SAN FRANCISCO—Development woes, legal battles, and little-known hacks: these are the cornerstones of the classic gaming post-mortem. Of the many traditions found at the annual Game Developers Conference, none compare to its video game post-mortem panels, which combine beloved games, legendary developers, and previously-unheard anecdotes in a delicious swirl of nostalgic catnip.
This year's installments lived up to expectations by giving up the goods on nearly opposite ends of the classic-gaming divide: action-RPG pioneer Diablo, which turns 20 this year, and the arcade phenomenon that is Ms. Pac-Man.
Born from speed-up kits
Many of Pac-Man's historical tidbits came to light five years ago when series creator Toru Iwatani spoke at the original game's 2011 post-mortem panel. (I had the honor of asking Iwatini about the game's name-change from the original Puck-Man, to which he laughed and said, "Don't you already have your answer?") But Ms. Pac-Man's genesis story is quite possibly more interesting—most notably because it wasn't created by Namco's Japanese staff.
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