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In a 1986 interview published in the out-of-print book "Programmers at Work" by Susan M. Lammers, series creator Toru Iwatami explained the kind of character he intended Pac-Man to be:
"Pac Man’s character is difficult to explain even to the Japanese–he is an innocent character. He hasn’t been educated to discern between good and evil. He acts more like a small child than a grown-up person. Think of him as a child learning in the course of his daily activities. If someone tells him guns are evil, he would be the type to rush out and eat guns. But he would most probably eat any gun, even the pistols of policemen who need them. He’s indiscriminate because he’s naive. But he learns from experience that some people, like policemen, should have pistols and that he can’t eat just any pistol in sight."
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
In a 2020 interview with IGN, series creator Toru Iwatani revealed that the ghosts Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde, were inspired by the Japanese manga "Little Ghost Q-Taro" and the American cartoon character "Casper the Friendly Ghost". More interestingly, he revealed that the ghosts were conceived to always be ghosts, meaning that they never died to become ghosts, and are more akin to Yōkai in Japanese culture as "ethereal beings and concepts that reside among nature that were simply 'there' from the very beginning."
Contributed by MehDeletingLater
In 2004, Namco contacted Don Bluth (known for Dragon's Lair and Space Ace) to do designs for a new Pac-Man game, under the working title "Pac Man Adventures". Don did concept drawings for the game, but it was ultimately cancelled for unknown reasons. Some of the ideas for the game were later used in Pac-Man World 3.
During an interview with Namco Bandai's Mike Chang, it was confirmed that the Pac-Man in the Ghostly Adventures series is actually the son of the original Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
Pac-Man appears during a scene in the 1982 movie Tron. On the bridge of Sark's battle cruiser there is a schematic diagram showing corridors full of dots. Off to one side there is a little Pac-Man. You can also here the iconic "Wacka Wacka" noise in the background.
Contributed by thescottishgamer
