Curmudgeon GamerNo one actually plays the original Ms. Pac-man.That's right. The original game is a plodding exercise in frustration. What we all really enjoy is a rousing game of the sped up version of Ms. Pac-man that has dominated arcades everywhere since -- well, a very, very long time.
To my knowledge the only thing approximating this mode is the fast mode offered by Tengen's cartridge version of this game (on SNES and Sega Genesis, perhaps others). Even there, it's not quite what you'd expect and the Ms. gets a pair of wings on her head or something to show that she's going FAST! Every other version -- on the many incarnations of the Namco Museum, particularly -- is the slow-as-molasses original.
So why do we keep getting the same lame version that no one actually likes? And why can't someone reviewing the game for a big site come right out and tell Namco how much the slow version stinks?
Update: Just so it's clear: slow original vs. fast modification. I prefer the latter, but Namco doesn't even offer the option. (Possible exception noted in comment below by JohnH.)
Labels: ms. pac-man, namco, xbla
Posting this from my Wii as a test....
I remember reading that "20-year Reunion," Namco's arcade machine with Ms. Pac-man & Galaga, has the fast game (and fast shots for Galaga, a popular mod of that game) as an operator setting. As far as I know, no other Namco release of the game has the fast game.
By 
JohnH, at
13 January, 2007 06:36
I have to assume that you're talking about the fact that Ms. Pac Man slows down when she consumes a dot. That's one of the primary new gameplay mechanics that separates it from Pac Man, and it's always been there.
By Jeremy, at
13 January, 2007 08:24
JohnH: Ah, interesting to know. I wonder why Namco treats it so? Perhaps sensitive that someone else hacked their game to be so much better than the original? ;^)
Jeremy: No. The original game is actually very slow compared to what you find in arcades now. From the KLOV:
Conversion
A variety of different speed-up options have been made available to enhance the game. These range from simple ROM swaps to the addition of sub-boards, hacks or custom circuitry.
Source: KLOV
By jvm, at
13 January, 2007 09:52
There were dozens of hacks of Pac Man. IIRC, MPM is a Midway developed version of one of the Pac Man clones that had appeared in the US.
Namco's certainly managed to profit from the extended branding though, I doubt they're terribly upset by the cavalcade of clones.
By Jeremy, at
13 January, 2007 10:10
Just to be clear...
This is standard Ms. Pac-man speed. Ms. Pac is moving pretty slowly compared to the next video.
This is the speed I'm used to playing. That's not some insanely high level...it's actually pretty early, but look how fast Ms. Pac moves.
I haven't seen one of the slow machines in the wild since last century.
By jvm, at
13 January, 2007 11:30
I've seen a "slow machine," but only as a 20 Year Reunion machine that hadn't been set to fast play.
It so happens that there is another kind of sped-up machine that can be found, one that, in addition to speeding up the Ms. Pac-Man, also speeds up the ghosts to commensurate speeds. The Brunswick arcade I used to go to years ago had one, and it was entertaining to play once in a while, if you didn't mind losing really quickly. I think I once made it to level three on that....
By JohnH, at
13 January, 2007 11:34
I've never seen a machine set to that fast speed.
Then again, I haven't been in an arcade with a Ms. Pac Man machine in quite some time. Does Aladdin's Castle exist anymore (Namco's arcades)?
There certainly aren't any around here now (Boston). They used to have a very bad reputation as places where a lot of drug dealing went on, I recall being told to avoid them.
By Jeremy, at
13 January, 2007 12:22
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