3D Maze Man: Amazing Adventures is a Pac-Man clone developed by Webfoot Technologies and published by eGames and RomTech under the brand Galaxy Software in 1998. The game is infamous for being an blatant ripoff of Pac-Man, so much so that legal issues were taken against the game and its developer to have it removed from store shelves.
Overview[]
The game itself plays very similarly to Pac-Mania. You play as the titular 3D Maze Man as you eat all the objects on the stage while avoiding ghosts and obstacles such as spikes. Just like Pac-Mania, you can jump to avoid enemies on the stage.
Gameplay; Death
Unlike Pac-Mania, it has 9 worlds instead of 4 which are mostly themed around different places and biomes. Before you enter a world, you start at a hub world where you select one of the game’s 9 worlds. The 9 worlds are Under The Sea, Wild West, Tropical Island, Toyland, Medieval Castle, Hyper Space, Haunted House, Flower Garden, and Egyptian Pyramids. If 3D Maze Man touches a power pellet, he will get the ability to eat all of the ghosts while the text "PARTY TIME" is shown on the screen. Some stages also feature bonus items that you can collect for extra points. If you lose a life, 3D Maze Man will infamously scream, while facing the player, before flying off into the sky.
Legal Issues[]
In 2000, Hasbro Interactive along with Atari took legal action against several publishers (including eGames) for producing various rip-offs of video games properties, such as 3D Brick Bustin’ and 3D Alien Invasion (clones of Breakout/Arkanoid and Space Invaders respectively). 3D Maze Man was cited as one of the infringing games. They eventually got into a settlement where they had to take the game off store shelves. After this, they continued making rip-offs of other games but much less blatantly.
Versions[]
Various alternate version of the game were made before and after the lawsuit. Most of these were made to make the game legally distinct enough to still be sold.
3D Maze Man: Winter Wonderland[]
A basic Christmas-themed version of the original game that features new levels, but only a single world and an extra track
3D Ms. Maze: Tropical Adventures[]
A “sequel” to the original game replacing 3D Maze Man with a female version called 3D Ms. Maze.
3D Munch Man II[]
A revised version of the original 3D Maze Man with new stages. Only known to be released in Russia.
Cruncher in Mazeland[]
Simply replaces 3D Maze Man with a robot named Cruncher and the ghosts with evil robots.
Lady Cruncher[]
Does the same as the previous but with 3D Ms. Maze.
3-D Frog Man/3D Frog Feast/Froggies[]
All versions change 3D Maze Man into a Frog.
Trivia[]
- Around the early 2010s, other games by the developer like 3D Frog Frenzy were ported to mobile devices. It is unknown if 3D Maze Man was one of the games ported.
- The Winter Wonderland stage was seen on the back of the box for the original 3D Maze Man, though it was moved to being in the Christmas version. Amazing Adventures also has a winter track, likely meant for it. Though another track is used along the winter one.
- The game’s soundtrack was made by Ariel Gross, who had his start with Webfoot Technologies when he was 16 and eventually worked on several AAA games.
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