This is the first video game I’ve ever played and it needs no introduction. Ms. Pac-Man takes everything great about it’s predecessor and amps it up with so much more variety in mazes, enemy behavior, and overall difficulty that it makes it fun to go back to years later. It’s incredibly interesting to note how this can be considered one of the first “official” ROM hacks of it’s time and from a development team located on the other side of the globe from it’s original developers, using some of the most crude development tools possible. But, they managed to make a game that easily surpasses the original in nearly every way despite it’s legal status being a chaotic mess and leading to this game sadly being rereleased less frequently as time goes on. However, if you find a cabinet out there in the wild, do yourself a favor and play it.

Ultimately this is a core gaming experience. Ms. Pac-Man not only captures it’s era, but arguably defines it. Although other forms of the game exist, the arcade cabinet is the premier experience.The cabinet’s ms. pac man blue, sunny side up yellow, and passion pink call out to the prospective player no matter the location. As the player approaches the cabinet they may notice some wear on the left side of the frame where a person’s left hand would naturally rest. On a truly seasoned cabinet you may notice a similar yet less defined mark on its right side. Its hypnotic effect suspends time as the player and the machine become one, reality returns briefly as the machine pleads for more coins. The dance continues.

I always found getting used to the AI of the ghosts a tenuous extensively difficult concept when playing this for any longer than like a few minutes. Somehow reached a zen-like state with the AI though and managed to blow through to where the acts started repeating for this classic, which I will take as my victory. I'm not exactly sure WHY I chose to take this game as my use of birthday hours other than obligation of it being next up on my list so I'm just going to blog some bullshit about the last year and desperately try to somehow link it to this game cuz fuck it tim rogers can talk about this game for several hours why can't I?

22->23 isn't exactly the most exciting of yearly jumps, especially when said last year could very well be defined as "terror", "terrible", "terrifically shit". The end of quarantine is barely visible on the horizon now where it hasn't been for some time, and I walk into the celebration of living another year in it feeling like I haven't changed much. I like to think I've worked to improve myself in some areas, in that I've been able to refine my writing and express myself better, that I've been able to curb some of my worse behavior in terms of aggression, that I've gotten better at managing my time. I've managed to make due on some goals, and been able to make new ones I'm making good progress towards. Otherwise though, I still find myself feeling a bit of sorrow on an afternoon of celebration.

It's interesting I suppose to reflect while playing something that otherwise feels timeless, completely unchanged as years go by. We've Certainly Gone A Long Way since this, and hopefully I can look back on today feeling like I've gone a long way as well. Hope you all have a good rest of the year.

~ Juegos que Hay que Jugar Antes de Morir ~
Parte 2 — Los 80: Caída y Resurgir

Juego 28: Ms. Pac-Man (1982)

Una re-skin cutre. Same energy as Game Boy Girl Edition.