History of Pac-Man clones and bootlegs/Arcade hacks

This page details notable hacks of the Pac-Man arcade games.
In the United States, Pac-Man hacks were commonly released as "enhancement kits"; these were a set of chips that would be applied to an official Pac-Man circuit board, usually by the purchaser of the kit. This was likely done as a loophole with potential copyright concerns, as it would only be using partial (or in some cases, reverse-engineered) copyrighted code. In other regions, the hacks were more often sold on straight bootleg circuit boards, with the full Pac-Man code copied. To this day, video game hacking is somewhat of a legal gray area, as it is still transformative of the original code.
== Hacks of Pac-Man ==
=== New Puck-X ===
New Puck-X is one of the earliest bootleg Pac-Man hacks; it changes the maze layout to a new pattern, and slightly alters the scoring system. The hack's name is a play on New Rally-X, another game produced by Namco.
Oddly, the second level of Pac-Man: Adventures in Time (Prehistoric Peril) uses a maze layout based on New Puck-X. Additionally, several pieces of licensed Pac-Man merchandise (mostly from the mid-2000s) used New Puck-X screenshots for their design, possibly by accident.
=== Hangly-Man ===
Hangly-Man (ハングリーマン Hangurīman) is a Pac-Man hack released in 1981, featuring two altered maze layouts. In some levels, eating a Power Pellet will turn the maze walls invisible - a feature later used in Pac-Man Plus.
Hangly-Man was manufactured by "Igurekku" (イグレック), and was published by "Kawakusu" (カワクス). Namco took legal action against both parties, with an unknown settlement being reached in August 1981."Game Machine" (September 1st, 1981), pg 2
While referred to as "Hangly" in-game, the Japanese title is actually meant to be read as Hungry Man, with "Hangly" presumably being a mistranslation.
=== Scandalman ===
Scandalman (スキャンダルマン Sukyandaruman) exists in two versions, dubbed "Newpuc1" and "Newpuc2" on the title screens. Both versions were released by "Kamiya" (カミヤ) in 1981. Namco reportedly threatened legal action against the game(s).
"Newpuc1" is more commonly known as "Pac-Man (Hearts)", and is often translated into French. It features an identical maze to New Puck-X, though replaces the Pac-Dots with hearts, and the Vulnerable Ghost graphics with the "naked" ghost seen in the third cutscene. "Newpuc2" adds a new gameplay mechanic; the cutscenes feature Fruits at the bottom, which (when combined with the arcade machine's instruction card) acts as a "fortune teller". Newpuc2 also slightly alters Pac-Man's speed - the same speed setting was later used in Pac-Man Plus.
=== Piranha ===
Piranha (ピラニア Pirania) was released in 1981 by "G L"; in North America, the game was published by U.S. Billiards (oddly, as a dedicated arcade cabinet). Namco reportedly threatened legal action against the game.
Piranha is rather heavily modified from the original Pac-Man; featuring an open, less linear playfield, and modified graphics based on marine life. Some later revisions feature entirely redrawn sprites (likely to further hide resemblance to Pac-Man) and less glitchy music.
=== Streaking ===
Streaking (ストリーキング Sutorīkingu) was released in late 1981 by Shoei. The game would later be released (by two different publishers) in the United States under altered names."Why The First Playable Women Of The ’80s Were Naked" - A Critical Hit! (18+ content, link excluded) The game appears to be a very advanced hack of Pac-Man, as evident by various aspects of its code.
The game, as the title suggests, has the player control a streaker; starting completely naked, she picks up clothes (replacing Pac-Man's fruits) while avoiding police officers. A "fatigue" meter is added (expiring if not enough dots are eaten), and the Power Pellets warp the player across the screen. Despite its somewhat-dirty nature, the game is not known to have caused any controversy upon its release.
Streaking was featured in a scene in the 1983 film "Joysticks"; the movie was (loosely) licensed by Bally Midway, and showcased various actual Pac-Man games as well.
=== Pac-Man Plus ===
Pac-Man Plus is an officially-produced Pac-Man hack, released in North America in early 1982. Developed by Namco of Japan, it was designed to combat the unlicensed conversion kits, in order to create a less shady, "official" alternative. As mentioned above, a few elements of the bootleg hacks are replicated in Pac-Man Plus.
=== Other Pac-Man hacks ===
*"Speed-up chip" kits - Likely the most common hack; a kit that greatly increases Pac-Man's speed in-game. It was originally produced on the bootleg market, but was later sold/used officially by both Midway and Namco. Compatible with Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Jr. Pac-Man.
*"Galaxian hardware" conversions - Bootleg ports of Pac-Man designed to run on technically-inferior Galaxian hardware (or similar hardware derivatives). Due to the conversion process, these versions generally feature strange colors and sound. Some variants are known as Ghostmuncher, and reuse the music from Streaking. Inexplicably, a Pac-Man Galaxian conversion was used in some promotional Fanta Pac-Man machines produced in 2024.https://youtu.be/_hlRgGICsDQ&t=42
*Popeye-Man - Replaces Pac-Man with Popeye's head; generally features either Hangly-Man or New Puck-X's maze layout.
*Joyman - Features a somewhat poorly modified maze layout, and unique graphics; the music's notes are switched to play in reverse.
*Caterpillar - Uses Hangly-Man maze, new graphics and scoring system.
*Abscam - A "G L" hack similar to Piranha, bizarrely themed around the "ABSCAM" FBI sting operation of the late 1970s.
*Titan - A space-themed, Piranha-based hack by "NSM".
*Cute-See - Known to have been the subject of a lawsuit by Midway. While demonstrating "Cute-See" during the trial, the defendants suspiciously disconnected the 5E/5F chips from the circuit board, thus not displaying the Pac-Man graphics."Midway Mfg. Co. v. Strohon, 564 F. Supp. 741 (N.D. Ill. 1983)" Little is known about the game itself otherwise.
== Hacks of Ms. Pac-Man ==
=== Crazy Otto ===
Ms. Pac-Man, in itself, started life as an unauthorized hack of Pac-Man. Originally produced as Crazy Otto, the game was designed by General Computer Corporation in 1981. Due to a prior court settlement with Atari prohibiting GCC from releasing hacked games, the game was sold to Bally Midway for official release; in which, the game was redesigned into Ms. Pac-Man.
=== Ms. Pac-Man Plus ===
Ms. Pac-Man Plus, also known as "Miss Packman Plus", is a Ms. Pac-Man hack released around 1983, following the release of Pac-Man Plus.
The modification may have been created by Midway themselves, as their name is intact on both the title screen and marquee, but the game is of noticeably lesser quality in comparison to both Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus. In part due to the title's obscurity, it has never actually been verified if the game was officially produced, or just a strange bootleg (see the "rumors" page for more information). Further evidence it could be an official modification is that certain promotional pictures for Ms. Pac-Man used screenshots from Ms. Pac-Man Plus; this may have also just been by mistake, however.Example usage: Ms. Pac-Man Plus screenshot used on a Pac-Man's Arcade Party stock image. https://web.archive.org/web/20200607194817/http://bandainamco-am.com/games/pacmanapbartop/images/PMAP_BARTOP_CONCEPT_FLAT1.jpg
Ms. Pac-Man Plus only changes the layout of the mazes, lacking the extra features seen in Pac-Man Plus. The way the mazes have been changed can lead to glitches, such as ghosts or fruit getting stuck within the maze's walls or slowing down outside of a tunnel.
=== Ms Pac Man Twin ===
Ms Pac Man Twin is a hack released in 1993 by Susilu. The game was only sold in Argentina, and is extremely uncommon.
Ms Pac Man Twin adds a two-player simultaneous mode to the game; whereas, the original Ms. Pac-Man has two players taking turns. Additionally, when a player loses a life, they resume the position they died in (rather than returning to the starting position). Some gameplay features, most notably the Fruit, were removed from the game.
=== Other Ms. Pac-Man hacks ===
*"Speed-up chip" kits
*Super Ms. Pac-Man - Another allegedly-official Midway hack with unique mazes, though little information about the game is known.
*Ms. Pac-Attack - Reuses maze layouts from Ms. Pac-Man Plus, though does not include the glitchy first maze. The game is unrelated to (and predates) Pac-Attack.
*Pacman Club / Club Lambada - Another Argentinian hack, produced by "Miky SRL" in 1990. Features a "speed-up" setting menu before starting a game. Various chiptune renditions of music play during gameplay (e.g. the Pink Panther theme). Upon eating a Power Pellet, one ghost will be inedible; this ghost sends Ms. Pac-Man inside of the ghost box.
*Ms. Pacman Championship Edition - Also known as "Zola-Puc Gal"; released in 1993 by "Rayglo". Based on Ms. Pac-Attack, with a "speed-up" function. A one-minute timer has been added; Ms. Pac-Man will lose a life if she runs out of time. The game is unrelated to (and greatly predates) Pac-Man Championship Edition. Inexplicably, Ms. Pac-Man Championship Edition was used in some promotional Fanta Pac-Man machines produced in 2024.https://www.tiktok.com/@lamontanadeinosuke/video/7349343636674465029
*Pac-Gal - Only alters the colors. Strangely, what appears to be a screenshot of Pac-Gal is used in Pac-Man World 2 on the "Mazes" arcade machine.
== References ==
Category:Games
Category:Arcade Games
Category:Pac-Man clones