pac-Man is a glitched, bizarre looking mess, that is supposedly impossible to beat. In the slide section of this course, the textures used directly reference this, as they deliberately resemble TV-static in a strange pixellated design.
Star 1: Freedom Fighting For 5 Secrets[]
The 5 Secrets for this Mission can be found at the base of each Chain Chomp's post. In order to discover them, Mario must groundpound the posts and release all five Chain Chomp's in the level.
Star 2: 8 Red Coins Amassed In A Maze[]
Collect the 8 red coins scattered throughout the level. Two of them are above Chain Chomp posts; another two are midway on collapsing bridges; another two are behind Kuromame's (flamethrowers); one is inside a breakable box, and the last is in the caged-off section at the bottom of the course, where the warps are. Use the map of the course in this article's gallery for more accurate locations on the red coins.
Star 3: Through Fire & Flames[]
This Star is located at the bottom right corner of the map, and is contained inside a box. The intended route is to head to the opposite corner (the top right corner of the map) and hit the timed switch. This will make a singular breakable box appear under the boxed Star, which will allow Mario to more easily reach the box.
After hitting the switch, stick to either side of the passageway to easily avoid being burnt, and longjump down to the other end of the corridor. Sideflip against the wall and wallkick off of it to easily reach the top of the breakable box. Once on it, perform a double-jump and groundpound at the top of Mario's jump; this will break the box and put him in the perfect spot to immediately grab the Star.
Alternatively, it is possible to reach the box without using the timed box, as demonstrated by SimpleFlips.
Star 4: Clyde Stayed Behind[]
This Star requires Mario to have activated the Vanish Cap Switch in the secret course, Workingtitle. After doing so, head to the top-middle of the maze and grab the Vanish Cap, then quickly move to the left side of the box in the centre of the course. This side of the boxed-in area is permeable to Vanish Cap wearers.
Once inside the box, defeat the Big Boo here and grab the Star.
Star 5: A-Maze-Ing Emergency Exit[]
Head down to the bottom-middle part of the map, where the yellow arrow points downwards. Here, use wallkicks to jump over the mesh fence, then again to reach the top of the wall at the back.
Once up there, drop down into the small hole on the left. This will send Mario to a nearby area with a glitchy looking slide. Slide all the way down, and Mario will be sent to an area containing the Star. Be careful not to accidentally clip through the floor above and end up back in the main part of this course; go straight for the Star instead.
Star 6: Wallkicks Might Work[]
Head back to the slide area for this course, but do not go down. Instead, follow the path of vertical coins by wallkicking up above the kuromame, and enventually Mario will reach a secret room containing a Star.
Secret Course: Workingtitle[]
Yes, that is actually what it's called. The switch to activate the Vanish Cap is located at the end of this slide, and is needed to get Star 4 of course 1.
This secret course has two Stars, the first of which requires the use of a Koopa Shell to reach the end- the finish line must be crossed within 24 seconds to spawn the Star.
The second Star is behind the starting point; turn around 180 degrees after entering the level. Up ahead is a chasm between Mario and the other side where the Star is, with only a small platform made of Vanish Cap boxes between them. Longjumps will work to get Mario onto the platform, but may require a running start to clear the distance, as ledge-grabs cannot be performed on item boxes.
Trivia[]
- The title of Star 4 is a direct reference to the Ghosts of Pac-Man. In the original game, the orange Ghost, and unfortunately the least intelligent of them, is called Clyde. The gag is that the Big Boo is supposedly Clyde left behind, still stuck inside the box from which the Pac-Man Ghosts emerge from.
- The "broken warps" referenced by the signs in Level 257 are referring to the warp tunnels present on either side of the original Pac-Man level layout.
- Mario's Starting point for Level 257 is almost identical to Pac-Man's Starting point in the original game.
Gallery[]
