NES Review: Ms. Pacman (Tengen)

Released: 1990

It’s Ms. Pac-man! Obviously a classic, but how is the NES version? Does it stand the test of time? And most important of all, does it earn the Malstrom Award, the most prestigious award in gaming? Let’s find out.

Above: Behold the craziness of Tengen Ms. Pacman. Simultaneous multiplayer!

I’m not going to waste time describing Ms. Pac-man. What I want to focus on is this particular version of it.

What strikes me is how the select screen of Ms. Pac-man seems very… beta-ish. It’s a very basic, no frills, menu. Usually in games, we get something more colorful, more graphic. What this is telling me is that more focus went on experimentation instead of flowery game wrappers. The developers were probably experimenting until it was time to ship which would explain the barebones presentation.

Wheeee! This Ms. Pac-man is on steroids! The biggest change is that the maze isn’t squeezed onto the screen. The dimensions match the arcade, but the screen will scroll up or down. To free up screen real-estate, the score is placed on the narrow sides.

There are many video reviews comparing and contrasting the (licensed) Namco version to the (unlicensed) Tengen version because the difference is THAT jarring. Namco port is mediocre bare bones. Tengen port is far better programmed with many experimental options.

Wheeee! That is what I said when the game starts. “Now THIS is Ms. Pac-man!” I cheer as I fly through the mazes. I didn’t want to stop playing.

Now, I remember this game back in 1990. I didn’t pay much attention to it because it was Ms. Pac-man, a game I already knew. I did play it. I just didn’t focus on it (imagine when games like Super Mario Brothers or Legend of Zelda were NEW. Your attention wouldn’t be on old arcade games).

This is MY type of Ms. Pac-man. They give you tons of options in how to play. Aside from how many lives, they offer a Pac-Booster (which you can hold a button that gives the Ms. Pacman a ‘flag’ where she doubles in speed like RPG dash). You can have Pac-Booster on via a button, always on, or always off. There are difficulty settings. I enjoyed ‘Crazy Mode’ where everything is flying fast!

There is even a choice for maze selection. You can choose your basic arcade to different types of mazes even going so far as to what stage you want to start on! There is even a ‘crazy’ option for mazes. That was fun!

Ms. Pac-Man is always ‘fun’, but this version is a sandbox mode of the game. You get to play Ms. Pac-man in new, interesting, and bizarre ways which makes the game feel fresh and just as addictive as before.

The most amazing option is the multiplayer. Do you want your multiplayer to be alternating turns like in the arcade? Or do you want to do simultaneous co-op?

“Whoa!!!!” says the reader. “Co-op in Ms. Pac-Man!? That’s incredible!”

That’s exactly my reaction. The video above highlights the crazy fun that is (and some of the issues it has too).

Underrated

I think this game has been underrated because it is unlicensed (Tengen has never been associated with the best NES games). More importantly, I think people’s eyes glaze over because we all ‘know’ Ms. Pac-man and don’t bother to check this game out. That would be a mistake.

The point is that Tengen Ms. Pac-Man plays a mean normal version of Ms. Pac-Man. In addition to that, it has all these crazy options that really spice up the game and make it a better console package than just porting the arcade game. And in addition to that, it adds co-op multiplayer.

“Great single player? Great multiplayer? Sounds like the perfect game!” moans the reader.

You would be right, but there are some problems with Tengen Ms. Pac-man. The first is that it isn’t arcade perfect. The sounds aren’t right. (Some might say this is better as the starting arcade sound is more shrill.) More importantly, there are BETTER, MORE SUPERIOR versions of Ms. Pac-man than even this version. I’m referring to the 16-bit versions on the SNES and Genesis. I believe the 16-bit versions used the Tengen version for inspiration and built upon it.

Ms. Pac-man is fun no matter what version it is. And the Tengen version of Ms. Pac-Man is the BEST WAY to play Ms. Pac-man on the NES (or any Pac-Man for that matter). Will you be coming back to it? Only if you don’t have a 16-bit version of Ms. Pac-man.

While bested by better versions, this is an extremely good and highly replayable game even today.

Loose Price During Review
$18.25

Score: 9
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