Pac-Man Moveset Discussion

[Bauske]

Man, watching that video, his chomping trail is so beast. You can use it as an awesome attack or a great recovery. Seems like you can direct it in any direction too, so that makes it even better.

But then, from all the videos I've see. So far of Smash 4, it doesn't seem like anyone really has any troubles getting back to the stage.

 

[StaffofSmashing]

Sakurai spammed it. That is saying something.

 

[Nu~]

Pacman is gonna have great spacing and edgeguarding abilities what with the summons he has and the water from the hydrant. The trampoline can even force a helpless animation. That will be fun to abuse

 

[Bauske]

Also, just something of note, it seems like all the ghosts are incorporated into his smash attacks. I don't know if it's random or static, but I'm thinking it's static.

Down smash has Clyde (orange) in front and Pinky (pink) behind him.
Forward smash uses Blinky (red).
Up smash used Inky (blue).

I don't really have much in the way of gameplay to confirm if this will always be the case, but it seems that way. Both the trailer and the footage from the roundtable had him perform a down smash, and it was exactly the same both times. Could just be coincidence or the ghost colors are always the same for each smash type, which is what I'm thinking.

Also, I'm still really confused on the fruit. In the trailer, before he throws the orange at Mega Man, he's holding it above his head, but later on, when he's selecting the pooka, Mappy, etc., he's holding it out front. I'm certain these are the same move, but I don't know the reason behind his holding it over his head as opposed to holding it out in front of him. I hope we get some clarification before release.

 

[8-peacock-8]

The fruit is probably a neutral special and if you hold down the button cycles through each fruit/Namco character?

 

[Mr. Johan]

Looking back on the trailer and the match footage we have of Pacman, Pac does have a different posture with his Namco Summon move and his Pac-Dots. His arm is hanging downward for the latter, while it points outward for the former.

Yeah, unless his arm changes direction as it gets to the Namco stuff, there are indeed three separate moves going on here.

Pac-Dot Summon - Neutral Special
Fruit Cycle - Side Special
Namco Summon - Side Taunt

 

[8-peacock-8]

Yeah, the Namco Summon is probably a taunt.

 

[Bauske]

Yeah, the Namco Summon is probably a taunt.

I dunno. With the move customization thing going on, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he had three different sets of summons that all acted differently.

 

[8-peacock-8]

I dunno. With the move customization thing going on, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he had three different sets of summons that all acted differently.

True.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

I think he can select the Namco character or fruit (or it could be a roulette like thing) and use an attack with them.

 

[8-peacock-8]

Throwing Mappy would be hilarious.

 

[Mysteltainn]

I think Pac-Man is going to be one of those characters who'll be hard to grasp, but potentially a nightmare to play against when done right. I'm really surprised at how many projectiles he has, and am glad that his move-set is so mixed, because I was afraid he was going to use too many punches if he got into the game. He looks quite fun, and very unique.

As for his moves, I'd say the majority have already been discussed already, it'll be interesting to see how his chomp comes into play though.

 

[8-peacock-8]

B: Fruit/Galaxian
Forward B: Pellets
Down B: Fire Hydrant
Up B: Mappy Spring (You can barely see it but Pac-Man uses it as a recovery in the Roundtable gameplay)

 

[LancerStaff]

Something tells me "fruit throw" is a move while "sprite cycle" is a taunt. Look at his stance

It's a little quick, but he goes from apple, melon, ship. The apple is the weakest, while the ship flies around a little bit. He also looks like he charging something

This, meanwhile, looks like he's just presenting sprites like "Look what I can do!" Also, we've never seen him throw any of these.

Here's a theory for ya, what if the objects he cycles through is a set order? Like cherry, orange, banana, Galiga, Mappy, Xevious ship. It'll generally get better as it goes. (With a few jokes like Mappy.) Xevious is probably the last one and also probably deadly.

 

[Bauske]

I'm curious how much priority his dash and side B moves are going to get. Is it just his mouth that can damage? If he gets hit from behind will it knock him out of it? If not, these two moves could be extremely deadly and have little consequence for using them. I didn't see Sakurai ever get knocked out of his side B.

 

[Nu~]

I'm curious how much priority his dash and side B moves are going to get. Is it just his mouth that can damage? If he gets hit from behind will it knock him out of it? If not, these two moves could be extremely deadly and have little consequence for using them. I didn't see Sakurai ever get knocked out of his side B.

I think pretty sure he's invincible during his side B but the dash attack i'm not sure about. I love that he doesn't slow down going into his dash attack. I believe his Side B also can't be used again until he hits the ground(if not it would be infinite invincibility and recovery LOL)It's gonna be really fun chasing players around with it.

 

[MatthewSwain9]

Im afraid that people will just spam his Standing B or whatever the galaga stuff is like an MK tornado hope it doesnt get spammy

 

[Luigi#1]

Throwing Mappy would be hilarious.

I'd love random doors to spawn

 

[8-peacock-8]

The abduction ray from Galaga is clearly his grab.

What else could it be used for?

 

[Pacack]

The abduction ray from Galaga is clearly his grab.

What else could it be used for?

It could definitely be a command grad like Ganondorf and Boswer's side b's.

 

[FlareHabanero]

The tractor beam appears to be a stylized grab, which seems to follow the same rules as Yoshi's grab of being long ranged but slow. I wonder if will speed up if you do a pivot grab like Yoshi's grab too.

 

[8-peacock-8]

It could definitely be a command grad like Ganondorf and Boswer's side b's.

8bit command grabs!

 

[GamerGuy09]

Does anyone else think that Pac-Man reminds me of Teddie from Persona 4 Arena? A move that seems to throw out random projectiles.

 

[Pacack]

Does anyone else think that Pac-Man reminds me of Teddie from Persona 4 Arena? A move that seems to throw out random projectiles.

I'm not familiar with him(?). Got a match or something that shows him(?) off well?

 

[GamerGuy09]

I'm not familiar with him(?). Got a match or something that shows him(?) off well?

Teddie is the bear looking thing. He heavy attack lets him throw different objects that so various different things. They are always in a set order so they aren't technically random.

 

[8-peacock-8]

Teddie is the bear looking thing. He heavy attack lets him throw different objects that so various different things. They are always in a set order so they aren't technically random.

Beary good video.

 

[Pacack]

Teddie is the bear looking thing. He heavy attack lets him throw different objects that so various different things. They are always in a set order so they aren't technically random.

Interesting...so what moves are actually the same attack?

 

[8-peacock-8]

Interesting...so what moves are actually the same attack?

The 8-bit fruit and galaxians.

 

[MatthewSwain9]

lol i ment the thing where he cycles though different games because he can throw a thing that shoots at people and that seems spammy

 

[DakotaBonez]

Siliconera said that the Fire Hydrant was his "Down A" attack. They didn't specify if you have to tilt the stick or smash it.
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/06/10/pac-man-joins-super-smash-bros/

When I first saw his moveset I thought it was ******** that he throws around Namco sprites in alot of his moves. Like, the ghosts are his enemies, why are they a weapon now? And the ghosts and galaga ships appear as assists too, isn't it redundant to have them as an attack as well? Did Sakurai actually make this moveset?
After rewatching the trailer though I saw that he had some interesting melee attacks.
But why did they make his appearance change into that bland yellow sphere during some moves? If they were to use sprites anywhere, THAT woulda been the perfect time for him to morph into pixel pac man.

I'll have to see more of his moves, tossing around old icons like that just seems like desperate nostalgia overkill to me.

EDIT:

I guess that, in a way, he's like Mr. G&W. And he actually doesn't seem to toss around as many icons as I thought, some of those could've been part of a taunt, and tossing the pixel fruit does look like fun. I guess that Pac-Man nostalgia is a pretty big thing and they really are giving the fans what they want.
Meh, I won't completely give up on him til I see some more footage.

 

[BridgesWithTurtles]

Siliconera said that the Fire Hydrant was his "Down A" attack. They didn't specify if you have to tilt the stick or smash it.
http://www.siliconera.com/2014/06/10/pac-man-joins-super-smash-bros/

When I first saw his moveset I thought it was ******** that he throws around Namco sprites in alot of his moves. Like, the ghosts are his enemies, why are they a weapon now? And the ghosts and galaga ships appear as assists too, isn't it redundant to have them as an attack as well? Did Sakurai actually make this moveset?
After rewatching the trailer though I saw that he had some interesting melee attacks.
But why did they make his appearance change into that bland yellow sphere during some moves? If they were to use sprites anywhere, THAT woulda been the perfect time for him to morph into pixel pac man.

I'll have to see more of his moves, tossing around old icons like that just seems like desperate nostalgia overkill to me.

I sort of thought this way as well, but I think it's easier to swallow when you accept that Pac-Man himself is an entity of nostalgia in general. Even his most successful modern games play up his historical roots significantly. It's part of his character to remind you of his (and his company's) past, so I think basing his moveset around that is probably the most in-character, logical choice they could have gone with.

I agree that it's pretty tacky, but so is Pac-Man himself. He's emblematic of outdated character design and game design tropes. I wouldn't say it's desperate, since Namco actually embraces the fact that he's not a modern character. It's more of an intent to honor and revere, and glorify Namco's early contributions to the industry. They know that Pac-Man, as a character, can't survive in the modern industry, being the sort of character that he is, unless they stay very meta about his tackiness and acknowledge that his relevance will always be rooted in the past. I think that's the smartest thing that a company can do with such a character.

 

[MatthewSwain9]

I sort of thought this way as well, but I think it's easier to swallow when you accept that Pac-Man himself is an entity of nostalgia in general. Even his most successful modern games play up his historical roots significantly. It's part of his character to remind you of his (and his company's) past, so I think basing his moveset around that is probably the most in-character, logical choice they could have gone with.

I agree that it's pretty tacky, but so is Pac-Man himself. He's emblematic of outdated character design and game design tropes. I wouldn't say it's desperate, since Namco actually embraces the fact that he's not a modern character. It's more of an intent to honor and revere, and glorify Namco's early contributions to the industry. They know that Pac-Man, as a character, can't survive in the modern industry, being the sort of character that he is, unless they stay very meta about his tackiness and acknowledge that his relevance will always be rooted in the past. I think that's the smartest thing that a company can do with such a character.

I think that Pac-Man if you think about it, is sort of a strange character but if all of his moves were not referencing other games or simply tacky, it wouldnt fit him so having such an odd moveset sort of fits Pac-Man because honestly what other game has Pac-Man in it besides 1 Damn racing game that no one cared about . Overall I think that this is an interesting concept and could have been a LOT worse.

 

[8-peacock-8]

Pac-Man is usually connected to galaga anyway.

Galaxians were collectibles in Pac-Man World 3, Galaga things usually appear in Pac-Man games, the ghosts worked together with Pac-Man long before Ghostly Adventures, and Pac-Man is also connected multiple other old franchises like Dig Dug.

 

[DakotaBonez]

I wonder if the attack where he shoots a Tractor Beam out of his hand is a special move or how he grabs people.

 

[8-peacock-8]

I wonder if the attack where he shoots a Tractor Beam out of his hand is a special move or how he grabs people.

Don't see why not. I think that was the intent when they showed him doing it next to a galaga ship abducting Villager.

 

[DakotaBonez]

Don't see why not. I think that was the intent when they showed him doing it next to a galaga ship abducting Villager.

Yes but I'm curious to know if it is a grab special like bowser's side b or falcon's up b, or a slow z button grab like samus or link's.

 

[8-peacock-8]

It's most likely just a standard grab.

 

[Hong]

Just going to chime in that the B button indeed probably just cycles from a set list of objects. If Pac-Man is empty-handed, summons an object. If he has an object in hand and you press B, it cycles to the next in a fixed order. You use the item just like any other. In theory, you could always hold onto something even as you approach your enemy, so if a situation arises that calls for something specifically, you can obtain it sooner.

This game will have some unique item mechanics for other characters as well. For example for the Villager's Pocket ability, if you have a usable item in your hand and press B it will store it away. If you have a usable item in your pocket and press B, the Villager will retrieve it and will wield it (as opposed to just chucking it immediately).

Overall, from my competitive point of view I would say he is a character who will rely a lot on harassment. Those projectiles are likely to all fill very different niches, and the fire-hydrant has a lot of utility. His limbs are too stubby to make him particularly great in close-quarters and his body is such a massive hitbox. That said, his smash attacks literally fire off enormous disjointed hitboxes, so if they are at all powerful he shouldn't have too much trouble scoring kills.

 

[BBG|Scott-Spain]

Quite a bit of durability on the fruit...

 

[Bauske]

Still really interested in how the standard B fruit selection will work. I like that it's a set order, but I'm wondering what buttons do what.

Here's how I'm thinking about it. It'll work one of two ways.

1. Press and hold B to cycle through the fruit. Release B and the fruit you stopped on goes into his hand like an item and you can throw it.

2. Each time you press B, the fruit changes until you press A when he's holding it, thus putting it in his hand for throwing.

There definitely has to be a way to select one and hold onto it for later, because in the trailer, he uses a Galaxian on Fox while he's in the air. And he was coming from a ground jump, so there's no way he cycled through all the fruits that quickly and then tossed it. I'm thinking it's going to be the latter method of pressing A while he's presenting it to select the one you want. Pressing side A or smash side A will throw it immediately.

Gaaaahh! I just want to play as him and find out!