Super Smash Bros. 4

Pac-Man (SSB4): Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 23:04, June 26, 2016

This article is about Pac-Man's appearance in Super Smash Bros. 4. For the character in other contexts, see Pac-Man.
Pac-Man
in Super Smash Bros. 4
Pac-Man SSB4.png
PacManSymbol.svg
Universe Pac-Man
Availability Starter
Final Smash Super Pac-Man
Tier E (29)
Pac-Man (SSB4)
PAC-MAN Hungers for Battle!
—Introduction Tagline

Pac-Man (パックマン, Pakkuman), stylized in-game as PACMAN in the Japanese version and as PAC-MAN in all other languages, is a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. 4. Initially revealed on June 10th, 2014 to attendees of the E3 2014 Smash Bros. Roundtable, he was later confirmed to the public on Nintendo of America's Twitter account[1] alongside Palutena and the Mii Fighters. Pac-Man is one of six third-party characters in the game, along with Capcom's Mega Man and Ryu, SEGA's Sonic and Bayonetta, and Square Enix's Cloud, as well as the third third-party character revealed in the game.

Pac-Man's moveset involves signature aspects of his home series, such as throwing fruits and eating Power Pellets,[2] while also referencing numerous other Namco games in a few ways, most notably via his up taunt. While Pac-Man retains his classic "wedge" form, he only uses it occasionally, such as for his down tilt and his side taunt. Instead, he mostly uses his "ball" form that appeared on game cabinet artwork and advertising before it debuted in-game in the Japanese version of Pac-Land.

Pac-Man is ranked 29th out of 56 on the tier list, placing him in the E tier. This makes him the lowest-ranking third-party character and, when not counting Bayonetta and Corrin due to their unavailability after the tier list was released, places him squarely in the middle of the roster overall. Pac-Man has possibly the most combat-effective projectile in Bonus Fruit, which can produce different kinds of attacks depending on the used object. He is also effective at combos and damage racking, while possessing has a useful recovery due to Power Pellet and Pac-Jump covering great distances, which is further supplemented by his ability to wall jump.

However, Pac-Man is not without his flaws. His grounded mobility is below average at best, while his smash attacks and especially his grab game have lag issues. Despite the aforementioned coverage his overall recovery possesses, Pac-Man's recovery is quite predictable, slow and easily interruptible. However, Pac-Man's biggest flaw is that all four of his special moves can be turned against him, either by being reflected or even being used by his opponents.

As a result, Pac-Man heavy reliance on item control makes him quite a rarity in tournaments; however, several mains such as Tea and Zage have shown that he can perform item combos such as item setups and shield breaks to devastating effect even at top level play, making him a powerful character in the right hands.

Attributes

Pac-Man's attributes are that of a typical middleweight with a rather floaty aerial game. This includes average walking, dashing and air speeds, average air acceleration and weight, slightly slow falling speed and slightly low gravity, as well as slightly higher than average jumps.

Pac-Man, like Diddy Kong and his Banana Peel, is reliant on his item-producing special moves to control the flow of battle and win in the neutral game. Two special moves, Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant, grant him numerous mix-ups for almost any situation: each of object provided by Bonus Fruit has different attributes, which makes them good spacing, starting combos or edgeguarding tools, and even possess early KO potential as a way to overcome his smash attacks' slow speed and low range. This allows him to confuse and force movements from his opponents to put them in disadvantageous positions, especially off-stage. With extreme technical skill, Bonus Fruit can even be used for footstool jump-initiated zero-to-death combos, making Pac-Man one of the few characters with this ability in no-item scenarios. Fire Hydrant acts like Kirby's Stone when used in the air and is useful for covering landings. Its additional push effect also makes it useful for more than just offense, due to its ability to space, gimp poor recoveries, and force opponents into Pac-Man's attacks. It is also Pac-Man's most powerful projectile it is launched when damaged enough, making it an additional finisher. Apart from his projectiles, Pac-Man also possesses a slow, but accurate, finisher in Power Pellet, which functions both as a great vertical recovery option and mindgame option, as it can be aimed prematurely and made to curve in creative angles using his Fire Hydrant's push effect. Pac-Jump is an effective vertical recovery should all three trampoline jumps be used, and makes it safe to edgeguard off-stage as Pac-Man will likely make it back onto the stage.

Outside of his specials, Pac-Man has a good combo game. Though his ground attacks are weak with slight ending lag, his tilts are fast (especially his neutral attack) and extend his hitboxes (forward tilt) or slide him forward (down tilt), letting him attack out of shield easily or poke opponents at a safe distance. His up tilt can chain into itself at low percentages, while his down tilt can reliably combo into his dash attack. The latter hits multiple times with nearly no ending lag and allows Pac-Man to follow up with almost any ground move, such as his safe and fast neutral attack. Pac-Man is also capable in the air; his aerials are fast and can chain into themselves, especially his forward and up aerials, his neutral aerial is a useful out of shield option and both it and his back aerial are effective off-stage finishers, making him good overall at damage racking and edgeguarding.

However, Pac-Man has his flaws. One of his biggest issues is his inability to KO reliably without his specials. While his tilts and aerials are fast in execution, none of them can KO aside from his aerials, which KO relatively late; his strongest aerial, back aerial, starts KOing at 138% near the edge. His main finishers, his smash attacks, are strong and can KO at the edge easily, but are held back by mediocre ranges along with noticeable start-up and ending lag, making them very punishable and predictable. Another issue is his grab game: he has an extremely laggy and unreliable grab, making it considerably riskier for him to use his grab for punishes compared to other characters. His throws are also unimpressive, with only his down throw having combo potential, most notably into Bonus Fruit's key, dash attack or a short hopped forward aerial to neutral aerial. Even then, the latter combo does not work on all characters due to some of them having low hitboxes after missing a tech, making it impossible to land the neutral aerial at low percentages.

Despite his special moves' perks, all of them can also be turned against him. Bonus Fruit's objects are items that can only exist once at a time, hence opponents can grab them out of the air, nullifying one of Pac-Man's only projectiles so long as they hold onto it. So long as Bonus Fruit is nullified, Pac-Man is disadvantaged at spacing, KOing and mindgames, while a competent opponent can use his own Bonus Fruit against him. This hurts Pac-Man's match-ups against characters able to reflect projectiles, with two particularly notable examples: Villager can Pocket Bonus Fruit for long periods and thus strongly hinder his offense, while Rosalina can use Gravitational Pull to completely nullify both of his projectiles and render him absolutely helpless at range. His Fire Hydrant can be turned against him as well; it can be knocked back by opponents, even in the first few frames when it is released, making it possible for Pac-Man to immediately be dealt noticeable damage. Its push effect also affects him, and can cost Pac-Man a stock if he is careless. Despite being strong, Power Pellet is highly predictable and can be interrupted by any attack, which drops a healing Power Pellet that can be used by the opponent, and his Pac-Jump, though giving great vertical height, can also be used by opponents for gimping Pac-Man's own recovery. Due to these possibilities, a good Pac-Man player must keep watch of where the projectiles are to do the most amount of knockback possible at a safer range than his short-reaching normal attacks without these abilities being turned against him.

Pac-Man benefits from his custom moves. Freaky Fruit deals less damage, but each object has its own erratic pattern and thus can provide even greater mix-ups. Lazy Fruit is slower and deals less damage, but the objects stick around for much longer, which enables them to be usable more than once and also provide different mix-ups. Power Pac-Jump only provides one jump, but Pac-Man is launched higher and he hits multiple times upon ascending, making it suitable for offensively-inclined playstyles. Meteor Trampoline decreases in height after each jump, but the fourth jump can bury grounded opponents and meteor smash airborne opponents, as the name implies. On-Fire Hydrant does not shoot out as far, but it shoots fire instead of water, shoots three times instead of twice, takes less damage to launch and the hydrant itself deals more damage.

Overall, Pac-Man is a character who excels at mindgames and starting combos, but has trouble scoring KOs directly without the help of his projectiles. His specials make him a versatile and unique projectile fighter, though they can help or hinder him in battle, as one careless move can ultimately decide his outcome for the current stock he is on, or even the whole match itself.

Update history

Pac-Man has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in game updates. Update 1.0.4 increased the ending lag to his up smash and lowered the damage output of Bonus Fruit's Galaxian. Fire Hydrant and Power Pellet had their durability and healing output slightly increased respectively, necessitating players using them even more wisely than before, lest the opponent capitalizes on using their effects to their own advantage. The changes to shield mechanics brought about by 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 enable Pac-Man to utilize some new options for pressuring shields through combinations of back aerial, Bonus Fruit's key and Fire Hydrant. Lastly, update 1.1.5 marginally increased the knockback on his smash attacks and back aerial, which slightly improves his KO potential.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS 1.0.4

  • Nerf Up smash's ending lag increased: frame 38 → 50.
  • Nerf Bonus Fruit's Galaxian deals less damage: 11% → 9%.
  • Buff Power Pellet heals more damage: 1% → 2%.
  • Buff Fire Hydrant takes more damage to be launched: 12% → 13%.


Super Smash Bros. 4 1.0.6

Super Smash Bros. 4 1.1.0

  • Bug fix Fixed a glitch where Pac-Jump could send opponents through the stage.
  • Change The formerly removed glitch where Pac-Man could send Fire Hydrant through stages has returned. This is the first known case of a removed glitch returning to the game.

Super Smash Bros. 4 1.1.5

  • Buff Forward smash knockback growth: 97/100 → 99/102
  • Buff Up smash hit 2 knockback growth: 95/90 → 97/92
  • Buff Down smash knockback growth: 84/90 → 86/92
  • Buff Back air knockback growth: 98 → 100


Moveset

  Name Damage Description
Neutral attack   3% Two alternating jabs followed by a backflip kick. Decent range for a neutral attack.
2%
4%
Forward tilt   8% A side kick. Can be angled and is fairly good for spacing.
Up tilt   7% An upward headbutt. Combos into itself at low percentages.
Down tilt   6% Transforms into his wedge form and chomps at a downward angle. Its very fast speed makes it a decent surprise attack, as it moves Pac-Man forward with each chomp.
Dash attack   2% (hits 1-2), 5% (hit 3) Transforms into his wedge form and chomps while sliding forward. Due to it having virtually no lag, it can easily combo into his forward, up, and neutral aerials.
Forward smash   16% (clean ghost), 15% (clean arm), 9% (late) Thrusts Blinky, the red ghost, forward to slam into the opponent. Pac-Man's strongest smash attack, it begins KOing at 88% at the edge. However, all of his smash attacks have noticeable start-up and ending lag.
Up smash   3% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2 clean), 8% (hit 2 late) Thrusts Inky, the blue ghost, upward to slam into the opponent. Has a weak, initial hitbox that leads into a stronger hitbox, but they are unable to connect unless the opponent is almost touching Pac-Man's body. Begins KOing at 115%.
Down smash   13% (clean), 7% (late) Thrusts Pinky and Clyde, the pink and orange ghosts respectively, at both of his sides to slam into the opponent. Deals strong semi-spike knockback that begins KOing at 115% at the edge.
Neutral aerial   11% (clean), 6% (mid), 3% (late) Transforms into his wedge form and backflips. Very fast start-up makes it a good out of shield option. It also acts like a sex kick and is useful for covering missed attacks.
Forward aerial   5.3% A flying roundhouse kick. Has virtually no lag and deals very little knockback, making it useful for damage racking.
Back aerial   11.8% (clean), 7% (late) A dropkick. Pac-Man's strongest aerial and his most reliable aerial KO move.
Up aerial   10% A backflip kick. High range and good for aerial protection, although it has a slight amount of start-up. Seemingly based on his Flip Kick from Pac-Man World 2.
Down aerial   1.5% (hits 1-3), 6% (hit 4) A series of stomps, similar to Snake's down aerial. The last stomp deals vertical knockback.
Grab   Fires Boss Galaga's tractor beam from his hand, drawing enemies into his grip. Oddly, it consists of a series of three hitboxes with short delays in between. This, along with its significant start-up and ending lag, makes it extremely unsafe.
Pummel   3.25% A headbutt. Tied with Mario's pummel as the second most damaging pummel in the game.
Forward throw   6% Shoves the opponent forward. Possibly the weakest forward throw in the game, but it can potentially act as a set-up into Bonus Fruit.
Back throw   11% Spins twice and then tosses the opponent backward, similarly to Mario's back throw. Pac-Man's strongest throw, it is able to KO at high percentages while near the edge.
Up throw   5% Tosses the enemy straight up into the air.
Down throw   1.5% (hits 1-3), 6% (throw) Pins the opponent to the ground and transforms into his wedge form to chomp them. It has combo potential, most notably into Bonus Fruit's key beginning at 0% and up to medium percentages, which results in a total of 25%, or a dash attack at low percentages.
Forward roll
Back roll
Spot dodge
Air dodge
Techs
Floor attack (front)
Floor getups (front)
  7%
Floor attack (back)
Floor getups (back)
  7%
Floor attack (trip)
Floor getups (trip)
  5%
Edge attack
Edge getups
  7%
Neutral special Default Bonus Fruit 4% (cherry), 6% (strawberry), 8% (orange), 9% (apple), 12% (melon), 9% (Galaxian), 8% (bell), 15% (key) A chargeable projectile that iterates over the fruit from the Pac-Man series and other Namco objects for each level of charge, with each object having distinct properties. Can be used for intricate zero-to-death combos that are initiated by repeatedly using jab resets and footstool jumps on an opponent while dropping any of the objects. While in midair, cycling through the objects also slows Pac-Man's descent.
Custom 1 Freaky Fruit 2% (cherry), 3% (strawberry), 5% (orange), 8% (apple), 12% (melon), 8% (Galaxian), 5% (bell), 9% (key) Each object deals less damage, but has more erratic behavior. The key meteor smashes aerial opponents.
Custom 2 Lazy Fruit 1% (cherry), 3% (strawberry), 5% (orange), 6% (apple), 8% (melon), 2% (Galaxian), 7% (bell), 7% (key) Each object moves much slower and deals less damage, but stays around longer. It also takes longer to cycle past the orange.
Side special Default Power Pellet 1% (dash), 10% (ending) A sideways dash with a controllable trajectory, with Pac-Man transforming into his wedge form in order to chomp onto four Pac-Dots before eating a Power Pellet. This move has super armor after Pac-Man eats the Pellet and deals respectable knockback. Interrupting the start-up of this move drops a Pellet that heals 2% for any character. If Pac-Man bumps directly into a surface during the chomps, the move stops and Pac-Man suffers from a lengthy tumbling animation that can cause him to self-destruct or be punished.
Custom 1 Distant Power Pellet 1% (dash), 10% (ending) The trail deploys faster and it has both increased maneuverability and length, with the trail consisting of eight Pac-Dots. However, it is weaker.
Custom 2 Enticing Power Pellet 1% (dash), 10% (ending) The last chomp is much stronger and the Pellet pulls opponents towards it, but the trail takes much longer to deploy and it is much shorter, consisting of only two Pac-Dots.
Up special Default Pac-Jump 7% (clean), 6% (mid), 5% (late) Transforms into his wedge form and produces a trampoline to bounce off of. Active on frame 1 and is a good out of shield option. Repeated bounces gain more height, but the fourth bounce breaks the trampoline and renders the attempted user helpless. Pac-Man himself can hit opponents while ascending. In team battles, it is notable for being potentially game breaking, as two Pac-Men could infinitely bounce off each others trampolines past the upper blast line, similarly to the Luigi Ladder.
Custom 1 Power Pac-Jump 1.5% (loop), 3% (last) Launches higher than the first jump of the default version and Pac-Man hits multiple times while ascending, but the trampoline vanishes instantly.
Custom 2 Meteor Trampoline 3%, 4%/5% (meteor) Consecutive jump height is reversed, decreasing in height instead of increasing; the fourth jump will bury grounded users and meteor smash aerial ones. There is a weak meteor smash hitbox below the trampoline on start-up.
Down special Default Fire Hydrant 9% (drop), 13% (flying), 10% (landing) Drops a fire hydrant below himself that produces non-damaging shots of water. When dealt enough damage, it gets sent tumbling as a powerful projectile that travels in the trajectory of the move that launched it. The tumbling hydrant can be used to hit opponents, or potentially Pac-Man himself if it is sent flying by an opponent.
Custom 1 On-Fire Hydrant 6% (drop), 15% (flying), 6% (landing), 6%/4% (flames) Shoots fireballs instead of water, which can harm opponents and Pac-Man himself. The flames do not fly out as far, but the hydrant shoots three times instead of twice. The hydrant itself deals more damage, but less knockback, and takes less damage to launch.
Custom 2 Dire Hydrant 9% (idle), 9% (drop), 13% (flying), 10% (landing) The hydrant explodes on impact with an opponent, surface, or after a set distance. The explosion deals low damage and knockback.
Final Smash Super Pac-Man 15% Simultaneously eats a Power Pellet and a Super Pellet, transforming into the noticeably enlarged version of his 2D wedge form from the game of the same name. Upon transforming, Pac-Man can chomp his opponents, which deals damage and moderate knockback. It is also unique in that unlike other mobile Final Smashes, it allows Pac-Man to wrap around the screen if he moves off-screen, making it very effective at edgeguarding.

On-screen appearance

  • Opens his mouth while in his wedge form, then jumps into his ball form.
Pac-ManOnScreenAppearanceSSB4.gif

Taunts

  • Up taunt: Performs a "Namco Roulette", which summons classic Namco items, characters and enemies, similarly to Bonus Fruit. It is the only taunt in the game with variable visual and sound effects.
  • Side taunt: Transforms into his wedge form and chomps to the right and left at varying intervals while making his iconic chomping sound.
  • Down taunt: Lays down while Blinky, Pinky, and music notes hover over him while a musical tune plays.
Up taunt Side taunt Down taunt
PacManUpTauntSSB4.gif PacManSideTauntSSB4.gif PacManDownTauntSSB4.gif

Up taunt sprites

Idle poses

  • Scratches his head.
  • Looks at the screen and winks while giving a thumbs up, similarly to his pose in his official art.
PacManIdlePose1WiiU.jpg PacManIdlePose2WiiU.jpg

Crowd cheer

English Japanese
Cheer
Description Pac-Man! Go! Go! Pac-Man!
Pitch Group chant Group chant

Victory poses

A remix of the jingle that plays when starting a new game in Pac-Man, as well as completing levels in Pac-Man World 2.
  • Chases a vulnerable ghost in his wedge form, then shifts to his ball form and poses akimbo.
  • Appears on screen in his wedge form, trips onto the floor and transforms into his ball form, before raising his fist up while sitting down clumsily.
  • Drops from the sky in his ball form and lands while a sign displaying 7650m pops up from the ground, before striking a winking, thumbs up pose. This is based on Pac-Land, with 7650 being Japanese wordplay on "Namco".
Pac-ManPose1WiiU.gif Pac-ManPose2WiiU.gif Pac-ManPose3WiiU.gif

In competitive play

Official Custom Moveset Project

Character Custom sets available
Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man 1132 1131 1122 1121 2132
2131 2122 3131 3132 3121

Notable players

Active

Inactive

Reveal trailer

<youtube>dVz-2VuAYlY</youtube>

Trophies

PAC-MAN
North America The yellow, circular hero of the game PAC-MAN, which is recognized as the "Most Successful Coin-Operated Arcade Game" by Guinness World Records. In Smash Bros., he uses several moves inspired by the original PAC-MAN. Wakawaka your foes by charging up the Power Pellet move and aiming at them.
Europe The yellow, circular hero of the game PAC-MAN, which is recognised as the "Most Successful Coin-Operated Arcade Game" by Guinness World Records. In this game, some of his attacks are based on the original PAC-MAN. Charge up his Power Pellet move, then aim it right at an opponent to wakawaka them extra hard.
PAC-MAN (1980)
PAC-LAND (1984)
PAC-MAN (Alt.)
North America PAC-MAN's Fire Hydrant down special pushes opponents away with blasts of water. You can drop the hydrant on top of your opponents to damage them, but they can also attack it to damage you if you're standing on it! His Pac-Jump up special spawns a trampoline he can jump on three times—the third jump is especially high!
Europe PAC-MAN's Fire Hydrant down special pushes opponents away with blasts of water. You can drop the hydrant on top of your opponents to damage them, but they can also attack it and hit you with it to cause damage! His Pac-Jump up special spawns a trampoline he can jump on three times, and the third jump is especially high!
PAC-MAN (1980)
PAC-LAND (1984)
Super Pac-Man
North America PAC-MAN's Final Smash turns him into this huge form that appeared in SUPER PAC-MAN. In this form, SUPER PAC-MAN eats his foes to deal damage to them and reduce them just a pair of eyes. He can move freely in all four directions, loop around the screen, and... obtain a score of up to 7,650 points!
Europe PAC-MAN's Final Smash turns him into this huge form that appeared in the arcade game also called Super PAC-MAN. In this form, PAC-MAN can eat his foes to deal damage to them and reduce them just a pair of eyes. He can move freely in all four directions, loop around the screen, and... obtain a score of up to 7,650 points!

In Event Matches

Solo Events

Co-op Events

Alternate costumes

Pac-Man Palette (SSB4).png
Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4)
Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4) Pac-Man (SSB4)

Gallery

Trivia

Pac-ManHeadSSB4-3.pngPac-ManHeadSSB4-U.png
Magnify-clip.pngMagnify-clip.png
Pac-Man's two different head icon styles.
  • Pac-Man makes a few references to his home series:
    • During some animations, instead of vocalizing, he emits sound effects highly similar to the ones from Pac-Man.
    • During his Final Smash, he can wrap around the screen like in Pac-Man.
      • When his token in StreetSmash is KO'd, the death sound effect from the original Pac-Man is played instead of being silent.
    • The pose in his official artwork matches the pose in his Pac-Man World artwork.
    • His sleeping animation is a reference to a painting found in Pac-Man World 2.
    • He has alternate costumes that are based on the winged shoes power-up from Pac-Land.
  • Pac-Man was noted within his trailer for being one of the two oldest characters among the cast, with the other being Mr. Game & Watch. Both debuted in 1980, a year before Mario and Donkey Kong, which was also noted at the end of his trailer.
  • Pac-Man is the only character to have different head icons in both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Pac-Man's arm is exposed, showing whatever armband he is wearing if he has one. In Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Pac-Man is giving a thumbs up with the hand on his other arm.
    • Each icon also represents one half of his pose in his official artwork.
  • Pac-Man and the Mii Fighters are the only characters who do not show panicked facial expressions when drowning. In Pac-Man's case, he drowns while retaining his grin.
  • In an interview, Masahiro Sakurai said that he would have considered dropping Pac-Man from the game if Bandai Namco had required the usage of his redesign used in Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures.[3]
  • Pac-Man, Duck Hunt, and Villager are the only characters who have moves based on a series other than their own.
  • In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Pac-Man's Alt. trophy shows him using Power Pellet, making it impossible to tell which alternate costume is being used, if at all. This makes him the only character with this distinction.
  • Pac-Man is the only third- party in Super Smash Bros. 4 that can crawl.

References