{"id":25404,"date":"2025-01-13T05:59:38","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T05:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/arcade-game\/previously-unseen-puck-man-artwork-the-arcade-blogger\/"},"modified":"2025-01-13T05:59:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T05:59:38","slug":"previously-unseen-puck-man-artwork-the-arcade-blogger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=25404","title":{"rendered":"Previously Unseen Puck Man Artwork \u2013 The Arcade Blogger"},"content":{"rendered":"


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I recently came across a few interesting and previously unseen rejected artwork examples from the original cabinet design of Puck Man<\/em>. So this week, I figured I\u2019d do a follow up to the last blog entry about the Puck Man<\/em> PCB, by sharing some of the great artwork originally created for the game\u2019s release. You can read the previous article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Puck Man<\/em>\u2018s artwork was created by Namco artist Tadashi Yamashita. He joined Namco as a student in 1969 after responding to an advertisement in a newspaper. One successfully landing the job, he mainly focused on designing artwork, logos, and typefaces for various Namco arcade machines. <\/p>\n

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Namco\u2019s Gee Bee. One of the first games to adorn Yamashita\u2019s artwork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

His work on some of Namco\u2019s videogames of the late 70s included Gee Bee, Bomb Bee,<\/em> and Cutie Q<\/em>. <\/p>\n

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Namco artist Tadashi Yamashita<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In 1980, with several successful art contributions under his belt, Yamashita was approached by the Puck Man<\/em>\u2018s designer Toru Iwatani.<\/p>\n

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Puck Man video game screenshot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

To lift the simple pixel generated Puck Man<\/em> character out of the screen and into the outside world, Namco artist Tadashi Yamashita created character illustrations, bringing the game\u2019s hero to life.<\/p>\n

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Original sketches of Puck Man created by Tadashi Yamashita<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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I played a near complete version of Pac-Man during its development, which immediately brought an image inside my head. I got straight back to my drawing board and started the artwork. In terms of character design, Mr. Iwatani came to me with what was seemingly a near-finished game. It all came together with just a simple yellow circle for PAC-MAN and 4 different coloured ghosts. So, I worked on the design from there, quickly adding arms and legs to PAC-MAN\u2019s circular body. The result was so simplistic that I felt it needed something to give it more character, so I added eyes reminiscent of a classic manga style. Oh, and by the way, the reason PAC-MAN has slits in his black eyes is because I designed his eyes to be an enlarged and elongated version of PAC-MAN\u2019s design itself. No one seems to have noticed, but I think this not only gave him character, but gave the design some real impact.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

These characters are scattered throughout the cabinet design. On the side art, marquee and bezel.<\/p>\n

Yamashita has spoken about some of the specific design characteristics of the main character. Notice some of the edges around Puck Man<\/em> are broken:<\/p>\n

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Early sketch of Puck Man. Notice the broken lines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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This is because when I drew the character with a unform thick line, it gave the impression of Puck Man as being heavily \u201cclosed\u201d. Those gaps in the lines give the impression of movement.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He also shared an interesting insight into the design of Puck Man<\/em>\u2018s eyes:<\/p>\n

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Puck Man\u2019s eyes are in fact mini-Puck Men! Never noticed!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The reason PAC-MAN has slits in his black eyes is because I designed his eyes to be an enlarged and elongated version of PAC-MAN\u2019s design itself. No one seems to have noticed, but I think this not only gave him character, but gave the design some real impact.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s some early artwork created for the game:<\/p>\n

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Early concept art for Puck Man<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Several Puck-Man<\/em> posters were created and used in advertisements and in game centres across Japan. This one of Puck Man<\/em> shouting into a microphone is probably the best known.<\/p>\n

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This is the original drawing. Its pretty faded after 40+ years, but you can see the detail of the airbrush work here<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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And this is the actual poster seen in game centres across Japan during the game\u2019s launch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The original cabinet design is something to behold:<\/p>\n

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Yamashita\u2019s designs are found all over the cabinet \u2013 the marquee, logo, monitor bezel, control panel and side art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

These sketches of the side art I mentioned at the top of this article are fascinating. They depict some of the rejected side art designs drawn by Yamashita, and show his thought process on the journey to coming up with the final artwork shown above:<\/p>\n

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This reads more like an instruction manual<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cLet\u2019s enjoy Puck Man\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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This depicts the various stages of Puck Man through the game<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cThe Namco Times\u201d \u2013 Puck Man makes the headlines<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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A lot going on here, but I like it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Ultimately, it was the round version that was chosen to adorn Namco\u2019s Puck Man arcade game release:<\/p>\n

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Puck Man arcade cabinet final side art<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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The detail of the monitor bezel artwork<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Puck Man marquee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Of course, the release of the game in the West via licence with Midway, resulted in the change of name to Pac-Man<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a brief interview with Yamashita, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the game in 2020.<\/p>\n

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