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New Pac-Man Turns Game's Infamous Kill Screen Into Gameplay

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In this new Pac-Man game from the creators of Crossy Road, death by glitch is around every corner.

We’ve seen plenty of new interpretation of Pac-Man over the years, but Pac-Man 256 looks surprisingly fresn and inventive, based on this gameplay footage coming out of Gamescom:

It looks like you swipe the screen to direct Pac-Man around the familiar maze grids, but the reason you’re on the move isn’t simply to avoid ghosts: the game is glitching out all around you.

The “256” part of the title refers to the point when the original game would start breaking down on level 256. Part of the screen becomes a garbled mess, and the level is basically unplayable.

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(Thanks to Jamey Pittman for the clip!)

Some versions of Pac-Man reset the board at level 255, preventing the glitch from occurring. Pac-Man 256 plays upon this infamous glitch, and incorporates its effects into gameplay.

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Given how much fun Crossy Road was, I’m all-in for Pac-Man 256.

You can reach the author of this post at patrick.klepek@kotaku.com or on Twitter at @patrickklepek.