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Hey, it’s Pac here with another Pac-tacular review! This time I’m finally talking about a Pac-Man game again: Ms. Pac-Man for the NES. This is the Namco version. The other NES version of the game is here, the Tengen version:

https://www.vizzed.com/playonlinegames/game.php?id=64698

In this review, I’ll be discussing what makes this conversion so much different from others. Also, this game has “secrets”, but I won’t spoil anything.

This version of Ms. Pac-Man was released in 1993. Hmm, I’m in the first maze. But wait, the ghosts are gone. I’ll go inside their box to see if I can find anything to write down with my pen. Oh, the ghosts have been replaced with a word in the NES font! I’d better write all this down while I tour the game.

GRAPHICS

5/10

Most people would take one look at this after playing the original and think, “Ew”. But I think that for the NES, they’re OK. Right away, the title screen captures my attention but not for all good reasons. The Ms. Pac-Man logo is weirdly colored, but at least there are multiple colors. I don’t understand why the letters aren’t all the way filled with those colors, though. There’s a huge gap in the C shaped as a Pac-Man. How basic the title screen is makes me like it, though. I’ve always thought the arrow pointing to the mode you select is cool.

Once I start the game, I’m shocked by how thin the maze is, as well as its color choice. It’s light green!! And I have to chomp orange dots. Oh and speaking of Ms. Pac-Man, she’s a darker yellow for her extra lives on the right, more like orange. She’s supposed to eat fruit, not be like a fruit! Gosh. She isn’t supposed to look like Clyde either. That’s REALLY not cool. XD

At least the numbers and letters are appropriately colored on the right side of the screen with basic white and… even more light orange. If you thought all that was strange enough, you should see the later levels. For example, the 2nd level is red, and the 3rd is BROWN. Instead of staying the same for each group of levels, the maze color changes every level. I think that’s actually a better idea than the original, but the weird color choice ruins it.

One thing the creators of this game did well with was the ghosts. Their appearance and colors match almost perfectly with how I’d expect them to look. However, I noticed something when I paused the game in level 3, right after Blinky left the ghost’s box. His head (or self, rather) takes up part of the block above him. Sure, he’s a ghost, but these ghosts aren’t supposed to go through things. That’s gotta hurt.

There’s an odd but cool thing about the ghosts. When you activate a ghosteater pellet, instead of turning blue, they turn purple! That’s honestly my favorite thing about this version of the game, which is why it’s in the review’s title
Another aspect of the graphics this version does well with is the fruits. They look different from their originals, but they still look nice. In my opinion, variety is necessary to make playing different conversions of video games worthwhile.

An interesting fact about the maze colors is that in hard mode, they are pretty different. The first level is a darker green, the 2nd is orange instead of red, and, best of all, the 3rd level is green instead of brown!

It appears that there are a couple words so tiny and unreadable inside this ghosteater pellet on the top left corner. Let me get my Pac-nifying glass.

ANIMATIONS/CUTSCENES

7/10

The animations are one of this game’s strengths. Ms. Pac-Man’s mouth moves fast enough, the ghosts slide through the maze so smoothly, and the fruits are bouncy!! Also, the transition from level to level is done well. The blinking isn’t too bright and the next level appears smoothly.

Ms. Pac-Man’s dying animation isn’t too amazing, though. She flips around in all directions like she’s supposed to, but it’s awkwardly fast and it cuts off roughly.

In the original, when a cutscene starts, there’s an animation that reminds you of when a movie director says, “ACTION!” And it displays the name of the scene. This time, it just shows the title for a few seconds. The letters don’t dance or anything so it’s just text on the top of the screen with so much empty black space below.

The first scene, “They Meet”, looks really great except for one thing. Inky’s eyes. His pupils themselves are the normal black, but his eyelids are yellow! I saw that and, after having played the original for so long, thought, “Ew.”

The 2nd scene, “The Chase”, also has only one flaw I’d like to point out. It’s slow and doesn’t look like a game of tag. Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are pretty much “walking” and when they’re going faster at the end, that looks like the speed they should have been going at first.

In the 3rd scene, “Junior”, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man do the mannequin challenge instead of reacting to the fact that a stork just dropped off a child for them. How horrible. I like the stork’s flying animation. I can’t rate this one good or bad because I’ve never seen a stork fly before.

That’s all the cutscenes there are, right? There’s no 4th one or anything? Lol sorry I don’t want to spoil it. If you want to know what it is, ask me in your reply to this review and I’ll tell you with a spoiler tag in my response.

There’s something glowing white inside the left tunnel. I’ll go check it out. Oh, it’s another couple words! I’ll be writing this down.

SOUND EFFECTS

2/10

Oh my. NOTHING sounds like it did in the original game! Ms. Pac-Man’s dot-chomping sound is somewhat decent, but it becomes bothersome after the first 5 levels. That sound is muted whenever she eats a ghosteater pellet or a fruit is bouncing around the maze. I don’t mind it being muted like that because it makes it easier to concentrate on what I’m doing.

The background noise irritates me. In most versions, the background noise adds to the intensity of the game in a positive way, but not here. When a fruit comes onto the screen, it’s even worse. That noise sounds like it’s bouncing along with the fruit. The fruit bouncing sound is cool, though. And if it wasn’t for that bouncing sound, sometimes I wouldn’t know the fruit is on the screen The sound when Ms. Pac-Man eats a fruit is bland but tolerable.

Ms. Pac-Man’s dying sound resembles the original game’s the most, but it’s all the same low pitch. After eating a ghosteater pellet, the noise that occurs is better than the usual background, but it feels too repetitive compared to the original. Eating a ghost is another one of the more bland sounds. The eaten ghosts’s eyes traveling around is one of the most cringe-inducing sounds in the game.

But the most ironic, terrible sound of all is when you reach 10,000 points and earn an extra life. It sounds like the creators imported an alarm clock. It’s a very high-pitched beeping, but thankfully it’s quick.

Huh! Another word is bouncing around this maze like the fruits normally do. What does it say…

MUSIC

7/10

First impressions are everything, even in simple video games. This game actually has an excellent first impression! The “get ready” theme is the right pitch and none of it sounds off-key to my ears! If only the rest of the music was that quality.

In the “They Meet” cutscene, the song starts off strong with a variety of pitches and I like the way it sounds with the NES instruments, but about halfway through the song, it gets a little out of whack. Then the last few notes are very off-key.

In “The Chase”, right away it makes me cringe. The high notes are irritatingly loud. I give credit to this song for not sounding in the least bit off-key though, unlike the last one. So overall I think this one did a better job making use of the NES instruments.

In “Junior”, the whole thing sounds pretty good and not off-key. Again, the high-pitch notes are irritating, but more tolerable than “The Chase”.

I haven’t dared to play this game with my headphones on because I think it’s one of the few games that sound better from computer speakers.

Many letters are spread out throughout the maze. I’ll collect them and try rearranging them to see if they form a word. Wow, that took a while.

ADDICTIVENESS

5/10

I don’t find this version of Ms. Pac-Man as appealing as every other version I’ve tried, but I keep wanting to return to it. Its unique difficulty gives me determination to increase my skill. I figure if I can become consistent at the mazes in this version, every other version will become easier and I’ll make more progress in those too. Also, I find it oddly satisfying to see the maze change colors with every level. That alone can motivate me to continue. Lastly, watching the ghosts turn purple never gets old. Quit laughing, I’m serious.

What? Another bouncing thingy? This time it’s a little book! Maybe an important word is on the front cover…

STORY

0/10

Wait what? This book is blank! There isn’t a story mentioned about this game, not even on the title screen. This is a simple arcade game so it’s very suitable for it not to have a story, though. If it had a story, it would possibly go something like this: "Oh no!"

A flashing word appeared at the bottom center of the maze. Time to slide on down there and read and write some more.

DEPTH

10/10

It’s a time of celebration because I finally rated something a perfect 10 in a review! This game has so many levels that it would likely take me 20 years or more to beat them all in one go without using savestates, let alone beat hard mode.

On the title screen, you have plenty of options: 1 or 2 players, and normal or hard mode. Hard mode increases the speed of the game. It doesn’t increase it by significantly much though, or it would be hardly playable mode.
Also, all the mazes are the same, right? There aren’t a few that are new? Sorry, but I’m not going to spoil the specifics of that either. Again, post below this review if you want to know and I’ll reply to you with a spoiler tag in my response.

Strange, the maze all grew dark… except for an orange light inside the tunnel on the right side of the maze. Look at that, it’s another word. I’ll have to write smaller. I’m running out of room on this paper.

DIFFICULTY

9/10

This is the hardest conversion of Ms. Pac-Man I have ever played. If I was playing this for the first time, I’d likely lose all my lives on the first level. Most times, I’m very fortunate to make it past level 5. Somehow, I made it all the way to level 9 before I needed to begin using savestates.

On hard mode, I haven’t even made it past level 5 yet. I can’t imagine how crazy the later mazes get.

Oh hey, the maze is bright again. Wait, is that Ms. Pac-Man herself coming out of the left tunnel with the ghosts in pursuit? There’s something different about this, though. Each ghost has a letter, and Ms. Pac-Man has a word on her side. I hope I can write all this down fast before the ghosts decide I appear delicious.

OVERALL

6.4/10

Despite all the negatives I covered about this game, it isn’t too bad to play casually. Especially if you’re experienced. I’d recommend this version of Ms. Pac-Man to anyone who thinks other versions are too easy for them, or they just want to play a more unique version.

I’m almost out of room to write. Thank goodness, a portal opened up in the left tunnel that shows my house! See ya later, ghosts. Sometime in the year of never again.

I’m back home with a new paper. Thank you to all who clicked on this thread, whether it was an accident or you wanted to read my review! My hope is that you found it entertaining and helpful to your decision of whether or not you’d like to try this game. Feel free to leave constructive criticism. My reviews are always changing and I’d like to know if they’re changing for the better. Bye! *jumps away from computer*

For a game that's all about eating dots you for sure goes deep. Never knew that a game like Ms Pac-man could be so thorough. But great to see, If I going to rate the review I would say 9,5/10.

I WIn Also : Thank you! Well, over time I have analyzed more and more about these games when I review them. And with this review I realized it's super easy to go into a ton of detail about differences and things that I found wrong. But I never expected it to be my longest one ever.

Also, I've been playing Pac-Man games for 10 years which also helps XD