Ms. Pac-Man
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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In 1982, a sequel to the incredibly popular Pac-Man was introduced in the form of his girlfriend, Ms. Pac-Man. This sequel continued on the "eat the dots/avoid the ghosts" gameplay of the original game, but added new features to keep the title fresh.

Like her boyfriend, Ms. Pac-Man attempts to clear four various and challenging mazes filled with dots and ever-moving bouncing fruit while avoiding Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Sue, each with their own personalities and tactics. One touch from any of these ghosts means a loss of life for Ms. Pac-Man.

Ms. Pac-Man can turn the tables on her pursuers by eating one of the four Energizers located within the maze. During this time, the ghosts turn blue, and Ms. Pac-Man can eat them for bonus points (ranging from 200, 400, 800 and 1600, progressively). The Energizer power only lasts for a limited amount of time, as the ghost's eyes float back to their center box, and regenerate to chase after Ms. Pac-Man again.

Survive a few rounds of gameplay, and the player will be treated to humorous intermissions showing the growing romantic relationship between Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man, leading all the way up to the arrival of "Junior".

Trivia

In 1982 Milton-Bradley released a boardgame adaptation of this video game.

Ms. Pac-Man was named #15 in the “Top 25 Atari 2600” Games poll in Retro Gamer Magazine (Issue 46).

TV series reference

 The game is referenced in season 5, episode 18 (Meet the Quagmires) of the animated TV series Family Guy. Peter Griffin, one of the main characters, is shown playing the arcade game of Ms. Pac-Man is 1984. The following conversation ensues:

Woman: Wow, you're really good at this game!
Peter Griffin: Yeah, I've logged a lot of game hours on Menstrual Ms. Pac-Man.
 [in the game, we see Ms. Pac-Man eating her way across the screen, with 4 ghosts following her. Suddenly she turns toward them]
Ms. Pac-Man: WHAT?! WHAT?! [the ghosts quickly run away]
Blinky: Geeze.
Clyde: Nothing.
Sue: Bitch.

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Once her initial leggy incarnation as Crazy Otto had been shelved, Ms. Pac-Man went through a baffling array of name changes: Pac-Woman was eventually vetoed by female employees of Midway, and revised to Miss Pac-Man -- until someone noticed that animated inter-scene depictions of the male and female Pac-Men getting together and producing a child now illustrated a bastard birth out of wedlock. From there, it shuffled to Mrs. Pac-Man and, at the last minute (within 72 hours of the production line startup of the original coin-ops) finalised as Ms. Pac-Man.

The ghost "Sue" (replacing "Clyde") is named after the sister of original General Computer hacker Doug Macrae.

The arcade game Ms. Pac-Man was not created or authorized by Namco, who holds the original license. The idea behind this game was to make an upgrade for Pac-Man called "Crazy Otto", developed by General Computer Corporation (GCC). GCC approached Midway Manufacturing about buying the upgrade, which Midway did. Midway (Namco's American distributor) then altered Crazy Otto to make Ms. Pac-Man.

Midway (a division of Bally, at the time) released Ms. Pac-Man (unauthorized), but after a year they passed the rights of the game and character to Namco so that Namco would not sue them or withdraw their licensing agreement. 

Unfortunately, Midway did not learn its lesson and created a number of other unlicensed versions of Pac-Man (like Pac-Man Plus, Baby Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man), which caused Namco to finally withdraw their agreement.

Ms. Pac-Man was one of the "Fabulous Eleven" launch games for the Atari 7800.

While three of the ghosts returned from the original Pac-Man game, the orange ghost (Pokey/Clyde) was made female, and given the nickname "Sue".
Sue was later depicted as a purple ghost, first in the animated series, then in later versions of the game. 

Ms. Pac-Man was voted #9 in the Top 100 Games of All Time poll published by Game Informer Magazine (Issue 100, August 2001).

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Description from the packaging:

More than Pac-Man with a bow.
The thrill of the arcade game.
It was the love match of the century, Pac-Man, star of the arcade, and his leading lady, the unforgettable Ms. Pac-Man. Now their romance continues. You guide Ms. Pac-Man through four different mazes as she gobbles up dots, energy pills, fruit and pretzels. But watch out! The ghosts aren't far behind her. Can she escape them?

The world's most popular video games can be yours to play at home, now that Atari makes them for the Apple II. And the possibilities don't stop there. More compatible software will be available soon from Atarisoft, including educational, management and productivity programs.
Atari currently offers the following games on Apple II computers: Joust, Jungle Hunt, Moon Patrol, Pole Position, Ms. Pac-Man, Battlezone, and Galaxian. And there's much more to come!


http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/ms-pac-man
