Forgotten Pac-Man Spin-Offs You’ve Never Played

Pac-Land: Pac-Man Goes Platforming

Long before Super Mario Bros. made side-scrolling platformers a staple of gaming, Pac-Land was already experimenting with the formula. Released in 1984, this obscure title flung Pac-Man out of his maze and into a pastel-colored, side-scrolling world full of bouncing enemies, springboards, and trippy backdrops. It was based on the Pac-Man cartoon series from the early ’80s, complete with characters like Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac. The goal? Guide Pac-Man through towns, forests, and deserts to get a magical fairy home safely. The controls were clunky, with separate buttons for moving left and right (rather than a traditional joystick setup), and the visuals were… let’s call them “cheerfully unsettling.” But it was ambitious. Pac-Land helped pave the way for future platformers—even if few people remember it. And yes, this is the same game that earned Pac-Man a spot on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster with his awkward, cartoon legs.

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Now this one is weird in the best possible way. Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, released for the SNES and Sega Genesis in 1994, was less a game and more a point-and-click sitcom. You didn’t play as Pac-Man—you guided him like a neurotic yellow Tamagotchi. He had a mind of his own, a mood meter, and enough personality to either charm or infuriate you depending on the day. Your job? Help Pac-Man solve domestic problems. Fetch milk for Baby Pac. Fend off bullies. Deliver flowers. All the while, he reacts with exaggerated expressions of joy, fear, anger, and mischief. He could trip, fall, get chased by ghosts, or wander off to gawk at a roller-skating cow. Yes, seriously. This game was part slapstick cartoon, part interactive storybook. Fans either loved its bizarre, expressive humor or were baffled by its slow pace and unconventional controls. Either way, Pac-Man 2 was unlike anything else in the series—and totally unforgettable for those few who played it.

Pac-Attack: Falling Blocks and Ghost Gimmicks

In the early ’90s, Tetris fever was still running hot, and everyone wanted a piece of the puzzle pie. Enter Pac-Attack—a falling block puzzle game that threw Pac-Man into the mix with a twist. Instead of just stacking blocks, you also had to deal with ghosts. Every few pieces, Pac-Man himself would drop in, chomping his way through any ghosts in his path based on how you arranged them. The gameplay had some strategy, some chaos, and a lot of frustration. If you didn’t set things up just right, your Pac-Man would fumble around and leave ghosts lingering. And if you thought the blocks piled up fast in Tetris, wait until you’ve got four ghosts jammed in a corner with no plan B. It never reached the same popularity as its puzzle contemporaries, but Pac-Attack got ports on SNES, Game Boy, Genesis, and even reappearances in later Namco collections. It may not be the king of block puzzles, but it’s an oddly satisfying diversion for fans who like their puzzles with a ghostly bite.

Pac-In-Time: Platforming With a Splash of Strange

Here’s a deep cut that even hardcore fans sometimes forget. Pac-In-Time, released in 1995, was a strange little game that took Pac-Man and gave him a grappling hook, swimming sections, fireballs, and a storyline involving time travel. No, this wasn’t a fever dream. It was an actual platformer that re-skinned a French game (Fury of the Furries) with Pac-Man characters and slapped the name on it.  You traveled through forest, castle, cave, and mechanical levels, collecting pellets and solving light puzzles. Each level gave you different powers—swinging ropes, fireball attacks, floating bubbles. Visually, it was charming in that pixelated mid-’90s way, but the pacing was slower, and the level design could be downright punishing. It was a creative idea, but it felt like a Pac-Man game awkwardly pasted onto something that wasn’t made for him. Still, it had heart—and it certainly earns a spot among the most forgotten entries in the franchise.

Professor Pac-Man: The Quiz Machine Nobody Asked For

In 1983, Namco tried something radically different. Instead of a maze, ghosts, or power pellets, Professor Pac-Man was a quiz game. You read that right. Players were given multiple-choice questions on topics like math, vocabulary, and general knowledge. There were no mazes to navigate. Instead, you watched animations of Pac-Man as a spectacled professor, asking you trivia. Targeted at arcades trying to appeal to families and educators, the game flopped hard. Only a small number of machines were ever produced, and even fewer survived the test of time. The idea of turning Pac-Man into an educational mascot wasn’t inherently terrible—it just wasn’t what anyone went to arcades for. It now lives on more as a footnote in trivia game history than a true chapter in the Pac legacy.

Pac-Man VR: Chomping in Virtual Reality (1996)

Before virtual reality became a buzzword in the 2010s, Namco tried its hand at it with Pac-Man VR in the mid-‘90s. This version was a multiplayer arcade experience where you donned a headset and entered the maze yourself. Players took on the role of Pac-Man and ran around a 3D maze trying to eat pellets and avoid ghosts who were, surprise, also players. This prototype experience only saw limited release in certain VR arcade setups and faded from existence faster than a disappearing power pellet. Still, the idea was ahead of its time. Seeing the world from Pac-Man’s perspective—claustrophobic corridors, lurking ghosts, sudden chomp-outs—was surprisingly intense and disorienting. For those lucky enough to play it, Pac-Man VR was a glimpse at what future gaming could look like—even if it wouldn’t arrive for another 20 years.

Pac-Man World Rally: Go-Karts and Ghosts

Yes, even Pac-Man tried to ride the Mario Kart wave. In Pac-Man World Rally (2006), Pac and friends hopped into go-karts to race through power pellet-laden tracks, drifting around corners and using fruit-based power-ups to sabotage their rivals. The twist? You could collect pellets to build a power meter and temporarily become a giant Pac-Mobile that could chomp other racers right off the road. The game had colorful graphics, characters from the Pac-Man World series, and decent mechanics. But it launched into a crowded genre already ruled by Mario and the crew, so it didn’t make much of a dent. Still, it was a solid effort, and fans of arcade kart racers should give it a spin—if only to watch Inky get devoured by a Pac-powered drag racer.

Pac-Man Dash!: The Endless Runner That Vanished

In the age of mobile gaming, Namco couldn’t resist adapting Pac-Man to the “endless runner” craze. Pac-Man Dash! was released on iOS and Android in 2013, offering fast-paced, side-scrolling action where Pac sprinted endlessly through colorful environments, gobbling up snacks and leaping over obstacles. The game featured upgradeable suits, missions, unlockable characters, and tie-ins to the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures cartoon series. It was light, fun, and surprisingly polished. But like many mobile games, it eventually vanished from app stores without fanfare, becoming another ghost in Pac-Man’s sprawling digital mansion.

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures: The Reboot No One Expected

Speaking of Ghostly Adventures, this 2013 reimagining of Pac-Man saw him turned into a wisecracking teen with a backstory, classmates, and a series of special transformations. The show aired on Disney XD and came bundled with multiple tie-in games for console and handheld systems. These games were 3D platformers with combat, puzzle-solving, and voice-acted cutscenes. Pac could turn into a fire version, an ice version, a giant rolling boulder, and more. While aimed at a younger audience, the games had polish and ambition—but didn’t make a lasting impression. They now sit in that strange category of “not bad, but totally forgotten”—a relic of a brief era when Namco tried to give Pac-Man a Saturday morning cartoon glow-up.

 The Secret Life of a Dot-Eater

Pac-Man’s legacy is so much more than just mazes and ghosts. Behind the iconic arcade cabinet lies a treasure trove of forgotten experiments, spin-offs, and genre jumps that reveal just how versatile—and strange—this character can be. Whether he’s solving puzzles, traveling through time, driving go-karts, or starring in a surreal sitcom, Pac-Man has worn more hats than most video game mascots ever dream of. While not all these spin-offs were hits, each added something weird, charming, or experimental to the Pac-mythos. And who knows? Maybe one day, Pac-Man VR will return, or Pac-Attack will be reborn as the next mobile sensation. Until then, it’s worth taking a second look at these forgotten gems—because even when he’s not in the maze, Pac-Man still finds a way to surprise us.