Thirty-five years ago today, the original Pac-Man arcade game was launched in Japan. The titular yellow glutton became an overnight hit and remains iconic to this day.

Few video game characters manage to stay popular past a decade, let alone a third of a century. Even today, the pill-popping yellow fellow can be seen in his original game on cell phones and tablets the world over.

Pac-Man’s most recent video game adventure has him dueling with Nintendo’s greatest gaming icons in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. It’s a treat to have Mario, Pac-Man, Sonic, and Mega Man in the same game.

Fun fact: the first Game & Watch game was released 24 days before Pac-Man. Also, Pac-Man’s name before release was Puck-Man. It was probably good that it was changed, since a little scratching would leave the arcade cabinet with a big yellow four-letter word.

So here’s to you, Pac-Man. May we celebrate your 70th birthday in another 35 years.

My Opinion:

Hooray for Pac-Man! I’m gonna spend the whole day playing the best Pac-Man games and eating Pac-Man shaped food and drinking Pac-Man colored drinks. Waka waka!

Benjamin Luthi is an Associate Writer for MONG who is old to enough to remember playing Pac-Man in arcades when it was still pretty new. Er, I mean… not so new probably. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.