Theme - Pac-Man (NES)

Cyril: Short and sweet. At around five seconds in length, I guarantee that this Pac-Man theme will be the shortest song we review this year. As you can imagine, there's not much here. There are barely twenty notes through the whole song. But I like that. It doesn't overstay its welcome. It gives you just enough of a jingle to prep you for the cat and mouse game you'll play with a group of colorful ghosts. Just imagine how motivating it would be to hear a little jingle right before you give a big presentation at work, tell your family big news or bed that significant other. On second thought, at that point we're only one step away from using the Final Fantasy victory music every time we climax. Trust me, nobody wants that. I respect this theme, but it's simply too short to be a real contender.

Kevin: I'm not sure what hardware limitations Pac-Man had, but this theme is so short I'm not sure I could call it more than a jingle. This is the only piece of music in Pac-Man, and it lasts maybe six or seven seconds. The repeating part of the jingle goes from C Major to Db Major, back to C Major, then ends with a staggered walk from G up to C. For being such a short tune, it is at least fairly busy, and it is certainly memorable as being one of the first video game themes ever. That said, I'm more likely to think of the wakka-wakka-wakka sound effect when I think of Pac-Man.