What maze game did Midway publish in 1982 as Pac-Man's wife-led sequel?

The story behind the answer

Midway published Ms. Pac-Man in 1982 as the wife-led sequel to Pac-Man. It is a maze game in which the player guides Pac-Man’s wife through enclosed mazes, eating pellets, avoiding ghosts, and using power pellets to turn the tables on them.

The game began as Crazy Otto, an enhancement kit created by General Computer Corporation for the original Pac-Man. After legal restrictions complicated GCC’s ability to sell unauthorized conversion kits, the developers presented the project to Midway, Pac-Man’s North American distributor. Midway acquired the rights and worked with GCC and Namco to reshape it for commercial release.

Ms. Pac-Man added four maze layouts, moving bonus fruit, different ghost behavior, and animated intermissions. Those changes helped distinguish it from the original rather than making it merely a character-swapped version. The title character is Pac-Man’s wife, although later franchise materials have also used the name Ms. Pac-Man inconsistently because of longstanding rights disputes.

A common mix-up is Super Pac-Man, another 1982 maze game developed by Namco. It was an official Pac-Man sequel, whereas Ms. Pac-Man was developed in the United States by GCC and published by Midway.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

Add question to a list

Choose a list to keep this question in: