Pac-Man

Article by: Alex Stuart (Linearity)
Pictured from: Pac-Man World
Created by: Namco
First appearance: 1980

Bio

Pac-Man is the character controlled by players of the singularly popular arcade game Pac-Man. He is a spherical yellow man with an apparent ability to eat without limit. In this game, Pac-Man traverses circuitous mazes while eating small, white pellets and being chased by four brightly-colored ghosts.

Pac-Man's character has not been much developed, and this can be expected from the game's capitalization on action and puzzle-solving rather than story. However, it is revealed in the arcade game Ms. Pac-Man (released by Midway without authorization from Namco, Pac-Man's original creators) that he has a romantic interest of the same name as well as a child, both of whom are round, yellow people like him. In Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, Pac-Man's various moods play a role in gameplay. In Pac-Man World, Pac-Man travels to one Ghost Island to rescue his friends from a nemesis called Toc-Man.

The original Pac-Man is among the most widely played video games ever made. Many who have played no other video game have played Pac-Man at some point. This is arguably due to the universal accessibility of its gameplay. Whatever the source of its popularity, Pac-Man is for many people a definitive video game.

Selected game appearances

Arcade

• Pac-Man (1980)
• Ms. Pac-Man (1981)
• Super Pac-Man (1982)

Super NES

• Pac-Attack (1993)
• Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (1994)

PlayStation

• Pac-Man World (1999)

PlayStation 2

• Pac-Man World 2 (2002)
• Pac-Man World 3 (2005)

References

• Wikipedia - "Pac-Man"
• Pac-Man World instruction manual
• 1st Church of Pac-Man
• GameSpot - "The History of Pac-Man"