Super Pac-Man Super Pac-Man Developer ( s ) Namco Publisher ( s ) Bally Midway Release date ( s ) 1982 Genre ( s ) Maze Mode ( s ) Up to 2 players , alternating turns Platform ( s ) Arcade game Input 4-way Joystick ; 1 button Arcade cabinet Standard and cocktail Arcade system ( s ) Namco Super Pac-Man Super Pac-Man , released in 1982 and taking a slant on the legendary comic book hero Superman , is the third installment of the Pac-Man series of arcade games , and the second starring Pac-Man himself . Characteristics and gameplay Sound and gameplay mechanics were altered radically from the first two entries into the Pac-Man series - instead of eating dots , the player is required to eat keys in order to open doors , which open up sections of the maze that contain what in earlier games were known as `` fruits '' ( foods such as apples and bananas , or other prizes such as Galaxian flagships ) , which are now the basic items that must be cleared . Once all the food is eaten , the player advances to the next level , in which the food is worth more points . In earlier levels , keys unlock nearby doors , while as the player progresses through the levels , it is more common for keys to open faraway doors . In addition to the original power-up which allows Pac-Man to eat the ghosts , a second power-up has been introduced which turns Pac-Man into Super Pac-Man - in this form , he is twice as large , moves much faster and has the ability to eat his way through barriers without unlocking them . In this state , he is invulnerable to the ghosts , though he still ca n't eat them without the help of the original power-up . This is the first of the Pac-Man games to use the Motorola 6809 processor , unlike the earlier Pac-Man games which used the older Z80 , and fell into the `` conversion class '' of the Namco Galaxian . The new gameplay mechanics were considered by many to be confusing , and too much of a change from the original two games . In particular , when Pac-Man transforms into Super Pac-Man , he is much more difficult to control . Ultimately , Super Pac-Man proved to be the least successful game in the original series , being outsold that year by Pac-Man Plus , a slightly updated version of the original game. ( In addition to this game , the American licensee Midway also later produced —without authorization from developer Namco , Jr . Pac-Man , also based on the older processor , and having the basic sound and feel of the older games fans were more familiar with ) . In spite of this , the game 's A.I. was celebrated as being one of the best of that era , and in the eyes of many fans , was the best out of any Pac-Man game . Game Platforms Super Pac-Man was only a moderate success in the 1980s as an arcade machine , and thus has not been as widely ported to home video game consoles as the original Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man . Still , the game has been revived several times , most notably as a bonus feature on the Ms. Pac-Man cartridge for Nintendo 's Game Boy Color system . It also appeared on the second Namco Museum arcade compilation for Sony 's PlayStation . Most recently , Namco has released a portable version on select cell phone models exclusively on Sprint . . As a promotional stunt , Sprint and Namco are running a sweepstakes offering the grand prize winner a Volkswagen New Beetle customized with Super PAC-MAN art . The car was on display at major videogame tradeshow E3 in Los Angeles in May 2006 . Super PAC-MAN Sweepstakes details In 2006 Jakkspacific released the Plug and Play Super Pacman joystick that has Pacman , Super Pacman , Pacman Plus , and Pac and Pal . Trivia A Super Pac-Man unit appears in the 1983 movie `` Joysticks '' . In the 1993 HBO film And the Band Played On , based on the book of the same name , Dr. Don Francis is inspired to take his research into AIDS in a new direction by watching a colleague play Super Pac-Man. ( The Pac-Man character was compared to the human immunodeficiency virus , where Dr. Francis ' theory was that a virus would attack healthy cells . ) Super Pac-Man appeared in animated form during the second season of Hanna-Barbera 's animated Pac-Man series on ABC Saturday Morning in 1982 ; the character was voiced by the late Lorenzo Music , of Garfield fame . The character was a bit dopey , and basically lost control of his mouth , chomping everything in sight after eating a Super Power Pellet . This was evidently based on the difficulty of navigating Super Pac-Man in the game while the super speed button is pressed . Super Pac-Man , along with Jr . Pac-Man , was scheduled to be released in cartridge form on the Atari 5200 video game console in 1984 . Although both games were completed by the programmers , they were cancelled when Jack Tramiel 's holding company , Tramel Technologies , Ltd. , purchased Atari 's home consumer division from Warner Communications . They were unearthed in 2001 and introduced to the public at the 2001 Classic Gaming Expo . External links Super Pac-Man entry on the Killer List of Videogames Super PAC-MAN on mobile platform Pac-Man Series Arcade titles Pac-Man – Ms. - Super – Plus – Baby – Pac & Pal – Jr. – Professor – Pac-Land – Pac-Mania Console & Handheld titles Pac-Attack – 2 : The New Adventures – Pac-In-Time – Collection – Vs. – Pac-Pix Pac-Man World subseries World – World 2 – World 3 Pac-Man World spin-offs Adventures in Time – Maze Madness – Fever – Pac 'n Roll – World Rally Mario Kart Games Arcade GP - Arcade GP 2 Categories : Articles partially converted to Infobox CVG | Pac-Man | Arcade games | 1982 arcade games | 1982 computer and video games | Commodore 64 games | Superman pastiches | Midway Games In other languages : Italiano Super Pac-Man Namco Bally Midway 1982 Maze Up to 2 players , alternating turns Standard and cocktail Namco Super Pac-Man Vertical 224 x 288 4-way Joystick ; 1 button 