Talk:Pac-Man/Archive 1

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Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Contents

Trivia section

Trivia sections on Wikipedia are considered very bad form. All imformation within this section should be dispersed to apropriate places within the article. --The_stuart 18:21, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

  • In Brazil, the game was unofficially named by the children as Come-Come (lit. he eats-he eats, in Portuguese). Also an onomatopoeic, from the sound the character does when walking/eating. In Italy, the same sound is referred as a meaningless Gabo Gabo. In Spain it was called Comecocos (coconut-eater).
  • The secret level of the third episode of Wolfenstein 3D is fashioned after one of the original Pac-Man levels.
  • It was rumored that Toru Iwatani had quit Namco because he only received a small amount of money after creating the game. In reality, he was promoted and as of 2004 is still a Namco employee.
  • The Ms. Pac-Man cartridge for the Atari 2600 was widely considered to be vastly superior to the original 2600 Pac-Man. Over the years, Atari hobbyists have reverse-engineered the Ms. Pac-Man cartridge's graphics and colors to make the game resemble the original Pac-Man more closely. While this is technically a copyright violation, the altered ROM has been a popular item among collectors of original 2600 games.
  • In Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, Pacman and the ghosts (Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde) are actually the fastest enemies encountered.
  • For many years, Pac-Man was the video game mascot for Namco.
  • A plugin kit called Super ABC became available in the 1990s which added several new games to the Pac-Man system, including different versions of the original Pac-Man.
  • In the 1995 arcade game (1996 on Sony PlayStation), Tekken 2, the character Yoshimitsu is seen day dreaming about Pacman if the player leaves him doing nothing during Practice Mode.
  • Pac-Man was also one of the bonus characters available to play as or against in Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis for the Playstation, alongside fellow Namco characters including Richard Miller (from Time Crisis), Reiko Nagase (from Ridge Racer), Yoshimitsu and Heihachi Mishima in their Tekken 3 incarnations.
  • Pac-Man was one of many classic arcade game characters edited into a 2005 series of commercials for the then-new Gametap website.
  • In Mexico Pac-Man was used in a Seven Up TV spot commercial in 1983.
  • In a variation of Pac-Man called Chomp , there were different items used: Cherry (100 points), Strawberry (200), Watermelon (300), Apple (500), Caterpillar (700), Bell (1000), Clock (2000)???(5000)
  • Ms. Chomp, another knock-off, plays like the Arcade version of Ms. Pac-Man, but with two fairly important differences: Firstly, the player is given a choice of which fruit level to start at, and secondly, the fruit are only given at the end of a level.
  • A second variation was released in a Kids' Arcade Pack titled Mac-Man Kids uses even further differant items from the actual Pac-Man.
  • A parody of Pac-Man appears in the film Club Dread, turning the premise of the game into a drinking game, turning the ghosts into females that must strip, etc.
  • In the Ridge Racer series of games, Pac-Man is referenced in various forms, from designs on the cars, to actual opponents (Pacman and the ghosts Inky, Pinky, Blinky and Clyde) in the game you must race against to acquire new levels and cars.
  • Pacman is also the nickname of the Filipino boxing champion Manny Pacquiao. The two-time world champion earned the distinction as the only boxer who has knocked down both future Mexican "Hall of Famer" Marco Antonio "Baby Face Assassin" Barrera (knocked out in 11th round)and Erik "El Terrible" Morales (knocked out in 10th round). Pacquiao has been on the top 10 list of the best "pound-for-pound" fighters in the world.
  • In the pilot episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, after Mac unchains a monster, a scene follows in which the monster, resembling a black version of Pac-Man chases Bloo, who resembles a blue ghost, around a junkyard.
  • In the videogame International Karate + by Archer Maclean, which appeared on Commodore 64 and Amiga, Pacman makes an occasional cameo appearance in the background. Typing 'pacman' on the Amiga keyboard during the game invokes him.
Pinky's male form (left) and female incarnation (right).
Pinky's male form (left) and female incarnation (right).
  • Since the earliest incarnation of "Puck Man", the monster Pinky was identified in Japan as a female character. A misunderstanding occurred during development in the early 1980s on the classic Pac-Man TV series cartoon show by the U.S. based Hanna-Barbera Company. In the show and in all related media, Pinky was a slow-witted bully character. Pinky was also made into a male in this form. Years later Namco reverted Pinky back to her female monster roots. In all the more recent games and media Pinky is always a girl. Many Pac-fans and game designers tease that Pinky had a sex change. In this case the character literally did.
  • Pacman and Ms. Pacman were both ported to the iPod using MAME and iPod Linux.
  • In the multi-racial country of Malaysia, Pac Man is a slang coined to describe men who only date ladies of other races.
  • In "Pac-Man World 3", Blinky and Inky are kidnapped by the evil alien "Erwin". Clyde and Pinky assist Pac-man during gameplay. In this game however, Clyde is identified as the red monster. Traditionally Clyde is the orange coloured monster and Blinky was in the red. Perhaps Clyde and Blinky swapped suits before the kidnapping.
  • Various incarnations and mythos of the Pac-Land tend to have the world inhabited mostly by the spherical Pac-folk as the common race of the land. The ghost characters tended to be in small bands including the classic monsters with variations of differant ghost characters depending on the game or media. Many the games especially into 1990s - 2000's show that there are very many differant ghosts and even an entire populace. This suggests that Pac-Land is comprised of a whole other species of characters. Not just a small group of villianous and ghostly outcasts.
  • The name "Pacman" has been given to a nebula, cataloged as NGC 281.
  • The noise Pacman makes when he moves is written as "Wakka wakka"
  • One of the ghost monsters make a cameo in the webcomic, Lancaster: The Ghost Detective

Ridiculous Links

This article suffers from the same problem I see in a lot of Wikipedia articles, that being ridiculous hyperlinks on completely random words. For instance, in the section listing the names of the different ghosts, all of their colors are linked to an ARTICLE on that COLOR. As if people don't know what "red" is. Also, when discussing the 256th level, "256" is linked to an article on the number "256". Not only is this silly, but it's arbitrary. Why isn't "player" linked to its own article in a following sentence? Why isn't the word "the" linked to an article explaining "the"? Meanwhile actual words people might not know, such as "byte" aren't linked. What did the writers do, throw a sucker dart at their monitor to decide which words should be hyperlinked? Links should only be on words that relate to the concepts in the article (i.e. "video game" or "arcade" and not the number "256" or a color). And this should only be done when there is a reasonable liklihood that people will not know what the word means or that they would want to read more about it. In other words, common sense should be used.--Daniel 23:08, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Changed Description

I changed the description of the linked Java game from: "virtually the same as the arcade version" to "similar to the arcade version (with aspects of Ms. Pac Man)." If you look at the Java game, you'll see it is similar, but is not identical to the original Pac Man. Also, the fruit moves around, which was a Ms. Pac Man innovation. I guess you could say it looks "inspired" by the original. —Frecklefoot 15:25, 11 Nov 2003 (UTC)

There are tons of subtle differences too. The fruits are all oranges, no intermissions, different fonts in some cases, death looks different, etc.

Deterministic?

When the ghosts are blue, their behaviour depends on the contents of the program ROM chips; while this is deterministic it could be interpreted as being pseudo-random.

Mention it in the article, then. Also, sign your posts (~~~ or ~~~~). —Frecklefoot 16:29, 1 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Game List

There should be a proper game list for Pac-Man. It is an entire series of video games, and they should be included in the article. I don't know them all, so someone else would have to include them. -user:Thealexfish

Let's see, they span several platforms, so keeping it straight would be tricky (but possible). Let's see:
  • Pac-Man (arcade, Atari 2600, [other platforms])
  • Ms. Pac-Man (arcade, [other platforms])
  • Super Pac-Man
  • Pac-Man Plus
  • Baby Pac-Man
  • Jr. Pac-Man
  • Pac & Pal
  • Pac-Land
  • Pac-Mania
  • Pac-Man V R
  • Pac-Bomber
  • Sky-Maze ???
Plus there were several console-only spin-offs such as Pac-Man World. These two links will be helpful: arcade versions and Moby Games entry on PC and console games. —Frecklefoot 00:16, Mar 30, 2004 (UTC)

What about adding the new DS games? --Luigi 19:41, 30 May 2004 (UTC)

Perhaps the Pac-Man series should get a seperate page, including the game list? Kouban 15:31, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

I'll get right onto creating that page, i've also added 2 more pac-man games to the list. These are Pac-Bomber and Sky-Maze ??? --Legolost 13:37 13th July 2006



Irony

In regards to Sethmahoney's removal of the word "Ironically" in this sentence:

Ironically, Atari allegedly paid Frye $1 million to produce the game in contrast to Toru Iwatani, who was only paid his usual salary for creating the original arcade game.

...because it wasn't "ironic." It is ironic because the arcade version netted millions for Namco while the 2600 version netted very little, if anything, for Atari. Huge fortunes = regular pay; huge loss = huge bonus -- that's irony! :-)

I'm not going to make a big stink about it, however. If someone else wants it in too, please re-add it. — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:46, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)

From the Wikipedia article on irony"
The American Heritage Dictionary recognizes a meaning of "incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs". This would allow the example above. (Their usage panel, however, found it unacceptable to use the word "ironic" to describe mere unfortunate coincidences or surprising disappointments that "suggest no particular lessons about human vanity or folly", which would still allow the above usage but exclude "ironically, I encountered a traffic jam when I was already late".)
Yes, it was an unexpected turn of events, but no, there was no lesson re: human vanity or folly.
On the other hand, Fowler, in The King's English, says "any definition of irony—though hundreds might be given, and very few of them would be accepted—must include this, that the surface meaning and the underlying meaning of what is said are not the same". Fowler would thus consider the Sullivan example above as incorrect usage.
The surface meaning (that there was a large difference between what was paid and what the programmers made) is identical to the underlying meaning (that there was a large difference between what was paid and what the programmers made). -Seth Mahoney 17:19, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)
If I understand what happened correctly (and I may not - I'm tired) the man that produced the rubbish Atari version got a million dollars and the guy that made the original aracade success got a standard wage. I would deem that acceptable usage of the word irony. You might want to term it a bitter irony if anything.
I'm reminded of that terrible woman's song lyric entitled Ironic: It's like ten million spoons when all you need is a fork, it's like ray-ee-ain on your wedding day, none of which are ironies, merely unfortunate circumstances. --bodnotbod 18:33, Jul 22, 2004 (UTC)
I think you got the situation right (except the guy who make the original arcade game was promoted), and its definately absurd, and definately unfortunate for the guy who made the original game, but its just not quite (imho) ironic. I was reminded of the woman who can go nameless' song as well. -Seth Mahoney 07:01, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
I suppose injustice would be more apt. --bodnotbod 11:08, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)

But

Injusticeically, Atari allegedly paid Frye $1 million to produce the game in contrast to Toru Iwatani, who was only paid his usual salary for creating the original arcade game.

just doesn't have a nice ring to it IMHO. ;-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:40, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)

What about "Absurdly, Atari allegedly..." or "Unjustly, Atari allegedly..."? -Seth Mahoney 20:30, Jul 23, 2004 (UTC)
What about "It is interesting to know that,..., while..." --Anupam Srivastava 19:17, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Infobox

I just added the Infobox from Wikipedia:WikiProject Arcade Games. It's a standard that will be used on all arcade game articles. I hated to nix the great caption the previous image had, but it looked really bad in the infobox, so, sorry! If we get another image of gameplay, we can add the great caption back in. If you want to help out with the Arcade Game WikiProject, come on over and add yourself to the Participants. Cheers! :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:08, Aug 12, 2004 (UTC)

Pac-Man statistics?

I remember reading a stat on the total amount of money spent on Pac-Man video games and the number of quarters that was. It was a pretty impressive number and would add an interesting fact to the article. Can anyone find that or have a source for it? Thanks - Taxman 14:53, Aug 31, 2004 (UTC)

You can find some statistics if you google for "pacman quarters billion" in google. Most sources seem to agree that it were "4 billion quarters worldwide". Which I think is odd, since most countries don't have quarters :) But it's quite sure that it earned more than $1 billion. --Tjansen 22:11, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Image of Pac-Man

The captured image shown in the article is, if I know corretly, of some shockwave implementation of the game. Why dont we put the original capture? I am saying so because since Pac-Man's release and moreover in recent years, we can find many versions/implementaions of the game, which generally do not follow the actual gameplay and copy only the 'looks' (from my personal experience). So, we should stick to the original Pac-Man. Isn't it? --Anupam Srivastava 21:13, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The screenshot looks authentic to me, but feel free to make a better screenshot :) My problem with the pic is rather that the main character looks like a dot, you can't see his mouth. It may also be helpful for understanding the game if some dots would have been eaten. The problem is the legal situation: AFAIK there is no legal way to obtain a Pacman ROM. Maybe if somebody owns a pacman arcade machine, doing the screenshot is ok... or if you live in a country without software copyrights. Or ask the owner of a different site whether you can take theirs. --Tjansen 22:03, 11 Sep 2004 (UTC)

OK! I think I have got someone who owns a legitimate copy of good old Pc-Man. He is in Benaras. May be he will allow me to get a snapshot :)--Anupam Srivastava 18:18, 13 Sep 2004 (UTC)


The thing about 'paku' is it could romanize as either 'puck' or 'pac' with equal validity. still..

Reverts

There appears to be a mini-revert war going on on this article's page. Can someone explain the controversy here? --DropDeadGorgias (talk) 19:33, Apr 11, 2005 (UTC)

Can someone please explain what is going on? If one more person reverts this page without some discussion on the Talk page I'm going to consider page protection. Also, I'm pretty sure that some of you are in violation of the WP:3RR. I don't want to start handing out blocks but PLEASE, discuss the problem on the Talk page first. --DropDeadGorgias (talk) 21:59, Apr 11, 2005 (UTC)
Every Arcade Game has copyrighted and trademarked logo "the Marquee" non-different than how Coca Cola and other products Logos, they are relevant and, so, fair use It is a Screenshot not from the Game but from the machine, i have no problem with. And the small form of the box is better, so that we can insert all engineering information without article to increase. AshSert 10:20, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)
AshSert, judging from the discussion on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Arcade games, you made these changes without the consensus support of the other editors in that WikiProject. As this decision should be made on a wider scale than this one article, please resolve the discussion on that WikiProject's talk page first. In the meantime, I am reverting your changes so that the infobox matches the guidelines set on Wikipedia:WikiProject Arcade games. This is not an appropriate place for this discussion or edit war. Once the WikiProject comes to a consensus on these changes and they are reflected on the WikiProject page, you can instate your changes on a wider scale. Cheers, --DropDeadGorgias (talk) 15:31, Apr 12, 2005 (UTC)
AshSert is at it again. He changed the infobox to the style he prefers (see this edit with a misleading edit comment), even though it was voted down on the Arcade Game WikiProject (see this discussion). He also vandalized the project page and changed it to his preferred style. The guy really should be banned—I've lost count how many times he's changed the arcade game articles when we've voted against it. — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:05, Apr 18, 2005 (UTC)

Perfect Score

This article http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050614/ap_en_tv/pac_man_s_25th says the perfect score was made by Billy Williams (not Mitchell). Anybody got a definitive source?

This site says Billy Mitchell. So does this site. This site mentions Mitchell, too, and even has a photo of him. I think the reporter of your story got the kid's name mixed up. ;-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 13:50, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Billy Mitchell wasn't a kid when he got the perfect game. He was, and still is, in the Hot Sauce business. Check out Twin Galaxies for more information on him and other perfect scores. Which leads me to say that more information would be nice to add on how a perfect game is actually acheived, ie. all ghosts must be eaten on every board where they turn blue (levels 1 through 16, inclusively, and level 18), all of the "fruits" must be eaten, for each extra man the 9 pellets that exist and reappear in the garbledeegook on the split screen must be eaten (there are no power pellets that live in that region because each pellet is worth only 10 points). There's even a site that will help the beginner get around 3 million points at Neil Chapman's using patterns that are easy to learn.

Nursery rhyme?

There's a meme out there which states Pac-man was originally based on "a devouring monster" in a Japanese nursery rhyme, a creature that "gobbled up evil spirits" while making a "puck-puck" sound. I've yet to find a single instance of the actual rhyme in question, and this may well be one of those "friend of a friend" factoids.

If true, this tidbit definitely warrants posting.

Mr.Do's recent changes

Quite simply, I think the merge was done poorly. The introduction has been terribly bloated. User:Mr.Do! has a history of making substantial changes without prior discussion. My suggestion would be to revert the article entirely and have someone else merge it. --Poiuyt Man talk 14:01, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I've attempted to fix up the opening paragraphs. I hope it bides well. Captain Yesterday 20:32, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Puck Man versus Pacman

I was the original poster of the Puck Man page. I created the page as there is a significant difference between the style of the artwork and build of cabinet.

The Pac Man article on wikipedia, rightly so, is centered around the American version of the game as licensed by Midway. This American version was more successful and spawned many spinoffs where the original Japanese title was only sold in Japan and some parts of Europe.

Both articles referring to each-other would be a much better idea than simply merging as the Pac Man article is about the game whereas the Puck Man article is centered on design and history of the game.

This was a clear candidate for an article merge: Both were refering to the subject, just in different locations. If you think that any information has been lost by the merge, please add it to the Pac-man article. --JiFish(Talk/Contrib) 19:29, July 13, 2005 (UTC)
Somebody's changed all the refs to Puck man into capitals. Meanwhile, in the template, it is referred to as Puck-man, which redirects to Puck-Man, whch redirects to itself. Anyone fany tackling the mess? --bodnotbod 09:16, 23 October 2005 (UTC)
I'll take care of the redirects, but I'm going to have to run a Google Test and see whether or not it's PUCK MAN or Puck-Man. --LBMixPro(Speak on it!) 01:26, 24 October 2005 (UTC)

Cruise Elroy

I'm really curious about this one. Anyone have any more information? Uttaddmb 14:56, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

Do you mean in addition to what is mentioned in the article? — Frecklefoot | Talk 23:51, August 6, 2005 (UTC)

I changed the "Cruise Elroy" section ever so slightly. I put, "It is believed..." instead of making it sound like a definate fact. Don't know if it matters if i tell anyone this or not... user:PAC_MAN7

Bizarre '90s multiplayer version of Pacman

I remember back in high school, there was a popular 2d multiplayer game we'd play on the school's computer networks where bizarre Pac-characters (Pacman, Pacaddict, Pacperv, Pacturd, and Paccondom are some of the ones I remember) would chase each other through different, quasi-realistic background screens. The only one I remember is a sewer. Does anyone else remember this? What was it? 68.161.44.106 19:43, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

Patterns

Would it be encyclopedic to include diagrams of the patterns to complete each level? There could at least be a mention of them anyway. Richy 15:36, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't think it'd be encyclopedic. Also, it's POV--there are countless ways to solve the levels. It'd be good for a strategy guide Wikibook, however. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:46, August 26, 2005 (UTC)

Pac-Man songs

This is the first time I've posted anything on Wikipedia, and the first time I've done an edit. Though this is being posted before I edit. But I don't think Weird Al Yankovic ever did a song called Pacman. Weird Al has a small part in his FAQ on his website that covers the issue of the rampant fakes among file sharing networks. He notes that every song he's done is on his Catalogue page. I did a quick search, and Pacman is not on there. So I'm fairly confident that Weird Al did not do the song in question, and it's just another fake on a file sharing network. Just for reference, here are the pages I mentioned - Weird Al FAQ Weird Al Catalogue --Brandon Myers 03:57, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for cleaning that up. :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 15:19, August 30, 2005 (UTC)
Well, after taking the song mention out again, I went back to Weird Al's site, and went through the FAQ. He actually did record a song called Pacman. But it was released through a Dr. Demento album release. So it's not on his official song list. I just assumed it was one of those parodies that are on file sharing networks that aren't really by him. So, I added it back. I feel like an idiot now. --Brandon Myers 05:44, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

Time to roll and split?

I added the section on Pac-Man Arrangement, which tipped it to 33KB. I'm wondering how to fix that, or if we should leave it alone. Hbdragon88 03:45, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Okay, it's clear there are some problems with flow. For instnace, ports are placed in three sections - under the Leagcy (the most ported game ever), Failed Atari Port, and Ports (with gallery screenshots). If these should be rolled into one, where should they be placed? Hbdragon88 20:58, 6 October 2005 (UTC)
How about a "Ports" section? Most video game articles have one. — Frecklefoot | Talk 23:17, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Namco's Pacman on the Mobile Phone

Apparently, Namco has a mobile phone version of Pacman and Ms. Pac-Man. Is it worth mentioning in the External Links?

I'd say yes. --JiFish(Talk/Contrib) 16:52, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Pac Man TV Show

There was a tv show of Pac Man. I watched it when i was a kid. I don't have time for it but someone should add something about that subject.

CornNuts trademark dispute

I remember there was a trademark dispute. I remember the solution was that there could not be pacman snack foods. I don't think the cornnut logo is being used anymore.--Gbleem 17:03, 26 December 2005 (UTC)

Merge, I think it's time to merge

The PUCK MAN article has identical information to the one in this article. Previous attempts to merge have only resulted in edit wars. I would like to get some more Wikipedian support before turning PUCK MAN into a redirect. Hbdragon88 07:37, 29 December 2005 (UTC)

Also, as far as "Puckman", perhaps that should remain a short article since it is a noticeable difference; with a brief description of the differences of the game (the Japanese names) and why the name was changed. (Also that some hack versions with altered mazes are called "Puckman" as well). But it's true that it shouldn't be such a copy of the Pac-Man article. Eric B 22:11, 29 Dec 2005

Okay, I went ahead and merged it into this article, and fixed all double redirects as necessary. - Hbdragon88 22:24, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

Red and orange ghost names swapped in "Arrangement"

Anyone else who has "Pacman Arrangement" notice that these names are switched. This is why I specified "red ghost" and orange ghost" yesterday, and now someone has changed it back to "Blinky" and "clyde" repsectively. I want to make sure that this is the way the game was programmed, and just not some sort of glitch on my copy of it (ncv2.zip, which I run with Mame0100b), before I edit the text with the following:

Urchin/Clyde (the red ghost in this game) takes on the appearance of a Viking

Crybaby/Blinky (the orange ghost in this game) spits out new larger 50 point pills. - Eric B 22:11, 29 Dec 2005

Sorry about that. I have played the Namco Museum version of Pac-Man Arrangement, but I didn't discern that much from it (such as the names, or that the sixth ghost is a power-up ghost). I went through a major copyedit through the entire article, esepcially with that obnoxious TOC header ("Ghosts versus Monsters? And other nomeclature conflicts") and other problems; the name swapping was another change. Now that you've brought it up, I'll desist from editing that part of the article. - Hbdragon88 05:47, 30 December 2005 (UTC)

I have the Namco Museum version too, for Mame0100b. Is the one you played Mame, or is it Gameboy, or the other platforms? (Playstation? etc). (Also, there is no 6th ghost in mine; only the regular four, plus the new one). Why is that header I put "obnoxious"? I guess the way you redid it was nice, but I put "Nomenclature conflicts" back, since it sounds better (more "encyclopedic") than "Name Debate", which you seemed unsure of yourself. Eric B 19:08, 30 Dec 2005

Mine is the GameCube version. I suppose I could check up the manual to see what their names are. And I termed the title "obnoxious" because it stretched out the TOC a ridicuous amount. And since there were other debates, I preferred to have the core header first, with the issue(s) listed under separate headers underneath the core header. Hbdragon88 02:14, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

Can you edit the Pac-Man seies section? There're some Pac-Man games missing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.100.191.132 (talk • contribs) 17:05, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

42 KB!

In just doing a big edit; I at the last minute caught the little notice about page size. (I never realized what the limit of a page was supposed to be). I looked around to see what could be trimmed. Perhaps "Pacman Arrangement", Pacman VS", and "Mario Kart GT" could be reduced to single sentences in the "Successors" section, since those games have their own articles, which are linked. But that might not be enough to free up the needed 11KB. I'm thinking now of just creating a new article called "ghost-monster" and moving the entire "nomenclature conflicts" section (All of which I added in the last month or so) there. Eric B 01:28, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

Meh, I'm not too worried about it. As for cutting, I would definitley trim down Pac-Manhattan, either putting it under trivia or slimming it down to a sentence or so, since it also has its own article. - Hbdragon88 04:36, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

What's the fuss about "sources"?

Most of the knowledge here comes from actual game play, or at least memory (but with Mama/Pacmame) even those most obscure hack version does not need memory to be relied on anymore). It's not like some philosophical or scientifc theory or supposed finding that anyone could make up off the top of their head, without any substantiation or evidence. What is some book or link going to tell anyone about the game that actual players can't, or that any reader could not find out by buying or downloading games? I think the games are their own "source" or "reference".

At the very least, the quote from the guy from Slayer needs a source, as it is a direct quote. Kouban 15:08, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Xbox 360 gamelist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Xbox_360_games

Lists pacman as one of the titles. I assume if it's going to be released it'd be a part of some sort arcade bundle, or be redesigned completely into something 3d and flashy. Anyway, either this article isn't up to date, or the list entry should be removed.


Pac-Man Seies

Can you edit the Pac-Man seies section? There're some Pac-Man games missing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.100.191.132 (talk • contribs) 17:05, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Character vs. Game?

I think that there should be a separate article for the original game "Pac-Man", and the character, "Pac-Man"; as they are two separate entities, it seems only fair that they should have their own articles. The disambiguation page already has a bullet point for it. Besides, Pac-Man is in a lot of other games now, as well, which might not be construed as sequels to the original (Pac Man World, anyone?). And I'm sure we could dig up other juicy tidbits about his personality from the show, or something. -Danfish77 02:32, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Ms. Pac-Man with rats?

I remember playing a version of Ms. Pac-Man in a CiCi's Pizza where the ghosts had been replaced with rats (however, they turned into the regular blue ghosts when a Power Pellet was eaten.) Has anyone else seen this version or these sprites, and if so, was anything else different (as in the changes to Pac-Man Plus?) -- Goldrushcavi 23:53, 22 March 2006 (UTC)


Added 3 missing Games

I added the following:

Hyper Pac Man (1994) created by Semicom Pac-Man VR (1996) created by Virtuality Puckman Pockimon (2000) created by Genie


I also added links to for each.

No, these are just hacks except for the VR game. I deleted 2. -- Elil 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Well at least add them to the Knock-offs section then! --4.250.63.241 16:21, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

I added them to the knock off section with some added info.


PAC-MAN VR

I will begin a section for this game

why the removal of the Puzzle Club info?

Puzzle Club was a game by NAMCO featuring PAC-MAN, so why remove the info and call it vandalism? It even listed sources as well.

Here is what was written:

Puzzle Club

- Puzzle Club was created by Namco in 1990. This is puzzle game players had to solve different puzzles, many of which had Pac-Man themes. This game was suppose to be released into the arcades, but it never made it out of the prototype stage. In the game a player can choose between two types of games: Young called Pac-Man Story and Adult called floor exercise. The Pac-man Story game give you blocks with images of Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man on them, which are used to play a Sliding puzzle. Other characters from the Pac-Man games make appearances after each round as an award for solving the puzzle.[1]

--4.250.63.179 00:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

"To wit"

This expression appears to be too obscure to use. I checked the history and "to wit" was "corrected" to "to win" by some poor soul who thought he'd found a typo. I corrected it back and it got reverted as vandalism! There's something amusing about this, but to prevent this waste of time in the future, I simply replaced it with "which is this". If anybody wants to attempt a more extensive rewrite, be my guest. 82.92.119.11 21:57, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

yoyoyo man

there is not enough information on pacman! i am doing this for a reposrt and i really need more info. :(

Adding pictures

Someone asked the question in the article; I deleted the question and am answering it here:

To add pictures to Wikipedia articles, you must:

  1. Become a logged-in user. Users posting from anonymous IP addresses may not upload images to the server.
  2. Make sure that your image may be legally used by Wikipedia--public domain, your own creation, etc. Most images found on the web (through google images, etc) are not allowed due to copyright restrictions.
  3. Click on the "upload file" link in the toolbox on the left. Follow the directions. Be sure to specify the licensing terms, showing acceptable copyright status, or the image will be deleted.
  4. Use the text [[Image:filename]] to refer to the image stored on the server.

Hope that helps,

--EngineerScotty 05:39, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Good Article nomination has failed

NOTE: All remaining issues posted by Bugmuncher have been copied to /to do by Seahen.

The Good article nomination for Pac-Man/Archive 1 has failed, for the following reason:

The article fails to meet most of the criteria for a good article, Bugmuncher 03:39, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

A good article has the following attributes.

1. It is well written. In this respect:

(a) it has compelling prose, and is readily comprehensible to non-specialist readers;
FAIL - There is a bit of redundancy in the article (paku-man, pakupaku, etc, get explained twice), also some removable phrases like "here is"; and some paragraphs - (Board games) are only a sentence long. The bit about the Japanese monster names is confusing - separating translations from names and nicknames (perhaps with parentheses, like "Sample" (translation: Foo), nicknamed "Sample2" (translation: Bar)) so it's clear what is a translation and what is a nickname would be helpful; On first reference, Chris Kohler's relevance as a commentator should be explained. I didn't know he wrote a book until I got to the end (addressed by Seahen 19:54, 17 June 2006 (UTC)); Some sentences do not appear to be complete.
(b) it follows a logical structure, introducing the topic and then grouping together its coverage of related aspects; where appropriate, it contains a succinct lead section summarising the topic, and the remaining text is organised into a system of hierarchical sections (particularly for longer articles).
FAIL - Lead does not address the scope of the article; Board Games and Movie should probably be a part of "Popular Culture"; Legacy could probably be a part of "History and Reaction" or "Reaction" could be moved from history and put into Legacy. (addressed by Seahen 21:57, 17 June 2006 (UTC))
(c) it follows the Wikipedia Manual of Style;
FAIL - headings should be nouns or noun phrases, except for "See also". See Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style_(headings). Also "Failed Atari Port" should not repeat "port" because it is a subheading of ports (addressed by Seahen 21:10, 17 June 2006 (UTC))
(d) necessary technical terms or jargon are briefly explained in the article itself, or an active link is provided.
FAIL - what is Cruise Elroy? It should be explained. (addressed by Seahen 19:54, 17 June 2006 (UTC))

2. It is factually accurate and verifiable. In this respect:

(a) it provides references to any and all sources used for its material;
PASS, maybe: I can't tell if it's "any and all"
(b) the citation of its sources is essential, and the use of inline citations is desirable, although not mandatory;
FAIL - there are too many facts that are not cited. Many of the items that are cited do not appear in the References section of the article.
(c) sources should be selected in accordance with the guidelines for reliable sources;
PASS - though I didn't check the sources that don't appear in the References section
(d) it contains no elements of original research.
FAIL - It's not clear that the decriptions of ghost patterns, knockoffs, character descriptions from cartoons, etc. are from sources other than original research.

3. It is broad in its coverage, addressing all major aspects of the topic (this requirement is slightly weaker than the "comprehensiveness" required by WP:FAC, and allows shorter articles and broad overviews of large topics to be listed);.

PASS - I can't think of anything a reader would need to know that might be left out.

4. It follows the neutral point of view policy. In this respect:

(a) viewpoints are represented fairly and without bias;
FAIL - Not sure what to say here. The topic is hardly controversial. But a lot of kids who didn't go to arcades didn't know that the home version of Pac-Man sucked, because it was their only exposure to the game. Try to remove detectable bias.
(b) all significant points of view are fairly presented, but not asserted, particularly where there are or have been conflicting views on the topic.
FAIL - There are a lot of uncited assertions (calling Arrangement "bizarre" and the Atari Port a "Failure", for example)

5. It is stable, i.e., it does not change significantly from day to day and is not the subject of ongoing edit wars.

This criterion is not relevant right now - there are so many other reasons to fail the article that I didn't do a serious examination of the edit history.

6. It contains images, where possible, to illustrate the topic. In this respect:

(a) the images are tagged and have succinct and descriptive captions;
FAIL - The use of images protected by copyright is OK, as long as Fair use rationales are added to each image. But there are no fair use rationales in in the images, as far as I have seen. captions should be one or more complete sentences. Please read about how to properly add fair use rationales at WP:FUP#Images
(b) a lack of images does not in itself prevent an article from achieving Good Article status.
(There is no shortage of images).

Thanks, Bugmuncher 03:50, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Pac-Man not pizza inspired

I know I've read somewhere that Iwatani himself stated that the whole pizza-inspiration thing was a fictional anecdote that he just jokingly tells to reporters. Unfortunately, I can't remember where and have no proof at the moment. Just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone knows what I'm talking about. -Lizard Dude 03:38, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

Split off 2600 version

The benefits of splitting #Atari 2600 off into its own article would include the following:

  • Reduce the overall article length from 49kb to 45kb. (It's currently marked as too long.)
  • We can then break it down into sections without ugly fifth- and sixth-level headings. (It's getting long enough that subsections are needed.)
  • We can provide it with its own infobox. This is important since, as the text indicates, it's a different game, with different graphics, different programming, different people and companies behind it, and a very different level of commercial success.

Comments would be welcome. Seahen 21:07, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

the name "ghosts"

There is no way the name "ghosts" started with the 2600 port. People always called them "ghosts" before the 2600 port was ever done, because they look like ghosts in the arcade version (or something with a sheet draped over it, anyway). I definitely remember this personally. 67.101.96.106

Ports

Only Space Invaders has managed this feat. However, aside from a Game Boy conversion in 1990 and a SNES conversion in 1997, the game saw few re-releases between 1982 and the game's 25th anniversary in 2005.

What exactly has space invaders accomplished that pac man did? This could be made ALOT more clear or deleted entirely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.132.227.238 (talk • contribs)

I was confused about this, too. I'm guessing it was referring to the popularity and multi-platform release, but even so, it probably doesn't belong in the section about Pac-Man ports, as neither did the statement about Pac-Guy. I removed them. --SevereTireDamage 16:53, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Image layout in Ports section

Does anyone mind if I shrink the Atari 2600 cart image (somewhat big now at 300x278px) and replace the ugly looking Gallery section with this?

Port screenshots
Atari 2600 (1982) Atari 5200 (1983) Commodore 64 (1983)
Intellivision (1983) SAM Coupé (1991) NES (1993)

--SevereTireDamage 22:40, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

If we're taking a vote here, I'd be in favor of replacing the current gallery with this nice succinct one you've designed. --Birdhombre 01:01, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
The old gallery was partly covered on my screen by another image, so the three-column gallery is a bug-fix, so I've gone ahead with it. Only, I don't agree with italicizing the header. SeahenNeonMerlin 15:15, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

PUCK MAN or Puck-Man?

Can anybody find a source saying the original name was "PUCK MAN"? My understanding was that the original name was "Puck-Man". TJ Spyke 06:09, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Fair use images

I'm a little confused by something. In the good article review, it was noted the images did not have Fair Use rationales. However, they all had boilerplate tags on them, mostly game-screenshot. Doesn't that cover the fair use provision? Or is a further "fair use" description repeating what the tag says required? I was under the impression that the boilerplates covered all this. --SevereTireDamage 06:53, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Japanese Ghost Names

I added the Japanese language for the names of the ghosts, but I'm wondering about the translation of the name "Otoboke" as "stupid." I've consulted three different Japanese dictionaries, and each defines "otoboke" as "one who feigns ignorance" or "one who plays dumb." Is it possible that "stupid" was used simply because there is no convenient equivalent word in English ("Someone who plays dumb" just doesn't have the same ring...)? Anyone know the source of these translations?-Sarfa 23:34, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Pacmania

I may be wrong, but wasn't the pacman craze either refered to then or now as Pacmania? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Satchfan (talk • contribs) 11:37, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

This may be true, but if it were to be included here we would definitely need a media citation. --SevereTireDamage 14:57, 30 July 2006 (UTC)