Namco Confirms Toc-Man

If you're a longtime Pac-Man fan then chances are you remember his kidnapping nemesis, Toc-Man. First introduced in the Pac-Man World series, the Tocster has been confirmed by Namco today as one 14 official characters slated to appear in next year's kart racer, Pac-Man World Rally.

In addition to releasing a boatload of console screenshots to support its announcement, Namco also unveiled the evil-doer's official bio. Here it is verbatim:

"One of Pac-man's classic enemies, Toc-Man is a menacing robotic suit with a fearsome kart to match! Toc-Man was built by a ghost named Orson who found himself an outcast in Pac-Land due to his drab, gray color. In an attempt to be accepted in the colorful ghost community, he constructed the suit out of bright yellow scrap metal and became Toc-Man. After disappearing for awhile, Toc-Man recently reappeared when he opened a fully-automated factory dedicated to creating robot henchmen. It is unknown if Orson is still inside Toc-Man's robotic shell, or if the suit taken on a life of its own...

"Like Toc-Man himself, this tank-inspired kart was pieced together from battle scraps. Built for top speed, but heavier than most karts and hard to handle, Toc-Man's kart isn't fast off the starting line, but makes up for it on the straight-aways. Toc-Man must be very careful around turns, as the kart can lose traction easily; using the breaks can make a big difference."

Pac-Man World Rally is slated to appear on the GameCube, PC, PS2, PSP, and Xbox next summer. We'll keep you updated with more.

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