Namco Pac-Man
Encyclopedia
The Namco 8-bit
Pac-Man arcade system board
was first used by Namco
in 1980.
8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
Pac-Man arcade system board
Arcade system board
An arcade system board is a dedicated computer system created for the purpose of running video arcade games. Arcade system boards typically consist of a main system board with any number of supporting boards...
was first used by Namco
Namco
is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...
in 1980.
Specifications
- Main CPUCentral processing unitThe central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
: Zilog Z80Zilog Z80The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and sold from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military purposes... - Sound chipSound chipA sound chip is an integrated circuit designed to produce sound . It might be doing this through digital, analog or mixed-mode electronics...
: Custom 3-channel 4-bit WSG (Waveform Sound Generator) - Video resolution: 224 x 288
- ROMRead-only memoryRead-only memory is a class of storage medium used in computers and other electronic devices. Data stored in ROM cannot be modified, or can be modified only slowly or with difficulty, so it is mainly used to distribute firmware .In its strictest sense, ROM refers only...
: 16 KBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information... - Main RAM: 2 KB
- Video RAMVRAMVideo RAM, or VRAM, is a dual-ported variant of dynamic RAM , which was once commonly used to store the framebuffer in some graphics adapters....
: 2 KB - Color depthColor depthIn computer graphics, color depth or bit depth is the number of bits used to represent the color of a single pixel in a bitmapped image or video frame buffer. This concept is also known as bits per pixel , particularly when specified along with the number of bits used...
: 8-bit color8-bit color8-bit color graphics is a method of storing image information in a computer's memory or in an image file, such that each pixel is represented by one 8-bit byte. The maximum number of colors that can be displayed at any one time is 256....
(256 colors)
List of Namco Pac-Man arcade games
- Pac-ManPac-Manis an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
(1980) — the highest-grossing game of all time - Rally-XRally-XRally-X is a maze driving arcade game that was released by Namco in 1980. It runs on Namco Pac-Man hardware, and was the first Namco game to feature "Special Flags", which would become a recurring object in later games .It was the first game to ever feature a "bonus round." The object is to...
(1980) — the first game to feature a bonus roundBonus stageA bonus stage is a special level within a video game designed to reward the player or players, and typically allows the player to collect extra points or power-ups. Often a bonus stage will have no enemies or hazards, or may contain them but the player character is invulnerable to attack from them... - New Rally-XNew Rally-XNew Rally-X is a maze arcade game that was released by Namco in 1981. It runs on Namco Pac-Man hardware but uses a system similar to Bosconian and, as the name suggests, is the sequel to Rally-X, released in the previous year...
(1981) - Ms. Pac-ManMs. Pac-ManMs. Pac-Man is an arcade video game produced by Midway as an unauthorized sequel to Pac-Man. It was released in North America in 1981 and became one of the most popular video games of all time, leading to its adoption by Pac-Man licensor Namco as an official title...
(1981) — the first sequel to Pac-Man - Pac-Man PlusPac-Man PlusPac-Man Plus is an arcade game released by Bally Midway in 1982, and is the 4th title in the Pac-Man series of games.- Gameplay :The gameplay in Pac-Man Plus is nearly identical to that of the original Pac-Man...
(1982) - Jr. Pac-ManJr. Pac-ManJr. Pac-Man is an arcade game released in 1983 by Bally Midway. It is based on Pac-Man and its derivatives, but is not officially part of the Pac-Man series—along with Baby Pac-Man, this game was created without the authorization of Namco...
(1983)