New Pac-Man world record set on game’s anniversary

While competitive gaming these days is all about MOBAs and Starcraft and Call of Duty, there's a growing number of individuals attempting to push the boundaries of what's possible in the ghosts of gaming's past. One such man is David Race, who recently set a new world record for the fastest perfect game of Pac-Man ever played.

Some of the retro gaming aficionados out there might be crying foul and suggesting that Billie Mitchell, one of the world's most iconic video gamers of all time, became the first to complete a “perfect” game of Pac Man back in 1999 and indeed he did. But while he was the first, receiving an award from Namco founder Masaya Nakamura, for the achievement, he did it in just over six hours. A marathon compared to the sprints of today.

David Race, managed to complete the game in three hours, 28 minutes and 49 seconds, whilst also achieving a perfect score of 3,333,360 points. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEGSFk-vCqU'] When else am I going to be able to post this?

Pac Man is a game all about patterns. There are tried and tested methods for getting through the game: ones that send the ghosts into loops, ones that are calculated down to the fractions of a second and allow for maximum points whilst using as little time as possible. Discovering and developing these patterns has been David's obsession for quite some time. 

“When I’m playing, I think of every second in increments of time that calculate in my head on every line a take, every corner, every dot,” he said while speaking with Twin Galaxies. “At the same time my memory of each board following the other is engaged as well. If I make a mistake, I also have to act fast to correct it to not lose time. And if I do, I’m thinking ahead of how to make up for it. So it’s a lot to think about.”

KitGuru Says: Congratulations to David on an impressive feat. I must admit I never got into Pac Man that much as a game, but I have been enjoying some Donkey Kong recently. Managed to get my high score up to 77,000 or so. Hardly impressive but not bad. Any of you whip out MAME occasionally to see how you do?

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