Arcade Files · 👾 The golden age (1978–83)

G33Z3R Arcade Files · 19821990

Why was Ms. Pac-Man made without Namco?

Ms. Pac-Man

Released
1982
Made by
Midway, from an unauthorized enhancement kit by General Computer Corporation
How it played
Four mazes instead of one, smarter ghosts, moving fruit, and the bow
The numbers
About 125,000 cabinets, the best-selling American-made arcade game

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The file

A group of MIT students built a hack kit that turned Pac-Man into a harder, better game, Midway bought it and shipped it as a sequel, and Namco in Japan found out afterward. It out-sold the original in America.

The four mazes and the random ghost movement made it the version serious players preferred, and it's the one still running in bars, often in the same cabinet as Galaga.

Sources: Wikipedia — Ms. Pac-Man

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