Pac-Man



Inspired over a lunch of pizza, Pac-Man began life in the arcades in 1980. After being overlooked by "experts" who judged Namco's Rally-X to be the better of the two games, Pac-Man went on to unprecedented success and became an icon in Japan and in America. Pac-Man's game play was a stark and refreshing contrast to the space aged shoot'em ups that were popular at the time. Pac-mania became a phenomenon and video games' first mascot was met with an insatiable demand.

Atari snapped up the rights to bring the arcade hit home, and let down millions of fans with a sub-par conversion on Atari's most popular home system, the Atari 2600. However, they did produce a far better conversion for their home computer systems and the Atari 5200 (if you can overlook the controls.) From there, Pac-Man has gone on to grace just about every system that has ever been manufactured in some form or another.

While Pac-Man's popularity has died down today in comparison to the early 80s, he is still a recognizable figure, and has appeared on just about every form of merchandising available. His legacy continues on the latest generation platforms with ever expanding adventures, and while they capture the good natured quality of our little yellow hero, they can never outshine the accomplishment of the original game.

Story
Actually, there's not much of a story at all. Despite Pac-Man's popularity, an official explination as to why Pac-Man had to run through a maze and gobble all of the dots and avoid the ghosts, has never been provided. Feel free to make up your own.

At a glance

 * You control Pac-Man through the maze with the joystick.
 * You must eat every dot and energizer to advance to the next stage.
 * You must avoid contact with the ghosts while they are their normal color.
 * If you eat an energizer, the ghosts will turn blue, and you may eat them for bonus points until they turn back to their normal color.
 * Ghosts travel at half speed through the side escape tunnels. Use them to get away.
 * A fruit or item will appear below the ghost pen twice per stage for bonus points.

In depth

 * Controls & Characters
 * Gameplay tips
 * Arcade patterns
 * Home version comparisons

Box artwork
Pac-Man has been released on many different systems, and has accumulated a wide range of box artwork, some of which is displayed below.

Pac-Man Fever Lyrics
Just for fun, here are the lyrics from the title track of 1982 Pac-Man Fever Album:

I got a pocket full of quarters, and I'm headed to the arcade. I don't have a lot of money, but I'm bringing ev'rything I made. I've got a callus on my finger, and my shoulder's hurting too. I'm gonna eat them all up, just as soon as they turn blue.

Chorus: 'Cause I've got Pac-Man fever; (Pac-Man fever.) It's driving me crazy. (Driving me crazy.) I've got Pac-Man fever; (Pac-Man fever.) I'm going out of my mind. (Going out of my mind.) I've got Pac-Man fever; (Pac-Man fever.) I'm going out of my mind. (Going out of my mind.)

I've got all the patterns down, up until the ninth key. I've got Speedy on my tail, and I know it's either him or me. So I'm heading out the back door and in the other side; Gonna eat the cherries up and take them all for a ride.

Chorus

I'm gonna fake it to the left, and move to the right; 'Cause Pokey's too slow, and Blinky's out of sight.

Guitar solo

Now I've got them on the run, and I'm looking for the high score; So it's once around the block, And I'll slide back out the side door. I'm really cookin' now, eating everything in sight. All my money's gone, so I'll be back tomorow night.

Chorus (repeat til fade.)