Good Pac-Man-Alikes That Aren't Just Clones

[Nz17]

I really like maze games including some of the various Pac-Man game releases. But I've played the Pac games so many times over the years, I really need something else to keep me going. What are some games which are like Pac-Man but aren't actually part of the Pac series and aren't trying to just copy Pac-Man wholesale? I'm looking for games with a large variety of maze layouts or ones that try to do something different; titles that use a unique gimmick. I'd prefer games which got a console or home computer release, but arcade suggestions are also welcome. And no "Snake"-like games. Please and thank you. :D

To give you an idea of what I mean, imagine games like "Mouse Trap," "Make Trax," and "Lock 'n' Chase." Those are clearly inspired by Pac-Man, but they each have their own unique spin on the formula.

[fairyland]

The two that I loved as a child back in the early 80s were Amidar and Crystal Castles.

Amidar you don't collect anything, but you do go around a preset grid maze filling in blocks and of course avoiding enemies, basically like Pac-man. I think this was the first of it's type and spawned several clones.

Crystal Castles is probably the first 3Dish Pac-man game I've encountered. It's very colorful and was an interesting take on the growing very stale formula. The trackball I think was probably the first for a Pac-man type game but I always felt it hindered the game. You often spin wildly where you don't intend to go and collide into enemies too easily. It quickly got too hard after a few rounds unless you had some mad skills with control. So it ends up being a love-hate situation with me.

Of course the arcade versions are the best. At that time most home computers/gaming systems couldn't really replicate the graphics of the arcade version and ultimately they are rarely worth playing today. I think both has been since ported onto stuff like Microsoft's Game Room for the 360 and PC though.

[davidbrit2]

The Gameboy version of Lock 'n Chase is really good. It's a pretty major upgrade to the original with a lot of stages.

[quicksilver079]

Ladybug for Colecovision is pretty good I like the mechanic of rotating the doors around the maze to block enemies and create new paths and it's always fun luring the enemies into the little skull death traps.

[Ozzy_98]

Mouse trap, and KC Munchkin are both good. I'm not as big of a fan of the second KC game, but most people liked it.

[SparTonberry]

Nobody has attacked the Devil's World? :)

[dementia_]

Raimais (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwZRVThEbZw) by Taito is excellent. It's sort of a Pac-Man / Shooter hybrid.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Probably my all-time favorite Pac-Man clone has to be Rootin' Tootin' (http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/games/details.php%3FID%3D2181) for the Commodore 64. I even managed to find myself an inexpensive CIB copy after I bought my C128 (way back in 2006)!
You play as a trumpet collecting musical notes off a maze made from musical scales, and instead of picking up the notes, you "toot" them at the various enemies around the maze. You can also push the button to make yourself "disappear" for a split second, allowing you to pass through enemies who try to corner you (and after level 4 or 5, they manage to corner you in seconds). Nice SID tunes, too.
Evidently there was an arcade version, too, but I have never seen one in existence anywhere.

[Atarileaf]

Jawbreaker is an interesting take on the maze game and is available on multiple platforms

You could also peruse this list of maze games for something that might interest you

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maze_video_games

[Tanooki]

I know it's an old timer for sure, but what about Brush Roller? Arcade game, pretty fun, even that known notable pirate guy Hwang Shinwei made a great conversion of it that lies on the Golden Game 260in1 cart. You have a Pac-Man like maze but you go around it and paint the ground and have to deal with little things trying to muck up the paint job, but you can like blue ghosts crush them with the right attack.

[Ozzy_98]

*cough*crushroller*cough*

It was make Trax in the US, and brush roller on some bootlegs

[Tanooki]

I know it's what you said, just went by the pirate version name is all which is what I have. I forgot about Make Trax, but remember the other having emulated it on a very early early version of MAME in the mid 90s.

[MidnightRider]

Anteater in the arcades had a similar concept of eating dots, but also eating and avoiding bugs. Basically you control it's tongue, but bugs can't walk into from the front, but you can tag them from behind, and I think you're trying to clear all the dots. It's not an easy game, either way.

There's titles with the same name on TI-99/4A and the ZX Spectrum, but I don't know if they're the same game.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Anteater in the arcades had a similar concept of eating dots, but also eating and avoiding bugs. Basically you control it's tongue, but bugs can't walk into from the front, but you can tag them from behind, and I think you're trying to clear all the dots. It's not an easy game, either way.

There's titles with the same name on TI-99/4A and the ZX Spectrum, but I don't know if they're the same game.

Anteater was pretty awesome too... I think there was a port (ripoff?) of it on C64 called Aardy Aardvark or something like that. Lots of fun.

[davidbrit2]

escapeVektor is 50% off on the 3DS eshop this week ($3.99). It's more Amidar than Pac-Man, but Amidar was kind of a Pac-Man clone to begin with. Seems pretty cool so far.

http://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/KbhnsSAAoj1EG_ZFrGyYm-gEsIHy7Sfh

[spman]

Trog! in the arcades and on NES is one of my favorites

[Jorpho]

Pacz is a pretty cool freeware game. Lots of nifty new stuff.
http://www.acoders.com/software/pacz-121

[Emperor Megas]

Fantasy Zone: The Maze is both my favorite Pac-Man style maze game and one of my all time favorite 2 player games.

My oldest friend and I play this game, and ONLY this game, whenever we see each other, which unfortunately is only every few years. We play it competitively, and are pretty die hard about it, too. It's funny, because we're probably the only huge fans of this game in the world. It's also a weird coincidence that someone made this thread recently, because I'm going to hang out with him for the first time in like 4 years tomorrow.

[Koa Zo]

Pacar (http://youtu.be/feHGomE4GYo)for SG-1000 is decent if not primitive.
Sindbad Mystery (http://youtu.be/WwMSm3h8q3k) mixes up the formula a little bit.
And the comments on that Sindbad Mystery video remind us that Sega's "Head On" predates Pac-Man as the first dot-eating game.

[Gamevet]

Ladybug for Colecovision is pretty good I like the mechanic of rotating the doors around the maze to block enemies and create new paths and it's always fun luring the enemies into the little skull death traps.

It's actually an arcade game. The Colecovision port is pretty good, but I much prefer playing it on MAME.

[Nz17]

Trog! in the arcades and on NES is one of my favorites

Ah yeah, Trog!, that be some good times. I actually forgot about the game until you mentioned it here. Thanks!

[davidbrit2]

It's actually an arcade game. The Colecovision port is pretty good, but I much prefer playing it on MAME.

There's also an astonishingly good homebrew version for the 2600. Might look a bit flickery on an emulator, but it plays great on my Harmony cart. The only inaccuracy is that it has to use a symmetric playfield, so rotating a door also rotates the corresponding door on the other side. This does open up some interesting tactical options, however.

[Gamevet]

There's also an astonishingly good homebrew version for the 2600. Might look a bit flickery on an emulator, but it plays great on my Harmony cart. The only inaccuracy is that it has to use a symmetric playfield, so rotating a door also rotates the corresponding door on the other side. This does open up some interesting tactical options, however.

I just checked out a video of the game on youtube. That would have been an amazing game to own for the 2600 back in the day. I know I would have played it for quite some time.

[Mr SQL]

I just checked out a video of the game on youtube. That would have been an amazing game to own for the 2600 back in the day. I know I would have played it for quite some time.
Great avatar Gamevet! :)

Here are two unique homebrews of the KC variety for the 2600:

KC Monster Maze 1982 Dream Release, with a large scrolling self modifying maze:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aghqgf6qqRw

And DodgeIt Panoramic Adventure where pacman is one of the opponents:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHpJjvHjmH0

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Wiz-Man on Game Center CX 2!

It's by far the ultimate Pac-Man alike that isn't just a clone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwszrzgerAg

[davidbrit2]

Wiz-Man on Game Center CX 2!

It's by far the ultimate Pac-Man alike that isn't just a clone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwszrzgerAg

It's not bad, but it's just not much of a challenge, and gets dry pretty quick. I find that's a problem with a lot of the games in the Game Center CX series. For this one, you're probably better off playing Devil World, which it was clearly inspired by. Of course, an English patch for GCCX2 was released not too long ago, so it's at least a bit more manageable if you want to give it a shot.

[Satoshi_Matrix]

It's not bad, but it's just not much of a challenge, and gets dry pretty quick. I find that's a problem with a lot of the games in the Game Center CX series. For this one, you're probably better off playing Devil World, which it was clearly inspired by. Of course, an English patch for GCCX2 was released not too long ago, so it's at least a bit more manageable if you want to give it a shot.

Wiz-Man gets brutally challenging in later stages if you stick with it, and some of the daily challenges for it are pretty damn tough, like reach round 30 without dying.