Speed Up Chip

The Speed Up Chip refers to a chip that could be installed into Pac-Man arcade machines, which increases Pac-Man's speed to 4 times faster than his normal speed. 
== History ==
Upon Pac-Man's massive success in the early 1980s, many modifications and hacks of the game were released, without the permission of Namco or Bally Midway. These fell into a legal grey area, as the hack would be installed into the official Pac-Man circuit board itself, meaning no actual piracy would take place.
One of the earliest modifications was to "overclock" the entire Pac-Man machine, making the entire game run at roughly double the speed it was intended to; this made the game both harder to play and be over much quicker. A new, similar hack was released after this, which greatly increased Pac-Man's speed, without any form of overclocking. The latter kit was presumably also intended to make the game more challenging - but it can arguably be considered easier, as it makes the chance of being cornered by ghosts less likely.
The latter kit was very easy to install, only requiring one chip on the circuit board to be replaced. It became extremely popular, and was installed into many Pac-Man machines across North America. Due to it becoming so widespread, Bally Midway released an "official" version of the chip, which was identical to the bootleg.
For many years, no true home ports of the speed up chip Pac-Man variants were ever released (although the Tengen ports of Ms. Pac-Man feature a speed adjuster similar to it). However, starting with models from 2021 onward, the speed up chip games were included in several Arcade1UP machines (accessible via the settings menu).
== Compatible Games ==
* Pac-Man
* Ms. Pac-Man
* Jr. Pac-Man
* Galaga
Any variants of Pac-Man (Puckman, Pac-Man Plus, etc.) could also work with the chip, but finding these machines with the chip installed was rather uncommon.
==Trivia==
*The speed up chip versions of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaga are also included in the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga - Class of 1981 and Pac-Man 25th Anniversary arcade machines. They can either be enabled as the default versions in the menu, or they can be unlocked via a cheat code (Left, Right, Left, Right, Up, Up, Up, Fire).
Category:Arcade Parts
Category:Stubs
Category:Unofficial Terms