The worst aspect about midway Pac-Man is that it essentially is the reason why so many people outside the Pac-Man community falsely believe “Pac-Man should never have limbs because he never had them in the original game.”
I never minded the use of clar eyes on a few of Pac-Man's designs. For as iconic as his black pie eyes are, it's clear to me the reason for the change to give him actual eyes like the ghosts, for example, is so he would be able to express more. That's why I actually really like his Party and Ghostly Adventures designs. You wouldn't be able to get much emotion from Pac if his eyes were just the simple pie eyes. Okay, well, you probably can given characters like Mickey, who also utilized these kinds of eyes before, but I guess with Pac-Man, it's another thing as his eyebrows have the same problem as in most interpretations they can't move and are stuck in the same triangular shape. Pac-Man Party definitely made a good decision by giving Pac's eyebrows the functionality to move but also keeping their regular station on his head. Honestly, while I am happy that they're using the original Pac-Man design again, I do think they could take some inspiration from those other interpretations by at least having him emote more instead of just relying on his mouth. Heck, even the original of the first Pac-Man World game managed to have Pac's eyebrows emote, unlike how he is in Re-Pac.
I think the Midway Pac-Man design looks kind of cute, but it's definitely not a fitting design for Pac-Man. I'd be fine with it on a different character, though.
The wedge design from Wreck-It-Ralph is slightly more era-accurate when depicting Pac-Man in his arcade sprite form. Specifically, it’s based off the Atari 2600 box wedge design, which was also used for a lot of that era’s merchandise for wedge PAC-Man. The pie-eye design wasn’t used together with the wedge until the 2000s in the U.S.. (That being said, since Sonic had his post-Sonic Adventure look, I have no idea why PAC-Man was the one they made that decision with.)
I have a feeling its because they wanted to use the most recognisable designs at the time to appeal to an older audience for pacman, making him instantly recognizable, and using modern sonic and eggman since generations was barely out during WIR's release
The pie-eye design was used though before the 2000's, Pac-Mania released in 1987 and that game uses the wedge design with the pie eyes as the main sprite for Pac-Man. So, really there's no specific reason they couldn't or shouldn't have used it.
pac-man never had dot eyes on the sides of his head i swear this is something of a mandela effect (i partially blame ms. pac-man's sprite to be honest)
Honestly, Ghostly Adventures PAC-MAN is not that bad. The teeth doesn't actually bother me. Actually Ghostly Adventures as a whole was honestly not terrible to me.
I honestly don't mind the Midway design because it has a bit of charm and when I was a kid I didn't think that the JP arcade had a different design. This is just my opinion. I'm not saying that it's good. I'm just saying that it's just ok in some parts.
Probably not. But I would like to make more videos on Ms. Pac-Man, including an update to an old unlisted video I made that talked about the game's royalty rights issue.
The GA games go so hard, I highly recommend you play the second one especially if you can (they might have pacster, but they're basically like a World 4 and 5 in spirit)
What makes the Midway Pac more confusing is that it was released alongside the Japanese “Puck-Man” in flyers when Pac Man first arrived in America, the flyers had the ball Pac-Man and the cutesy ghosts sprinkled around them, you get an actual Inky on the bottom of one of the flyers, with an image of the actual arcade with the horrid Midway ghost design
Awesome Vid, I really Appreciate, that Unlike Some Reviewers, You Are Very Balanced, With The Critism, And Have Equal Consideration For Those who Like those Designs of Pac-Man, and other stuff. I as someone who Grew up with Pac-Man and the ghostly Adventures, never Had any problem With It, It was My Favorite after all, and something I still Cherish today, while it's can be Tough when Theirs a Few Bit of Negative reception, its Still Holds a place in the hearts of those who Did Like it, and its Good, to see that PMATGA hate, is toning A bit down, After 11-9 Years Later, which I'm happy for. Keep up the good work, Bro.
I have a hot take I'm not a fan of the tengen pac man design Don't get me wrong, I like the hanna barbera design of pac man But the tengen artwork feels off I personally consider it a contender of my least favorite pac man designs because while I do like the hanna barbera design overall There's something about the tengen version that tasks me That's also part of the reason why I don't mind the midway pac man design because I get the impression that the artist was trying to do their own thing instead of reinventing the wedge design Then again it could've been worse I mean 90s sonic merch used the aosth design of dr eggman that felt stiff and an example on why reinventing the wheel for merch doesn't work (and I don't even like aosth)
i know you're just covering official designs but whats the deal with many modern pac-man garbage animations featuring sharp/spiky teeth? imo those are the worst of the worst pac-man designs even more unappealing than ghostly adventures. haven't played any recent pac-man games but i'm assuming the teeth idea was taken from one of the boss's
I personally do like the Pac-Man from Midway as a horror fan, he just looks weird and oddly scary specially since there were vintage Halloween masks with that design and uncanny plushies, but the spanish artwork improves it a LOT. However the original japanese design will always be top of the best!
What's weird about Bandai Namco using the Midway design so much is that I honestly don't think most Americans that grew up with the original cabinet even noticed or cared about the weird cabinet art, or noticed/cared when rereleases didn't feature that art. It really feels like Bandai Namco don't understand the audience that makes up the Pac-Man fandom. 19:06 Oh hey, it's that thing I made.
What kind of eyes do you keep mentioning? I’ve never heard of… sclara? Edit: I’ve looked up every variation of this word including what’s in the subtitles and all I get is that it’s part of the eye, not a type of eye related art style.
I mean, yeah, the midway pac man does look pretty ass, but I respect it cuz it's truly iconic, I've seen it on every pac man arcade ive seen in my life
@@EpicFurbynerd76YO nah who ever drew that and midway themselves knew very well he was supposed to look like the Japanese arcade Puck man with two pac shaped eyes, arms, and legs considering the design was brought overseas back then before distribution to arcades in the early 80s.
3:32 this design wasn't the first time it was use it was use in the atari pacman box art,game sprite of the atari game and also in a jcpenny commercial: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iJAia7dRiAI.htmlsi=H8E7M_BI4Ubo9H4S
I am willing to believe that the Midway Pac-Man design must've been a heavy case of miscommunication & I would assume we will never know who did it presumably because the artist is too embarrassed & ashamed about it.
I like how you gave fair reviews of each of the designs and even highlighted the positive points. Also, even though I agree the first design misses the point, I still like it to some extent. He could work as his own character rather than Pac-Man himself. Now, to me, the artwork at 11:50 oddly enough looks like AI generated artwork. Also, I'd like to think Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are celebrating Octoberfest in the artwork at 9:59.
