DON’T MISS THE NEXT ISSUE! ON SALE 14 MAY
h, gaming’s greatest glutton...
and sole icon based on a pizza
with a missing slice.
Well, maybe. Pac-Man creator
Toru Iwatani’s anecdote about an inspirational
lunch has become wrapped up in myth... but
he’s also said that the character’s design was
inspired by the Japanese word for mouth. This
was down to the game being an attempt to
create some family-friendly entertainment
that would attract more women to arcades
and thus make them less seedy. Also, he
thought women really liked desserts, so an
eating game would appeal. Or something.That sounds a bit sexist. You won’t catch
modern games getting caught in that trap!
Raised eyebrow emoji... still, whatever its
origins, Pac-Man – dubbed Puck Man until
US distributors realised gamers in those seedy
arcades might get ‘creative’ by scratching out
part of the first word – got something right.
After a slow start in Japan, where players
preferred Galaxian, its popularity soared.
And now Pac-Man is the best-selling arcade
game of all time. Hundreds of thousands
of machines gulped down billions of coins,
helping the little muncher to become the
AAA mega-hit of his day.Hey, steady on. Retro games are fine, but
Pac-Man is a long way from a AAA title.
Arguably, it went further than today’s AAA
games – through innovating and influencing
countless other titles. It had advanced visuals
(colour sprites rather than cellophane strips),
cut-scenes and AI enemies with individual
personalities... and a bug that glitched out the
game at level 256, creating a real challenge for
hardcore nutters. But most of all, Pac-Man,
unlike most of its contemporaries, remains
distinctive and objectively fun. How many
of today’s AAA titles will we be saying that
about in 2060?
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]RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES 1980Pac-Man
A
Wolf Pac
FPS pioneer John
Romero is a big fan of the
dot-gobbler, to the extent
that episode 3 of Wolfenstein
3D got its own Pac-Man
floor, complete with
the original game’s
maze layout.