Surely nobody can have failed to have heard of Pacman? Even if they’ve never played the game, they must know what Pacman looks like or at least know the name? Pacman must be the single game that has spawned the most imitators over the years. Just about anyone who has ever programmed a game will probably have written a Pacman game at some point in their life, that’s how simple the game idea is. That said, despite its inherent simplicity, you’d be surprised how many versions of Pacman truly suck… But I digress.

Pacman first hit the arcades in 1980, although Namco originally intended him to be called Puckman. This was changed to Pacman simply because it was too easy for the name on the top of the arcade cabinet to be altered to something much ruder. Do I really need to describe the game? For completeness sake I will. You wander around a maze eating dots whilst avoiding ghosts. There, that’s that done.


As the years have passed the Pacman games have evolved, although the dot eating as generally remained. Ms. Pacman was almost identical to the original, the main changes being changing maze layouts, fruit which moved around the maze rather than remaining underneath the “ghost house”, and the fact the Pacman sprite now had a bow, lipstick, and a beauty spot. Pacmania took the game into isometric 3D, and added the ability to jump over the ghosts, but was otherwise pretty much the same as the original.

Predating Pacmania was Pacland. This tied in nicely with the Pacman cartoon of the time, as Pacman now had arms and legs, which is also how he is generally represented today. Pacland was a horizontally scrolling game where you had to make your way to see a giant fairy (I’ve no idea why) where you were given a pair of magic boots which allowed you to jump again before you had landed, with these you then had to return home to Ms. Pacman and Baby Pacman.

The Pacman World games are full 3D platformers, still with dots and ghosts to avoid. There has also been a Tetris style puzzle game called Pac Attack, and the DS already has two Pacman games! The odd Pac Pix, a game where you have to eat the ghosts by drawing a Pacman shape using the stylus, which then magically comes to life, and Pac ‘n’ Roll, a game a bit like a cross between Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball, where you have to use the stylus to roll Pacman around a series of twisting mazes, eating yet more pills as you go.

There has even been a real world version of Pacman! People have dressed up as Pacman and ghosts and run around New York playing a game called Pac Manhatten! Check out their website http://www.pacmanhattan.com/
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