Ms. Pac-Man: The Trademark-Violating “Enhancement” That Turned Into A Massive Hit Sequel

Ms. Pac-Man wasn’t designed by Toru Iwatana, the creator of Pac-Man. In fact, it wasn’t designed by Namco – the owner of Pac-Man – at all.

Instead, it was designed as an “enhancement kit” by a group of MIT students who figured out how to take stale video games and revive them for commercial use.

Oh, and it didn’t start as Ms. Pac-Man at all. It started as Crazy Otto: Pac-Man with legs.

This is the wild story of two MIT students who were just trying to make a few extra bucks. Instead, they created a brand new franchise that expanded a legendary video game family. In so doing, they took on – and ultimately partnered with – two video game giants. It’s like David vs. Goliath – but David and Goliath both win.

Here’s the story of Ms. Pac-Man.

#videogames #videogamehistory #pacman #mspacman #arcadegames
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SOURCES:
Pac-Man footage courtesy of World of Longplays – KAGE-008: http://www.longplays.org

Missile Command footage courtesy of World of Longplays – SCHLAUCHI: http://www.longplays.org

Ms. Pac-Man footage courtesy of Retro Up:    • Ms. Pac-Man (Arc) High Score & Kill Screen...  

Readly article: https://gb.readly.com/magazines/retro...

Fast Company Article: https://www.fastcompany.com/3067296/t...

The Ultimate History of Video Games (part one): https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Histo...