Ms. Pac-Man

Ms. Pac-Man is a 1982 maze video game developed by General Computer Corporation (GCC) and published by Midway Manufacturing for arcades. It is a 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, which 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, Inc., GCC was forced to present the project to Midway Manufacturing, 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 Ms. Pac-Man 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. Namco ultimately collected the same royalties on each Ms. Pac-Man 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. 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 which spawned a Ms. Pac-Man 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 legal ownership issues between Namco and General Computer Corporation.

Gameplay

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 progress, the speed increases, and energizers generally lessen the duration of the ghosts' vulnerability, eventually stopping altogether.