Pac-Man (SSB4)

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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 PAC-MAN (English) and PACMAN (Japanese) in-game, is a newcomer in Super Smash Bros. 4, first shown on June 10th to attendees of the E3 2014 Smash Bros. Roundtable and later confirmed to the public on Nintendo of America's Twitter account. Pac-Man is one of three third party characters in the game along with Capcom's Mega Man 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 special moves to control the flow of battle and KO opponents as his normal moves have trouble knocking opponents out. However, what makes Pac Man different from other fighters is that his special moves can be easily turned against him, making excessive use of his special moves risky against skilled players.

Both Pac Man's ground and air attacks are great at starting combos, though they all have trouble KOing as they are either weak damage rackers with terrible reach or strong unreliable finishers that have noticeable ending lag. All of Pac Man's tilts have slight ending lag, making them fairly easy to punish. His dash attack, however, covers a lot of ground, hits multiple times and has nearly no ending lag, allowing Pac Man to follow up with almost any ground move if an opponent gets caught in it, including his jab which is his fastest and safest move on the ground. All of Pac Man's smash attacks are disjointed, have greater range than his tilts and KO relatively early at mid 80%s, but all suffer from and massive ending lag, making it difficult for Pac Man to land a hit without risking getting shielded and punished. Pac Man also suffers from having one of the laggiest grabs in the game, taking a full two seconds before he can use another move, making grabs extremely risky.

In the air, Pac Man is a more capable fighter, as his aerials have much less ending lag compared to his ground moves, though they still suffer from a lack of reach. His neutral air is a good out-of-shield option due to it having little startup lag, while his forward and up aerial are good for starting combos after a successful throw as they come out really quickly. A short hopped down air puts pressure on shields as it hits multiple times, but getting all four hits on an opponent is difficult as none of the hits trap the opponent into the other hits, and landing before the final hit has noticeable end lag, making it risky if the opponent is not knocked away. Pac Man's back air acts as a sex kick and is Pac Man's strongest aerial, though it does not KO until high percentages. Overall, Pac Man combos better in the air than on the ground, but still suffers with KOs as none of his attacks are strong enough to KO until high percentages.

Pac Man's most useful ability comes from careful use of his special moves. With access to 8 different Bonus Fruits, Pac Man has a massive amount of options for almost any situation. The Bonus Fruit's cherry, strawberry, and apple act like a capsule which can disrupt an opponent's approaches with a single throw and keep them in enough freeze frames to counterattack. The orange and galaxian travels far and can be used as a long range projectile, especially if used to gimp recoveries from offstage. Both the melon and key are Pac Man's strongest Bonus Fruits and one of his more reliable finishers, and the bell, while difficult to aim, can be used to stun approaching opponents or trap them at close range long enough for Pac Man to hit them with a smash attack. However, as the Bonus Fruits are treated as an item that can only exist one at a time, a competent opponent can grab the fruits out of the air and hold them for as long as they want, completely nullifying one of Pac Man's only projectiles.

Fire Hydrant is Pac Man's second projectile and argurably as useful as the Bonus Fruits, as it can be used like Kirby's Stone as an option to cover landings, turn into Pac Man's most powerful long range projectile that can net Pac Man some early kills after being damaged enough, and gimp fighters with terrible recoveries (such as Little Mac) when the hydrant sprays water. All this does have its disadvantages, however, as Pac Man is completely vulnerable to the hydrant himself: opponents can damage and knock the hydrant back towards Pac Man at any time even in the first few frames when it is released, making it more than likely that Pac Man gets knocked out by his own hydrant, and the water that the hydrant sprays can push an opponent charging a smash attack towards him, or in extreme circumstances push Pac Man offstage while he's charging a fruit, which can cause an accidental SD.

Power Pellet is useful for gaining distance without exhausting his second jump and is a surprisingly useful KO move at high percents, but takes some time to use, traps Pac Man in terrible ending lag if aimed at a wall, and can be interrupted by any attack, which drops a healing power pellet that can be used by the opponent. Pac-Jump gains incredible vertical distance if all three trampoline jumps are used and can be implemented as a gimp (albeit with difficulty) if an opponent touches it when it is red. However, quick players can steal a jump by using the trampoline to help with their recovery, or cut short Pac Man's three jumps to gimp his own recovery. As all of Pac Man's specials can be interrupted or used against him in some way, a good Pac Man player will keep watch of where his projectiles are as Pac Man relies on his special attacks to do the most amount of knockback possible at a safer range than his short reaching normal attacks, and any of these abilities can be swiftly turned against him by a competent opponent.

Overall, Pac Man is a character which excels in the air and at starting combos, but has trouble taking a stock. His specials make him a versatile character with a plastyle focusing on unique projectiles, though they can help or hinder him in battle as one careless move can either turn the tides in Pac Man's favour or knock him out with his own move.

Moveset

		Name	Damage	Description
Neutral attack			3%	Punches twice, then performs a quick flip kick.
			2%
			4%
Forward tilt			8%	Performs a side kick.
Up tilt			7%	Swings his head forward in an arc, headbutting the enemy.
Down tilt			6%	Transforms into his ball form and chomps at a downward angle.
Dash attack			2% (hits 1-2), 5% (hit 3)	Transforms into his ball form and chomps while sliding forward.
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)	Uppercuts before shooting 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 as Wolf's neutral air in Brawl.
Forward aerial			5.3%	Roundhouse kicks.
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 in Brawl.
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%	Punches 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.
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.
Side special	Default	Power Pellet	1% (dash), 10% (ending)	A sideways dash of controllable trajectory.
	Custom 1	Distant Power Pellet	1% (dash), 10% (ending)	The dash is faster and the trail is longer.
	Custom 2	Enticing Power Pellet	1% (dash), 10% (ending)	The dash is slower and the trail is shorter.
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 helpless.
	Custom 1	Power Pac-Jump	1.5% (loop), 3% (last)	Pac-Man is launched higher, but the trampoline vanishes instantly.
	Custom 2	Meteor Trampoline	3%, 4%/5% (meteor)	Consecutive jumps decrease in height instead of increasing; the fourth hop is a burying meteor smash.
Down special	Default	Fire Hydrant	9% (drop), 13% (flying), 10% (landing)	Drops a fire hydrant downwards that produces non-damaging water blobs, and can itself deal damage if dropped or smacked into opponents.
	Custom 1	On-Fire Hydrant	6% (drop), 15% (flying), 6% (landing), 6%/4% (flames)	Shoots fire instead of water.
	Custom 2	Dire Hydrant	9% (idle), 9% (drop), 13% (flying), 10% (landing)	Explodes.
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.

Trailer

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Alternate costumes

Trophies

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS trophy descriptions

Pac-Man's regular trophy can be obtained by completing Classic Mode with him and his alternative trophy can be obtained by completing All-Star mode with him.

PAC-MAN

NA: 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.

PAL: 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 (Alt.)

NA: 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!

PAL: 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!

• 

  Classic (3DS)

• PacManAllStarTrophy3DS.png

  Alt. (3DS)

• 

  Classic (Wii U)

• 

  Alt. (Wii U)

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 introduction image.

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  Pac-Man's amiibo

• 

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

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

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  Pac-Man and Zero Suit Samus.

• 

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

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  Namco Roulette with Kirby.

• 
• 
• 

  Pac-Man using his Final Smash.

• 

  Pac-Man kicking a Pooka.

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

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

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  Pac-Man holding a sprite of Mappy.

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  Various sprites that can be summoned with Namco Roulette.

Trivia

• Red, Blue, Yellow (Pac-Man's trailer) is the only newcomer trailer that shows footage of the 3DS version.
• 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 2 artwork, but with more details and the addition of heels to his boots.
• Pac-Man is the first, and only, third-party character whose up special causes him to be in a helpless state.