PixlBit

Cross Posted to 1UP

May 22^nd. To many its a day. To me, well its still a day, though it also happens to be the day I also entered life too. Yet, I've always believed it wasn't an exciting day. I mean think about the people born on important events like D-Day, the day the Wright Bros took their first flight, or day parachute pants were first sold. Or what about the people born on holidays. Hell, I would have killed to be born on Flag Day... at least until a few days ago when I found a Wikipedia entry on May 22^nd(Random Note: THERE ARE WIKI ENTRIES ON DAYS OF THE WEEK? FOR THE WHOLE YEAR?!). Apparently, history doesn't skip a day and there's a bunch of stuff that happened today, including one important to gaming: Today Namco released Pac-Man on Japanese arcades in 1980. Pac-Man is often forgotten as one of the most important series that helped socialize gaming into what its today. It also makes sense that with what has happened within the last few days, maybe we could learn a lot from that that guy that sort of is a dot.

It's weird how much the original Pac-Man holds up well today. Sure, graphically its basic and its main game play gimmick gets gimmicky very quickly, but its hard not to have some fun it with it. Then again, its not hard to find Pac-Man, literally. Here's a fun thing to do: think of any electronic device you have gotten with in the last few years (lets cap it off at 2005). How many do you think have the capability to run an app or game with the original Pac-Man of some amalgamation on it (legally, no Mame stuff)? I count at least 7 for me (DS Lite, PSP, Wii, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita, 3DS, Smart phone) Pac-Man is EVERYWHERE. Everyone pretty much knows the game. In the 80's, he was the first gaming superstar inspiring the first gaming related cartoon, that is just as goofy as every other gaming related cartoon that has and will come out (Yes, that includes you too serious Sonic cartoon).

The first game was a huge success at arcades an largely paved the way for the large expansion of the Japanese gaming market. However, it was a hard act to follow and low did Namco try to follow. For every Ms. Pac-Man and DX Championship Edition, there was Pac-Attack and Pac-Pic that muddy the series a bit. But at least those still followed the old Pac-Man ethos. Of course, there were many games that broke away from tradition. My personal favorite was Pac-Man World 2 which had a Sonic Adventure 2 vibe with it. To the point that the final boss battle featured a gold colored Pac-Man fighting the final boss, albeit with out the awesome accompaniment of Crush-40. Even with his many non Pac-like exploits, Pac-Man is one of the few gaming franchises that still retains its arcade heritage and wears it proudly... as well as you can too thanks to the many hipster T-Shirts featuring Pac-Man or homage to him.* Namco largely owes its success to Pac-Man as well as its super company succesor that is Bandai Namco. Neither company would not have such a large presence in gaming without out him. I mean literally! Have you seen their main office in Japan?! Good grief! You can hide a EVA unit in there!

 

So, your probably wondering why I waxed all nostalgic about P-man, relating info I'm sure many of you already know. To answer this question, we need to go back in time. Back to the mystical era of ... yesterday. Yes, yesterday where according to the net is the end of gaming due to the next Xbox, the Xbox one (candidate right behind the Wii-U for the most stupidly confusing console name in history) questionable requirements. Most gamers, including myself, don't find the idea of an always online console or having to jump to through paid hoops for used game pretty unappetizing. But the end of gaming? Please. You know why? Pac-Man. Well, not entirely Pac-Man but Pac-Man is apart of it. Well, more like the idea of Pac-Man still existing today, largely tied to its original incarnation. Think about it: every modern ill woe of gaming has been inflicted on Pac-Man at some point of his career. Unnecessary remakes? Yep. Odd sequels that don't even vaguely represent the original. Oh, yeah. Pac-Man 2: The Adventures Continues met that criterion quite well. Really weird image re-branding? Plenty. Including his newest redesign to coincide with his new game coming out this year and face-palming awful sounding 3D cartoon coming to Disney XD this year (Sorry, I gave up all hope for this show after watching a teaser especially when Pac-Man said “great Pac-War”and just spoke in general). Yet, Pac-Man still exists and even in his non-traditional outings, still retains his original fundamentals. Kids of today can easily pick up the game and get into it easily just as adults. Its neither casual or hardcore. It's just a game. Hell, Pac-Man actually lived on after the video game crash in the mid 1980's, something not many games as old as Pac-Man can say. The point of all of this is the fact that Pac-Man has staying power, good games have staying power. Pac-Man has weathered through some of the best and worst times in video game history. I am not saying that the disappointing aspects of the Xbox One are things to not be worried about, but if Pac-Man can still be relevant at 33 years old, maybe we might be calling the death of gaming too soon? It's not like people frequently over react on the internet, right?

For me personality, Pac-Man holds a special place. It was one of the first gaming memories I ever had. I remember actually frequently playing the original arcade version when I was young. Though I was never good at it, a fact that still holds up today. But hey, I can still play the game if I wanted too. There are so many things I grew up with in gaming that can't say the same. Its least nice Pac-Man is still here. Sure, gaming is not far from perfect but in reality it never was. However, good games will continue to live on and so will video games. So here's to you Pac-y, Baby. Happy 33^rd Birthday and here's to many more.

 

Oh and happy 24^th Birthday to myself, I suppose.

 

Notes

• Sorry for the long absence. Things haven't been so great in my own life, plus I kind of got tired of writing for a bit. This is hopefully the first of many other new blogs coming much more regularly.

• This Mystery Science Theater 3000 meme, pretty much describes my rationale behind the Xbox One as well as not getting an 360 in general.

  • Also, you should check out this post about one of the more awesome potentals of the Xbox One.

 * No offense to anyone who has a Pac-Man shirt as I may/may not have this one depending on whether or not having video game T-shirt are/are not considered to be a hispter.