Guinness reveals gaming's most recognizable character
Who's the most recognizable character in video games? Nintendo legend Mario? Helmeted Halo lead Master Chief? Football legend John Madden? No -- according to the 2010 Gamers' Edition of the Guinness book of world records, ever-hungry retro icon Pac-Man edges the win.
The character has been around since the 70' and people who played Pac Man when they were kids/teenagers who stopped playing games after that would know it.
Just this week, I was playing Super Mario Bros Wii and half of the family had no idea who Mario was.
But I would betcha they knew Pac Man.
The reason is because he's the first mascot so everybody who played the arcades would know who he was because there wasn't a lot of competition. They stopped (from evidence of the video game crash) and then the NES came out for the newer generations of kids. If you didn't play games after that there is a chance you never knew about Mario.
But Pac-Man has been around since the beginning and games are still being created.
In the end, there is no way of quantifying how many people know each character but there is a good chance Pac-Man would come out ahead.
Re: Guinness reveals gaming's most recognizable character
Guiness is wrong, and it's by far not the first time they've been wrong, either.
What they say is not automatically a fact.
The only way they could prove Pac-man is the most recognizable video game character is by doing a MASSIVE psychological study all over the world across as many demographics as possible. Then, have their results duplicated and peer reviewed (within an acceptable margin of error, of course).
The correct answer is Mario, not Pac-man.
That half has been living under a rock.
Just curious, is that half of the family also hard pressed to do things on the internet above checking their e-mail?
Re: Re: Guinness reveals gaming's most recognizable character
Then I can suppose that you've done a MASSIVE psychological study all over the world across as many demographics as possible? Then, had your results duplicated and peer reviewed and came to the conclusion that it was indeed Mario? Good to know that we have such dedicated people around here.
__________________ And from the ashes he rose, like a black cloud. The Sin of one became the Sin of many.
So, Pac-Man is older than Mario by a year? I mean, maybe really really old people will know who Pac-Man is and NOT know who Mario is, but to be the worlds most recognizable character?
Re: Re: Guinness reveals gaming's most recognizable character
Do you not realize how much of a hypocrite you make yourself sound like here?
"They're absolutely and totally wrong because they didn't do four billion different studies about it. Oh, and by the way, my opinion is right."
I'd be willing to believe that Pac-Man is more recognizable than Mario. Not everyone owns (or has owned) a video game console, but I'm sure most people have at least seen an arcade once, and Pac-Man is still to this day an arcade staple. Even if it's just as small and simple as a couple game cabinets in the waiting area at the local pizza place, you're more likely than not to find a Pac-Man machine.
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Jan 4th, 2010 03:07 PM
