PrefaceOnly few computer game fanatics nowadays seem to understand the value of arcade games such as Missile Command, Pooyan, Centipede, Space Invaders and the Pac Man games. These were the games that were programmed by genius minds who dwelled in stinky basement above weird computers... They were able to program a game that was able to addict kids worldwide, turning some of them into the most die-hard computernerds ever!
And what systems did they have? A one million MHZ ultracomputer with two 3D video cards with endless memory expansions? A system that needed another $$$ hardware upgrade every next level? No, siree! These were systems that had barely enough memory to contain the game's name! They didn't just make these games, they turned the code inside-out, scraping off every single bit of overhead, so the game would fit in the few K's of memory! They were programmed (as in: performing an art not every lamer can copy) instead of made (as in: using a film crew and drag'n'drop the whole game together).
Ms.. Pac-Man
I guess we're all familiar with the Pacman story. It's probably the most famous videogame character to "the real world", there's even a song about it ("Pacman fever"). Though it's not the first breakthrough in videogame history, it's probably still one of the most important ones. Especially towards the "real word", that probably never heard of Pong or sortlike primitive games, Pacman equals the ultimate videogame.
In my humble opinion, Ms.. Pac-Man is the best version of the numerous split-offs in the Pac family. What's so special about Ms. Pac-Man? First off all, it has different mazes. This was a big improvement to Pacman, which had the same level over-and-over again. Ms. Pac-Man has four mazes, with different difficulties each (movement speed, length of time a "power pill" works). Next, Ms. Pac-Man has better graphical design. It's more colorful, there are interludes after finishing a couple of levels and the mazes just look better. Also the fact that the bonus fruit is floating through the maze is quite a nice tough.
Qua playability, Ms. Pac-Man is also way ahead of the good old Pacman. Each ghost has it's own "characteristic": the red one is quite a bitch, always following you and attempting to cut you off whenever possible. The purple ghost is a bit less tough, and the blue one isn't really dangerous anymore. The orange one is plain stupid: most of the time when it pops up before you, it'll fly away from you (whereas the red one would've rushed right into you). Most of the times this is really convenient, except when you in fact wanted to trick the ghost in coming towards you, which the orange one seldom does.
I think it's safe to say that Ms. Pac-Man is the ultimate version of Pacman: it has more charm, it plays much better, and it's not overdone (like Junior Pacman - those scrolling screens take away the "feel").
The arcade version and its bugs
Well, I've played several versions of Ms. Pac-Man, but in my opinion, the Commodore 64 version and the original arcade version are the best. Some other versions, for instance the one for the Atari VCS 2600, are totally different from the arcade version. If you're an expert on the Atari VCS 2600 version, you probably suck at the original arcade version. But the C64 version is exceptionally similar to the arcade version and is a good way to exercise for when you're going to play the real arcade machine sometime.
Also, the arcade version seems to have several bugs (note that I'm speaking of the version playable through MAME - I haven't had the pleasure to play the real arcade machine enough to check if that's 100% the same as the MAME version). The most known bug is probably the blue screen (instead of red) you get every once a while when you start a new game. Also, but I never heard of this bug before, I had several occasions where I could run through a ghost without losing a life. This happened with the red ghost, while running through a clean part of the maze (thus where the dots had already been eaten away). I tried to force this a couple of times, but it didn't work. Some other time, when I accidentally ran into the ghost, it would occur again though. Another bug is that you sometimes get stuck in the "wall" when you move up (I don't know if this also occurs when going down, right or left). You'll have to move into another direction to release Ms. Pac-Man and continue playing.
The C64 version
As said earlier, in my opinion the C64 version is the one that comes very close to the original arcade version. The mazes, the colors, the interludes, the sound, the graphics... everything is nearly identical. Even the movement of the ghosts are the same. This is why the C64 version offers such great possibilities to exercise on. The C64 version is (as far as I can tell, and I played that one a lot) also totally bug free.
There are some minor differences with the arcade version though. First of all, Ms. Pac-Man looks nearly the same as in the arcade version, except for the fact that the C64 Ms. Pac-Man doesn't wear lipstick...The ghosts and the bonus fruits look exactly the same (maybe some color differences because the C64 only has 16 colors). The movement pattern of the bonus fruits is slightly different though. In the arcade version, the fruits enter the middle of the screen (around the place the ghosts go when they're eaten or when the game starts) in a couple of different ways compared to the C64 version.
Download Ms. Pac-Man
Here you can download the C64 version of Ms. Pac-Man (as .PRG file) or you can download the ROM image for MAME. For completeness sake you can also find the versions for: Commodore VIC 20, Atari VCS 2600 and the Gameboy. Don't download any of these if you don't own the original game or arcade machine, because that's not legal ;-)
Links
It has taken me a while, but here's some links to other cool Ms. Pac-Man sites. There's a lot more on the internet about Pac-Man (and it's other split-offs), but these links are exclusively for the female Pac-Man. There's also several clones on the internet, which allow you to play a (near to identical) version of Ms. Pac-Man, but as I'm not really a big fan of those kind of remakes, I let it up to you to find 'em (check out the links on the pages below). And let me know if I missed a Ms. Pac-Man page!
* Classic Home Video Games Museum http://members.tripod.com/~gamesmuseum/games/mspacman/mspacman.html
Info on the Ms. Pac-Man arcade game, mostly including usefull links to guides and background info. Also including playing strategies! Check this out! (Some of the articles used here can be found on this page as well)* Cliff's Midway Ms. Pac-Man Page http://members.home.net/cliff.lawley/mspacman.htm
Info on the arcade machines he's owned, plus some info on the game itself (perfect score tables and more)* Retrogamer http://retrogamer.merseyworld.com/iwatani.htm
Interview with the original designer of Pacman. Also home of the great Retrogamer magazine!* The Dot Eaters http://www.emuunlim.com/doteaters/play2sta4.htm
Lot's of info on arcade games history, this link points to a part about the Pac Man games.* Phosphor-Dot Fossils http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/mspacman.html
Info on Ms. Pac-Man and a lot of screenshots. Includes info on other games as well.* Ms.Pac.Com www.mspac.com
Info on the original Ms. Pac-Man arcade machine, and other arcade machines.* David's Arcade Games http://www.porkrind.org/david/arcade/
Info on the arcade machine, lot's of tech/hack information. Check this out if you own an originaly Ms. Pac-Man machine (you lucky bastard)!* KLOV http://www.klov.com/M/Ms.._Pac-Man.html
More info on the Ms. Pac-Man arcade machine.* The Ms. Pac-Man Tribute Page http://www.basementarcade.com/arcade/mspacman/msmain.html
A page by a guy who owns the original machine - great!* The Last New Ms. Pac-Man Page http://www.basementarcade.com/arcade/mspacman/tlnmpm/index.html
Page about the last new arcade machine.
