Sandbox / Pac Man Franchise

Individual games

Pac-Man (The original game)

some caption text

Pac-Man is a hugely successful Arcade Game created by Toru Iwatani, developed and released for Namco in 1980. The game marked the debut appearance of one of gaming's most classic mascot characters, and would go on to start one of the longest-running franchises in video game history.

In the game, the player controls Pac-Man, represented by a round yellow character reminiscent of a head with a large mouth that opens and closes as he navigates the maze. The main objective is to eat all of the small Pac-Dots littered around the maze until all of them are gone. The main opposition in this task comes in the form of four ghosts (originally known as "monsters") that scatter around the maze and cause Pac-Man to lose one of his lives on contact. To counter these threats, each of the four corners of the maze features a larger dot known as the Power Pellets (originally "energizers"). When Pac-Man eats one of these, the ghosts enter a frightened state where he can eat them for bonus points without losing a life.

The game is often cited as one of the most influential video games of all time, introducing many concepts that would become staples of video gaming for the rest of time. The Power Pellets are credited as the first-ever example of a video game power-up. Pac-Man is also cited as the game that popularized the idea of character-driven action games, as the arcade industry had previously been dominated by space-themed Shoot 'Em Up games.

One updated version of the game released in 1982, titled Pac-Man Plus. It is largely the same game as the original, but adds in some surprises to make the game more difficult. The Power Pellets sometimes have some unpredictable effects, such as causing only three of the ghosts to become vulnerable, or causing the ghosts or even the entire maze to temporarily turn invisible. Additionally, some of the Bonus Fruit items have been replaced with different ones, and they can have similar effects to the Power Pellets.

As of The Ninth Generation of Console Video Games, Pac-Man is one of the most frequently ported video games of all time. Nearly every major gaming platform features at least one playable version of the game, and the game regularly appears on compilations of Namco's classic arcade games. The majority of the games in the Namco Museum series feature at least one Pac-Man game on them. It also remains one of the few arcade games from the Golden Age of Gaming to still be seen frequently in modern arcades, either in its original form, or in one of its many rereleases or alternate versions, such as the World's Largest Pac-Man machine from 2016, which displays the game on a massive LCD screen.

---

Pac-Man provides examples of:

• Adaptation Expansion: Pac-Man for Mobile has a bunch of unique mazes (bought with gained tokens or real money) that serve as mini gauntlets. The weekly tournaments feature the new mazes. Later updates add elements from Pac-Man Hats which includes new powerups and events with multiple mazes and goals.
• Artificial Brilliance:
  • Because the game doesn't have a random number generator, the ghosts' moves were deterministic, but they were each given different tendencies. In "Chase" mode, Blinky (Red) targets Pac-Man, Pinky (Pink) targets 4 spaces ahead of Pac-Man^note unless Pac-Man is moving up, then it looks four spaces up and four spaces to the left, due to a bug, Clyde (Orange) targets Pac-Man when far away and the lower-left corner when close, and Inky (Light Blue)... wow. Draw a line from Blinky to two spaces in front of Pac-Man^note or if Pac-Man is moving up, then two up and two left. Now keep drawing this line past this space until it's twice as long. The end of the line is where Inky targets. As a result of these simple and unique behaviors, the ghosts provide shockingly intelligent tactics; Inky and Pinky work in conjunction with Blinky to try and corner Pac-Man between them, while Clyde's constant presence around Pac-Man but not chasing him can lead to him becoming a Spanner in the Works when trying to escape the other ghosts or group them up to eat in one swoop.
  • When not in "Chase" mode, the ghosts go into "Scatter" mode, where they target squares off the grid instead (Blinky targets the upper-right corner, Pinky the upper-left, Inky the lower-right, and Clyde the lower-left, the same corner he targets when Pac-Man gets too close in Chase mode). They alternate between chasing Pac-Man and scattering to the corners, which gives the game moments of tension and moments of calm — with the latter's duration steadily decreasing the longer the game is played. Furthermore, they'll all automatically enter scatter mode when a Power Pellet is eaten, leading to the player to want to capitalize on its effects quickly before the ghosts scatter too far to consume all at the same time.
• Brand X: The Cola fruit in Pac-Man Plus bears an obvious resemblance to a Coca-Cola can. The version found in the Arcade1Up cabinet edits it into a red can with the word PAC on the side.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer: World's Largest Pac-Man features a two-player simultaneous mode where a second player controls a green Pac-Man along with the first player's yellow.
• Confusion Fu: Inky's behavior is somewhat unpredictable. It's based on the relative positions of both Pac-Man and Blinky, and there's a bug involved as well (normally "ahead of Pac-Man" means two tiles ahead in the direction he's moving, but when Pac-Man is moving up, the game thinks that ahead is two tiles up and two tiles left).
• Cowardly Mooks: Clyde is programmed to be cowardly, targeting his scatter mode corner whenever Pac-Man comes near him. Due to this, the area near his corner is the only spot where Clyde can catch Pac-Man on his own.
• Determinator: Blinky is the most aggressive of the ghosts, making a beeline for Pac-Man's location any time he is in Chase mode. Once only a few pellets remain, Blinky starts moving faster than anyone else.
• Dub Name Change:
  • Not only were the original Japanese names for the ghosts (understandably) changed for the American market, but so were the descriptors cluing in the player to each ghost's particular movement style. They were:
    • Akabei/Blinky - Chaser/"Shadow"
    • Pinky - Ambusher/"Speedy"
    • Aosuke/Inky - Whimsical/"Bashful"
    • Guzuta/Clyde/Sue/Tim - Playing dumb/"Pokey"
  • This could potentially be considered a Dub-Induced Plot Hole, as the new descriptors for the latter three ghosts don't really match their movements. In fact, despite Pinky being called "Speedy" in the localized version, it's actually Blinky who is the quickest of the ghosts, increasing his chase speed at various stages of progress through the maze.
• Endless Game: As planned, but there's a Kill Screen after 255 mazes. However, every maze past 20 is exactly the same.
• Freemium: Pac-Man for Mobile has a boat load of new maze sets that each cost a varying number of Tokens to unlock. Completing a maze set, finishing the daily missions, and logging in each day gives the player Tokens, or one can go the faster route and pay for Tokens. The aversion is the Classic maze which is free, and Tokens can be used to continue from a Game Over.
• Graphics-Induced Super-Deformed: In the cabinet art, Pac Man is drawn with legs and eyes. In-game, he's very stylized so only a pie chart remains. This image soon stuck with the audience.
• Hitbox Dissonance: Pac-Man's and the ghosts have hitboxes that are smaller than their sprites would indicate, allowing Pac to dodge the ghosts more easily. While the sprites move around the maze smoothly, the position of their hitboxes are actually determined by which invisible "tile" they are currently positioned on, and Pac will be registered as having collided with a ghost if they inhabit the same tile at the same time. There is even a rare glitch where Pac-Man can pass right through a ghost (if he and the ghost "switch tiles" at the same time), though it is very difficult to perform on purpose.
• Kill Screen: Perhaps the most famous example. Upon reaching round 256, half of the screen gets covered in glitched assets, at which point the game becomes unplayable, forcing a reset.
• Lead the Target: Pinky doesn't target Pac-Man's actual position, but rather four spaces in front of him.
• Odd Name Out:
  • Three of the ghosts have rhyming names: Blinky, Pinky, and Inky. The fourth ghost breaks the pattern, being named Clyde.
  • The original Japanese names of the ghosts were "Akabei" (from "Akai", Japanese for "Red"), Pinky (the only one who never went through a Dub Name Change), "Aosuke" (from "Aoi", Japanese for "Blue"), and Guzuta (from "guzuguzu", an onomatopoeia for sluggishness, and referencing the fact that he's always the last one to leave the ghost pen at the start of each level), breaking the Colorful Theme Naming of the three others.
• Overflow Error: The famous Kill Screen was caused by attempting to proceed to Stage 256 — the game keeps track of the stage number by the fruit icons in the corner, and there's always supposed to be at least one.
• Screen Crunch:
  • The Game Boy version has a gray border on the right side of the screen that takes up nearly 1/3 of the resolution.
  • In the Game Boy Advance version featured on Pac-Man Collection, only one half of the maze can be on screen at once, though using the shoulder buttons will allow you to see the other half.
• Stripping Snag: In Coffee Break 2, Blinky gets his sheet stuck on a pole, and it rips, revealing his inner layer. By the time of Coffee Break 3, Blinky's sheet has been hastily stitched back up.
• Turns Red: Well... Blinky is already red to begin with, but when a certain number of dots remain (20 in the first level, up to 120 in later levels), he moves faster and becomes even more of a Determinator. And once you've eaten half that number of dots, he'll speed up even more.
• Updated Re-release
  • Pac-Man Plus (created by Namco and Bally Midway) is a more difficult version of the original with the Power Pellet having different effects depending on the stage.
  • World's Largest Pac-Man is the original game on an enormous LCD screen. Gameplay differences include: simultaneous 2-player co-op, the bonus fruits move similar to Ms. Pac-Man, gameplay keeps moving even if Pac-Man dies, the ability to continue the game at a Game Over rather than starting over, and shifting maze colors.
• Ur-Example: The original arcade game was the first game to feature enemy AI rather than enemies that move in a set pattern.

---

Ms. Pac-Man

some caption text

Ms. Pac-Man is an Arcade Game in the Pac-Man series. It is the first sequel to the original game to be released, though rather than being developed by Namco, owners of the original game, it was developed by the General Computer Corporation, before being shown to Midway, Namco's primary distributor of Pac-Man arcade machines at the time. Midway liked what they saw so much that they obtained Namco's permission to release the game as Pac-Man's official sequel.

The game began life as a modified version of the original Pac-Man titled Crazy Otto, which in addition to various gameplay enhancements, featured designs for the game's main characters, with players controlling a Pac-Man like character with a pair of legs, and the ghost enemies instead resembling creatures with legs. The game's developers decided to present Crazy Otto to Midway, Namco's American distributor at the time, who subsequently bought the rights to the game and worked with Namco to present the game as Pac-Man's official sequel. Thus, the game was modified back into a Pac-Man game, this time starring his newly introduced wife.

Ms. Pac-Man is largely the same as its predecessor in terms of gameplay. The goal remains the same, with Ms. Pac needing to navigate the maze to eat all of the Pac-Dots, all while being chased around by the four ghosts from the first game. Some new enhancements have been added to make the gameplay more challenging, such as the Bonus Fruit pickups now bouncing around the maze rather than always appearing in the center. The most notable new feature is the addition of multiple mazes, with different layouts and color schemes. The maze changes after clearing specific rounds, and there are four different mazes to see throughout the game.

Ms. Pac-Man would prove to be another hit for Namco, and the character would go on to become a mainstay of future Pac-Man games for the next two decades, with the original game receiving a multitude of home ports in the meantime, and the character even receiving a few standalone spinoff games like Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness. However, while Namco would maintain ownership of the Ms. Pac-Man copyright, royalty rights still belonged to the General Computer Corporation, and Namco's legal obligations to these rights would remain unresolved for many years, resulting in the character's appearances becoming more sparse in games released after 2006. In 2019, the royalties owed to the GCC were obtained by AtGames, and following a lawsuit against the company filed by Bandai Namco Entertainment that was ultimately dismissed, Bandai Namco would introduce a new character known as Pac-Mom, who would replace Ms. Pac-Man in rereleases of games previously featuring her, starting with the Arcade Archives release of Pac-Land in 2022.

---

Ms. Pac-Man contains examples of:

• Action Girl: Ms. Pac-Man is very markedly a woman and she dodges and bites her way through mazes just as well as her spouse.
• Adaptation Expansion: The Tengen version features new mazes, different maze sizes, and the ability to move faster. These are carried over for the Genesis and SNES ports. The Atari Lynx version likewise has its own set of large mazes.
• Artificial Brilliance: Many attributes of the original game's ghost behaviors are replicated in this installment, with the additional mix-up of making the ghosts move pseudo-randomly when in Scatter mode instead of targeting the corners. The upside is that you can't memorize paths this time around, the downside is that finishing a level quickly (or "perfectly") now relies on luck.
• Delivery Stork: The third intermission sequence,"Junior", features a stork dropping off Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man's child, the eponymous Junior.
• Dolled-Up Installment: Sort of. Originally, the game was a Game Mod for Pac-Man titled Crazy Otto. Midway, which wanted a sequel to Pac-Man and couldn't wait for Namco to make one, bought the rights to Crazy Otto, and changed it to Ms. Pac-Man.
• Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The Tengen versions have their difficulty sorted as: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Crazy.
• Mission-Pack Sequel: While containing new mazes and some graphical updates, Ms. Pac Man was otherwise the exact same game as the original Pac Man.
• Non-Indicative Name: Ms. Pac-Man should be called Mrs. since she's married.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In this game, Sue is effectively the same character as Clyde was in the first game in everything but name. Later installments would do more to make Sue her own character separate from Clyde.

---

The Franchise as a whole

Pac-Man is a video game franchise that began in 1980 with the release of an arcade Maze Game created by Toru Iwatani. The game featured a spherical yellow character running through a maze to eat all of the small dots scattered around, all the while avoiding contact with four different-colored ghost monsters. The game would go on to become the most successful arcade game of all time, selling over 100,000 arcade units in the United States within a year, and would jump-start one of the longest-running and most classic gaming franchises of all time.

While the series hit the height of its popularity early on with the original maze game, as well as its first sequel, Ms. Pac-Man, numerous sequels and spin-offs would follow in the coming decades, many of which would place the character in different genres and gameplay styles, while the classic arcade games would continue to be ported to nearly every major gaming platform. These new releases have allowed the series to remain relevant in the public concious all the way up to The Ninth Generation of Console Video Games.

In the year 2000, the original game celebrated its 20th anniversary, and Namco prefaced the occasion the previous year with the release of Pac-Man World. This game transformed Pac-Man into a 3D platform game, following in the footsteps of many gaming mascots of the era. World proved to be a modest success, and began one of the most popular post-arcade branches of the franchise, spawning two direct sequels, a companion game starring Ms. Pac-Man, and even a racing game spin-off.

While Pac-Man is most famous for his video games, he also branches out into other mediums sometimes. At the height of his popularity in 1982, Hanna-Barbera created an animated television series based on the game, the first of its kind to ever be based on a video game. A second cartoon would debut in 2013, with Bandai Namco temporarily attempting to use it as the basis for a complete reboot of the franchise, with much Pac-Man related media of the time using its redesigned version of Pac-Man's design. Pac-Man is also a recurring element of films based on retro gaming culture, such as Wreck-It Ralph and Pixels.

---

Pac-Man media

Arcade Games

• Pac-Man (May 1980)
• Ms. Pac-Man (1981) (Made by Bally/Midway without Namco's authorization, as well as:)
  • Pac-Man Plus (1982)
  • Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man Pinball (1982)
  • Baby Pac-Man (1982)
  • Professor Pac-Man (1983)
  • Jr. Pac-Man (1983)
• Super Pac-Man (1982)
• Pac & Pal (1983) ^note There is an alternate version called Pac-Man and Chomp Chomp, in which the "Pal" was replaced by Pac-Man's dog from the Hanna-Barbera series, which was only ever test-marketed in Europe
• Pac-Land (1984) (A Recursive Adaptation based on Hanna-Barbera's animated series^note It was also modified for its Japanese release, making Pac-Man (and the rest of his family) look more like Namco's official artwork, and removing the two pets completely.)
• Pac-Mania (1987)
• Pac-Man Arrangement (1996) (Included in Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2 alongside a port of the original Pac-Man) ^note A completely different game called Pac-Man Arrangement later appeared on Namco Museum Battle Collection (2005, PSP).
• Pac-Man VR (1996)
• Pac 'N Party (2000)
• Pac-Man Battle Royale (2010)
• World's Largest Pac-Man (2016) (Developed in colaboration with Raw Thrills and is literally the world's largest Pac-Man arcade machine.)
• Athletic VR: Pac-Man Challenge (2019)
• スピード錯覚アトラクション Pac-Man Racer (2020)
• Pac-Man Battle Royale CHOMPionship (2022)

Home Console / Computer Games

• Pac-Attack (1993 (Mega Drive, SNES) - A Pac-Man reskinning of the Japan-only arcade and SNES game Cosmo Gang: The Puzzle)
• Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (1994, SNES, Mega Drive)
• Pac-In-Time (1994, SNES, DOS, Game Boy - The DOS and Game Boy versions are a Pac-Man reskinning of the Amiga and DOS game Fury of the Furries)
• Pac-Man World' (1999, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance)
  • Pac-Man World: Re-PAC (2022, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam)
  • Pac-Man World 2 (2002, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Platform/Windows PC, Xbox, Game Boy Advance)
    • Tree Top Token Game (2002, Web browser)
  • Pac-Man World 3 (2005, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Windows PC)
  • Pac-Man World Rally (2006, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo GameCube, Windows PC)
• Pac-Man no Desktop Daisakusen (1999, Windows PC)
• Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness (2000, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast)
• Pac-Man: Adventures in Time (2000, Windows PC)
• Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze (2001, Windows PC)
• Pac-Man All-Stars (2002, Windows PC)
• Pac-Man Fever (2002, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2)
  • Pac-Man Fever Trading Card Hunt (2002, Web browser)
• Pac-Man Vs. (2003, Nintendo GameCube - Developed in collaboration with Nintendo)
• Pac-Pix (2005, Nintendo DS)
• Pac-Man Pinball Advance (2005, Game Boy Advance)
• Pac 'n Roll (2005, Nintendo DS)
• Namco Museum Remix (2007, Nintendo Wii) - Pac-Man is playable and/or featured in all Remix minigames
  • Namco Museum Megamix (2010, Nintendo Wii)
• Pac-Man Championship Edition (2007, Xbox Live Arcade)
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (2010, Xbox Live Arcade, Play Station Network, Windows PC)
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (2016, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows PC/Steam, and Nintendo Switch)
  • Pac-Man Championship Edition NES demake (2020, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Windows PC/Steam, and Nintendo Switch)
• Pac-Man Party (2010, Wii, Nintendo 3DS)
• Pac-Match Party (2010, Web browser)
• Pac-Man Pizza Parlor (2010, Windows PC)
• World's Biggest Pac-Man (2011, Web browser)
• Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions (2011, Nintendo 3DS)
• Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (2013, PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360, Windows PC, Nintendo 3DS)
  • Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 (2014, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
• Pac-Man 256 (2016, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC/Steam)
• Pac-Man 99 (2021, Nintendo Switch)

Mobile Games

• Pac-Match (2001, J2ME)
  • Pac-Match Party (2010, iOS)
• Pac-Man Crisis (2002, J2ME)
• Pac-Man Casino (J 2 ME)
  • Card Game Pack
  • Slots Pack
• Pac-Man Pinball (2003, J2ME)
  • Pac-Man Pinball 2 (2008, J2ME)
• Pac-Man Puzzle (2004, J2ME)
• Pac-Man Bowling (2004, J2ME)
• Pac-Man's Arcade Corner (2005, J2ME)
• Space Invaders × Pac-Man (2005, J2ME)
• Pac-Man Arcade Golf (2006, J2ME)
• Pac-Man Party (2010, J2ME)
• Pac-Man Reborn (2010, J2ME)
• Pac 'n Twit (2010, (iOS)
• Pac-Chain (2010, (iOS)
  • Pac-Chain Compact (2010, (iOS)
• Letter Labyrinth: Pac-Man Edition (2010, (iOS)
• Pac-Man Kart Rally (2010, (J 2 ME, Windows Phone, Android)
• Pac'n Jump (2011, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Chomp (2011, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man SP (2011, J2ME)
• Pac-Man Games (2012, (iOS)
• Pac-Man Dash (2013, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man + Tournaments (2013, iOS, Android - Renamed to just Pac-Man in later updates; also called Pac-Man for Mobile in the game's official Facebook page) ^note The game's files contain the former title
• Pac-Man Monsters (2014, iOS, Android) (Discontinued)
• Pac-Man Friends (2014, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man Bounce (2015, iOS, Android)
• Dodge and Dash Pac-Man (2015, iOS, Android)
• Mobile eSports with Pac-Man (2015, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man Slots (2015, Android)
• Pac-Man 256 (2015, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man Hats (2016, iOS, Android)
  • Pac-Man Hats 2 (2017, iOS, Android) (Beta) ^note Both games are test demos for eventual updates of Pac-Man for Mobile
• Pac-Man Puzzle Tour (2016, iOS, Android)
• Mega Run Meets Pac-Man (2016, iOS, Android)
• Trace It Pac-Man (2016, iOS, Android)
• Milbox Touch VR Pac-Man (2016, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Tune (2016, iOS, Android)
• Mogpac (2016, iOS, Android)
• Intense! Pac-Man Fantasy Tower (2016, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man Pop (2016, iOS, Android)
• The Card: Respectable Pac-Man (2017, iOS, Android)
• Gachi Escape: Serious Escape Pac-Man (2017, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Pong (2017, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man Note: Escape From the Page (2017, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man Maker (2017, iOS - only in Canada)
• Pac-Man: Ralph Breaks the Maze (2018, iOS, Android) - a crossover with Ralph Breaks the Internet
• Pac-Man's Nippon Journey (2018, iOS, Android)
• Pac-Man Geo (2020, iOS, Android - a fully-fledged implementation of a 2015 Google Maps April Fools game)

Cross-Platform Games

Games that can be played across both PC and mobile devices.

• Google Pac-Man (2010, Web browser)
• とびだせ Pac-Man Run (2016, Web browser)
• Pac-Man Mini (2017, Web browser)
• Pac-Man Shanghai Mahjong (2017, Web browser)
• Pac-Man Ghost & Stage Maker (2017, Web browser)
• Pac-Run (2017, Web browser)
• Pac-Man.io (2018, Web browser) - Open beta by Miniclip
• Million x Pac-Man (2019, Web browser)
• One Piece Pac-Man Stampede Ver. (2019, Web browser) - a crossover with One Piece Stampede
• Pac-Man Party Royale (2019, Apple Arcade)
• Morinaga Pac-Man Mini (2020, Web browser)
• TenSura x Pac-Man (2020, Web browser)
• Pac-Man: Mega Tunnel Battle' (2020, Google Stadia)

Other Games

Non-Pac-Man games which feature Pac-Man.

• Kick (1981, Arcade)
• Family Pinball (1990, Famicom) - Released in the USA as Rock 'n Ball without Pac-Man elements.
• Mario Kart Arcade GP (2005, Arcade) ^note Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky appear as playable characters
  • Mario Kart Arcade GP 2 (2007, Arcade) ^note Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Blinky appear as playable characters
  • Mario Kart Arcade GP DX (2013, Arcade) ^note Pac-Man appears as a playable character, updated to use his Ghostly Adventures design
• Honeycomb Rock (2006, J 2 ME)
• Namco Arcade Golf (2007, J 2 ME) - Essentially a rebranded version of Pac-Man Arcade Golf
• Minecraft (2009) - A 2020 Pac-Man DLC for Bedrock Edition features ten mazes, a maze builder, and unlockable characters.
• Body and Brain Connection (2010, Xbox 360)
• =10 (2011, iOS, Android)
• Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational (2011, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 3)
• Street Fighter X Tekken (2012, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions only)^note Pac-Man appears as a downloadable character
• Namco High (2013, Web Browser)
• Sonic Dash (2013, iOS, Android) - Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man were introduced as limited event unlockable characters during February-March 2018
• Super Smash Bros.
  • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U)
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018, Nintendo Switch)
  • An amiibo figure was also released based on his Smash Bros. appearance, and other games have Pac-Man content unlocked by that figure.
• Crossy Road (2014, iOS, Android)
• Family Stadium / Famista
  • Famista Dream Match (2014, iOS)
  • Famista Evolution (2018, Nintendo Switch)
  • Pro Yakyuu Famista (2020, Nintendo Switch)
• Disney Tsum Tsum (2014, iOS, Android) - Pac-Man and Blinky were introduced as limited event Tsums classified under the Wreck-It Ralph series in 2019
  • Disney Tsum Tsum Festival (2019, Nintendo Switch) - Pac-Man was a DLC character until January 2020
• Pixel Super Stars (2015, iOS, Android)
• Pixel Runners (2018, iOS, Android)
• Super Robot Wars DD (2019, iOS, Android) - Pac-Man joined the roster in 2021, piloting his Super Robot Chogokin toy.

Non-Video Game Adaptations

Pac-Man games and media that are not of the video variety.

• Pac-Man (1981, card game)
• Pac-Man (1982, board game)
• Pac-Man 1982 (Hanna-Barbera animated adaptation)
• Ms. Pac-Man (1983, board game)
• Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (2013, CGI animated series which spawned video games based on this series)
• Pac-Man Stories (2018, Amazon Alexa)
• Pac-Man: The Board Game (2019)
• Monopoly Arcade: Pac-Man (2020, board game)
• Pac-Man: The Card Game (2020)

Appearances in Other Media

• In Wreck-It Ralph, Clyde (voiced by Disney animation employee Kevin Deters) hosts the villain support group in a Pac-Man arcade machine, and Pac-Man is a guest at Felix's anniversary party.
  • Pac-Man also appears in the sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet.
• When aliens attack with retro game characters in Pixels, Pac-Man is one of their main weapons. The heroes use Mini Coopers to take the role of the ghosts, and Pac-Man's creator Toru Iwatani also appears (played by Denis Akiyama, but the real Iwatani does make his own Creator Cameo as a background scientist).
• The antagonist in the Kamen Rider Ex-Aid movie Kamen Rider Heisei Generations is "Doctor Pac-Man", who wears a warped Pac-Man mask and spreads a bio-digital Pac-Man virus that manifests physically as both a swarm of Pac-Men and as a giant demonic-looking Pac-Man. While it seems odd for Pac-Man to appear in Kamen Rider, It Makes Sense in Context as he fulfills the role of a Crossover Combo Villain: Ex-Aid is video game-themed and the heroes fight game viruses like these all the time, while the film's main co-star Kamen Rider Ghost has, well, ghost powers, which the Pac-Man virus naturally fears and targets him for. And Namco Bandai has some control over the show as the toy manufacturer, so there's that.
  • In a series of web videos set after the movie, another character takes on the identity of Dr. Pac-Man and loans Ex-Aid and his allies powerups based on Namco games, with Ex-Aid using a Pac-Man-themed one.

---

The series contains examples of:

• Pinball Spin-Off:
  • First was Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man Pinball. It was a more conventional Pinball game, with a five-by-five bank of lights in the playfield. During the game, the player could move Pac-Man (represented by a yellow light) by tapping flipper buttons for direction/movement to avoid the ghost (represented by a red light).
  • Five months later came Baby Pac-Man, which combined a Pac-Man video game with a pinball table, in a video-game-sized cabinet. Unfortunately, the small playfield was a challenge for most players, and the maze game was Nintendo Hard to the point where finishing the first maze was an accomplishment.
  • 1990 saw Family Pinball for Famicom. It wasn't primarily a Pac-Man game, but it did feature Pac-Man as a playable character, and there was a Pac-Man-themed table.
  • Pac-Man Pinball Advance was released in 2005 for, you guessed it, Game Boy Advance. It received unenthusiastic reviews.
    • There was a Pac-Man Pinball series for mobile devices; the first game came out in 2003, and the second followed in 2008.
  • A competitive multiplayer pinball game debuted in Japan in 2019 named Pac-Man Panic. It eventually came to the USA at the beginning of 2020.
• Retcon:
  • Namco hasn't made very many mentions of Ms. Pac-Man since the 30th anniversary of the original arcade game. It hasn't been in any Namco Museums since Virtual Arcade, and Pac-Man Museum, a compilation based on Pac-Man, does not include Ms. Pac-Man. It probably doesn't help that Ms. Pac-Man was developed by Midway rather than Namco. Then again, Namco did buy the full rights to the game and character. It should be noted that Ms. Pac-Man is available in Pac-Man Museum as Downloadable Content and Ms. Pac-Man herself cameos in Super Smash Bros for Wii U (which Namco co-created alongside Hal Labs and Sora Ltd.).
  • There is also strong evidence that Pac-Man's other family members (Pac-Jr, Baby Pac, Professor Pac) were retconned out of the series after Pac-Man World 3.
  • Unrelated to the last three: Blinky and Clyde had their names switched in Pac-Man Arrangement (1996) and the Pac-Man World series. Their naming scheme returned to normal after Pac-Man World 3.
• Screen Crunch:
  • The Game Boy version—on top of being impossible to tell which ghost is who (without understanding their individual A.I.) thanks to the lack of colors—has a giant, unnecessary gray border on the right side of the screen that eats up nearly 1/3 of the resolution.
  • The GBA port, Pac-Man Collection, was an interesting case. In Pac-Man & Pac-Man Arrangement (1996), only one half of the maze can be on screen at once, though using the shoulder buttons will allow you to see the other half. Pac-Mania on the other hand wasn't so lucky—due to the big sprites you can't even see so much as a fourth of the maze, making it incredibly difficult to play.
  • The Atari ST version of Pac-Mania has half of the screen taken up by the HUD.
  • Perhaps because of all of this, the Championship Edition games instead have mazes designed specifically for 16:9 screens, rather than the traditional taller-than-is-wide mazes.
• Shown Their Work: The playable Google doodle for Pac-Man's 30th anniversary. While the maze is obviously different, the game mechanics are accurate to the original. Everything from the ghost behavior to the glitch allowing Pac-Man to pass through ghosts to even the Kill Screen at level 256 (though unlike the original, the game simply ends at that point) is replicated to near pixel perfection.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Pac-Jr.'s relationship with Blinky's daughter Yum-Yum in Jr. Pac-Man. Blinky clearly objects the bond, chasing Jr. whenever he tries to go near her to the point that Ms. Pac-Man has to jump in on both occasions to prevent Blinky from catching and potentially killing her son.
• Stock Food Depictions: The bonus fruits, where applicable, take on stock appearances to make their appearances obvious within graphical limitations. Even when graphics were no longer an issue, their appearances remain faithful to the original.
• Sudden Eye Colour: Pac-Man went from Pie-Eyed to having blue eyes starting with Pac-Man Party. Later redesigns would go back to the him-shaped eyes.
• Title Confusion: There's a lot of this.
  • The arcade game is Junior Pac-Man; the unlockable game in the Genesis version of Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures is Pac-Man, Jr. They are not the same game.
    • Adding to that, there are unrelated handheld LCD games named Pac Man 2 and Pac-Junior
  • Pac-Man Panic is not the same thing as Pac-Panic
  • Pac-Man Pinball Advance is completely different from the Pac-Man Pinball on mobile devices.
  • Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures is known as Pac-World in Japan, in no relation to Pac-Man World.
  • Two games released under the Catalog IP project label are Pac-Run and Pac-Man Run. They are from separate development teams.
• Updated Re-release
  • Pac-Man Plus (created by Namco and Bally Midway) is a more difficult version of the original with the Power Pellet having different effects depending on the stage.
  • The 2005 version of Pac-Man Arrangement received a PSP-exclusive re-release that gives the game a coat of Namco fanservice.
  • World's Largest Pac-Man is the original game on an enormous LCD screen. Gameplay differences include: simultaneous 2-player co-op, the bonus fruits move similar to Ms. Pac-Man, gameplay keeps moving even if Pac-Man dies, the ability to continue the game at a Game Over rather than starting over, and shifting maze colors.

---

[[/folder]]