9,179
edits
Pac-Man (universe): Difference between revisions
→Franchise description
| Line 28: | Line 28: | ||
Despite its initially lukewarm reception in Japan, it is difficult to overstate the immense impact that the North American release of the game ''Pac-Man'' had. It quickly became far more popular than anything seen in the game industry up to that point, grossing over $1 billion in quarters within a decade, and towards the end of the 20th century, the game's total gross in quarters had been estimated at more than 10 billion quarters ($2.5 billion), making it the highest-grossing video game of all time. It established the maze chase game genre, and is also credited for laying the foundations for the stealth genre due to its emphasis on avoiding enemies rather than fighting them; ''Pac-Man'' is often cited as an inspiration for the original {{uv|Metal Gear}}. | Despite its initially lukewarm reception in Japan, it is difficult to overstate the immense impact that the North American release of the game ''Pac-Man'' had. It quickly became far more popular than anything seen in the game industry up to that point, grossing over $1 billion in quarters within a decade, and towards the end of the 20th century, the game's total gross in quarters had been estimated at more than 10 billion quarters ($2.5 billion), making it the highest-grossing video game of all time. It established the maze chase game genre, and is also credited for laying the foundations for the stealth genre due to its emphasis on avoiding enemies rather than fighting them; ''Pac-Man'' is often cited as an inspiration for the original {{uv|Metal Gear}}. | ||
It introduced what is argued to be the first original gaming mascot, and in doing so demonstrated the potential of characters in video games. It was the first video game to feature power-ups, and is often credited as the first game to feature cutscenes, albeit not to the degree that Nintendo's own revolutionary arcade game, {{uv|Donkey Kong}}, had the following year. Finally, it | It introduced what is argued to be the first original gaming mascot, and in doing so demonstrated the potential of characters in video games. It was the first video game to feature power-ups, and is often credited as the first game to feature cutscenes, albeit not to the degree that Nintendo's own revolutionary arcade game, {{uv|Donkey Kong}}, had the following year. Finally, it is one of the earliest games to become popular with a female audience, and this wide appeal allowed it to become gaming's first licensing success. Pac-Man was determined to have the highest brand awareness of any video game character among American consumers. | ||
''Pac-Man'' became one of few games to have been consistently published for over three decades, with many remakes and sequels released on numerous platforms. This is not to mention the influx of unauthorized ''Pac-Man'' clones that took place soon after the original release, nor of the ill-fated port of the game for the Atari 2600 (which ironically was a contributing factor to the infamous {{s|wikipedia|1983 video game crash}} in North America due to the debilitating technical limitations of the console). An American-produced derivative titled ''Ms. Pac-Man'', developed by Namco licensee Midway (today Warner Bros. subsidiary NetherRealm Studios), garnered a great deal of success of its own due to improvements over the original title; despite its development happening without Namco's consent, the company approved of the character, received the rights to the property, and subsequently included the feminine take on ''Pac-Man'' in various ''Pac-Man'' compilations and ports. | ''Pac-Man'' became one of few games to have been consistently published for over three decades, with many remakes and sequels released on numerous platforms. This is not to mention the influx of unauthorized ''Pac-Man'' clones that took place soon after the original release, nor of the ill-fated port of the game for the Atari 2600 (which ironically was a contributing factor to the infamous {{s|wikipedia|1983 video game crash}} in North America due to the debilitating technical limitations of the console). An American-produced derivative titled ''Ms. Pac-Man'', developed by Namco licensee Midway (today Warner Bros. subsidiary NetherRealm Studios), garnered a great deal of success of its own due to improvements over the original title; despite its development happening without Namco's consent, the company approved of the character, received the rights to the property, and subsequently included the feminine take on ''Pac-Man'' in various ''Pac-Man'' compilations and ports. | ||
As the series progressed with continued releases that explored different genres, the iconic yellow wedge shape that ordinarily defined the title character onscreen was phased out for a design closer to his appearance on the promotional artwork printed on the arcade machines themselves — an abstract, spherical humanoid with rudimentary limbs and a massive face with a stick-like nose that varied in length between appearances. This design was first seen in-game in the 1984 title ''Pac-Land'', in part to tie in with a [[wikipedia:Pac-Man (TV series)|Hanna-Barbera animated series]] about Pac-Man that ran for two seasons in 1982 and 1983. ''Pac-Land'' is | As the series progressed with continued releases that explored different genres, the iconic yellow wedge shape that ordinarily defined the title character onscreen was phased out for a design closer to his appearance on the promotional artwork printed on the arcade machines themselves — an abstract, spherical humanoid with rudimentary limbs and a massive face with a stick-like nose that varied in length between appearances. This design was first seen in-game in the 1984 title ''Pac-Land'', in part to tie in with a [[wikipedia:Pac-Man (TV series)|Hanna-Barbera animated series]] about Pac-Man that ran for two seasons in 1982 and 1983. ''Pac-Land'' is an innovative title in itself as one of the first side-scrolling platform games, and one of the first games to include {{s|wikipedia|parallax scrolling}}. It is considered a major foundation for later mascot platformers, codified by 1985's ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' | ||
The steady stream of ''Pac-Man'' games was more-or-less halted for roughly six years after ''Pac-Mania'' for the arcades in 1987, before resuming on consoles with ''Pac-Attack'' in 1993. Through releases on a variety of competing platforms, including the PC, the formerly maze-based series explored genres as varied as puzzle, adventure, platformer, party, racing, and even pinball. These games often introduced a colorful cartoon world, not unlike that of {{uv|Mario}} and {{uv|Sonic}}, and a wide variety of characters outside of the original cast of the arcade game, not the least of which were Pac-Man's wife and children. It could be argued that, as recently as the early 2010s, ''Pac-Man'' as a property was easily more relevant as a forerunner to modern video games than as a starring video game franchise, due to the tendency of these experimental ''Pac-Man'' games to cater to young child demographics and garner at-times mediocre reception, but Namco nonetheless continues to honor the character as its company mascot. | The steady stream of ''Pac-Man'' games was more-or-less halted for roughly six years after ''Pac-Mania'' for the arcades in 1987, before resuming on consoles with ''Pac-Attack'' in 1993. Through releases on a variety of competing platforms, including the PC, the formerly maze-based series explored genres as varied as puzzle, adventure, platformer, party, racing, and even pinball. These games often introduced a colorful cartoon world, not unlike that of {{uv|Mario}} and {{uv|Sonic}}, and a wide variety of characters outside of the original cast of the arcade game, not the least of which were Pac-Man's wife and children. It could be argued that, as recently as the early 2010s, ''Pac-Man'' as a property was easily more relevant as a forerunner to modern video games than as a starring video game franchise, due to the tendency of these experimental ''Pac-Man'' games to cater to young child demographics and garner at-times mediocre reception, but Namco nonetheless continues to honor the character as its company mascot. | ||