Pac-Man

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from Pac Man)
For other meanings, see Pac-Man (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox Arcade Game |sound = 1x Namco WSG (3-channel mono) @ 3.072 MHz |resolution = 224 x 288 |monitor = RGB raster, vertical |input = 4-way Joystick |ports = Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, NES, Intellivision, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Game Boy Advance, Mobile Phone }} Pac-Man (or Puckman) is an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution by Midway that was first released in 1980. Immensely popular from its first release through today, Pac-Man is universally considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of 1980s popular culture. This non-violent game appealed to both boys and girls.

Until Pac-Man was released in the arcades, arcade video games in North America were primarily "space shooters", or video games where people controlled spaceships in space that had to shoot something (asteroids, aliens, etc). Since then, video arcade games have widely diversified (and even became educational in some cases), and as such, Pac-Man is credited with being a landmark in arcade gaming.

Contents

[edit]

History and reaction

The game was developed primarily by Namco employee Toru Iwatani. After receiving inspiration from a pizza with one slice missing Template:Ref, game designer Iwatani spent approximately seventeen months on a game that revolved around eating. Iwatani's efforts to appeal to a wider audience — beyond the typical demographics of young boys and teenagers — would eventually lead him to adding in elements of a maze. The result was a game he entitled PUCK MAN, derived from the onomatopoeic Japanese phrase pakupaku, meaning he eats he eats. When first launched in Japan in 1980 by Namco, the game received a lukewarm response, as Space Invaders and other games of similar ilk were far more popular at the time.

However, that same year, the game was picked up for manufacture in the U.S. by Bally division Midway, under the altered title Pac-Man. American audiences welcomed a breakaway from conventions set by Space Invaders, which resulted in unprecedented popularity and revenue that rivaled its successful predecessor (even Iwatani was impressed with U.S. sales). The game soon became a worldwide phenomenon within the video game industry, resulting in numerous sequels and merchandising tie-ins. Its style of gameplay became widely imitated by games created by competitors, but none could equal the original in profit or popularity.

The name change from PUCK MAN to Pac-Man was said to be partially motivated out of a desire to avoid vandalism that Americans could inflict upon game cabinets by scratching out part of the first letter to change it to an "F".Template:Fact However, because this is not an issue in many non-English speaking countries, both PUCK MAN and Pac-Man machines can be found throughout Europe.

When Midway released Pac-Man in the United States, the company also redesigned the cabinet's artwork, as the Namco-style artwork was more costly to mass produce, as well as being considered too stylish for the American market. PUCK MAN was painted overall white featuring multicoloured artwork on both sides with cheerful Puck-Man characters in different poses while Pac-Man was painted yellow, with very simple and easy-to-stencil artwork on both sides and front.

The first known "perfect Pac-Man game", in which the player must complete all of the 255 levels, a maximum point score without ever being caught, was played in 1999 by Billy Mitchell. The maximum score is 3,333,360 points.

[edit]

Gameplay

Pac-Man is a maze game. The player maneuvers Pac-Man, a yellow circle with a mouth, to navigate a maze while eating pills and prizes. A level, or board, is finished when all pills are eaten. Four ghosts (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde) also wander the maze in an attempt to catch Pac-Man. Each level begins with three ghosts in their "ghost pen" and one monster above it, and Pac-Man near the bottom of the maze. The ghosts are released from the pen periodically as Pac-Man eats dots.

There are four power-up items near the corners of the maze, known as "energizers" or "power pellets" which provide Pac-Man with the temporary ability to eat the ghosts. The ghosts turn a deep blue and reverse direction immediately when Pac-Man eats an energizer, and they move more slowly while they are vulnerable. The ghosts are worth 200, 400, 800, and 1600 points, in sequence (the values starting over again at 200 each time another Power Pellet is eaten), so it is advantageous to the player to try to eat all four ghosts each time. If a ghost is eaten, his eyes return to the monster pen where he will be restored to normal. The ghosts flash white five times before they revert to being dangerous. The amount of time the ghosts remain vulnerable after a Power Pellet is eaten varies from one board to the next, but the time period generally becomes shorter as the game progresses, and after many boards have been completed the ghosts will actually not turn blue at all when the energizers are eaten (but they will still reverse direction).

Regular "dots" are worth ten points each (there are 240 of them on each board), and Power Pellets (known as "power food" in Japan) are worth fifty points each. Additionally, points can be earned by having Pac-Man eat a bonus prize (generically referred to as a "fruit," even though a few are not actually fruit) that appears twice during each board just below the monster pen. The symbols change with each successive one or two boards, and their point value steadily increases:

  • Cherries, 100 points
  • Strawberry, 300 points
  • Orange, 500 points
  • Apple, 700 points
  • Grapes, 1000 points
  • Flagship from Galaxian, 2000 points
  • Bell, 3000 points
  • Key, 5000 points

Pac-Man is awarded a bonus life at 10,000 points (the default setting; DIP switches inside the machine can change the required points to 15,000 or 20,000 or disable the bonus life altogether).

[edit]

Ghosts

Image:Pacman.ghosts.png While the ghosts are bound by the same limitations of the maze, some key differences exist between Pac-Man's and the ghosts' movement. For example, Pac-Man turns corners faster than his adversaries; he can also pass through the "tunnel" on either side of the maze unhindered, as opposed to the ghosts, who suffer a severe drop in speed.

The ghosts have names and nicknames. This list reflects the game's English language version:

  1. Blinky ("Shadow") is the red ghost.
  2. Pinky ("Speedy") is the pink ghost.
  3. Inky ("Bashful") is the light blue ghost.
  4. Clyde ("Pokey") is the orange ghost. Known as "Sue" in Ms. Pac-Man

In the original Puck-Man, these ghosts were named Oikake ("chaser") (Akabei; "red-guy"), Machibuse ("ambusher") (Pinky), Kimagure ("fickle") (Aosuke; "blue-guy"), and Otoboke ("stupid") (Guzuta; "slow-guy"). Puck-Man also had a DIP switch for alternate monster names: Urchin ("Macky"), Romp ("Micky"), Stylist ("Mucky"), and Crybaby ("Mocky"). The ghosts are introduced by name during the game's attract mode.

There are a few notable quirks in the behavior of the ghosts:

  • If the player survives long enough in a level without being caught by a ghost, the ghosts will all suddenly reverse directions and each will head for a different corner. This term is called "Scatter Mode", and it will continue to happen as long as the player stays alive without having finished the level, cycling between converging on the player, and de-converging into their respective corners (Blinky: upper right, Pinky: upper left, Inky: lower right, Clyde: lower left). If this process goes on long enough, and the player has still not completed the level, then the ghosts will constantly attack and never go back into Scatter Mode.
  • The ghosts will never go upwards into either of the two passages immediately above their monster pen (unless they are in their blue vulnerable state). A player being closely pursued can lose his pursuers by leading them to the top of the monster pen then going upwards into either of the two passages; the ghosts will not follow.
  • Pac-Man may go upwards into (and stop in) the corner immediately to the right and above his starting location facing upwards. When the ghosts are not closely pursuing him, they will never find him, and instead will roam aimlessly around the board until Pac-Man leaves that spot. This trick is used by marathon Pac-Man players to allow themselves an occasional bathroom break.

The movements of the ghosts are strictly deterministic—there is no random or even pseudo-randomness in the algorithms choosing their paths. Experienced players have exploited this flaw by devising precise sequences of movements for each level in order to play indefinitely (termed "patterns"). A later revision of the programming altered the behavior, but it still wasn't random, and new patterns were devised for it.

Initially, these characters were referred to as "monsters", but soon became known as "ghosts." (see Ghosts vs. monsters.)

Image:Puckman-flyer.jpg

[edit]

Intermissions

During the opening boards of the game, the linearity of the game's progression is interrupted by "intermissions" — humorous animated scenes featuring Pac-Man and the monsters. There are three different intermissions:

  1. Blinky chases Pac-Man off the screen. Blinky reappears as a vulnerable blue monster coming the opposite direction, being chased by a giant Pac-Man. This intermission plays after Board 2.
  2. Blinky chases Pac-Man across the screen, but his pelt gets caught on a tack in the floor, and part of it is ripped off revealing his 'skin'. This intermission plays after Board 5.
  3. Blinky, with the corner of his pelt sewn back on, chases Pac-Man across the screen. Blinky reappears coming back the opposite direction, naked, dragging his pelt behind him. This intermission plays after Boards 9, 13 and 17.
[edit]

"Split-screen level"

The game technically has no end; the player will be given new boards to clear as long as Pac-Man does not lose all of his lives. However, due to a glitch in the game the right side of the 256th board is a garbled mess of text and symbols rendering the level unplayable. This occurs because of a bug in the subroutine that draws the fruit at the bottom of the screen that indicate the current level. Normally, at most 7 fruits are displayed, regardless of the current screen, but since the level number is stored in a single byte, level 255 ("FF" in hexadecimal) rolls over to 0 in the subroutine, and 256 fruit are drawn, corrupting the bottom of the screen and the entire right half of the maze. Enthusiasts refer to this as the "Final Level," the "Split-Screen Level," or simply as the ending. Although there are claims that someone with enough knowledge of the maze pattern can play through it, it is generally considered impossible to be cleared via legitimate means.

However, in December 1982, an eight-year-old boy named Jeffrey R. Yee received a letter from U.S. President Ronald Reagan congratulating him on a worldwide record of 6,131,940 points, a score only possible if the player has passed the Split-Screen Level. Whether or not this event happened as described has remained in heated debate amongst video game circles since its supposed occurrence. Billy Mitchell offered $100,000 to anyone who could provably pass through the Split-Screen Level before January 1, 2000; there is no evidence that anyone could.

Image:Split Screen in Pac Man.gif

Through tinkering, the details of the Split-Screen Level have been revealed. As playable through arcade game emulator MAME some ROMs of the game are equipped with a "rack test" within the DIP switches which will automatically clear a level of all pellets as soon as it begins. This method not only makes reaching the long-mythical 256th board easier (thus making detailed analysis possible) but also demonstrates what happens after the board has been cleared.

To win: because the right side of the map does not exist, Pac-Man and the ghosts can move freely throughout the right side of the screen, barring some of the garbled symbols which are fractured pieces of the maze. Other symbols also entail power pills, which must be eaten for the player to continue (unlike the unglitched boards, if Pac-Man loses a life, the pills on the right side of the screen will reset after being eaten). Because the maze fracture blockades are "placed" in many locations, it is difficult — if not impossible — to locate them all.

If the board is cleared, the game restarts from the first board without error, once again repeating through 256. However, while the power-ups and intermissions repeat from the opening of the game, the monsters will retain their speed and invulnerability to power pellets from the later boards.

[edit]

Legacy

Marketers from the video game manufacturers were taken completely by surprise by the phenomenal success of Pac-Man in 1980. Interviews with programmers who worked in the industry during the initial golden age of video games revealed that marketing executives completely overlooked the game (and likewise dismissed the classic Defender as "too complex"), while they looked to a racing car game called Rally-X as the game to outdo that year. The appeal of Pac-Man caught on immediately with the gaming public and the game's popularity outpaced anything seen in the industry before; it even surpassed Space Invaders as the most popular and most influential game of the 1980s. The game was so popular that it was one of the most widely bootlegged games in the early 80s; these versions often had significant differences in how the monsters ran their patterns.

The unique and original game design inspired game manufacturers to look into game designs that differed from endless "alien invader battle" games. Pac-Man introduced an element of humor into video games that designers sought to imitate, as it appealed to a wider demographic than the teenage boys who flocked to the action-oriented games. Many popular video games of the 1980s, including Q*Bert, Donkey Kong, and Frogger partially owe their existence to the success of Pac-Man.

The Killer List of Videogames lists Pac-Man as the #1 video game of all time on its "Top 100 Videogames" list. Pac-Man, and other video games of the same general type, are often cited as an identifying cultural experience of Generation X, particularly its older members, sometimes called Baby Busters.

[edit]

Successors

Pac-Man spawned numerous sequels, though none of them were as popular as the original.

Arcade Sequels

Console Sequels

Mobile Phone Sequels


[edit]

Knock-offs

Image:Cdman.JPG Unauthorized "pirate" versions of the game were also created, most notably Hangly-Man (a mangling of "Hungry-Man"), one variant of which replaced the Pac-Man character with the head of Popeye. There was another hack of Hangly-Man called Caterpillar Pac-Man made in 1981 by Phi. In this game you play as a caterpillar, and the ghosts are replaced by four spiders.

Another popular clone game was Piranha, which replaced Pac-Man with a munching fish. The maze was replaced with a coral reef, and the monsters are squids. (In an earlier variant, they are little more than ghosts with extended sprites for the tentacles). A brief reference to the game was even included in the Pac-Man TV series, when in an underwater scene, a fish is shown eating a ghost-squid.

In addition, soon after the release of the original Pac-Man, many other maze-themed video games entered the arcade market (Make Trax, Thief, Lady Bug and Mouse Trap being the most prominent). In the home video game market, K.C. Munchkin was actually withdrawn after Atari successfully sued its creator, since its imitation of the Pac-Man characters was so blatant and undisguised.

A handheld version called Epoch Man was released by Epoch in 1981 – it can be seen in National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) in Russ's hand.

Texas Instruments released a clone called Munchman for the TI-99 home computer line in 1982, in which the player lays down a "track" as he progresses through the maze instead of eating pills – a change made by TI to avoid possible lawsuits from Midway.

In 1981,Leisure and Allied. released Ghostmuncher/Galaxian. This game was a dual bootleg of Pac-Man and Galaxian. You can change the game with the Dip Switch. In this bootleg, the colors, sounds and names of the ghosts have been changed. The "Galaxian" bootleg is also sped up significantly.[1]

In the 1990's, Microhard/Magic Games released Funny Strip. This is a maze game & a rip-off of Pac-Man & Ms. Pac-Man featuring nudity whenever "STRIP TEASE" is spelled out. The letters that spell this appear after certain ghosts turn into them after a pill is eaten. [2]

In 1992, Creative Dimensions released a Pac-Man knock off called CD-Man. The game featured a CD-Man, instead of Pac-Man, eating dots and running from enemies such as spiders and sharks. [3]

In 1994, Virtuality released Hyper Pac-Man[4] which mixed Bomberman with Pac-man. This was followed up by a sequel called Twinkle[5] in this version they colored Pac-Man orange and gave him sunglasses.

In 2000, Genie released Puckman Pockimon[6] which teamed up Pac-man and Pokemon. Player 1 controls Puckman and Player 2 controls Pikachu's head.

[edit]

Pac-Man VR

Template:Main In 1996, Virtuality Ltd released a Virtual Reality version of Pac-Man entitled Pac-Man VR. This game was offcially licensed from Namco Holding Corp.

Here is part of the promo that was originally on Virtuality's web site (which no longer exists), which describes the game:

PAC-MAN fever is spreading again with this new fully immersive 3D virtual reality game from Virtuality in which the player actually becomes PAC-MAN himself. Through a licensing agreement with NAMCO, the creators of the original PAC-MAN, Virtuality brings this fun packed game for Solo, Duo and Quattro Series 2000 SU systems.

Retaining all of the original gameplay, Virtuality have enhanced this classic game by networking up to four PAC-MAN characters together, enabling them to see, talk and compete with each in the same virtual maze whilst still trying to outwit the ghosts.

You can view a copy of the page here: [7]

[edit]

Pac-Man Arrangement

Template:Main In 1996, Pac-Man rereleased in the arcades and packaged along with an updated version titled Pac-Man Arrangement. Out of the three released Arrangement editions, Galaga and Dig Dug, Pac-Man is the most bizarre, straying very much away from the original game and completely revamping the feel and pacing.

[edit]

Pac-Man Vs.

Template:Main In 2003, a new version called Pac-Man Vs. for the Nintendo GameCube allowed four players to play simultaneously via the GameCube-Game Boy Advance cable.

[edit]

Nomenclature conflicts

There have been various debates over the naming of some of the items in the game.

[edit]

Ghosts vs. monsters

The longest-running of these debates are of the villains. The four villains of the game have been called both "monsters" and "ghosts." Among the general population, "ghosts" seems to have become more popular. On the original gameplay instructions located next to the screen, however, the successive "200, 400, 800, 1600" scoring is referred to as "Monster point value." In Pac-Mania, the artwork next to the screen also calls them "monsters," and "The Sand Box" level introduction screen warns, "Beware of bouncing monsters." On the cabinet artwork for the earlier American games, the villains were also drawn as furry monsters.

The term "ghosts" originates from the failed Atari 2600 port. Technical limitations caused the villains to flicker, and the game's manual dubbed them "ghosts" so as to cover up the flaw. Although the game was ultimately unsuccessful due to these flaws, the term stuck, and soon spread to all of the bubble gum cards, stickers, and other merchandise released afterwards.

On the Japanese cabinet art and flyers, the villains appeared somewhat like sheeted ghosts. These became the basis for most drawings on the various merchandise. Consequently, cabinet artwork for later arcade games depicted the villains as more ghost-like.

The TV cartoon version compromised between the two conflicting names by calling them "ghost-monsters." Despite the name, however, the villains' characteristics were more ghost-like than monster-like. Their outfits, for instance, were now linen "ghost suits" kept stored in a closet. The villains also appeared to be spirits with eyes under the suits. However, the game intermissions show that they have fleshy bodies.

One theoretical way to explain the differences could be in the change that occurs in the monsters when the player eats a "power pellet" (aka "energizer," "energy dot," or "power pill"). The "energized" monsters change in appearance to a blue shade with yellow eyes. During this phase the monsters become like ghosts, which are soft enough for Pac-Man to consume without danger.

[edit]

Power pellets

On the instruction cards, the power items were called "energizers", but on the Atari 2600 port they were called "power pills", and on the cartoon they were called "power pellets" ("pellet" is considered more appropriate, since "pill" might suggest a drug reference). The 240 basic ten-point items on the game are simply called "dots" on the card. Again, the Atari 2600 version changed the dots to "video wafers" (because of their rectangular shape, no doubt). "Pac away" was used as the verb for the act of "eating" them. But there were no such pellets in the cartoon, but rather all were power pellets. (The act of one character eating another was called "chomping" in the cartoon).

[edit]

Fruits

The fruits were not officially classified in the original instruction cards and were not represented in the cartoon. Players have generally adopted the name of "fruits" to the bonus items that appear in the middle of the board. Pac-Mania officially calls them fruits; when a fruit appears, a notification says, "Fruit target." Jr. Pac-Man calls them "bonus symbols," but that game had toys instead of fruits. The static square-within-a-square prize in the center of the Atari 2600 board is called a Vitamin by the game's instruction manual. Strategy guides published in the 1980's (mostly about the arcade versions) commonly referred to the fruits as simply "prizes" to accommodate the objects which were not actually fruit (such as the bells, keys, galaxian ships, etc).

[edit]

Who's the Boss?

Another series of inconsistencies in the history of the game is the different personalities and roles of the ghost-monsters. In the original game, and most others afterward, the order of the listed villains in the intro screen shows Blinky as the leader. In the actual gameplay, he is the one who pursues you the most aggressively, especially in the state of Cruise Elroy. He is often followed by Pinky. Then Inky often cuts Pac-Man's escape route off, as was stated. Clyde always seems to be wandering off and doesn't get in the way as much. This pattern was followed consistently, until the cartoon, in which the personalities were changed, with Clyde as the boss, Inky as the dumb one, Sue (a purple ghost who originally appeared as Clyde's orange replacement in Ms. Pac-Man, she later appeared in Pac-Land and Pac-Mania) as also bossy and Blinky as very timid. (Only Pinky’s personality matched 'his' character as a tough bully.)

The games released after the TV series continued the original roles, until Pac-Land, which was based squarely on the cartoon. While the four male ghosts basically do not differ from each other in their moves (they mostly bob up and down in their vehicles), the eyes now reflected the cartoon, with Clyde as the angry-looking leader, Blinky as timid looking and Inky as stupid-looking, with crossed eyes. Sue was also particularly aggressive, lurking behind you if you moved too slowly through the game. These were the basic drawings of the ghosts used on most merchandise and newer game artwork to the present.

Pac-Mania changed things again. The facial expressions were not used in the game or cabinet artwork, with the exception of Sue's angry eyes in the game. The screen displaying the list of high-scores, however, shows the cartoon ghosts chasing Pac-Man, with Blinky having the angry "boss" eyes, while Inky still having the goofy crossed eyes. On the other hand, the screen-side art somewhat followed the cartoon, listing "Clyde" as "The Boss. He’s super fast when mad." (Which would presumably refer to the "Cruise Elroy" associated with the true boss, Blinky.) Blinky is listed as "The slow, absent minded one." However, on the actual gameplay, players see pretty much the same pattern from the original game, with Blinky coming fast, Pinky being tough, Inky moderately tough, and Clyde hardly bothering the player at all. The difference is Sue, who is once again very aggressive (and now often gives you more trouble than Blinky), along with the game's new ghosts, Funky and Spunky.

In Pac-Man Arrangement, the personality-swap introduced by the cartoon completely affected the personalities in the game. The different-colored ghosts still act the normal way, but now, on the introductory screen where the ghosts are listed, players see that Blinky and Clyde have swapped sheets! (Clyde is now wearing red, and Blinky is the orange one at the bottom).

[edit]

Ports

Pac-Man is one of the few games to have been consistently re-released for over two decades. In the 1980s, it was released for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-Bit Computers (400/800/etc.), Intellivision and Commodore 64, and the Nintendo Entertainment System (1987 and 1990). In the handheld world, it was released on the Game Boy (1991), Sega Game Gear (1991), Neo-Geo Pocket Color (1999), Pac-Man: Special Color Edition for the Game Boy Color (1999), and Pac-Man Collection for the Game Boy Advance (2001). However, it has been most widely distributed in Namco's long-running Namco Museum series, starting on the PlayStation in 1996 and continuing to this day on every major console (as well as the PSP and Game Boy Advance) with the 50th Anniversary Collection (2005). An Xbox 360 port, to be distributed through the Xbox Live Arcade, was announced in April 2006.

Namco has repeatedly rereleased this game in arcades. In 2001, Namco released a 20-Year Reunion game that combined Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga in one cabinet. Also, the game is so popular to this day that it can be found in many arcades, especially those owned by Namco. It is also a popular game found in the "free section" of nickel arcades. However, it should be noted that Ms. Pac-Man is much more popular and seen more often in arcades than Pac-Man.

Only Space Invaders has managed this feat. However, aside from a Game Boy conversion in 1990 and a SNES conversion in 1994, the game saw few re-releases between 1982 and the game's 25th anniversary in 2005.

Namco's wireless division released a line of PAC-MAN games for the cell phone in 2002, starting with the original arcade version and following up with PAC-MAN game extensions like PAC-MAN Bowling, PAC-MANIA (a 3D PAC-MAN game) and PAC-MAN Pinball. This division (Namco Networks America Inc.) also launched a networked game, Ms. PAC-MAN For Prizes, in 2004. PAC-MAN mobile games are available on both BREW and JAVA platforms across major cellular carriers, as well as on Palm PDAs and Windows PC phones.


[edit]

Failed Atari port

Image:PacManCrt260007052004.jpg

The first attempt to adapt Pac-Man to the home video game market was a disastrous failure. Atari Inc. bought the home video rights to the game, and it promoted the release of the Atari 2600 version of the game with an enormous marketing campaign. In the eyes of the public, the combination of the world's most popular home video game console with the world's most popular arcade game seemed like a "can't miss" blockbuster. However, the actual Atari 2600 adaptation of the game ended up being panned by critics as stiff and lifeless, somehow managing to remove the colorful, "fun" aspect of Pac-Man from the game. It was one of two major home video game releases (along with the Atari 2600 version of E.T.) that may have triggered the video game crash of 1983.

Reports have it that the miserable port of the game to the 2600 was largely due to an overzealous Atari marketing department. As Atari planned for the development of Pac-Man for the 2600, some marketing executives approached one of their principal game programmers, Tod Frye, about doing a version of the game. He said he already had a prototype developed and showed it to them. It lacked polish, but the executives were so eager to start selling the game (due in part to the approaching 1981 Christmas season) that they overlooked its flaws and ordered production of the game based on the unfinished prototype. Atari allegedly paid Frye $1 million for his work, which today is equated to about $2.23 million.

Unfortunately, the public did not overlook the game's blemishes, and many consumers instead purchased similar offerings from competing video game publishers. The sales figures would normally have been respectable (seven out of every ten of the ten million user base bought the game), except that Atari produced twelve million cartridges, which led to a large loss for the company.

Image:A2600 Pac-Man.png The game suffers from poor design choices as well as limitations of the hardware, which only draws one enemy on the screen at a time, so that each of the game's four enemies only appears in one of every four frames; due to persistence of vision this presents the illusion of having four enemies on the screen at once, but they flicker badly. For this reason, the game's instruction manual calls the enemies "ghosts" instead of "monsters". The ghosts are very subtly tinted different colors, but this can be very hard to see on most television sets, and otherwise there are no differences between the ghosts. Unlike the arcade game in which the monsters' eyes indicate their direction of movement, the eyes of this version's ghosts spin constantly. The ghosts move according to much simpler patterns which do not appear to depend on the location of Pac-Man. Pac-Man himself has been likened to a wrench with an eye, and his mouth continues to open and close even when he is not moving, and he moves up and down corridors sideways. The dots are actually dashes, and the sound of eating them is a harsh tone, unlike the "waaka waaka" sound of the arcade. The maze has been viewed as very unsimilar to the original arcade game in structure (the escape tunnels are located at the top and bottom of the screen) and in color (this version has orange walls and a blue background). The "fruit" has become a two-color rectangle which does not change from board to board.

It is interesting to note that, despite its perceived inferiority, sound effects from the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man are possibly the sounds most often used as stock sound effects in films and television series to represent the sounds of a game being played in the background of a scene. This continued for years after the crash of 1983, and despite the fact that the game shown in any given TV or movie scene was usually a completely different video game, and sometimes not even being played on an Atari 2600; the sounds have even been used to represent background noise from arcade machines.

[edit]

Gallery

Atari 2600 (1982)

Atari 5200 (1983)

Commodore 64 (1983)

Intellivision (1983)

SAM Coupé (1991)

NES (1993)

[edit]

Popular culture

The PBS children's show Square One often featured a segment called Math Man, a videogame based loosely on Pac-Man. There is only one monster on the Math Man board, a tornado-like creature named "Mr. Glitch", who ordinarily left Math-Man alone. Each board had a certain mathematical theme (numbers that are multiples of 4, reduceable fractions, etc.). In order to progress, Mathman would simply move next to one of the problems presented on the board and determine its answer by a count of three. A correct answer/consumption was accompanied by a fanfare similar to that played on many home computers. However, eating an equation which didn't match the theme (a common occurrence used to end the segment) caused Mr. Glitch to endlessly chase Math-Man and eventually eat him.

In the popular video game-oriented webcomic Penny Arcade, Gabe is almost always seen wearing a yellow shirt with a black outline of Pac-Man. Other strips reveal that his room is decorated with Pac-Man sheets and matching curtains, and his car's license plate reads "PCMNFN" (Pac-Man Fan). Mike Krahulik, the Penny Arcade artist who uses Gabe as an alter-ego actually has a tattoo of Pac-Man eating pellets around his arm.

VG Cats, another popular video game webcomic, also uses Pac-Man in one of its logos or graphical representations of the comic. The logo is identical to Pac-Man, however it is colored blue instead of yellow, and has a cat-like tail added to it, along with tiny cat-like ears atop it.

In 2004, New York University's Interactive Telecommunications graduate program created a "real-world" version of the game called "Pac-Manhattan" where one player runs around the streets of New York City dressed as Pac-Man and collects "virtual dots" (there are no physical representations of the dots in the streets, but a map on a central computer knows where Pac-Man has been and, therefore, which streets have been "cleared"). Four other players play the part of the monsters. Pac-Man (or the monsters when Pac-Man has eaten a power pill by touching a streetsign at certain intersections) are killed by tagging (touching with the hands). Each player has a controller counterpart in constant cell phone contact and are monitored from a centralized location using Wi-Fi Internet connections, and custom software designed by the Pac-Manhattan team.

Slayer's bassist/singer Tom Araya has worn a Pac-Man T-shirt while on tour. When asked about it, he was said that he wore the shirt because he considers Pac-Man the most violent game ever, since there's no other game where you have to eat your enemies. Template:Fact

The 2004 movie "Club Dread" features a live version of Pac-Man played on "Coconut Pete's" tropical island, in which four bikini clad girls would chase one man through a hedge maze; drinking from a cup of alcohol was the equivalent of a Power Pellet. The full rules of the game were unknown, as it was called off for murder, particularly those dressed in costumes resembling the various fruit pieces of the game.

A great deal of Pac-Man merchandise was marketed in the 1980s, from t-shirts to toys to hand-held video game imitations to even a pasta. Then, there was the aforementioned Saturday morning TV cartoon also called Pac-Man based on the game was produced by Hanna-Barbera and lasted two years from 1982 to 1984. It was also the basis for a Pac-Man Christmas special titled Christmas Comes to Pac-Land. In the series and the special, the "nicknames" given Pac-Man's enemies in the game—Blinky, Pinky, Inky, Clyde; became their official names, and Sue was a new ghost, colored purple. They were led by the evil Mezmaron, who employed them in his plots to raid the Power Pellet Forest (as called by Mezmaron in the show's opening; it is known as simply the "Power Forest" in the actual episodes). Even though Mezmaron was a new character and not from the game, as the leader of the ghosts, he can be seen as representing the game's "Artificial Intelligence". It certainly did "mezmerize" many kids, which is perhaps what led to the name. Marty Ingels was the voice actor of Pac-Man. Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures released for Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, was heavily influenced by the cartoon version.

Similar to Namco x Capcom, Pac-Man appears as a statue in Tales of Symphonia, another one of Namco's games. In another Tales game, Tales of the Abyss, playable character Jade Curtiss's main outfit has a belt with a buckle shaped like Pac-Man. Because of this, the Pac-Man appears to be eating the belt holes, much like an in-game Pac-Man eating dots.

In Asterix & Obelix XXL, The Romans use a shield with a design similar to Pac-Man, but with teeth.

In an episode of Family Guy, Pac-Man is shown depressed after Ms. Pac-Man left him. The four ghosts begin to blink trying to cheer him up. However, their attempt is unsuccessful and the ghosts leave for Q-Bert's house.

One of the segments of the Futurama episode Anthology of Interest II is a parody of various classic video games. Video game aliens attack New New York, and Fry works alongside general Colin Pac-Man (a reference to Colin Powell) to defeat them. One scene features the characters running through a Pac-Man maze, complete with roaming ghosts.

The makers of the 1982 Disney feature-film Tron snuck a tiny Pac-Man into one quick shot, giving the character a movie cameo appearance in effect.

[edit]

Mario Kart GP

Image:Mkagp2.jpg Pac-Man is a playable character in the Mario Kart Arcade GP game; in fact, Pac-Man is one of the first non-Nintendo characters to appear in a Nintendo game. Klonoa, a Namco character, always wears a blue cap with a little Pac-Man on it. Curiously, this mark was erased in Namco x Capcom, in which Pac-Man's only appearance is as a statue in a single stage. Some fans might use Pac-Man's playable appearance in Mario Kart Arcade GP as an explanation for his total absence in Namco x Capcom, seeing as he crossed over with Mario instead. Ms. Pac-Man and the red ghost Blinky are also playable.

[edit]

Songs

There have been a number of songs inspired by the game:

  • Buckner and Garcia recorded a 1982 song titled Pac-Man Fever. This song used some sounds from the game.
  • I-Mockery wrote and performed an over-the-top song titled "I Will Beat Pac-Man" and created an animated video for it.
  • Lil' Flip recorded a song called Game Over which incorporated some sounds from the game.
  • The Bloodhound Gang used Pac Man sound effects and dialog with Pac-Man in the song "Mope"
  • Aphex Twin, in the guise of Power Pill, recorded Pac-Man which incorporated many sounds from the game along with most of its soundtrack.
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic has an unreleased song entitled "Pacman", paroding the song "Taxman" by The Beatles.
  • Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota has a song called Un Pacman en el Savoy (a Pacman in the Savoy).
  • Rapper Beanie Sigel has a song called "Mac Man", which uses sounds from the game as part of the instrumental beat, and is full of videogame-inspired lyrics.
[edit]

Trivia

Image:Mad pacman cover large.jpg

  • In Brazil, the game was unofficially named by the children as Come-Come (lit. he eats-he eats, in Portuguese). Also an onomatopoeic, from the sound the character does when walking/eating. In Italy, the same sound is referred as a meaningless Gabo Gabo. In Spain it was called Comecocos (coconut-eater).
  • The secret level of the third episode of Wolfenstein 3D is fashioned after one of the original Pac-Man levels.
  • It was rumored that Toru Iwatani had quit Namco because he only received a small amount of money after creating the game. In reality, he was promoted and as of 2004 is still a Namco employee.
  • The Ms. Pac-Man cartridge for the Atari 2600 was widely considered to be vastly superior to the original 2600 Pac-Man. Over the years, Atari hobbyists have reverse-engineered the Ms. Pac-Man cartridge's graphics and colors to make the game resemble the original Pac-Man more closely. While this is technically a copyright violation, the altered ROM has been a popular item among collectors of original 2600 games.
  • In Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, Pacman and the ghosts (Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde) are actually the fastest enemies encountered.
  • For many years, Pac-Man was the video game mascot for Namco.
  • A plugin kit called Super ABC became available in the 1990s which added several new games to the Pac-Man system, including different versions of the original Pac-Man.
  • In the game Tekken 2 the character Yoshimitsu is seen day dreaming about Pacman if the player leaves yoshimitsu doing nothing during practice mode.
  • Pac-Man was also one of the bonus characters available to play as or against in Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis for the Playstation, alongside fellow Namco characters including Richard Miller (from Time Crisis), Reiko Nagase, and Yoshimitsu and Heihachi Mishima in their Tekken 3 incarnations.
  • Pac-Man was one of many classic arcade game characters edited into a 2005 series of commercials for the then-new Gametap website.
  • In Mexico Pac-Man was used in a Seven Up TV spot commercial in 1983.
  • In a variation of Pac-Man called Chomp , there were different items used: Cherry (100 points), Strawberry (200), Watermelon (300), Apple (500), Caterpillar (700), Bell (1000), Clock (2000)???(5000)
  • Ms. Chomp, another knock-off, plays like the Arcade version of Ms. Pac-Man, but with two fairly important differences: Firstly, the player is given a choice of which fruit level to start at, and secondly, the fruit are only given at the end of a level.
  • A second variation was released in a Kids' Arcade Pack titled Mac-Man Kids uses even further differant items from the actual Pac-Man.
  • A parody of Pac-Man appears in the film Club Dread, turning the premise of the game into a drinking game, turning the ghosts into females that must strip, etc.
  • In the Ridge Racer series of games, Pac-Man is referenced in various forms, from designs on the cars, to actual opponents (Pacman and the ghosts Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde) in the game you must race against to acquire new levels and cars.
  • Pacman is also the nickname of the Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. The two-time world champion earned the distinction as the only boxer who has knocked down both future Mexican "Hall of Famer" Marco Antonio "Baby Face Assassin" Barrera (knocked out in 11th round)and Erik "El Terrible" Morales (knocked out in 10th round). Pacquiao has been on the top 10 list of the best "pound-for-pound" fighters in the world.
  • In the pilot episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, after Mac unchains a monster, a scene follows in which the monster, resembling a black version of Pac-Man chases Bloo, who resembles a blue ghost, around a junkyard.
  • In the videogame [[International Karate +]] by Archer Maclean, which appeared on Commodore 64 and Amiga, Pacman makes an occasional cameo appearance in the background. Typing 'pacman' on the Amiga keyboard during the game invokes him.

Image:Pinky-forms.jpg

  • Since the earliest incarnation of "Puck Man", the monster Pinky was identified in Japan as a female character. A misunderstanding occurred during development in the early 1980s on the classic Pac-Man TV series cartoon show by the U.S. based Hanna-Barbera Company. In the show and in all related media, Pinky was a slow-witted bully character. Pinky was also made into a male in this form. Years later Namco reverted Pinky back to her female monster roots. In all the more recent games and media Pinky is always a girl. Many Pac-fans and game designers tease that Pinky had a sex change. In this case the character literally did.
  • Pacman and Ms. Pacman were both ported to the iPod using MAME and iPod Linux.
  • In the multi-racial country of Malaysia, Pac Man is a slang coined to describe men who only date ladies of other races.
  • In "Pac-Man World 3", Blinky and Inky are kidnapped by the evil alien "Erwin". Clyde and Pinky assist Pac-man during gameplay. In this game,however Clyde is identified as the red monster. Traditionally Clyde is the orange coloured monster and Blinky was in the red. Perhaps Clyde and Blinky swapped suits before the kidnapping.
  • Various incarnations and mythos of the Pac-Land tend to have the world inhabited mostly by the spherical Pac-folk as the common race of the land. The ghost characters tended to be in small bands including the classic monsters with variations of differant ghost characters depending on the game or media. Many the games especially into 1990s - 2000's show that there are very many differant ghosts and even an entire populace. This suggests that Pac-Land is comprised of a whole other species of characters. Not just a small group of villianous and ghostly outcasts.
  • The name "Pacman" has been given to a nebula, cataloged as NGC 281.
[edit]

References

  1. Template:Note {{cite web 
| author = Green, Chris
| year = June 17, 2002
| url = http://www.salon.com/ent/masterpiece/2002/06/17/pac_man/print.html
| title = Pac-Man
| publisher = Salon.com
| accessdate = February 12
| accessyear = 2006

}}

  • Hirschfeld, Tom How to Master the Video Games, Bantam Books, 1981. ISBN: 0553201646 Arcade strategy guide to several games including incarnations of Pac-Man. Includes hand drawings of some of the common patterns for use in the arcade Pac-Man.
  • Hirschfeld, Tom How to Master Home Video Games, Bantam Books, 1982. ISBN: 0553201956 Follow-up guide covering home versions among others.
[edit]

See also

[edit]

External links

Template:Pac-Man seriesTemplate:Link FA

da:Pac-Man de:Pac-Man el:Pac-Man es:Pac-Man fr:Pac-Man ko:팩맨 it:Pac-Man he:פק מן nl:Pac-man ja:パックマン no:Pac-Man pl:Pac-man pt:Pac-Man sl:PacMan fi:Pac-Man sv:Pac-Man zh:Pac-Man

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Pac-Man"