Great Pac-Man knock-offs

[celerystalker]

So, I had a video game tournament at my house last month, and it was a lot of fun. One of the games that everyone really got into heavily was Pac-Man: Championship Edition on 360. About two years ago at a party, Pac-Man Vs took over a big part of the evening until Warlords took over. Anyway, Pac-Man clearly still resonates strongly with people close to me. So, I was curious as to which Pac-Man ripoffs people get into?

A few I like:
Cat Trax-Arcadia 2001
Devil World-Famicom
Wiz Man-DS (Game Center CX2)

[Tron 2.0]

Mouse Trap (Arcade)
Ladybug (Arcade)
Make Trax (Arcade)

[Flojomojo]

Pac-Man championship DX is great
Forget-Me-Not is sublime
http://toucharcade.com/2011/03/22/forget-me-not-the-magical-child-of-pac-man-and-rogue/

[Atarileaf]

Yea Ladybug is probably my favorite. One of the first games I played on the Colecovision, then later on in the arcade.

[retroman]

K.C. Munchkin for the Odyssey 2 is a good knock off.

[Nebagram]

Questionable whether or not you'd count it, but I always had a soft spot for Mean Arenas on the CD32.

[wizardofwor1975]

Questionable whether or not you'd count it, but I always had a soft spot for Mean Arenas on the CD32.

Since were talking Commodore how about the Vic-20's Jelly Monsters and Cosmic Cruncher.

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

Atari ended up suing Commodore and had Jelly Monsters pulled off the market.

http://pacman.wikia.com/wiki/Jelly_Monsters

However, Cosmic Cruncher was different enough from Pacman to keep Atari's lawyers at bay. Lawyers gotta luv 'em. ;)

http://cartridgefamily.blogspot.com/2014/06/game-review-cosmic-cruncher-commodore.html

[Emperor Megas]

I remember at least one of those Pac-Man clone topics a few months ago. It could have been longer ago, actually.

Anyway, I always give a nod to Fantasy Zone: the Maze. My best friend of 30+ years and I play it, competitively, every time we see each other, which is rare since we live in different parts of the country. It's been out traditional since the late 80's.

I also really like the Japanese arcade game I'm Sorry. I've only ever played it ob MAME; I don't think there's a console port.

[T2KFreeker]

Clean Sweep for the Vectrex was pretty cool. It's a lot like Lock N' Chase was, but you had to empty your Money bag before the cops got you or you couldn't carry more money. pretty interesting spin on the concept...

[Steve W]

Munch Man on the Texas Instruments 99/4A is pretty good, and speedy too.

Jawbreaker II is on multiple machines, and it's an interesting take on the Pac-Man formula.

If you're going for just multiplayer maze games, track down an Astrocade and play The Incredible Wizard, also known as Wizard of Wor in the arcade and other console versions. The Astrocade one really does the arcade game justice. Or you can just fire up MAME and play the arcade version. There's no dots to eat, but you get to shoot the monsters (and occasionally each other).

[davidbrit2]

Pac-Man 256, from the Crossy Road developers, is coming out "soon", and looks pretty interesting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl5t5mf7Yts

[Tron 2.0]

If you're going for just multiplayer maze games, track down an Astrocade and play The Incredible Wizard, also known as Wizard of Wor in the arcade and other console versions. The Astrocade one really does the arcade game justice. Or you can just fire up MAME and play the arcade version. There's no dots to eat, but you get to shoot the monsters (and occasionally each other).
I was thinking of wizard of wor but i wasn't sure you could count it as a clone.Since there are no dots to eat.

[Jorpho]

I always meant to go back and have a whack at Pacz!, a freeware Windows game. (I very much enjoyed its predecessor, Pacman Worlds, although it was buggy and incomplete.)
http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/f3935.html

[Tanooki]

Here's I'll throw you all a real retro loop and I wonder how many of you remember this from the 90s.

Hell I think the webpage is still from the 90s and not updated since then too.

Ms Pac PC (and Pac PC, also a link to PC Bert too on there.)
http://www.jrok.com/games_orig.html

You can see a few images here at this Pac Man Wiki, it was pretty great in its day, shame it was never converted up from DOS.
http://pacman.wikia.com/wiki/Pac-Pc

[wizardofwor1975]

I was thinking of wizard of wor but i wasn't sure you could count it as a clone.Since there are no dots to eat.

Did someone say Wizard Of Wor??? I wish I knew we were counting it as a Pacman clone. I wasn't sure it counted either because there wasn't any dot eating. In any event, if it counts I second Wizard of Wor. I'm kinda of a fan you know. ;)

[Steve W]

I threw in Wizard of Wor because he was referring to his friends liking a lot of old-school multiplayer games, and Wizard of Wor sort of fits there since it's so much better with two players, and it's a maze game so it's easy to figure out for new players. Plus, the Astrocade and emulated arcade versions all have the amazing audio that gets you geared up.

[celerystalker]

I need to break out Wizard of Wor again for another spin. I believe I have it on Midway Arcade Treasures vol. 2 for PS2. Unrelated, but thinking about that reminded me that Rampart needs to be in my January tournament.

[wizardofwor1975]

I threw in Wizard of Wor because he was referring to his friends liking a lot of old-school multiplayer games, and Wizard of Wor sort of fits there since it's so much better with two players, and it's a maze game so it's easy to figure out for new players. Plus, the Astrocade and emulated arcade versions all have the amazing audio that gets you geared up.

+1, I'm for anything that showcases what a great game Wizard of Wor is! BTW, I saw Incredible Wizard for the Astrocade on YouTube. The graphics are really sharp and the sfx are fantastic. Great pick!!! :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2UMwarnPvY

[Tron 2.0]

Did someone say Wizard Of Wor??? I wish I knew we were counting it as a Pacman clone. I wasn't sure it counted either because there wasn't any dot eating. In any event, if it counts I second Wizard of Wor. I'm kinda of a fan you know. ;)
Heh i can tell by you're avatar.Playing 1p it's fine in short burst and of course the real fun begins when it's 2ps.

[AdamAnt316]

We had "Snøggle (http://www.elisoftware.org/index.php?title=Snoggle_(Apple_II,_5_1/4%22_Disk)_Broderbund_Software_-_1981_USA,_Canada_Release)" (by Brøderbund Software) for our Apple IIe when I was a kid. Seemed like a decent Pac-Man clone, though I haven't played it in awhile. Brøderbund also made a Galaga clone called "Alien Rain (http://www.elisoftware.org/index.php?title=Alien_Rain_(Apple_II,_5_1/4%22_Disk)_Broderbund_Software_-_1981_USA,_Canada_Release)" which is pretty fun.