Ms. Pac-Man (1983)

Release Date: December 31, 1983
Developer: General Computer Corporation (GCC)

Like in the original Pac-Man, the goal of the game is to eat all of the dots in a maze while avoiding the four ghosts; if one of the ghosts catches Ms. Pac-Man, a life is lost and the game ends when the player has no more remaining lives. In each corner of the maze are power pellets; when Ms. Pac-Man eats one of these, the ghosts temporarily turn blue and are no longer a threat (the player can earn bonus points for eating ghosts while blue). On some sides of the screen are warp tunnels which transport the player to the opposite side of the screen; if a ghost follows through the tunnel they are unable to move as fast allowing the player to use them to escape. Once all of the dots in the maze have been eaten, the player continues to the next level. As the levels progress, the difficulty is increased by increasing the overall game speed and the duration the ghosts remain blue after eating a power pellet is shortened (eventually disappearing altogether).