The VIC-20 has more advanced video hardware that can display a full screen of unique tiles, and even turn individual pixels on or off. The Atari 2600's closest equivalent to make a full screen of pixels or dots are those wide "wafers".
Atarisoft (the home computer division of Atari) made this one. The official Japanese Pac-Man for VIC-20 is a lot better. Made by HAL Laboratory, it was briefly released as "Jelly Monsters" overseas but quickly withdrawn once Atari's lawyers threatened, as they had the rights in the rest of the world.
@@8_Bit I played jelly monsters at a friend's house back in the early eighties , it was very impressive , even had the flashing ghosts when they changed colour and I believe the ghosts were actually transparent. I persuaded my brother to get it and he loved it too. In fact I bet he's still got it boxed , probably worth a fair bit.