PAC-LAND: Stage Research

[ParanoidDrone]

It's the final countdown, and the next-to-last stage to be covered is...drumroll please...PAC-LAND. The allcaps is actually how the game spells it.

Alternate stage name: MS Paint Adventures.

Previously Covered
75M
Skyworld
Flat Zone X
The Great Cave Offensive
Onett
Palutena's Temple
Yoshi's Island
Wily Castle
Gaur Plain
Pyrosphere
Temple
Mario Circuit (Brawl)
Boxing Ring
Port Town Aero Dive
Bridge of Eldin
Pilotwings
Jungle Hijinxs
Wrecking Crew
Halberd
Pokemon Stadium 2
Big Battlefield
Battlefield
Smashville
Lylat Cruise
Castle Siege
Town & City
Duck Hunt
Delfino Plaza
Kalos Pokemon League
Mario Galaxy
Coliseum
Gamer
Wii Fit Studio
Kongo Jungle 64
Windy Hill Zone
Luigi's Mansion
Norfair
Orbital Gate Assault
Woolly World
Skyloft
Garden of Hope
Mushroom Kingdom U
Wuhu Island
Mario Circuit

Layout
PAC-LAND is a scrolling stage with quite a lot going on. The full tour will come later, but for now suffice to say that the stage goes through a town, a forest, a bridge, fairy land, some mountains, and back through the town before repeating. Successive trips have different backgrounds as day becomes dusk, then night, but this is purely cosmetic. One last feature of note about the layout is that the stage completely lacks grabbable ledges of any sort.

Characters here get flattened into 2D projections, although the effect is not visually obvious unless the game is paused and players rotate the camera around. In terms of gameplay, this keeps all hitboxes and hurtboxes on a single plane, even when a character would normally animate into the foreground or background. Since everything else on the stage is also 2D, pausing the game and looking around gets trippy in a hurry.

Players start on a featureless black screen with some text in the background. Players 1 and 2 start near the edges and Players 3 and 4 start in the middle. The Omega form has walled sides.

PAC-LAND has several hazards and dynamic stage features.

Powerups
Before talking about the stage itself, it's important to know that it can provide powerups to the players if items are enabled. They are as follows:

• Small obstacles (fire hydrants, tree stumps, and small cacti) can be pushed by walking (not running) into them opposite the direction the stage is scrolling. Doing so will enlarge the player, as if they touched a Super Mushroom. Whether an individual obstacle can be pushed like this varies on a per-trip basis.
• The Fairy Queen leaves a pair of Magic Boots on the ground. Touching these boots grants increased speed and jump height for about 25 seconds.
• On the return trip, one of the large cacti can release a Special Pac into the air. Touching it grants invincibility, just like a Super Star.
• When returning to town, a swarm of balloons sometimes appears in the air. Touching a balloon heals 1% damage.

None of the above will happen if items are disabled, nor will they happen in Training Mode. For details on the stage sections mentioned, see the next section.

Press Start
PAC-LAND is more or less ripped directly from the game of the same name. Instead of writing walls of text about everything, have a pretty table.

Name|Picture|Notes
Start Screen|

|Players start here. Also appears between loops. Successive loops happen during dusk, night, and so forth, but this is purely cosmetic.
Town|

|All rooftops serve as standard platforms. Fire hydrants release water bursts from the sides (pictured) and from the top (not pictured), exactly like Pac-Man's down special. Vertical jets in particular can be stood on like platforms. Horizontal jets can be passed through by running, or even walking if your character walks fast enough, but will otherwise push you offscreen if not avoided. Some fire hydrants can be pushed backward by walking into them. If items are enabled, this enlarges the player who pushed it.
Forest|

|Nothing dangerous here. Some tree stumps can be pushed exactly like the fire hydrants in town for the same embiggening reward. Characters behind foreground trees are rendered as shadows.
Bridge|

|Bottom platforms are solid from above but not from below. Remaining platforms are standard. Revenge of the fire hydrant on a platform small enough to prevent players from standing next to it. Waterspouts are platforms from above but dangerous if you walk into them. Walking into one at full height does 6% damage as it propels you up, but the knockback can never kill even at 999%. Touching the Galleon item (visible above and behind Pac-Man) will partially fill in the large gap at the bottom. The water below is not swimmable.
Fairy Land|

|Behind the bridge is a door to nowhere. The screen then cuts to Fairy Land without warning. The ground is lower here, so players will fall down before landing again. The Fairy Queen bestows a pair of Magic Boots to the first player to touch them, which grants extra speed and jump height for approximately 30 seconds. The Magic Boots can only be picked up if items are enabled.
Desert|

|Leaving Fairy Land, players are in a small desert. The right cactus sometimes releases a Special Pac item, which grants invincibility on contact like the Super Star item.
Mountain|

|The next section is mountainous, with many gaps. The first gap is filled with rolling logs that push players to the side, although they will not push them completely off into the pit. The second gap is filled with a pair of clouds that move up and down, they're nothing special. The third and final gap is filled with logs that start falling down one at a time yet somehow manage to remain usable as platforms while falling. It bears repeating that the stage completely lacks grabbable ledges, so players must be careful when making their way across.
Pond|

|Behind the mountains is a pond. A cloud moves up and down over the middle, while a springboard can help players jump over. The small cactus can sometimes be pushed backward just like the fire hydrants and tree stumps. If items are enabled, this enlarges the player who pushed it. Similar to the bridge, the water here is not swimmable.
Return to Town|

|On the return trip, all fire hydrants are dormant but can still possibly be pushed. (Spoilers: The reward is still embiggening, but only if items are on.) A swarm of balloons also tends to appear in the air if items are enabled. Touching a balloon heals 1% damage. After reaching Pac-Man's house, the stage goes back to the start screen and a new loop begins.

Summary

• Powerups appear only when items are enabled.
• Push fire hydrants, tree stumps, and small cacti to get enlarged.
• Magic Boots grant speed and jump height.
• Super Pac makes you invincible.
• Balloons heal 1% on contact.
• Fire hydrants shoot water bursts that push players around.
• Waterspouts on bridge are platforms from above, damaging from the side for up to 6%.
• Rolling logs move players to the side but not into the pit.
• Falling logs are, somehow, stable platforms even when falling.
• Springboard can help jump over pond.
• Fire hydrants are dormant when returning to town.

 

[warriorman222]

The growing-you-up-fir-pushing-something gimmick seems pointless. It has no reason to be there, at it gives a great bonus and is very easy to do unless you're being comboed.

 

[Piford]

The growing-you-up-fir-pushing-something gimmick is plain stupid. It has no reason to be there, at it gives a great bonus and is very easy to do unless you're being comboed.

I'm pretty sure it's from the original PAC-LAND

 

[webbedspace]

One of the more interesting tidbits is that the original Pac-Land arcade music appears nowhere in Smash 4, presumably because that music is a remix of the opening titles of Hanna-Barbera's Pac-Man cartoon from the 80s.

 

[Pippin (Peregrin Took)]

Love the alternate stage name

So we know the power-ups for sure break this stage but as the OP said if items are off so are the bonuses. So how is this stage as a scrolling walk-off otherwise. I know we're currently debating walk-off stages as a whole as well as quite a few changing stages (not scrolling but to me Skyloft and Wuhu scroll whereas PS2 transforms), and if there isn't anything immediately noticeable like Pilotwings then I'd certainly want this stage to be in the running because of how ridonculous it is.

 

[PUK]

I do think the issue with walk off is not there if the stage is scrolling. If you camp one of the side you either die or go back to the middle of the stage. Still pretty janky though, but like ephemeral WO i would say.

 

[bigblast66]

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