Pac-Man clones

In computer gaming, Pac-Man clones are unauthorized ("pirate") versions of Namco's popular arcade game "Pac-Man".

Arcade clones

One of the most notable clones was "Hangly-Man" (a mangling of the Japanese pronunciation of "Hungry-Man"), a variant of which was "Caterpillar Pac-Man" made in 1981 by Phi. In the latter, one plays as a caterpillar, and the ghosts are replaced by spiders.

Another popular clone was "Piranha", which replaced "Pac-Man" with a munching fish. The maze was replaced with a coral reef, the ghosts with squid. (In an earlier variant, they were little more than ghosts with extended sprites for the tentacles). A brief reference to the game was even included in the "Pac-Man" TV series, when in an underwater scene, a fish is shown eating a ghost-squid.Fact|date=October 2007

In 1981, Leisure and Allied released "Ghostmuncher/Galaxian", a dual bootleg of "Pac-Man" and "Galaxian". One could change the game with a dip switch. In this bootleg, the colors, sounds, and names of the ghosts have been changed. The "Galaxian" bootleg is also sped up significantly. [ [http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=949 ghostmuncher / galaxian at arcade-history: video games, pinballs, slot machines, etc ] ]

Data East released Lock'n'Chase in 1981 as a response to the game. Here "Pac-Man" was replaced with a thief stealing coins from a bank vault. The ghosts were replaced with police, and the thief could temporarily block passages with doors. A popular port of this game was released for the Mattel Intellivision in 1982.

Soon after the release of the original "Pac-Man", many other maze-themed video games entered the arcade market ("Make Trax", "Thief", "Lady Bug" and "Mouse Trap" being the most prominent).

Contemporary home computer / console clones

In 1981, H.A.L. Labs released a near-perfect port of Pac-Man for the Apple II called "Taxman". As part of its settlement with Atari, H.A.L. surrendered the original Taxman code to Atari. When Atari's Atarisoft imprint released an official Pac-Man for the Apple II not long afterward, they simply used Taxman with a new title screen. After the settlement, H.A.L. Labs returned with "Taxman 2", which retained the Pac-Man-inspired play mechanics, but set the game in different mazes.

Acornsoft, a division of Acorn Computers, released an exceptionally accurate clone of "Pac-Man" called "Snapper" for the BBC Micro in 1981 (and later for the Acorn Electron in 1983). After allegedly receiving a cease and desist letter from Atari, Acornsoft modified the game, changing the character graphics.

The 1981 Magnavox Odyssey² game "K.C. Munchkin" was withdrawn after Atari successfully sued its creator, citing blatant and undisguised imitation of the "Pac-Man" characters.

In 1982, Greg Kuperberg created PC-Man, published by Orion Software for the IBM-PC, with 4-color CGA graphics, tricky gameplay and intelligent ghosts. Because the original arcade game used portrait orientation of the CRT, Greg rotated the original levels by 90 degrees to fit the PC screen. The game appeared as a boot loader diskette and later in a DOS version. By using a disk editor on the booter disk, one can find traces of a deleted personal formal application letter by Greg, now a math professor.

In the early 1980s, a Pac-Man clone called "Snack Attack" was popular on the Apple 2 home computer line.

Texas Instruments released a clone called "Munch Man" for the TI-99 home computer line in 1982, in which the player lays down a "track" (or "links", in "Munch Man" parlance), as he progresses through the maze instead of eating pills — a change made by TI to avoid possible lawsuits from Midway.

While many text mode clones have spawned since, the earliest such one known is Pac-Gal by Al J. Jiménez in May 1982. It had a later version from Sep 26 that year named "Pac-Girl" which added a "champion board" layout.

PacPC And Ms. Pac PC

Recently two Windows friendly version clones have surfaced which emulate gameplay of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac Man perfectly. In this version of each the cheat code is "eggs" and press enter during game play. Then press F1 to skip levels , F2 to gain extra lives , F3 for Fruit Bonus , and F12 to become invincible. On these versions you can get past Level 255 on Pac PC.

Handheld clones

Several handheld versions were released in 1981, most using VFD technology. The playability of most handheld games of this age was limited by today's standards, since each ghost and Pac-Man position was represented by an immovable fixed-cell character that lit up accordingly. Game titles included:

* PacMan by Tomy. Because Pac-Man always faced to the left, the player had to move left to eat dots and would pass through them while moving to the right.
* PacMan2 by Entex
* Pac-Man by Coleco, the official adaptation of the game. It was shaped like a miniature Midway arcade cabinet.
* Epoch Man by Epoch — LCD-based. It can be seen in the 1983 film, "National Lampoon's Vacation".
* Packri Monster by Bandai, one of the few handhelds to feature an intermission like the original game.

Recent clones

In the 1990s, Microhard/Magic Games released "Funny Strip". This was a maze game and a clone of "Pac-Man" and "Ms. Pac-Man" featuring nudity. [ [http://emustatus.rainemu.com/games/fstrip.htm Funny Strip ] ]

In 1993, Christophe de Dinechin wrote a Pac-Man clone for the HP-48 series of calculators.Fact|date=August 2008

In 1995, SemiCom released "Hyper Pac-Man" [ [http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=1163 hyper pacman at arcade-history: video games, pinballs, slot machines, etc ] ] , a clone similar to "Pac-Mania" with some "Bomberman"-style elements. This was followed up by a sequel called "Twinkle"; [ [http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=3910 twinkle at arcade-history: video games, pinballs, slot machines, etc ] ] in this version "Pac-Man" is orange and wears sunglasses.

Comedy Central's "South Park" inspired a free online game at the official website much like "Pac-Man". The game entailed Eric Cartman running around a maze eating "Cheesy Poofs" in place of the standard beads. Fact|date=August 2008

Cartoon Network (Europe) released two free Pac-Man inspired games online. One featuring Fred Flintstone collecting rocks while avoiding bowling balls and another featuring Brak's Head collecting beans while avoiding Zorak heads.Fact|date=August 2008

In 1998, The computer game Starcraft was released, with a custom scenario titled "Wakka Wakka" that was as close to a Pac-Man clone as StarEdit.exe (the game's scenario editor) allowed.Fact|date=August 2008

In 1999, ESD released "Multi Champ Deluxe". "Multi Champ Deluxe" is an adult-oriented, multi-game system in which the player chooses a girl and then one of six games, with the object being to win the game to save the girl. The games include a clone of "Pac-Man". [ [http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=4245 multi champ deluxe at arcade-history: video games, pinballs, slot machines, etc ] ]

In 2000, Genie released "Puckman Pokemon" [ [http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=2064 puckman pockimon at arcade-history: video games, pinballs, slot machines, etc ] ] which teamed up Pac-Man and Pokémon. Player 1 controls Puckman and Player 2 controls Pikachu's head.Fact|date=August 2008

Also in 2000, a Hong Kong original Famicom game called "Hot Dance 2000" includes a pirated version of Pac-Man (with the original Japanese names) in addition to Dance Dance Revolution-style games.Fact|date=August 2008

eGames has released several 3D clones of "Pac-Man", including "3D Maze Man", "3D Chomper", and "3D Ms. Maze". These were made without license, and prompted a lawsuit including Hasbro, Atari America and Elorg. The games have been discontinued as a term of the settlement. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_Sept_7/ai_65070228 Hasbro Interactive Successfully Settles Intellectual Property Suit | Business Wire | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ]

See also

* List of maze video games

References