Pac-Man, which was first called Puck Man in Japan, is a maze video game created in 1980 by Namco for arcade machines. It was released in Japan on May 22, 1980, and in North America by Midway Manufacturing in August 1980. In the game, the player controls Pac-Man, who must eat all the small dots inside a maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. When Pac-Man eats large, flashing dots called "Power Pellets," the ghosts turn blue and can be eaten for bonus points.
The game was designed by Toru Iwatani, who led a team of nine people. Development started in early 1979. Iwatani wanted to make a game that would appeal to both boys and girls, as many video games at the time focused on topics like war or sports. The Pac-Man character was inspired by the shape of a pizza with a slice missing, but Iwatani also rounded the Japanese character for "mouth," which is kuchi (口). The game's characters were made to look friendly and colorful to attract younger players. The original Japanese title, Puck Man, came from the phrase paku paku taberu, meaning "to gobble something up." The name was changed to Pac-Man for the North American release to avoid people changing the letter "P" to "F" on the game machines.
Pac-Man is considered one of the most important and popular video games ever made. It was very successful and led to many follow-up games, toys, and other products. It also inspired two TV shows and a music song called "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia. Pac-Man became the official symbol for Namco and later Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game has sold more than 43 million copies and earned over $14 billion in revenue by 2016. It continues to be remembered as a major success in both business and culture.
Gameplay
Pac-Man is an action maze chase video game in which the player controls the character named Pac-Man through a maze. The goal is to eat all the dots in the maze while avoiding four colored ghosts: Blinky (red), Pinky (pink), Inky (cyan), and Clyde (orange). These ghosts chase Pac-Man. When Pac-Man eats all the dots, the player moves to the next level. Levels are shown by fruit icons at the bottom of the screen. Between levels, short scenes show Pac-Man and Blinky in funny situations.
If Pac-Man is caught by a ghost, he loses a life. The game ends when all lives are lost. Each ghost has a unique artificial intelligence (A.I.) or "personality": Blinky chases Pac-Man directly; Pinky and Inky try to corner Pac-Man by positioning themselves in front of him; and Clyde switches between chasing and fleeing Pac-Man depending on how close he is.
In each corner of the maze, there are large flashing "energizers" or "power pellets." When Pac-Man eats one, the ghosts turn blue, look confused, and reverse direction. Pac-Man can eat blue ghosts for bonus points. When a ghost is eaten, its eyes return to the center of the maze, where the ghost "regenerates" and continues its normal activity. Eating multiple blue ghosts in a row increases the points earned. After some time, blue ghosts flash white before returning to their normal colors. Eating a certain number of dots in a level causes a bonus item—usually a fruit—to appear under the center box. The item can be eaten for extra points. On the sides of the maze are two "warp tunnels," which allow Pac-Man and the ghosts to move to the opposite side of the screen. Ghosts move slower when entering or exiting these tunnels.
As the player progresses, the game becomes harder: the ghosts move faster, and the energizers' effects last for shorter periods, eventually disappearing. A problem with the game's numbers causes the 256th level to load incorrectly, making it impossible to complete. This is known as a kill screen.
Development
In 1974, Namco purchased the struggling Japanese division of Atari. This allowed Namco to create its own video games instead of licensing them from other companies. Company president Masaya Nakamura formed a small video-game development team to study NEC-produced microcomputers for their potential in game creation. One of the first people assigned to this team was Toru Iwatani, a 24-year-old employee. He designed Namco's first video game, Gee Bee, in 1978. Although Gee Bee was not successful, it helped Namco establish a stronger presence in the growing video-game industry. Iwatani also contributed to the development of two sequels, Bomb Bee and Cutie Q, both released in 1979.
At the time, the Japanese video-game industry was very popular, with games like Space Invaders and Breakout. Many similar titles flooded the market. Iwatani noticed that arcade games often had rough graphics and violent themes, which limited their appeal to men. He believed arcades were seen as unfriendly places. For his next project, Iwatani aimed to create a nonviolent, cheerful game that would attract women and couples, making arcades more family-friendly. He studied women's common activities and decided to base his game on eating, as he believed women enjoy eating sweets. The game was initially named Pakkuman, inspired by the Japanese onomatopoeia phrase "paku paku taberu," which describes the motion of opening and closing the mouth.
Development of the game, later known as Pac-Man, began in early 1979 and took one year and five months to complete. This was the longest development time for any video game at that time. Iwatani worked with nine other Namco employees, including composer Toshio Kai, programmer Shigeo Funaki, and hardware engineer Shigeichi Ishimura. To attract a wide audience, Iwatani used simple gameplay and designed cute, appealing characters. At the same time, Namco was working on Galaxian, a game that used a new RGB color display technology. This allowed sprites to show multiple colors at once, replacing the need for colored cellophane strips. This advancement helped Iwatani enhance Pac-Man with bright pastel colors. The idea for energizers came from Popeye, a cartoon character who gains strength after eating spinach. It is also believed that Iwatani was inspired by a Japanese children's story about a creature that protects children by eating monsters. Frank Fogleman, cofounder of Gremlin Industries, suggested that Pac-Man's maze-chase gameplay was inspired by Sega's Head On (1979), a popular Japanese arcade game.
Iwatani stated that Pac-Man's shape was partly inspired by a pizza with a missing slice he saw during lunch. However, in a 1986 interview, he clarified that the character's design also came from rounding and simplifying the Japanese character "kuchi" (口), meaning "mouth." The four ghosts in the game were designed to be cute, colorful, and appealing, with bright pastel colors and expressive blue eyes. Iwatani used this idea earlier in Cutie Q, which featured similar ghost-like characters. He was inspired by the television show Casper the Friendly Ghost and the manga series Obake no Q-Taro.
Ghosts were chosen as the game's main antagonists because they often appear as villains in animation. The fruit bonus system was based on graphics from slot machines. Initially, Masaya Nakamura, Namco's president, wanted all ghosts to be red and look identical. However, Iwatani believed the ghosts should have different colors, and his colleagues supported this idea. The ghosts were programmed to have distinct personalities to make the game more engaging. Each ghost's name hints at its strategy for chasing Pac-Man: Shadow ("Blinky") always chases Pac-Man, Speedy ("Pinky") tries to get ahead, Bashful ("Inky") uses a complex strategy, and Pokey ("Clyde") alternates between chasing and escaping. The ghosts' Japanese names are おいかけ (chase), まちぶせ (ambush), きまぐれ (fickle), and おとぼけ (playing dumb), respectively.
To reduce tension, humorous intermissions were added between Pac-Man and Blinky. The sound effects were created by Toshio Kai. During a design session, Iwatani made loud noises while eating fruit to describe how the eating sound should sound. After completion, the game was named Puck Man.
Release
Testing for the game Puck Man started on May 22, 1980, in Shibuya, Tokyo. People who do not usually play games found it easy to learn, but many regular arcade players were not impressed. A private showing of the game was held in June, and it was released nationwide in July. Seeing the game's success in Japan, Namco planned to bring it to other countries, especially the United States. Before showing the game to distributors, Namco America made several changes, such as renaming the ghosts. The game's title was also changed because Namco leaders were worried that vandals might alter the "P" in Puck Man to an "F." Masaya Nakamura decided to rename the game Pac-Man, believing it was closer to the original Japanese title, Pakkuman. In Europe, the game was released under both names. Before Pac-Man was chosen, early American materials used the name Snapper.
When Namco showed Pac-Man and Rally-X to possible distributors at the 1980 AMOA tradeshow in November 1980, company leaders thought Rally-X would be the top-selling game of the year. According to Play Meter magazine, both Pac-Man and Rally-X received little attention at the event. Namco first approached Atari to distribute Pac-Man, but Atari declined. Midway Manufacturing then agreed to distribute both Pac-Man and Rally-X in North America, announcing their purchase of the manufacturing rights on November 22. The games were released in December.
Ports
Pac-Man was made available for many home video-game systems and personal computers. The most well-known version was the 1982 Atari 2600 version created by Tod Frye and published by Atari, Inc. This version was criticized for not matching the arcade game well and for design choices, such as the flickering ghosts. However, it sold over seven million copies and was a commercial success. Atari released versions for the Intellivision, VIC-20, Commodore 64, Apple II, IBM PC compatibles, TI-99/4A, ZX Spectrum, and Atari 8-bit computers. A version for the Atari 5200 was released in 1983 and was considered a major improvement over the Atari 2600 version.
Namco released a version for the Family Computer in 1984 as one of the console's first third-party titles, as well as a version for the MSX computer. The Famicom version was later released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Tengen, a subsidiary of Atari Games. Tengen made an unlicensed version of the game in a black cartridge shell during a time when Tengen and Nintendo had disagreements about quality control for consoles. This version was re-released by Namco in 1993 as an official title with a new label and box. The Famicom version was also released for the Famicom Disk System in 1990 as a budget title for retail kiosks. In 1990, Namco released a version for the Game Boy, which allowed two-player co-operative play using the Game Link Cable. A version for the Game Gear followed a year later, also supporting multiplayer. In 1999, to celebrate the game's 20th anniversary, Namco re-released the Game Boy version for the Game Boy Color, bundled with Pac-Attack and titled Pac-Man: Special Color Edition. The same year, Namco and SNK co-published a version for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, which included a circular "Cross Ring" that attached to the d-pad to limit movement to four directions.
In 2001, Namco released a version of Pac-Man for Japanese mobile phones, one of the company's first mobile game releases. The Famicom version was re-released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as part of the Famicom Mini series to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Famicom. This version was released in North America and Europe under the Classic NES Series label. Namco Networks released Pac-Man for BREW mobile devices in 2005. The original arcade version was released for the Xbox Live Arcade in 2006, featuring achievements and online leaderboards. In 2009, a version for iOS devices was published, later rebranded as Pac-Man + Tournaments in 2013 with new mazes and leaderboards. The NES version was released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007, and the Game Boy version was released for the Nintendo 3DS' Virtual Console in 2011. A version for Roku devices was released in 2011. Pac-Man was one of four titles included in the Arcade Game Series brand, released for the PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in 2016. Hamster Corporation released Pac-Man and Xevious as part of its Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in September 2021, marking the first two Namco games in the series.
Pac-Man is included in many Namco compilations, such as Namco Museum Vol. 1 (1995), Namco Museum 64 (1999), Namco Museum Battle Collection (2005), Namco Museum DS (2007), Namco Museum Essentials (2009), and Namco Museum Megamix (2010). In 1996, it was re-released for arcades as part of Namco Classic Collection Vol. 2, alongside Dig Dug, Rally-X, and special "Arrangement" remakes of those titles. Microsoft included Pac-Man in Microsoft Return of Arcade (1995) to attract video game companies to its Windows 95 operating system. Namco released the game in the third volume of Namco History in Japan in 1998. The 2001 Game Boy Advance compilation Pac-Man Collection includes Pac-Man, Pac-Mania, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Man Arrangement on one cartridge. Pac-Man is a hidden extra in the arcade game Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga – Class of 1981 (2001). A similar cabinet was released in 2005 with Pac-Man as the centerpiece. Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures (1993) and Pac-Man World 2 (2002) include Pac-Man as an unlockable extra. Alongside the Xbox 360 remake Pac-Man Championship Edition, it was ported to the Nintendo 3DS in 2012 as part of Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions. The 2010 Wii game Pac-Man Party and its 2011 3DS remake include Pac-Man as a bonus game, alongside the arcade versions of Dig Dug and Galaga. In 2014, Pac-Man was included in the compilation Pac-Man Museum for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, alongside other Pac-Man games. The NES version is one of 30 games included in the NES Classic Edition. The NES version was added to the Nintendo Classics library on April 9, 2026.
Reception
When Pac-Man first appeared in North America at AMOA in 1980, it received only a small amount of attention. Play Meter magazine previewed the game and described it as "a cute game that grows on players, something cute games usually don’t do." The magazine noted that the game had more depth than it first seemed but criticized the sound, saying it was enjoyable at first but became annoying over time. After its release, the game surprised many by becoming very popular, both in terms of sales and reviews.
In 1982, Games magazine reviewed home console versions of Pac-Man. It praised the Atari 5200 version as a "splendidly reproduced" copy of the arcade game, though it noted that the maze layouts were slightly different for television screens. The magazine said the Atari 2600 version had weaker graphics but was still one of the best games for that console. In both versions, reviewers found the joystick controls harder to use than those in the arcade machine, and quick turns often felt difficult to make.
When Pac-Man first came out in Japan, it was not immediately very successful. At the time, Namco’s Galaxian (1979) was more popular because it appealed to a mostly male audience who preferred its shooting gameplay over Pac-Man’s cute characters and maze theme. However, Pac-Man eventually became a huge success in Japan. It was Japan’s highest-grossing arcade game of 1980, according to the Game Machine charts, surpassing Taito’s Space Invaders (1978), which had been the top game for two years in a row. This success shifted Japan’s arcade market toward action games with comical characters instead of space shooters. Pac-Man was Japan’s fourth highest-grossing arcade game of 1981.
In North America, Midway expected limited success before Pac-Man’s release, manufacturing only 5,000 units for the U.S. market. However, the game became very popular quickly, with some arcades buying entire rows of Pac-Man cabinets. It became a nationwide hit. When it was released in 1980, it earned about $8.1 million per week in the United States. Within one year, over 100,000 arcade units were sold, earning more than $1 billion in coins. It overtook Atari’s Asteroids (1979) as the best-selling arcade game in the country and surpassed the film Star Wars (1977) in revenue. Pac-Man was the top-grossing arcade game in the U.S. in 1981 and the second highest in 1982. By 1982, it was estimated to have 30 million active players in the United States. A player in San Francisco reportedly shot someone for interrupting him during a game. Pac-Man’s popularity among female players helped it become "the first commercial video game to involve large numbers of women as players," according to Midway’s Stan Jarocki. Among the nine arcade games covered in How to Win Video Games (1982), Pac-Man was the only one where females made up the majority of players.
By 1982, the number of Pac-Man arcade units sold had tripled to 400,000, with an estimated total of between seven billion coins and $6 billion in revenue. In a 1983 interview, Namco’s Nakamura said, "I never thought it would be this big." Pac-Man is the best-selling arcade game of all time, with total estimated earnings ranging from 10 billion coins and $3.5 billion (adjusted for inflation) to $6 billion (adjusted for inflation). Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man topped the U.S. RePlay cocktail arcade cabinet charts for 23 months, from February 1982 through February 1984.
The Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man sold over 8 million copies, making it the console’s best-selling title. Coleco’s tabletop mini-arcade unit sold over 1.5 million units in 1982. The Pac-Man Nelsonic Game Watch sold more than 500,000 units the same year. The Family Computer (Famicom) version and its 2004 Game Boy Advance re-release sold a combined 598,000 copies in Japan. The Atari 5200 version sold 35,011 cartridges between 1986 and 1988. The Atari 8-bit computer version sold 42,359 copies in 1986 and 1990. Thunder Mountain’s 1986 budget release for home computers received a Diamond certification from the Software Publishers Association in 1989 for selling over 500,000 copies. Mobile phone ports sold over 30 million paid downloads by 2010. II Computing listed the Atarisoft port as the tenth best Apple II game in late 1985 based on sales. As of 2016, all versions of Pac-Man are estimated to have earned more than $12 billion in total revenue.
Pac-Man was awarded "Best Commercial Arcade Game" at the 1982 Arcade Awards. It also won the Video Software Dealers Association’s VSDA Award for Best Videogame. In 2001, Pac-Man was voted the greatest video game of all time by a Dixons poll in the UK. The Killer List of Videogames listed Pac-Man as the most popular game of all time. The site Playthatgame currently ranks Pac-Man as the #53rd top game of all time and game of the year.
Pac-Man is considered one of the most influential video games ever made. It created the maze video game genre, introduced power-ups, and used artificial intelligence (AI) for its ghost characters, which react to player actions. Pac-Man was one of the first games to show the potential of player characters in video games. Its title character was the first original gaming mascot, and it increased the appeal of video games to female audiences. It was also the first game with broad licensing success. Pac-Man is often cited as the first game with cutscenes, though Space Invaders Part II (1979) had similar between-level intermissions.
Pac-Man changed the arcade industry, which had been dominated by space shooters since Space Invaders (1978). It popularized "character-led" action games, leading to titles like Nintendo’s Donkey Kong, Konami’s Frogger, and Universal Entertainment’s Lady Bug in 1981. Pac-Man was one
Legacy
Guinness World Records has given the Pac-Man series eight records, including "Most Successful Coin-Operated Game," in the 2008 Gamer's Edition. On June 3, 2010, at the NLGD Festival of Games, the game's creator, Toru Iwatani, received a certificate from Guinness World Records for Pac-Man having the most coin-operated arcade machines installed worldwide: 293,822. This record was set and recognized in 2005 and mentioned in the 2008 Gamer's Edition. In 2009, Guinness World Records listed Pac-Man as the most recognizable video game character in the United States, known by 94% of the population, compared to Mario, known by 93%. In 2015, The Strong National Museum of Play added Pac-Man to its World Video Game Hall of Fame. Pac-Man became a symbol of video game culture in the 1980s.
The game inspired real-life events, such as "Pac-Manhattan," which set a Guinness World Record for "Largest Pac-Man Game" in 2004. The business term "Pac-Man defense" describes a situation in mergers and acquisitions where a company tries to take over its would-be buyer, similar to how Pac-Man eats dots and ghosts. The term "Pac-Man renormalization" comes from a visual similarity to the character in mathematical studies of the Mandelbrot set. Pac-Man's popularity led to its use as a nickname, such as by boxer Manny Pacquiao and football player Adam Jones.
In 2012, Pac-Man was added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City as part of an initial group of 14 video games. During the 2016 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, a short video showed Pac-Man and the ghosts racing on a track while Tokyo was announced as the host of the 2020 Olympics.
Pac-Man merchandise became widely available. By 1982, over 500 products featured the character, including toys, clothing, and food items like breakfast cereals and popsicles. 7-Eleven sold Pac-Man-themed items since the 1980s, including Slurpee cups and Big Gulp cups. In 2023, 7-Eleven released new items, such as a coffee blend named after a ghost and limited-edition Slurpee flavors. Pac-Man merchandise sales in the U.S. reached over $1 billion by 1982.
Lego created a special set of a Pac-Man arcade machine, featuring the character and ghosts on the top. An animated series based on Pac-Man aired on ABC from 1982 to 1983 and was the most-watched Saturday morning show in the U.S. A computer-generated series titled Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures aired on Disney XD from 2013 to 2015.
Pac-Man appears in the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. The song "Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia reached No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over 2.5 million copies. "Weird Al" Yankovic released a parody of a Beatles song as "Pac-Man" in 2017. Aphex Twin (as Power-Pill) made a techno album using Pac-Man sounds in 1992.
The character appears in the music video for "Mope" by Bloodhound Gang, where it is shown as a cocaine user. In 2020, Gorillaz and Schoolboy Q released a song called "Pac-Man" to celebrate the game's 40th anniversary. Pac-Man is featured in the films Pixels (2015), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017), and Wreck-It Ralph (2012).
In Sword Art Online: Ordinal Scale, a game called PAC-Man 2026 is played. A Pac-Man-like character is the villain in Kamen Rider Heisei Generations: Dr. Pac-Man vs. Ex-Aid & Ghost with Legend Riders. In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), the character references the original Japanese name. The 2018 film Relaxer includes Pac-Man as a key plot element.
Plans for a Pac-Man movie have been made since the 1980s. A board game based on Pac-Man was released in 1982 by Milton Bradley. Fleer included scratch-off cards with Pac-Man mazes in its sticker sets. A perfect score on the original Pac-Man arcade game is 3,333,360 points, achieved by collecting all dots, energizers, and fruit while avoiding ghosts for 256 levels. Billy Mitchell was the first person to publicly achieve this score without cheating in 1999.
Remakes and sequels
Pac-Man was followed by many follow-up games, new versions, and different versions, making it one of the longest-running video game series in history. The first of these was Ms. Pac-Man, created by General Computer Corporation in the United States and released by Midway in 1982. The character was changed to a female version because Pac-Man was very popular with women. New mazes, moving bonus items, and faster gameplay were added to make the game more appealing. Ms. Pac-Man became one of the best-selling arcade games in North America, where Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man were the most successful arcade machines in history. Legal issues about who owned the game led to Namco taking ownership of Ms. Pac-Man, and they helped produce the game. Ms. Pac-Man inspired its own line of remakes, including Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness (2000) and Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze. It is also included in many Namco and Pac-Man game collections for consoles.
Namco’s follow-up to the original Pac-Man was Super Pac-Man, released in 1982. This was followed by Pac & Pal, a Japan-only game released in 1983. Midway made many other Pac-Man sequels in the early 1980s, including Pac-Man Plus (1982), Jr. Pac-Man (1983), Baby Pac-Man (1983), and Professor Pac-Man (1984). Other games in the series include Pac-Mania (1987), a game with a 3D-like view; Pac-Land (1984) and Hello! Pac-Man (1994), which are side-scrolling games; Pac-In-Time (1995), a time-travel game; Pac-Man World (1999), a 3D platformer; and puzzle games like Pac-Attack (1991) and Pac-Pix (2005). Iwatani designed Pac-Land and Pac-Mania, which are his favorite games in the series. Pac-Man Championship Edition, released for the Xbox 360 in 2007, was Iwatani’s last game before leaving the company. Its bright colors and fast gameplay received praise, leading to the creation of Pac-Man Championship Edition DX (2010) and Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 (2016).
Coleco sold 1.5 million units of its tabletop Mini-Arcade version of Pac-Man in 1982. Nelsonic Industries made a Pac-Man LCD wristwatch game with a simplified maze in the same year.
In 2009, Namco Networks released a downloadable version of Pac-Man for Windows computers. This version included an enhanced mode that replaced the original game’s graphics with those from Pac-Man Championship Edition. Namco Networks also released a downloadable bundle that included its PC version of Pac-Man and a version of Dig Dug called Namco All-Stars: Pac-Man and Dig Dug. In 2010, Namco Bandai announced that Pac-Man would be released for Windows Phone 7 as an Xbox Live game.
For the weekend of May 21–23, 2010, Google changed its homepage logo to a playable version of Pac-Man to celebrate the game’s 30th anniversary. The Google Doodle version was played by more than 1 billion people worldwide in 2010, so Google later created a dedicated page for the game.
In April 2011, Soap Creative released a multiplayer online game called World’s Biggest Pac-Man, developed with Microsoft and Namco-Bandai to honor Pac-Man’s 30th anniversary. This game allows players to create and connect mazes.
In 2017, Google created a playable version of Pac-Man on Google Maps for April Fools’ Day. Players could control Pac-Man using the map on their screens.
In 2020, a Pac-Man-themed downloadable content pack for Minecraft was released to celebrate the game’s 40th anniversary. This pack added a ghost named “Creepy,” based on Minecraft’s Creeper character.
Technology
The original arcade system board had one Z80 A processor, which operated at 3.072 MHz. It included 16 kilobytes of ROM and 3 kilobytes of static RAM. Of this RAM, 1 kilobyte was used for video memory, 1 kilobyte for color memory, and 1 kilobyte for general program memory. Two custom chips were on the board: the 285 sync bus controller and the 284 video RAM addresser. However, some versions used daughterboards made only from standard parts instead. The video output was analog component video with composite sync. An additional 8 kilobytes of character ROM were used for characters, background tiles, and sprites. Another 1 kilobyte of static RAM stored 4bpp sprite data for one scanline, which was written during the horizontal blanking period before each line. All sprites were 16×16 pixels in size, and one of the four colors per pixel was used for transparency (allowing the background to show through).
The monitor was rotated 90 degrees clockwise. The first visible scanline began at the top right corner and ended at the bottom right corner. The horizontal blanking period, which started after the level indicator at the bottom was drawn, lasted 96 pixel clock ticks. This time was enough to fetch 4 bytes of sprite data every 16 clock ticks for 6 sprites. Although attribute memory was available for sprites 0 and 7, these sprites could not be used. For sprite 0, the timing for fetching pixel data overlapped with the bottom level indicator, which appeared just before the horizontal blanking period. For sprite 7, the timing overlapped with two rows of characters at the top of the screen, which appeared immediately after the horizontal blanking period.