Ms. Pac-Man (Arcade)

Originally conceived as a hack called Crazy Otto, Ms. Pac-Man was one of several Bally/Midway Pac-Man titles to draw the ire of Namco, but its huge success eventually made it an official part of the franchise (most notably the 1982-83 Pac-Man cartoon).

The game itself is an improvement over Pac-Man with changing maze layouts, new cutscenes, new sounds and music, and the bonus items bouncing around the maze. The orange ghost was also renamed from Clyde to Sue, which went to a fifth (purple) ghost for the aforementioned cartoon and subsequent games.

GenComp Logo


The logo for General Computer Corporation is present among the graphics, probably a leftover from the game's days as Crazy Otto.

Easter Egg
As Ms. Pac-Man is basically a Pac-Man ROM hack, the Easter egg from the original game still functions in the same way: enter Service Mode, then quickly toggle it off and on. A video alignment grid will appear on the screen. Hold P1 START and P2 START and toggle Service Mode off and on again. If you've done it right, the grid will stay onscreen. Now, using the joystick, press Up x 4, Left x 4, Right x 4, Down x 4.

If you've done it right, "MADE BY NAMCO" will appear on the screen in red Power Pellets.

Developer Message
Loaded at the end of ROM memory ( to ), a small message from programmer Steve Golson can be read:

GENERAL COMPUTER CORPORATION Hello, Nakamura!

Masaya Nakamura is the founder of Namco. Jr. Pac-Man also has this message, as GCC also developed that and re-used Ms. Pac-Man's assets.