35 Years of Pac-Man

On May 22nd, 2015, worldwide video game icon Pac-Man celebrated his 35th anniversary. I was going to write a whole thing about it here, but… well, I did that when he turned 30, and with some relatively small exceptions, not a whole lot has truly gone on since then.

So instead of repeating myself with a small addendum, I figured I’d round up what I’ve written about the Pacster over the years so anyone who would like to can easily revisit it.

• A Look Back at 30 Years of Pac – As you might have guessed, this is the aforementioned previous look back. How we met, how popular he was back in the day, and all the fun stuff I used to enjoy with some form of Pac-Man or another on it.

  To this day, I still wish I could eat another bowl of Super Pac-Man cereal (with the giant-sized Super Pac-Man marshmallows), get an Arby’s Pac-Man glass, and I really wish I had one of those wind-up Pac-Man toys with the ghost in its mouth. Also, Pac-Man Championship Edition is still awesome — as is the follow-up, Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. That reminds me, I still need to get Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions for my Nintendo 3DS, and it sucks terribly that Pac-Man Museum for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS was cancelled.

• Pac-Man 7UP Ad – Not much to say about this one, but 7UP used to be my favorite drink (and I still like one on occasion), so I’m amazed it took me so long to discover this ad.
• The Pac is Back! Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures Coming in Fall 2013 – This is perhaps the biggest thing to happen to Pac-Man in the last five years: A 3D computer-animated television show on Disney XD.

  Effectively a reboot of the Pac-Man franchise, I’ve watched several episodes, but have fallen behind. It has its high points and its charms, with some episodes having some neat twists and turns — it’s one of those shows that leaves enough hints that things are going to get good, but seems like it might not act on them until it has a second season. That said, it is in its second season now, so I should really get back to it. The second season finale is titled “New Girl in Town,” and has me wondering if we’ll see a Ms. Pac-Man show up. Sadly, it doesn’t have much of a presence here in Canada.

  Despite that, I’ve reviewed the games based on it for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and favor the first Nintendo 3DS game and the second Wii U game (of which the Nintendo 3DS version is supposed to be a port, unlike the two different versions of the first). The toys aren’t here, either — I want my pineapple tank!

• Four Reasons Why Pac-Man Belongs in Super Smash Bros. – Finally, the most recent thing, and the one some people would probably argue is bigger than the show, though I’d say getting a new cartoon/game series/toy line that can make the character relevant to a whole new generation is the bigger deal.

  In any case, Pac-Man — the classic version only, with The Ghostly Adventures version not even featured as an alternate costume, sadly — is indeed among the ranks of the newest Super Smash Bros. roster, and I say he truly belongs there as much as Sonic or Mega Man. This piece explains why.

It’s worth noting that Pac-Man’s 35th hasn’t gone unnoticed by his home company of Bandai Namco, either — to celebrate, they’ve released an interesting trailer for a game which pays tribute to a part of the ghost-munching legacy:

Happy anniversary, Pac-Man. May things continue to get bigger and better from here!

David Oxford

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

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