Random DYKs

[JonathanPonikvar]

The Atari PacMan "death and start of next life" sound effect sequence is also the most heavily overused gaming sound effect in film and television. Over the past 30 years, any time you would see characters playing a video game -- be it a generic made-up console, or holding actual controllers, even more modern ones like a Dualshock or XBox -- you would hear that sound mixed in with the background noise of the scene. It's even more hilarious when they actually show what is being played, and the sound STILL plays (because it's totally believable that a PS1 would be making Atari blips & bleeps).

I'm not sure how that one sound specifically got optioned as the one-size-fits-all canned "video game" sound effect, but once you realize that it's there, you'll have a really hard time unhearing it. It's like the Wilhelm Scream of video games.

And the most bizarre fact is that the sound is STILL USED in movies and TV shows today! The most hilarious instance I remember recently was when it popped up on a recruitment ad for a college specializing in game design. It was put in during a sequence where the "students" were testing a brand new 3D game they were making. Using Atari sound effects. Yeah, you know those guys will land jobs after graduation..