How to Win at "MS Pac-Man"
"Ms. Pac-Man," originally released in 1981, was the sequel to the arcade hit "Pac-Man." Like that game, the player controls a yellow sphere in a maze filled with consumable dots while being chased by four monsters. The difference was "Ms. Pac-Man" was a female, her mazes had different patterns and there was no "safe" zone like "Pac-Man" players had. If you cleared enough boards, you saw "intermissions" that made it clear Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man were destined to be a couple. You will only get that far if you know a few tricks to stay ahead of the monsters.
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Instructions
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1
Avoid the monsters that are the fastest and smartest first. The red monster, the first one out of the pit in the center of the screen, is the smartest and fastest, followed by pink, blue and then the orange. Watch their eyes as well. The eyes tell you which way the monster will go.
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2
Use the corners to your advantage by lingering near them then turning when a monster comes near. Ms. Pac-Man is able to turn corners faster than the monsters and that small bit of speed could keep you ahead of danger.
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3
Consume dots only when you have some distance between you and the monsters. Consuming dots slows Ms. Pac-Man down, making it easy for monsters to get you from behind. This becomes apparent as early as board three.
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4
Use the tunnels in the first three levels as a strategy to slow down the monsters. The tunnels have no effect on Ms. Pac-Man's speed but the monsters literally crawl through them. If you have a long run of dots on the opposite side, linger near a tunnel entrance, wait till as many monsters as possible bunch up and see you, then slip through. You should be able to clear at least one half of those dots before the monsters get across. After three levels, though, the monsters get through the tunnel just as fast as Ms. Pac-Man.
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5
Consume power pellets only after you have cleared dots in the middle of the board. Each board starts with four power pellets in the corners, and biting them will give you a few seconds (the time decreases on upper level boards) to chomp the monsters for bonus points. The monsters will turn colors and run from you during this time. However, especially in later rounds, you can also use this time to just eat stray dots in that corner.
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Lure as many monsters to you as possible before you consume a power pellet. Go to the corner with the power pellet, clearing away the normal pellets as you go. Find a safe place right next to the power pellet and just wait for two or more monsters to see you. When they get on the same "lane" you're on, quickly slide over to the power pellet and eat it. The monsters will scatter but you should be able to get more than one quickly, sometimes in one gulp.
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7
Ignore any bonus fruit that are not in your path. The fruits bounce in unpredictable patterns around the board and the first few aren't worth enough points to risk running into a monster. However, an apple is worth 1,000 points, a pear 2,000 points and a banana 5,000. You should go after them.
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