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is a fictional character and the titular
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
of the video game franchise of the same name. Created by
Toru Iwatani is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career working for Namco. He is best known as the creator of the arcade game '' Pac-Man'' (1980). Early life Iwatani was born in the Meguro ward of Tokyo, Japan on January 25, 1955. While ...
, he first appeared in the arcade game ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' (1980), and has since appeared in more than 30 licensed sequels and spin-offs for multiple platforms, and spawning mass amounts of merchandise in his image, including two television series and a hit single by
Buckner & Garcia Buckner & Garcia was an American musical duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from Akron, Ohio. Their first recording was made in 1972, when they performed a novelty song called "Gotta Hear the Beat", which they recorded as Animal Ja ...
. He is the official mascot of
Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in ...
. Pac-Man's most common antagonists are the Ghost Gang — Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde that are determined to defeat him to accomplish their goals, which change throughout the series. Pac-Man also has a voracious appetite, being able to consume vast amounts of food in a short timespan, and can eat his enemies by consuming large "Power Pellets". He also appears as a playable character in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series. The idea of Pac-Man was taken from both the image of a pizza with a slice removed and from rounding out the Japanese symbol "kuchi", meaning "mouth". The character was made to be cute and colorful to appeal to younger players, particularly women. In Japan, he was originally titled "Puckman" for his hockey puck-like shape, which was changed in international releases to prevent defacement of the arcade cabinets by changing the P into an F. Pac-Man has the highest-brand awareness of any video game character in North America, becoming an icon in video games and pop culture. He is credited as the first video game mascot character and the first to receive merchandise.


Character design

Pac-Man's origins are debated. According to the character's creator
Toru Iwatani is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career working for Namco. He is best known as the creator of the arcade game '' Pac-Man'' (1980). Early life Iwatani was born in the Meguro ward of Tokyo, Japan on January 25, 1955. While ...
, the inspiration was
pizza Pizza (, ) is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients (such as various types of sausage, anchovies, mushrooms, onions ...
without a slice, which gave him a vision of "an animated pizza, racing through a maze and eating things with its absent-slice mouth". However, he said in a 1986 interview that the design of the character also came from simplifying and rounding out the Japanese character for a mouth, ''kuchi'' (口). The character's name comes from , an onomatopoeic Japanese word for gobbling something up. The character's name was originally written in English as "Puck-Man", but when
Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...
localized the game for the United States they changed it to "Pac-Man", fearing that vandals would change the P in "Puck" to an F. The arcade created an official art on the original ''Puck-Man'' designed by Namco Artist Tadashi Yamashita, portrayed him as a yellow circle with a large mouth as well as hands, feet, eyes and a long nose. The North American ''Pac-Man'' artwork by Midway, went a different way and depicted him as a yellow circle with legs and large red eyes. In-game Pac-Man was represented as a two-dimensional sprite of a simple yellow circle with a mouth, which is his current design as of 2018. 1984's ''
Pac-Land is a 1984 side-scrolling arcade platform game developed and released by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Bally Midway, and in Europe by Atari Games. Controlling Pac-Man (character), Pac-Man, the player must make it to the end of eac ...
'' was the first game (of many) to use his arcade art in-game. More recently Pac-Man appears as a full three-dimensional polygonal model. His design went through two minor changes from the Puck-Man cabinet art over the years, the first made his nose smaller in the 1990s and the second altered his eyes and shoes in 2010.


Appearances


In video games

Pac-Man first appeared in the original action game of the same name. Despite ''Pac-Man''s legacy, Pac-Man himself did not appear again until the 1982 arcade release of ''
Super Pac-Man is a 1982 maze chase arcade game developed and published by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Midway Games. ''Super Pac-Man'' is Namco's take on a sequel to the original ''Pac-Man''; Midway had previously released ''Ms. Pac-Man'', w ...
'', which introduced a change into Super Pac-Man (Pac-Man increased in size and invulnerability). Later arcade games include ''Pac-Land'', ''
Pac-Mania is a cavalier perspective maze game that was developed and released by Namco for arcades in 1987. In the game, the player controls Pac-Man as he must eat all of the dots while avoiding the colored ghosts that chase him in the maze. Eating l ...
'' and ''
Pac-Man Arrangement is a Japanese video game franchise developed, published and owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment, a video game publisher that was previously known as Namco. Entries have been developed by a wide array of other video game companies, including Mi ...
'', a remake of the original ''Pac-Man''. ''
Pac-Man World is a 1999 3D platform video game developed and published for the PlayStation by Namco. Controlling Pac-Man, the player must complete each of the game's six worlds by collecting a certain amount of pellets to open up an exit door. The plot follows ...
'' was released in 1999 on the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
, and introduced new abilities to him (reminiscent to
Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
's and
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
's abilities). The game contributed heavily to the series as well as the character and spawned two sequels, a spin-off and a remake as well. ''
Pac-Man World 2 is a video game by Namco USA for the Xbox, GameCube, and PlayStation 2, released in 2002. A version of the game for Microsoft Windows was released in 2004, and an isometric sidescroller was made for the Game Boy Advance in 2005. The game is a ...
'' features Pac-Man on an adventure to rescue Pac-Land from an ancient spirit known as Spooky. ''
Pac-Man World 3 ''Pac-Man World 3'' is a platform video game developed by Namco, Namco Hometek and Blitz Games and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2, the GameCube, the Xbox (console), Xbox, the PlayStation Portable, the Nintendo DS, and Microsoft Windows. T ...
'' was released in 2005 to celebrate Pac-Man's 25th anniversary. In ''
Pac 'n Roll is a 2005 platform video game developed and published by Namco for the Nintendo DS. It stars a 3D Pac-Man as the user rolls him through the playing field using the touchscreen. The game sees Pac-Man; who has been turned into a ball, go on a jour ...
'', a young Pac-Man is being trained by the great Pac-Master. Several spin-offs have been released, such as a racing game ''
Pac-Man World Rally ''Pac-Man World Rally'', known in Europe as ''Pac-Man Rally'', is a kart racing game in the ''Pac-Man'' series. It was published by Bandai Namco Games, and released on August 22, 2006 for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, PlayStation Portable, and M ...
''.
Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', ''Rampage (series), Rampage'' ...
established a spin-off titled ''
Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to '' Pac-Man'' (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's ...
'' (featuring Pac-Man's wife of the same name), which was created without Namco's consent. Pac-Man appears in ''
Street Fighter X Tekken (pronounced "Street Fighter Cross Tekken") is a crossover fighting game developed by Capcom and released in March 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, in May for Microsoft Windows and in October for the PlayStation Vita. The game feature ...
'' as a playable guest fighter, riding a giant
Mokujin Mokujin (Japanese: 木人(もくじん), lit. "wood-person") is a fictional character in Namco Bandai Games' ''Tekken'' video game series. Mokujin first appeared in the 1997 video game ''Tekken 3''. Mokujin does not have his own fighting style ...
robot, and in '' Everybody's Golf 6'' as a playable guest golfer (through DLC). Pac-Man has also appeared in all three ''
Mario Kart Arcade GP is an arcade sub-series of Nintendo's '' Mario Kart'' series, developed and published by Namco and later Bandai Namco Games under license from Nintendo. In all installments, for an additional fee, a player's data can be saved on a magnetic ca ...
'' installments as a playable racer along with Ms. Pac-Man (first two ''Mario Kart Arcade GP'' installments only). Pac-Man is also a playable character in ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS'' and ''Wii U'', co-developed by
Sora Ltd. is a Japanese video game director and game designer best known as the creator of the '' Kirby'' and '' Super Smash Bros.'' series. Apart from his work on those series, he also led the design of ''Meteos'' in 2005 and directed '' Kid Icarus: Up ...
and
Bandai Namco Games is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are resp ...
. Sporting his classic design used in artwork for the original game and in the ''Pac-Man World'' games, Pac-Man's moveset is based around early ''Pac-Man'' games and various other Namco arcade titles, such as deploying a Power Pellet and dashing after it, summoning fire hydrants from ''Pac-Land'', or jumping on the trampoline from ''
Mappy is an arcade game by Namco, introduced in 1983 and distributed in the United States by Bally Midway. A side-scrolling platform game featuring a mouse protagonist and cat antagonists, it runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware modified to suppo ...
''. An Amiibo figure based on his appearance also allows ''Pac-Man'' elements to appear in compatible
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
titles, such as ''
Mario Kart 8 is a 2014 kart racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U. It features the '' Mario Kart'' series' game mechanics, in which players drive go-karts using ''Mario'' franchise characters in various race formats. Items placed ...
'' and ''
Super Mario Maker is a 2015 side-scrolling platform game and game creation system developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii U, released worldwide in September 2015. Players can create, play, and share courses online, free of charge, based on the styles ...
''. Pac-Man returns as a playable character in ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...
''.


Other appearances

" Pac-Man Fever", a hit single named after the character, reached number nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the United States in March 1982 and was certified Gold by the
RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
that same month. In the late 2000s, a feature film was reported to be in development. The character was the main mascot of the children's play area Pac-Man Land which was located in
Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre (86 ha) amusement park, in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth, Texas, Fort Worth and west of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. It is the first amusement park in the Six Flags chain, and features themed areas and attracti ...
from 1983 to 1985, before it was changed to Looney Tunes Land. Pac-Man starred in the 1982–1983 ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' cartoon voiced by
Marty Ingels Marty may refer to: Names * Marty (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters, also includes stage names * Marty (surname), a list of people Places in the United States * Marty, California, a former settlement * Marty, Min ...
. In the series, Pac-Man works to keep Mezmaron and the Ghost Monsters from finding the Power Pellet Forest. Pac-Man also starred in the 2013-2015 computer-generated animated series ''
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures ''Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures'', also known in Japan as is a computer-animated television series produced by 41 Entertainment, Arad Productions, a partnership between Sprite Animation Studios and OLM, Inc., and Bandai Namco Entertainm ...
'', voiced by
Erin Mathews Erin Mathews (born May 28, 1977) is a Canadian voice actress Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbi ...
. The series revolves around a teenage Pac-Man (aka Pacster or Pac), who protects Pac-World from ghosts alongside his high school friends. The character has made numerous
cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
s in various television cartoon series and movies, including ''
Tron ''Tron'' (stylized as ''TRON'') is a 1982 American science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Steven Lisberger from a story by Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird. The film stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a computer programmer a ...
'', ''
Tiny Toon Adventures ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' is an American animated comedy television series that was broadcast from September 14, 1990, to December 6, 1992. It was the first collaborative effort of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and Warner Bros. Animation ...
'' (episodes "Gang Buster's" and "Buster and Babs Go Hawaiian"), ''
The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'' (episode "
Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" is the eighth episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 6, 2005. It is a Super Bowl-them ...
"), ''
Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1000 years a ...
'' (episode "
Anthology of Interest II "Anthology of Interest II" is the 18th episode of ''Futurama''s Futurama (season 3), third season . It originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network in the United States on January 6, 2002. This episode, as well as the earlier "Ant ...
" voiced by David Herman), ''
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'' (episode " Imaginationland Episode III"), ''
Drawn Together ''Drawn Together'' is an American adult animation, adult animated sitcom created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein and premiered on Comedy Central on October 27, 2004. The series is a parody of ''The Surreal Life'' and follows the misadventures ...
'' (episodes "Gay Bash" and "Nipple Ring-Ring Goes to Foster Care"), ''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
'' (episodes " Stuck Together, Torn Apart", " Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story", and "
Candy, Quahog Marshmallow The fourteenth season of '' Family Guy'' aired on Fox in the United States from September 27, 2015, to May 22, 2016. The season contained 20 episodes. The series follows the dysfunctional Griffin family, consisting of father Peter, mother Lois ...
"), ''
Annoying Orange ''Annoying Orange'' is an American live-action/animated comedy web series created by Dane Boedigheimer (known online as DaneBoe). The series follows an anthropomorphic orange who annoys fruits, vegetables, and various other objects by telling ...
'' (episode "Pacmania"), ''
Robot Chicken ''Robot Chicken'' is an American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series, created and executive produced for Adult Swim by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich along with co-head writers Douglas Goldstein and Tom Root. The writers, ...
'' (episodes "Tubba-Bubba's Now Hubba-Hubba" and "Fool's Goldfinger"), '' Mad'', ''
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ''Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2'' is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team Guardians of the Galaxy, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ' ...
'', ''
Wreck-It Ralph ''Wreck-It Ralph'' is a 2012 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 52nd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature director ...
'', and its sequel ''
Ralph Breaks the Internet ''Ralph Breaks the Internet'' is a 2018 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The 57th animated film produced by the studio and the sequel to ...
''. Pac-Man also appears, in a larger role (including being prominently featured in promotional posters), in the 2015 film ''
Pixels In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device. In most digital display devices, pixels are the sm ...
'' among the arcade game characters that the aliens unleash as monsters upon Earth. His creator Tōru Iwatani also appears in the movie as an Electric Dreams Factory Arcade repairman while Denis Akiyama portrays the film's Tōru Iwatani, who tries to reason with Pac-Man only to get his right arm pixelated upon it being bitten by Pac-Man. In Japan, the 2016
tokusatsu is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...
film '' Kamen Rider Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Riders'' features Pac-Man, as well as a villain character named Dr. Pac-Man portrayed by
Shirō Sano is a Japanese actor. Career Born in Yamanashi Prefecture, Sano lived in Tokyo and Matsue, Shimane as a child, before returning to Tokyo to enter art school. He joined several theatrical troupes, including Jurō Kara's Jōkyō Gekijō. He had h ...
. A transformation based on Pac-Man also appears in the ''
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid is a Japanese tokusatsu drama in Toei Company's Kamen Rider Series. It is the eighteenth series in the Heisei period run and the twenty-seventh series overall. Toei registered the Kamen Rider Ex-Aid trademark on June 13, 2016. The show premiered ...
'' side series, ''Kamen Rider Genm''. In August 2022, a live-action CGI Pac-Man film was announced as being in development by Wayfarer Studios.


Reception

Since the release of ''
Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...
'' in 1980, Pac-Man has become a social phenomenon and became an icon of the video game industry, as well as popular culture. According to the Davie-Brown Index (DBI), Pac-Man has the highest brand awareness of any video game character among American consumers, recognized by 94 percent of them (surpassing
Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
and Sonic). ''Mario'' creator
Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, producer and game director at Nintendo, where he serves as one of its representative directors. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential designers in the history of video games, he is ...
even stated that Pac-Man was his favorite video game character. Pac-Man was the first character inducted at
Twin Galaxies Twin Galaxies is an organization and social media platform for people involved in the culture and activity of playing video games. It facilitates their interaction as well as their competition and recognizes their achievements. Twin Galaxie ...
' International Video Game Hall of Fame in 2010. In 2011, readers of ''
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' voted Pac-Man as the 6th-top video game character of all time. In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 73rd "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in games, commenting: "Toru Iwatani's simple, iconic, timeless character design has seen Pac-Man endure for more than 30 years and become an established visual shorthand for gaming and gaming culture all over the world." Jeremy Parish of
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
ranked 73 fighters from ''
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' is a 2018 crossover fighting video game developed by Bandai Namco Studios and Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series, succeed ...
'' "from garbage to glorious", listing Pacman as second, and praising by saying "He's the ultimate good sport, there to lend the whole affair a little extra gravitas and unconcerned with the outcome. So long as everyone’s having a good time, Pac-Man feels content that his involvement in Smash is time well spent." Gavin Jasper of ''
Den of Geek ''Den of Geek'' is a US and UK-based website covering entertainment with a focus on pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gan ...
'' ranked Pacman as 35th of ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate'' characters and criticized by stating that "Pac-Man as an actual character is something that shouldn’t be. We aren’t meant to comprehend him and any attempts to give him an identity have always been too strange to exist. Pac-Man breaks reality." Ravi Sinha of ''GamingBolt'' included Pac-man with his appearance at ''Pac-Land'' on his "Worst Video Game Character Designs That Were Totally Disliked By Gamers", criticizing and stated that "Of all the characters that needed a redesign, Pac Man should not have even been considered. Regardless, Namco thought it was a good idea to give Pac-Man legs. And a weird hat with a feather. In Pac-Land, things went even further as he received a Pinocchio-like nose as well. You really have to wonder which generation Namco was trying to appeal to here." ''
HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...
'' also included Pac-Man on their "The 30 best heroes of the last 30 years." In 2017, ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' named Pac-Man as 13th on their "Most Influential Video Game Characters of All Time", stating that "His first arcade appearance in 1980 said nothing about the character, save an implicit, voracious need to gobble things. He chomped his way into gamers’ hearts anyway, sending a message to future designers: that a distinctive, easily recognizable protagonist wed to a dead simple play concept can go miles toward making something a hit."


Cultural impact

The term "
Pac-Man defense The Pac-Man defense is a defensive business strategy used to stave off a hostile takeover, in which a company that is threatened with a hostile takeover "turns the tables" by attempting to acquire its would-be buyer. The name refers to Pac-Man, a v ...
" in
mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
refers to a
hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...
target that attempts to reverse the situation and take over its would-be acquirer instead, a reference to Pac-Man's Power Pellets. Filipino boxer
Manny Pacquiao Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao Sr. (; born December17, 1978) is a Filipino politician and former professional boxer. Nicknamed "PacMan", he is regarded as one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. He served as a Senator of the Philip ...
was nicknamed "Pac-Man", as was
American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
player Adam Jones.


Notes


References

{{Portal bar, Video games, 1980s Mascots introduced in 1980 Corporate mascots Video game mascots Toy mascots Male characters in advertising Male characters in video games Namco protagonists Pac-Man Super Smash Bros. fighters Video game characters introduced in 1980