Love in the Time of Mazes

There can be no doubt that Pac-Man was a massive hit when it was released in arcades. The game, developed by Namco, caught the world by storm and elevated its lead character, the plucky little yellow orb known as Pac-Man (although, of course, called Puck-Man in Japan), to cultural icon status. It not only made Namco a lot of money but also redefined the maze chase genre of gaming, leading many other companies to try and get their own rendition of the formula out in arcades to get some of those sweet, sweet gamer quarters.

While the game was a hit, though, an actual direct sequel from Namco wasn’t forthcoming. Gamers loved Pac-Man and they wanted more of the character and the genre, but the company didn’t seem forthcoming. Into that void slid General Computer Corp. (GCC), who had been developing a Pac-Man conversion kit for arcades called Crazy Otto. Due to licensing issues, GCC took their kit over to Midway, who were the publishers for Pac-Man in the U.S., and that company said, “yes, let’s do this… as an official Pac-Man title.” The end result was Ms. Pac-Man, a game that took everything from the original arcade title and added more.

The basics of Ms. Pac-Man don’t stray far from the original Pac-Man (which makes sense when you consider this was an upgrade kit sequel). Our titular heroine is dropped into a maze filled with little pellets. The goal is to guide her around and collect those pellets (by eating them). Of course, doing that isn’t so easy when there are four ghosts – Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Sue – who will pursue our heroine around the maze. One touch from a ghost kills our lady, sending her back to the start of the maze to try and get the rest of the pellets. Of course, managing the ghost requires judicious use of the power pellets found in the four corners of the maze, which temporarily makes the ghosts blue so they can be eaten. Complete the maze and the heroine moves on to the next maze to do it all again.

The devil is in the details, though, and Ms. Pac-Man finds plenty of room for improvement over the original Pac-Man. For starters, there are now four mazes in the game instead of just one, which adds some much needed variety to the game. The first maze is seen for two stages, the second for three, the third and fourth for four each, and then the game varies two visits to the third and fourth mazes, back and fourth, until the game ends (because the player runs out of lives or a kill screen is met).

The new mazes don’t just change up layout and add variety, though; they also force the players to learn multiple patterns. The original Pac-Man was predictable. If you knew what you were doing, and memorized the pattern, you could take a path through the maze every time. That’s how certain players can do “perfect runs” of the game, collecting not just every pellet but also every fruit that comes along, and eating every ghost on each power pellet. With four mazes in rotation, there’s more to memorize and strategize than the original title. It makes players think more, which is its own benefit.

Of course, the mazes also look better, with a variety of colors used to show the players which maze they’re in. The maze walls are also filled in now, instead of being just lines, which makes the mazes easier to navigate at a glance. It’s a small quality of life improvement that not only makes it easier for players to get into the game but also makes the game look bolder and livelier. GCC really put a lot of work into making this game look better than before.

There is also one other key strategic change that makes this game feel different: two of the ghosts have been randomized. Instead of all the ghosts following set patterns, which allowed players to memorize those paths, Blinky and Pinky have random movement for the first few seconds they are released into the maze. This means that even if players memorized the patterns for Sue and Inky they’d never really know where Blinky and Pinky would be. It does make for a harder game, and also makes strategizing perfect runs harder to do. Although the real benefit here is for arcade owners since this likely meant players were pumping more quarters into the game to fight for high scores.

To be sure, Ms. Pac-Man is a harder game from certain perspectives. Not only are the ghosts more random but many of the mazes are more difficult to navigate. They frequently feature deep chunks of walls that limit the heroine’s navigation. Players will have to take chances when exploring these nooks and crannies lest they get caught in an area they can’t escape and get cornered by the ever-stalking ghosts. The variety of stages is nice, but it is clear that GCC wanted this game to be harder and more likely to force players to dump quarters into the machine.

With that said, not everything about the game was made more difficult in this sequel. The ghosts don’t feel as fast, with it taking time for them to ramp up in speed in each maze. It’s possible to stay well ahead of them without the ghosts easily catching you. Pac-Man had an issue where the ghosts could get faster than the yellow hero easily, and you’d run out of time to escape in ways that felt unfair. The ghost speed is better modulated here so when you die you know it’s because of your strategy and not because the computer simply decided to speed the ghost up rudely.

The power pellets also feel like they last longer. While the rate at which the ghosts regain invincibility does speed up as you go through the stages, there’s still a longer grace period than in Pac-Man, making it more likely you can kill the ghosts and get points, or even just use the power pellets to escape. This also makes the game feel more fair, like the designers at least wanted players to have a chance even as they engineered more challenges for the players to face at the same time.

But, really, the primary thing Ms. Pac-Man provided was more Pac-Man at a time when players were desperate for it. While Namco would soon have their own official sequels out – two pinball hybrids along with the strange maze chase title Super Pac-Man – Ms. Pac-Man came first and she gave players exactly what they wanted. No weird mechanics, no hybrid play styles, just more of the game they loved in the form they enjoyed. That’s a key reason why Ms. Pac-Man became a huge hit and led to the game getting multiple ports, re-releases, and reinventions over the following years. This game did more for spreading the good will for the Pac-Man franchise than just about any other game in the series… and it wasn’t even Namco that made it happen.

Of course, because she was developed by GCC, the rights for Ms. Pac-Man were, and still are, tied up in legal wrangling between the companies. It’s a key reason why, as of late, Namco has downplayed the heroine and replaced her with other versions of the character entirely. It’s as sad fate for the lady when she was key to ensuring Pac-Man’s continued success for many decades to come.