"Boy, I thought I was dumb." |
Clyde (クライド Kuraido), also known as Guzuta in Japanese and nicknamed Pokey, is one of the four main ghosts in the Pac-Man series. While the other three ghosts are off chasing Pac-Man, Clyde will be off doing his own thing. He is typically portrayed as the least intelligent and most submissive ghost. He is good friends with Blinky, Pinky, and Inky.
While originally one of the main antagonists in the first Pac-Man arcade game, his antagonistic role of the franchise has largely been diminished to being Pac-Man's ally in recent incarnations.
History
Arcade Games

Original Clyde sprite.
Pac-Man
Main article: Pac-Man (game)
Clyde first appeared alongside Blinky, Pinky, and Inky, the other members of the Ghost Gang, in Pac-Man. He starts on the righthand side of the Ghost Home in the Maze's center, sitting next to Pinky.
While his movements have been described by Toru Iwatani as "random", Clyde's movements are deliberate. Clyde actually does directly chase Pac-Man (exactly the way Blinky does) most of the time. But when Clyde gets within an eight-space radius of Pac-Man, he starts to retreat to the lower-left corner of the maze, which is where he targets during "scatter" mode.
He takes a similar role in these subsequent games:
- Super Pac-Man
- Pac & Pal
- Pac-Man Arrangement (1996)
- Pac-Man Arrangement (2005)
- Pac-Man VR
- Pac-Man: Adventures in Time
- Pac-Man Championship Edition
- Pac-Man Championship Edition 2
- Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
- Pac-Man Battle Royale
- Pac-Man 99
Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man
Main articles: Ms. Pac-Man (game), Jr. Pac-Man (game), Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze
In Ms. Pac-Man, Clyde is replaced by Sue. In Jr. Pac-Man, he is replaced again by Tim. While both of these ghosts look identical to Clyde and behave the same way, they are considered different characters. Sue was colored purple in future games and the TV series, and Tim was colored a darker orange.
Pac-Land
Main article: Pac-Land
Pac-Land features Clyde and the other ghosts as they try to stop Pac-Man using cars, buses, UFOs, and planes. No ghost is stronger than the other in this game, and the only one who acts differently from the others is Sue.
Pac-Mania
NOTE: In Pac-Mania, Blinky and Clyde's colors are swapped. For more information, see Clyde and Blinky error.
Main article: Pac-Mania
Carrying over his aggressive persona from Pac-Land, Clyde behaves as Blinky typically would in the original Pac-Man, but he has switched colors with him as well.
Pac 'n Roll
Main article: Pac 'n Roll
Clyde and the ghosts appear in Pac 'n Roll as enemies. They team up with Golvis in order to get rid of Pac-Man after their previous defeats. Although Clyde, Blinky, and Inky weren't completely interested in getting revenge, they went along with Pinky's plans due to her bossiness.
After the destruction of Golvis's UFO, Clyde and the others watch Pac-Man on a television in the middle of the ocean. The ghosts then discover the reason Golvis was imprisoned was because of his clumsiness, not because of his power, much to their annoyance.
Pac-Man World series
NOTE: In the Pac-Man World trilogy, Blinky and Clyde's names are swapped. These appearances are going by their color rather than their name. For more information, see Clyde and Blinky error.
Pac-Man World
Main article: Pac-Man World
Clyde appears as an enemy in some levels, such as Buccaneer Beach and Ghostly Garden.
Pac-Man World 2
Main article: Pac-Man World 2
Clyde is the first boss in Pac-Man World 2, as one of the ghosts who unintentionally released Spooky.
Clyde pilots a giant frog-like robot. He fights in an arena that looks like a small, dried up pond. Clyde has only one attack method, which involves the frog-robot sticking out its tongue; the tongue is spiky, and inflicts damage to Pac-Man. He is the only ghost to have a different machine than the others. He later appears in a huge submarine called the Megawhale with the other ghosts, in a final attempt to stop Pac-Man from reaching Ghost Island.
Pac-Man World 3
Main article: Pac-Man World 3
In Pac-Man World 3, Inky and Clyde are captured and put into a cage by Erwin. Pac-Man has to team up with Blinky and Pinky to save Inky and Clyde.
Animated Series

Clyde as he appears in Hanna-Barbera's Pac-Man (1982)
Main article: Pac-Man (TV Series)
In the 1982 animated series, Clyde appears alongside Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue. He works with Mezmaron in attempt to stop Pac-Man and seize the Power Pellets. Clyde is depicted as the leader of the group; this was the first time he was portrayed as such.
Clyde is portrayed as the most confrontational, arrogant and stubborn, as well as the most antagonistic towards Pac-Man, usually showing little to no remorse for his actions. He is also frequently annoyed by Inky, and like the other Ghost Monsters in his group, he is easily fooled by Pac-Man's disguises but not the mail man disguise in “the day the forest disappeared”.
Nighty Nightmares seems to imply that beneath all that bluster and arrogance may lie an underlying sense of guilt for his actions, as evidenced by the fact that his nightmare involves being on a court session.
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
Main article: Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures
Clyde made an appearance in the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures TV series. Rather than an enemy of Pac-Man, he (along with Blinky, Pinky and Inky) act as Pac-Man's allies and is the oldest of the ghosts.
Clyde, much like the original games, is shown as seemingly being less intelligent than his associates. He is shown to be a rather sensitive soul in nature, and even sometimes claims to be a pacifist. Despite apparently being the dumb one of the group, he occasionally hints that he is more intelligent than he lets on, generally by being more verbose than the others.
Other appearances
Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
Main article: Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures
Clyde, Blinky, Pinky, and Inky appear as enemies for Pac-Man, petrifying him whenever they appear. Unless Pac-Man is able to get a Power Pellet, he will faint. Occasionally, the others will leave important items behind after they are eaten. Once their leader, the Ghost Witch of Netor is defeated, Clyde and the others fly off.
Pac-Man World Rally
Main article: Pac-Man World Rally
Clyde appears as a playable racer in this game. He's a light-weight class racer, and wears a bowler hat similar to his portrayal in the TV series. Clyde is also featured in the stage Ghost Mansion.
Pac-Man Party
Main article: Pac-Man Party
Clyde appears as a playable character in Pac-Man Party. In the game, he aids Blinky, Pinky, and Inky in stealing cookies from Mr. Cookie. At the end of the game though, it is revealed that they never stole the cookies, and that they were actually given to them by Mr. Cookie himself to test Pac-Man and his heroism.
Often, Clyde ended up getting left behind by the other Ghosts. His mother is also mentioned in the game, apparently noteworthy for her baking ability.
Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (video game)
Main article: Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures (video game)
Clyde, alongside his other three cohorts, appear in the video game adaptation of Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures as an ally of Pac-Man.
Pac-Man Monsters
Main article: Pac-Man Monsters
Clyde appears as one of the collectible characters in Pac-Man Monsters. He is an earth-type character and has high HP base stat. He can be evolved up to three times starting from his plain appearance.
Pac-Man 256
Main article: Pac-Man 256
In Pac-Man 256, Clyde appears as a regular enemy. He tries to go downward whenever possible, and when he hits a wall, he moves left or right towards Pac-Man. When Clyde is blue from a Power Pellet, he moves upwards away from Pac-Man.
Super Smash Bros. series
Main articles: Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Clyde makes a handful of cameos in several Super Smash Bros. titles, all of which are in his 8-bit form. He is incorporated into Pac-Man's moveset as his side-smash, and he can also be summoned as an Assist Trophy.
In the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS stage "Pac-Maze", Clyde appears as a stage obstacle. He behaves similarly to the original arcade game.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Clyde reprises his roles as a part of Pac-Man's moveset and Assist Trophy. He also appears as a part of Ghosts spirit, which represents original four ghosts. In the Ghosts Spirit Battle, Clyde is represented by Pac-Man with yellow palette.
Film

Clyde in Wreck-It Ralph
Wreck-It Ralph
Main article: Wreck-It Ralph
Clyde appears in the Disney film Wreck-It-Ralph as the head of a therapy session called Bad-Anon, where villains of other games come by to discuss about the experience of their roles. He is portrayed as smarter and more emphatic here than in the games. When Ralph mentions he wants to try to be a hero in other games, Clyde gets alarmed and turns blue.
Pixels
Main article: Pixels
While Clyde himself did not appear in the movie, the orange ghost car from Pac-Man's scene assumed his role, and had "CLYDE" as its license plate. This car was driven by Eddie Plant (Peter Dinklange).
Characteristics
"An orange ghost that doesn't really chase after PAC-MAN all that much in the PAC-MAN series. Instead, he likes to just wander around, doing his own thing. He's also known as Pokey, and in PAC-LAND he appears as a tough and speedy enemy. In Smash Bros., he shows up in the PAC-MAZE stage and in PAC-MAN's down smash." |
Appearance
Clyde is an orange-colored ghost. He has a somewhat dopey-looking expression. He is typically limbless within games, but some incarnations show him with arms, sometimes with red gloves as well.
In the TV series and Pac-Land, Clyde appears similar to a 1920's mob boss with a bowler derby hat. In Pac-Man Party and Ghostly Adventures, Clyde is very large, and has a curl of hair on his head. His appendages were made more tentacle-like as well.
Personality
Clyde in the early games tended to be very cowardly. His personality is probably best described by his alternate Japanese "Character" name, Crybaby. He doesn't mess with Pac-Man much, and is sometimes shown to be afraid of him; he prefers to keep his distance as much as possible.
In the Hanna-Barbera series, Clyde is shown to be authoritative, bossy, and cunning, rather than Blinky. After Mezmeron, Clyde is regarded as the ghosts' second-in-command. Because of this, Clyde frequently reprimands his fellow ghosts for their failures to stop Pac-Man. Clyde also often scolds Inky for being stupid and dumb, but Inky doesn't seem to mind Clyde's scolding.
Trivia
- Clyde's Japanese name, "Guzuta" (グズタ), comes from "guzu" (愚図), a term effectively meaning "slow and stupid". In both the Japanese and English versions of the game, Clyde's name is the odd-one-out among the ghosts; with the Japanese version naming the others after their color, and the English version using the rhyming names.
- On certain promotional material for Pac-Mania, Clyde is identified as the "Feignedly Ignorant Monster" (おとぼけモンスター Otoboke Monsutā);[1] this references his Japanese character descriptor from the original Pac-Man.
- Clyde's Pac-Man Party and Ghostly Adventures design seems to loosely be based on his Kinky Mutation from Pac-Man Arrangement (1996).
- His mom cooks pumpkin-flavored cookies for him, as shown in Pac-Man Party.
- Clyde’s voice actor in Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Brian Drummond, is a veteran Canadian voice actor who’s credits include Canadian dubs for Death Note, the Dragon Ball franchise (before Funimation), some Transformers anime shows, Monster Rancher (anime), MegaMan Battle Network, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sonic Underground, and Disney's Rainbow Ruby.
- He is the only member of the ghost gang whose name does not end with "inky".
Gallery
Character Artwork
"Ghost Gang" Group Artwork
Other Group Artwork
Ghostly Adventures Stills
Wallpapers
Screenshots
References
Pac-Man Characters | |
---|---|
Main Characters | Pac-Man • Ms. Pac-Man • Jr. Pac-Man • Baby Pac-Man • Professor Pac-Man • Chomp-Chomp |
Other Characters | Miru • Sour Puss • Pac-Devil • Sir Pac-A-Lot • Pac-Master • Ms. Pac-Master • Krystal • Buttercup • Fairy |
Pac-Ghosts | Blinky • Pinky • Inky • Clyde • Sue • Funky • Spunky • Kinky • Tim • Orson • Yum-Yum |
Main Antagonists | Ghost Witch • Toc-Man • Mesmerelda • Mollusc • Spooky • Wandy • Erwin • Golvis • Ink Master • Mezmaron |
Minor Antagonists | Gobblin • Jack • Wormwood • The Fiend |
Pac-Man Party | Mr. Cookie • Patra • Roger • Woofa • Bearserk |
Ghostly Adventures | Pacster • Cylindria • Spiral • Betrayus • Fuzbitz • Sir Cumference • Spheros • Dr. Buttocks • Butt-ler |
Crossovers | Pooka • Fygar • Dig Dug • Mappy • Mr. Driller • The Prince • Mario |