Ms. Pac-Man
Introduction
Ms. Pac-Man was published by Williams under license from Nintendo, released for the SNES in 1996 as a home conversion of the classic 1982 arcade sequel to the original Pac-Man. Players once again guide Ms. Pac-Man through a maze, eating dots and fruit while avoiding four uniquely behaving ghosts, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Sue, with four large power pellets in the maze’s corners allowing a temporary turnaround where the ghosts become vulnerable and can be eaten for bonus points. Unlike the original Pac-Man’s single fixed maze, Ms. Pac-Man rotated between four different maze layouts across its stages and introduced mid-level intermission cutscenes chronicling a loose romantic storyline between Ms. Pac-Man and Pac-Man, small additions that gave the sequel more variety and personality than its predecessor. Its SNES release brought one of the arcade era’s most enduringly popular games to a new generation of console players with faithful audio and visuals, and Ms. Pac-Man remains one of the best-regarded and most influential sequels in early video game history.
