Video game adaptations into animation and live action are big business. Video games are more popular than ever, and their adaptations have often done very well with audiences. When A Minecraft Movie hit theaters in the summer of 2025, it grossed $961.2 million, making it the third-highest-grossing video game movie of all time. That film is behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which grossed over $1 billion each. The Last of Us was adapted into a series on HBO, and that has been very popular. The same goes for Fallout on Amazon Prime Video.
One of the most iconic video games in history is Pac-Man. The game originated in Japan in May 1980 and was released in North America in October of that same year. Players control the character Pac-Man, originally named Puck-Man. They have to maneuver the character through a maze, eating all of the dots inside the maze. While doing so, they must avoid the ghosts roaming the maze. The ghosts, named Pinky, Inky, Blinky, and Clyde, can hurt Pac-Man and cause him to lose lives. If Pac-Man eats a big flashing dot known as a “power pellet,” the ghosts will become vulnerable, and he can then eat them. The game was a major success, loved by both consumers and critics. It remains one of the highest-selling and highest-grossing video games to this day. But did you know that Pac-Man has also been adapted into animation?
With Pac-Man‘s popularity so high, it’s only natural that some would want to capitalize on that. Multiple studios were in the running to acquire the rights to adapt the game and its characters, and it would be Hanna-Barbera Productions that would win. Hanna-Barbera was the company famous for beloved shows like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, making it a great choice for producing the series. The series was then shopped around, and ABC was the network that picked it up for air. It premiered on September 25, 1982, becoming both the first animated series adaptation of a video game and the first animated series to be made using digital ink-and-paint. The series aired for two seasons with a total of 44 episodes. A testament to the popularity of the Pac-Man brand, the premiere episode had so many sponsors advertising that commercial breaks had to be double their normal length to accommodate all of them. The premiere was watched by over 20 million people, and it quickly became the highest-rated Saturday Morning Cartoon in the United States.
The series followed the life and adventures of Pac-Man and his family, including Ms. Pac-Man and even their dog Chomp-Chomp. They live in Pac-Land, a fictional world with very spherical architecture. Episodes typically revolved around the Pac family fighting Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde. The ghosts worked for Mezmaron, who wanted to control the power pellets. Unlike in the game, the power pellets within the series were the primary energy source for Pac-Land and its main source of food. Thankfully for Pac-Man, these were also the greatest weakness of his foes, as the ability of the power pellets to make the ghosts and their master vulnerable remained.
While the game remains beloved today and a staple in arcades across the country, the Pac-Man animated series has not aged as well. In fact, some consider the series to be unwatchable. Back in 1982, the series was popular. It had a stellar cast that included voice-acting legends Peter Cullen and Frank Welker as the Pac family pets, Sour Puss the cat and Chomp-Chomp the dog. The Pac-Land arcade game was even based entirely on this series. So what went wrong? A big part of the issue was the animation. Animation has changed a lot through the decades. When Pac-Man premiered, it was the first animated series to be done in the digital ink-and-paint style. As often happens, when a style is new, it may not be that great while things continue to improve with it. Pac-Man, unfortunately, was a victim of that, as it looks very cheap. The scripts were also lackluster, often very cheesy. Not even the opening credits were notable, unlike so many other Hanna-Barbera series. As a whole, the series just felt like a money grab. Given the rush to acquire it during the height of the game’s popularity, that’s exactly what it was.
This is surprising for a Hanna-Barbera series. Hanna-Barbera is known for making so many classic animated series that remain popular today. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is still held out by many as the best project to come from the franchise. The Jetsons, which failed at the time, is beloved today, and a new live-action adaptation is even in development. While these projects can be a bit outdated, often having some content that wouldn’t be considered politically correct today, they still hold up because of the quality of the stories, performances, and animation. While the Pac-Man series will likely never join the ranks of these iconic series, it remains an important part of the franchise’s legacy. If you would like to try watching the series, it is available to stream for free on Tubi.
