MAMEWorld Forums - HBMAME / ARCADE64 / MESSUI

Link to ROMS (attachment removed to keep illegal SW off forums): https://file.io/ANWlMXKWnrsL

Because there aren't enough Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man hacks already...

Background for both hacks - A feminist takes on gender rolls in video games such as Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. The video in the linked article does a decent job on the history for both games, even discussing Pac-Woman and Crazy Otto as well as many other video games. Unfortunately, the video stops being interesting about 1/3 of the way through.

https://feministfrequency.com/video/ms-male-character-tropes-vs-women/

The hacks: To address Anita Sarkeesian's concerns, images and rom hacks were created to change up the gender roles on both characters based on a Tumblr post that reimagined the characters (https://femfreq.tumblr.com/post/67671913832/in-response-to-my-ms-male-character-video-someone).

https://upnotnorth.net/2014/01/06/pac-woman-and-mr-pac-woman-rom-hacks/

The hacks themselves (both hacks in attached zip):

Pac-Woman is only a title change to the pacman Midway romset. There is zero difference between it and Pac-Man other than a couple places where the game says Pac-Manwoman instead of Pac-Man.

Mr. Pac-Woman is a title change as well as a graphics change, giving Ms. Pac-Man a top hat and a bowtie. This is a hack of mspacman.

File changed in Pac-Man (Pac-Woman hack):
pacman.6j

Files changed in Ms. Pac-Man (Mr. Pac-Woman):
5e
5f
boot4

"Because we live in a strongly male-identified society the idea of Pac-Woman as the “unmarked” default and Mr. Pac-Woman as the deviation “marked” with masculinizing gender signifiers feels strange and downright absurd. While Pac-man and the deviation Ms. Pac-Man seems completely normal in our current cultural context."

Edited by McHale (06/19/23 11:25 AM)