Super Smash Bros. 4

Pac-Man (SSB4)

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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
Pac-Man (SSB4)
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 to attendees of the E3 2014 Smash Bros. Roundtable and later confirmed to the public on Nintendo of America's Twitter account.[1] 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.[2] 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

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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 moves can be easily turned against him, making excessive use of his special moves risky against skilled players.

Pac-Man has a good combo game as his ground and air attacks are fast, though many of his ground tilts have slight ending lag and all of his normal attacks have terrible reach. He benefits from having one of the safest dash attacks, which 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, including his jab - his fastest and safest move on the ground. His smash attacks are strong and disjointed, able to KO as early as 85%, but they are unreliable finishers that have noticeable ending lag, making it difficult for Pac-Man to land a hit without getting punished. He 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 are faster compared to his ground moves and can combo into themselves (most noticeably his forward and up air). However, Pac Man's moveset suffers from not having a fast and reliable finisher with good reach, which forces 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. With access to 8 different Bonus Fruits, Pac-Man has a massive amount of options for almost any situation, especially for spacing. Notably, the apple is thrown diagonally downwards and has decent knockback which makes it a good edgeguard projectile, while both the melon and key are Pac-Man's strongest Bonus Fruits and one of his more reliable finishers with a much better range than his slow smash attacks. Finally, the bell is difficult to aim but paralyzes approaching opponents and can trap them at close range long enough for Pac-Man to hit them with a smash attack. Fire Hydrant is Pac-Man's second projectile and is arguably as useful as the Bonus Fruits, as it can be used like Kirby's Stone to cover landings, turn into Pac-Man's most powerful long range projectile that can guarantee early kills, and gimp fighters with terrible recoveries (such as Little Mac) when the hydrant sprays water. The push effect from the hydrant can also force opponents into Pac-Man's attacks, making it a unique tide turner. While slow, Power Pellet is also one of Pac-Man's KO moves, able to be aimed in any direction and does not cause helpnessless, making it a safe surprise finishing move. This combined with Pac-Jump's use as a good vertical recovery allows Pac-Man to edgeguard off-stage while letting him be almost guaranteed to make it back on the stage.

However, as much as Pac-Man relies on his special moves, every one of them can be turned against him. As his 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, and can use it against him at any time. Pac-Man is completely vulnerable to his hydrant himself as well; 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 likely that Pac-Man gets knocked out by his own hydrant. The hydrant's push effect affects him as well, and in extreme circumstances can push Pac-Man offstage while he's charging a fruit, causing a self-destruct. Power Pellet takes some time to use 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 be gimped with one jump from an opponent. 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 he relies on them 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 playstyle focusing on unique projectiles, 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.

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) 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.
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% 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 a helpless state. Pac-Man himself can hit opponents while going upwards.
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.
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.

Trailer

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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)

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!

In Event Matches

Solo Events

Co-op Events

Gallery

Trivia

  • Red, Blue, Yellow (Pac-Man's trailer) is the only newcomer trailer that shows footage of the 3DS version.
  • Pac-Man, Shulk, and Mewtwo 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 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.

References