A small bit of history of Pac Man & Super Mario

Pac man is one of the oldest games in history to reach the screen,  A huge percentage of gamers recognize this character. Toru Iwatani is the mastermind behind the Pac man title. Iwatani revealed a note book with the original pac-man concepts, mock ups of the game, the screen,and  character design. This Artbook showcases Pacman the simplicity when it comes to concept art.  One of the main influences of Pac-man and many of the games today is pong.

Super Mario another character, a friendly face, put into the gaming industry in 1980. Mario is now celebrating 30 years inside the gaming business, the game altered the look from the very first game, he was stared in which wasn't even called super Mario, the title of this game is Donkey Kong.


Shigeru Miyamoto was hired as a graphic artist by Nintendo in 1977, and he was a well investment in that, he was the starting idea of creating 'Jump Man' the official name for Super Mario, Super Mario uses his jump animation as a weapon to take care of his enemies.  Originally, when someone mentions Mario plenty of people, relate to the Super Mario games. 


Super Mario games globally sold has over 240 million units, and Mario appeared in 200 video games. The gaming industry. Nintendo was clever, it was hard to animate hair and facial expressions at that time, so they gave him a hat and mustache to match. Can one imagine super Mario without them? What one can see as a means of finishing the job, is actually what kept the Mario character so conspicuous from the rest of the game titles. 

The important part of this game is it changed the way how gaming is seen; it kick-started the way for other games, the path was cleared and the industry grew exceedingly.   The music also makes it easy to remember what it comes from, it inspired cartoons and movies, even his  short but sweet audio cue ‘it’s a – me!’ makes Mario so recognizable, Nintendo states that ‘Mario thrived because of his simplicity, which makes him readily adaptable to any environment, from his choice of clothing and the colour of the clothing.

Reference: 

NGamer Staff, How did Mario become so famous?  17th Oct 2010, [Online ] avaialbe at: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/269909/features/how-did-mario-become-so-famous/ [accessed 19^th November 2014] 

Keith Stuart , Super Mario Bros: 25 Mario facts for the 25th anniversary, [Online ] available at: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2010/sep/13/games-gameculture [accessed 19th November 2014] 

Pac man Revealed, Jeremy Swinarton, Febuary, 2012  [online] available at: http://gamerant.com/pacman-concept-art-revealed-js-27555/ [accessed 19^th November 2014]