Thirty years ago today, a certain video game from Namco, featuring a curious little yellow fellow with a taste for dots and ghosts, hit the arcades in Japan. That round little yellow guy is known as PAC-MAN — you may have heard of him. In the decades that followed, PAC-MAN became an arcade phenomenon spawning a great-many spin-offs and stands today as an icon of ’80s pop culture. And the 1980 original is hugely popular, even still. (Don’t miss today’s playable PAC-MAN-themed Google doodle.)
Namco is celebrating PAC-MAN‘s 30th birthday by launching a sweepstakes, detailed on the official PAC-MAN website, to win a PAC-MAN-themed Smart Car as well as running sales on various titles across several platforms.
The discounts on PAC-MAN titles in the App Store follow:
- PAC-MAN Championship Edition (iPhone): $2.99 → $0.99 [ review ]
- PAC-MAN REMIX (iPhone): $2.99 → $0.99 [ review ]
- PAC-MAN (iPhone): $4.99 → $3.99 (now with leaderboards, chat, achievements)
- PAC-MAN (iPad): $4.99 → $3.99
- Ms. PAC-MAN (iPhone): $4.99 → $0.99 [ review ]
Namco’s sale on the indicated items will remain in place until 6 PM (PST) tomorrow, Sunday, May 23. The most compelling grab of the list, in our opinion, is the excellent PAC-MAN Championship Edition, an iPhone conversion of the XBLA original.