Pac Man has become one of the most famous video games of its generation. With multiple ports, and numerous spin-offs, it has an interesting history.
It all began in 1980 when Toru Iwatani of Namco began work on the game over an 18-month spell. Here Toru Iwatani found inspiration for the character of Pac Man, from a pizza with a missing slice. Hence the shape of Pac Man, round with a triangular mouth.
It was first licensed and distributed by Midway in Japan of May 22 1980. However, the game only received a lukewarm response, in comparison to popular arcade titles like Space Invaders.
A year latter, Bally, a division of Midway, picked up the title for manufacture in the US. Here, it was widely welcomed, became very popular and generated good revenue.
With the success of the US release, the game became something of a phenomenon with numerous sequels and merchandise. The cult of Pac Man was born, and game publishers began to take note of its innovative design. It quickly overtook Asteroids as the best selling arcade game.
On homeports, Pac Man got its first lease of life on the Atari 2600 in 1982. It sold 7 million copies, although some were critical of its overall quality.
From there, it made various ports such as: IBM PC, Atari 8 bit computers, Commodore 64 and the high flying NES in 1987. In 1991, it was released on the Game boy and made the Game Gear that same year. Most recently, it has made it onto the Nintendo DS format.
The game features most prominently in Namco's museum series, a compilation of classic Namco titles. The Playstation, Gameboy Advance and the PSP have all adopted the series.
As has been noted, Pac Man enjoys a rich culture. From 1982-84, Pac Man had an animated cartoon series. In 1992, Asphex twin released an extended play of Pac Man, which was simply a remix of classic Pac Man theme tunes from the game.
Today, the game continues to flourish. With various spin-offs, most notably the Pac Man Champion Edition, which was released in 2007. This was a partnership between Microsoft, Namco and Toru Iwatani aimed at re-envisioning of the game for the Xbox Livve Arcade. With bolstered graphics and new game features, it has been well received.
What more can be said of Pac Man? Well, it's a classic game with a unique place in video game history. The character Pac Man is possibly even more recognizable than Mario and holds a similar place in gamers' hearts.
