Its light-hearted originality and simplicity - players needed only to move a joystick - made it an immediate hit. by Midway, a division of Bally, and it reached American shores in October 1980, at a time when shooter games such as Space Invaders ruled the arcades. Pac-Man was licensed for distribution in the U.S. It was a novel concept in gaming that wasn't being developed at that time. For example, Blinky likes to chase while Pinky lurks in ambush. Eventually, 'Pac' was suggested as an alternate name."ĭevelopers also created the four colorful ghosts, Pinky, Blinky, Inky and Clyde, with distinct personalities. "Given the closeness to a certain explicit four-letter word, a lot of arcade operators were worried that vandals would alter the letter P. "The original Japanese name was Puckman, which evolved from the Japanese word paku, meaning 'chomp,' " Hisatsune said. Even his name was changed once he crossed the Pacific Ocean. The ghosts were initially called monsters, and Pac-Man ate cookies instead of the familiar dots. It took eight people 15 months to complete the orginal Japanese game, which was slightly different than the versions people would later play overseas. As the legend goes, Iwatani was inspired by his partially eaten pizza pie and turned it into a gaming character: a big yellow dot that gobbled up smaller dots, and avoided four deadly ghosts, as it careened through a maze. The original arcade classic was imagined by Namco developer Toru Iwatani in 1979, although it didn't reach the U.S until the fall of 1980. "The original arcade cabinet was able to strike the perfect balance between challenge and fun without sacrificing depth or scope." "Pac-Man's debut represents one of the earliest attempts to introduce casual gaming to a field that was already dominated by shooters and high-energy arcade experiences," said Scott Steinberg, head of video game consulting firm TechSavvy Global. Many credit Pac-Man, an iconic symbol of the '80s, with expanding video gaming to a wider audience. The pop-culture sensation, released in Japan 30 years ago this week, created millions of glazed-eye addicts and spawned more than 400 products, including a cartoon, a breakfast cereal and a hit song. This simple premise gave birth to Pac-Man, the most successful coin-operated video game in history. He turns and flees, but soon discovers an additional source of power that briefly turns him from hunted into hunter. As he rounds a corner, he is confronted by ghostlike monsters attempting to wipe him out. (CNN) - A rotund, voracious figure follows a trail through a maze.
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