Pac-man or call it a sweet monster eater. Pac-man is an arcade game developed by Namco and was first released in Japan on 22^nd may, 1980. Distribution rights in US were under Midway. From its released date to the present day, Pac-man is immensely popular not just in US but also through out the world. This game is considered as one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games, and an icon of the famous 1980 gaming culture. It inspired an animated television series and appeared in many music videos. Just after few years from its release, a social phenomenon sold many merchandise.

When Pac-man was released, most of the arcade video games were primarily space shooters such as space invaders, defender or asteroids. In minority were sports games that were mostly derivative of pong. Pac-man was a hit because it created a new genre and that was more appealing than the previous ones. Pac-man is often regarded as a landmark in the gaming history. And is considered as one of the most famous arcade game of al time. The character appears in more than 30 officially licensed games as well as numerous unauthorized clones and bootlegs. Pac-man has the highest brand awareness of any video game character among Americans, recognized by 94 %of them, according to Davie Brown index.

Pac-man was developed by Namco employee Toru Iwatani in a period of eighteen months. Original name was pakku-man. It was Iwatani’s effort to appeal wider audience that he added the element of maze and released the game as puck- man. When launch in Japan first it got lukewarm response because that era was dedicated to games like space invaders. The following year it was launched in America under the title Pac-man. American audience welcomed it grace fully as it they were pretty upset from other games like space invaders, and it resulted in exceptional popularity and revenue. The game soon became a worldwide phenomenon within gaming industry, resulting in numerous sequels and merchandise tie ins. Pac-man’s success lead to an entire genre of maze-chase games video games soon emerged. Pac-man introduced humor into video games that made it more popular in every part or society, opposite to other games, which were considered as teenage boy’s action oriented games.

At the time of launch, it was not favorable to marketing experts as they were looking at a racing car game Rally-X to be the highlight of that year. However, everything changed after release as Pac-man caught oh immediately in public. And very soon, it was far more popular than anything seen on gaming industry. It became a landmark. Within months, it threw off asteroids as best arcade game. 350,000 units were sold in a year’s time. A lot of Pac-man merchandise was marketed with the character’s image, from t-shirts and toys to hand held game imitations and specially shaped pasta. The name was changed to Pac-man from puck man as it was thought that some of the freaks of America would change P to F in puck man.

In its gameplay, a player controls the Pac-man through a maze, eating Pac dots. When all dots were, eaten Pac-man is taken to the next stage. Four ghosts’ blinky, pinky, inky and Clyde roam the maze, trying to catch Pac-man. If a ghost touches Pac-man, a life is lost. A split screen version was also launched, but after 255^th maze, (if a player advances to that point) because of a bug in the routine the right side of the box becomes a garbled mess of text and symbols. Thus making it impossible to complete.

Toru iwatani produced the latest Pac-man: world 3 retiring just after. Guinness world records has awarded the Pac-man series eight-world records in its latest Guinness World Records: Game’s Edition 2008. Including most successful coin operated game.

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