Pac-Man franchise turns 41 years old.

[mrkonasoni]

|UUDDLRLRAB + Start 》》|

Pac-Man franchise turns 41 years old.
I wanted to talk a bit about Pac-Man a few months ago but I thought it was better just wait till the anniversary.

What can I say about Pac-Man?
Sincerely I think the original game is still a good example of timeless game concept that is still fun and memorable, nowadays.

I agree that new generations will struggle understanding what made some older products special at the time, but I want to believe Pac-Man is one of the videogames from the 80s that is still and will be still fun in the future.

About other games, I have always liked other Pac-Man games like these ones:

- Pac-Man 2 The New Adventure (SNES)
- Pac-Attack (Genesis)
- Pac-Man World (PSX)
- Pac-Man Arrangement (PSP)
- Pac-Pix (NDS)
- Pac-Roll (NDS)
- Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (PS3)
- Pac-Man 256 (PS4)
- Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (PS4)

After all, Pac-Man is one of the first times a videogame became a worldwide icon and up to this day people that have never liked videogames at all is still discovering the classic concept and enjoying it just like the first day it became available back then in 1980.

Happy anniversary Pac-Man
Let's hope for other 40 years of enjoyment with the classic Pizza boy.

[weirdfeline]

PAC-MAN 99 is pretty fun. I seem to always place around 13-17.

[kamikazekeeg]

I've never been a huge fan of Pac-Man, those kind of endlessly playable games done for points, it's just one of those games that has always been around, I would play it here or there every so often, though that being said, I'd love nothing more than to have a Pac-Man Cocktail table, there's just something iconic about that to me.

[mrkonasoni]

- Answering to @weirdfeline

Sincerely Pac-Man 99 was a good idea, mostly because they didn't hesitate to include stuff from the Championship Edition games, I do think the DLCs packs are too expensive, though.

I assume PlayStation and Xbox consoles will get that Battle Royale game for Stadia that was released last year.

- Answering to @kamikazekeeg

I always thought the original concept was fun and in the 2000s I remember magazines and tv shows mentioning that Pac-Man was an icon for gaming, the original game is good for burn time or just relax and I think it's indeed better than other endless games from the 80s.

I guess I also like the character because his inspiration was a half-eaten pizza and pizza with Pepsi is my absolutely favorite food.

[Flashback2012]

It's too bad Pacpix isn't around to contribute to this thread.

I've always been a Pac-Man fan (a Pac-Maniac if you will). My favorite one to play is the sped-up Ms. Pac-Man though finding a port of it outside of MAME seems next to impossible as Namco doesn't care for it.

Here recently I picked up one of those Arcade1Up machines off of Facebook which was for the 40th Anniversary of Pac-Man. It's nice but I was in Best Buy yesterday and saw they released a new one just recently called the Legacy Edition. It has all the games mine does + more AND the marquee lights up (mine does not). 

Anywho, I have one of those Ikea Detolf glass display cases and one of the shelves is dedicated to Pac-Man (the other three being Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Mickey Mouse & Friends, and Superman). Here's a pic I took late last year...



I've got a lot more stuff and could have just about filled the whole case with Pac-Man merch but wanted to have just a hint of diversity. 

[pzeke]

I guess I also like the character because his inspiration was a half-eaten pizza and pizza with Pepsi is my absolutely favorite food.

That's actually only a half-truth, but as someone who also likes pizza just as much as those anthropomorphic reptilians in a half a shell, I don't have a problem believing it. However, if we're to go technical with it, the power pellets were inspired by the way Popeye ate his spinach to power-up, so food is still part of the equation.

Anyway, I lived through the golden era of arcades and very much enjoyed playing Pac-Man back then, and to this day still do on occasion. I've always liked the character and it pretty much was a big part of my childhood and the gamer I am today.

Waka-waka-waka.

[undertakerprime]

When it comes to the original Pac-Man, I honestly didn’t play the arcade game that much. I did have the Atari 2600 version which I know gets a lot of shit nowadays but I did squeeze some enjoyment out of it.

Now, Ms. Pac-Man is where I got into it. When I was growing up in southern California there was a restaurant in Irvine called Lucy’s where my parents and I would often have lunch on weekends. They had a Ms. Pac-Man cocktail game in their waiting room, and our favorite waitress would give me a quarter to play it if I gave her a peck on the cheek (I was 7, it was an innocent thing. Nowadays there might be rules against things like that, but I don’t know).

I played Pac-Man Jr and Super Pac-Man often. I loved the video/pinball hybrid Baby Pac-Man even though it was hard as balls. I watched the cartoon every Saturday morning and ate the cereal, which was really yummy. I remember I was baffled by the existence of Mezmaron in the show, since there was no such character in the games, but my favorite character was Blinky, who I always felt sorry for and wanted to hug him to make him feel better (in contrast to his aggressive game version).

I still have my Tomytronic tabletop Pac-Man game that I’ve been wanting to add to my collection but apparently it’s not on the site yet. I’d add mine but it’s currently in my parents’ basement hundreds of miles away.

[mrkonasoni]

- Answering to @Flashback2012

Since the first day I seen Pac-Pix back then in the 2000s, I thought it was a pretty clever concept also based on something a lot of us will relate, like drawing a humble Pac-Man sketch.
I remember one of the ports for MS.Pac-Man for the NES included the turbo mechanics as well an ending, and it make the concept funnier.

Thank you for sharing a pic of your Pac-Man collection, It´s pretty great.

- Answering to @pzzeke

Oh, I didn´t knew that, I should check up again soon, I hope someone make a good documental for the franchise even if it includes stuff that is general culture at this point.
I also love the TMNT, from the shows, to the comics, to movies, to videogames, playing with the Ninja Turtles in Injustice 2 is pretty great.

Thank you for sharing your story with the character.

- Answering to @undertakerprime

That´s a pretty wholesome story, pal, thank you for sharing.
I remember reading that at the time newspapers reviewers weren´t too impressed with Atari 2600 port, either, but I have never thought it´s that bad, I guess is because I understand the developers did what they could with an old limited hardware.

About the Tomytronic, I don´t believe is the same gadget but pretty much most versions of Retroarch includes a free download for that version of the game if you want to re-play and burn some time.

-

Thank you very much to everyone that posted here.

[Flashback2012]

- Answering to @Flashback2012

Since the first day I seen Pac-Pix back then in the 2000s, I thought it was a pretty clever concept also based on something a lot of us will relate, like drawing a humble Pac-Man sketch.
I remember one of the ports for MS.Pac-Man for the NES included the turbo mechanics as well an ending, and it make the concept funnier.

Thank you for sharing a pic of your Pac-Man collection, It´s pretty great.

Derp...I forgot there was a DS game with the same name. Pacpix is/was a member/mod-admin on here. I'm pretty sure school/life got in the way of things and I haven't seen him post here in a little bit (shows his last login around April of this year but no new posts for about 2 years now). Maybe we can throw some power-pellets inside a pentagram and summon him back here. 

Anywho, back onto the subject matter...one particular "holy grail" of mine is to own a Coleco Pac-Man table top. We had one when I was a kid and I'd love to own one again.  Now that I have my Arcade1Up unit set up, I'd set it on top of it for the whole "Don't talk to me or my son ever again!" meme. 

[kashell]

It's aight.

[pzeke]

It's aight.

You're so hip, and so kewl.

Anywho...

- Answering to @pzzeke

Oh, I didn´t knew that, I should check up again soon, I hope someone make a good documental for the franchise even if it includes stuff that is general culture at this point.
I also love the TMNT, from the shows, to the comics, to movies, to videogames, playing with the Ninja Turtles in Injustice 2 is pretty great.

Thank you for sharing your story with the character.

Netflix has a documentary named "High Score" about classic video games that touches up on Pac-Man. One particular fact about the game is that it was created to essentially attract women to the world of gaming. Iwatari has stated before that he had women in mind because video games were dominated by men, where most games involved things like "shooting dead aliens". He thought arcades were "dark and dirty" places with no games for women, so he wanted to change that with a game that would help bring them to arcades. This approach was a success given women comprised the majority of people who played the game, and it would eventually help spur the creation of Ms. Pac-Man...although the event that lead to the development of that game is a whole different story. Overall, this is a fact that I genuinely like and appreciate, especially given the landscape we're all currently stuck in.

[kashell]

It's aight.

You're so hip, and so kewl.

That's the tea.

[sworddude]

OG pacman is boring imo not my kinda game but I appreciate what pacman has done for the industry aka we might have had allot less withouth it.

[pzeke]

OG pacman is boring imo

Blasphemy! You're a heathen!

All kidding aside, true, Pac-Man helped revolutionize the medium.

[Flashback2012]

OG pacman is boring imo

Blasphemy! You're a heathen!

All kidding aside, true, Pac-Man helped revolutionize the medium.

Burn the heretic! 

I do get what he's saying though I also understand the comment is made from someone in 2021 who may or may not have been around in 1980 and experienced gaming as it was back then. It hits differently for me I guess being an old fart who was around back then.