Classic of the Month - Ms Pac-Man

Manufacturer:	General Computer Corporation/Midway
Genre:	Maze
Board:	Namco Pac-Man
Year:	1981

To celebrate the release of the superb Pac-Man Championship Edition DX on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, I thought I would make this month's classic the original... sequel, Ms Pac-Man.  Actually, before I continue, I should right a wrong: Ms Pac-Man was not an authorised sequel.  It started life as an enhancement kit for Pac-Man called Crazy Otto, developed by General Computer Corporation (GCC).  They sold the rights to Midway who turned Crazy Otto into Ms Pac-Man.  Obstensibly, the gameplay is identical to Namco's 1980 original, but there were a few changes (after all, it was based on an enhancement kit).  They included:

• Faster speed
• Double the warp gates
• Solid colour walls
• Fruit that moved through the level, via the warp gates
• Different and more random ghost patterns
• Three intermissions, showing the how Pac-Man and Ms Pac-Man meet, fall in love and then have a ikkle baby Pac-Man.

The game was a huge success, which lead to Namco turning it into an official part of the Pac-Man series, which, as CEDX proves, is still going strong today.

You can play an official version of Ms Pac-Man on Xbox Live Arcade.

MTW

Pac-Man's 30th birthday party

Owning a classic arcade machine has always been a dream of mine. You can cheat and stick a PC running MAME inside a cabinet, but I'd rather be authentic. Sadly, actual classic arcade cabinets are expensive, cumbersome and prone to breaking down. Thank god for Namco and their determination to celebrate Pac-Man's 30th anniversary in style. Back in July I posted about Pac-Man Battle Royale, which looks great, but I'm far more excited about this, Pac-Man's Arcade Party, because it's much more than a Pac-Man game. Namco have put together 13 (count 'em) of their best old games into one new machine. So if you have about £2000 spare, you can get in a single machine, the following Namco greats:

• Pac-Man
• Ms Pac-Man
• Pac-Mania
• Galaxian
• Galaga
• Galaga 88
• Dig Dug
• Rally-X
• Mappy
• Xevious
• Rolling Thunder
• Dragon Spirit
• Bosconian

That's better than the Namco Plug & Play TV Game I have. 

Anyway, here's a little video by those candy men of arcade games, BMI Gaming:

It's just a month to Christmas. What's the chances I can persuade the wife to buy me one?

She says I have two hopes: Bob Hope and no hope. Oh well.

MTW

50 Greatest Arcade Cabinets

Whilst idly browsing the internet tonight, I came across this article on I-Mockery from a couple of years ago. Every fan site likes to do compilation of their favourite things, but I-Mockery takes that to an impressive level with their compendium of the 50 greatest arcade cabinets of all time.

The article includes photos of all 50 machines, which although small, do give you a sneak peak of the wonderful designs of both the side art and the mechanical aspects of the machines.

While I think there are a few glaring omissions (no Space Harrier or G-Loc 360) and I'm not sure about number 1, it is a great reminder of what made arcade machines so special. They weren't just games, we had games on our Commodore 64s and Sega Master Systems, they were tailor-made, mechanical works of art.

Check out the full article here: http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/50arcadecabinets

MTW