Ms. Pac-Man (character)

Ms. Pac-Man originated in the 1982 video game of the same name, which began as a different game, titled Crazy Otto, before being converted into a modified version of Pac-Man after the American Pac-Man distributor Midway Games purchased Crazy Otto. It was developed by General Computer Corporation (GCC) and distributed by Midway Games. A Midway marketing employee, Stan Jarocki, exclaimed that Ms. Pac-Man was made to thank female arcade players for playing Pac-Man. First intended to be called Pac-Woman, she was later considered to be called "Miss Pac-Man. As the developers included a baby Pac-Man character, they did not want to suggest that Ms. Pac-Man had a child out of wedlock, and then decided to call her Ms. Pac-Man. In a re-release of Pac-Land, under the Arcade Archives brand, Ms. Pac-Man was removed, replaced by a character called Pac-Mom. This is believed to be due to a legal dispute over the use of the character. Pac-Mom has continued to replace Ms. Pac-Man in subsequent games, including Pac-Man Museum+ and the remakes of Pac-Man World and Pac-Man World 2. Ms. Pac-Man still appeared in ''Pac-Man Arrangement '05, a game included in Pac-Man Museum Plus'' after these updates. ==Appearances==

Ms. Pac-Man first appears in the video game of the same name in 1982, where she is its protagonist, tasked with eating pellets while dodging ghosts, similar to the gameplay of the original Pac-Man. During intermissions, she is portrayed meeting and falling in love with Pac-Man before having a child with him. She makes brief appearances in Pac-Land (1984) and Pac-Man World (1999). Ms. Pac-Man appeared as a recurring character in the Pac-Man animated television series where she was voiced by Barbara Minkus and was given the nickname "Pepper". Ms. Pac-Man starred in Ms. Pac-Man Maze Madness in 2000, a 3D, top-down action-puzzle game. The sequel to Pac-Man: Adventures in Time, titled Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze, was released in 2001. Ms. Pac-Man is a playable character in Mario Kart Arcade GP (2005), Pac-Man World Rally (2006), and Sonic Dash (2013). Her last reported appearance in a Pac-Man re-release was in the 2014 release of Pac-Man Museum, failing to appear in later entries due to legal issues. As part of breast cancer awareness, Bandai Namco held a Ms. Pac-Man Pink Ribbon Campaign, where players could purchase a pink maze in various Pac-Man games on mobile phones, with all proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. ==Reception==

Ms. Pac-Man has been considered the first female lead character in a video game, though Polygon writer, Patricia Hernandez, argued that she was not an "actual person" and not having her own name disqualified her, a sentiment shared by GamesRadar+ writer, Dustin Bailey. A writer for Polygon said that Ms. Pac-Man's "simplistic and stereotypical" presentation limited her appreciation of the character as the first playable depiction of a woman, though she acknowledged that technical limitations played a role in her overtly feminine design. Nevertheless, Polygon staff regarded her as one of the most famous female video game characters, calling her "unforgettable." GameSpot writers, Steve Watts and Gabe Gurwin, while arguing that Princess Peach was the most famous woman in video games, suggested Ms. Pac-Man was the only character with similar fame. Esquire staff ranked her as among the best video game characters, noting how her design and personality, as well as her game's superior gameplay, helped her stand apart from Pac-Man as a character. Destructoid writer, Chris Moyse, criticized Bandai Namco for removing Ms. Pac-Man from certain video game re-releases and remakes, arguing that they were removing an important female character from video game history. He felt that this would continue to be the case, believing that the decision was financially motivated. Kill Screen writer, Rachel Helps, discussed the tendency to represent female characters by redesigning male characters with female features. She cited designer Anjin Anhut's views on the problematic nature of making male the 'default' and limiting girly-looking features to girls, who noted how female characters having derivative male versions was a comparative rarity. While discussing the design of the gender swap feature in Shovel Knight, developer Yacht Club Games sought to avoid making them designed like Ms. Pac-Man, feeling that the idea of making a female character be akin to a male character but with a bow or dress would be regressive. The Guardian columnist, Charlie Brooker, noted how, where Pac-Man did not have explicit male identifiers in his design, Ms. Pac-Man had to have female identifiers, like lipstick, a beauty mark, and a bow. He commented that, despite her portrayal possibly coming off as "patronizing," it was a more progressive depiction than many female characters in the early 2010s, specifically arguing that the industry tended to depict women as damsels or hypersexualized. ==References==