Pac-Man is not just a mere electronic game or just a well-known "face". Much more than that, Pac-Man has become a cultural symbol, both of Japan and video games. The game was first made for Arcade in the early 1980s. Despite having a very simple gameplay, the game became very popular.
The round, yellow character that resembles a pizza runs through a maze trying to collect points and escape from ghosts. This is a brief and explained summary of the game. The game's hope was to attract both girls and boys. And this goal was achieved, with a bit of humor and a beautiful comedic appeal the game became famous.
Índice de Conteúdo
A little bit of the history of amarelão
Toru Iwatani, a designer from the game company called Namco, wanted to create a game that resembled a cartoon. Toru says that his inspiration for creating the character was a pizza he was eating. The pizza was missing two slices, which looked like a mouth. So in 1980, the game was released with the name "Puck-Man."
In the same year, an American company bought the rights to the game. It was then that the main character was renamed Pac-Man. In 1981, the game became famous throughout the American territory. The game surpassed another success, Asteroids, earning over a billion dollars in its first year. Pac-Man was one of the first games to run a major advertising campaign. T-shirts, cups, mugs, sweatshirts, pants, books, board games, and much more were themed after the game.
The game was considered revolutionary for its time. The "Power Up" mechanic was introduced much earlier in Pac-Man than in the "Mario Bros" franchise. This mechanic gives the character a temporary special ability. Another aspect that also drew attention was the artificial intelligence. Each ghost had its own personality and distinct functions in the game. While one would go after Pac-Man, some would try to corner him, and another would only go if the others were close by.
In 1981 two sequels were released, both being basically the same game. The difference was that the main character in one was a female character, in the other was a child version. Over time, new and more modern versions of the game emerged. Until in 1982 an animation based on Pac-Man was produced, and in 1987 it arrived in Brazil, being broadcast by TV Bandeirantes.
Some facts about Pac-Man
- Billy Mitchell holds the record for completing the game in 6 hours, achieving a score of 3,333,360 points without dying once.
- In the first 18 months, more than 350,000 Pac-Man arcade machines were sold. Leading to almost a billion dollars;
- The original ghosts in the game have names: Blinky the red, Inky the blue, Pinky the pink, and Clyde the orange;
- The original game was only 24 KB in size;
- The character also had exhalation on Popeye, who ate and grew strong;
- In 1981, a song called "Pac-Man Fever" was released, which sold over 2.5 million copies;
- Pac-Man was the best-selling game for the Atari 2600 console, with over 7 million copies sold.
Have you ever played any pac-man game? Did you know its story? Let us know in the comments what you think and share the article on social media.
