Pac-Man Clones
Pac-Man was released in 1980 by Namco. Midway published it in North America and owns the rights. The arcade game was extremely popular and sold over 300,000 arcade machines.
Due to the success, there were many clones and knockoffs. These Pac-Man arcade copycats sold nearly as many machines as the original Pac-Man.
A lot of counterfeit games were made. Let’s take a look at a complete list of the copied Pac-Man arcade games.
Puckman Pokimon Arcade Game
The first arcade clone we will take a look at is Puckman Pockimon.
Puckman Pockimon is a Pac-Man ripoff that was released to arcades by a company called Genie in 2000.
The game features more modern and updated art but the gameplay is exactly like the original Pac-Man.
All the music and sound effects in this game were stolen directly from Ms. Pac-Man.
The characters in the game are Pac-Man, Pikachu, and the four colorful ghosts (Blinky, Inky, Pinky, and Clyde). These were used without the permission of Nintendo or Namco.
The one main gameplay difference is that Puckman Pockimon can be played cooperatively. One player controls Pac-Man, the other controls Pikachu. Each player collects their own pellets in the same maze, while avoiding enemies.
This game also has unique power ups to collect and manhole covers that can teleport you to another part of the maze. These are interesting additions to the game but the gameplay and characters are still copied from Pac-Man and Pokemon.
Crazy Otto Arcade Game History
Ms. Pac-Man was actually made from another clone of Pac-Man called Crazy Otto.
Crazy Otto was a project made by General Computer Corporation, which was a company formed by MIT students. They were known for making enhancement kits of existing arcade hardware. Crazy Otto was made by them in 1981 and had a Pac-Man-like character with legs.
The gameplay was the same as the original Pac-Man but with new art, AI, and mazes.
General Computer Corporation took this clone to Bally Midway, who were in charge of the US distribution of Pac-Man. Midway loved the slight improvements to Pac-Man and saw an opportunity to use this game as a way to make a quick and easy sequel.
Midway contracted General Computer Corporation to make the sequel but had them change the characters back to those of the original Pac-Man series. This game was released as Ms. Pac-Man to arcades in 1982.
Check out this link to get more details on the Crazy Otto history. It also goes into detail on their process of trying to remake the game in an arcade cabinet as there was never an official Crazy Otto cabinet released.
Piranha Arcade Game
Piranha was made by GL in 1981.
There are no mazes in this one but you are tasked with collecting all the dots in a stage to move on to the next one.
The layout of dots are the exact same each and every level.
You play as a piranha swimming in the water. The ghosts are replaced with squids. The squids act the same as the ghosts from Pac-Man. When you collect pills that are in separate corners of the stage then the squids change to a dark blue blinking form where you can hit them to destroy them for a short time.
The sound effects in the game are almost exactly copied from Pac-Man.
The Hand Arcade Game
The Hand was released to arcades in 1981 by T.I.C.
You play as a hand that has to collect dots. The ghosts are replaced with other hands that represent rock, paper, and scissors.
The maze layouts change slightly each level but they are all very similar to the original Pac-Man maze.
The sound effects and visuals are inspired from Pac-Man but just a bit weirder.
You fill in the maze with a certain blocky color as you complete it.
The one really unique part of the gameplay as compared to Pac-Man is how you defeat the “ghosts”. There are no pills in The Hand. Instead it has dollar signs which only give you more points and change your character to a new form.
The ghosts change between rock, paper, and scissors randomly while playing. You have to hit the right enemy hand that destroys it like you are playing rock, paper, scissors. So when you are in rock formation you can hit the scissors ghosts and it destroys it for a little while. I love this unique change and this one really makes it worth a play!
Lock ‘n’ Chase Arcade Game
Lock ‘n’ Chase was made by Data East in Japan. It was released to arcades just one year after Pac-Man, in 1981.
Lock ‘n’ Chase was similar to Pac-Man in the sense that you control a character that moves through a maze. Collect all the dots to win and avoid the enemies who move around the maze to catch you.
In this Pac-Man clone, you play as a thief trying to escape the police. All the sprites and art are different from Pac-Man which makes it look like its own game.
The other big difference is that in Lock ‘n’ Chase you can close doors to block off the police that chase you. This little change actually makes the gameplay feel quite unique.
Lock ‘n’ Chase was a Pac-Man clone but at least it had unique art and a slight variation to the original gameplay.
Some other arcade clones stole too much and got in legal trouble for it.
K.C. Munchkin Copyright Case
K.C. Munchkin was a Pac-Man clone that was released for the home console, Magnavox Odyssey 2 by Philips in 1981. Atari had the exclusive license to produce the home version of Pac-Man. These games were so similar that Atari sued Philips to cease production of K.C. Munchkin.
There were some slight changes between the games which is what caused the court to initially deny the case. But Atari would eventually win on appeal. The ruling was the first to establish that copyright law would apply to the “look and feel” of computer software.
Here are some unique features of K.C. Munchkin as compared to Pac-Man:
- There were 2 pretty cool and interesting modes that I wish were in the original Pac-Man
- A random mode; where a new maze layout is made each time the game is played.
- A programmable mode; which allowed players to create their own mazes.
- K.C. Munchkin has 3 “ghosts”; Pac-Man has 4.
- There are 12 blinking pills that move around the map instead of being stationary. The speed of these pills increases as each one is munched.
Mighty Mouth Arcade Game and Legal Battle
A-1 Games made Mighty Mouth the arcade game.
It was basically identical to Pac-Man. Down to the same color and shapes of sprites. The same music and levels. Even the same paths that enemies took. It seemed like the code of the AI was identical.
Because of vast similarities, Mighty Mouth was involved in a court case with Midway that began in 1981.
This case was important in gaming history as it was one of the first decisions made in video game infringement. The case involved a few Midway arcade games which the defendant had made copies of. We will go over a couple of the other stolen arcade games later.
The final decision was made in 1983.
The court stated that…
“The strategy, design, and sound effects of these games resemble their Midway counterparts. The defendants resold these games or kits, or placed them in various locations for public use.”
The court granted Midway’s motion for partial summary judgment for copyright and trademark infringement.
Mighty Mouth is a rare arcade cabinet to find. This is most likely because of the legal issues that it had.
Pac-Man Clones Gameplay
Check out the clones and their gameplay similarities and differences from the original Pac-Man in this video.
Pac-Man Clones Impact
There were a lot of Pac-Man clones, which stole characters, sound, and gameplay from the classic arcade game that came out first.
The Midway court case against the Pac-Man clones helped fight copycats who were making money off others’ ideas. This provided a precedent of legal action against stolen video game properties that I believe helps protect video games to this day.
For further reading on classic arcade games check out: Dig Dug – Controls, Enemies, and the Strange Scoring System.