Masaya Nakamura, the “Father of Pac-Man” who founded the Japanese video game company Namco has died. He was 91.
Nakamura, who died on January 22, founded Namco, part of Bandai Namco, in 1955.
It started out as just two mechanical horse rides on a department store rooftop but went on to pioneer game arcades and amusement parks.
Bandai Namco, formed in 2005.
Pac-Man was designed by Namco engineer and video game maker Toru Iwatani.
It went on sale in 1980, at a time when there were few rival games, such as Space Invaders.
It’s estimated to have been played more than 10 billion times. This marks a Guinness World Record has named it the world’s most successful coin-operated arcade game.
The game was non-violent but just challenging enough to hook players into steering the Pac-Man for hours.
The iconic Pac-Man adorns T-shirts and other merchandise.
It has inspired animation shows, a breakfast cereal and even the nickname for Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.
The idea for Pac-Man’s design came from the image of a pizza with a slice carved out.
Nakamura reportedly chose the word “Pac,” or “pakku” in Japanese, to represent the sound of the Pac-Man munching its prey.
The game started out as an arcade item and then was at first played on the Nintendo Family Computer home console.
It has since been adapted for cellphones, PlayStation and Xbox formats.
Other hits from Namco are driving simulation games like “Ridge Racer” and a drumming game.
Pac Man: Know More- Initial release date: 22 May 1980
- Designer: Toru Iwatani
- Series: Pac-Man
- Platforms: Arcade game, Android, Nintendo Entertainment System.
- Developers: Atari, Namco, Interactive Brains, Namco Networks
- Inventor: Toru Iwatani
