Why did Ms. Pac-Man’s look change for Arcade Archives: Pac-Land?

Quick, what’s Ms. Pac-Man look like? Your mind probably saw the red bow. Maybe you also saw the go-go boots. The new version of Pac-Man is a different one. This Ms. Pac-Man was slowly disappearing due to a complicated dispute involving Bandai Namco & AtGames. Pac-Land launching today — and presumably in next month’s release of Pac-Man Museum PlusA retro compilation that also houses Pac-Land.

Paraguay graphic artist Nicholas Caballero noted on Twitter Wednesday that the anthropomorphic Ms. Pac-Man appearing in 1984’s Pac-LandInstead, she is what Bandai Namco refers to as Pac-Mom. She has a pink hat and gloves and wears heels rather than a red bow and orange gloves and red boots. Baby Pac was palette-swapped to replace her bow and remove her pacifier.

What’s the answer? Well, return with us to 2019, when Bandai Namco sued AtGames, the makers of throwback mini-consoles and arcade cabinets, whose work on a 2016 Genesis/Mega Drive for Sega didn’t win them any friends. Among other things, Bandai Namco alleged that AtGames had interfered in the publisher’s negotiations with Ms. Pac-Man’s original creators — a group of seven MIT classmates calling themselves General Computer Corporation — to buy out their royalty rights.

AtGames bought the royalty interest. This meant that any future release of anything featuring Ms. Pac-Man or Baby Pac in it would have to pay residuals back to AtGames. They were suing. Notice: This rights will be paid when the work is used. Bandai Namco has complete ownership and control over Ms. Pac-Man and can make any product that includes her.

Bandai Namco alleged some other unauthorized uses of their intellectual property; AtGames said Bandai Namco was punishing it for a private deal with rights-holders who weren’t happy Bandai Namco weren’t making anything with Ms. Pac-Man in it. Although the lawsuit was settled in November 2020 AtGames retains Ms. Pac-Man’s royalty interest.

So, the Arcade Archives released the following: Pac-Land Today, Pac-Mom stepped in to the position.

Bandai Namco

Pac-Mom appears to also be the version that Pac-Man MuseumPlusLaunched at the end May, it will feature. That anthology features 14 games from the Pac-Man franchise, going back to the 1980 original — but 1981’s Ms. Pac-Man You guessed right, it is not included. You can collect Pac-Mom or the updated Baby Pac to make your arcade more fun. Pac-Man MuseumPlus’ trailer.)

There hasn’t been a console re-release of Ms. Pac-Man since this collection’s predecessor, 2014’s Pac-Man MuseumFor PlayStation 3, Windows PC and Xbox 360. That was two years after Bandai Namco refused AtGames’ pitch to do a Ms. Pac-Man The mini-cabinet is related to the 2019 lawsuit.

Speculation has it that the publisher didn’t want to make anything in which it would owe royalties, and the lack of Ms. Pac-products is circumstantial evidence for it. Steve Golson was one of the original designer and gave a long postmortem. Ms. Pac-Man He spoke at the Game Developers Conference 2016 and discussed the complex royalties agreement reached by both sides.

Polygon reached out to Bandai Namco Entertainment America and original GCC creators for more information.