Pac-Man: The Untold Story of How We Played the Game #PacMan #Restoration #Gaming
Via the Retrobitch blog: Cat DeSpira delves deep into the game and how people played, right down to the wear marks on well used cabinets.
Released in America in October 1980 yet arriving in arcades closer to late November, Pac-Man rolled in like a guest at the wrong address. Since America was right in the middle of “the shooter craze”, when the competitive gaming scene was focused exclusively on mastering difficult multi-buttoned games, Pac-Man’s debut quite literally looked like a birthday party arriving on the front lines of World War III. Aesthetically, it didn’t fit in. Although some people migrated to it quickly, the press paid it little attention until full “Pac-Mania” finally hit in the Summer of 1981.
If you eat one of the energizer dots, though, you’ll have a short period of gameplay where the ghosts slow down and stop chasing you so you can eat the ghosts and pick up extra points.
But something else happens, something I’ve never seen anyone ever mention in any article or video before. It’s a physical response and it always occurs by the time the player reaches the second screen…
When the going gets tough, and the ghosts start closing in, all of this rocking motion compels you to lean into the game and, whether you realize you’re doing it or not, you’re going to grab onto the game. You actually need to get a grip…on something.
Look at the wear pattern! That’s a well played game!
See the entire blog post on all the details on the love Pac-Man had right down to the cabinet wear.
Were you a Pac-Man fan? Let us know in the comments.
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