eBay Today: A New Breed Of Toys Posted by Rich on May 16, 2007 at 12:00 AM CST: Until recently, most of us grew up captivated by toys based on comic book heroes, television shows or movies. You've got your Batman, Spider-Man, G.I. Joe, Star Wars - of course, as well as a usual mix of the unusual. But that formula was forever changed in 1982 thanks to Pac-Mania. Pac-Man was introduced in U.S. arcades in the last quarter of 1981. The game's simplicity and addictive play made it an instant hit by 1982. What's more, Pac-Man himself became so recognizable that he didn’t deserve less than the full 80s treatment; puffy stickers, t-shirts, lunch boxes, Pac-Man shaped pasta, a Saturday morning cartoon and toys. For the first time ever a video game character was the focus of a mass-marketing blitz. If Pac-Man paved the road for products based on video games, Nintendo built the highway. The Nintendo Entertainment System followed on the heels of little yellow's success except it put the action in the comfort of your own home. And it was in the home where families were introduced to quirky, laughable and now iconic characters the likes of Donkey Kong, Mario, Luigi, and Link of Zelda fame; to name a few. Interestingly, mixed in with the loads of food promotions, apparel and television shows was only an occasional plush toys or an unarticulated, statuesque PVC figure. Toy companies were not willing to lend a video game an entire toy line... yet. Over the next decade toy companies had no choice but to embrace their virtual counterparts because video games were now competing against toys for kid's time and parent's money. So with a new “if you can't beat 'em join 'em” philosophy, toy companies turned the pixels into plastic creating lines based solely on video games. It started with Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Pokemon and continues to grow with today's Final Fantasy, Metal Gear and Halo. Who would have ever thought that from the humble beginnings of a simple woka, woka, woka we'd be hearing the cha-ching of a multi-billion dollar industry? PACMAN WINDUP WADDLER TOY BY TOMY * ORIGINAL PACKAGE 009