PacMan was first released in Japan in May 22, 1980. It was developed by Namco and distributed in the US by Midway games; both companies are still around today. It didn't take long for the PacMan game to become a social phenomenon that would extend far beyond the video game itself, selling a wide variety of additional products and even producing an animated cartoon broadcast on television. It is one of the few classic icons that is associated with the golden age of arcade games.
If we can imagine in the early 1980's the only video games being around before PacMan were space shooters, how dull would that have been considering the oversupply of games in the marketplace today, now we have super video consoles, online MMO's and free flash games. PacMan changed the face of video games and inspired developers to break free from the mould of monotonous space games to try be more creative.
How many other games can you say boast over 30 spin offs of the original production? Well I would be pushed to name any but the game in question. PacMan can be recognized today by over 90 percent of video game enthusiasts making it the game with the highest brand visibility in America, even when it has been over 20 years since it was developed.
The original PacMan title was Pakku-Man, inspired by a Japanese term when one's mouth is wide open. It would later be renamed by the developer - T?ru Iwatani to Puck Man, once a maze was added to the games features.
PacMan's release in Japan was a flop compared to its later one in the US. It failed to penetrate the popularity of Space Invaders and other space shooting games which were dominating the market ? lets just say Japanese game players must have been addictive to button tapping and finger strains.
A whole variety of maze video games sprung up once Puck Man (renamed to Pac-Man) was launched with huge success in the US. It even out sold Asteroids at the time, which had a good few years head start, because it had such a family appeal, beyond teenage gamers, the demand for the game was massive.
A whole collection of flash productions can now be played online, providing a clear example of the advancement since the release of the iconic game. Paul Neave produced the first successful flash copy of the PacMan game on his website. It has since been copied and republished by 1000's of other game websites. The game is created in a pure vector framework, meaning it can be expanded to an unlimited size without loosing any of its graphical features.
Ms. Pacman has also been created in flash, using Paul Neave's original code, a site called SyndicatesDomain.net has produced a fantastic flash version of the popular sequel. There are countless other flash games that aim to copy the PacMan theme, some with their own unique concepts added to the original. They can all be found at our site ? PacMan Games.
One of our favorites is Extreme Sketch-Pak, it is a funky version of the original. Everything is designed in a quirky sketch effect, the Pac himself may move a bit slower, but the game still gets thumbs up for its overall design, well done Bubblebox!
Also worth trying is a version called Slack Man. This is an amusing alternative which involves a hungry office freak running around scoffing junk food, whilst trying to avoid the office nerd's and the boss's attention. The game is designed in an 8bit fashion to bring back the feel of the early arcades primitive capabilities; it is a fully enjoyable substitute and well worth a stab!
We hope you enjoy playing the PacMan games at our site and welcome any comments from our visitors! Simply email us, using the link in the footer of the website.