Those of us who were around when Pac-Man was new (snicker snicker) may recall that our heroic yellow ball had a TV show in the 80s. Following a series of vague hints, Namco-Bandai is ready for that torch to burn bright again: a Pac-Man cartoon will be on televisions near you in 2012, provided there's no Mayan Apocalypse.

The original fed off of the hype of Pac-Man, who was a family man in the show: He had his wife Pepper, his child Pac-Baby, and his dog Chomp-Chomp. In almost every episode he would face off against the only enemies in the Pac-Man world, the four ghosts: Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde.

In what was probably the only tie-in with the game the writers could thing of, Pac-Man serves a Vader-esque boss whose one and only goal is the collection of Power Pellets, which inexplicably provide power to everything in Pac-Land. I'm not sure eating them is the best way to collect them them, as I didn't see any Radiation Clinics in Pac-Land, but who am I to judge?

A creepier Pac-Man you will never find, unless it's on an old VHS.

The series was short lived and disappeared about 2 years after it was launched. Namco-Bandai showed a preview of the new show at the Electronic Entertainment Expo this year, but until now no official dates or plot details had been revealed.

The new show will be completely different from the original, which is probably a good thing. According to Avi Arad, a Marvel executive, the Pac-Man show will focus around a high school environment. This time, Pac-Man will be relying on his four best buddies, the ghost pack, to help save the world.

There's no word as to who the enemy can possibly be (if it's not the ghosts, who else is left!?), but as we get closer to a launch date we are likely to be met with many teasers and previews. At least this is one high school drama where we won't have to worry about a sex-talk episode (at least, we better not).

Arad himself had something to mention about the upcoming cartoon, though he makes the second half of it sound like he's discussing Claire Bennet from Heroes:

"We wanted to keep Pac-Man the same lovable guy he has always been, but [put him] in the 21st century. We [also] wanted to talk about real stories and … see how they can relate to our lives, being in high school and being a teenager. At the end of the day, it's the story of a reluctant hero.

Avi certainly has my curiosity piqued at what the cartoon could possibly be like. The new season, according to Anime Nation, will have 26 episodes in all their Pac-Glory.

Are you excited with the idea of a new Pac-Man cartoon? Do you think it'll be good?

Source: Kotaku