Enlarge / Who’s that Pac-lady within the pink hat, and what offers she done with Ms. Pac-Man? (credit: @nickisonlinet / Twitter )
Obsessive Pac-fans of a certain age might remember Ms. Pac-Man’s cameo look in Pac-Land , the 1984 side-scrolling spin-off that will first gave Pac-Man legs. This particular week’s re-release of the game on the particular Switch seems in order to have thrown the “miss” straight down the memory hole, though, a good odd retcon that may be the result of the complicated legal history surrounding Ms. Pac-Man ‘s creation.
Pac-Man book contributor Ryan Silberman and artist Nick Caballero were among the first to note the apparent change on Twitter this week. They highlighted Pac-Land Switch screenshots in which Ms. Pac-Man’s iconic bow and high-red boots have been replaced with a character sporting pink high heels and a matching hat. The sprite for the baby-sized Jr. Pac-Man has been similarly changed to remove the trademark red bow that was first seen in 1983’s Jr. Pac-Man .
Ms. Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man as they appeared in the original release of Pac-Land . Typically the pair have been edited out of this week’s Switch re-release. (credit: @nickisonlinet / Twitter )
Leaving the sprites in their original form would have obviously been the simpler choice for Hamster, which publishes the Arcade Archives series on Switch. And the description for Pac-Land ‘s Arcade Archives re-release notes of which the “series has faithfully reproduced many classic Arcade masterpieces, ” making such a minor change even more bizarre. What’s going about here?
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