Speed-Up Chip

A 1989 unofficial release of the chip from Two-Bit Score.

The Speed-Up Chip refers to a chip that could be installed into Pac-Man arcade machines, which increases Pac-Man's speed to 4 times faster than his normal speed.

History

Upon Pac-Man's massive success in the early 1980s, many modifications and hacks of the game were released, without the permission of Namco or Bally Midway. These fell into a legal grey area, as the hack would be installed into the official Pac-Man circuit board itself, meaning no actual piracy would take place.

One of the earliest modifications was to "overclock" the entire Pac-Man machine, making the entire game run at roughly double the speed it was intended to; this made the game both harder to play and be over much quicker. A new, similar hack was released after this, which greatly increased Pac-Man's speed, without any form of overclocking. The latter kit was presumably also intended to make the game more challenging - but it can arguably be considered easier, as it makes the chance of being cornered by ghosts less likely.

The latter kit was very easy to install, only requiring one chip on the circuit board to be replaced. It became extremely popular, and was installed into many Pac-Man machines across North America. Due to it becoming so widespread, Bally Midway released an "official" version of the chip, which was identical to the bootleg; though Midway's version was largely unsuccessful. Midway would further combat the release of the speed-up chips (alongside bootleg Pac-Man hacks in general) with the release of Pac-Man Plus.

For many years, no true home ports of the speed-up chip Pac-Man variants were ever released (although the Tengen ports of Ms. Pac-Man feature a speed adjuster similar to it). However, starting with models from 2021 onward, the speed-up chip games were included in several Arcade1Up machines (accessible via the settings menu). A few My Arcade systems also feature the speed-up chip option, including the Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man "Joystick Player" systems.

Compatible Games

• Pac-Man
• Ms. Pac-Man
• Jr. Pac-Man
• Galaga

Any variants of Pac-Man (Puckman, Pac-Man Plus, etc.) could also work with the chip, but finding these machines with the chip installed was rather uncommon.

Trivia

• The speed-up chip versions of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Galaga are also included in the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga - Class of 1981 and Pac-Man 25th Anniversary arcade machines. They can either be enabled as the default versions in the menu, or they can be unlocked via a cheat code (Left, Right, Left, Right, Up, Up, Up, Fire).
• When applied to the original Pac-Man, most speed-up chips erroneously alter the speed of Pac-Man in the cutscenes and attract sequence (in addition to his gameplay speed); resulting in a somewhat glitchy appearance. This is fixed in Namco's official re-releases of the hack.
  • Additionally, most speed-up chips also cause Blinky to move downwards during the second "Coffee Break" segment, resulting in his caught sheet to be disconnected from him.