DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

the depressing history of pac-man arcade games

9/5/2019

21 Comments

 
Picture
Waka-waka-waka, and so on and so forth.

Pac-Man, despite first appearing nearly 40 years ago, somehow remains one of the most iconic video game characters of all time. The combination of simple-but-challenging gameplay and near-perfect character design has ensured that the pill-crazed yellow freak remains as recognisable as Mickey Mouse, or The Throat Wizard.

Truth is, however, that the original Pac-Man has rarely been improved upon, and here's a rundown of every Pac-Man arcade game to demonstrate this point. 

Pac to life,
Pac to reality,
Pac to the here and now,
Yeeeeeea-eeer-aaaar-ah.
​Waka-waka-waka!
PAC-MAN (1980)
Picture
Initially released in Japan as Puckman, but changed in the West over fears that the title might tempt lewd-minded vandals, more than 350,000 Pac-Man cabinets were sold throughout the 1980s, earning Namco - which up until Pac-Man had mostly made kiddie rides - some $2.5 billion.

It holds the distinction of being the highest-grossing arcade game of all time, and the first to feature cut-scenes - introducing the ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Fartanus (Clyde). 

Who were they the ghosts of? Why, Pac-Man's former creditors, of course!

It was the brainchild of 24 year-old Toru Iwatani, who set out with the intention of creating a game that would appeal equally to girls as boys. Indeed, reports suggest that Pac-Man had more female players than male ones.

Though Iwatani designed several other titles, his other big contribution to gaming was Namco's Pole Position. He also made a cameo appearance in the awful Adam Sandler film Pixels, which is a shame.

The title of Pac-Man came from the Japanese phrase "paku-paku taberu", which describes the sound of a mouth eating... and thus its title alone would enrage Japanese misophonics. 
MS PAC-MAN (1981)
Picture
Ms Pac-Man began life as an enhancement kit for the original Pac-Man, entitled Crazy Otto. Unfortunately, the creator of the kit, General Computer Corporation, had lost a court case against Atari over an earlier, unofficial, enhancement kit for Missile Command, and was banned from selling further mods without the consent of the original manufacturer.

GCC instead offered Crazy Otto to Midway, Namco's American partner, as a complete game - and during development it instead became a bona-fide, if unauthorised, Pac-Man sequel.

Retaining the basic gameplay of its predecessor, Ms Pac-Man introduced four new mazes, a different colour scheme, new movement patterns for the ghosts (one of whom is here called Sue because... female reasons), and a protagonist wearing a bow. You know: like ladies do. 

Also, the title suggests that "Pac-Man" was merely the original character's surname, like Smith or "Brown".

Further concessions to femininity were made; unlike Pac-Man, who sort of withered up and collapsed in on himself, like a punctured football, when caught by a ghost, Ms Pac-Man's death throes were far more ladylike: "she dramatically swoons and falls".

Prior to settling on the name Ms Pac-Man, the game was known internally as Pac-Woman and Miss Pac-Man, but the latter was changed due to a cutscene showing Pac-Man and the then-Miss Pac-Man being delivered a baby by a stork. Concerned that this might create a moral panic, the title was changed to Mrs Pac-Man, and then contracted to the snappier Ms Pac-Man just three days before production began. 

Unfortunately, the unofficial nature of Ms Pac-Man ultimately led to the termination of the agreement between Namco and Midway (more below), and all rights were turned over to Namco.  

I want a game called "Brown".
PAC-MAN PLUS (1982)
Picture
An upgrade kit released by Midway, Pac-Man Plus mainly offered a few cosmetic tweaks to the original Pac-Man (such as a green maze) but also upped the difficulty by making the ghosts faster. Furthermore, power pills had randomised effects, including making the ghosts and maze invisible, and giving Pac-Man uncontrollable diarrhoea. 
SUPER PAC-MAN (1982)
Picture
Though the fourth game in the Pac-Man series, Super Pac-Man is only the second created by Namco.

Though retaining the basic maze concept, Super Pac-Man was a radical departure for the franchise; instead of eating pills, Pac-Man had to now consume keys which opened doors, allowing him to gobble fruit. In addition to the regular power pellets, necking "super" pellets would cause Pac-Man to swell up to monstrous proportions, able to eat his way through doors without needing keys. 

You know: like someone on drugs!!!
BABY PAC-MAN (1982)
Picture
A unique take on the Pac-Man formula, Baby Pac-Man incorporated an actual, physical, pinball table; when Baby Pac-Man disappeared down the bottom of the main screen, play would be transferred to the pinball section of the game. It was an unofficial release by Bally-Midway, coming as the final straw in its relationship with Namco.

Here's a thing: how did Tommy in The Who's Tommy play pinball by sense of smell? I'd understand if he had a Daredevil-like sonar sense or something... but smell? How is that possible? He can smell where the ball is?!?

​Methinks that Pete Townshend needs to go away and reconsider this. 
PROFESSOR PAC-MAN (1983)
Picture
A radical departure from the maze-game format, once again courtesy of Bally-Midway, Professor Pac-Man was, simply, a multiple-choice trivia game featuring Pac-Man as a school teacher. 

While the majority of questions were simple logic puzzles or general knowledge, several were Pac-Man themed - such as showing a maze, and asking players to work out how many turns were needed to reach a fruit.

​Oddly, the game was allegedly the idea of one Johnny Lott, an American "foosball" champion. When he approached Bally-Midway with the concept, they rejected it. Months later, Lott saw Professor Pac-Man on display at a trade show, and threatened the company with legal action - which was settled out of court. 

What a "Lott" of bother!
PAC & PAL (1983)
Picture
The third official Pac-Man game from Namco, Pac & Pal introduced a new character, a ghost called Miri, who would collect fruit for Pac-Man and gather it in the ghost paddock.

The other major change from earlier games was the addition of power-ups that would allow Pac-Man to shoot at the ghosts. The power-up items came in the form of references to other Namco games, including the ship from Galaxian and a car from Rally-X. 

An alternate version of Pac & Pal was released in the US to coincide with the stupid Pac-Man cartoon series, featuring Pac-Man's stupid dog Chomp-Chomp in place of Miru. 
JR PAC-MAN (1983)
Picture
Featuring a beanie-wearing "teenage" Pac character, Jr Pac-Man played like the original, but utilised a horizontally-scrolling maze that was two times the width of the one in Pac-Man. Because of this, none of the mazes included warp tunnels (which, in the original, would transport Pac-Man from one side of the maze to the other, like you didn't know that already...). 
PAC-LAND (1984)
Picture
A complete departure for the Pac-Man series, Pac-Land was - in its own way - quietly groundbreaking. A side-on platform game, which influenced the Mario series, it has even appeared as a stage in a couple of Nintendo's Smash Bros. titles. The ghosts in Pac-Land now travel around in cars and planes - which doesn't seem very realistic - while the overall aim is to return a lost fairy to Fairyland, for some reason.

The US version's end screen featured characters from the Pac-Man TV show, and featured the cartoon's theme as it's title music. Because the music is owned by Hanna-Barbara, Pac-Land has rarely been included in nostalgic compilations.
PAC-MANIA (1987)
Picture
Taking the original maze-based gameplay as its inspiration, Namco's Pac-Mania switched the action to an isometric perspective. It also awarded Pac-Man the ability to jump over the ghosts, who had two new members added to their gang; Funky and - yes - Spunky...

Oh, so you'll change the name from Puckman because of people's dirty minds, but you won't change Spunky, no??!
PAC-MAN ARRANGEMENT (1996)
Picture
Giving the series another major graphical overhaul, the awkwardly-titled Pac-Man Arrangement once again introduced another ghost: the also awkwardly-named Kinky.

It allowed two players to compete simultaneously, with one of them controlling a green, and possibly rotting, Pac-Man. Offering more mazes than any of its predecessors, Pac-Man Arrangement also gave Kinky the ability to bestow special powers onto his ghost brethren, transforming them into rabbits or bulls. 

Oooh, kinky!
PAC-MAN VR (1996)
Picture
Created for the none-more-90s Virtuality VR system, Pac-Man VR was a four-player experience, which allowed players to talk to one another while inside an "immersive" Pac-Man maze.

Unfortunately, Pac-Man VR appeared towards the end of Virtuality's short-lived presence in arcades, long after the point at which we'd all realised that the technology wasn't quite up to the task, and that we didn't want to thrash around with a bucket on our head while other arcade patrons pointed and laughed at us.
PAC-MAN BATTLE ROYALE (2011)
Picture
Released to coincide with Pac-Man's 30th anniversary, Battle Royale was a four-player competitive take on the original maze game - with powered-up players able to eat their opponents in addition to the ghosts. It featured a rather trip neon-like take on the original visuals, raising even more questions about Pac-Man's insatiable pill-popping. 
PAC-MAN CHOMP MANIA (2013)
Picture
And now we are very much in the modern era; Chomp Mania is a rehash of the original Pac-Man, except that it now dispenses tickets, and treats players to a gaudy light show at points, presumably to distract them from their tragic life choices. 

"Oooh, never mind that you've just sunk twenty quid into me and all it'll get you is a bit of burnt string with a Hulk sticker on it: look at all these flashing lights!!!"
WORLD'S LARGEST PAC-MAN (2015)
Picture
It's the original Pac-Man, but for two players simultaneously, and played on a 9ft tall "billboard", that uses 180 LEDs. You might've seen it if you've had the misfortune to enter a modern arcade; they do a Space Invaders one too.

You know what's a shame? That there was never a Pac-Man game set in Russia, called Pac In The USSR. 

​That's a really good joke.
21 Comments
kyle the dickhead
9/5/2019 10:27:15 am

the biggest problem with baby pacman is that nobody told me about it. who else knows? is it a secret?

Reply
Dan Whitehead
9/5/2019 11:59:26 am

How can you even be a baby and a man at the same time? Is Pac-Man some sort of Benjamin Button style genetic monstrosity?

Reply
MENTALIST
9/5/2019 12:23:50 pm

I thought being both a man and a baby at the same time was something to do with having no sense of perspective with regards to discussing entertainment properties on the internet.

PurpleP
9/5/2019 10:46:20 am

We had a primary school teacher who was a Ms. We were absolutely certain this meant she was a lezzer, although what this was remained unclear. Weren't the 80s shit

Reply
Geebs
9/5/2019 07:26:41 pm

Well, you know, innocence of youth and all that, can’t blame yourselves really...

Wait a sec.....

PRIMARY SCHOOL?

OK stop the planet, I want to get off.

Reply
Robobob
9/5/2019 12:38:34 pm

Basically it looks like if you just change the title of the game and add a new ghost name you can get away with churning out the same stuff? Here are some ideas for new arcade Pac-Man.

Reverend Pac-Man. Special ghost name: Boris
Lord Pac-Man. Special ghost name: Frederick
Captain Pac-Man. Special ghost name: Biggles
Pac-Man Esq. Special ghost na...ok that's enough of that.

I know it's not an arcade game but I was always impressed at Pac-Pix on the DS, because it actually felt like there was a proper point to the touch screen and stylus and all the drawing.

Reply
Jim
9/5/2019 01:15:13 pm

Wolvenstein 3d secret packman level was a lot of fun, a good take on packman, and some how hot sued!

Reply
BodOps
19/5/2019 11:56:44 pm

Hot sued? Sounds delicious!

Reply
Legooolas
9/5/2019 01:42:28 pm

Pac-man Championship is fabulous, but never made it to the arcades as far as I know. Looks very much like it's based on Pac-man Battle Royale in style at least.

Touchscreen controls for it on phones are, of course, unusable.

Reply
robsoft
9/5/2019 02:10:44 pm

I hadn't realised how poor this lot are really; there's Pac-Man, Pac-Land and Pac-Mania. And everything else is re-tread guff.

I used to play a lot of Pac-Mania on my Amiga. But never got on with the joystick - I always wished more Amiga games had keyboard options. Some of us Speccy kids never really got to grips with the joysticks of the era.

And the Heiress To The Overdraft enjoys Pac-Man almost as much as she enjoys Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Which isn't snark - she loves them both.

There. I came, I read the article, I interacted.
I imparted some content of my own. Fair's fair.

Reply
King of Sass
9/5/2019 03:16:58 pm

I played that 'World's Largest Pac-Man' with a co-worker's son recently, and he was awful at it despite being 'really into games'.

Side note: I didn't actually count them but I'm fairly sure it uses more than 180 LEDs.

Reply
Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
9/5/2019 05:49:21 pm

“Really into games” in the same vein as “my grandchild is really into computers and they fixed the Internet once”.

Reply
Spiney O’Sullivan
9/5/2019 06:32:45 pm

Yeah, but odds are the kid would ruin any of us at World’s Largest Fortnite or World’s Largest Any Game That Anyone Not Old Enough To Remember Tony Blair Actually Cares About.

Reply
King of Sass
9/5/2019 10:19:36 pm

Well he can wait thirty years for that just like I did. Until then, I am the champion on the World's-Largest-Arcade scene.

B3tan_Tyronne
9/5/2019 04:13:02 pm

Pacman the boardgame was bobbins :(

Reply
Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
9/5/2019 05:46:44 pm

It would have made more sense (haa) for Tommy to track the ball with his sense of touch detecting where he could feel it rumbling around the table, but Pete Docherty would never have figured that out when he wrote it. What?

I saw World’s Largest Pac-Man in a hotel’s amusement arcade recently (it was the only proper game, everything else was UFO catchers) and don’t understand why. Everyone has big TVs now and you could just get the same experience by buying it on your phone and holding it really close to your face.

Reply
Leigh L.
9/5/2019 06:47:21 pm

Can confirm, the version of Pac & Pal I used to play in a tatty Swansea seafront arcade was called Pac-Man & Chomp-Chomp. I liked the stupid dog, Biffo. What are you going to do about it?

Reply
Phil
9/5/2019 08:21:02 pm

Good job Tommy wasn’t nose deaf as well otherwise he’d have wasted his 10ps. I tried playing pinball using my sense of taste. <<Insert something about balls on your tongue here<<

Reply
MadGaz
13/5/2019 01:27:36 am

There's a Pac-Man air hockey game that's actually pretty good!

Reply
EggyRoo
13/5/2019 12:53:20 pm

If a Russian tourist was abroad on holiday and wanted to adopt a relaxed pace, would they say “slow down, I’m not in a rush-ia” ?

Reply
social marketing link
16/11/2022 04:22:04 am

Click on the given link to read more such post.https://ourtechtime.com/pacman-30th-anniversary/

Thank you

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ