Ms. Pac-Man
North American sales flyer
Developer(s)General Computer Corporation
Midway
Publisher(s)Midway
Designer(s)Steve Golson
Composer(s)Chris Rode
SeriesPac-Man
Platform(s)Arcade, Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, VIC-20, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, IBM PC, Apple II, TI-99/4A, Genesis, Master System, NES, Super NES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Gear, Lynx, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Release
Genre(s)1-2 players alternating turns
Mode(s)
Arcade systemNamco Pac-Man

Ms. Pac-Man[a] is a 1982 maze arcade video game developed by General Computer Corporation and published by Midway. It is the first sequel to Pac-Man (1980) and the first entry in the series to not be made by Namco. Controlling the title character, Pac-Man's wife, the player is tasked with eating all of the pellets in an enclosed maze while avoiding four colored ghosts. Eating the larger "power pellets" lets the player eat the ghosts, who turn blue and flee.

General Computer made the game as a modification kit for the original Pac-Man, titled Crazy Otto. However, due to previous legal action with Atari, GCC was forced to present the project to Midway, the North American distributor of Pac-Man. Midway purchased the project and enlisted GCC to use the game as a basis for the sequel to Pac-Man. Multiple names were considered for the game, including Miss Pac-Man and Mrs. Pac-Man, before the final name was chosen for being easier to pronounce. While development had started without Namco's consent, company president Masaya Nakamura was brought in and provided feedback on the player character's design. The company ultimately collected the same royalties on each cabinet as they had with Pac-Man.

Ms. Pac-Man was acclaimed by critics for its improvements to the original gameplay and for having a female protagonist; some have described it as superior to Pac-Man. It has been listed among the greatest video games of all time and as one of the most successful American arcade games ever made.[2] The game's success inspired a variety of successful merchandise, several ports for numerous home consoles and handheld systems, a television cartoon that included Pac-Man, and numerous video game sequels and remakes that spawned a Ms. Pac-Man video game spin-off series. The rights to the game are owned by Namco's successor company, Bandai Namco Entertainment. However, the game and its title character have suffered various legal ownership issues between Namco and General Computer Corporation.[3]

Gameplay

Start of the game

The gameplay is very similar to that of Pac-Man. The player earns points by eating pellets and avoiding ghosts (contact with one causes Ms. Pac-Man to lose a life). Eating an energizer (or "power pellet") causes the ghosts to turn blue, allowing them to be eaten for extra points. Bonus fruits can be eaten for increasing point values, twice per round. As the rounds increase, the speed increases, and energizers generally lessen the duration of the ghosts' vulnerability, eventually stopping altogether.

Differences from the original Pac-Man

Development

Ms. Pac-Man was originally conceived as an enhancement kit for Pac-Man called Crazy Otto, created by programmers employed at the General Computer Corporation (GCC).[5] While Crazy Otto was under development, GCC settled a lawsuit with Atari, Inc. over their Missile Command conversion kit Super Missile Attack. Part of the settlement terms barred GCC from selling future conversion kits without consent from the original game manufacturer.[6]

Rather than scrapping Crazy Otto entirely, the programmers chose to present the completed game to Midway, Namco's American distributor of Pac-Man. Midway was enthusiastic that such a game had come to their attention, as they were hoping to capitalize on the success of Pac-Man with a sequel. They bought the rights to Crazy Otto and worked with GCC and Namco to prepare the game for release. In final development, the game's name and characters experienced multiple changes. Sprites, text, and minor game elements were altered to better reflect the Pac-Man series.

The game was initially titled Super Pac-Man, containing Pac-Man as the lead character. Inspired by the cutscenes of Crazy Otto featuring Crazy Otto's female counterpart, the lead character was made female and the game was renamed Pac-Woman. That name was dropped in favor of Miss Pac-Man, but the developers then realized that, given the third intermission showing a stork delivering a baby to Pac-Man and the player's character, confusion could arise about their relationship. In light of this, the name was changed to Mrs. Pac-Man, and then finally to Ms. Pac-Man, which rolled off the tongue more easily. Programmer Steve Golson said "in the span of just two weeks, it went from Crazy Otto to Super Pac-Man to Miss Pac-Man."[7] These later changes (Miss, Mrs., and Ms.) all occurred within 72 hours of actual production.[8]

Shortly before release, Stan Jarocki of Midway stated that Ms. Pac-Man was conceived in part as a response to the original Pac-Man being "the first commercial videogame to involve large numbers of women as players," and that it was "our way of thanking all those lady arcaders who have played and enjoyed Pac-Man."[9] According to one 1982 estimate, a majority of Pac-Man players were women.[10] This is corroborated by marketing chief Michael Leone of the Castle Park Entertainment Center, who noted that his company "noticed a recent trend in our game pavilions that indicates a tremendous female acceptance of the Pac-Man game," further noting that it "was only natural for Midway...to introduce a Ms. Pac-Man."[11]

GCC co-founder Doug Macrae noted that Masaya Nakamura, Namco's president at the time, gave him direct feedback on the Ms. Pac-Man character.[12] In an interview, Macrae said, "We sent out ROMs to Midway, and they sent them over to Japan for the President of Namco, Masaya Nakamura, to look at. He said, 'Love the concept, get rid of the hair.'" He added, "There was a little bit of embarrassment [at Namco] of the fact that the sequel was being done somewhere other than in their own laboratories. ...The arrangement that Namco had with Midway was that Namco would still get their royalty on Ms. Pac-Man...and Midway could choose to do whatever they wanted in paying us a royalty in addition to Namco."[12]

Toru Iwatani, the creator of Pac-Man, is not known to have publicly commented on Ms. Pac-Man, despite questions from reporters.[7]

Ownership

The GCC group agreed on October 29, 1981, to give the rights to Ms. Pac-Man to Midway in exchange for royalty payments for the game's sale. At the time, Midway held the license from Namco for distribution of Pac-Man games, advertising, and merchandise in North America. After the game became wildly successful, Midway and GCC undertook a legal battle concerning merchandise royalties before ultimately reaching a settlement in 1983. This settlement stated that GCC members would be paid royalties by Midway for usage of Ms. Pac-Man in commercial contexts.[13]

Namco (now Bandai Namco) made an additional agreement with the GCC stakeholders in 2008. While Bandai Namco does control the Ms. Pac-Man copyright and intellectual property, some royalty rights and obligations are unresolved.[14]

AtGames dispute

In August 2019, AtGames, a company that specializes in microconsoles featuring older arcade games, acquired the royalties owed to GCC.[14] AtGames had initially approached the GCC group members about licensing Ms. Pac-Man for potential products. Bandai Namco, on learning that AtGames had been seeking these rights for a possible mini-arcade game, filed a lawsuit against AtGames alleging that AtGames misrepresented itself as licensed to make Ms. Pac-Man products, and created Ms. Pac-Man mini-cabinets under those claims. It also alleged false advertising, unfair competition, and copyright infringement.[14]

The case was ultimately dismissed with prejudice on October 27, 2020, following a request by Bandai Namco. Presiding Judge Vince Chhabria stated that "all involved parties [had] resolved the case of their own accord."[15] The details of the settlement were kept confidential, and the current status of the Ms. Pac-Man royalties is undisclosed.[16]

Beginning with the Arcade Archives release of Pac-Land in 2022, the Ms. Pac-Man character has been removed from games which previously featured her. In her place is a new character known as Pac-Mom, who also replaces her in the Pac-Man Museum + versions of Pac-Land, Pac-In-Time and Pac-Attack, and in Pac-Man World Re-Pac, a remake of Pac-Man World. Bandai Namco has not given an official reason for the change, but news outlets have assumed that it was done to avoid legal problems with AtGames.[17][18][19][20]

Release

Reporter Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times reported that the game made its public debut on February 3, 1982 "in typical showbusiness style at a press conference at the Castle Park Entertainment Center in Sherman Oaks." He noted that "[t]he game is expected to appear in many video arcades during the next few weeks."

Atari, Inc. released versions for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, and Atari 8-bit family. There were also versions for the VIC-20, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, IBM PC, Apple II, and TI-99/4A released under the Atarisoft label. Unlike Pac-Man, most home versions of Ms. Pac-Man include all three intermission screens from the arcade game. The Atari 2600 rendition of Pac-Man was infamous for its flashing ghosts, while the 2600 port of Ms. Pac-Man had minimal flicker.

A tabletop version of Ms. Pac-Man was released in 1983 by Coleco. The unit was shaped like a miniature arcade cabinet, was controlled with a small built-in joystick, and used a multicolor vacuum fluorescent display.[21] It was a runner-up for Stand-Alone Game of the Year at the 1983 Arcade Awards held in January 1984.[22] In 1991, Atari Corporation released a version for the Lynx,[23] introducing new mazes, a fourth intermission, and a power-up that gives the player a temporary speed boost.

Tengen released an unlicensed port of the game in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Namco released their own NES port of Ms. Pac-Man in North America in November 1993.[24] The Genesis, Master System, and NES versions, by Tengen, and the Super NES version, by Williams Entertainment, took a few liberties. They featured four different sets of mazes: the original arcade mazes, bigger mazes, smaller mazes, and "strange" mazes. There was also a Pac-Booster option that let players make Ms. Pac-Man move much faster which was only available in the original arcade game from a maintenance menu. These versions also allowed two people to play simultaneously, with player 2 as Pac-Man. The game ends at level 32, with an intermission where Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man say good-bye. It was released for the Game Boy Color with two new mazes and a bonus game (Super Pac-Man).

In 2001, Namco released an arcade board with both Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga in honor of the 20th anniversary of both games with the subtitle "20 Year Reunion / Class of 1981". It also features Pac-Man as a hidden bonus game. The later 25th Anniversary Edition allows all three games to be selected at the main menu.[25] Ms. Pac-Man is included in the CD-i Arcade Classics collection (released in Europe, but not in North America). It has all of the extra features of Tengen's ports, even though neither Tengen nor Williams Electronics made this version. It is included in Namco's, Microsoft's and Atari's late 1990s series of classic game anthologies, and is an unlockable minigame in the SNES version of Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures and in Pac-Man World 2. A standalone, battery-powered version of the game released by Jakks Pacific can be plugged directly into a television. Ms. Pac-Man and four other games (Galaga, Mappy, Xevious and Pole Position) are included in a self-contained joystick hand controller.[26] Ms. Pac-Man was also a free game bundled with every Xbox Live Arcade disc for the original Xbox. The Xbox 360 XBLA version was released on January 9, 2007, featuring an online leaderboard and twelve achievements.[27] Ms. Pac-Man was later released on Namco Museum Volume 3; however, there is no mention of it in Namco's official archives (including the archives on all Namco Museum releases).

On July 11, 2008, Ms. Pac-Man was released for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad through the App Store.[28] The ports were delisted from the App Store in July 2022.[29] The game was also released in July for Windows Mobile. As part of Pac-Man's 30th anniversary, Ms. Pac-Man is one of the games included on the home version of Pac-Man's Arcade Party arcade machine. Pac-Man's Arcade Party was succeeded eight years later by Pac-Man's Pixel Bash, which added 19 games to the existing roster, but Ms. Pac-Man was only available if the machine was set to Free Play. It was included as downloadable content in Pac-Man Museum for PlayStation 3, Windows and Xbox 360. In June 2020, Tastemakers' Arcade1Up decided to announce that Ms. Pac-Man would finally be added to their lineup of 3/4 scale arcade cabinets.[30] The unit will also contain a few other Bandai Namco arcade games, including Galaxian, Pac-Mania, and Pac-Man Plus.

On April 19, 2016, Ms. Pac-Man was released on Xbox One[31] and PlayStation 4[32] as a part of the "ARCADE GAME SERIES" from Bandai Namco. Regarding legal issues in later years, The character's final official appearance was in a Pac-Man crossover event for Sonic Dash in 2018.

Reception

Arcade

In the United States, Ms. Pac-Man topped the monthly RePlay upright arcade cabinet charts for much of 1982, including most months between April[33] and December.[34] Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man also topped the US RePlay cocktail arcade cabinet charts for 23 months, from February 1982[35] through 1983[36] up until February 1984.[37] It was listed as the highest-grossing arcade game of 1982 by Cash Box[38] and the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA),[39] whereas RePlay magazine listed Donkey Kong as the year's highest-grossing title.[40] Cash Box later listed Ms. Pac-Man as one of the top two highest-grossing arcade games of 1983, along with Pole Position.[41] It was later listed by AMOA as one of the top five highest-grossing arcade video games of 1984.[42]

Ms. Pac-Man sold 125,000 arcade units by 1988, grossed $1.2 billion by 1987,[43] and has grossed $1.5 billion ($3.4 billion adjusted for inflation) as of 1995.[44] InfoWorld stated that Atarisoft's Ms. Pac-Man for the Commodore 64 was as good as the best-selling Atari 8-bit version.[45] The Genesis version of the game sold more than one million copies in the United States.[46]

The arcade game was awarded a Certificate of Merit as runner-up for Coin-Op Game of the Year at the 1982 Arcade Awards held in January 1983.[22]

Ports

In January 1984, the Atari 2600 port of Ms. Pac-Man won the Videogame of the Year award at the 1983 Arcade Awards, tied with Lady Bug.[22]

Computer Games magazine called the Commodore 64 version a "Spectacular" and "Incredible" conversion, while stating that the Atari 5200 and IBM PC versions suffered from limitations but were nevertheless "enjoyable" ports.[47] They later gave a "Classic" rating for other home computer versions, calling Ms. Pac-Man the "greatest" maze game.[48] Reviewing the Super NES version, three of Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers said the gameplay is timeless and universally appealing, and the enhancements appealing. The fourth, Sushi-X, felt the original game was a cheap cash-in on the popularity of Pac-Man, and had not aged well.[49] Doctor Devon of GamePro liked the original game but questioned the value of the Super NES port since it has somewhat frustrating controls, and since Ms. Pac-Man had already appeared on the Super NES in the form of an unlockable in Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures.[50]

In STart, Clayton Walnum praised the Lynx version's new mazes and the added twist of the lightning power-ups, and found the game transferred well to the small screen.[51] Julian Rignall reviewed the Atari Lynx port for CVG Magazine writing that "it offers a fun and non-violent challenge which will appeal to anyone" giving a final score of 79 out of 100.[52] Les Ellis reviewed the game for Raze Magazine in February 1991, stating that he liked the "neat little between-level scenes" and the "jolly title tune", and giving the game a final score of 79%.[53] Robert A. Jung of IGN gave the Lynx version a final score of 8 out of 10, writing in his review, "A decent adaptation overall, and a good game in its own right."[54]

Reviewing the Game Gear version, GamePro commented "If you loved the Pac-Man games, then you loved Ms. Pac-Man, and if you loved Ms. Pac-Man at the arcades, you'll love her here, too."[55]

Legacy

In 1996 Electronic Gaming Monthly reported that the Genesis version of Ms. Pac-Man, which was released in 1991, was still among the top 20 best-selling Genesis games.[56] The same year, Next Generation ranked the arcade version as number 12 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", saying that it has aged far better than the original Pac-Man due to its smarter monster AI, varied mazes, moving fruits, and intermissions. They added, "It has the broadest appeal of any game Next Generation has seen, with the possible exception of Tetris. Women love it. Men Love it. Children love it."[57] In 1997 Electronic Gaming Monthly listed the Genesis and Super NES versions as number 89 on their "100 Best Games of All Time", stating that the "Two-player simultaneous play and new mazes completely revive this classic."[58] In 1999, Next Generation listed Ms. Pac-Man as number 41 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, "It sounds easier than it is, and it makes the game one we consistently go back to, week after week."[59]

In 2009, Game Informer put Ms. Pac-Man 10th on their list of "The Top 200 Games of All Time", saying that it "trumped [the original Pac-Man] in nearly every way".[60] This is down one rank from Game Informer's previous best games of all-time list.[61] Entertainment Weekly called Ms. Pac-Man one of the top ten games for the Atari 2600 in 2013.[62] In 2016, Ms. Pac-Man placed 5th on Time's "The 50 Best Video Games of All Time" list.[63] In 2022, The Strong National Museum of Play inducted Ms. Pac-Man to its World Video Game Hall of Fame.[64]

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: ミズ・パックマン, Hepburn: Mizu Pakku Man

References

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