A Intriguing History of Pac-Man and Why the Beloved Dot Muncher Endures
It’s been over forty-five years, but Pac-Man has never stopped munching. Even after more than four and a half decades, gamers never tire of rushing through the maze and ducking ghosts. So, just what gives this dot muncher his staying power? Let’s take a look at the history of this beloved arcade game.
The Origins of Pac-Man
The famous yellow circle was first created by Toru Iwatani, working with a team of nine people. Iwatani’s aim was to create a non-violent game that would appeal to everyone: men, women, children, and adults. The story is that Pac-Man’s character design was inspired by a pizza with one slice removed. While this is partially true, Iwatni said that he was also inspired by rounding the Japanese character for “mouth,” which is called kuchi. In any case, the classic design is as simple as you can get.
The game’s original title was Puck-Man, deriving from the Japanese phrase “paku paku taberu,” which loosely means gobbling something. While the name is certainly appropriate for a character who is endlessly eating dots, there was concern when the game came to America. American arcade operators worried that misbehaving guests (likely teenagers) would vandalize machines by changing the “P” to an “F.” As such, Pac-Man got his iconic American name.
Pac-Mania Takes Over the World
The game made its focus test debut on May 22, 1980. It hit nationwide arcades in Japan in July of the same year, with the game coming to America in October. It was a smash hit, selling over 100,000 arcade machines in its first year. People flocked to arcades just to get a chance to go eating dots through the maze. The game’s bright colors and cheery sound effects helped to draw in both regular arcade goers and newcomers to the video game scene, and its simplicity meant that anyone could easily figure out what they were supposed to do, even young children.
The Weird Sequel Story
Of course, whenever a game is a massive hit, the company that releases it wants some more of that sweet revenue. After the original game’s success, both the Japanese publisher Namco (now Bandai Namco Entertainment) and the American distributor Midway wanted more Pac games, but they each went in different directions when it came to making sequels.
The most well-known sequel is undoubtedly Ms. Pac-Man. The debut of Pac-Man’s wife is arguably as beloved as the original game and featured multiple mazes and other improvements. However, it was initially developed by General Computer Corporation (GCC) as a mod kit for the original game, titled Crazy Otto. Midway bought the rights to the kit and started developing it as a sequel, without Namco’s approval. Nevertheless, Namco couldn’t argue with the massive profits that Ms. Pac-Man brought in. Since then, the yellow lady has become a gaming icon in its own right.
After this, there were numerous arcade sequels, some developed by Namco and others by Midway. Namco developed games such as Super Pac-Man and Pac-Mania, while Midway developed games such as Jr. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man. This eventually led to an overload of sequels. While the public may have felt sequel fatigue, it didn’t tarnish the original game’s legacy.
The Ongoing Influence of Pac-Man
The dot muncher’s franchise is still going on to this day. He has starred in maze games, platformers, puzzle games, and last year’s Shadow Labyrinth even reimagined his world as a dark metroidvania. He is one of the most instantly recognizable video game characters of all time. The world of video games would look very different if Toru Iwatani hadn’t created his beloved game. The yellow circle will munch dots for as long as video games exist.
