How Pac-Man Impacted Pop Culture and the Gaming Industry
On May 22, 1980, the game Pac-Man was released by Namco. True, at that time it was still called Puck Man. But first things first.
In this article, we'll look at how Pac-Man became a cult arcade game and one of the most famous games in history, as well as how it influenced pop culture and the gaming industry.
History of creation and reasons for the popularity of the game
The arcades of the late 1970s were visited mainly by men and young men, because the main hits of that time were shooters and games built around space adventures. For example, Galaxian, Asteroids or Space Invaders. And this is not surprising, because in 1977 the first film from the sensational series “Star Wars” was released. All the games were mostly black and white, and color ones were just starting to appear at that time.
Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani wanted to come up with this pacifist gamewhich would attract not only a male but also a female audience. The game had to be fun, easy and understandable for everyone. So, against the backdrop of cruel and aggressive shooters and space battles, a small yellow and very hungry ball appeared in the world of arcades.
Indeed, everything that could complicate the rules was removed. Iwatani initially planned to add doors to the labyrinths that had to be opened with collected keys, but this idea did not seem very successful. And a simple labyrinth with dots without ghosts and special modes turned out to be very boring. The gameplay was also simplified to the maximum, and all control was reduced to a four-position joystick.
The first Pac-Man arcade machine was installed on May 22, 1980, in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. At that time, the game was called Puck Man, but in the United States it was released under a different name, which we know, because its distributor Midway was afraid of vandalism. Replacing the first letter P with a similar F could very easily result in an obscene word. The first name of the game was associated with the sound “Paku-Paku”, which resembles chewing food with the mouth. Midway also changed the color of the machines to yellow, which is more attractive to players, as opposed to the original white.
The game was introduced to American audiences in October 1980 and just a few months later Pacman figurethe main character, could be seen on candy packages, pajamas, T-shirts, sleeping bags, ties, beach towels, curtains, bumper stickers, drinking glasses and other products.
Income from related products and advertising exceeded the revenue from the game itself. And this despite the fact that the operators of gaming platforms, who usually ordered one machine, in this case bought several at once. Demand for the game was so high that customers lined up. Operators, in turn, placed more machines so as not to miss out on potential income in the form of quarters that people put into coin acceptors.
Pac-Man has caught the attention of all people, regardless of age. In 1981, in America, about 100,000 people played Pac-Man on 100,000 slot machines every week. 250 million times. Thus, the game collected more than a million dollars on slot machines alone.
Since Pac-Man's release, there have been numerous official sequels, such as Ms. Pac-Man and Super Pac-Man, as well as bootleg sequels that sought to capitalize on the original's popularity.
Interest in the game can be explained not only by its simple rules or lack of aggression, but also by its visual appeal. It has been 44 years since the game was released, and its popularity (judging by its cultural references) has been growing. It became a pioneer among video games in the sphere of popular culture.
Game design idea
Many arcade machines were located in cafes and other businesses in the late 1970s, and table games were also popular. That's when Iwatani came thought build a story around food.
The creator of the game first claimedthat the character's shape was influenced by the sight of a partially eaten pizza. But later it was discovered that there was a more complex connection between the name, the figure of Pac-Man, and the sounds he makes. The character's shape is a rounded version of the Japanese character “kuchi” 口, meaning “mouth.” In addition, the sounds he makes while moving are similar to the sounds of someone eating quickly.
Pac-Man is missing not only his arms and legs, but even his eyes. Perhaps due to this simplicity, the character remains recognizable to this day.
A source of inspiration The game's plot was inspired by a Japanese story about an entity that eats monsters, thereby protecting children from them. The monsters in the game are represented by four ghosts with their own names and characteristics. The ability to become stronger and absorb ghosts after eating one of the four energizers is borrowed from the same children's story.
Sounds also play an important role in the perception of the fictional world. Sound effectscorresponding to the events occurring on the screen, help in passing the levels. For example, separate sound effects are indicated cutsceneslevel completion, special mode, eating dots and eating a fruit or ghost.
Additional bonuses are presented in the form of fruits, because the concept of the game is built around food. Such bonuses include, for example, cherries, strawberries, oranges. They give the player additional points.
Labyrinth provides structure to the game world, allows you to walk along certain routes and provides protection from ghosts. The game is based on a static screen in the form of a grid. This design feature and cartoonish appearance distinguished the arcade from other existing games.
Warp tunnels on both sides of the screen, were added late in development, so they are not shown in the picture. They allow Pac-Man and the ghosts to cross to the opposite side of the screen, but it should be noted that Pac-Man does this faster than his pursuers.
The goal of the game and the task of Pac-Man
The main goal of the game is to score the maximum number of points. You can get additional points by using energy pellets, eating ghosts and bonuses in the form of fruits.
Iwatani wanted the game's goal to be explained in two sentences, which we managed to do. He believed that Pac-Man should be entertaining and fun.
All a game takes place in a two-dimensional labyrinth, the passages of which are occupied by 240 unblinking dots worth 10 points each, as well as four flashing pellets that give the character strength and 50 points. The player must collect all the white dots on the screen to move on to the next level, but at the same time he must avoid colliding with ghosts.
The level starts with all the ghosts in the center of the playing field. Three of them are in a special room, from which they later exit, and one is outside of it.
When Pac-Man eats a large energy pellet, the ghosts become vulnerable and start running away. Meeting Pac-Man in this mode ends with him eating the ghosts, but they do not disappear, but return to the center of the screen, from where they start their movement again. Eating each subsequent ghost brings the player more and more points: first 200, then 400, 600 and 800. That is, having eaten one energizer and all four ghosts, the player can get 3050 points.
Additional bonuses in the form of fruits, ships and keys periodically appear in the labyrinth. They give the player from 100 to 5000 points.
Video of level walkthrough:
A collision with a ghost outside of the special mode ends badly for Pac-Man – he is eaten. Initially, there are two spare lives, but if they are lost, the game is lost.
In Pac-Man, not only agility, speed and focus on the gameplay are important, but also an understanding of the principles of ghost movements and building a winning route.
Iwatani left short breaks in the game between stages – cutscenes – against the developers' advice. He considered this an additional incentive to continue playing.
Ghost Behavior and Game Modes
The behavior of the four ghosts can be divided into three modes: dispersal, pursuit and fright. The game itself switches in turn dispersal and pursuit for each ghost at set intervals.
Ghosts by name in English and Japanese from the game's opening screen
At scattering each ghost stops pursuing the player and goes to a predetermined corner:
Blinky is a red ghost, also known as Shadow. When dispelled, it moves to the upper right corner.
Pinky is a pink ghost, also known as Speedy. When not chasing Pac-Man, he moves to the top left corner.
Inky is a blue ghost, also known as Timid. In scatter mode, he tends to the lower right corner.
Clyde is an orange ghost, Pokey's middle name. When dispersed, he moves to the lower left corner.
This mode is needed so that the player has time to collect his thoughts and calculate the further direction of movement.
Why are they moving in different directions? Imagine if all four pursuers used the same pattern of movement. They would end up following each other in a chain. Individual algorithms for each ghost allow them to pursue Pac-Man, but to do so in different areas of the maze.
Mode chases also has its own characteristics:
Blinky follows right behind Pac-Man;
Pinky aims 32 pixels, or 4 tiles, in front of Pac-Man;
Inky moves in a complex pattern that involves calculating Blinky's position relative to Pac-Man;
and only Clyde conducts a chase according to a random scheme: if he is at a distance of more than eight cells from the player, then he will rush towards him, and if less, he will move away to the lower left corner.
Mode fright is activated only when Pac-Man eats an energizer. In this case, the ghosts change color to blue and begin to avoid the main character, because now he can chase them. At the same time, their speed is slowed down by half.
Limited Infinity, or Level 256
The source code of the file contained a software error that did not allow passing level 256. Technically, no one specifically limited the game, it was supposed to be endless.
Rare Pac-Man tutorials released at the peak of the game's popularity, included information about the existence of such an error or at least an assumption about it. Probably, at that time nothing was known about its existence.
The death screen was a software bug that blocked further play. It was also called a split screen because the right half of the maze would disappear completely, and on its side, randomly colored letters and numbers would appear.
The crux of the problem is that bonus drawing program accessed the level number to calculate the number of fruit bonuses and display them on the screen. The level number is initially “0”, and as the game progresses, the counter is turned on. When level 256 is reached, the internal counter counts “255”. The subroutine tries to increase the digit in the register by one, but only the number “255” fits in the byte. As a result, the counter in the CPU register returns to “0”.
The subroutine starts drawing bonuses without any checks, after which the digit in the register becomes less by “1” and the program checks whether it is equal to “0”. The digit “0” means that the subroutine should stop drawing bonuses.
In this case, it turns out that the level from 0 is reset back to 255, and instead of stopping the drawing, the subroutine starts the cycle again. This is why the split screen occurs.
The game was supposed to be infinitely cyclical, but turned out to be quite passable, which ultimately led to its even greater popularity.
The reveal of the death screen showed fans that the game had an achievable ending. Before this, players could leave Pac-Man at any time, even in the middle of a level, because they simply got bored of playing. They believed that the game was endless and impossible to win, that it could only end in defeat if they did not leave the machine on their own. After the reveal of the death screen, the game gained a different interest. Now players were eager to get the maximum score by completing all 255 levels and to see the bug in the ending of Pac-Man.
The highest possible score in the game was first set by Billy Mitchell in 1999. It was 3,333,360 points.
Reflection in pop culture
The main character of the game Pacman was so popular that his image began to be printed not only on goods: he appeared on television, in literature, and a song about him was played on the radio. And even after more than four decades, he remains recognizable and is reflected in modern culture.
The image of Pac-Man is not tied to any specific game subtext, which makes it easy to adapt it to various plots. This largely contributed to the character's entry into popular culture. Thus, memorable elements of the game space were reflected in new objects.
In 1981, musicians Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia released the song «Pac-Man Fever». It reached number 9 on the US singles charts by March 1982 and sold over a million copies. That same year, Buckner and Garcia recorded and released an entire album of the same name. Each song on the album was dedicated to a different arcade game.
The first printed game manuals appeared specifically for Pac-Man. Today, they can be found for almost every popular game, but back then, numerous training manuals were a novelty for players. For example, John Mulliken's book “Pac-Man: The Ultimate Key to Victory” or Ken Uston's book “Mastering Pac-Man”. They revealed the secrets of game mechanics and earning the maximum number of points.
The game's characters appeared on the cover of the 2001 book about arcade games, Arcade Fever. Author John Sellers probably didn't name the book that way by accident. It was very similar to the song “Pac-Man Fever.” It was a fan's guide to the golden age of video games, dedicated to fifty classic games.
The cartoon debuted in 1982 “Pac-Man Show” by Hanna-Barbera. Its essence can be summed up in one sentence: Pac-Man saves his friends and the whole world from the forces of evil. It was the first animated series based on a video game. It even lasted for two seasons.
The second animated series based on Pac-Man produced by Namco Bandai Games and 41 Entertainment was released in 2013. Its name is translated as “Pac-Man in the Ghost World” or “Pac-Man and the Ghost Adventures”. The plot of the cartoon is very similar to the previous series.
Pac-Man even appeared in the famous cartoon Futurama as a general of the Earth army. It was in the third season of the second part of the series “Anthology of Interest II” released in 2002. In this series, the main characters, together with Pac-Man, find themselves in a game labyrinth.
It's hard not to notice Pac-Man and the new interpretation of the iconic arcade game in the 2015 film Pixels from director Chris Columbus. Here, the main character Adam Sandler helps to resist an alien invasion. To do this, he needs to win the Pac-Man game, but the action takes place not in a slot machine, but on the streets of the city.
Pac-Man also periodically appears in various films and cartoons as references to the game. For example, here is a map of the country of Amphibia in the form of a round popular character from the eponymous cartoon “Amphibia” from 2019 by Disney Television Animation.
Impact on the gaming industry
Pac-Man has appeared moment in historywhen players had already had their fill of arcades built around space themes. The new game involved going through a maze while avoiding pursuers. Labyrinths became a sensation, leading to the emergence of numerous official sequels and bootleg copies of Pac-Man.
Previously, players were mostly required to simply press attack buttons and get away from enemies in time, that is, only good reaction and dexterity were needed. But with the advent of Pac-Man, in addition to dexterity, there was a need for the ability to build a general game strategy. So the emphasis shifted not only from the existing general concept of games, but also led to the formation of new thought processes that were necessary for their completion.
The idea of first thinking through the general course of the game and only then proceeding to implement it took root and began to be used in other games. For the same reason, Tetris, released a few years later, gained its popularity among men and women of different age groups.
The influence of Pac-Man is also felt game design. Animated cutscenes, which Toru Iwatani once insisted on, can be found in almost any video game today. For example, look at the fantastic cartoonish drawings in the game Ori and the Blind Forest. Pacman's maze is very reminiscent of geographical maps in modern video games, where you can see the location of the character and the direction where to go next.
Lack of aggression and limitation of additional bonuses in the gameplay is reflected in many new generation video games. These are all games from the Sonic series or Rayman Legends and many others.
But perhaps Pac-Man's most important contribution is not its influence on other video games, but how it shaped their reception in popular culture. Pac-Man became the first recognizable character and an icon of the gaming industry as a whole. He remains relevant even today, despite the fact that modern video games are better developed both visually and in terms of storytelling.
The Pac-Man fan community is still active today. Users registered on the site World's Biggest Pac-Mancreate their own labyrinths using a graphic editor. By 2024, more than 602 thousand of them had been created. This is the largest labyrinth that can be played online.
Conclusion
Pac-Man is one of the most commercially successful arcade games and a true social phenomenon. The arcade has acquired a cult status, and interest in it remains even after several decades. It has become an important part of pop culture and the gaming industry: it has changed the attitude towards games from cinema and literary works, and also shifted the emphasis in the development of new arcades.
Pac-Man's seemingly simple gameplay actually has more depth than many modern computer games with elaborate visuals, making it a legend.
Today, in various establishments, you can again find slot machines, which appear as an element of nostalgia for classic arcades, leisure and childhood. The widespread distribution of video games does not mean that all of them will be interesting and catchy. In this sea of game diversity, the Pac-World remains a kind of island of stability.
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