is a Japanese video game franchise developed, published and owned by

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

, a video game publisher that was previously known as

Namco was a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Namco Taiwan in Kaohsiun ...

. Entries have been developed by a wide array of other video game companies, including

Midway Games Midway Games Inc., known previously as Midway Manufacturing and Bally Midway, and commonly known as simply Midway, was an American video game developer and publisher. Midway's franchises included ''Mortal Kombat'', '' Rampage'', '' Spy Hunter'' ...

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc., founded in Sunnyvale, Ca ...

and Mass Media, Inc., and was created by

Toru Iwatani is a Japanese video game designer who spent much of his career working for Namco. He is best known as the creator of the arcade game ''Pac-Man'' (1980). Early life Iwatani was born in the Meguro ward of Tokyo, Japan on January 25, 1955. While ...

. The eponymous first entry was released in arcades in 1980 by Namco, and published by Midway Games in North America. Most ''Pac-Man'' games are maze chase games, however it has also delved into other genres, such as

platformers A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charact ...

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

, and

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

. Several games in the series have been released for a multitude of home consoles and are included in many Namco video game compilations. ''Pac-Man'' is one of the longest-running, best-selling, and highest-grossing video game franchises in history, and the game has seen regular releases for over 40 years, has sold nearly 48 million copies across all of the platforms, and has grossed over US$14 billion, most of which has been from the original arcade game. The character of Pac-Man is the official mascot of Bandai Namco, and remains one of the most recognizable video game characters in history. The franchise has been seen as important and influential, and is often used as a representation for 1980s

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

and video games as a whole.

Arcade games

Home console, handheld console, and PC games

Compilations

iOS and/or Android games

Pac-Man has many games on iOS and Android. Also having been released as iOS applications are ports of the original ''

Pac-Man originally called ''Puck Man'' in Japan, is a 1980 maze action video game developed and released by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. Th ...

'', ''

Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze arcade game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to ''Pac-Man'' (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's wif ...

'', ''

Pac-Mania is a cavalier perspective maze game that was developed and released by Namco for arcades in 1987. In the game, the player controls Pac-Man as he must eat all of the dots while avoiding the colored ghosts that chase him in the maze. Eating l ...

'', and ''

Pac-Man Championship Edition is a 2007 maze video game developed and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. It has since appeared on several other platforms, including iOS, Android, and the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable as a PSP mini title available on ...

'' (all of these except for ''Pac-Mania'' have also been released on Android). Emulated versions of the original ''Pac-Man'' and ''

Pac-Land is a 1984 side-scrolling arcade platform game developed and released by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Bally Midway, and in Europe by Atari Games. Controlling Pac-Man (character), Pac-Man, the player must make it to the end of eac ...

'' are included in the defunct ''

Namco Arcade is a discontinued compilation of classic arcade video games, and was made for iOS and Android by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Namco Arcade was discontinued and removed from both the App Store and Google Play marketplaces on March 15, 2016. P ...

'' application for iOS and Android. There was also a Pac-Man themed Twitter application for iOS devices, the ''Pac-Man Live Wallpaper'' application for iOS and Android devices, the ''Pac-Man Watch Face'' for

Android Wear Wear OS (also known simply as Wear and formerly Android Wear) is a version of Google's Android operating system designed for smartwatches and other wearables. By pairing with mobile phones running Android version 6.0 "Marshmallow" or newer, or ...

, and ''Pac-Man Moving Stickers'' for iOS. In July 2015, ''

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is a 2010 maze video game published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, later ported to Steam and iOS. It is the sequel to the 2007 game '' Pac-Man Championship Edition'', which was the last game developed by series creator ...

'' was released on both iOS and Android. Both versions were discontinued in March 2020.

Other titles

Cancelled Pac-Man games

Pac-Man Museum ''Pac-Man Museum'' is a 2014 compilation title developed and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment under the Namco label. It is a compilation of 9 (10 if '' Ms. Pac-Man'' is counted) Pac-Man games, with additional features such as achievement ...

'' was released on

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

(

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smar ...

(

PS3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

) and

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for se ...

PC (through

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...

); the planned

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was e ...

release for Wii U and 3DS was cancelled. ''

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2 ''Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2'', also known in Japan as is a 2014 video game for the Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, released on October 14, 2014. It is the sequel to '' Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures''. The game rec ...

'' was also originally going to have a Windows PC version.

Notes

References

{{Portal bar, Japan, Video games, Animation, Anime and manga, Television, United States, 1980s, 1990s

*List