Pac-Man/Bootlegs

Due to the tremendous popularity of Pac-Man in the arcades, and arcade owner's insatiable appetite to cash in on the craze, bootleg arcade manufacturers produced a number of unauthorized copies and alterations to the original game. It wasn't enough to try and sell a straight clone of the original game. Bootleggers competed with each other to create the most flashy modification that would attract more players. Most changes were purely cosmetic, altering the maze, or the look of the characters, and some changes altered the point values for dots, prizes, and eaten ghosts. Many of the changes included in some of the bootlegs below inspired some of the changes that were incorporated into the official Bally Midway release of Pac-Man Plus (which, as an official release, is not included on this page). Below is a comparison of some of the more common bootleg varieties.

New Puck-X

• The name of this bootleg is a play on one of Namco's other arcade games that was popular in Japan, known as New Rally-X.
• New Puck-X contains a fairly altered maze. Bumps have been added to the center of the rows that were once wide open. Holes have been added to various portions of the maze that were once solid.
• There are two extra sets of tunnels, one each above and below the original tunnel. Meanwhile, greater access has been given to the center tunnel, so you could be ambushed by ghosts before you even reach the tunnel at all.
• Dots are worth 20 points and energizers are worth 80. Bonus items start with Cherries worth 500 points, and are worth 5000 points by the time you reach the Galaxian.

Pac-Man (Hearts)

• This bootleg is called Pac-Man (Hearts) by MAME. It is primarily french, and is also known as Newpuc1 or Scandleman by some players.
• Newpuc1 uses the same maze format as New Puck-X, including the extra sets of tunnels. All of the dots have been changed into the shape of hearts.
• When Pac-Man eats an energizer, rather than turning blue, the ghosts all change into a shape that can normally be seen during the third intermission of Pac-Man, when the ghost runs away with his cape dragging behind him. They are the same color of the hearts, and they flash red when the energizer is about to wear off.
• Hearts are worth 20 points and energizers are worth 80. While the first three ghosts are worth the normal amount of points (200, 400, and 800), the fourth ghost, if eaten, is worth 8000 points.

Newpuc2

• • There are two maze variants in Newpuc2. The first is a visible blue maze, similar in format to New Puck-X. However, it increases the height of the bump along the bottom row, and adds four sets of escape tunnels to the original one rather than just two. The second maze is invisible except for the borders and the dots, but has a slightly different layout than the visible maze and has only three exits on each side.
  • Just as in Newpuc1, when Pac-Man eats an energizer, rather than turning blue, the ghosts all change into a shape that can normally be seen during the third intermission of Pac-Man, when the ghost runs away with his cape dragging behind him. Unlike Newpuc1, they remain their original colors up until they begin to flash.
  • Intermissions from the original "Puckman" appear between each maze. A 'slot machine' appears every 3 mazes, which determines which type of maze (invisible/visible) will come up next.
  • Hearts are worth 20 points and energizers are worth 80. While the first three ghosts are worth the normal amount of points (200, 400, and 800), the fourth ghost, if eaten, is worth 8000 points. The bonus fruit start at 1000 points for the cherry and work their way up to 5000 from there.

Hangly-Man

• • Hangly-Man is presumed to be an "Engrish" mangling of the title "Hungry Man".
  • Hangly-Man contains not one, but two different mazes. The first maze appears on the first stage and every even numbered stage thereafter. The second maze appears on the third stage and every odd numbered stage thereafter.
  • The first maze is an alteration to the original maze. While an extra bump has been added to the once-open bottom row, the top row has been opened up. The areas near the mouths of the escape tunnel are no longer single width tunnels, but more open. This can cause players to miss the tunnels if they are not lined up exactly right.
  • The first maze also contains two extra sets of tunnels, one each above and below the original tunnel. Eating an energizer in the first maze can sometimes make the maze turn invisible. In some versions of Hangly-Man, the maze never reappears until you die.
  • The second maze is a wide-open maze, with no borders except around the very edges. The same three sets of tunnels exists as well as a new tunnel that has been positioned along the center of the top and bottom of the maze.

Pac-Man (Galaxian hardware)

This is a hack of Pac-Man where the programming of the game is made to work on the hardware of a Galaxian machine instead of the original hardware. Galaxian is an older game, and therefore not quite as capable of displaying the game properly. When ghosts are eaten, and return to the ghost pen, you see everything except for their eyes. Presumably, this bootleg was created and purchased primarily due to its lower cost, or operator naivety.

Joyman

• Joyman drastically changes the artwork of both Pac-Man and the ghosts, to some more abstract yellow character, and various colored cyclopes respectively. (The eyes have naturally been turned into one single eye.)
• Joyman also contains a very altered maze, changing the colors, and the arrangment of the allies. The allies are arranged more like columns than before.
• There are dots that straddle several of the allies. While the dots are present, and as long as Joyman does not die, Joyman can continue to pass through the gaps in allies. However, if Joyman dies, some of the gaps close upon his return in the next life.
• The bonus prizes and the music have also changed. Dots are worth 20 points and energizers (small checkered flags) are worth 80.

Piranha

• This hack of Pac-Man was released as a conversion kit. It comes in an upgrade board, much like the original Ms. Pac-Man does.
• The graphics have been drastically altered to present an underwater theme. You control a red piranha, while you are chased around by four squid-looking monsters.
• Most of the maze in this game is wide open. You are free to move about various open portions of the maze, but so are the monsters.
• One central tunnel is present on the sides, as well as another central tunnel on the top and bottom of the screen.
• There are fewer bonus items, and they start at 500 points, and end at 5000 points. Eating monsters also earn tremendously different point values: 300, 700, 1200, and 2000 points