Pac-Man (ARC)

Pac-Man

Platform: Arcade Year: 1980 Developer: Namco Limited

For other games in the series, see Pac-Man.

Pac-Man is an action arcade game where you control a little yellow disc that eats up dots through a maze. You objective is to eat the dots which requires you to traverse through every path. As you do this, four ghosts will chase you around and kill you if they touch you. There are four power pellets, one each each corner of the maze, which you can eat that will temporarily allow you to eat the ghosts. Although this doesn't kill them, it puts them out of commission for a short time making it easier for you to eat the remaining dots. When you eat all of the dots, you progress to the next stage where things become more difficult.

Screenshots

I think this arcade game is haunted! The original Japanese ghost names. Starting a new game. A quick glance at the maze before we begin. Running from the ghosts. And now, they're running from me!

Music

VGMPF Album Art

Most of Pac-Man's audio is sound effects, but it does have a couple memorable jingles that remain popular decades later. Although the game doesn't have audio credits, Namco has identified Toshio Kai and Shigeichi Ishimura as having worked on the audio. Kai composed "Start Music" and "Coffee Break Music" while Ishimura did everything else.

Pac-Man showcases an early example of interactive sound. As you eat the dots in the maze, the background siren continues to raise in pitch and tempo creating a more urgent sound.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	Start Music	Toshio Kai	Toshio Kai	0:04		Download
02	Coffee Break Music	Toshio Kai	Toshio Kai	0:10		Download
03	Miss	Shigeichi Ishimura	Shigeichi Ishimura	0:01		Download

Credits

• Ripper: N/A
• Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
• Game Credits:
  • Not Credited Composer: Toshio Kai
  • Not Credited Arranger: Shigeichi Ishimura

(Source: Verification from staff; game lacks credits)

Since this game was made at an early time where video games didn't normally have credits, this game also lacks them as well. However, we have contacted Fukashi Ohmorita who verified Toshio Kai's role in the game's music composition. Other album releases (such as Join the Pac - Pac-Man 40th Anniversary Album) also credit both men for the game's audio.

Albums

Pac-Man Game Sound Effects 2009-09-01 Join the Pac - Pac-Man 40th Anniversary Album 2020-10-28

Game Rip

Format	Download
	N/A

A rip has yet to be made. Music was recorded during game play. This audio output is not currently supported by VGM.

Audio Devices

The arcade version uses an early 3-channel Namco WSG clocked at 96 kHz.

Releases

Japan Title: パックマン (Puck Man) Platform: Arcade Released: 1980-05-22 Publisher: Namco Limited     USA Title: Pac-Man Platform: Arcade Released: 1980-10-26 Publisher: Midway

Links

• mobygames.com/game/arcade/pac-man - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.com/arcade/589548-pac-man - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man - Wikipedia.
• w.atwiki.jp/gamemusicbest100/pages/1530.html - Atwiki.jp (Japanese).