Pac Man turns 25 years old, according to CNN (hat tip: Slashdot). My first job was as a video game tester for Bally Midway, and I both tested some of the Bally home video games and got a chance to play some Pac Man game versions that never quite made it big. There was Professor Pac Man, a Q&A/multiple-choice version. There was also Pinball Pac Man, kind of a hybrid game that switched between the coin-op game and traditional pinball. My first computer program using graphics (and a language called ZGrass or something like that) emulated the Pac Man motion. Pac Man has transcended generations, and it is apparently now available in non-coin-op, personal electronics platforms and Java-thingies on the web. For those that remember, the term Pac Man even made its way to Wall Street. Counter tender offer takeover techniques became known as the "Pac Man defense" (drawing the analogy between the case of a smaller firm eating a larger firm that tried over the smaller firm and the case of Pac Man eating a power pellet and eating the blue ghost guys chasing the Pac Man).
Not quite as ubiquitous as Mickey Mouse, but Pac Man holds a special place in my heart. Here’s to 25 years. You’re officially an antique now.
I was more into galaga, (the spaceship game that you have to shoot giant insects), and the namco racing game.
Can’t find standalone arcades much anymore for these classics. Sigh.