Sue

For the Pac-Person of the same name, see Sue (Pac-Man World 2).

Sue (スー Suu) is a female ghost from the Pac-Man series, commonly shown as being purple (but is orange in some other appearances).

History

Arcade Games

Ms. Pac-Man

Main article: Ms. Pac-Man (game)

Sue first appeared alongside Blinky, Pinky, and Inky in Ms. Pac-Man. Her role is identical to Clyde's in the original Pac-Man, and she looks identical to him as well. She starts on the righthand side of the Ghost Home in the Maze's center, sitting next to Pinky.

Like Clyde, Sue directly targets Ms. Pac-Man in the same manner that Blinky does, but when she gets within an eight-space radius of Ms. Pac-Man, she retreats to the lower-left corner of the maze, which is where she heads to during the start of a round.

Pac-Land

Main article: Pac-Land

In Pac-Land, Sue does not ride a vehicle like the other ghosts do, and instead always chases Pac-Man from behind. Sue travels at a slow pace (in fact, Sue is the slowest ghost in this game), but when the timer runs out, she begins to charge at Pac-Man mercilessly.

Pac-Mania

Main article: Pac-Mania

Carrying over her aggressive persona from Pac-Land, Sue behaves as Blinky typically would, but never enters "scatter" mode (she momentarily changes direction with the other ghosts, but always uses Pac-Man as her target). However, Sue moves at the same speed as Pinky in this game, which is pretty fast compared to the other ghosts, but slightly slower than Blinky (who always moves the fastest).

Animated Series

Main article: Pac-Man (TV Series)

Sue appears as the fifth Ghost Monster in the Pac-Man animated series, and the only female member. Rather than wearing a specific hat, as each of the male ghosts wear, Sue wears a pair of earrings. She is often defeated by Ms. Pac-Man.

Despite sharing similarities with Clyde in terms of intelligence, she is shown to be less stubborn and more sensitive, as shown in Christmas Comes to Pac-Land, when Pac-Man tells the Ghost Monsters to think about the many children who wouldn't get presents if they were to chomp him. She, along with the other Ghost Monsters even begs Clyde to reconsider as a result.

Other appearances

Pac-Attack

Main article: Pac-Attack

In some versions of the game, Sue can appear as one of the ghosts dropped with a block. She is also the primary ghost dropped for the 2nd player in "VS Mode".

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Main Article: Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Sue only appears in the SNES version of Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures when the player puts the cards in the wrong order in Mission 4. Here, she acts like all the ghosts, and must be defeated in the same way as the others.

Maze Madness & Quest for the Golden Maze

Main article: Ms. Pac-Man: Maze Madness

Main article: Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze

In both of these games, Sue appears in her original orange color rather than purple. She more closely resembles Clyde in-game, but the instruction manual for both confirms the character is Sue.

Pac-Man 256

Main article: Pac-Man 256

Sue makes her first appearance in 14 years in Pac-Man 256. Sue appears in groups of three, and can only move horizontally. When the group is in front of Pac-Man, they will stop moving. She is also the slowest of all the ghosts.

The Sandbox Evolution

Main article: The Sandbox Evolution

Sue's behavior is changed in The Sandbox Evolution. She can only move horizontally, but rather than stopping when in front of Pac-man like in Pac-Man 256, she'll try to align herself with Pac-Man's horizontal position.

Characteristics

Appearance

Sue originally appears as an orange ghost in Ms. Pac-Man, as a female counterpart to Clyde. She is later depicted as a violet ghost, based on the animated series version. Unlike the other ghosts, Sue often appears to have narrow eyes and eyeshadow, presumably to express her gender.

Personality

Sue is never given a defined personality, though the animated series depicted her as somewhat sly - but like the other ghost monsters, she has an extreme lack of intelligence. In several Pac-Man games, Sue is one of the more aggressive ghosts chasing after Pac-Man, particularly in Pac-Mania.

Although according to her description for Pac-Mania in Arcade Archives, Sue is also depicted to be friendly but shy when people get too close.

Trivia

• Sue is named after the sister of Doug Macrae; one of the lead members of General Computer Corporation (who developed the original Ms. Pac-Man prototype, Crazy Otto).^[1][2]
• Sue was initially named "Bonnie" when she replaced Clyde during the production of Ms. Pac-Man, which was still named "Pac-Woman" at the time; a reference to criminal bandits Bonnie and Clyde.^[3]
• On certain promotional material for Pac-Mania, Sue is identified as the "Following Monster" (つきまといモンスター Tsukimatoi Monsutā).^[4]
• It's likely that Sue originally played a more important role in Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures. This is implied with there being 5 doors leading to the Ghost Witch instead of only 4, and a screenshot from EGM Issue 51 featuring her on the introduction screen with the other ghosts.^[5]

Gallery

Character Artwork

TV Series

Pac-Land (TurboGrafx-16)

Pac-Mania

Pac-Mania (sprite)

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures

Characters and Logo Style Guide - Pac-Man (1990s?)

Namco Museum Vol. 4

Namco Museum Vol. 4

Namco Museum Vol. 4

Pac-Man 256

Sue as seen in a Bandai Namco Amusement America Twitter post for Valentine's Day

"Ghost Gang" Group Artwork

Pac-Land (purple)

Pac-Land on NG - Namco Community Magazine Issue 7

Pac-Mania

Pac-Mania

Other Group Artwork

Pac-Land

Pac-Mania

Magazine cover art promoting the Pac-Mania MSX2 port

Pac-Man 2: The New Adventures on EGM Issue 51

Ms. Pac-Man: Quest for the Golden Maze (orange)

References