A blog opening story told from the unusual perspective of one of the most iconic characters in the history of video games.
“My name is Clyde and my profession is being a ghost.
Not everyone knows that we ghosts have names too, not just that terrible ball-shaped being everyone calls PacMan. Because he really is awful. Enormous, round, yellow… he’s basically nothing but a mouth. Can you imagine anything more terrifying?
Our Story
But let’s get back to us. I was born in 1980 thanks to Toru Iwatani, brilliant programmer at Namco. Back then we lived in an Arcade — one of those big arcade cabinet machines you rarely see these days outside of exhibitions and fairs.
Our graphics weren’t the ultra-technical kind packed with colours and millions of 3D polygons you’re used to today. Back then everything was different: few colours, lots of pixels, and above all… lots of imagination.
But we lived well! It was my three brothers and I, in our beautiful maze full of gems.
- Blinky — our big brother, all red. A great hunter, he really knows how to chase down intruders.
- Pinky — our little pink sister, almost as determined as him but a bit faster.
- Inky — our blue strategist. Not as aggressive as Blinky, not as fast as Pinky, but he knows in advance where the intruders are going and how to get there first.
- And then there’s me… Clyde, the orange one. Let’s be honest: I’m not exactly the sharpest in the group. Sometimes I wander around a bit randomly… I like looking around. But that’s just who I am: I like to enjoy life.
The Terrible PacMan
Disturbing our peace in our beautiful maze, one terrible day that awful PacMan arrived. He’s absolutely obsessed with our gems and our fruit, and if we don’t stop him he’ll eat them all! On top of that, if he manages to eat one of the large gems in the corners of the maze, he becomes able to eat us too! Outrageous…
We’ve been chasing him since 1980 and we’re still not tired. And I don’t think we ever will be, because in the end we’re having fun, and let’s be honest… we’re ghosts: how else could we spend our time?
Affectionately yours,
Clyde
P.S. I almost forgot: you’ll be reading these lines on the blog of our friend Paolo who, despite having little free time, has decided to write a blog. What a pointless thing to do… he could have come and helped us! Oh well, for now we’ll forgive him just because he’s always been a great video game enthusiast. All the best and happy reading to everyone!
P.P.S. Damn PacMan!!! Booooo!! We’ll get you!!
