Ms. Pac-Man is a 1981 arcade game developed by Midway as an unlicensed modification of the original Pac-Man, before being taken by Namco as an official game. Its success caused the game to be ported to a plethora of platforms, including the Sega Mega Drive and Sega Master System in 1991 and the Sega Game Gear in 1993.
The Sega ports of Ms. Pac-Man can be confusing. Tengen originally brought the game to the Mega Drive in North America and the Master System in 1991, but four years later the game was brought to European Mega Drives by the successor to Tengen, Time Warner Interactive (although the ROM still credits Tengen). The Game Gear port was handled in-house by Namco and was released twice - initially in 1993, and then re-released by Majesco in 2000.
Gameplay
Players move through a maze gobbling up dots while avoiding ghosts. If a big dot (power pellet) is eaten by the player ghosts become eatable and if eaten their eyes depart from the body and flee to the center of the maze, where they can claim a new body. Occasionally fruit and other objects float through the maze and give bonus points if eaten.
On the Mega Drive and Master System versions there are many new extras. There are four types of mazes: Arcade, Strange, Big, and Mini. A Pac Booster ability can be turned on and off, which gives the player a boost when pressing a button. There is also two-player simultaneous feature in which the first player will play Ms. Pac-Man and the second will play the original Pac-Man. This can be done in cooperative or competitive modes. The game also would end at level 32 in which a game ending would be displayed. The "fruit" selection is also expanded and objects such as shoes could be eaten for greater points than fruit in the arcade version.
Although it is virtually identical to the SNES game of the same name, the Mega Drive version is more difficult as Ms. Pac-Man does not respond to joystick presses as well as the SNES game does. The Master System and Game Gear versions do not have this problem.
Credits
Mega Drive Version
Programmer: Stephane Leblanc
Graphics: Mike Bazzell
Music/Sounds: Earl Vickers
Music Player: Lisa Ching
Thanks to: Jeff Yonan, Franz Lanzinger
Physical Scans
Mega Drive Version
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66
|
Sega Retro Average
|
| Based on 5 reviews
|
| Publication
|
Score
|
Source
|
| Joypad
|
80
|
|
| Joystick
|
60
|
№26, p118
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| Mean Machines Sega
|
64
|
№40, p84
|
| Player One
|
59
|
|
| Power Play
|
66
|
|
|
| Mega Drive, US
|
Cover
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 Cart |
| Mega Drive, US (cardboard box)
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|
|
 Cart |
| Mega Drive, EU
|
Cover
|
 Cart |
Master System Version
|
65
|
Sega Retro Average
|
| Based on 9 reviews
|
| Publication
|
Score
|
Source
|
| Consoles +
|
90
|
|
| Hobby Consolas
|
55
|
|
| Joypad
|
78
|
|
| Joystick
|
65
|
№23, p117
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| Mean Machines
|
31
|
|
| MicroMania
|
53
|
№2/54
|
| Player One
|
45
|
|
| Sega Pro
|
72
|
№3, p64
|
| Sega Force (UK)
|
93
|
|
|
| Master System, EU
|
Cover
|
|
|
| Master System, AU
|
Cover
|
|
|
| Master System, BR
|
Cover
|
|
|
Game Gear Version
|
60
|
Sega Retro Average
|
| Based on 1 review
|
| Publication
|
Score
|
Source
|
| Game Players
|
60
|
|
|
