Who has not ever played the popular ‘Pacman‘? Pac-Man video game that has made thousands of versions and adaptations, now 30 years old. Indeed, it was the May 22, 1980 when the program created by game designer Toru Iwatani Namco for the company began to be distributed by Midway Games in the United States, becoming one of the best known and played video games throughout the world. This is the story of the good old Pac-Man.
In the late 1970s, the supply of games for gaming machines was pretty stagnant. Despite still be a very profitable business, much of the available games seemed to be mere “clones” of “Space Invaders” or some sort of space combat. The players began to get bored of shooting pixelated Martians, and demanded something new. In this context appeared with new game mechanics, Pac-Man, and it was completely different to anything known.
Pac-Man is a product of the Japanese company Namco. The idea of the game was born in 1979, when Toru Iwanati, a young game designer who worked 25 years at that company, was eating. According to legend, Iwanati had just cut a pizza when, to take the first portion, looked what was left of it: a circle with a sort of mouth. At the time he got the idea for a new video game. In early 1980, with the help of programmer Shigeo Funaki and three other company employees, Toru finished programming the videogame, which was dubbed “Puck-Man”, the same name which was its main character. In Japanese, “Puck” comes from the onomatopoeia paku, which corresponds to the sound that occurs when opening and closing the mouth, which is very appropriate for a character who spent all his time eating “pills” white in a maze. On 10 May of that year began to be distributed in the Japanese market, becoming an instant success. Quick reflexes, game maker Midway bought the rights to commercialize in the United States, but decided to rename it. Midway makers feared that some users too “creative” scrape some of the “P” for “Puck” to convert the name recorded in the cabinets of the arcade machines in “*uck-Man.” Thus was born finally “Pac-Man.”
The reaction of users Iwanati before the game was overwhelming, surprising even its creators.Even the President and founder of Namco Masaya Nakamura, at the time said “I never imagined that Pac-Man were to become an international success of these proportions. Even people who do not know anything about games, know what is Pac-Man. Definitely not imagine that it would become the success it has become. ”
As mentioned, the underlying premise of the game was unlike anything he had seen so far. A yellow disc with an enormous mouth ran a maze eating white dots. Labyrinth also dwelt called Shadow four ghosts (Blinky), Speedy (Pinky), Bashful (Inky) and Pokey (Clyde), who roamed the halls trying to eat a Pac-Man. These ghosts were, respectively, red, pink, blue and orange. Each had a slightly different behavior. While Blinky was very fast and effectively chasing Pac-Man, Inky was quite slow and often avoided meeting with the main character. Labyrinth also had four “legs” which provided larger Pac-Man “for a few seconds, the ability to” eat “the ghosts.When it ran out of white dots, Pac-Man went to the next level. Despite its simplicity (or thanks to) the game became extremely popular.
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