Pac-Man (SSB4)

Pac-Man in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Pac-Man
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Super Pac-Man

“	PAC-MAN Hungers for Battle!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Pac-Man (パックマン, Pacman), stylized as PACMAN (Japanese) and PAC-MAN (all other languages) in-game, is a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. 4, first shown on June 10th, 2014 to attendees of the E3 2014 Smash Bros. Roundtable and later confirmed to the public on Nintendo of America's Twitter account. He was confirmed alongside Palutena and the Mii Fighters on the same day. Pac-Man is one of four third party characters in the game along with Capcom's Mega Man and Ryu and Sega's Sonic and is the third third-party character revealed in the game. His abilities involve throwing fruits at other fighters and eating power pellets, along with basic punching and kicking abilities for close-range moves. He is noted within the trailer for being, along with Mr. Game & Watch, among the oldest characters in the game, first appearing in 1980 (earlier than Mario's debut in Donkey Kong). While Pac-Man is introduced in his classic "wedge" shape, within the game he mostly takes his 3D "ball" form that appeared in game cabinet artwork and advertising but first appeared in-game in the Japanese version of Pac-Land.

Attributes

Pac-Man's playstyle relies heavily on his unique projectiles to control the flow of battle and KO opponents, as his normal moves have trouble KOing. He is a strong projectile fighter — unfortunately, all his special moves can be turned against him, making excessive use of them risky against skilled players.

Pac-Man has a good combo game, as his ground attacks are fast, though they have mediocre reach and slight ending lag. His grab game is lackluster, as he has the laggiest grab in the game, taking a full two seconds before he can use another move. However, he benefits from having one of the safest dash attacks, which has good range, hits multiple times, and has nearly no ending lag, allowing Pac-Man to follow up with almost any ground move, and he also possesses a safe and fast jab. His smash attacks are strong and disjointed, able to KO as early as 85%, but they are unreliable finishers with noticeable ending lag, making it easy for Pac-Man to get punished. In the air, Pac-Man is a more capable fighter, as his aerials are fast and can combo into themselves, especially his forward and up air, although none of them can KO reliably. Thus, Pac Man's moveset suffers from not having a fast and reliable finisher with good reach, forcing Pac-Man to rely on his special moves to earn kills.

Pac-Man's most useful ability comes from careful use of his special moves. He possesses two good projectiles: Bonus Fruit gives Pac-Man has a massive amount of options for almost any situation, as each fruit has different attributes. They are good spacing, combo starting, and even edgeguarding tools, some even possessing early KO potential with much better range than his slow smash attacks. Fire Hydrant acts like Kirby's Stone, and is Pac-Man's most powerful long-range projectile. Its additional push effect is a great spacing tool, can gimp bad recoveries, and can force foes into Pac-Man's attacks, making it a unique tide turner. Apart from projectiles, Pac-Man possesses a slow but accurate finishing move in Power Pellet, and this combined with Pac-Jump, a great vertical recovery option, allows Pac-Man to safely edgeguard off-stage.

Despite these perks, all of Pac-Man's special moves can be turned against him. Bonus Fruits are items that can only exist one 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. This hurts Pac-Man's matchups against reflector-holding fighters, especially Villager, who can Pocket his fruit for long periods. His hydrant can turn against him as well; it can be knocked back by opponents, even in the first few frames when it is released, making it likely that Pac-Man gets knocked out by his own hydrant. Its push effect also affects him, and can cost Pac-Man a stock if he's 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. Due to these possibilities, a good Pac-Man player must keep watch of where his 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.

Overall, Pac-Man is a character who excels in the air and at starting combos, but has trouble taking a stock. His specials make him a versatile and unique projectile fighter, though they can help or hinder him in battle, as one careless move can either turn the tides in his favor or knock him out with his own move.

Update History

1.0.4

• Up Smash possesses more ending lag.
• Bonus Fruit's Galaxian deals 9% damage instead of 11%
• It now takes 13% damage to launch Fire Hydrant instead of 12%.
• Power Pellet now heals 2% instead of 1%.

1.0.6

• Trampoline can no longer be affected by Pocket.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Punches twice, then performs a quick flip kick.
			2%
			4%
Forward tilt			8%	Performs a side kick. Can be angled.
Up tilt			7%	Swings his head forward in an arc, headbutting the enemy. Combos into itself at low percentages.
Down tilt			6%	Transforms into his ball form and chomps at a downward angle. Very fast and can be used as a surprise attack.
Dash attack			2% (hits 1-2), 5% (hit 3)	Transforms into his ball form and chomps while sliding forward. Can link into a forward air.
Forward smash			16% (clean ghost), 15% (clean arm), 9% (late)	Shoots Blinky, the red ghost, forward.
Up smash			3% (hit 1), 14% (hit 2 clean), 8% (hit 2 late)	Shoots Inky, the blue ghost, straight upward with moderate knockback with high ending lag.
Down smash			13% (clean), 7% (late)	Shoots Pinky and Clyde, the pink and orange ghosts respectively, at both of his sides.
Neutral aerial			11% (clean), 6% (mid), 3% (late)	Spins around in his ball form, in a similar fashion to Wolf's neutral air.
Forward aerial			5.3%	Roundhouse kicks. Has virtually no lag.
Back aerial			11.8% (clean), 7% (late)	Dropkicks behind himself.
Up aerial			10%	Flip kicks above himself. It bears a strong likeness to his midair attack from Pac-Man World 2.
Down aerial			1.5% (hits 1-3), 6% (hit 4)	Stomps multiple times downward, much like Snake's down air.
Grab			—	Releases the beam from Boss Galaga from his hand, drawing enemies into his grip. It is very punishable if missed.
Pummel			3.25%	Bashes the enemy with the top of his head.
Forward throw			6%	Throws the enemy forward.
Back throw			11%	Spins twice and tosses the enemy, similar to Mario's back throw.
Up throw			5%	Tosses the enemy straight up into the air.
Down throw			1.5% (hits 1-3), 6% (throw)	Transforms into his ball form and chomps on the grounded enemy. Has combo potential.
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 and other Namco objects for each level of charge, with each object having distinct properties.
	Custom 1	Freaky Fruit	2% (cherry), 3% (strawberry), 5% (orange), 8% (apple), 12% (melon), 8% (Galaxian), 5% (bell), 9% (key)	Each object does less damage but has more erratic behaviour.
	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 does less damage, but stay around for longer.
Side special	Default	Power Pellet	1% (dash), 10% (ending)	A sideways dash of controllable trajectory. This move has Super Armor after Pac-Man eats the pellet.
	Custom 1	Distant Power Pellet	1% (dash), 10% (ending)	The dash is faster and the trail is longer, but the attack is weaker.
	Custom 2	Enticing Power Pellet	1% (dash), 10% (ending)	The dash is slower and the trail is shorter, but the pellet pulls enemies in and the attack is stronger.
Up special	Default	Pac-Jump	7% (clean), 6% (mid), 5% (late)	Produces a trampoline to bounce off. Repeated bounces gain more height, but the fourth bounce breaks the trampoline and puts the attempted user into a helpless state. Pac-Man himself can hit opponents while going upwards. In teams, this move is notable for being potentially game-breaking, as two Pac-Mans could infinetly bounce off each others trampolines, past the upper blast line, in a very similar style as the Luigi Ladder.
	Custom 1	Power Pac-Jump	1.5% (loop), 3% (last)	Pac-Man is launched higher and hits multiple times while rising, but the trampoline vanishes instantly.
	Custom 2	Meteor Trampoline	3%, 4%/5% (meteor)	Consecutive jumps decrease in height instead of increasing; the fourth hop will bury grounded users, or meteor smash airborne ones.
Down special	Default	Fire Hydrant	9% (drop), 13% (flying), 10% (landing)	Drops a fire hydrant downwards that produces non-damaging water blobs, and can be launched by attacking it.
	Custom 1	On-Fire Hydrant	6% (drop), 15% (flying), 6% (landing), 6%/4% (flames)	Shoots fire instead of water. The flames don't fly out as far, but the hydrant shoots three times instead of two.
	Custom 2	Dire Hydrant	9% (idle), 9% (drop), 13% (flying), 10% (landing)	Explode on impact.
Final Smash		Super Pac-Man	15%	Pac-Man becomes enlarged and begins moving about the stage in his ball form, eating opponents and being able to wrap around the screen.

Taunts

• Up — “Namco Roulette” - An up taunt where he summons classic Namco items, characters, and enemies, similar to Bonus Fruit, including those from Galaga, Mappy, Dig Dug, and Xevious.
• Side — Transforms into his ball form and bites on either side of him, making his iconic chomping sound.
• Down — Pac-Man lays down while two ghosts and music notes hover over him.

In Competitive Play

Official Custom Moveset Project

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

Trailer

<youtube>dVz-2VuAYlY</youtube>

Alternate costumes

Trophies

PAC-MAN

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.

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.)

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!

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

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!

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!

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• PacManAllStarTrophy3DS.png

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

• 

  Super Pac-Man

In Event Matches

Solo Events

• New Challengers 2: Pac-Man is one of the seven opponents fought in this event alongside Greninja, Palutena, Robin, Shulk, Dark Pit, and Mega Man.
• The Big 7650!: Pac-Man must use his Final Smash and get six hits with it within 15 seconds.
• The FINAL Final Battle: The player must defeat Pac-Man, alongside Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man.
• Yellow Devils: As Mega Man, the player must defeat a giant Pac-Man and Pikachu, along with the Yellow Devil.

Co-op Events

• A Fairy Nice Trip: Pac-Man and Link must survive on Pac-Land until the stage reaches Fairy Land. Four Kirbies will also try to hinder the players' progress.
• Food Fight: Kirby and King Dedede, both with 100% damage, must defeat Pac-Man, Wario and Yoshi.
• Getting Healthy: Little Mac and Wii Fit Trainer must defeat Pac-Man and Kirby.
• The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Gallery

• 

  Pac-Man's poster used on the official website.

• 

  Pac-Man's splash art.

• 

  Pac-Man's amiibo.

• 

  Pac-Man with the other third party characters, Sonic and Mega Man.

• 

  Pac-Man with Mario, Sonic, and Mega Man.

• 

  Pac-Man and Zero Suit Samus.

• 

  Pac-Man in his classic form that he uses for certain attacks.

• 

  Namco Roulette with Kirby.

• 
• 
• 

  Pac-Man using his Final Smash.

• 

  Pac-Man kicking a Pooka.

• 

  Pac-Man and Mario on the Pac-Maze stage.

• 

  Pac-Man's neutral special move, Bonus Fruit.

• 

  Pac-Man holding a sprite of Mappy.

• 

  Various sprites that can be summoned with Namco Roulette.

Trivia

Pac-Man's two different head icon styles.

• Red, Blue, Yellow (Pac-Man's trailer) is the only newcomer trailer that shows footage of the 3DS version.
  • This is, of course, excluding the first trailer of the game, which also serves as Villager's introduction trailer.
• Pac-Man, and Shulk are the only two characters in the game without a green palette swap.
• Pac-Man's official artwork is exactly the same as his Pac-Man World series artwork, but with more details and the addition of heels to his boots.
• Pac-Man is the only character in Super Smash Bros. 4 to have different head icons in the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game. In the 3DS version, Pac-Man's arm is exposed, showing whatever arm band he's wearing if he has one. In the Wii U version, Pac-Man is giving a "thumbs up" with the hand on his other arm. Each icon represents one half of the pose in Pac-Man's official artwork.
• If a Pac-Man token is KO'd in StreetSmash, the death sound effect from the original Pac-Man will play, which normally doesn't happen.
• For some odd reason, Pac-Man (along with the Mii Fighters) is the only character to not have a panicked expression on his face when drowning. He keeps his standard smile when he sinks, making Pac-Man drown with an ironically wide grin on his face.
  • In fact, Pac-Man keeps this grin while sleeping as well.
• The fourth bounce of Pac-Man's trampoline is the only way to see certain characters helpless states. Examples include Mr. Game and Watch, R.O.B, and Sonic.
• In an interview, Sakurai said that Pac-Man would have been cut from the game if Bandai Namco made him use his Ghostly Adventures design.