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