Ms. Pac-Man

Ms. Pac-Man

North American arcade cabinet (1982)
Developer(s) General Computer Corporation
Bally/Midway Manufacturing
Publisher(s)
Series Pac-Man
Engine Pac-Man
Platform(s) Arcade, Various
Release date(s)
  • NA January 13, 1982
  • JP October 19, 1982
Genre(s) Maze
Mode(s) Up to 2 players, alternating turns
Cabinet Standard upright, mini-upright and cocktail
Arcade system Namco Pac-Man
CPU 1x ZiLOG Z80 @ 3.072 MHz
Sound 1× Namco WSG (3-channel mono) @ 3.072 MHz
Display Vertically oriented, 224 × 288 resolution, 16 palette colors

Ms. Pac-Man is an arcade video game from the Golden Age. It was produced by Illinois-based Bally/Midway Manufacturing corporation, the North American publisher of Pac-Man. Ms. Pac-Man was released in North America in January 1982,[1] and is one of the most popular arcade video games of all time. This popularity led to its adoption as an official title by Namco, the creator of Pac-Man, which was released in the United States in late 1980. Ms Pac-Man introduced a female protagonist, new maze designs, and several other improved gameplay changes over the original Pac-Man. Ms Pac-Man became the most successful American-produced arcade game, selling 115,000 arcade cabinets.[2]

Gameplay

Screenshot of the game's first round.

The gameplay of Ms. Pac-Man is very similar to that of the original 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.

There are also some differences from the original Pac-Man:

Scoring

Level Item Points awarded for item
1 Cherry 100
2 Strawberry 200
3 Orange 500
4 Pretzel 700
5 Apple 1000
6 Pear 2000
7 Banana 5000

After level 7, any fruit will appear, although its point value will be the same (unlike in Pac-Man, in which the Key will always be the fruit after level 13).

History

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).[4] While Crazy Otto was under development, GCC settled a lawsuit with Atari 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.

Rather than scrapping Crazy Otto entirely, the programmers decided to present the completed game to Midway, Namco's American distributor of Pac-Man. Midway had become impatient in waiting for Namco to release its next Pac-Man game (which would be Super Pac-Man), and were enthusiastic that such a game had come to their attention. They bought the rights to Crazy Otto and changed the sprites to reflect the Pac-Man series. Midway renamed the game multiple times in development, to Super Pac-Man, "Pac-Woman," "Miss Pac-Man," "Mrs. Pac-Man," before finally settling on the name "Ms. Pac-Man" before releasing it into arcades.[5]

Shortly before release, Stan Jarocki of Midway stated that Ms. Pac-Man was conceived in response to the original Pac-Man being "the first commercial videogame to involve large numbers of women as players" and that it is "our way of thanking all those lady arcaders who have played and enjoyed Pac-Man."[6] The game was later awarded the Certificate of Merit as runner-up for Coin-Op Game of the Year at the 1982 Arcade Awards held in January 1983.[7]

The game went through several name changes. The original name was going to be Pac-Woman. That name was eventually dropped and then Miss Pac-Man was chosen, but because of the family imagery in the third intermission, protests were feared about the Pac-couple having a Pac-baby out of wedlock. The name was changed to Mrs. Pac-Man, and then finally to Ms. Pac-Man, which rolled off the tongue easier. These later changes (Miss, Mrs., and Ms.) all occurred within 72 hours of actual production.[8]

After the game became wildly popular, Midway and GCC undertook a brief legal battle concerning royalties. The Killer List of Videogames notes that the game was accomplished without Namco's consent, causing both companies to eventually turn over the rights to Namco. Ms. Pac-Man was reportedly the first in a series of unauthorized sequels that eventually led to the termination of the licensing agreement between Namco and Midway.[4] GCC co-founder Doug Macrae has disputed stories that the game was manufactured without Namco's blessing, claiming that then-Namco president Masaya Nakamura had even provided feedback over character artwork during the game's development.[5]

Ms. Pac-Man was later released on the third Namco Museum game; however, there is no mention of it in Namco's official archives (including the archives on all of the Namco Museum releases).

In 2001, Namco released an arcade board featuring 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.

Ports

Ms. Pac-Man Arcade Game

Like many other games of its era, Ms. Pac-Man has been ported to many platforms.

Reception and legacy

InfoWorld stated that Atarisoft's Ms. Pac-Man for the Commodore 64 was as good as the best-selling Atari 8-bit version.[15] 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."[16]

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".[17] This is down one rank from Game Informer's previous best games of all-time list.[18] Entertainment Weekly called Ms. Pac-Man one of the top ten games for the Atari 2600 in 2013.[19]

In fiction

During Season 5, Episode 6 (“A Modest Proposal”) of the television show Weeds, live action gameplay captured from a Ms. Pac-Man screen forms a segue between scenes. It establishes the depressive state of main character Andy after lead character Nancy leaves him a ”Dear John” letter. He uses most of a cash windfall to purchase extravagances such as an arcade machine for his living room. Game sounds punctuate the episode’s plot, especially a later scene where Nancy leaves Andy’s house. Just after her departure, the game over sound plays, highlighting a turning point in the two characters’ relationship.

References

  1. US Copyright Filing PA0000140275
  2. Beamish, Graeme (May 22, 2010). "Pellet-popping power: Pac-Man turns 30 today". Nanaimo Daily News. Canwest News Service. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  3. Donhodges.Com—Ms. Pac-Man's Kill Screens Analyzed And Fixed
  4. 1 2 Ms. Pac-Man Videogame by Midway (1981) - The International Arcade Museum and the KLOV
  5. 1 2 Doug Macrae from GCC speaks at California Extreme 2010
  6. Worley, Joyce (May 1982). "Women Join the Arcade Revolution". Electronic Games 1 (3): 30–33 [33]. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  7. 1 2 3 "Electronic Games Magazine". Internet Archive. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  8. The Ultimate History of Video Games by Steven L. Kent, pp. 171-172
  9. Coleco Ms Pac Man
  10. Reichert, Matt. "5200 Rumor Mill: Puffer Ms. Pac-Man". Retrieved 2007-10-24.
  11. Cifaldi, Frank. "Retronauts Episode 91: A Tengen Family Reunion". Frank Cifaldi talks to rebellious NES game developers Franz Lanzinger (Toobin', Ms. Pac-Man), Steve Woita (Super Sprint, Police Academy) and Mark Morris (Hard Drivin', 007: License to Kill) about the old days. 1up.com. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
  12. Welcome to JAKKS TV Games >> Ms. Pac-Man
  13. Ms. Pac-Man Game Detail Page, xbox.com
  14. Ms. PAC-MAN now available for your iPod
  15. Mace, Scott (1984-04-09). "Atarisoft vs. Commodore". InfoWorld. p. 50. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  16. "Ms. Pac-Man". GamePro (58) (IDG). May 1994. p. 130.
  17. "The Top 200 Games of All Time". Game Informer (200): 44–79. December 2009. ISSN 1067-6392. OCLC 27315596.
  18. Cork, Jeff (2009-11-16). "Game Informer's Top 100 Games of All Time (Circa Issue 100)". Game Informer. Retrieved 2013-12-10.
  19. Morales, Aaron (January 25, 2013). "The 10 best Atari games". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 17, 2016.

External links

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