This Main Game, originating in 1982, is an arcade maze-chase title where you control Ms. Pac-Man to eat all dots across four distinct mazes while avoiding four unique ghosts. Key mechanics involve consuming Energizers to temporarily turn ghosts blue for bonus points and collecting bouncing fruit. Its core difference from predecessors lies in its varied maze layouts and distinct ghost AI patterns, punctuated by humorous intermissions detailing the protagonist's romantic life.
Released in 1982, this iconic arcade title serves as a direct sequel to the groundbreaking maze chase game that defined a generation. Players take control of the titular female protagonist as she navigates four distinct and increasingly challenging mazes. The core objective remains the same: consume all the dots scattered throughout the labyrinth while evading four persistent, uniquely characterized ghosts: Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Sue. Contact with any of these spectral pursuers results in the loss of a life.
The atmosphere is fast-paced and focused entirely on pattern recognition and quick reflexes. Adding to the challenge, bouncing fruit appears intermittently in the maze, offering bonus points to those quick enough to collect them before they vanish.
The central mechanic that allows players to temporarily reverse the tables on their pursuers involves consuming one of four Energizers strategically placed in the corners of each maze. Upon ingestion, the ghosts turn vulnerable and blue, allowing the player to eat them for significant bonus scores. Once consumed, the ghosts retreat to their central containment box to regenerate, eventually returning to their standard pursuit patterns.
While retaining the fundamental "eat the dots/avoid the ghosts" structure, this sequel introduced significant enhancements over its predecessor. Most notably, it features four different maze layouts, ensuring that players cannot rely solely on memorizing a single map configuration. Furthermore, the introduction of improved ghost AI, with each ghost exhibiting slightly different movement tendencies, adds a layer of strategic depth to the pursuit and evasion sequences.
A charming and memorable feature of this game is the inclusion of humorous intermissions that play out between levels. These short sequences visually depict the developing romantic relationship between the protagonist and her male counterpart, culminating in the eventual arrival of "Junior," providing lighthearted narrative progression absent in many contemporary arcade titles.
This classic arcade experience has seen wide distribution across numerous platforms since its debut, including releases on the Arcade cabinet, DOS, Xbox 360, Sega Game Gear, Commodore 64/128, and ZX Spectrum, among others. As a main game title, it does not feature any downloadable content (DLCs) or expansions. It has, however, received one official remaster across its various platform releases.

Ms. Pac-Man must eat all the dots in a maze in order to advance to the next stage. She is chased by killer ghosts but she can eat them while powered-up after eating one of four large dots. Bonus points are awarded for eating the fruits and snacks that appear and wander the maze.

A handheld port of Ms. Pac-Man.

Tabletop arcade machine with a color screen.

A handheld port of Ms. Pac-Man.

Developed in America and first released in 1981, Ms. PAC-MAN finally comes to modern platforms! Move Ms. PAC-MAN up, down, left, and right to eat all the Pac-Dots, while avoiding the ghosts, to advance to the next stage. Eat a Power Pellet to turn the tables on the ghosts and rack up a huge score! The basic rules are the same as PAC-MAN, but with an additional Warp Tunnel and other features, Ms. PAC-MAN truly shines as its own game! This latest port comes with scanline and sound settings - perfect for Ms. PAC-MANiacs! With her trademark ribbon, it's not hard to see the adorable charm of Ms. PAC-MAN!

Now with MFi controller support! Ms. PAC-MAN by Namco is one of the most popular video games in American arcade history! Who can forget the countless hours and quarters spent outrunning ghosts and chomping dots? Re-live the retro action on your iPhone with the queen of the arcades! Navigate through the mazes by touching the onscreen Joystick in Joystick Mode. Chomp on dots with the swipe of a finger in Swipe Mode. Munch fruits and other items for big points! Chomp all of the dots to advance to the next stage. Go for high scores and high levels! Gain an extra life at 10,000 points! Gobble blinking Power Pellets to weaken ghosts temporarily and eat them up before they change back. Avoid Blinky, the leader of the ghosts, and his fellow ghosts Pinky, Inky and Sue, or you will lose a life. Lose all your lives and it’s game over! We recommend that you update your device to the latest iOS version before playing. We also recommend that you close the game before downloading the update. To do so, double-tap the home button to display the recent apps bar. Press and hold the Namco application icon until a red minus appears, then tap the minus sign to close the application.

An enhanced port of Ms. Pac-Man, with additional content, released only in the Arcade Classics bundle, on the Philips CD-i.

The Game Boy port of Ms. Pac-Man.

A handheld port of Ms. Pac-man

Ms. Pac-Man had two NES ports. This is the port developed and published by Tengen, which adds many new mazes.

Ms. Pac-Man had two ports for the NES. This is the port published by Namco and developed by NOW Production.

Atary Linx port of Ms. Pac-Man. It has different layout for stages.

Pac-Man is in love! And what a star his sweetheart is, with her red ribbon and long eyelashes. Just like her leading man, Ms. Pac-Man chomps her way through mazes as she battles four ghosts. Round and round, back and forth, across the stage she races as she gobbles up dots, energy pills, teddy bears, fruit, and pretzels. Can she escape the marauding ghosts? Or will this be her final curtain? Will Pac-Man ever see his lady love again?

A handheld port of Ms. Pac-Man, released in 1984.

A Port for handheld devices.


Like in the original Pac-Man, the goal of the game is to eat all of the dots in a maze while avoiding the four ghosts; if one of the ghosts catches Ms. Pac-Man, a life is lost and the game ends when the player has no more remaining lives. In each corner of the maze are power pellets; when Ms. Pac-Man eats one of these, the ghosts temporarily turn blue and are no longer a threat (the player can earn bonus points for eating ghosts while blue). On some sides of the screen are warp tunnels which transport the player to the opposite side of the screen; if a ghost follows through the tunnel they are unable to move as fast allowing the player to use them to escape. Once all of the dots in the maze have been eaten, the player continues to the next level. As the levels progress, the difficulty is increased by increasing the overall game speed and the duration the ghosts remain blue after eating a power pellet is shortened (eventually disappearing altogether).
