Pac-Man might be one of the most iconic video games of all time, an arcade classic that basically everyone has played once, but who created Pac-Man? The game is simple enough to have been coded by a single developer, but has also been produced and distributed by some of the biggest names in the gaming industry. So who was the original mind behind Pac-Man?
Pac-Man, originally called Puck Man was created by Toru Iwatani. Iwatani was a game developer for arcade giant Namco, after their acquisition of Atari in Japan. In a time where many arcade games were shooter and combat based, he set out to create something more with more broad appeal that didn’t involve violence.
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The story behind Pac-Man’s design is two-fold. The most commonly told one is that Iwatani made Pac-Man’s design after noticing that a missing slice from a pizza at lunch looked like an open mouth. The second half that’s less commonly told requires you to know a little Japanese! The character for “mouth” (口) “kuchi” when rounded out looks like a circle, giving Pac-Man that circular mouth design.
While English versions originally called him Puck Man, as we’ve gone over, the design is less hockey puck and more pizza slice. In Japanese, the onomatopoeia for opening and closing your mouth very fast is “paku paku taberu”. Shortening this, “Pakkuman” became Pac-Man.
Pac-man is now one of gaming’s hall of famers. Making appearances in other Namco (now Bandai Namco or “Bamco”) titles. Such as Tekken Tag Tournament and even Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS and Ultimate thanks to Bamco publishing.
The simple design of Pac-man and his Casper the friendly ghost inspired enemies have had a somewhat divisive transition into 3D. Having the franchise experimenting with some 3D takes on the maze formula. He’s even had spin-off adventure platformer titles and is now a family man thanks to Ms. Pac-Man, and Jr. Pac-Man.
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But the majority of the Pac-Man games are revamps and touch ups of the original formula. The series may have started in 1980, but as late as 2024, games are still being released to the series on a plethora of consoles and even mobile.
Unfortunately some of these games are lost to time, like the limited run Pac-Man 99. Unlike Tetris 99, which remains active, Pac-Man 99’s Battle Royal survival version of Pac-Man was discontinued online October 8, 2023.
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