Crazy Otto

Crazy Otto was developed as an enhancement kit for Pac-man cabinets by General Computer Corporation (GCC). GCC also created an upgrade kit for Missile Command titled Super Missile Command, for which they were sued by Atari, but the suit was dropped and the two companies entered into a business arrangement. GCC went on to develop the arcade games Fight and Quantum for Atari, as well as games for the Atari 2600, 5200 and 7800 game consoles.

As a drop-in upgrade for Pac-Man, Crazy Otto brought many changes to the game, although basic gameplay remained the same. Most notable is the main character (Crazy Otto) had legs and blue eyes. The monsters also have feet, as well as animated antennae. Other changes included new mazes, music, sound effects, and bonus fruit. Otto and his female counterpart were featured in three new intermissions, the last of which shows the arrival of baby Crazy Otto, “Junior”.

In October 1981 Crazy Otto was licensed to Midway, who had the rights to produce Pac-Man in North America. The only changes between Crazy Otto and Pac-Man are the visual representation of characters and various text strings. The decision was made to use the female character as the protagonist, and the game was renamed to Ms. Pac-Man. Ms. Pac-Man went on to become the most successful American-produced arcade game, selling 115,000 cabinets.