Select a region
Masaya Nakamura, the “Father of Pac-Man” who founded the Japanese video game company behind the hit creature-gobbling game, has died at the age of 91.
Nakamura founded Namco in 1955 and would go on to oversee the launch of Pac-man in 1980, before seeing it become not just a cornerstone of the video game world and one of the most played and popular games ever, but also a huge part of popular culture for the more than 30 years since its initial release.
Rest in Peace, founder of #namco,Masaya Nakamura. Your work in video games will always be remembered. #PacMan #galaga #mspacman #videogames pic.twitter.com/yPUKZXxKaS
— Infamous Otaku (@InfamousOtaku) January 30, 2017
Thoughts & Prayers go out to the family of #MasayaNakamura, father of #PacMan & founder of #namco, you give us all wonder with your vision
— Count Mervyn Graham (@Daminous_Purity) January 30, 2017
In fact, some of the stats, facts and numbers around the arcade game are almost unbelievable – but don’t just take our word for it, have a look at these.
1. The arcade game has generated at least two billion dollars just in quarters
According to at least one study, it’s estimated that Pac-man’s popularity as an arcade game has meant that it was played more than 10 billion times during the 20th century, equating to around 2.5 billion dollars in revenue generated from quarters alone.
2. Pac-man is the most recognisable gaming character ever
A brand awareness test by the Davie-Brown Index found that Pac-man is the most recognisable video game character ever, being identified by 94% of those surveyed in 2009.
3. Pac-man’s look was inspired by a pizza missing a slice
Only half true – yes, Pac-man’s look was inspired by a pizza missing one slice, but creator Toru Iwatani said that the design also came from a rounded and simplified version of the Japanese character ‘kuchi’ which means mouth and is a box-like shape.
4. It broke the mould in the gaming world
Until its release, the world of arcade games had been dominated by space-based shooting games – most notably Asteroids and Space Invaders – alongside some sports games based on the set-up of Pong. Pac-man created a new genre for players, something different that hadn’t been encountered, and as a result brought millions of new gamers into arcades for the first time.
5. Only a handful of players have ever achieved a ‘Perfect’ score
The magic score in Pac-man is 3,333,360 points – this is earned by completing all 256 levels while eating every single dot, power pellet, fruit and enemy without losing a single life.
The first to manage that was Billy Mitchell of Florida in the US in a time of around six hours – a time later bested by a man called David Race, who completed Pac-man in just over three and a half hours. They remain two of only an alleged 20 or so players to have achieved the feat – some of which, as seen in the image above, can be seen on YouTube.
6. It contains one of the most famous glitches of all time
The reason Pac-man ends on the rather odd-sounding level 256 is because at this point the game is killed by the infamous “split screen”, where half the game screen is obscured by overflowing code. Since it effectively ends the game, it’s become known as the “kill screen”.
7. Pac-man has also had a top 10 single
In 1981, just over a year after the game’s release, Buckner & Garcia reached number nine on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart with Pac-Man Fever. The track had sold more than 1.2 million copies by the end of 1982 and went past 2.5 million in 2008.
