Talk:Pac-Man

Cheating without rigging software or hardware

In 1982 or so, I watched two guys on different days get high scores by following what each of them said was a description he had read somewhere. Basically, advice on how to move through early levels safely by pausing, reversing, etc. at key moments. Each guy actually was following a different "script" I noticed. It might be useful to add a section on this kind of player networking for historical interest, because it occurred long before there was an internet. Martindo (talk) 01:27, 9 October 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 31 October 2022

Under Merchandise, what's supposed to be bumper stickers is 'bumber stickers.' Thanks. 108.29.191.228 (talk) 10:14, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

 Done--Belbury (talk) 10:16, 31 October 2022 (UTC)

Tiny bit of subjective writing

Hiya, wanted to point out a little bit of subjective writing in the Film section, specifically the Black Mirror part, that should be removed.

"cool conspiracy, but likely untrue."

Thanks in advance. 155.4.83.214 (talk) 19:29, 5 March 2023 (UTC)

 Done; the whole paragraph is a close paraphrase of a source and is only discussing a minor aspect of a work, so I've removed it. Belbury (talk) 20:20, 5 March 2023 (UTC)

Puck Man and vandalism?

Do we have a more official source for this? We've all heard it before but it just sounds to me like a myth or urban legend. The name apparently was changed from "Puck Man" to "Pac Man" early on, but this could be due to some other reason, like, maybe "Puck Man" was simply an early mistake which they later corrected. The Wikipedia article also sort of contradicts itself, because in the second paragraph it says "Pac Man" ("Pakku Man") is supposed to be a play on the Japanese onomatopoeia "paku paku" (which sounds a lot more plausible to me: I mean why would they name him "Puck" Man when the game's got pretty much nothing to do with pucks but a whole lot to do with opening and closing the mouth and gobbling stuff up? However, there should be a source cited for the "paku paku" as well, because it's completely uncited and might just be speculation). 2603:8080:C6F0:48B0:0:0:0:1468 (talk) 00:34, 11 September 2023 (UTC)

It's not true, just an urban legend. However, since some online gaming rag "reported" it as fact Wikipedia will treat it as the canon gospel until the end of time and any attempt to fix it will be quickly reverted. Just another example of why this site is a trash heap. 24.230.161.142 (talk) 17:29, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

Have some optimism, Wikipedia is always open to reviewing the reliability of sources, and it wouldn't take much to reframe the story as being disputed, or an urban legend - just some additional sources that have cast doubt on it. Have any books or magazines written about it?

The "puck" story is currently sourced to a 2002 Random House book The Ultimate History of Video Games. Belbury (talk) 17:51, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

That’s, like, just your opinion man. Those who have done the research and interviewed those who were at Namco and Midway at the time, like say the authors of Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon, know it is true. Now that pizza story on the other hand… Indrian (talk) 20:09, 18 January 2024 (UTC)

You don't even need to look at recent interviews about this subject to know it's not a recently invented legend. From Cash Box, December 17, 1983 page 36:

Recalling the discovery of Pac-Man, “the most successful ‘name’ in the history of the coin machine business,” Hank [Ross, co-founder of Midway] told about how he and Stan Jarocki first saw the game in Japan, where it was called “PuckMan.” The first part of the name, because it “rhymed with a nasty word” just wouldn’t do, said Hank, so we submitted 10 names to Japan and they telexed back their disapproval of all 10 and their suggestion of “Pac,” thus Pac-Man the name was born when Midway licensed the game — the rest is history!

Pretty definitive that - even if there's debate on who came up with the name - it was absolutely changed for the reason that is given in most other sources. That's the guy who ran Midway at the time giving the story, very close to the events in question. The History of How We Play (talk) 02:20, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Split screen playability

I seem to remember reading somewhere (JoyStik perhaps) that the split screen IS playable. Noticed the article says it isn't. I'll see if I can track down the article. Thoughts?THX1136 (talk) 16:28, 20 October 2023 (UTC)