The game that ate the world: 40 facts on Pac-Man's 40th birthday - MW

It was on this day in 1980 that one of the game's most iconic characters made its first appearance. To celebrate, here are 40 facts about his fierce yellow circle and his proud, outstanding heritage

1. Pac-Man was created by game designer Toru Iwatani - he was 24 at the time. The idea for the character came to him when he removed a slice of pizza.

2. He was also inspired in part by the phrase onomatopoeic paku paku which means chomp chomp chomp and the kanji symbol for the word taberu meaning to eat to eat.

3. In 2010, Iwatani told Wired that Pac-Man was specifically aimed at female players. When you think about things that women like, you think about fashion, or fortune telling, or food or dating your boyfriend. So I decided on a game theme around ‘eat meat. There is absolutely no problem with this statement

4. To make the game more cute (Cute,), Iwatani designed ghosts with bright colors and gave them big eyes.

5. The ghosts are called Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde and each has their own personality based on AI habits. Blinky keeps chasing after Pac-Man, Pinky tries to ambush him, Inky is randomly selected depending on where Pac-Man is and Clyde will approach the player then try to flee to the lower left corner, having the ability to cut off exits.

6. The idea of ​​eating a power pill to give Pac-Man super strength came partly from the cartoon Popeye and his love of spinach, and partly from the Japanese concept of kokoro ("spirit") or life force. Consider considered one of the first examples of a "power up" in video game history.

7. Pac-Man manufacturer Namco installed the first machine in a movie theater in Shibuya, Tokyo, on 22 May 1980.

8. The game was only a moderate success until its blockbusting US launch the following October.

9. It was originally called Puck Man, but the US distributor Midway was worried that the word Puck could easily be modified by mischievous vandals into something ruder. Hence, Pac-Man.

10. The game features short animated sequences between levels, showing Pac-Man being chased by the ghosts. This was one of the first examples of a non-interactive video game "cutscene".

11. Martin Amis was a fan of the game and in his 1982 book Invasion of the Space Invaders Age to have spent weeks in "a Pac-Man-fed stupor [...] unwilling and unable to think about anything else".

12. Within a year of Pac-Man’s launch, 100,000 units had been sold and 250m games were being played every week. Pac-Man became gaming’s first marketable mascot, with licensed merchandise including lunchboxes, joke books, T-shirts, board games, pajamas and, for the romantic gamer, Valentine cards.

13. Strategic guide for the game, Mastering Pac-Man by professional blackjack player Ken Uston, has sold over 1 million copies.

14. With simple mazes and block images, the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man is considered one of the worst arcade-to-home console conversions of all time. Although it sold 7 million copies, the game was very bad, it was widely blamed for the 1983 video game crash, besides the same poor title, ET.

15. Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy created a famous, beautiful handheld Pac-Man game with the shape of a giant yellow spot with an LCD screen. Advertising for this device is quite in a hurry.

16. Songs in memory of Pac-Man Fever by artists Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia reached number 9 on the US charts in March 1982. An album of songs inspired by video games continues. follow. It was not good.

17. Special electronic music games and sound effects are also an inspiration for early hip-hop pioneers. Notable examples include Jonzun crew Jam Pack and Newcleus Gang Jam on revenge (Wikki-Wikki Song).

18. The game gave us this Marcus Brigstocke joke: Born If Pac-Man had influenced us as a child, we would have run around the dark room, chewing medicine and listening to electronic music over and over .

19. In 1981, Japanese manufacturer Shoei released a horrific erotic Pac-Man version of Pac-Man called Streaking. It was later featured in the movie Joysticks, a 1980s teen sex comedy genre popularized by Porky. Here is the movie trailer. Please don't see it.

20. The film also has preview footage of Super Pac-Man, Namco, the official sequel to the original game.

21. In a 1982 sitcom Taxi episode, Louie (Daniel DeVito) installs a Pac-Man closet in the garage and Jim (Christopher Lloyd) becomes addicted to the game. This scene is really a tutorial on how to make and advertise for Pac-Man rolled into one.




22. Pac-Man was a major element in the appalling Adam Sandler comedy Pixels, with Toru Iwatani getting a cameo as an arcade repairman. But let’s just forget about that, shall we?

23. In 1999, Billy Mitchell became the first person to obtain a perfect Pac-Man score of 3,333,360, eating every dot, power pill, ghost and bonus on every level without losing a single life. However, Mitchell was later accused of cheating by video game records supervisor Twin Galaxies. The record was equalled by David Race in 2012.

24. It is impossible to score higher than that because because of a bug in the game that turns the screen to gibberish on the 256th screen.

25. The success of Pac-Man inspired US distributor Bally Midway to create a series of mostly identical sequels: Ms Pac-Man, Pac-Man Plus, Jr Pac-Man, Baby Pac-Man (which added a mini pinball table under the monitor) and Professor Pac-Man.

26. Professor Pac-Man was a quiz game depicting Pac-Man in a mortar board and glasses. It was not a success.

27. In 1982, Hanna-Barbera produced a Pac-Man cartoon series. It features Pac-Man, Ms Pac-Man, their child Pac-Baby and their cat Sour Puss as they attempt to elude the evil Mezmaron who is obsessed with power pills. The intro sequence is a work of hallucinogenic brilliance.

28. In his book Trigger Happy, writer Steven Poole suggested Pac-Man was a precursor to survivor horror games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill due to its confined, maze-like map, supernatural enemies and emphasis on evasion.

29. In corporate parlance, "the Pac-Man defense" is a strategy in which a company targeted for a hostile takeover attempts to turn the tables and purchase the acquirer.

30. Ms Pac-Man is widely considered a better game than Pac-Man, due to the more varied maze design and improved ghost AI.

31. However, it is most remembered for the image on the side of the game cabinet, which depicts Ms Pac-Man with high heels, red lipstick and fluttering eyelashes, making her the decade’s most bizarre and confusing sex symbol. And, bearing in mind we quite talking about the 80s, that’s really saying something.

32. In the Friends episode The One Where Joey Dates Rachel, Phoebe gives Chandler and Monica a pristine Ms Pac-Man cabinet as a late wedding present - a generous gift as it would have cost about $ 2,500.

33. Namco has regularly attempted to update and expand the Pac-Man concept. Sometimes this has worked (scrolling platformers Pac-Land and Pac in Time, and the isometrically viewed Pac-Mania); sometimes it really hasn’t (risible party game Pac-Man Fever and mystifying off-road driving sim Pac-Man World Rally).

34. Pac-Man has also appeared as a playable guest character in many other games, including Everybody’s Golf, Mario Kart Arcade GP and Street Fighter X Tekken. He stars as the world’s cutest racing car in Ridge Racer Type 4.

35. Swiss tech company ClearSpace is developing a satellite capable of orbiting Earth and gobbling up space junk. The project leader nicknamed it "the Pac-Man system".

36. In 2004, New York University students created a real-world version of Pac-Man called Pac-Manhattan, in which a player dressed as Pac-Man had to run around the city educated students dressed as ghosts. The game used mobile phone GPS signals to track their positions.

37. French street artist Invader has created several mosaic works featuring the Pac-Man character and ghosts, notably in Paris and Bilbao.

38. For his spring / summer 2009 collection, fashion designer Giles Deacon dressed the models in gigantic Pac-Man helmets and had dots painted along the runway.

39. In 2012, Pac-Man was one of 14 video games brought into the collection at MoMA in New York and displayed in its architecture and design gallery.

40. Toru Iwatani returned to Pac-Man in 2007, co-designing the brilliant Xbox title Pac-Man Championship Edition, which adds a time limit and an endlessly transforming maze layout. It was a fitting end to his Pac-Man odyssey.