Power Up with PELLETINO
PELLETINO is a tiny, tilt-controlled Pac-Man game that emulates the original Z80 arcade hardware on an ESP32-C6.
Pac-Man may be getting up there in years, but his age doesn’t show at all. Those Power Pellets must have some really powerful stuff in them! People still love gobbling up dots and chasing after ghosts just as much today as when the game was first released in 1980.
GitHub user aedile is still a huge fan of Pac-Man, and decided to recreate the game with an interesting twist to breathe some new life into it. The result is called PELLETINO, and it is a tiny, handheld Pac-Man arcade emulator that runs on an ESP32-C6 microcontroller. Rather than a joystick, this version uses tilt-based controls, which adds an entirely new dimension to the experience.
PELLETINO isn’t just a novelty port of the classic game—it’s a faithful recreation of the original Pac-Man arcade hardware, shrunk down to fit inside a Waveshare ESP32-C6 1.69-inch LCD Development Board. The project emulates the original Z80 CPU at authentic arcade speeds, recreates the Namco hardware behavior, and even synthesizes the iconic sounds using accurate wavetable audio. All of this runs at a smooth 60 frames per second on a bright 240×280 ST7789 LCD, a near-perfect match for Pac-Man’s original resolution.
The project was created as a portable medal for San Antonio’s annual Fiesta celebration. With a custom 3D-printed enclosure, integrated speaker, and a lanyard loop, PELLETINO doubles as both a wearable and a fully functional arcade game. Power comes from a small LiPo battery tucked into the medal drape, making it easy to take Pac-Man on the go.
Controls are handled by a six-axis IMU, allowing players to guide Pac-Man simply by tilting the device. According to aedile, this makes gameplay feel surprisingly natural, especially once you get the hang of it. While the audio is still a bit scratchy on the included speaker, the core sound system is already in place, complete with waka-waka effects, ghost chomps, fruit sounds, and the famous intermission music.
The firmware is built using ESP-IDF, and the repository includes detailed documentation, build instructions, and tools to convert original Pac-Man ROM files into a format suitable for the ESP32. ROMs themselves are not distributed, but guidance is provided for legally obtaining them. Be sure to check out the GitHub repository if you want to build your own PELLETINO.