8 Video Games You Can Break By Playing Perfectly

In perhaps the most famous example of a Kill Screen the legendary Pac-Man arcade game does indeed have a very definite means to block the player from progressing any further than the now-infamous stage 256 and that was to have the game turn into an utter hellscape.

Thanks to the popularity of Pac-Man there were literally thousands of players around the globe all competing to be the highest scorer on the block, and while the game implies that things will go on infinitely thanks to a huge selection of levels, upon hitting stage 256, half of the arena will be completely disfigured by rogue code.

You can still pilot your little pellet muncher into this minefield of broken assets, but doing so will likely lead to you becoming stuck in such a state that not even the ghosts can put you out of your misery.

Therefore, in the race to become crowned the Prince of Pac-Man, players soon focused on maximizing their score before this point rather than the kill screen itself being the final prize.