The Comic-Con Character Museum has announced the latest inductee into its Character Museum Hall of Fame, with Pac-Man being the first video game character entered.

First debuting in Japanese arcades, Pac-Man is joining the likes of Batman, who was the inaugural inductee of the museum in its inception in 2019.

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2020 also marks the 40th anniversary of the character and the original game which debuted in 1980. While the original Pac-Man has been ported to dozens of home consoles, handheld consoles, and mobile devices, the character himself has been a part of many spin-offs including the Nintendo Switch mega-hit, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

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Pac-Man creator Toru Iwatani recently commented on the legacy of Pac-Man in an interview with IGN. Iwatani discussed the development of the game and revealed that Pac-Man Championship Edition is his favorite follow-up to the original game. When talking about the origins of the Pac-Man ghosts, Iwatani revealed that Japanese manga such as Little Ghost Q-Taro played a huge part in the concept, also indicating that Japanese "youkai," spirits that exist without origin, was another influence.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary earlier this year, Bandai Namco announced the Stadia exclusive title Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle, a battle royale that recently launched on the streaming service. Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle takes the classic arcade game and adds 64 players that battle across interconnected mazes until the last Pac is standing.

In addition, Bandai Namco also announced Pac-Man GEO for mobile phones. Pac-Man GEO is a location-based collection game in the veins of Pokemon GO. One key difference is the ability to play the game at home and use shared generated mazes inspired by real-world locations. The new releases and Pac-Man's popularity in Smash show that despite the long legacy, Pac-Man is as popular as ever.

Pac-Man will be officially inducted when the event takes place on December 17, 2020.

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