Happy 30 anniversary Pac-Man!

[Manga4life]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/21/pac-man.game.anniversary/?hpt=C2



(CNN) -- A rotund, voracious figure follows a trail through a maze. As he rounds a corner, he is confronted by ghostlike monsters attempting to wipe him out. He turns and flees, but soon discovers an additional source of power that briefly turns him from hunted into hunter.
This simple premise gave birth to Pac-Man, the most successful coin-operated video game in history.
The pop-culture sensation, released in Japan 30 years ago this week, created millions of glazed-eye addicts and spawned more than 400 products, including a cartoon, a breakfast cereal and a hit song.

Check out Google.com, the Google logo is a playable Pac-Man game in the shape of the Google logo! Today Pac-Man turns 30 years old, this classic game has been played by millions and millions of video gamers whether it be in arcades, on game consoles or through cell phones, Pac-Man has forged a legacy in video gaming that will live on for ever and ever.

[Kazuya Prower]

Happy 30th anniversary Pac-Man! I still can't get over the fact that his creation was inspired by a pizza pie with a slice missing.

[GoldTyphlosion]

I remember how they celebrated the 20th anniversary, with a game called Pac Man World. It was actually a pretty good platformer and I had fond memories of it. I still have the disc. I hope others liked it too and didn't bash it simply because it deviated from the original gameplay.

[Manga4life]

I liked Pac-Man World, it was a great platformer with a great look to it and great gameplay and I loved unlocking all the different mazes through the various levels, it was really fun. I also loved Pac-Man World 2, I had it for the GameCube and then I got it for my XBoX once I picked one up, awesome games indeed!

[tucsoncoyote]

Wow, it's been 30 years since the video arcades got this one.. and in fact even today, it's still around.

(Think about it.. all those quarters, that were slipped into the coin slot.. and it's still popular today, even though it's been ... 30 years.

Yes, I'm talking about Pac-man


Pac-man was so popular it not raked in the quarters from game,it even a animated cartoon series,It's been spoofed on other TV shows and of course this song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdAPkk8yMM).

and after 30 years, it's still amazing that we still have..

Pac-man fever... It's driving me crazy!

Anyway happy birthday to that little yellow ball with a big mouth.
(Wokka, Wokka, Wokka, Wokka!)

:coyote:

[Leviathan]

I actually think Pac-Mania is the best Pac-Man game. It's arguably to the original what Super Mario Bros. 3 was to Super Mario Bros.

Unlike most of the other updates to Pac-Man, its new features (jumping, speed boosting pellets) go along with the original without cluttering up the gameplay with needless complexities.

That's not to say the original isn't one of the best, either.

[Tommy Lawson]

The game has been released for nearly every major home console and portable system over the years, nowadays usually in "Namco Museum" collections. However, one of the very first home console Pac-Man games, Atari 2600 Pac-Man, was considered a disappointment to many. Note that over the years, there have been differences between the arcade version and the ones released on console and portables. For example, the Wii Virtual Console Pac-Man game is based on the NES version, not the arcade game, and the same is obviously true for the "Classic NES series" Pac-Man on Game Boy Advance.

[J!!!]

30 years already?

I love Pac Man, it was always fun to play on my phone in my car while I was bored.

Let's hope it stays relevant for 30 more!

[Manga4life]

When I was a child I loved the original Pac-Man cart for the 2600, I didn't know it was based on an arcade game that was far superior to it and I was just an ignorant 3 year old playing my Atari way back when I had the game and I really enjoyed it. Heck, I didn't even know that video games had gone through a "crash" and I had no idea what Nintendo was until I got one in 1988 or so, I was playing Pac-Man, ET, Defender, Breakout, Cosmic Arc, Space Invaders and other Atari hits and loving them.

Pac-Man as an arcade game is still great though, I usually try to play it whenever I visit the beach because they have a couple arcades that still have the machine, I do prefer the cabinet with the joystick to the rollerball though, the rollerball is just plain annoying. I may fire up some Pac-Man on my NES tonight in memory of this legendary anniversary, thank you Namco and thank you Pac-Man for so many fantastic memories throughout the years.

[stargirl]

Happy 30th anniversary, Pacman! You are (80s) childhood!

(BTW, Google's Pacman logo kicks serious ass.)

[Tommy Lawson]

Here is the link to the official Pac-Man 30th anniversary site (http://pacman.com/en/). There are many Pac-Man games advertised as being on sale today. Also, that Google Doodle seems to lengthen the "ghost eating" time because of the wide length of the maze, plus the fact they added a 5th power pellet, which changes the highest score you can get on each level. Of course, being only up for 48 hours, how is anyone going to achieve a perfect score on it? Speaking of which, for those of you who don't know, Billy Mitchell is credited with the first perfect Pac-Man game on July 3, 1999, and here is a Wired article about it (http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/07/dayintech_0703). Since that date, five other people have gotten the perfect score, and Kotaku has details about the most recent one (http://kotaku.com/5357260/pac+man-world-record-broken), setting a new speed record for the perfect score.

[launchpad20]

Happy 30th Anniversary, Pac-Man. Your right up there with Mario as one of the most recognizable icons in gaming. (It's a shame Pac-Man wasn't included in 'Brawl', but oh well.) While games have evolved over the years, your simplistic gameplay is just as fun, and addictive as it was way back in 1980. Not even the biggest missteps like the 2600 port, or 'Pac-Man 2' could keep you down. May you continue to eat dots, and chop ghosts for another 30 years.

[ShadowBlinky]

I'm always close behind you, Pac-Man!!:D

Seriously, Happy Birthday!!

[LazyReaper]

For those that still want to play the Google version of Pacman, then you can still do so here: http://www.google.com/pacman/

[Blackstar]

For those that still want to play the Google version of Pacman, then you can still do so here: http://www.google.com/pacman/

That Google Pac Man was extremely difficult to manipulate without a joystick.

[defunctzombie]

I loved the bit on the news when it said that so much productivity was lost that day because of all the workers playing Pac-Man. :D