Retro Game SuperHyper

Tim Lapetino is the author of one of my absolute favorite video game art/history books, Art of Atari (read my effusive post about that book in the link). Announced on Pac-Man’s 40th birthday (under the tentative name 40 Years of Waka-Waka), his and Arjan Terpstra’s follow-up project, Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon, was published a little over two years ago by Cook & Becker, purveyors of luxurious video game-based art books and prints. Though I pre-ordered it and received it upon its release, due to my regrettable lack of free time it’s only been just recently that I have finally had a chance to sit down and read it. I am happy to report that by all standards, Lapetino and Terpstra have once again knocked it out of the park.

At first glance, PMBoaI may appear to be just a lovely coffee table book, Pac’d — ahem, packed (sorry, couldn’t resist) full of rare and nostalgic images of not-so-arguably the most famous video game of all time. Development drawings and documents, old photos of Japanese game centers and Namco staff, flyers, artwork, merchandise, screenshots, etc. etc. etc. festoon the pages of this colorful hardcover.

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a big book of pretty pikchers, however — PMBoaI is an exhaustive history of the man called Pac, examining every step of his journey from the inception of Namco to Toru Iwatani’s first video game, Gee Bee, leading up to the release of Puck-Man in Japan, then his journey to the West to be fostered by Chicago-based amusement company Bally Midway, who took the power-pellet and ran with it until Pac-Man Fever became America’s favorite epidemic, resulting in a pop-cultural milestone that is still relevant today.

No stone is left unturned as the authors detail the strategies that Midway’s VP of marketing Stan Jarocki and his team used to take what was seen as just a “very good” video game and ride the momentum of its popularity, growing it into the namesake of this book: an undeniable icon. The stories — mostly told in the words of those who were actually there — are fascinating and exciting, as we see the first true blockbuster of video gaming in America taking shape and leading the way for the youthful video game industry to dwarf the movie and music industries in the early 1980s.

Of course, it eventually comes time to introduce Ms. Pac-Man, and with that comes the complete story of developers GCC, their Super Missile Attack enhancement kit for Missile Command, and their deal with Midway, transforming their Crazy Otto kit into the First Lady of Video Games herself.

From there, the book talks about Pac-Man as a cultural phenomenon, with discussions about merchandise licensing, bootleg and knockoff games, the Pac-Man Fever song and album, the Saturday morning cartoon, and the Atari home conversions (with much attention paid to the artists who interpreted Pac in their own way, as would be expected from the Art of Atari author).

(As a side thought, I often wonder if it’s difficult for anyone who wasn’t there to understand how insanely popular video games were in the so-called Golden Age of arcades. Sure, kids who grew up on Nintendo probably get it to some degree, but 1980-1983 was an utterly insane time to be a gamer, with new games showing up in the arcades monthly, and watching the industry grow, learn, experiment, and innovate. I was just a kid, but I have a great memory for things like that — obviously, since it shaped who I am as a person and I am here writing this blog — and I definitely recall the atmosphere of those days compared with that of the NES era, the 16-bit era, and beyond. Each of those eras were magical in their own way, but the mania that resulted in an album like Pac-Man Fever and a movie like Tron had to be experienced to be believed.)

Even the book’s appendices are minutely detailed, including a full (and I do mean FULL) list of every (and I do mean E V E R Y) Pac-Man game, sequel, and offshoot ever made (with capsule descriptions of each), and an abridged translation of Toru Iwatani’s 2005 book, Pac-Man’s Game Study Manual, in which Pac-Daddy himself talks about his history and philosophy of work, and the development of Pac-Man in his own words.

Now, then — despite the scholarly attributes of this volume, I did say that it could be easily mistaken for a coffee-table art book at first glance. And that’s because the design, especially that of the slipcased collector’s edition, is gorgeous.

The book is actually double-slipcased, with the outer case resembling an open-mouthed Pac-Man and the inner case revealing a level 256-inspired design once the outer case is removed.

The book’s visual design itself is very bold and simple, with the historical photos being the visual focal point and the occasional solid color blocks guiding the way.

Also included is a hardcover folio, red in color with monster eyes, containing a commemorative Pac-Man token and a 7″ vinyl single of Buckner & Garcia’s Pac-Man Fever. It’s worth noting that in the years since the original single and album were released in 1982, B&G had to re-record the entire album for a CD release. Unfortunately, when they made their new recordings, they no longer had the rights to use all the original arcade sound effects that were on the old versions, so the reissue contains different sounds. It is this re-recorded version that’s on the record included here. For you (us) record nerds though, that means this is the first-ever vinyl release of that particular version of the song, and is only available in this set! And the B side features the track with commentary by Jerry Buckner!

Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon is more than deserving of a spot on your video game bookshelf. Terpstra and Lapetino — the latter who, as of this writing, has just recently been named Creative Director at Atari — chronicle and honor a true icon of video game history, and do it with style.

Buy Pac-Man: Birth of an Icon at Amazon!