Every great game has great villains, and
Pac-Man's
ghosts help make the game the major success and addiction that it is. Between the Japanese and American versions of
Pac-Man there are 23 distinct name/nickname combinations for the four ghosts, and arcade operators could flip the
dip switches in the machine to change the names of the ghosts to whatever combination they pleased. The ghosts' names/nicknames are...
- Red Ghost: Oikake/Akabei, Urchin/Macky, and Shadow/Blinky
- Pink Ghost: Machibuse/Pinky, Romp/Micky, and Speedy/Pinky
- Blue Ghost: Kimagure/Aosuke, Stylist/Mucky, and Bashful/Inky
- Orange Ghost: Otoboke/Guzuta, Crybaby/Mocky, and Pokey/Clyde (and, in Ms. Pac-Man, Sue)
Bonus Fact: Atari produced more Pac-Man cartridges than there were Atari 2600 systems. Why? Atari's management said that they believed that the game would be so popular that people would want to buy a second copy for their ski house. Yes, someone said that.
References:
High Score: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games
Thanks to mr100percent for the info about Sue