Ghosts (Pac-Man)
antagonists in the Pac-Man games
Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde, collectively known as the Ghost Gang, are a quartet of colorful ghost characters from the Pac-Man video game franchise. Created by Toru Iwatani, they first appear in the 1980 arcade game Pac-Man as the sole antagonists. The ghosts have appeared in every Pac-Man game since, sometimes becoming minor antagonists or allies to Pac-Man, such as in Pac-Man World 3 and the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures animated series.
Some entries in the series went on to add other ghosts to the group, such as Sue in Ms. Pac-Man, Tim in Jr. Pac-Man, Funky and Spunky in Pac-Mania, and Kinky in Pac-Man Arrangement; however, these did not appear in most later games. Reimagined versions of them known as the G-HOSTs appear as antagonists in Shadow Labyrinth. The group has since gained a positive reception and are cited as some of the most recognizable video game villains of all time.
Concept and creation
The ghosts were created by Toru Iwatani, who was the head designer for the original Pac-Man arcade game. The idea for the ghosts was made from Iwatani's desire to create a video game that could attract women and younger players, particularly couples, at a time where most video games were "war"-type games or Space Invaders clones.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ghosts (Pac-Man)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.