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[EntelechyFuff]

I love Ms. Pac-Man. I have a fully working Ms. Pac-Man cocktail table. This game makes Pac-Man looks like trash. And Ms. Pac-Man has style, panache...rizz, if you will. While Pac-Man was and is a total nerd. Check her out: she's fantastic!

So I got to wondering...why doesn't Namco monetize Ms. Pac-Man more? Well, I did some googling and found out.

For those that don't know, the short version is the original Ms. Pac-Man software was essentially born as a "romhack" of the original Pac-Man arcade machine. Those dudes who created the romhack retained some portion of the rights to the game with regards to royalties. Fast forward 40 years and the rights have been bounced around and largely unified under Namco, except for those pesky royalty rights, where are now held by some shady micro console company.

Namco--geniuses that they are--have essentially thrown their hands up in this matter. They are literally going back through games that feature Ms. Pac-Man and replacing her with a legally distinct likeness: "Pac-mom". Who is a lame nerd.

Am I insane to believe that Ms. Pac-Man--the real Ms. Pac-Man--has the potential to be at least as marketable as Princess Peach? She's only the face of the most popular* arcade game ever made! And has such a characteristic appearance. Hell, she had a real identity back in distant 1982, when games were barely capable of conveying such a thing as "personality".

I get that Namco doesn't want to waste time and money in court for a character they have never really leveraged...but I can't help but believe that they are seriously missing the forest for the trees by not just taking the L and and buying the the royalty rights. Am I wrong here? Is Ms. Pac-Man actually the real nerd in this story?

*citation needed

 

[Robochobo]

Pac-Mom can get it

 

[nial]

I mean, does anyone care at this point? The franchise has lacked any sort of character since Hello! Pac-Man three decades ago.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

You are one of few.

 

[March Climber]

Mrs. Pac-Man is 43 years old.

 

[EntelechyFuff]

Mrs. Pac-Man is 43 years old.

 

[Kacho]

I never knew this was a thing. Interesting.

If I were Namco I'd probably sweep this under the rug too. I imagine there isn't much potential to make money with Ms Pac-Man in 2025.

 

[Deft Beck]

They really don't want to pay Tec Toy for the rights to the character. It's easier just to retcon her out of existence.

 

[SScorpio]

They really don't want to pay Tec Toy for the rights to the character. It's easier just to retcon her out of existence.

AtGames acquired ownership not TecToy

Namco was pissed about it and PacMom is being retconned into old games in new collections.

 

[EntelechyFuff]

I sincerely believe Ms. Pac-Man has wish.com Hello Kitty potential. They're leaving hundreds of dollars on the table…perhaps thousands!

 

[Ozzie666]

Namco still mad it wasn't their idea in the first place. The far superior game and character was made by Americans wasn't it ?

 

[Magic Carpet]

Pac-Gran
The Yellow Jigglypuff

 

[Soodanim]

Interesting trivia, and I've never heard of Pac-mum.

The idea of giving Ms Pac-Man personality is a joke though, surely.

But I did enjoy Ms more than OG when I played it as a child, for whatever that's worth.

 

[EntelechyFuff]

Namco still mad it wasn't their idea in the first place. The far superior game and character was made by Americans wasn't it ?

It's my sneaking suspicion that this is the actual reason.

The original conversion cabinet was called Crazy Otto, and the character looked like this:

After the kids who came up with Crazy Otto sold the concept, Namco approved it and the idea of renaming to Ms. Pac-Man. But from what meager info is out there, it seems that Namco did not come up with the actual design of Ms. Pac-Man...either the cabinet art or the in-game sprite.

She is practically Namco's bastard queen.

 

[diffusionx]

I never knew this was a thing. Interesting.

If I were Namco I'd probably sweep this under the rug too. I imagine there isn't much potential to make money with Ms Pac-Man in 2025.

That's what they have done.

The great thing for them with Pac Mom is that people just assume the lady pac is Ms. Pac Man and Namco doesn't have to pay.