Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon also provides some insight on this vintage look. Nevertheless, I give this Pac-Man the edge over his TV appearances because this is at least a novel look for the character and not a weird, needless downgrade from an existing design.ĥ. Furthermore, he does not nibble at dots, he inhales them. A Pac-Man should not have limbs (more on that later), let alone a torso. As much as I like this guy, I must admit he’s a bit of a freak. Ultimately, Atari asked him to take fewer artistic liberties for the final 2600 box art, but when it came time to release it on the Atari 400/800 home computers, Kimura was allowed to revisit this design, and it made it to retail. It’s sort of a North American Mega Man box art situation but with cleaner, prettier execution. (His first draft was deemed “too frightening” by Atari.) I admire his quirky take on Pac-Man. After playing it for the first time - and with no additional reference materials - he got to work on his interpretation of the character pictured above. Also, his redesigned sneaks also have his own face on them, but Pac-Man apparel has already been done better by another Namco character.Īccording to the book Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon, Atari staff artist Hiro Kimura was largely unaware of the phenomenon that Pac-Man was when he was asked to make the art for the 2600 port. His eyes are at least still shaped like little Pac-Men, though. The latter, who goes by “Pacster,” has needless additions like teeth and irises. The one from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon looks like he could be the father of the Ghostly Adventures incarnation. These guys (from the original 1980s Pac-Man show and the 2010s Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures respectively) are fine, but they lose major points for just being worse versions of the mascot Pac-Man further down this list. Seems appropriate that this Pac-Man is wearing what appear to be clown shoes. Pac-Man has largely been memory-holed by Bandai Namco. Years later, IP law is now presumed to be the reason Ms. That’s a bit ironic given the origin of Pac-Man’s wife. In the early 80s, Midway was very protective of their cash cow Pac-Man license, so they ran this threatening ad in magazines with copy warning violators of swift legal action if they were to, say, make and sell unauthorized mods to the original Pac-Man arcade cabinet. For proof of that, look no further than this pugilist Pac-Man based on Don Mastri’s classic artwork. In my desire to understand the natural state of Pac-Man, I’ve sifted through countless official renderings of the character to determine which are faithful to his true self and which are mere artists’ interpretations. The extent to which these versions of Pac-Man have captured his essence varies wildly.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |