We traced Namco’s “new” Pac-Man demake to its source: A 2008 fan ROMhack

This 2017 video of "Pac-Man CE for NES" bears a striking resemblance to a "new" demake Bandai Namco released on Switch last month.

Last month, Bandai Namco announced a special bonus for Switch players who invested in the new Namco Museum Archives Vol. 1. In addition to 10 emulated Namco classics, the game's official Nintendo store page notes it includes "a newly created 8-bit demastered version of Pac-Man Championship Edition" (emphasis added).

That bonus game combines the gameplay of the 2007 Xbox 360 Championship Edition release with the graphics and sound effects of an NES title for a doubly nostalgic dose of retro appreciation. And this was no faux-retro demake either; shortly after release, hackers managed to extract the Pac-Man CE ROM from the Namco Museum collection and found it actually works on real NES hardware.

As it turns out, though, the "newly created" part of the game's promotion isn't quite accurate. Bandai Namco has confirmed to Ars Technica that its much-lauded Championship Edition demake is actually based directly on an obscure NES/Famicom ROMhack created over a decade ago by a Japanese fan going by the handle Coke774.

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