Game:

Pac-Man (1980)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 12:32

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3

Note: Mame Cheat is used on this Playthrough. I disabled Cheat at the end of the Playthrough, so I can play Fair.

Pac-Man was produced by Namco in 1980. Pac-Man is the seminal and hugely influential arcade game in which the player guides the legendary Pac-Man around a single-screen maze eating dots. Pac-Man is constantly pursued in his task by four colored ghosts. Each ghost has its own unique personality and behavioral patterns and a single touch from any of the ghosts results in Pac-Man losing a life. When all of Pac-Man lives are lost, the game is over.

Power pills are situated in each corner of the rectangular maze and eating one of these makes Pac-Man temporarily invincible; the four ghosts also change to dark blue in color and can now be eaten by Pac-Man. But watch out...a flashing blue ghost indicates that the power pill is about to wear off and the ghosts are about to transform back to their former selves again. Once Pac-Man eats a blue ghost, this 'skinned' ghost then becomes visible as a pair of eyes only, will return to the ghost pen in the middle of the maze, regenerate into its former self, and return to the maze to continue its pursuit of Pac-Man.

Each maze contains 240 dots and 4 power pills, and all must be eaten to complete the level; whereupon the entire sequence begins again with an increased level of difficulty (the action increases in speed and power pills decrease in effectiveness). Twice in every level, a bonus fruit or prize item will temporarily appear in the middle of the maze below the ghost pen. Pac-Man can eat these bonus items to receive extra points. Also, there is an escape tunnel on each side of the maze that Pac-Man can use to escape any ghosts that are currently closing in on him. The ghosts can also use the tunnel, but take longer to pass through it than Pac-Man, making escape a little easier.

The game was first introduced to the Japanese arcade market on May 22, 1980 and caught the hearts and imaginations of the public like no other game before it, and few since. It is still regarded as the hallmark of the 'golden age' of video games and an icon of 1980's popular culture.

The game was originally known in Japan as Puckman, but due to the West's predilection with changing words to vulgarities by scratching part of the word off (in this case, changing the word 'Puck' to something rather less socially acceptable by scratching off part of the letter 'P'), the name was changed to Pac-Man for its release to the American arcade market in October 1980. The name 'Pac-Man' comes from the Japanese slang term 'paku-paku', which describes the motion of the mouth opening and closing during eating and translates to English as 'to eat'.

Between certain rounds, funny intermissions will be played featuring Pac-Man and the ghosts in funny situations. Three intermissions are present:

- The red ghost chases Pac-Man across the screen and off the side. Then he re-appears running in the opposite direction, having turned blue, followed by a giant Pac-Man! This intermission is played after Round 2.

- The red ghost is again chasing Pac-Man, but this time he rips his red sheet on a nail on the ground, and we can see his pink body under the sheet! This intermission is played after Round 5.

- The red ghost chases Pac-Man across the screen once more, this time with his sheet sewn. They disappear at the left side and then the ghost reappears coming back the opposite direction. This time he is bare and drags his sheet behind him. This intermission is played after Rounds 9, 13 and 17.

No intermission is present between rounds after the 18th one.