Pinky (ピンキー Pinkii) is one of the four main ghosts in the Pac-Man series. She is represented as the only female ghost and likes to be pretty. She attempts to ambush Pac-Man by moving parallel to him. In certain continuities, Pinky has been shown to have a crush on Pac-Man, which normally goes unreciprocated. She is good friends with Blinky, Inky, and Clyde.
While originally one of the main antagonists in the first Pac-Man arcade game, her role as an antagonist in the franchise has largely been diminished to being an ally in recent incarnations.
Pinky first appeared alongside Blinky, Inky, and Clyde, the other members of the Ghost Gang, in Pac-Man. She starts inside the Ghost Home in the Maze's center, sitting in the middle of Inky and Clyde.
Pinky's movement is very strategic. By following Pac-Man's direction (approximately four spaces ahead of wherever he is headed) rather than Pac-Man himself, Pinky usually ends up taking a roundabout path to him. She tends to move counterclockwise around blocks. Sometimes she can also chase Pac-Man directly like Blinky. Because of this, however, if Pac-Man comes face-to-face with Pinky at an intersection, she will, more often than not, turn away. During "scatter" mode, Pinky occupies the top-left corner of the maze.
She continues a similar role in these subsequent games:
Pac-Land features Pinky 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.
Pinky 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. It was Pinky's idea to resurrect Golvis. Although Inky, Blinky, and Clyde weren't completely interested, they went along with Pinky's plans.
After the destruction of Golvis's UFO, Pinky and the others watch Pac-Man on a television in the middle of the ocean. She scolds Golvis, declaring that she's had enough of his foolishness. She then discovers the reason Golvis was imprisoned was because of his clumsiness, not because of his power.
Pinky is first seen watching Pac-Man sleep from outside his window. She picks a flower, presumably infatuated with Pac-Man. Soon after she and the other ghosts pick the Golden Fruit from the tree, Spooky appears and convinces the ghosts to aid him in his plans to get rid of the Pac-People.
She is the third boss of the game. Her fight takes place in a snowy area, with platforms on all sides to jump and attack from. She, like Inky and Blinky, made a ghost-like robot for her fight. It has the ability to shoot snowballs.
In Pac-Man World 3, Pinky is a playable character, and teams up with Pac-Man. She can create platforms for Pac-Man to jump on, and the two characters can be switched back-and-forth.
She is first mentioned by Orson, who tells Pac-Man to find all of the Ghost Gang in the Spectral Realm. Pac-Man only finds Pinky, who tells him that Erwin is using Inky and Clyde, who is mistakenly called Blinky (see Clyde and Blinky error for more details on this), for power and has connected them to an energy-sucking machine used to power Erwin's robots. Pinky then helps Pac-Man find the other ghosts.
In the 1982 animated series, Pinky appears alongside Blinky, Inky, Clyde, and Sue. In the cartoon, Pinky is portrayed as a male character rather than female, also having the deepest voice of the ghosts. He works with Mezmeron in attempt to stop Pac-Man and seize the Power Pellets.
Pinky is a tough and powerful, but slow acting man. Pinky has the most advanced shape-shifting ability of the ghosts, able to transform into various things such as hot air balloons, flag poles, cactuses, or turn into animals and giants. Pinky occasionally collaborates with the other ghosts to create other things such as kites, frisbees, bowling balls or wheel plates.
Pinky made an appearance in the Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures TV series. She is fuchsia in color though. Rather than an enemy of Pac-Man, she (along with Blinky, Inky and Clyde) act as Pac-Man's allies. In the series, she has an intense romantic interest for Pac-Man, which she develops during the series' pilot epiode; she even got to kiss Pac on one occasion. She is rather hotheaded and easy to anger, particularly towards Cylindria, who she sees as a rival for Pac Man's affection.
Pinky, Blinky, Inky, and Clyde 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, Pinky and the others fly off.
Along with the other ghosts, Pinky was recruited by the witch Mesmerelda to stop Ms. Pac-Man from finding the four Gems of Virtue. Pinky and the ghosts fail in their mission, allowing Ms. Pac-Man to defeat Mesmerelda and restore Pac-Land.
Pinky appears as a playable racer in this game. She's a light-weight class racer, and wears a blue bow on her head. Pinky is also featured in the stage Ghost Mansion.
Pinky is the only Ghost Gang member to appear in Pac-Pix. She is the most common enemy faced by Pac-Man. Her card information states: "Her charm is her large eyes. She's relaxed and enjoys life at her own pace." Pinky also appears in her original arcade incarnation as a special enemy.
Pinky appears as a playable character in Pac-Man Party. In the game, she aids Blinky, Inky, and Clyde 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. She also befriends Patra after facing off against her.
Pinky appears as one of the collectible characters in Pac-Man Monsters. She is a light-type character and has high HP base stat. She can be evolved up to three times starting from her plain appearance.
Pinky appears in Pac-Man 256 as a regular enemy. Unlike her main series equivalent, she stays still. When Pac-Man is in Pinky's line of sight, she moves towards his direction and will not stop until she hits a wall. True to her real name Speedy, she is the fastest ghost in the game, being able to outspeed Pac-Man. Pinky cannot move at all when Pac-Man has eaten a power pellet.
Pinky makes a handful of cameos in several Super Smash Bros. titles, all of which are in her 8-bit form. She is incorporated into Pac-Man's moveset as his down smash along with clyde, and she can also be summoned as an Assist Trophy. In Super Smash Bros. for 3DS/Wii U, she and Blinky are also part of Pac-Man's taunt; both of them are replaced with Fairies in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
In the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS stage "Pac-Maze", Pinky appears as a stage obstacle. She behaves similarly to the original arcade game.
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pinky reprises her roles as a part of Pac-Man's moveset and Assist Trophy. She also appears as a part of Ghosts spirit, which represents original four ghosts. In the Ghosts Spirit Battle, Pinky is represented by Jigglypuff with "blue" palette.
While Pinky herself did not appear in the movie, the pink ghost car from Pac-Man's scene assumed her role, and had "PINKY" as its license plate. This car was driven by Ludlow Lamonsoff (Josh Gad).
Characteristics
"A pink ghost that strategically targets PAC-MAN in the PAC-MAN series. She's also known as Speedy, as she can anticipate PAC-MAN's moves and get ahead of him quick enough to ambush him. In Smash Bros., she appears in the PAC-MAZE stage and in PAC-MAN's down smash."
Pinky is a pink-colored ghost. She has big eyes, but her slanted eyelids and eyelashes partially obscure them. She is typically limbless within games, but some incarnations show her with arms, sometimes with gloves as well (either orange or purple-colored). She is sometimes seen wearing makeup.
In the TV series and Pac-Land, Pinky wears a hat, and has a "tough guy" personality. In Pac-Man Party and Ghostly Adventures, she has shoulder-length hair and blue eyes, and looks somewhat younger; her arms are also stubbier.
In Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Pinky is a magenta-colored ghost.
Personality
Pinky is quite feminine and calm, but is just as mischievous as the rest of the Ghost Gang, and won't hesitate to stop Pac-Man if he tries to stop their antics. When chasing Pac-Man/Ms. Pac-Man in the maze, her strategy is to ambush them rather than chase them. Even though she is not as fast as Blinky, this strategy makes her one of the more persistent and tricky ghosts.
The masculine iteration of Pinky in the Hanna Barbera series has tough demeanor and is much more slow-witted than in the games, indicated by his speech patterns (often starting his sentences with "duhhh"). In addition, this Pinky often takes the form of objects and animals, and is able to increase in size. Pinky uses this habit to avoid being eaten by Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, albeit to no avail.
In Pac N' Roll, she is shown to be quite cunning and mean, having been the one who came up with the plan to summon Golvis and ruin the Power Pellet Harvest Festival.
In Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures, Pinky is shown to have a crush on Pac-Man. As with the other members of the original Ghost Gang, she is now an ally and friend of Pac-Man rather than an enemy.
Gender
During Bally Midway's distribution era, Pinky was almost always presented as a male character.
In Pinky's earliest American appearances, the character was often shown as being male, most prominently in the Hanna-Barbera's TV series. The only American 80s media showing Pinky as female were the Pac-Man Trading Cards, of all things. Pinky’s personality was also different—strong and dim witted, much like the character's male version.
Seemingly starting in the late 80s, Pinky began appearing more feminine within promotional artwork. Both male and female designs for the character were used inconsistently throughout the 90s; by the 2000s all games showed Pinky as a woman. The general consensus overall is that the character is female.
In Japan, on the other hand, Pinky has almost always been portrayed as female. Her first appearance depicting her female was on the flyers for the 1982 game, Super Pac-Man. The only game where she was depicted as male was Pac-Land, which used the same sprites for the ghosts regardless of country.
Trivia
Merchandising for the Pac-Man series since the 2010s had standardized the Ghost Gang order as Blinky, Inky, Clyde and Pinky; making Pinky the last ghost in the formation instead of Clyde.
When paired up with Blinky, Inky and Clyde in media and promotional content, Pinky was originally placed between Blinky and Inky in the order of the Ghost Gang formation (the order being Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde). In media released since late 2000s however, Pinky would be placed behind Clyde in the formation order (the order being Blinky, Inky, Clyde and Pinky). Her placement in the formation continues to be used in various Bandai Namco-developed productions, although some productions use the original arcade order.
In the Atari 2600 adaption of Pac-Man, all of the ghosts are shown to be Pinky in promotional artwork, despite being differently colored from each other in-game.
In the record book The Amazing Adventures of Pac-Man, Pinky (known by her character, Speedy) stated that she hated bananas when Inky told her to take them.
Ashleigh Ball, Pinky’s voice actress in “Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures” is a veteran Canadian voice actress who’s best known for voicing both Applejack and Rainbow Dash in “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”; she not only used her Applejack voice for Aunt Spheria but she also used her Rainbow Dash voice for Pinky as well.
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