Who here has not played or at least heard about the video game Pacman. When it was launched, Pacman used to be one of the most played video games. Pacman is an entertaining, engaging, and non-violent videogame of this generation loved by people of all age groups.
There is a theory, or I should say conspiracy theory around Pacman, that it was designed and launched to attract girls and ladies to arcade games as it is the popular opinion that girls are not as much into video games as boys are, we will read about it later in the article.
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Who created Pacman?
Toru Iwatani was the person who designed and created the arcade game Pac-Man. He was born in the Meguro region of Tokyo, Japan, on the 25th of January, 1955. He did not receive any formal education in computers, programming, or graphic designing, but he taught himself well enough to create and design a game. Toru Iwatani spent most of his career working for NAMCO, the multinational entertainment company that published Pac-Man. Toru Iwatani published the first version of Pacman.
When and who published the Pacman?
Namco published Pacman in the year 1980.
However, in the year 2005, Namco was merged with another company named Bandai.
Bandai Namco is a multinational Entertainment video game publisher located in Japan with headquarters in Minato-Ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment United States Of America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are located in California at Santa Clara (United States of America) and France (Europe) at Lyon.
How to play the Pacman Game?
Pacman is a Japanese video game in which there is a maze where there is a yellow color pizza-shaped figure that is supposed to eat all the dots that are also called power pellets available in the maze by protecting itself from the three villains or ghosts that are behind it and are trying to eat it. A few immunity balls are also provided in the maze, which are like big circles blinking on the screen, which give Pacman the ability to eat the villains for a few seconds. Traditionally three lives are available. Once a player exhausts all the lives, the game gets over, and the player has to restart. The game is played using the four arrow keys; up, down, right, and left.
The Up arrow key moves the caricature of the pizza upwards, the downward arrow keys take it down, the left arrow key moves the pizza toward the left, and the right arrow key takes the pizza to the right. Some fruits are also provided in the game from time to time which speeds up the movement of the yellow color main character.
Pacman 30th Anniversay
The Pacman 30th anniversary was celebrated in 2010 since it was conceptualised in the year 1980.
To mark and celebrate the 30th anniversary of Pacman, a peek in the history of this game has been taken. A simple but fun game that did not require heavy hardware instruments. It was available in arcade parlors and salons; one could play this game by inserting a coin in the arcade machine.
The 1980s were known as the “Golden Age of Video games” because people started getting domestic personal computers. Computers were available only for academic-related fellows, scientists, and researchers. But now the times were changing.
Trivia Regarding Pacman
Pacman commenced its development in 1979 and took one year and five months to be completed. That is the longest ever for a video game at that time. The main designer of the game, Toru Iwatani, was supported and helped by nine other Namco employees who collaborated with him to assist in the production and designing of the game, the other nine people included Toshio Kai, who was a composer, Shigeo Funaki, who was a programmer and also a hardware engineer Shigeichi Ishimura. With utmost care, it was kept in mind to make the game fascinate and engage a “non-violent” mass, especially girls, with its usage and inclusion of prosaic gameplay interface and attractive characters.
Pacman Doodle
For the people who feel nostalgic about Pacman, the beloved game of the 80s, the Pacman doodle game is available on Google. To play, one only has to type “Pacman” in the Google search box, and the game will appear on the screen, click on the play button to play and relive your childhood days. The screen can be increased by pressing the ctrl+plus key.
Why was Pacman Loved?
Here are some thoughts about the Pacman on its 30th anniversary by the folks that enjoyed the fun-loving game.
- Nidhi- I used to play Pacman on my computer. I had several series of games. It was an excellent time-pass and gave positive vibes as it did not have any violent actions and weapons like the other games and games of today.
- Vanika- I remember going to arcade parlors in Tokyo to play the Pacman game. It was fascinating and engaging.
- Aradhita- I have not played the original version of the game, but I am very fond of the Google-Doodle version of the Pacman. I play it in between my office breaks. It is simple and a good time pass.
Even after decades, we can see that the legacy of Pacman is still alive, and it is still loved by many.
