Bandai Namco Replaces Ms. Pac-Man With Pac-Mom In Retro Rereleases

comingsoon.net:

Namco was quick to cash in on Ms. Pac-Man’s arcade success in the ’80s. However, due to a complicated legal situation stemming from the fact that wasn’t created by Namco, current publisher Bandai Namco still needs to pay an outside party that owns a stake in the character. While the company has paid to use the character in the past, more legal shenanigans have forced its hand. Now, more recent releases of games starring Ms. Pac-Man will replace her with a different version of the character called Pac-Mom.

For now, the affected games include a rerelease of the arcade sequel and an upcoming collection of Pac-titles called . As long as Bandai Namco remains entangled with royalty rightsholders AtGames, future Pac-Man releases will likely also feature the updated version of the character. You can see the updated sprite from in the following tweet by Games Asylum, a site that was one of the first to notice the change in the new release.

So, AtGames owns the royalty rights to Ms. Pac-Man, so future Pac-Man games will feature Pac-Mom. This includes tomorrow's Pac-Land re-release and next month's Pac-Man Museum+. pic.twitter.com/Em4xTUYayX

— Games Asylum (@gamesasylum) <a href=«https://twitter.com/gamesasylum/status/1511837256289554432?ref_src=» https: www.comingsoon.net>April 6, 2022

Pac-Mom features pink shoes, pink gloves, and a wavy pink hat, a style that’s similar to the last time that Bandai Namco paired Pac-Man with an alternative female counterpart in order to sidestep these rights issues. A character named Pac-Marie was introduced in 2016 for the launch of a Pac-Man retail location in Japan. Marie shares a similar color scheme to Pac-Mom, although she trades in the hat for a blonde ponytail adorned with a pink bow.

While