Several games in the series were released for a multitude of home consoles and are included in many Bandai Namco video game compilations. Most Pac-Man games are maze chase games, but it has also delved into other genres, such as platformers, racing, and sports. The eponymous first entry was released in arcades in 1980 by Namco, and published by Midway Games in North America. Entries have been developed by a wide array of other video game companies, including Midway Games, Atari and Mass Media, Inc., and was created by Toru Iwatani. Pac-Man is a Japanese video game franchise developed, published and owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment, a video game publisher that was previously known as Namco.
