Pac-Man: The Story of Toru Iwatani and the Pizza That Revolutionized Arcade Games

There are few video game characters as iconic as Pac-Man. This is due in large part to the deliberately simple design for the character, created by Toru Iwatani, as he sat one day in a restaurant, eating a pizza.
This is an incredibly famous story from the history of gaming. Toru Iwatani has been eager to talk about his inspiration for the iconic gaming mascot Pac-Man (also known in Japan as Puck-Man, as anyone who's seen Scott Pilgrim is aware), and has even posed for a re-enactment photo that you can easily find on the internet (which was the basis for the design in this video).
Even though this isn't the biggest secret in gaming, we loved the story so much (especially the fun visual of the pizza that inspired Pac-Man!) that we decided to do this video anyway. It's good to break things up a bit and have a slightly lighter focus for once, to make sure things don't get too repetitive here!
Personally, we're enormous fans of Pac-Man - me (Kotor) in particular. My sister and I had Ms Pac-Man on the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis if you prefer) when we were kids, and we played two-player constantly. We always tried to complete every single level before running out of lives, but we never quite made it to the end.
Back when the GameCube was current gen I found out about a game called Pac-Man VS, which lets four people play at the same time, with one person as Pac-Man and everyone else controlling ghosts. I thought it sounded amazing, but it wasn't ever released in the UK. Or so I thought. Last year I managed to track down a copy and played it with Breton Stripes and two of our friends, and it was amazing! Seriously, I love Pac-Man so much!
Thank you so much, by the way, to everyone who has helped us to reach a thousand subscribers. It's been really wonderful reading your comments and chatting with you over the past few months. Breton Stripes is always thrilled to tell people that we have the coolest, nicest, most supportive commenters that she's ever seen on KZbin channel, and I have to agree. This has always been a fun little side project for us, but I don't think we'd have kept going if you guys hadn't been so kind and supportive and friendly.
Here's hoping we're able to keep making these for a while to come. My day job is about to get busier, so it might be more difficult for a while, but Breton Stripes has given me audio files for three more videos as least, so it's all on me to try and find the time to draw pictures to match her storytelling!
Thanks, all, you're amazing! If you're into Twitter, say hi and we can hang out!
Music: Airport Lounge by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@HandleToBeDetermined]

Now that I think about it, the Pizza Hut I went to often in my childhood did have a Pac-Man cabinet.

[@magnumsmth]

This channel deserves wayyyyyy more fame.

[@maugos]

I'd say another moral to take from this is: Keep things simple. Something doesn't have to have the greatest and shiniest stuff to be wonderful.

[@unknowngamer7058]

Toru: (Thinks about characters, sees pizza missing one slice) Toru: GENIUS!!!

[@DeathKurai57xx]

In 2012 I've visited an Anime & Manga convention with some of my friends. There were many contests and one of them was a gaming quiz. I've participated (at this time I didn't know a lot about the gaming history) and the moderators asked some questions and one of them was the "what inspired Toru Iwatani to design Pac-Man?" My only thought was PIZZA! Nothing else! And it was right! xD

[@BubbledDEV]

Funny story! xD

[@twinmonster1989]

DeathKurai Don't we all? LOL.

[@nobrainz9222]

Is the reason why there's a lot of women in this video because of Toru Iwata once said that he thought pac man would appeal to women more because women likes to eat? He said it not me

[@VideoGameStoryTime]

+Zenkaichi DeadnAlive Haha yes, although I like to give Iwatani the benefit of the doubt and assume that when he said that women like eating, he meant that they like to go to restaurants more than smokey arcades filled with teenage boys. That's true of a lot of us.

[@SexyPurpleFOX]

lol,well we DO like eating

[@wrenbeck3370]

I hang out with more girls than boys, and one of the boys I'm friends with barely eats his lunch, whereas one of the girls eats her lunch BEFORE the actual lunch period on the timetable.

[@magentasky234]

William Beck Please make sure he eats enough.

[@wrenbeck3370]

It's ok, it's just that he doesn't have time, what with how lunch at my school is half an hour and he has WAY too much lunch.

[@dragonskunkstudio7582]

That's a quarter eaten pizza not half.

[@ahinoj]

Shh

[@GiordanDiodato]

technically 1/6

[@atlasiscooler4694]

“Half-eaten” is a term that doesn’t need to be literal. Just means partially eaten.

[@BurningNerd]

Honestly, you completely earned those thousand subscribers. Congratulations :) I definitely know from experience the kinds of strange places inspiration can strike from. I just recently got an idea I really like simply from thinking about one of the basic enemies in Super Mario Sunshine. I'm still not sure what to do with the idea, exactly, but I feel like I could use it for something....maybe either a simple game or a comic strip series, I'm thinking, depending on my ability to find the help I'd need. Speaking of which....Kotor, just out of curiosity, do you think there's any chance that any time in the future you'd be interested in working together on a project? I really like your art style, and I think it would work great for a lot of my ideas.

[@VideoGameStoryTime]

+Nerd Chaos I'd be happy to work with you on something, but you'll have to be patient with me as I already have loads of stuff I'm doing. Do you Twitter? Sending me a message on there is the easiest way to get hold of me.

[@BurningNerd]

Don't worry, I am fully capable of being patient. I can use the time to fully figure out what I want to do, so it kind of works out :) I'll make a new twitter account in the near future and get in touch!

[@demeterruinedmylife3199]

That 1 dislike must come from Pac-Man, he found that he can't accept himself originated from a pizza and disliked the video!（＾∇＾）

[@Mintcar923]

Suppiluliuma I was just thinking who would dislike anything Pac Man related

[@TheErikalovey]

Is it the cannibalism?

[@iceman8801]

Just utterly fantastic .. keep up the awesome work!

[@PaoloMunoz]

Inspiration strikes here every time you post a new video! :D

[@wafflesthecattestedforthem8180]

Imagine having a dream that inspired you to make a game.

[@XenoJace]

I knew that Pac-Man always looked like a cheese pizza with a slice missing, but I never thought that’s how he was originated

[@SuperMarioFan98]

Interesting video! Your voice is smooth and nice to listen to though the whole video, pac-man is also one of my favorite arcade games :-)

[@redseagaming7832]

this channel deserves more views

[@GardenOfTheMultiverse]

1000 subscribers! congratulacions!

[@TheRealDustinNunn]

I grew up on the Pac-Man series.

[@pac-fan1996]

i wish you drew modern pac, because i think it would be interesting to see how you guys draw him!

[@orionrain]

Just found this channel today and learned so much, If you need any suggestions maybe Earthbound or Dark Souls? Thank you for these videos

[@Barveth]

man I really miss when your videos were like this

[@DolphinGalaxy]

There used to be a Pac-Man cabinet at this restaurant where I like getting pizza from. I'd play it when I went there.

[@rockstarthedragon1195]

Back when I was little and I got out of school sometimes my grandfather would take me to a icecream place and in it was a PAC MAN cabinet, and I'd be gravitated to it.

[@Kaluriel]

Congratulations on 1k subs

[@VillagerMan2006]

Without pizza, There’d be no Pac-Man

[@pokepress]

I suppose if this were the April Fools episode, you could have said “And that restaurant was haunted, which inspired him to add the ghosts.” ;)

[@luigi95-]

Great channel

[@NatetheNintendofan]

A legend was born.

[@monmerrycherry3984]

omg ur vidios are So good an i love them!!!!

[@avalossalvador8613]

Anybody else finding themselves falling in love with this voice? Breton

[@avalossalvador8613]

Maybe Iwata next?(((:

[@VideoGameStoryTime]

+Salvador Avalos Wow, thanks very much! I hope your nephews like the videos! We've got a few requests for Iwata, so I think we'll tackle him soon. I was hoping to wait until we'd had a bit more practice, but hopefully we can do a good job!

[@avalossalvador8613]

I'll be looking forward to it then!

[@sauc3d041]

Can you PLEASE make a video about kirby?

[@kitty-chan_official]

YESSSSSSS

[@pancakesandsyrup1233]

You deserve so much 😊

[@sauc3d041]

lemme get ughhhh boneless pizza

[@japhreal]

Guys remeber No matter what ever sonic or Mario did to gaming They just made something’s that would change for other games But pac man Changed the gaming mascots The way we make games And the ideas of cute characters

[@Onattien]

No,Pong changed everything about video games

[@rigelothello709]

@@Onattien Sorry, late to reply... Pong don't change everything about Video Games, because before Pong, there is NO Video Games. Pong created Video Games, and change the game into video era. And the OP is right; Pacman is indeed change the video games. Basically, Pong created Video Games, and Pacman change it into what we know now.

[@Onattien]

@@rigelothello709 i dont even remember writing that reply

[@rigelothello709]

@@Onattien Ah alright... Maybe it's been really a long time ago. Sorry to bother you then.

[@Onattien]

@@rigelothello709 it's alright i don't really care lol. although you were right.

[@awesometrackygamer1007]

a whole game from a pizza very intresting!

[@DEATHBYFLYINGCDS]

Where the heck did you guys learn fractions? how do you mistake that pizza or pac man for "half"? :P

[@ahinoj]

Its another way of saying a somewhat eaten pizza.

[@iteratedofficial]

@@ahinoj ikr

[@commandershirakamifubukiav9680]

me:eating a pizza my friends:imagine pizza pac man

[@pacthesir]

pac man is so awesome also nice cartoon never mind i take it back its an amazing cartoon!

[@charlielz1719]

do earthbound (mother series) please

[@superdoglogan]

I agree

[@juniorr.1553]

I second that

[@bunkteriamonster7830]

charlie lopez kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKKsqq16ZZtpb5Y

[@RoboticMagus]

Moral of the story: eat more pizza.

[@jtsmith1817]

So Pac Man was born from pizza. That makes sense. O_O

[@Cruzfire10]

I’m eating a pizza while watching this video on Pac-mans 40th what a great time

[@Bonniebroski]

Do the story of Kirby!

[@LinnyUwU]

You should make a story off of ZUN.

[@LorenzoNetworkLLC]

You know When we Order pizza When my dad takes the side it reminds me of Pac-man But now I know how pac-man became a food to a game

[@CyanPHD]

Im eating pizza as im watching this

[@OgerponIsACutie]

Who knew looking at a pizza resulted in having pac man fighting joker

[@shinigamimiroku3723]

Would you believe that I still sometimes see Pac-Man cabinets in some restaurants?

[@thesmilingman7576]

3:28 I heard they weren't supposed to be ghost

[@sauc3d041]

who do you guys think is more famous? Pac-Man or Mario?

[@jongpakj.465]

Sauc3d0 both!!

[@bunkteriamonster7830]

Sauc3d0 mario

[@demeterruinedmylife3199]

Pac-Man, gotta be pac-man... but not so sure 10 years later

[@treeckotreat8265]

Its me a mario

[@gamalsaad1545]

sonic

[@martiqueheisler5959]

Who else here is eating pizza while watching this? Lol

[@sirkibble2864]

2:24 Why Kirby of course!

[@odddoggo6890]

My childhood idol is a half eaten pizza! uwub Very cool

[@migisaur]

I watched this mainly because of the Scott pilgrim joke

[@marcossegon5433]

i feel something weird in the voice in this video... did you get a cold when recording the video or is it just me?

[@deadaccount4630]

This one dislike who doesn't know who is Pac-Man

[@chaddewolf3526]

0:23 the end.

[@albertosaurschannel6946]

I love how tell tme he story of Toro Iwatani and the creation of Pac-Man. It's kind of sad that how Hollywood decided to put him in that awful Adam Sandler Videogame movie. Staring as a brief cameo then gets killed by Pac-Man.

[@CloudDealing]

0 Dislikes oh wow.

[@nezumi6554]

It's a good thing he didn't get a square pizza.

[@commandershirakamifubukiav9680]

pac man:Italian Mario:Italian

[@BOX_corporation.]

Pac-Man: Pac-Landian Mario: Italian

[@figgy_live123]

That makes me hungry about pizza and fast food but covid took over

[@charlesflannery4610]

Good thing he didnt order a sandwich that night

[@natalialanday7766]

Once there were no game for women so toru iwatani try to think of a brand new game idea then he saw a half eaten pizza just like that and toru iwatani saw the first pacman he creat and designed pacman and the ghost enemies he also made a pacman cutscenes for the game to reward the player and thats how Pacman is born.The End.

[@probablyash3164]

I just saw 0 dislikes

[@otakumarcus]

Where’s Mega Man?

[@shalpp]

They weren't ever ghosts originally, they were just monsters They adopted the ghost moniker after the Atari version where they'd flicker a bunch

[@MaryamWebsterDictionary]

Woop! 0 Dislikes!

[@Jervis-JehanYvesLaurent]

:D

[@chariotrequiem6552]

Hi

[@Marcusdeverdade]

Funny that a pizza that revolutionized the games industry is now a piece of...

[@StudioHWOtheAnimator]

Wow 7 dislikes

[@skunksociety9420]

do flappy bird

[@SomeCraftive-Art]

Ironic considering that Pac-Man is one of my top favourite video game characters and franchises and I don’t like pizza and that’s how he was created from the inspiration of that. Talk about having a opposite opinion on something/someone.

[@squali1930]

The japanese symbol for mouth definitely did not look like a half eaten pizza, even while squinting.

[@cechumbley]

Sorry, everyone, but the pizza story is a myth. Read the 1987 interview at the link below to see Iwatani's own words on the subject. Furthermore, if you look at the print version of the book from which this interview is taken, you can see his original sketches are for a squarish shape based on the symbol for the Japanese word for mouth, "kuchi" but then was rounded off a bit later in the design phase. The pizza story is a fun tale that Iwatani himself liked to tell for the sake of an entertaining conversation, but not exactly a true one. programmersatwork.wordpress.com/toru-iwatani-1986-pacman-designer/

[@animeweng]

Maybe he created those designs after eating pizza. What you said is inaccurate. The interviews you posted said that he saw it while eating pizza. He initially designed it for a square based on the Chinese (Japanese Kanji) character for mouth. Then he changed it to a circle head with a mouth.

[@eatingr0]

Wow 0 dislikes