How to play PAC-MAN?

[HOO HAH]

Ever since I heard of his release I've been stoked to play as PAC-MAN. However, his complexity and versatility have been bittersweet. How do you use PAC-MAN? What are your bread and butter approach and zoning options. How do you incorporate the fruits into your game play. I've read guides and seen Abadango but I'm still at a lost for how I should play the neutral. The only thing I know right now are edge guarding via fruit, different ways to launch the hydrant, and strings. When do I use the bonus fruit in neutral and how can I shut down approaches. Please help. Their is so much to learn about him and I'm honestly at a loss.

 

[LanceStern]

Bread and butter approach -> Dash attacks. Learn the combos after hitting it but don't be unsafe with it.
Also I use short hop dairs out of shield to pop them in the air.

Zone with bair and fairs.

I shut down approaches with the trampoline (Up - B). Learn how people bounce on it and how to punish with bair or fair. Learn how to do a jump-canceled trampoline out of shield (I set special to L).

 

[SPoitter]

Camp the ledge then pelt them with fruit. Don't use him against people who play Mario, Dr Mario, Rosalina, Fox, or any characters who can reflect & have good mobility. Falco & Palutena aren't one of those so yeah. The best fruit are Apple Key & Bell, Apple is thrown at an downward angle and kills at 120%, Bell paralyzes & Key kills at 110% & is almost impossible to react to.

A good mixup is running up to them, getting close then using his up b, it's unblockable because they're thrown upwards into an instant hit.

 

[LanceStern]

Dont be afraid of Mario or Fox. We can take them.

Even Rosalina

 

[Nu~]

How about don't camp the ledge. Don't fall into the mainstream cop-out that is, "Pac-Man is a camper"

His versatility gives room for many playstyles. Just get creative with your tools to help you react to every situation.

 

[Jay-kun]

DO NOT. DO NOT. DO NOT PLAY ON THE LEDGE. Even in FG, opponents are getting better that they can gimp our side-b and up-b...

 

[COLINBG]

That's the great thing: you can play him as you want to play him! Defensively is possible. Offensively is possible. A mix of the two is possible. Setting traps is possible. Learn his moves, be creative. If you can think of a playstyle, chances are Pac can do it. You just have to adjust depending of the opponent and what you like.

 

[LanceStern]

Examples Jay-Kun? I like the ledge

 

[fromundaman]

Bread and butter approach -> Dash attacks.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Absolutely completely do NOT do this. Dash Attack is a combo extender, a punish option and a tech chase option, but it is NOT an approach.
While Dash Attack has no ending lag, it is super punishable on block as you can shield grab in between hits or even jump out of shield in between hits and punish.

DO NOT approach with Dash Attack unless your opponent has no MU experience and does not know he can punish it on reaction every time as any character in the cast.



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As for how to play the neutral, it depends on characters and playstyles. Personally I like to set up hydrant or fruit traps and follow them in, or pressure with Fair followups.

 

[LanceStern]

I can't see them gimping side B unless their name is Rosalina

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Absolutely completely do NOT do this. Dash Attack is a combo extender, a punish option and a tech chase option, but it is NOT an approach.
While Dash Attack has no ending lag, it is super punishable on block as you can shield grab in between hits or even jump out of shield in between hits and punish.

DO NOT approach with Dash Attack unless your opponent has no MU experience and does not know he can punish it on reaction every time as any character in the cast.



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As for how to play the neutral, it depends on characters and playstyles. Personally I like to set up hydrant or fruit traps and follow them in, or pressure with Fair followups.

I should clarify, I misspke

I use dash attack when my opponents whiff or tech chase. That leads to me starting combos and doing damage so I call it my approach. I don't run up and dash attack.

 

[Maple42]

Use your options to zone your opponent to where you want them to; this is achieved through static obstacles (grounded Trampoline and Hydrant) and projectiles (Bonus Fruit).
The Bonus Fruit are fantastic; they're versatile, act as z-droppable projectiles (especially the key.... 15% z-drop can launch hydrants!), and can further limit your opponent's options. Also, some fruit can block other projectiles, such as Fox's lasers and Samus' charge shot.

The Hydrant and Trampoline are great by themselves; however, they become exponentially better when used together.

If you have free time, always, always charge the fruit. Falling? In the air? Charge the fruit. Every one of them have their uses, so don't be afraid to drop them out. Again, they're all useful as z-drops. By the way, you can z-drop and immediately do an aerial to pick it back up.

Pac-Man's aerials are quite fast; his neutral and back air being the best. As mentioned before by other members, the dash attack is great for following up, but don't just throw it out, because it's way punishable.

His recovery can be a bit predictable; however, you have enough options to make it out. When recovering with the side b, try making strange paths so it'll be harder to follow you; you have to be really far out for the trampoline not to be able to save you. Also, he has a wall jump, so use that to make yourself even more unpredictable.

Don't let your opponent launch your hydrants; you have complete control on where they land, so you should always be able to launch them yourself.

Kill via the key, bell, melon, launched hydrants, side b, back air, or a combination of those. While it is a bit cheese, I like to throw the key to launch hydrant, then follow behind it with the side B. It's very flashy, hehe.
Fight your opponent off the edge; you can almost always come back, but your opponent....
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me or any of the other fabulous members of the board; I used to main Pac-Man, but he's simply not my style. I usually don't play zoners, but when I do, I play Pac-Man c;

 

[WeirdChillFever]

How you play Pac-Man?

With a controller.

Jokes aside, just be smart and creative.
For the rest you can play anything really, from Fair strings to Hide and Seek behind a Hydrant.

 

[fromundaman]

I can't see them gimping side B unless their name is Rosalina



I should clarify, I misspke

I use dash attack when my opponents whiff or tech chase. That leads to me starting combos and doing damage so I call it my approach. I don't run up and dash attack.

Ahhhh okay; that makes more sense :D

Use your options to zone your opponent to where you want them to; this is achieved through static obstacles (grounded Trampoline and Hydrant) and projectiles (Bonus Fruit).
The Bonus Fruit are fantastic; they're versatile, act as z-droppable projectiles (especially the key.... 15% z-drop can launch hydrants!), and can further limit your opponent's options. Also, some fruit can block other projectiles, such as Fox's lasers and Samus' charge shot.

The Hydrant and Trampoline are great by themselves; however, they become exponentially better when used together.

If you have free time, always, always charge the fruit. Falling? In the air? Charge the fruit. Every one of them have their uses, so don't be afraid to drop them out. Again, they're all useful as z-drops. By the way, you can z-drop and immediately do an aerial to pick it back up.

Pac-Man's aerials are quite fast; his neutral and back air being the best. As mentioned before by other members, the dash attack is great for following up, but don't just throw it out, because it's way punishable.

His recovery can be a bit predictable; however, you have enough options to make it out. When recovering with the side b, try making strange paths so it'll be harder to follow you; you have to be really far out for the trampoline not to be able to save you. Also, he has a wall jump, so use that to make yourself even more unpredictable.

Don't let your opponent launch your hydrants; you have complete control on where they land, so you should always be able to launch them yourself.

Kill via the key, bell, melon, launched hydrants, side b, back air, or a combination of those. While it is a bit cheese, I like to throw the key to launch hydrant, then follow behind it with the side B. It's very flashy, hehe.
Fight your opponent off the edge; you can almost always come back, but your opponent....
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me or any of the other fabulous members of the board; I used to main Pac-Man, but he's simply not my style. I usually don't play zoners, but when I do, I play Pac-Man c;

Good synopsis!
You covered it pretty well but I want to add a couple of things:

-Apple is a great kill move as well.

-Traps traps traps. We can zone, we can play aggro and everything in between. What makes us stand out though are our ridiculous trap setups.
For example, throw melon against an edge, regrab it, double jump back towards the ledge, Uthrow melon, and now you have a stationary kill move hovering at the ledge waiting to punish the opponent for recovering.
Hit a hydrant once, then throw a galaga at it to have a hydrant and galaga move together covering the screen and applying ridiculous shield pressure. Follow the ship, regrab with Fair then Z-drop into a Bair and something will shieldpoke for sure.
Jab launch a hydrant near the ledge so that it bounces back and forth on the ledge hitting both above and below it, then run up and put a trampoline next to it for a really stupid ledge trap.
Traps are life, traps are love. This character has a million of them.

-Speaking of traps, Z-dropping fruits into hydrant can get them pushed with an active hitbox that you can follow to go in. You can almost treat it like a Marvel assist. I know I love placing a hydrant, immediately jumping off of it and Z-dropping, then running in to do some sort of highly unsafe pressure and having the fruit punish their attempt to punish me.

- Don't use SideB as an attack on-stage ever. It is VERY punishable and there is almost always a better option.

-Trampoline Out of Shield is the best defensive option of all time. Trampoline stops EVERYTHING. Abuse it. Your opponent should be raging at that move after each game.

 

[COLINBG]

Don't use SideB as an attack on-stage ever. It is VERY punishable and there is almost always a better option.

I disagree. It's one of the better kill moves. While you should almost never use it as you would use Fair or Ftilt for example, if the opponent ****s up it can be a good option.Yes it has slow startup/ending, but if you can make a read or punish whatever unsafe thing your opponent does, it works great. And against slower characters you can do that cool little u-turn thing to potentially hit and get far away immediatly; I believe it's punishable, but it can catch people off guard.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

If you want to use SideB, use the U-Turn on Hydrant thing.

It's a lot safer. (For you)

 

[BSP]

Ever since I heard of his release I've been stoked to play as PAC-MAN. However, his complexity and versatility have been bittersweet. How do you use PAC-MAN?

Learn what each Fruit does
Learn how your hydrant's water interacts with them
Experiment with traps. Learn your special moves intricately because they are all extremely important.

Adapt to the situation. You can set up hydrant + trampoline for stage control, run and charge keys/higher fruits, and punish your opponent for chasing you down. Or, you can set traps and use fruit/hydrant/aerials/trampoline to do an aggro approach. Or do a mix of both to keep the opponent guessing.

In short, do whatever you want.

What are your bread and butter approach and zoning options.

Mix it up between SH and FH fairs, and dropping a hydrant when you're done.
Launching a hydrant with Fair makes it bounce slowly enough for you to follow as an approach
What Fromundaman mentioned with hydrant + galaxian is effective if you can set it up
If you have a fruit in hand, put a hydrant, run off of it towards your opponent and z drop the fruit. The water will push it a bit later, backing up whatever you do
When you're got people sitting in shield scared, bust them with up B
There's so many options. Explore what works for you.

For stage control, no character can approach a trampoline in front of a hydrant safely. Trampoline forces people airborne. Mix up its placement with hydrant to make the opponent move how you want them to. When they do go airborne, you have a good Uair, a disjointed Usmash, and a utilt with some invincibility on it.

How do you incorporate the fruits into your game play. I've read guides and seen Abadango but I'm still at a lost for how I should play the neutral.

The most important thing with your fruit is to mix them up. If you start using one too much and not in a creative way, your opponent will predict your throws and shield or catch it, so mix it up often.

Cherry charges quickly, and is a least a hitbox the opponent has to worry about. Throw it in sometimes and see how they react. You can even use it as bait for them to steal and smash them for it.

Strawberry bounces pretty far. When you throw it airborne, it will travel quite a distance, farther any of the of the others if you throw it correctly. I think strawberry will tank Sheik's needles and keep moving.

Orange is a good fireball. It's great, but don't use it all of the time or you'll get predictable.

Apple is a good KO move at high %. Abuse its trajectory, and it's really effective if you can get it in your hand. An easy way to do so is to throw it into your hydrant's water spout, and then catch it. One BnB KO setup is to run to the opponent, Jump cancel toss the apple up, and then trampoline them into it.

Melon will tank lots of stuff, and keeps its great power even when Z-dropped. Like fromundaman said, when you throw it up, it sits there like a mine. This is a great fruit to get in hand and use with your hydrant to cover your approaches.

Galaxian pierces through things, but it will lose its hitbox if something strong enough hits it. You can pull of some sick combos with this thing in the 20%s and 35%-45% ranges. Look around for galaxian combos we have around here, they're beautiful. Don't fish for them too much though. When z dropped, it'll launch the hydrant well too. Try z drop -> hydrant -> galaxian hits it once, then you fair it to launch and recatch your galaxian. I've been finding it's a great fruit to mix in at higher % since the opponent will be expecting you to go for Keys and Bells.

Bell pierces, paralyzes, and sets up KOs. I try to get it in hand and use it OOS. It'd be smart to see how it behaves when gushed by the hydrant. A good move for an opponent on the ledge is to throw the bell from out of Bonus Fruit so it lands next to the ledge, run over and instant throw it back down and then try to cover whatever the opponent does next.

Key for KOs and a fast, strong, piercing move. It's pretty straightforward. Get it in your hand to instant launch hydrants from z drop.

I'd highly recommend watching other pac man players. Chances are you'll learn something from any of them.

As far as the neutral game goes, what I do depends on who I'm fighting against:

If I'm against Robin, DK, Samus, or anyone with a chargeable B move that I don't feel like dealing with from the get go, I rush in, plant a hydrant a little past center stage on there side, and go from there. Unless I want a particular fruit, I'll stick with cherries, strawberries, and oranges for a bit. Remember that even the weakest fruits will tank any projectile attacks.

Against anyone else, they're probably going to come at you, since most people don't want to let Pac-Man charge. If they do insist on trying to camp you, charge up to whatever you want and approach them with Fair launched hydrants, or with gushed fruit backing you up.

Again though, this all depends on what you want to do. If you want to set up trampolines and hydrants with the intent of hanging back, do so.

Last thing: don't sleep on Pac-Man's aerials. They are all either fast, safe, or have good range + damage.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

I have to yet try utilizing trapping in my playstyle, hahah. I'm more of aggro-Pac. Z-dropping is also a bit lil-used, but it's nice to hear that Galaxian can be a good replacement to Melon as a Hydrant Launcher.

On the point though, Pac is all kinds of fun and versatile indeed. Play him the way you find comfortable first, and then build up more skill and techs to pick up from there. It's like the good ol' arcade game itself.

A lot people already cover more than enough here to say his strengths, so I'll just leave it at that.

 

[COLINBG]

I just realised I did not give concrete examples on how to play Pac, so here we go!

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If you want to play a character, you obviously have to know what the moves do and when to use them, so that's the first step.

Jab: It's an ''emergency'' move. If you don't have time to do anything else without being hit, you jab. You can shield too, but could get grabbed for it, and jab beats grab, so it depends on what you think the opponent will do. It's also nice to just throw as a quick hitbox if you think you can get a hit but only have a short time to do so. Use it after doing moves with a lot of ending lag like dash attacks. That's true for almost every jabs, but this one is generally a good one so don't be afraid to use it.

Tilts: Use them in a similar way you use the jab.

Dash Attack: Really good, just don't abuse it. Mainly to punish landings, and it's excellent at doing that. You can combo stuff from it.

Nair: OoS, Get-off-me in the air, and edge guarding tool basically.

Fair: Spacing, combos.

Bair: Can kill, can stagespike.

Dair: Meh.

Uair: Combos or follow ups.

Smashes: Killing and punishing.

Fruits: You have one for almost any situation. You can either choose the right fruit to deal with a situation easier, or change your playstyle a little, according to what fruit you're trying to use. It can do it all; zoning, killing, edgeguarding, annoying in general, racking up damage, almost anything you can think of, etc.

Trampoline: Stage control, recovery.

Hydrant: Huge stage control, killing, helps landing smashes.

Pellet: Killing, recovery.

Throws: Meh. If you can get a free grab might as well do it, but it's not amazing either imo. Doesn't really kill or combo reliably, but it gives you time and does damage which is always great. It's not bad, but you won't be using it as much as other characters.

Crawling: Okay, it's not a move, but Pac's crawling is by far the greatest animation from any smash game ever. I use it to taunt, personally.

This is very summarized and in no-way exhaustive. It's just what you GENERALLY use the moves for. Generally is the key word here. I started writing an in depths explanation, but gave up halfway through the first move because reasons, whatever.

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You can see there's two kinds of moves: those who kill and those who don't. You want to use those who don't kill to get up damage and eventually land the kill moves. That's smash in a nutshell, and Pac is not different from the other characters in that aspect. Note that while kill moves are usually riskier (but not always), you can use them to do damage in certain situations.

The kill moves are (At acceptable percents. Eveything can kill at high enough percent, but I'll just list those you should be using the most): Nair offstage, Uair high enough, Bair when you're close to the blastzone or can stagespike them, smashes, some fruits (Orange, Apple, Melon, Key. Bell is pretty much a guaranteed kill when you hit with it at high percents if you follow up, but it doesn't kill itself), Pellet, Launched Hydrant. Throws too I guess if you have the right conditions.

Everything else should be used to either rack up damage (through combos and follow ups), or gain stage control so you can be safe and not get killed/hit with the other moves. Almost every move can do at least two of these three tasks (Killing, Damaging, Stage-control). This is why Pac is fun to play, and it's also why everyone tells you to mix everything up. You have the privilege to be able to use a move in different situations, or different moves in the same situation. Use it, because a lot of other characters can't.

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Hydrant is one of your best friends. It basically cuts the stage in two for several seconds, so it can give a lot of relief against campers/rushdowns. You can use the water simply for pushing away people, or with your smahes. The samshes stay active for long, so if you do them while being hit, it kind of extends your range a lot. They do nice damage and knockback and can therefore be used as kill moves. They can prevent getting gimped/attacked in the air if you drop them, because they stop you for a moment and generates a strong, long-lasting hitbox below you. I feel like this is the move that defines Pacman.

Fruits are great too, but it would be too long to explain them in details. Just learn what they do and have fun with them.

Trampoline on stage forces the other player to go around it by jumping, or it makes them jump if they walk on it. This completely cuts rushing down, which is a Pac weakness. Since the opponent has no choice of going in the air, you know where they will be and what they will be and what they will do next, which is a HUGE advantage.

The force of these moves comes from using them simultaneously.

The Hydrant and Trampoline (I'd add fruits in that) are great by themselves; however, they become exponentially better when used together.

This is so true. You can control the stage so you can control where you want the other player to be in a way. This means you can play more safely if you need to, and it's easier for you to damage them and land the kill moves. The B moves are the basis of Pac's gameplay.

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Okay. I can't really say much else, because that's really what Pac's gameplay is after all. Another tip I can give is don't do stupid stuff. I don't know how to phrase it otherwise. For example, don't drop a Hydrant randomly because you can. Will it hit your opponent? Do you need to push the opponent away to prevent a certain thing to happen (Villager sapling camp, rushdown, etc)? Do you need to launch it to kill? If you answer no to those questions, don't do it. It will just give a powerful tool to the other player.

Another example would be don't throw fruits if you don't have to. If you can't punish shielding/dodging and the opponent can just shield/dodge it, what good is throwing the fruit? The key is the prefect example; it takes 5 seconds to charge (or something like that, I don't feel like timing right now) so if you use it carelessly you'll have to waste 5 seconds to get to it again. These are all logical things, but it's what makes the difference between a Pacman player who knows how to utilize his assets, and one who doesn't.

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That's my take on the character. I know there's other ways to play him, but this is the way I do it. You guys all did a great job so far in the thread, so I tried to keep it more general and not be too redundant. As I (and almost anyone else) said earlier, there's so many options that you can't tell ''How to play PAC-MAN''. You just have to try stuff. If you see another Pacman doing something you didn't thought of, don't be ashamed to incorporate that in your gameplay. That's how the Pac community gets better. We'll get these Rosalinas.

 

[Phampy]

How about don't camp the ledge. Don't fall into the mainstream cop-out that is, "Pac-Man is a camper"

His versatility gives room for many playstyles. Just get creative with your tools to help you react to every situation.

I'm so sorry. How I play falls into the "Pac-Man is a camper" camp.

At least from what I've seen, when people aren't whining about my unwillingness to approach, they seem to like the traps I'm setting out and my use of Pac-Man's tools.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

I'm so sorry. How I play falls into the "Pac-Man is a camper" camp.

At least from what I've seen, when people aren't whining about my unwillingness to approach, they seem to like the traps I'm setting out and my use of Pac-Man's tools.

What @ Nu~ says is that Pac is MORE than camping the ledge.
There are so many playstyles to use, Pacamping happens to be one of them.
If you like camping and can show creativity in traps if you camp, you can be a great Pac too.

There are people who think Pac can only hide behind his Hydrant and camp the ledge and don't know he has much more tricks up on his sleeve.

 

[Izanagi97]

JapanCommercials4U2 has a montage of Pac