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Pac-Man Makes Guinness Book
phresno writes "As a gaming icon, everybody loves Namco's Pac-Man. The arcade machine sold over 293,000 units in just eight years of its initial release and is fondly remembered even 25 years later. The success of Pac-Man has awarded it not only pop culture status, but a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Long live Pac-Man!"
Ahhh how I long for the days when games weren't all just a different version of the same first person shooter.
Anyone else catch the Namco Pac-man birthday floor show at E3? Six stripper-esque (esque, since they don't actually strip,) dancers singing "happy birthday to you" to a guy in a pacman suit, as the crowd (somewhat) sings along.
Surreal didn't even begin to describe...
In my rush to get a topical first post (I think I actually did it), I left out comments which I would have included otherwise.
Ms. Pac Man, unlike its predecessor, had a series of animated interludes when you completed a number of levels. I think it was complete 4 levels, see a short cartoon, complete another 8 levels, see another cartoon and so on. It's been years since I've played the game.
Ms. Pac Man also had a variety of mazes, which made the game a little more interesting...it also helped avoid (or delay) the screen burn-in that a lot of arcade games were prone to back then.
Even so, I salute Pac Man for being included in the Guinness Book of World Records, and for its appetite of my quarters.
Anakin Simpson: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy--ooh, donuts!
The original Pac-Man had level interludes too. The first was after the second round, when Pac-man came out from the left chased by a ghost, then came back giant-sized chasing the ghost. Then the next one where the red monster got stuck on a pin an its "hood" got ripped a bit. And so on....
What's the actual record?
I probably played Pac-Man before anyone else on Slashdot. It was September or October 1980, and I was a high school student living in Japan. My friends and I would go to a video arcade (or "game center" as they were called) in Jiyugaoka after school, and one day we came across this strange game with a cute yellow guy going around munching dots in a maze, completely unlike the Galaxian and other space-themed games we had been playing until then.
It really was revolutionary, and we were all instantly hooked. I can still play the pattern that my friend taught me then.
The video arcade where I first played Pac-Man 25 years ago is still there, incidentally.
Ms Pacman? classic. anyone remember the funny shaped cartridge it came in for NES?
Link to java emulator based on MAME with Ms. Pacman
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Fairfax County, VA message board and chat
Wasn't Baby Pac-Man a strange hybrid where the bottom part of the game was a conventional pinball machine, but if you got the ball into a certain spot, you could play a video game which was at the top (headboard?) next to the score counter?
I think that if you got caught in the video part, the ball would be ejected back into the pinball portion of the game.
I haven't thought about that game for years.
I also remember a more 3-D version of Pac-Man, which might have been the Super Pac-Man that you mention.
There was also a short-lived cartoon version of Pac-Man, but I don't remember much about it.
Anakin Simpson: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy--ooh, donuts!
Aw shit, here comes Pac-Man.
Hey Pac-Man, what's up?
Me you bitches! I'm high on crack! Wanna freebase?
No Pac-Man drugs are bad!
Nope can't help you man.
Pussies! Whoa! Holy shit!
Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?
Does anyone know of CD or recording that collects all the most familiar music and sounds of the greatest video games? It would seem as if it's about time to do this, since a lot of the old consoles are still functioning in collections, so it's probably POSSIBLE to get a recording of a functioning Pac-Man or Space Invaders game even today...
(Come to think of it, I'd gladly buy a recording of the sounds made by an IBM 407 accounting machine...)
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
First was Pac Man and Ms Pac Man meeting (they run across different parts of the screen chased by ghosts, then coming from opposite sides of the screen, they dodge the ghosts by moving up. Ghosts bump into each other, a little heart appears) I forget what the act was titled.
The second was titled "The Chase" and it was right after the pretzel level IIRC.
The third act (which was hard as hell to get to at my young age) was Junior - where the stork drops off a baby pac man. These levels were hard as hell, mostly because the exits to get to the other side of the map were death traps. (they were long corridors that were dangerous as heck, even with the ghosts being afraid of the dark)
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
Originally called Puck Man in Japan and then changed for fear that young video game players in the US would alter the P into a F - look it up in Wikipedia. Also let us not forget the promotional song from Buckner and Garcia - "Pac Man Fever" that hit the airwaves briefly. You can still find that song and the other B&G video games tunes if you google them.