General and Gaming > Classic Video Games
The Anomaly of PAC-MAN
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indenton:
Now I wouldn't classify myself as a retro gamer, but I do have a great appreciation for the retro scene and the huge strives in game design which were made during the time.  PAC-MAN is a solid example.  Now here's my issue:



PAC-MAN hit arcades in the US & Japan in 1980.  That's the US & Japan... what happened with the EU.  The date of Pac-Man's debut in EU is almost intentionally avoided on the wikipedia entries.  The earliest arcade release in Europe I can uncover is Pac-Mania in 1987?  Does anybody have another source, it couldn't of taken 7 years for Pac-Man to make the scene in Europe, could it?!
davifus:
Maybe, It wasn't that popular in EU.

Best Pac Man Stage Music

pacpix:
Hell yeah!  Pac & Pal is severely underrated.  My personal favorite game of the classic arcade series.

As for the arcade release of Pac-Man in the EU I have never actually thought about it before.  It would seem strange to me that it would take so long to be released there considering how popular it was, but I know little about EU games and even less about the arcade scene.  Even if it didn't make it over in arcade form until Pac-Mania I'd imagine there were some home ports or clones released before then.
sin2beta:

--- Quote from: indenton on February 04, 2016, 12:06:43 pm ---Now I wouldn't classify myself as a retro gamer, but I do have a great appreciation for the retro scene and the huge strives in game design which were made during the time.  PAC-MAN is a solid example.  Now here's my issue:



PAC-MAN hit arcades in the US & Japan in 1980.  That's the US & Japan... what happened with the EU.  The date of Pac-Man's debut in EU is almost intentionally avoided on the wikipedia entries.  The earliest arcade release in Europe I can uncover is Pac-Mania in 1987?  Does anybody have another source, it couldn't of taken 7 years for Pac-Man to make the scene in Europe, could it?!

--- End quote ---

It's not too surprising to me that it was released in the EU much later. Taking arcades out of your country is difficult. Shipping is probably the biggest thing. I might be wrong on this, but I believe Nolan Bushnell commented that taking his arcades to Japan was on of his biggest regrets. Marketing and placement is a whole other thing too. You almost need a distributor.
fazerco:
The problem may be that here there weren't many arcade halls.
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