Pacman is the greatest selling arcade game of all time, and is arguably
the most well-known video character. It had its own cartoon, lunch
box, board game, and hundreds of other products. Pacman was also the
first game to have a “character”, and changed the face video games forever. Pacman was the first video game to be as equally popular to women as it was with men.
the most well-known video character. It had its own cartoon, lunch
box, board game, and hundreds of other products. Pacman was also the
first game to have a “character”, and changed the face video games forever. Pacman was the first video game to be as equally popular to women as it was with men.
It was designed by Toru Iwantani and programmed by Hideyuki Mokajima and crew in 1980. Pacman was conceived at lunchtime. literally. The designer was very hungry, and ordered a whole pizza for himself. He took one slice, and Pacman was born.
The name Pacman is derived from the Japanese slang word “paku-paku”, which means “to eat”. The game was called “Puckman” in Japan, but due to American’s predilection with changing words to vulgarities by scratching part of the word off (Puck to…well, you know), it was changed to Pacman.
To give the game some tension, some clever AI was programmed into the game. The ghosts would group up, attack the player, then disperse. Each ghost had its own AI. Blinky chases Pacman, Pinky is positioned a few dots in front of Pacman’s mouth. The others move randomly.
The game took 1 1/2 years to complete, and had five people on its team.