Once the game was released in the United States, several things were changed. The game was changed to Puck Man before release due to the shape of the character. Iwatani wanted his game to appeal to a far wider demographic, which led him to add both the maze element of the game as well as the ‘kawaii’ ghost enemies (Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde). Up until this point in time, the most popular arcade games (such as Asteroids and Space Invaders) were primarily targeted towards and enjoyed by young boys and teenagers. Speaking of eating, the inspiration behind Pac-Man consuming food to gain power was reportedly derived from Popeye. In short – exactly what the Pac-Man character does to eat up his delicious dots. This is a onomatopoeic slang term that is used to describe the sound that a mouth makes when it’s opened widely and then closed again in close succession. What resulted was Pakkuman – a name that was derivative of the Japanese phrase “paku-paku taberu”. What inspired him? The pie was missing two slices and thus resembled a mouth. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the history of Pac-Man and the way in which it changed the world of video games forever.īack in 1979, 27 year old Namco employee Toru Iwatani claims he was staring at a humble pizza when he had an idea for a video game that centered around eating. Evidence of this can be found not only in its initial success, but also by the fact that it continues to be loved and valued by every new generation of gamers. It’s a cultural icon, a symbol of an entire decade, as well as an entity that redefined gaming itself. To call Pac-Man a mere game would be an injustice.
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