Pac-Man by Kimberly Keyes Stark
As I wrote in my previous entry on Phoenix, 1980 was a great year for me for many reasons. The release of Pac-Man is one more reason why 1980 rocked as a year.
As I'm writing this in 2003, this is also the 75th anniversary of the release of "Steamboat Willie," which not only introduced Mickey Mouse to the world but was also one of the first cartoons released with sound. In some ways, Pac-Man could be the Mickey Mouse of the videogaming industry. For one thing, Pac-Man's release in 1980 was also just as revolutionary and awe-inspiring as "Steamboat Willie" was back in 1928 and it propelled Pac-Man into Mickey Mouse-style popularity. Throughout the 1980's a variety of Pac-Man spin-off products (like t-shirts and notebooks) had proliferated just as much as Mickey Mouse items. Namco continues to release Pac-Man games for a variety of gaming platforms in the same way that Disney continues to release Mickey Mouse car toons for VHS and DVD. Pac-Man and Mickey Mouse both have female counterparts--Ms. Pac-Man and Minnie Mouse. Pac-Man and Mickey Mouse have also become corporate symbols for, respectively, Namco and Disney.
As I did some Internet searches on Pac-Man, I found that there is an interesting history behind the yellow guy.
Pac-Man was created in Japan by a Namco employee named Toru Iwatan. He got the inspiration for creating his Pac-Man character one day when he was eating pizza with friends at a local pizza p arlor and saw the whole pizza with a slice removed.
Pac-Man's Japanese name translates in English as "Eat-Man," which Namco thought was unsuitable for a videogame. So they gave his English name as "Puckman," since he is shaped like a hockey puck. The game's American distributor, Bally Midway, balked at the name out of a fear that some enterprising vandals would take some markers or spraypaint into the arcades, write the letter "F" over the letter "P" on the machines, and--well, you get the picture. So Bally Midway gave the game the vandal-proof name Pac-Man.
As a game Pac-Man definitely stood out from all the other car racing games and Space Invaders clones that had dominated the arcades at that point. The object of the game is very simple: you take on the role of a yellow circular character who's stuck in a maze and you have to use the joystick to manipulate that character, who looks like a slab of cheese with a wedge taken out, as he eats all the pellets in the maze before he can go on to the next maze.
It's a simple premise but, like all great videogames, there are obstacles in the form of four colorful ghosts who are trying to stop Pac-Man from his eating ways. The red ghost's name is Shadow but his nickname is Blinky. The pink ghost is named Speedy but his nickname is Pinky. The light blue ghost's name is Bashful with his nickname being Inky. The orange ghost has the name Pokey and the nickname Clyde.
Pac-Man only has one defense against Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde. There are four large energy dots scattered throughout the maze. If he eats any of those dots, the four ghosts turn navy blue with pink eyes and a zig-zag pink mouth. At that point Pac-Man can eat the ghosts. If a ghost is eaten, a pair of disembodied eyes float back to the ghosts' home in the middle of the screen where he gets his body repaired and re-joins the game.
However, the change in making the ghosts edible is only temporary and they quickly turn back into their inedible selves. There are many times when you'll get Pac-Ma n to eat a ghost who is in the process of changing back only to find that the ghost has changed back just in time to get Pac-Man to lose a life.
From time to time a piece of fruit will appear and Pac-Man can eat it for extra points. Once you get up to le vels 9-10, the flagship from Namco's previous hit, Galaxian, makes an appearance as an item that Pac-Man can eat.
What's amazing is that Pac-Man's stomach seems like a bottomless pit. He could eat as much as he wants without ever having to suffer a stoma ch ache or worry about getting fat.
The really cool part of the game comes after you've cleared the second level. A brief animated interlude appeared where Blinky pursues Pac-Man from the right-hand side of the screen across to the left side until both leave the screen. Then Blinky reappears on the left side of the screen in edible form as a giant-sized Pac-Man pursues him all the way across the screen until they both run off the right side. When you clear more levels, more animated interludes featuring Pac-M an and Blinky are played out to the amusement of the gameplayer.
Nowadays many console and computer games routinely have animated interludes between gameplay. Pac-Man was the first game to include such interludes and that is one of the many things that made that game stood out among the competition in the arcades. I have no doubt that this inspired other gamemakers to follow suit.
To say that Pac-Man was addicting is an understatment. I shudder to think about how many quarters I've spent trying to master that game throughout high school, college, and the first few years in the job market in the 1980's. It's obvious I didn't spend enough because, to this day, I tend to bomb out totally sometime between the third and fifth levels.
Pac-Man also figured in the most memorable assignment I've ever had for the University of Maryland's student paper The Diamondback in 1982. The now-defunct Hungry Herman's restaurant, which was located just a few yards from the campus' western border, sponsored a Pac-Man tournament, which I covered. It was amazing to see people play Pac-Man better than I ever did. I got to interview the winner, a local Silver Spring man named Kevin Fischer, who played a single round of Pac-Man for two hours and racked up two million points before he was stopped by tournament officials. During the course of his two hours on the machine, he drew a huge crowd of people watching him as he evaded the ghosts and gobbled up pellets and energy dots over and over.
For anyone trying to make a record playing Pac-Man, there were limits. Once you get up to the 256th level, the screen goes haywire. The left half of the screen is normal while the right half is complete gibberish. At that point the arcade employee has to reset the machine. The highest s core (which is achievable only if you eat every single pellet, energy dot, ghost, and fruit) anyone can get before the 256th level is 3,333,360 million points. Because of this, the World Pac-Man Record is measured by who can get the perfect score the most quickly. According to the Twin Galaxies' site, the current record holder is Billy Mitchell, who achieved that perfect score on one quarter in six hours on July 3, 1999.
I was such a Pac-Man addict that my parents gave me a hand-held version that was manufactured by Coleco while I was still attending the University of Maryland. The animation and sounds were nowhere near as good as in the arcades, the graphics were all red, and the gameplay was awkward compared to its arcade counterpart but it still satisfied my desire to play Pac-Man during times when I wasn't able to get to an arcade. I held on to that handheld for many years until I bought a Sega Game Gear in the early 1990's and I purchased a Pac-Man game that was made for that handheld that had better graphics than the Coleco game and the sounds were much closer to the arcade version.
I've since obtained a Playstation 2 and traded in the Sega Game Gear for a Game Boy Advance SP but I've bought Pac-Man games for both and I still continue to play Pac-Man to this day in the privacy of my own home. I haven't played the arcade machine in years mainly because every time I happened to come across one, I would think, "Why should I spend a few quarters playing something that I can now play at home as often as I want without having to look in my wallet for any spare quarters?" (Especially since the sounds, animation, and gameplay are now identical to the arcade version.)
Wha t was amazing was how mainstream Pac-Man became in the 1980's. I can remember when greeting cards, buttons, t-shirts, notebooks, coloring books, breakfast cereals, and many other consumer items came out featuring the yellow one. There were books that came out on how one could master Pac-Man. There was even a Pac-Man board game, although I really couldn't imagine how a board game could even come close to capturing the sounds and excitement of the arcade game.
Pac-Man became so popular that a Pac-Man machine was even donated to the Smithsonian.
I saw the comedy "Young Doctors in Love" when it was first released in the theaters and I laughed when some Pac-Man arcade sounds were used in an operating scene. Frank Zappa released the song "Valley Girl," which featured his daughter, Moon Unit, rapping about life as a teenage girl in the San Fernando Valley and talking about how "I'm into the clean stuff, like Pac-Man, you know." There was even a song called "Pac-Man Fever" that made Billboard magazine's Top Ten hits. I remembered that song very well, although I never bought it because the radio stations used to play it so much.
Years later, when I got the special 20th anniversary of "Tron" on DVD, I saw "The Making of Tron" featurette where I found out that the moviemakers had Pac-Man make a brief cameo appearance as part of the background in one of the scenes where Sark appears. Ever since then I've gotten into the habit of looking for Pac-Man's appearance every time I watch "Tron."
I thought the Pac-Man phenomenon hit a low when a Saturday morning cartoon series came out based on the arcade game. I saw only one episode when I was still an undergraduate at the University of Maryland and I found it to be so bad that I never watched it again. The only thing I remembered was that the animation was stilted and the plot was totally moronic and repetitive as Pac-Man kept on being pursued by the ghosts. Pac-Man would eat an energy pellet to take the ghosts out temporarily and the their disembodied eyes floated out of their withering bodies as they escaped to some place where they could be made whole again. This was evidence that some arcade games just don't translate well to other mediums.
Like all phenomenons, Pac-Man eventually faded from the spotlight that's reserved for fads like Furby or Beanie Babies. Yet it looks like Pac-Man has one other thing in common with Mickey Mouse--longevity. Even though Pac-Man is no longer as popular as--let's say--Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the yellow one has never gone away. Ever since the 1980's, Namco has released a new Pac-Man title ever now and then for whatever console, computer, or portable gaming device happens to be out there at the time. In recent years Namco has converted Pac-Man into a 3-D figure and starred him in a series of Mario-like adventure games (complete with 3-D mazes) that include Pac-Man World, Pac-Man World 2, and Pac-Man Fever (the latter is a party game that's similar to the Mario Party series).
One can even find a vintage Pac-Man arcade game machine every now and then, although these days one is more likely to find a Ms. Pac-Man machine than Pac-Man. In recent years Namco has released a hybrid arcade machine that features two of its biggest hits--Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga--and many arcades tend to stock that machine as its one token classic arcade machine.
However, there is a third game that is also hidden in that hybrid machine--Pac-Man. If you follow this pattern, you'll access it: Once you put the money in, you'll get taken to the select screen input. At that point, move the joystick up, up, up, down, down, down, left, right, left, right, and left then press the start button. If all goes well, you should get the original Pac-Man game.
I wouldn't be surprised if Pac-Man continues to live on long after the first generation who've discovered him dies off.
DISCLAIMER: This blog is based on one person's biased opinions of which videogames should be considered to be classics and why. It is not meant to provide a complete history of the videogame industry, the latest videogame news, technical support, or hints on how to play a certain videogame. None of the videogame manufacturers or programmers mentioned here have endorsed or supported this blog in any way, shape, or form.
NOTE: If there are any errors or updates to what I have written about Pac-Man, please send an e-mail to [link=mailto:kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com]kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@er ols.com[/link] (remember to remove the capital letters from my mailing address bef ore sending or else it will get rejected) and I'll edit this piece when time permits.
PAC-MAN GAMES AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
TELEVISION SET
Namco Arcade TV 5 Games in 1 Joystick--This is a joystick-only piece that plugs directly into your television set. It's a pretty cheap option for those who want to play classic games on t heir TV set but don't own a Game Cube, Playstation 2, or X-Box because you don't need to buy or rent any consoles to play the games, which are embedded directly into the joystick. The joystick games include Pac-Man along with Galaga, Dig-Dug, Rally-X, and Bosconian. ([link=http://www.8bitjoystick.com/archives/jake_review_namco_a rcade_classics_5_in_1_joystick.php]Click here[/link] to read a review about this item, which looks pretty neat.)
DREAMCAST
[link=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obid os/tg/detail/-/B00004U4Q9/theunicornwithan/]Namco Museum Volume 1[/link]--Includes Pac-Man along with Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Pole Position, and Dig-Dug.
GAME BOY
Pac-Man
GAME BOY COLOR
Pac-Man: Special Color Edition--Includes Pac-Man and Pac-Attack.
GAME BOY ADVANCE
Pac-Man Collection--Includes Pac-Man and three of his sequels: Pac-Attack, Pac-Mania, and Pac-Man Arrangement.
GAME CUBE
Namco Museum--Includes Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig-Dug, and Pole Position.
Pac-Man Fever--This is a party game that's similar in concept to Nintendo's Mario Party series. You can play against up to three other people (or play against the computer) as you compete in a series of mini-games. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are among the Namco characters that you can select.
Pac-Man World 2--It's an adventure game featuring the yellow guy. If you collect enough tok ens, you can unlock five classic arcade games--Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Att ack, and Pac-Mania--as well as a series of 3-D mazes.
GAME GEAR
Pac-Man
GENESIS
Pac-Man 2
NEOGEO
Pac-Man
SUPER NINTENDO
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
NINTENDO 64
Namco Museum 64--Includes Pac-Man along with Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Po le Position, and Dig-Dug.
PLAYSTATION 1
Namco Museum Volume 1--Includes Pac-Man along with Pole Position, Galaga, Bosconian, Rally-X, New Rally-X, and Toy Pop.
Pac-Man World--It's an adventure game featuring the yellow guy that was originally released to honor the 20th anniversary of the first Pac-Ma n game. It includes the original arcade game as well as newer 3-D mazes.
PLAYSTATION 2
Namco Museum--Includes Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arran gement, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig-Dug, and Pole Position.
Pac-Man Feve r--This is a party game that's similar in concept to Nintendo's Mario P arty series. You can play against up to three other people (or play against the computer) as you compete in a series of mini-games. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are among the Namco char acters that you can select.
Pac-Man World 2--It's an adventure game featuring the yellow guy. If you collect enough tokens, you can unlock five classic arcade games--Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Mania--as well as a series of 3-D mazes.
WINDOWS
Pac-Man: Adventures in Time--It's a 3-D adventure game featuring the yellow one.
Pac-Man: Adventures in Time (Jewel Case)--It's a 3-D adventure game featuring the yellow one.
Pac-Man All Stars--Play as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Professor Pac-Man, or Pac-Man Junior in a series of 3D mazes.
[link=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000 08K2Y3/theunicornwithan/]Pac-Man All Stars (Jewel Case)[/link]--Play as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Professor Pac-Man, or Pac-Man Junior in a series of 3D mazes.
X-BOX
Namco Museum--Includes Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig-Dug, and Pole Position.
Pac-Man World 2--It's an adventure game featuring the yellow guy. If you collect enough tokens, you can unlock five classic arcade games--Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Mania--as well as a series of 3-D mazes.
RELATED PURCHASES
Strictly Commercial: The Best of Frank Zappa--This includes the Frank and Moon Unit Zappa duet "Valley Girl," where you can hear the Pac-Man reference. Also contains Frank Zappa's best-known songs like "Dancin' Fool," "Disco Boy," and "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow."
Buckner and Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever" CD--Includes the title track as well as other videogame-themed songs like "Do the Donkey Kong," "Froggy's Lament," "Ode to a Centipede," "Hyperspace," "The Defender," "Mousetrap," and "Goin' Bezerk."
Worm Quartet's "Stupid Video Game Music" CD--This is a band that's fronted by the creator of [link=http://www.flamingmayo.com/fir stchurchofpacman/]The First Church of Pac-Man site[/link]. This CD includes the track "Pac-Man is Nearly Naked and So Should You."
"Zombies In Robots Out" CD by 14 Year Old Girls--This CD is devoted to videogames and it includes the song "Pacman's In Egypt" along with "Galaga," "Big Grab," "1-800-255-3700," "Castlevania Punk," "Slushy Puppy," "Animal Forest," "Elevator Action," "Run Lolo Run," "Rayden on Prom Night," "This is a Devo Cover," "Grand Theft Auto 3," "Starworld," "Renegade," "Veggie Sandwiches Are The Best Sandwiches," and "Tomb Raider UK Pop."
[link=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obid os/tg/detail/-/6304847068/theunicornwithan/]"Young Doctors in Love" on VHS[/link]--This is a pretty funny send-up on all those overwrought hospital dramas that Hollywood keeps churning out for TV and the movie theaters on a regular basis. Certain Pac-Man arcade sounds are used hilariously in this film.
"Tron" (20th Anniversary Collection) on VHS and DVD--Pac-Man actually makes a brief cameo in the background in one scene where Sark is present. You have to look extremely close in order to see the yellow one. The DVD version has "The Making of Tron" featurette that shows exactly where you can find Pac-Man's brief cameo, which makes it handy for spotting him.
PAC-MAN LINKS
Bob McPherson Download Page--You can download a Pac-Man clone as well as clones of Phoenix and Space Invaders to play on your Hewlett-Packard 48G series calculator.
Buckner and Garcia--This is the official website of the duo responsible for the "Pac-Man Fever" song. You can order the "Pac-Man Fever" CD (which in cludes other songs like "Do the Donkey Kong," "Froggy's Lament," "Ode to a Centipede," "Hyperspace," "The Defender," "Mousetrap," and "Goin' Bezerk") through this site.
ClassicGaming.com's Pac-Page--This is the ultimate homage to Pac-Man. It not only provides an extensive history of Pac-Man and his many sequels but it also includes Pac-Clone of the Month, Pac-Site of the Month, sounds that you can download, information about the Pac-Man ca rtoon series, and much more.
Electric Soup, Ltd.'s Pac-Man Game--It's a decent Flash game that comes close to emulating the original arcade version.
[link=http://www.flamingm ayo.com/firstchurchofpacman/]The First Church of Pac-Man[/link]--A hilarious site that shows how extreme some people will go to show their devotion to Pac-Man. Also includes all kinds of news and facts about the yellow one.
[link=http://di rectory.google.com/Top/Games/Video_Games/Action/Pac-Man_Series/]Google's Pac-Man Directory[/link]--Features links to Pac-Man games that you can play for free.
Guimp: The World's Smallest Pac-Man Game--This is NOT recommended to anyone with eyesight problems.
The HP49G--You can download Hapaman (a Pac-Man clone) as well as a Phoenix clone to play on your Hewlett-Packard 49G series calculator.
The Internet Movie Database's Information on Pac-Man--Includes information on both videogames and the 1980's Pac-Man television cartoon series.
The Internet Movie Database's Information on "Tron"--If you scan the background in one of the scenes where Sark appears close enough, you'll see a tiny Pac-Man figure in the background.
The Internet Movie Database's Information on "Young Doctors in Love"--A few Pac-Man sounds make their appearance in this film in a hilarious way.
Jeff Morris's Pac-Man Page--A fan site that's devoted to Pac-Man. It includes information on the latest Pac-Man sightings, a Pac-Man game, lyrics to the "Pac-Man Fever" song, poems devoted to Pac-Man, and much more.
The Killer List of Videogames' Pac-Man Exhibit
"Perfect Score" Achieved on Pac-Man in New Hampshire--Here is a a story about the current Pac-Man World Record Holder, Billy Mitchell.
Namco--The official site of the company that's responsible for Pac-Man as well as a bunch of other classic games (such as Galaxian, Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga, and Dig-Dug).
Namco Arcade.com's Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga--This page is about a specially designed arcade machine that has both Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga together in the same cabinet. There is also a third game as well, Pac-Man, which is available as a secret Easter Egg. To access Pac-Man, you'll need to find that special arcade machine that has both Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga together. (It won't do you any go od if you find a Ms. Pac-Man-only machine or a Galaga-only machine.) Once you put the money in, you'll get taken to the select screen input. At that point, move the joystick up, up, up, down, down, down, left, right, left, right, and left then press the s tart button. If all goes well, you should get the original Pac-Man game.
Neave's Webgames-Pac-Man--Here is a Pac-Man game that you can play for free.
[link=http://www.csiway.com/%7ebol tal/]Pac-Land Webring[/link]--It's a webring of sites that are all devoted to Pac-Man.
Pac-Man...This is Your Life--It's a very thorough history of Pac-Man and his many s equels.
Pac-Man in Palm--You can download a free copy of Pac-Man for your Palm Pilot.
[link=http://www.palmgear.com/in dex.cfm?fuseaction=software.showsoftware%26prodid=2806]PacMan 1.6[/link]--You can download a shareware version of Pac-Man for your Palm Pilot.
The Pac-Mans--You can download shareware versions of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man for the Pocket PC, Wind ows CE, Casio BE-300, and HandHeld PC.
Salon.com's Pac-Man Article--Gives a cultural evaluation of ho w Pac-Man has affected the videogame industry.
Spank-Man--A variation of Pac-Man that has a slightly raunchy title.
The Virtual Pac-Man Museum--It's an online museum full of Pac-Man artifacts.<
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