After countless prompts with ChatGPT and Gemini, and plenty of hands-on debugging, I managed to build a fully playable Pac-Man clone for the Apple II—entirely in AppleSoft BASIC, using only text mode. The twist? On real Apple II hardware it runs far too slow, so it’s best enjoyed in an emulator like Virtual ][ for macOS with the speed turned up.
My aim was to make it as fun and faithful as possible while sneaking in simple animations: a spinning ‘$’ bonus, pulsating power pills, and ghosts that visibly shift during frightened mode to show time running out.
- 19×15 maze, fast and clean gameplay
- Arcade-inspired ghost AI with chase, scatter, and frightened states
- BFS-based logic giving each ghost a distinct “personality”
- Power pellets that flip the hunt in your favor
- Smooth HUD updates and level progression
- Multiple mazes (press 2 to switch)
- Tunnel shortcuts, ghost home, and bonus items
- Three speed/difficulty settings
- Custom key controls
- High score tracking
- Press 1 to quit