Nintendo has tweeted in celebration of Pac-Man’s 45 years with “a-maze-ing” games on Switch and Switch 2. Right? They did get a shoutout, with the link and all. Now, the replies… The otherworldly comment section actually induces a phase change from celebration to madness.
The official Nintendo outlet is touting the anniversary. Forty-five years. That is really old, in video game terms. Pac-Man is older than half the folks who are playing games nowadays, and that is a strange thought. At this point, they are promoting the Waka Waka compilation on the eShop, probably a really nice classic Pac-Man game bundle to really celebrate this big occasion. Just one way in which they can celebrate the legend.
And then the comments start going… other things on their own agenda. At this point, if you bothered to click through these, the first impression is so bad: everyone is really not that impressed with this. User Chiffon openly declared, “[@NintendoAmerica @officialpacman] y’all aint even make this game.” This is true! Pac-Man belongs to Bandai Namco. So, yes, it is a little funny to see Nintendo leading the charge to celebrate; but hey, they have to seize the opportunity.
Then come the requests for other stuff. So many people used this Pac-Man announcement to ask for everything BUT Pac-Man. “how about celebrating 40 years of mario,” one user queried. Another was like, “Where is Metroid Prime 4 [crying emoji].” It’s like that one friend who immediately starts talking about their own birthday whenever you’re telling people about yours. The audacity, but also, kinda relatable? Gamers definitely know what they want.
Nostalgia is a hit with some. “Pacman made my childhood fr 🥹🥹,” one comment went, which is kind of sweet. The other is a rude awakening: “Pacman came out the day before I was born. I am old AF.” I can feel it in my bones-owa.
Then things went…weird. Someone even gave… helpful advice? “@NintendoAmerica @officialpacman Gently put your finger at the entrance of your ear, and wiggle. You’ll hear Pac-Man eating.” I tried it. Probably not; it just sounds like your finger inside your ear. But again, the commitment to the bit deserves accolades.
But lots of chatter wasn’t about the actual gameplay of Pac-Man. It was about his impact on culture. People were drawing these wild parallels to GTA. “Pac-Man walked so open-world hustlers like us in GTA could run,” one person said, a note I for sure do not recall putting in my bingo card today. Another said, “Crazy how Pac-Man never needed DLC, shark cards or add-ons to keep us hooked. GTA Online devs definitely took some notes.” They ain’t wrong. The game, as far as an arcade cabinet goes, was complete. You put in your quarter, and you got the whole experience. No battle pass, no new skin for Blinky for a few more bucks. Simpler times.
There was an actual mini-mystery unraveling in the replies. One user, Stellifera, asked if anybody knew the first four words to a show theme song, posting a picture of the Pac-Man cartoon. My money is on Matthew Taranto’s guess of “Pac-Man and the Ghostly”, which seems right? But then another just shouted “The pac is baaaaaack!” which feels pretty different all together. The internet is a beautiful, confusing place.
And there were, of course, tons of requests. “Bring back Pac-Man 99.” was one of the most popular, referencing the battle royale style game that was on Switch Online. Another asked: “When are they coming to Fortnite as skins?” Honestly, a Pac-Man skin where you just see his mouth chomping through the island would be terrifying and amazing.
In the midst of all this love and demand, there was a bit of… concern? User DOGPAW had an entire thing: “I just did a quick overview of the website and Show 25 is looking so damaged…You might need Korean baseball support to fix it for the Asian pacfic. The graphics are BAD.” No, idea what Show 25 is, but it sounds terrible. Korean baseball support is a new one to troubleshoot video games.
Just one simple anniversary post that’s managed to spiral into a big thing. Nostalgia, demands for other games, a few weird life hacks, and some really deep philosophical comparisons to the biggest names in modern gaming. All for a character that is basically a yellow circle that eats dots. This tells you how important this character is to people, even if he’s just an excuse to discuss Metroid on his birthday.
The other day, that was a really lovely gesture to show that Pac-Man is still getting some love. Forty-five years is a lot to be running from ghosts and chomping power pellets. So whether you’re grinding some of the new collection on Switch or just laughing your ass off at memories of hitting the arcade cabinet, this guy’s a legend among legends. Of course, gamers have a lot more to say about this. Waka waka, indeed.
