This page is specifically for the games' versions of the characters. For the characters in the cartoons, see Pac-Land and Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures.
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Pac-Man and his family
Pac-Man
Pac-Man
Voiced by: Marty Ingels (Hanna-Barbera cartoon), Martin Sherman (Pac-Man World 3), Erin Matthews (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, EN), Yuka Terasaki (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, JP), Erica Mendez (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures video game)
"Wakka wakka wakka."
"Did someone say cake?"
Pac-Man is the main protagonist of the series of the same name, and one of the most recognizable video game characters in the world.
- Action Dad: He has defeated the ghosts a thousand times before, and when Orson takes his children and his wife, leaving him to deal with it by dumb luck, he'll deal with it hard.
- Badass Adorable: A cute creature who can eat the hell outta the ghosts.
- Bouncing Battler: His Butt-Bounce makes him this trope. As he bounces off the ground he simply can defeat enemies, break open crates, and pressing switches. Pressing the jump button multiple times will actually increase his bounciness to reach higher areas (only in Pac-Man World) and it's also nifty to break his fall to survive fall damage.
- Bumbling Dad: In Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, he's completely incompetent and can't hold himself together to get a flower for his kid without the help of the Featureless Protagonist.
- Big Eater: He'll eat cookies bigger than his face, giant fruit, bells, keys, ghosts, and even a car.
- Charged Attack: By holding down the O button in Pac-Man World, he'll start to spin himself around in a circular motion and releasing it will allow Pac-Man to fire an even powerful version of his Pac-Dot Attack with the cost of using 10 Pac-Dots.
- His Rev-Roll starts with him running in place incredibly fast as dust is being formed behind his feet. Letting go makes Pac-Man zoom around the area much farther depending on how long the button is held.
- Demoted to Extra:
- In Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures, the player controls a mysterious benefactor watching over Pac-Man.
- In Ms. Pac-Man, he's a cutscene-exclusive character seen only in the context of being Ms. Pac-Man's Love Interest. However, the Tengen versions have him as the 2nd player.
- He surprisingly makes no appearance in Ms. Pac-Man: Maze Madness outside of the multiplayer mode.
- Extreme Omnivore: Cookies, fruit, ghosts, spaceships, shoes, he'll eat them all up.
- Fireballs: He gains the power to shoot fireballs in Pac-In-Time after hopping through a yellow ring.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: In Pac-Man World 3, his brand-new attack of fighting enemies in the game is by throwing left and right punches, since that game had more emphasis of combat elements, and his gloves kind of resemble big orange boxing gloves, it certainly gives him Boxing Battler qualities.
- Good Parents: To his children, Pac-Man Jr. and Baby Pac-Man.
- Mascot: Of Namco.
- Having a Blast: By eating the Ribbon Loop Pellet, not only does it increase his speed for a brief period of time but he's also able to generate a glowing trail behind himself that allows him to form a large ring, and after closing it, the result will cause a small explosion that can destroy multiple enemies within its range.
- Heroic Mime: He doesn't talk in Pac-Man World or Pac-Man World 2; not even in two of his major appearances in the Super Smash Bros. games.
- Papa Wolf: Make no mistake that he may be one of the most cheerful, fun-loving, and easy-going video game characters, but kidnapping his entire family in Pac-Man World is something that he won't positively respond to, and will even go to the ends of the earth to find the ones who did it. After seeing the invitation that pretty much gives away the location to Ghost Island, he angrily crumbles it in his clenched hand, indicating that he will make them pay.
- Pie-Eyed: In the World trilogy and the cabinet art for the arcade series, his eyes are always shaped like himself.
- Player Character: Most of his appearances feature him as this. See Demoted to Extra above for notable exceptions.
- Power Glows: In some games, his entire body shines a bright yellow glow after chomping a Power Pellet, giving a visual indicator that he's only temporarily invulnerable to being attacked by ghosts.
- Primary-Color Champion: He has yellow skin and red boots.
- Red Is Heroic: He wears red boots.
- Rolling Attack: One of his main attacks throughout the Pac-Man World trilogy is his Rev-Roll where he rapidly runs in place and blasts off while spinning in ball to damage certain enemies, which is basically Pac-Man's equivalent to the Spin Dash. At times it's not always used to attack but it can also be utilized to activate elevating platforms, solve puzzles, can be used for ramps to zoom across bottomless pits etc.
- Shockwave Stomp: By Pac-Man World 3, he's unable to Butt-Bounce infinitely as he can only use it up to 3 times. Using it a third time will make Pac-Man create a miniature ripple on the ground that can ward off enemies. However, later on in the game there's a Super Stomp Power-Pellet that he can consume that replaces his default Butt-Bounce with a much more powerful stomp attack, which can create green colored widespread tremors around himself that can even destroy larger enemies within a few hits or so.
- Super Not-Drowning Skills: He happens to stay fully submerged in deep bodies of water for approximately as long as he wants to since he doesn't even need to come up to the surface for air in Pac-Man World and Pac-Man World 2. The first two ocean levels in World 2, "Scuba Duba" and "Shark Attack", involve Pac-Man swimming ceaselessly slightly above the ocean floor. Other than wearing red flippers, he requires no form of equipment such as an oxygen tank or even scuba gear for swimming beneath the waves for so long.
- Super-Strength: This spherical yellow gobbler is surprisingly no slouch in the strength department to non-ghost enemies or other objects in the Pac-Man World trilogy, as he can easily break crates and destroy enemies by bouncing on them. The last cutscene of the first Pac-Man World game shows him kicking a defeated Toc-Man so hard it broke apart revealing Orson to be inside of it all along. In Pac-Man World 2, he also can take down most of the bosses that are much larger than him by either Butt-Bouncing or Rev-Rolling into them, which eventually make the ghosts' machines outright explode when they're damaged enough and can defeat mini-bosses such as Pac-Bears. His strength seems more evident in Pac-Man World 3 where he can lay the beatdown on enemies such as monsters, metallic scorpions, and armed robots with his fists. After having his one-sided chat with Erwin, he threw a haymaker on his floating vehicle so hard it malfunctioned and was sent flying out of the horizon.
- Smug Smiler: He sports a glowing smile on his face that almost never disappears, and Pac-Man World 3 establishes him as a wisecracker who likes to make quips at others' expense, still as happy-looking as ever.
- Suddenly Speaking: In Pac-Man World 3, he speaks for the first time.
- Trademark Favorite Food: He likes to eat Pac-Dots and fruit.
- Wall Jump: One of his new abilities that he can do in Pac-Man World 3 where he's able to scale vertical surfaces by lunging himself from wall-to-wall to reach higher ground.
Ms. Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man
Voiced by: Barbara Minkus (Hanna-Barbera cartoon), Regina Reagan (Pac-Man World 3)
"Honey, don't you know? I'm more than Pac-Man with a bow!"
"Hooray, more ghosts. Well, guys, I'm afraid we only have enough cake for exactly none of you. If that."
Ms. Pac-Man is Pac-Man's wife and the star of her very own arcade game.
- Action Girlfriend: She is one to Pac-Man.
- Action Mom: Ever since Act 3: Junior in Ms. Pac-Man, she is the proud mother of Jr. Pac-Man, and at that point she's even more badass as she was on the Chase board.
- Badass Adorable: Just like her husband, but even more Adorable.
- Big Eater: Just like her husband, she can clear out hundreds of mazes full of cookies, fruits, and ghosts, and only stop when the world forcibly literally flips its shit and then resets itself.
- Canon Immigrant: Her origin game was an U.S.-made Pac-Man bootleg; Namco made her part of the family later on.
- Depending on the Artist: American-made art of her leans more towards giving her more obvious Tertiary Sexual Characteristics, giving her more makeup and high heels. Japanese-made art of her leans towards making her "cuter", giving her less makeup and designing her closer to Pac-Man.
- Gender Flip: She was originally a stick-legged, bug-eyed thing named Crazy Otto before she was turned into the normal Pac-Person we know and love.
- Good Parents: To her children, Pac-Man Jr. and Baby Pac-Man.
- Pie-Eyed: In the World trilogy, she gains these, though she lacked them in her arcade box art.
- Primary-Color Champion: Just like her husband, she has yellow skin and red boots.
- Put on a Bus: Stopped appearing in the games as of 2010. This was around the time Namco wanted to start publishing retro revival arcade cabinets, only to find out they still had to pay the US developers money for the game. Though they own the character, it is thought they’re trying to erase her out of spite, introducing a host of suspiciously similar new female Pac-Man characters, none of which have caught on.
- Red Is Heroic: She wears red boots.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: A bow, long eyelashes and lipstick are what sets her apart from Pac-Man. She also wears high heel boots in some games.
Ghost Gang
The Ghost Gang are the main antagonists of the Pac-Man series. In General
- Aerith and Bob: The ghosts are mainly known as Blinky, Pinky, Inky and... Clyde. (Or Sue... or Tim.)
- Bedsheet Ghost: The Trope Codifier of this trope.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The ghosts were originally generic monsters, before they were rebranded as ghosts. This explains why they don't pass through the walls of the maze, and why Blinky has cutscene animations in the original where his sheet gets torn off to reveal some non-ghostly creature beneath.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: They don't seem to have been created by the death of a Pac-Person (outside of the Royale canon and Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, anyway).
Blinky (Akabei/Shadow)
Blinky
Voiced by: Chuck McCann (Hanna-Barbera cartoon), Martin Sherman (Pac-Man World 3), Ian James Corlett (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, EN), Kazuhiro Fusegawa (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, JP)
"Aw, come on, Munchy! You don't wanna eat me. Think of all we've been through together."
Blinky is the leader of the Ghost Gang, and the most aggressive in chasing Pac-Man. He targets Pac-Man's current position in the original game.
- Adaptational Personality Change: As a result of his personality being switched with Clyde's, in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon he's cowardly and slow-witted, and isn't the leader of the ghosts.
- Animal Motifs: Whenever he combines himself with Kinky in Pac-Man Arrangement (1996), Blinky becomes taller, bulkier, more aggressive, dons a large pair of horns atop of his head, and even gains a special attack where he blazes across the maze to ram himself headfirst into Pac-Man, which outright makes him a ghostly equivalent of a bull. Ironically enough, bulls themselves aren't completely aggrivated by the color red itself.
- Butt-Monkey: While he's still the most relentless and dangerous of the four Ghosts, his misfortunes in-between the coffee break/intermission cutscenes are nothing short of comical to say the least. For the very first one, he gets eaten, offscreen, by a giant Pac-Man. The second one is where he chases Pac-Man but doesn't pay attention to the nail sticking out of the ground and gets stuck, which makes a tiny tear on his cloth. For the third and last intermission, he continues to pursue his yellow enemy regardless of his torn cloth... He comes back as an exposed fleshy creature with a small trace of his red ghost suit, quickly crawling away, possibly in utter shame.
- Dash Attack: His special ability in Pac-Man Arrangement is charging directly at Pac-Man's direction at high-speed to attack him.
- Depending on the Writer: Blinky's color is either red or orange, typically becoming the former in most games and the latter in few games such as Pac-Mania, Pac-Man World, and Pac-Man Arrangement, in a phenomenon known as the "Clyde & Blinky Error".
- Enemy Mine: He and Pac-Man become allies in the midst of Pac-Man World 3 as part of Orson's request to save the Spectral Realm from going on the brink of destruction. Their relationship is likely around Teeth-Clenched Teamwork territory mostly from his point of view while Pac-Man is likely cheeky with him.
- The Leader: Of the ghost gang.
- No-Sell: In Pac-Man World 2, unlike Inky and Pinky's combat machines that are susceptible to Pac-Man's Rev-Roll attack, his is intentionally equipped with an impervious armor that'll simply make Pac-Man bounce off it, making the Rev-Roll basically outright useless. The only considerable way to damage his machine is by Butt-Bouncing on the glass dome layering at the top of its head.
- Playing with Fire: His main form of offense for his boss battle in Pac-Man World 2 involves shooting out scorching white egg-shaped projectiles from his machine. When his health gets lower, his machine starts firing 3 of them at once, which can cause the ground that Pac-Man is standing on to become fiery, making it harder to avoid to gain proper footing. Underneath his machine also has an exhaust that spews a small stream of flame where it can spread pillars of fire on platforms.
- Red Is Violent: He's red and violent. His AI is also the most aggressive of the four, as he actively corners Pac-Man.
- Pac-Man World 2 depicts him as possibly the most openly hostile and bloodthirsty he's ever been. His sheer Irrational Hatred towards Pac-Man is so downright disturbing, that the very last sentence in his opening dialogue for his boss battle says that he always prefer his Pac-Man extra crispy.
- Red Ones Go Faster: This trait happens whenever the maze is partially cleared out after a number of dots have been eaten by Pac-Man onscreen, Blinky goes from moving at a moderate rate to kicking his default speed into overdrive to pursue Pac-Man, which is likely to panic players into finishing the mazes quicker now that he's always on Pac-Man tail with no ounces of breathing room.
- The Rival: He's Pac-Man's biggest enemy.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's manly, and Clyde is sensitive.
- Starter Villain: He's the franchise's first true Big Bad before he was forced to compete with the likes of Mezmeron, Spooky, the Ink Master and Lord Betrayus.
- Sudden Name Change: He appears as a secret car in Ridge Racer 64, but with Inky's color by default.
- Super-Scream: As a fully-fledged playable character in Pac-Man World 3, he can fire a blue-colored Energy Ring Attack from his mouth called Sonic Boo, which allows him to attack/defeat enemies and it can turn the Spectral Creatures blue, although it has to be used twice to destroy them. He can unleash a powerful version called Super Scare where he grows large and lets out a menacing shriek so loud it can break and knock down giant structures in his path
- Unexplained Accent: Throughout the Pac-Man World trilogy, he's the only ghost that speaks with a mixture between a Brooklyn and Boston accent. It's worth noting on how he was renamed "Clyde" in those games, it seems to harken back on how Clyde spoke in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series where he himself also had a similar accent despite Clyde having an Adaptational Personality Change within the show.
- Vocal Evolution: He strangely sounded way more high-pitched during the first Pac-Man World game where it sounded like he's inhaled nothing but helium. His voice has deepened in the second and third World games as he sounds slightly gruff and a lot more mature.
Pinky (Speedy)
Pinky
Voiced by: Chuck McCann (Hanna-Barbera cartoon), Mindy Lee-Raskin (Pac-Man World 3), Ashleigh Ball (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, EN), Kiyono Yasuno (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, JP)
"You've never wanted me. Well, if I can't have you... nobody will!"
Pinky is a pink female ghost, and the fastest of the four. She usually tries to chase Pac-Man from the front side to corner him.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: She's male in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Has a crush on Pac-Man in World 2, despite the fact that he's married.
- Breakout Character: Became playable in World 3, the most prominent ghost in Ghostly Adventures, and a recurring character for the PAC-STORE.
- Dub Name Change: Averted; unlike her ghoulish compatriots, she still retains her name from Japan.
- An Ice Person: Her machine in Pac-Man World 2 can launch boulder-sized chunks of hail at Pac-Man that can easily knock him off of the platforms in the icy arena, especially if he's in the middle of a jump.
- Informed Ability: Her alternative name is Speedy, which would seemingly imply that she has the quickest movement, but in reality, Blinky himself is actually the fastest out all of the 4 ghosts by far.
- If I Can't Have You…: She directly says this at the very start of her boss battle for her beginning dialogue in Pac-Man World 2.
- Lead the Target: In the original game, she targets the space in front of Pac-Man, which leads to situations where Pinky will work with Blinky to cover up both escape exits for Pac-Man.
- Pink Is Feminine: She's a pink female ghost.
- Real Men Wear Pink: In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, as well as "Pac-Land" and "Pac-Mania", she's male, but still pink.
- Reality Warper: By gathering up energy from three Spectral Fountains, she can outright spawn and solidify levitating platforms in Pac-Man World 3 mostly just for Pac-Man to jump on for level progression.
- She's a Man in Japan: Contrary to popular belief, she has always been intended as female, but the old show turned her male, much to the confusion of many Pac-Man fans.
- Smurfette Principle: The only female member of the ghost gang. Subverted in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, where she's male, and in any game that also features Sue.
- Villainous Crush: She's had feelings for Pac-Man at the opening intro of Pac-Man World 2, such as when she spied on him through a window while she watches Pac-Man sleeping while plucking off flower pedals in a "he loves me, he loves me not" fashion. Her boss fight even starts with her being sort of flirtatious... then completely delusional with her uncontrollable love for him. In fact, her strive to get Pac-Man to love her is so disturbing that she flat-out becomes a delirious Yandere the more you fight her.
Inky (Aosuke/Bashful)
Inky
Voiced by: Barry Gordon (Hanna-Barbera cartoon), Stuart Milligan (Pac-Man World 3), Lee Tockar (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, EN), Mai Todo (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, JP)
"Think you're pretty smart, don't you?!"
Inky is a blue ghost, who also tries to surround Pac-Man, but keeping a safe distance.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: In his Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures design, he's colored in a darker shade of blue, instead of cyan like in the games.
- Artificial Brilliance: By far the most complicated AI in the original Pac-Man, and this makes him the hardest ghost to track. The spot he targets is the middle point between Pac-Man and Blinky rotated 180 degrees around Pac-Man.
- Comically Cross-Eyed: In Pac-Land and Pac-Mania, his eyes are always cross-eyed to match with his ditzy personality from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
- Cowardly Lion: His original AI is designed around this, trying to approach Pac-Man but running away as well. Generally, when Blinky nears Pac-Man, Inky will be right close by.
- Depending on the Artist: Throughout the series, he goes through alternative shades of blue in a number of games, since his usual color is cyan, he was colored in a much more darkened shade such as Pac-Man Adventures in Time where he's outright colored indigo for both the CGI intro and his in-game model. The coloration of his gloves are either orange like Pac-Man's, (or the other ghosts) green, or in Pac-Man World 2 where they were more of a turquoise tint.
- Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Inky is a blue male Ghost and Pinky is a pink female Ghost.
- Wake-Up Call Boss: While fighting him in Pac-Man World 2 isn't by any means hard, he can still be a somewhat challenging fight if you aren't careful with your Butt-Bounce placements on the glass or timing your Rev-Rolls. The spinning blowing blade beneath his wooden battle machine can also blow you off unexpectedly.
Clyde (Guzuta/Pokey)
Clyde
Voiced by: Neil Ross (Hanna-Barbera cartoon), John Guerrasio (Pac-Man World 3), Brian Drummond (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, EN), Kunpei Sakamoto (Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, JP)
"The Yellow Fella? He'll munch us all! We're all doomed, I tell yers! DOOMED!"
Clyde is an orange ghost, who mostly does his own thing and may or may not go after Pac-Man. In the original game, he follows Pac-Man just like Blinky, but wanders off to the bottom left when he gets too close.
- Adaptational Personality Change: As a result of his personality being switched with Blinky's in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, he is the leader of the ghosts in several games.
- Breakout Character: Became this in America where he was made the leader of the ghosts.
- Convenient Weakness Placement: His gigantic mechanical frog in Pac-Man World 2 has a wooden tongue with a spiked ball at the tip but it's extremely breakable, something that Pac-Man's Butt-Bounce can easily do. However, he wises up and switches to using a steel-coated tongue instead where the Butt-Bounce cannot be used at all... but the inside of its mouth has a glowing "uvula" that's constantly dangling in the back of its throat. Undoubtedly, it's specifically placed in there to intentionally signify an Attack Its Weak Point area where Pac-Man can make great use of the Rev-Roll into its mouth to destroy it.
- Cowardly Lion: He's just as a threat to Pac-Man as any other ghost, but he'll immediately decide to go to his corner if he gets too close to him. But if Pac-Man's already in his corner when he does this, he'll become even more unpredictable and dangerous.
- Depending on the Writer: Clyde's color is either orange or red, typically becoming the former in most games and the latter in few games such as Pac-Mania, Pac-Man World, and Pac-Man Arrangement, in a phenomenon known as the "Clyde & Blinky Error".
- The Rival: In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, he's Pac-Man's biggest enemy.
- The Ditz: He's generally stated to be the most dimwitted of the four ghosts. His Japanese nickname even roughly translates to stupid.
- The Leader: In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, Pac-Land, and Pac-Mania (as the red ghost).
- Odd Name Out: He's the only ghost of the original four whose name doesn't end with "-inky". Also in Japanese, he's the only one whose name doesn't reference his color.
- Put on a Bus: In Ms. Pac-Man, Jr. Pac-Man and Baby Pac-Man, he's replaced with Sue, Tim, and an unnamed green ghost (not related to Funky), respectively.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: He's sensitive, and Blinky is manly.
Sue
Sue
Voiced by: Susan Silo (Hanna-Barbera cartoon)
"Well, Ms. Pac-Man, looks like this time, I'm the chomper, and you're the chompee!"
Sue was an orange ghost that replaced Clyde in Ms. Pac-Man, but now she's usually purple.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: She was originally orange in Ms. Pac-Man, replacing Clyde. In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon she gained her trademark purple color.
- Canon Immigrant: She originated in the U.S. made Ms. Pac-Man, where she replaced Clyde as the orange ghost. She later appeared in the (Hanna-Barbera cartoon, where she gained her trademark purple color. She eventually appeared in official games, such as Pac-Mania and Pac-Man 256.
- Depending on the Writer: Sue's color is either orange or purple, typically becoming the former in games where Ms. Pac-Man is the star (her debut game, Maze Madness, and Quest for the Golden Maze) and the latter in games that star Pac-Man.
- The Determinator: She's the only ghost that never scatters or loses course in Pac-Mania, contrary to her absent-mindedness in her first appearance.
- Divergent Character Evolution: The purple recoloring differentiates her from Clyde.
- Odd Name Out: She took Clyde's place as this in Ms. Pac-Man.
- Put on a Bus: Even before Ms. Pac-Man started to disappear from games, Sue stopped appearing aside from compilations of the older games.
- Sixth Ranger: Fifth in this case. Aside from the main four ghosts, she's the most recurring ghost in the series.
- Smurfette Principle: In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon, where Pinky is male.
Tim
Tim
Clyde's replacement in Pac-Man Jr.
- The Bus Came Back: Reappears in the Pac-Man DLC for The Sandbox Evolution.
- Divergent Character Evolution: The Sandbox Evolution makes him a paler orange than Clyde.
- Odd Name Out: He took Clyde and Sue's place as this in Pac-Man Jr..
Yum-Yum
Yum-Yum
Blinky's daughter whom Pac-Man's son has a crush on.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: You know she's a girl because she has a bow.
Funky and Spunky (Common)
Funky and Spunky
Green and Gray ghosts who are cousins.
- Divergent Character Evolution: In Pac-Mania Spunky was just a stronger version of Funky. 256 and The Sandbox Evolution give them unique characteristics.
- Sleepy Enemy: Spunky's behavior in 256 and The Sandbox Evolution
Kinky (Kinzo)
Kinky
A gold-colored ghost that can empower the others.
- Fusion Dance: Kinky will seek out one of the four ghosts and merge with them.
- When combined with Blinky, the fused ghost gains a Dash Attack.
- When combined with Pinky, the fused ghost can jump from one end of the maze to another.
- When combined with Inky, the fused ghost can create a copy of itself.
- When combined with Clyde, the fused ghost leaves extra dots that count towards completing the level.
