Ms. Pac-Man by Kimberly Keyes Stark
Released in 1981, Ms. Pac-Man was not only the first sequel to Pac-Man but the game's popularity would go on to surpass the original's.
As I was searching the Internet looking for some background information on Ms. Pac-Man's origins, I've made one discovery: Namco, the creator of Pac-Man, had nothing to do with Ms. Pac-Man's creation.
A few enterprising programmers at a company called General Computer C orporation (GCC) decided to do a hack of Pac-Man. They added a few enhancements to the game (such as making the maze harder) and named the result Crazy Otto. GCC showed Crazy Otto to Bally Midway, Pac-Man's American distributor, which was so impressed with the new and improved game that it bought the rights to the game.
Shortly afterwards Bally Midway did its own redesign of Crazy Otto. Someone had the idea of changing Pac-Man/Crazy Otto's gender by adding eyelashes, lipstick, a beauty mark, and a Minnie Mouse-style red bow. The redesigned character was named Ms. Pac-Man and Bally Midway quickly started to manufacture the machines.
The only problem was that Bally Midway did not get Namco's permission to create Ms. Pac-Man and when Namco executives at the company's Japanese headquarters heard about this new game, they became miffed enough to consider legal action. Fearing a legal battle and the potential loss of licensing rights to future Pac-Man sequels, Bally Midway decided to avoid a lawsuit and appease Namco by turning over all legal rights of Ms. Pac-Man to Namco.
This legal hassle didn't stop Bally Midway from creating and releasing other unauthorized Pac-Man sequels without Namco's permission. None of these sequels were ever as popular as Ms. Pac-Man. (Anyone remember Pac-Man Plus, Baby Pac-Man, or Professor Pac-Man?) Namco became so fed-up with these unauthorized sequels that it terminated its licensing agreement with Bally Midway as soon as it could legally do so.
As for the average early-1980's arcade game player (myself included), most people either didn't know or cared about Ms. Pac-Man's shadowy origins. What mattered was that there was a sequel that was just as fun to play as the original.
I can remember, as a female undergraduate at the University of Maryland in the early 1980's, when I first walked into an arcade where I saw a teenage boy playing Ms. Pac-Man for the first time and I was totally enthralled by seeing it. In fact, I tried that game out myself as soon as I was able to get a quarter and I became as hooked on Ms. Pac-Man as I did on Pac-Man.
What was revolutionary was that this was the first videogame that had a female character. Up to that point, even though girls and women did play videogames as much as boys and men did, most of the games involved either engaging in traditionally male-oriented activities (like driving race cars and shooting down aliens in spaceships) or playing male characters (such as Donkey Kong's Mario). With Ms. Pac-Man, women and girls could actually play a female for a change, which was quite refreshing.
Yet Ms. Pac-Man was no pushover. The rules of Ms. Pac-Man were identical to Pac-Man's. Blinky, Inky, and Pinky were holdovers from the original. Clyde the orange ghost was replaced by another identical looking orange ghost named Sue. The fruit, which was stationary in Pac-Man, now moved around the maze by bouncing up and down.
The mazes were much more of a challenge than in the original. There were more twists and turns, which made it far trickier to outwit those ghosts, who were just as aggressive as before.
Like Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man also had brief animated intermissions, the first of which played after you've cleared the second level. The animations told the story of the courtship of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man that eventually resulted in a stork delivering a baby Pac-Man.
Ms. Pac-Man attracted not only women and girl players but their male counterparts as well. This crossover appeal helped Ms. Pac-Man to become a bigger hit than Pac-Man. In fact, Ms. Pac-Man is the one of only two classic games (the other being Galaga) that is most likely found in video arcades today. In recent years Namco has come out with a special arcade machine that has both Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga together and many arcades stock that machine as their one token classic arcade game machine.
Ms. Pac-Man even became the first videogame character to be a spokesperson for a cause. The National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations (NABCO) selected Ms. Pac-Man to help raise awarness of the importance of women having their breasts examined on a regular basis.
Ms. Pac-Man's success has paved the way for other female characters to show up in videogames. In other words, had Ms. Pac-Man been a flop, people today would be playing Tomb Raider featuring a square-jawed burly guy named Larry Croft.
DISCLAIMER: This blog is based on one person's biased opinions of which videogames should be considered to be classics and why. It is not meant to provide a complete history of the videogame industry, the latest videogame news, technical support, or hints on how to play a certain videogame. None of the videogame manufacturers or programmers mentioned here have endorsed or supported this blog in any way, shape, or form.
NOTE: If there are any errors or updates to what I have written about Ms. Pac-Man, please send an e-mail to [link=mailto:kstarkRE MOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com]kstarkREMOVE-ALL-CAPS-IF-NOT-SPAM@erols.com[/link] (remember to remove the capital letters from my mailing address before sending or else it will get rejected) and I'll edit this piece when time permits.
MS. PAC-MAN GAME S AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
DREAMCAST
Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness--Includes the original arcade game along with newer 3-D mazes.
[link=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det ail/-/B00004U4Q9/theunicornwithan/]Namco Museum Volume 1[/link]--Includes Ms. Pac-Man along with Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Pole Position, and Dig-Dug.
GAME GEAR
Ms. Pac-Man
GAME BOY
Ms. Pac-Man
GAME BOY ADVANCE
[link=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det ail/-/B00005BZE0/theunicornwithan/]Namco Museum[/link]--Includes Ms. Pac-Man along with Dig-Dug, Pole Position, Galaxian, and Galaga.
GAME CUBE
Namco Museum--Includes Ms. Pac-Man along with Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig-Dug, and Pole Position.
Pac-Man Fever--This is a party game that's similar in concept to Nintendo's Mario Party series. You can play against up to three other people (or play against the computer) as you compete in a series of mini-games. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are among the Namco characters that you can select.
Pac-Man World 2--It's an adventure game featuring the yellow guy. If you collect enough tokens, you can unlock five classic arcade games--Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Mania--as well as a series of 3-D mazes.
NINTENDO 64
Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness--Includes the original arcade game along with newer 3-D mazes.
Namco Museum 64--Includes Ms. Pac-Man along with Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, Pole Position, and Dig-Dug.
SUPER NINTENDO
Ms. Pac-Man
PLAYSTATION 1
Ms. Pac-Man's Maze Madness--Includes the original arcade game along with newer 3-D mazes.
Namco Museum Vol. 3--Includes Ms. Pac-Man as well as other classic games like Galaxian, Dig-Dug, Pole Position II, Phozon, and the Tower of Druaga.
PLAYSTATION 2
Namco Museum--Includes Ms. Pac-Man along with Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig-Dug, and Pole Position.
Pac-Man Fever--This is a party game that's similar in concept to Nintendo's Mario Party series. You can play against up to three other people (or play against the computer) as you compete in a series of mini-games. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are among the Namco characters that you can select.
[link=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005V6B P/theunicornwithan/]Pac-Man World 2[/link]--It's an adventure game featuring the yellow guy. If you collect enough tokens, you can unlock five classic arcade games--Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Mani a--as well as a series of 3-D mazes.
WINDOWS
Microsoft Revenge of Arcade--Includes Ms. Pac-Man along with Xevious, Rally-X, Mappy, and Motos.
Ms. Pac-Man--It's an updated version of the arcade classic.
P ac-Man All Stars--Play as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Professor Pac-Man, or Pac-Man Junior in a series of 3D mazes.
Pac-Man All Stars (Jewel Case)--Pl ay as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Professor Pac-Man, or Pac-Man Junior in a series of 3D mazes.
X-BOX
Namco Museum--Includes Ms. Pac-Man along with Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Galaxian, Galaga, Dig-Dug, and Pole Position.
Pac-Man World 2--It's an adventure game featuring the yellow guy. If you collect eno ugh tokens, you can unlock five classic arcade games--Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Attack, and Pac-Mania--as well as a series of 3-D mazes.
RELATED PURCHASE
Ms. Pac-Man Ringtones--Y ou can have your cell phone sound like a Ms. Pac-Man arcade game every time it rings.
MS. PAC-MAN LINKS
ClassicGaming.com's Pac-Page--This is the ultimate homage to Pac-Man and his many sequels, including Ms. Pac-Man. It not only provides an extensive history of the Pac-Man series but it also includes Pac-Clone of the Month, Pac-Site of the Month, sounds that you can download, information about the Pac-Man cartoon series, and much more.
The First Church of Pac-Man--A hilarious site that shows how extreme some people will go to show their devotion to Pac-Man. Also includes information about Ms. Pac-Man.
The Internet Movie Database's Information on Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man--Includes information on both videogames and the 1980's Pac-Man television cartoon series.
The Killer List of Videogames' Ms. Pac-Man Exhibit
The Pac-Mans--You can download shareware versions of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man for the Pocket PC, Windows CE, Casio BE-300, and HandHeld PC.
The Ms. Pac-Man Page--It's a short story about one person's effort to purchase and restore a vintage Ms. Pac-Man machine. Includes technical information about Ms. Pac-Man for those interested in doing their own repairs and restorations.
Namco--The official site of the company that's responsible for Ms. Pac-Man as well as a bunch of other classic games (such as Pac-Man, Galaxian, Galaga, and Dig-Dug).
Namco Arcade.com's Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga--This page is aimed at videogame arcade owners but it does provide information about a specially designed arcade machine that has both Ms. Pac-Man and Galaga games installed together in the same cabinet. At the bottom of the page there is information about a special Easter Egg where, if you move the joystick aro und in a certain sequence at the select screen input, you'll also access Pac-Man as well. (At the select screen input, you move the joystick up, up, up, down, down, down, left, right, left, right, and left then press the start button.)
The National Alliance of Breast Cancer Organizations' Post Office Page--You can send a Ms. Pac-Man online postcard to the woman/women in your life reminding her/them to have her/their breasts examined.
Pac-Land Webring--It's a webring of sites that are all devoted to Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.
Pac-Man...This is Your Life--It's a very thorough history of Pac-Man and his many sequels (including Ms. Pac-Man).
The Virtual Pac-Man Museum--It's an online museum full of Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man artifacts.<
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