Sidam, also known as Sipem, was an arcade manufacturer based in Turin, Italy.[1] The company produced arcade machines of several Pac-Man and other Namco titles; these were distributed in various European countries, including Italy, France, and Benelux (likely among others).
Sidam is known to have produced Pac-Man & Chomp-Chomp machines; a variant of the more well-known Pac & Pal game, which was otherwise unreleased (being completely canceled in North America). Sidam/Sipem is also known to have published Super Pac-Man, Pac-Land, and Pac-Mania; oddly, they did not publish the original Pac-Man. Rather than reusing the American/Japanese machine designs, Sidam's machines generally used redrawn or custom artwork.
The Sidam company reportedly still exists today, though stopped distributing video games around 2010.[1]
Trivia
- Sidam machines in France were distributed by Bally France, a division of Bally Midway.
- Sidam developed several Italian translations of Japanese-language Namco titles, including Phozon and Genpei Touma Den.
- Prior to their contact with Namco, Sidam was known to have produced bootleg hacks of Atari games, such as Asteroids and Centipede. Bertolino, the Italian distibutor for Atari at the time, filed a lawsuit against Sidam; Bertolino won this case, with Sidam specifically being ordered to obtain official game licenses for future arcade machines.[2] As such - somewhat ironically - Sidam's license with Namco was mainly formed due to Sidam being barred from selling bootlegs.
- Atari's U.S. headquarters also filed suit against a Canadian distributor of Sidam's Atari hacks; however, the case never fully entered trial, as the defendants did not have enough money to continue the lawsuit.[3]