On May 22nd, 1980, a new arcade game from Namco was unveiled in Shibuya, Tokyo – Puck-Man. Nowadays you might know him by his other, less vandalism-prone moniker: Pac-Man.
To mark yellow guy’s 40th anniversary, companies around the globe are celebrating. We’ve already covered First 4 Figures’ new statue, some cute official Sonic cross-over artwork, and Cook and Booker’s upcoming book, but there’s even more besides.
For starters, Bandai Namco itself has encouraged fans to celebrate in their own way with a new promotional campaign, a store sale, and several official soundtracks are now available digitally.
The company has also partnered with Giant Race Strava Run Club with a 40 mile challenge, where participants who walk or run the requisite number of miles before September will receive a commemorative medal, race bib, and sticker.
NVidia, meanwhile, has done something surprising – the company’s GameGAN AI has successfully created a playable version of Pac-Man after “watching” 50,000 playthroughs of the game.
One of the most sizeable celebrations, however, comes from Minecraft, which has gotten a substantial piece of DLC that lets you play the game in first person, run around as Pac-Man, and even create your own mazes.
Of course, Nintendo’s gotten in on the fun too.
It's been 40 years since PAC-MAN, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde made their debut! Did you know that the original name for Pac-Man was Puck-Man? pic.twitter.com/itG1yci7cj
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) May 22, 2020
Finally, it’s worth checking out the official theme song of the anniversary, which was released last year but is more relevant than ever.
Written by Tom Brown
Whether it’s an exciting new entry in a series long established or a weird experiment meant only for the dedicated, Tom is eager to report on it. Rest assured, if Nintendo ever announces Elite Beat Agents 2, he’ll be there.
