And what does it have to do with videogames?

According to Wikipedia, onomatopoeia is defined as a word or a grouping of words that imitates the sound it is describing, suggesting its source object, such as "click", "bunk", "clang", "buzz", "bang", or animal noises such as "oink", "moo", or "meow.

What does this have to do with video games you ask?  Last night when I was reading up on some games, I found out what videogame has been described as the “most popular videogame of all time” by KLOV.  Now, this does not mean that it is everyone’s favorite game - quite the contrary.  Researching this game, I found it does not even appear on the top ten favorite videogame of all time. What it say is that this game is the most recognized videogame of all.

So what game is this?

Pac-Man.

What does this have to do with onomatopoeia?  In Japan, the game was called Paku-Paku which imitated the sound made by the character as it eats the dots on the screen, hence onomatopoeia.   When the game was first introduced to the English speaking world, the name was translated to “Puck-Man”.  The powers that be were afraid that in North America, the vandals would modify the round part of the “P” in Puck to a common explicative.  The decision was made to change the name to “Pac-Man”. However, Puck-Man machines can be found all over Europe.

Pac-Man was released in a time when space shooters ruled the arcade.  There were Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Defender to compete against but the game was such a new concept that it immediately gained popularity.  Shortly after the games success in the arcade, Pac-Man was ported to other platforms, including the Atari 2600.  Atari was so excited by the games popularity in the arcade that they rushed the game into production and sold almost seven million copies of the game.  While that number sounds fantastic, it should be noted that they produced 12 million copies of the game and it ranks second only to E.T. the Extra Terrestrial in production of the most unsold cartridges.

Pac-Man has become such a favorite that it has been ported to almost every platform imaginable.  Ports to cell phones are common as are ports to every console that has ever been manufactured.  So if you are "jones-ing" for a little Pac-Man action, just look to your nearest electronic device.  Who knows?  Maybe even your toaster oven has a Pac-Man port.

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: