SNES Game Review - Ms. Pac-Man

In the fall of 1980, Namco released Pac-Man. In 1996, Midway (Namco's American distributor) illegally published Ms. Pac-Man. Ms. Pac-Man is a upgraded true sequel to Pac-Man created by Midway's programmers before Namco could release its own sequel. A lawsuit was filed, settled out of court and midway severed all ties with Namco. Ms. Pac-Man is an arcade game with all the fun of Pac-Man, with a few added bells and whistles such as a brand new 2 player mode.

Surprisingly enough, there Ms. Pac-Man does have a plot. And here it is:being inaccurately translated from a few cut scenes: "One fine day Pac-Man woke up, had breakfast and chased some ghosts. So did Ms. Pac-Man. The two chased ghosts until they accidentally bumped into each other. A bizarre courting dance known as "The Chase" began whereupon, you guessed it they chased each other, at great speeds. Exhausted the two collapse near each other only to see a stork carrying a baby dangerously through the air in a blue blanket. The clumsy stork drops the blanket, baby and all, next to the tired Pac-Man duo. The baby cries from the terrible drop." After level 34 the game ends with Pac-Man leaving.

Ms. Pac-Man appears to be an almost exact port from an arcade, graphics consist of five elements: The maze, some random bouncing fruit, a scoreboard, four ghosts, and of course Ms. Pac-Man. Little overhaul of the 1983 original Ms. Pac-Man arcade game.

In Keeping to the arcade port feel, Midway retained the original score, as well as SFX. They are as noisy and piercing as ever, most likely more so due to better sound emulation from the SNES hardware.

Ms. Pac-Man is a simple game wherein the player must guide Ms. Pac-Man through a haunted labyrinth lined with, well lines. Occasionally a power pill is discovered that has the power to transform ghosts into edibles. . .the control is based upon a simple four axis with the addition of A or B to turn on Pac-Booster mode which speeds up Ms. Pac-Man.

Ms. Pac-Man is just as hard as Pac-Man, with a few added AI paths for the ghosts to travel in, expect to be cornered.

Ms. Pac-Man makes a fine sequel to Pac-Man. Ms. Pac-Man has a good number of new features to heighten the game play, additional ways to play with friends, and even a silly story to keep players wanting more. If only the graphics were updated. Ms. Pac-Man gets 4 glowing ghosts out of 5.