Ghosts (Pac-Man)
Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, collectively known as the Ghost Gang, are a quartet of characters from the "Pac-Man" video game franchise. Created by Toru Iwatani, they first appear in the 1980 arcade game "Pac-Man" as the main antagonists. The ghosts have appeared in every "Pac-Man" game since, sometimes becoming minor antagonists or allies to Pac-Man, such as in "Pac-Man World" and the "Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures" animated series. Some entries in the series would add other ghosts to the group, such as Sue in "Ms. Pac-Man", Tim in  Jr. Pac-Man, and Funky and Spunky in "Pac-Mania", however these would be reverted in later games. The group has since gained a positive reception and is cited as one of the most recognizable video game villains of all time. Concept and creation. The ghosts were created by Toru Iwatani, who was the head designer for the original "Pac-Man" arcade game. The idea for the ghosts was made from Iwatani's desire to create a video game that could attract women and younger players, particularly couples, at a time where most video games were "war"-type games or "Space  Invaders" clones. In turn, he made the in-game characters cute and colorful, a trait borrowed from Iwatani's previous game "Cutie Q" (1979), which featured similar "kawaii" characters. Iwatani cited Casper the Friendly Ghost or "Little Ghost Q-Taro" as inspiration for the ghosts. Their simplistic design was also attributed to the limitations of the hardware at the time, only being able to display a certain amount of colors for a sprite. To prevent the game from becoming impossibly difficult or too boring to play, each of the ghosts were programmed to have their own distinct traits — the red  ghost would directly chase Pac-Man, the pink and blue ghosts would position themselves in front of him, and the orange ghost would be random. Originally, all four of the ghosts were meant to be red instead of multicolored, as ordered by Namco president Masaya Nakamura — Iwatani was against the idea, as he wanted the ghosts to be distinguishable from one another. Although he was admittedly afraid of Nakamura, he conducted a survey with his colleagues that asked if they wanted single-colored enemies or multicolored enemies. After being present with a 40 to 0 in favor of multicolored ghosts , Nakamura agreed to the decision. The original Japanese version of the game had the ghosts named "Oikake", "Machibuse", "Kimagure" and "Otoboke", translating respectively to "chaser", "ambusher", "fickle" and "stupid". When the game was exported to the United States, Midway Games instead changed their names to "Shadow", "Speedy", "Bashful" and "Pokey", their nicknames being changed to "Blinky", "Pinky", "Inky" and "Clyde" respectively. Early promotional material would sometimes refer to the ghosts as "monsters" or "goblins". Cartoons. In the 1982 "Pac-Man" cartoon, the hero faced five Ghosts — four males wearing various styles of hats, and a female ghost named Sue, who  wore earrings. The Ghost Monsters work for Mezmaron, who assigns them the job of finding the Power Pellet Forest. In the 2013 TV series "Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures", the four ghosts come from the Netherworld, ruled by Lord Betrayus. They are actually good-natured spirits and often secretly supply Pac-Man with information about Betrayus' plots to destroy Pac-World, hoping to one day be restored to life in exchange. Known ghosts. Below is the description of each Ghost. <onlyinclude> </onlyinclude> Reception. The ghosts have received a positive reception from critics and have been  cited as one of the most recognizable video game villains of all time. "IGN" commented on each of the ghosts having their own personality and "adorable" design, jokingly saying they were as terrifying as the zombies in the "Resident Evil" series. "Kotaku" stated that the ghosts' artificial intelligence was still impressive by modern standards, while "GamesRadar+" liked each of the ghosts having their own unique AI and traits. "GameSpy" said that the ghosts' intelligence is one of the game's "most endearing" aspects for adding a new layer of strategy to the game. "Boy's Life" praised their simplicity and  determination, labeling them as one of the most recognizable villains in video game history. In their list of the 50 "coolest" video game villains, "Complex" ranked the ghosts in as the fourth, noting of their iconic design and recognition and for being "pretty tough customers" "Metro UK" listed them at second place in their list of the ten greatest video game villains of all time, praising their easy recognition and cute designs. Inky alone was ranked the seventh greatest game villain of all time by Guinness World Records in 2013, based on reader votes. Nathan Grayson of "Kotaku" also noted  that the Ghosts are "smarter than you think".