The Pac Man Ghosts

Pac Man would be nothing without the ghosts that chase him around. There are four ghosts that chase the yellow ghost around. They are red, pink, blue, and orange. Their point is to prevent the yellow ghost to eat all the dots.

The first ghost is the red ghost. In the original Pac Man, it's character name was Oikake. This translates into 'chaser'. This ghost would follow each action that the yellow ghost that the player controlled. This ghost is the one that persistently follows you around. It's nickname is Akabei, which translates to 'red guy'. The alternate character name for the red ghost was Urchin, and the alternate nickname given to the red ghost was Macky. In the American version of Pac-Man, the character's name was Shadow, but the commonly used nickname was Blinky.

Second, there was also a pink ghost. This was called Machibuse, which meant ambusher. This characteristic sounds exactly like its translation - he would chase after you and attempt to ambush you. His nickname was appropriately called pinky, which translated to 'pink guy'. He was also known as Romp and his alternate nickname was Micky. In the American release of Pac-Man, the character's personality was called Speedy and the nickname for the pink ghost was pinky.

There was also a cyan colored ghost. This character's name was Kimagure, which translated to fickle. This ghost would chase you sometimes, but other times would avoid you. The intentions of the ghost would change throughout the game. Its nickname was Aosuke, or blue guy. The alternate character name was Stylist and the other nickname that the cyan ghost was known as was Mucky. The American Pac-Man had this ghost go by the name Bashful and the nickname was Inky.

Finally, the orange ghost went by the word Otoboke, which translates to stupid. This ghost would never follow you around and often could be found wandering around. The nickname for the orange ghsot was Guzuta, or slow guy. The other character name for this ghost was Crybaby and the alternate nickname was Mocky. The American Pac-Man had the orange ghost go by the character name of pokey. The nickname given to the American orange ghost was Clyde.

A ghost in Pac Man will always move along a straight line until they reach a blocking area. They follow a code which, if discovered, makes it possible for a user to play the entire game without being caught. The developer said he did make a specific personality for each ghost so that the game would not be boring.