Collection essentials #228: Ms. Pac-Man (SNES)

I’ve talked a bit about Ms. Pac-Man before when I covered the Atari 2600 port. It’s one of the absolute top most successful and most iconic arcade games ever. I think I’m going to wait to talk fully about the original arcade version until I get to a more 1-to-1 arcade version, and today I’m mostly going to focus on this particular version of the game and how it stands out.

This is actually what you could call a remake of a port. Tengen made an NES version of Ms. Pac-Man in 1990, which they also made for the Sega Genesis a year later, and then this SNES version for some reason didn’t come out for another five years, late in the SNES’s lifetime. It’s basically the same content as those previous versions, only with enhanced graphics and sound, taking advantage of the SNES hardware. What’s unusual about the Tengen version of Ms. Pac-Man is that they didn’t directly port the assets from the original game, rather, they had to build it from the ground up, which is why it looks a little different. But they did a pretty darn good job.

What’s cool about this version and makes it stand out even today is a variety of features and content not found in other versions of the game. First of all, there are several different sets of mazes here rather than just the ones from the arcade original, including my favorite, the “Strange” mazes which the developers got a little creative with. There’s the “Pac booster” to make the game easier, as well as a separate difficulty setting for people looking for an easier or nigh-impossible experience. And possibly the best thing about this version is two-player cooperative move! Player 1 controls Ms. Pac-Man, while player 2 controls her husband, the original Pac-Man. The two players have to be careful not to run into each other, or else they will be flung in opposite directions and briefly unable to control themselves. The two players can work together to try for a team high score, but their individual scores are also shown, so they can also compete in a certain way, if they wish.

Since my dad was a big fan of Ms. Pac-Man in arcades, getting this version of the game was a no-brainer. Though I believe my family’s original copy is still at my parents’ house and this one shown in the photo is one I got later. So not only is it a legitimately good and unique version of the game that’s still worth playing, but it’s also got the whole “childhood game” thing going for it, making it an obvious essential for the collection.