Hidden References To Pac-Man In Secret Level’s The Circle Episode

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home December 18, 2024 9 Views 9 Min Read
Hidden References To Pac-Man In Secret Level's The Circle Episode



Summary

  • Secret Level’s innovative take on Pac-Man includes clever references, such as the iconic cherries and hidden Pac-Man imagery on the sword.
  • The entity in Secret Level is named ‘Puck,’ a nod to Pac-Man’s original title.

Secret Level’s fresh take on Pac-Man was equal parts terrifying and interesting. It was such a big departure from Pac-Man, in fact, that if you didn’t know any better, you’d swear it had nothing to do with the arcade original at all.

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However original The Circle was, though, there are still little hints and references to the classic arcade game sprinkled throughout the episode. Some are hidden in plain sight, while others come in the form of spoken dialogue, and others are near invisible unless you’re actively looking for them.

7

The Cherries

Just As Tasty Looking As Ever

If you’ve ever touched the original Pac-Man arcade game before, odds are you’ve seen the cherries in the center of the screen and know that they do practically nothing aside from bumping up your score a little.

Usefulness aside, the iconography of the fruit has stuck with the series since 1980, and Secret Level is no exception, showing the iconic score booster as one of the first things the Swordsman eats while in the maze. The shape of the cherry is exactly as it always has been, and it showing up early on is a reference to it being the first of the original game’s score-boosting items.

Seeing as how the cherries only ever add to your score, it’s no wonder the Swordsman doesn’t find them particularly appetizing; they spit them out almost immediately!

6

Pac-Man In The Sword

The Swordsman’s Weapon Is Hiding A Hungry Secret

For as often as the sword gets swung around in The Circle, and as fast as it moves, you’d be forgiven for missing this cleverly hidden image of Pac-Man etched into the blade. Under certain lighting conditions, however, the simple yet instantly recognizable design becomes unmistakable, especially during the scene where the first ghost appears.

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While not exactly the same as the iconic ‘pizza with a slice missing’ image, the sword’s version of Pac-Man showcases the character with his mouth open at its widest, which is a clever nod to the theme of killing and eating associated with the sword itself.

5

The Entity Is Called ‘Puck’

Pac-Man’s Original Name Returns In An Unexpected Way

By now, arcade whisperings of the reason why Pac-Man’s original name, Puck Man, was changed before the final launch have become widespread enough that, even if you’re not a gaming historian, you might have heard this piece of trivia already. Yes, they really did change it from Puck to Pac out of a fear that the ‘P’ would get changed into an ‘F’ by vandals; Scott Pilgrim was right.

Oddly enough, though, a look at the end credits tells us that the yellow orb that lives to eat and longs to escape the maze isn’t the same Pac-Man we know and love, but a creature called Puck, named after the iconic yellow character’s original title.

Puck itself might also be a reference to the power pellets from the arcade game, seeing as how it enters the Swordsman, and shortly thereafter it’s able to eat a ghost while the others, all of which are blue, attempt to flee.

4

You Can Eat The Ghosts, But Not Their Eyes

How Else Will They Find Their Way Back To The Box?

In the original Pac-Man, no matter how many times you ate those pesky ghosts, their eyes would always remain, and they would inevitably run (or float, maybe?) back to their little dugout to respawn. That never really seemed terrifying before, but here in The Circle, Puck’s ominous reference to the original game comes off as downright unsettling.

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The line comes a little over halfway through the episode, when Puck tells the Swordsman to hunt down and eat the ghosts, and the Swordsman responds with ‘You can’t eat a ghost!’.

Of course you can. You can eat them over and over again. Just never the eyes.

3

The First Ghost Was Pinky

A Fun Nod To The Original Cast

The first ghost in Secret Level’s The Circle comes a little over halfway through the episode’s 11-minute runtime. Its pink hue is unnatural and frightening at first, but seasoned gamers will recognize the color as belonging to one of the original four ghosts in the game.

Pinky, nicknamed ‘Speedy’, is the fastest of the original quartet, and usually moves parallel to Pac-Man in an attempt to ambush him rather than attacking head on. In The Circle, she can be seen moving in this same pattern, parallel to the Swordsman, and choosing not to attack when she turns to face them.

2

Blinky Was The Buff One

The Final Monster References The Iconic Ghost

Another of Pac-Man’s ghostly quartet, Blinky, is seen in The Circle as well, right towards the end. Often portrayed as the biggest or strongest of the four, Blinky is associated with a vibrant red, just like the gorilla-esque monster and its ghostly red hue, which is shown to be the strongest of any monster the Swordsman has faced in the maze.

Since he favors a head-on assault approach, and is therefore usually closest to Pac-Man the first time he eats a power pellet, Blinky is often the first to get eaten by the player, which makes the fact that he’s the only ghost to get visibly eaten in The Circle all the more interesting.

1

Pac Man In The Sun

That Fella Really Is Everywhere, Isn’t He?

As the Swordsman and Puck head toward the exit to the maze, the camera angle and shot composition allow for a familiar image: the sun itself has become a reference to Pac-Man.

The yellow circle with a slice cut out of it has been compared to many things over the years, most frequently of course being a pizza with a slice missing, but there’s something kind of creepy about using a celestial body like the sun to do it, especially with how Puck acts in the rest of the episode.

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