Official Pac-Man's Amazing Full Colour Fan Club! - Pac-Man General Thread

[Nu~]

Always try to catch a fruit that bounces on your opponent's shield. You can proceed to set up Z drop shenanigans easily.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

Always try to catch a fruit that bounces on your opponent's shield. You can proceed to set up Z drop shenanigans easily.

I like doing this with apples at kill percent. people love shielding apples but then you're able to just z drop and get a hit on them, or pressure with zdrop-fair hydrant. Also z dropping an apple can get a little earlier kill than throwing it if you hit them higher than ground level. it's visually deceptive which allows for the hit to connect as well. If done right you can probably get a kill off the top at 110-120 rather than 140+.

 

[NimbusSpark]

I must mention that recently my internet was down, so I suddenly decided to go 'Screw It!', got my old Pac-Man: Adventures in Time disc and started to play once more, giving me a bit of a childhood nostalgia burst.
Anyways, having been a long time since I last played it, it was a pretty good game. During the time of which I played it, I ended up getting to level 12, The Volcano, which I must mention was a bit cheap considering the flying bits of rock potentially killing him, but wow, the game is certainly a good one.

Pac-Man being in what is considered his most favourable 3D look, great gameplay, camera can be played to zoom into Pac or in the classic style, this is what I get when I ask my mom to get a small LCMs box when I'm young? Well worth it, I guess.

And he sounds so cute when he gets bitten by a snake. Wierd, but I must say that.
On another topic, I'm actually trying to make a Google Spreadsheet for made for a quick summary on certain attributes within Smash 4. Pac-Man is appearantly just above the average weight in the game. The average weight for a character is 94.6, Pac is at 95.

What I currently have gotten at the time:
- Landing Lag
- Weight
- Movement Speed (Maximum Walking, Dashing, Air, Fall and Fast Fall Speeds)
- Frame Speed (How fast the first hitbox of an attack appears.)
- Counters and Reflectors
- Rolls and Dodges

 

[DJDave189]

lol I forgot I even had this shirt. It was hidden somewhere in my drawer.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

lol I forgot I even had this shirt. It was hidden somewhere in my drawer.

lol, i love the ghost's expressions. I always imagine Blinky to be really pissed and determined while the others are kinda carefree.

 

[DJDave189]

lol just I as I found my Pac-Man shirt. This Sexy Beast came in the mail. Any suggestions for a nickname?

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

lol just I as I found my Pac-Man shirt. This Sexy Beast came in the mail. Any suggestions for a nickname?

You lucky son of a-

Name him PUCK-MAN, because he is the Japanese version.

 

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

lol just I as I found my Pac-Man shirt. This Sexy Beast came in the mail. Any suggestions for a nickname?

Lucky ****
As for a nickname, either Puck-Man or Wakka Wakka.

 

[Spirst]

Random but

Yay, Pacman!

 

[Nu~]

Random but

Yay, Pacman!

LOL
I can see the salt seeping through my screen

 

[DJDave189]

Decided to nickname my Pac-Man amiibo PacMitts. lol

 

[Galaxian]

Random but

Yay, Pacman!

ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING

 

[NimbusSpark]

I understand that this is somewhat out-of-context considering this meant to be about Pac-Man, (then again, this is about Smash Bros 4, which contains Pac-Man. ) but I finally opened the Charater Information spreadsheet I previously mentioned a few days ago to the public. If you want to, feel free to look at it and comment.
The link is on my signature.

*tips hat* Have a nice day.

 

[Nu~]

So abadango is becoming a bit more offensive. Awesome! Now he doesn't miss as many opportunities, and he's a lot more fun to watch!

 

[Galaxian]

GUESS WHO BEAT PIFF ON STREAM

I RUN HIS STREAM NOW Kappa

So abadango is becoming a bit more offensive. Awesome! Now he doesn't miss as many opportunities, and he's a lot more fun to watch!

Good to hear! His Pac-Man wasn't awful before but it was a tad slow to watch. Offensive Pac-Play is always very interesting.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

Something funny I thought I'd share: on anthers ladder I actually made my opponent give up after I had a full 3 stock lead on him, second game. I felt kinda bad, but also amused.

So abadango is becoming a bit more offensive. Awesome! Now he doesn't miss as many opportunities, and he's a lot more fun to watch!

I've been hearing rumors he's maining Wario and pushing PAC-MAN to the side. He's also picking up Mewtwo.

 

[Galaxian]

I've been hearing rumors he's maining Wario and pushing PAC-MAN to the side. He's also picking up Mewtwo.

I hope not. Abadango has way too much Pac-Man skill and such to drop him. Mewtwo will be neat from him though.

 

[Nu~]

Something funny I thought I'd share: on anthers ladder I actually made my opponent give up after I had a full 3 stock lead on him, second game. I felt kinda bad, but also amused.

I've been hearing rumors he's maining Wario and pushing PAC-MAN to the side. He's also picking up Mewtwo.

With how much he claims to be the "best Pac-Man" I kind of doubt it.

If so, then oh well. We still have Chef Pac.

A new Pac-Man main will rise up in the future...

 

[TheLeagueOfAydin]

Look at my profile picture, I made it myself :D

 

[COLINBG]

We sell this comics at work. I'm impressed by the amount of different Pacman products, whether it be books, video games or literal oven mitts, that are being produced today. Dude is still relevant af.


And uh, I finally decided that I'm gonna main Mario. After a lot of character testing/analyzing, his playstyle just feels much more natural than everyone else, while he's also fun and pretty good.

 

[Galaxian]

Have fun with Mario! I dabble in him myself so if you want pointers or something like that feel free to shoot.

May 29th cannot come fast enough I WANT MY PAC-MAN AMIIBO ALREADY

 

[SegaNintendoUbisoft]

Have fun with Mario! I dabble in him myself so if you want pointers or something like that feel free to shoot.

May 29th cannot come fast enough I WANT MY PAC-MAN AMIIBO ALREADY

Meanwhile I'm just sitting here hoping Pac-Man will come up for pre-order soon.
*sigh*

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

On the ladder today I ended up timing out an actual Rosalina main, and a pocket Rosalina as well. 2 timeouts, both Rosalina. Don't disrespect my PAC-MAN.

 

[Nu~]

On the ladder today I ended up timing out an actual Rosalina main, and a pocket Rosalina as well. 2 timeouts, both Rosalina. Don't disrespect my PAC-MAN.

LOL
I usually just end up beating the crap out of Rosas on smash ladder and then watching their confusion in the chat.
I personally don't like timing people out. I know how much anger and frustration it can cause.
(I know how much I hated it when Boku did it to me >:^(


Too many people think that Rosa beats Pac-Man, when I'm certain that the opposite is true.

 

[Galaxian]

Rosa v Pac-Man isn't an awful matchup for one character or the other, but it's a very, VERY boring MU.

Sure maybe I should learn it but it literally makes me want to stop playing. That's how bad that MU is. I'd rather play Mario against Rosa than Pac-Man. Maybe I'm overreacting. But maybe I also enjoy having matches end >:V

 

[BSP]

I enjoy taking Rosalina to the clock. Sitting back with GP does not work lol.

@ Galaxian I'm the opposite. I get sad when I pick Mario and I see my opponent has selected Rosalina. So many people are mistaken about the Rosalina v Pac-Man MU.

On a side note, I can't KO with Pac-Man at all Every time I fight Shulk with him, Shulk's living to ~180% because of Monado Shield. I'm too scared to go for something crazy because he can still KO well in Shield (esp with Rage, and if he's feeling gutsy go Monado Smash and KO me at like 60% with a smash.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

I enjoy taking Rosalina to the clock. Sitting back with GP does not work lol.

@ Galaxian I'm the opposite. I get sad when I pick Mario and I see my opponent has selected Rosalina. So many people are mistaken about the Rosalina v Pac-Man MU.

On a side note, I can't KO with Pac-Man at all Every time I fight Shulk with him, Shulk's living to ~180% because of Monado Shield. I'm too scared to go for something crazy because he can still KO well in Shield (esp with Rage, and if he's feeling gutsy go Monado Smash and KO me at like 60% with a smash.

I end up losing matches because I get in the lead, but can't kill, letting my opponent catch up just because he can sit in shield to avoid all my kill options. It's one of my biggest complaints with the game. It makes me irritated that some characters have so many options, while some characters struggle with core parts of the game (example, us grabbing). I've been on both sides of the spectrum of PAC-MAN being one of the best characters in the game, to one of the worst. And really my opinion changes so negatively because of the fact our opponent can sit in shield the entire time and none of our attacks even pierce it. Couldn't side-b break shields or something? It doesn't even crack the shield. Some characters like Pikachu can move around and since attacks have so much range and priority compared to other characters it sometimes doesn't feel fair at all. Many people tell me to get a secondary, but that's not really something I'm interested in doing. I mainly play this game because of PAC-MAN, and it bothers me that sometimes he can't have a chance of success because of certain situations based around the design of the game. I've been in the lead so many times, only to get caught up because of one move I get punished for, whether it be throwing, charging a fruit, or even an aerial. I fight a Pikachu often, and I try and kill with apple, or any fruit, but you know what he does? Sit in shield. His shield doesn't get punctured or anything, even by our smash attacks. And Pikachu can act out of shield very quickly, so if you tried to get a grab approach you'll most likely be punished.

Maybe I'm salty and negative right now, but I'd also like to point out the fact that I've been extremely optimistic about PAC-MAN as well. I look at both sides, and sometimes logical thinking is the negative aspect. Disagree with me or not on certain points, but hopefully other PAC-MAN players can understand where some of my frustration comes from.

Rosa v Pac-Man isn't an awful matchup for one character or the other, but it's a very, VERY boring MU.

Sure maybe I should learn it but it literally makes me want to stop playing. That's how bad that MU is. I'd rather play Mario against Rosa than Pac-Man. Maybe I'm overreacting. But maybe I also enjoy having matches end >:V

I agree. I wanted to do a lot of ladder last night, but after fighting Rosa I didn't feel like playing anymore. It's a really stupid fight.

 

[BSP]

I end up losing matches because I get in the lead, but can't kill, letting my opponent catch up just because he can sit in shield to avoid all my kill options. It's one of my biggest complaints with the game.

That's a Pac-Man problem IMO. Sheik can put you in 50/50s that mean death at KO % because of the dumb fish; Diddy still has Dthrow ->Uair/Fair; Luigi has Dthrow -> Cyclone/Nair/Bair, Sonic has his run speed + Fthrow and Bthrow, Ness has Bthrow, Falcon's throws put you in bad 50/50s or KO coupled with his insane speed, etc.

When you shield vs Pac-Man, although you can't shield forever, he's not going to be KO'ing you any time soon without some hard read. Bthrow isn't that strong, but it's plenty risky. Trampoline doesn't KO until ~190%

 

[Nu~]

*Whisper* Freaky fruit and Lazy Fruit *Whisper*
Freaky strawberry and cherry pull the opponent into our kill moves and if the opponent shields, you have enough time to grab them. Lazy galazian and key eat sheilds and lead to kills, while lazy fruits as a whole can force the opponent into a lose/death situation on the ledge.

I get most of my kills through gimps or hydrant gushing traps, but freaky/lazy fruit have a lot of kill confirm potential imo

We have to work a bit harder with default fruit, but we do have kill confirms. They're just a little difficult

 

[Firedemon0]

I snipe with Oranges like a boss to secure kills. It is something I've noticed I am crazy good at now. I don't even care if they air dodge because I bait it with a short hop and then throw.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

Smash 4 is all about safety. Safe combos, safe kill moves, overpowered shields. In my opinion, for a character to thrive and excel in top level play, they need to have both the ability to have safe combos in neutral and reliable, safe kill options. Take a look at characters like Luigi and Ness. Luigi's down throw can lead to an enormous amount of braindead aerial combos, while Ness has safe combos and can kill with a back throw. No setup, if you get grabbed at a reasonable percent, you're dead (also take rage into account).

PAC-MAN has tons of options and setups, however, all of them can be countered by shield. Get hit by a key? Shield. Launch a dangerous hydrant? Shield. People can wait in shield for us to approach, only to punish. Lately, I don't feel like my wins have been because of my skill with PAC-MAN, but the fact my opponents don't know what to do against PAC-MAN. It feels like ignorance wins my matches, which doesn't feel satisfying to me. The other idea behind PAC-MAN, having items that can be used against you, I feel isn't safe at high level play. Several characters can launch the hydrant with an aerial or special (customs as well). PAC-MAN can gimp, but at high level play I don't see kills mainly thriving off of gimps. Because recoverys and the ledge options are so good in this game, I feel like relying on gimps to win isn't safe when going into a match.

It makes me really frustrated to think so negatively, but it's what I see works and what doesn't work. Orange gimps and such won't work forever. It's just how the meta around this game is made. I have had plenty of times debating with myself whether to continue playing this game seriously or taking it casually, because like I said before, I don't really want to pick up other characters I won't have fun with just to be able to play with the character I do want to play as. There have been times as well where I've said to myself that playing it seriously is fun and I enjoy it with PAC-MAN, but like I said, it's back-and-forth, and I guess right now I'm on the side of being pessimistic.

 

[Firedemon0]

Snip

All you need to do to learn best kill options honestly is watching the video thread. You can see other kill options that you might not of considered.

 

[BSP]

snip

You sound just like me. His grab is why I see him at top 15 at most.

Lately, I don't feel like my wins have been because of my skill with PAC-MAN, but the fact my opponents don't know what to do against PAC-MAN. It feels like ignorance wins my matches, which doesn't feel satisfying to me.

This is the other thing. People still don't know basic stuff about the character. Abadango is in Japan, so you would think everyone would lab against the character and figure out his limitations. Yet I still saw a C. Falcon going against him waste time launching hydrants as opposed to running through them and keeping pressure on Pac-Man. Most Sonic players do the same thing.

That being said, I still think he'll be able to handle any MU to a reasonable extent once everyone knows the MU, but consistency is what I'm worried about.

All you need to do to learn best kill options honestly is watching the video thread. You can see other kill options that you might not of considered.

Actually, why don't we talk about non customs KO options here? It's our general thread.

Our smashes: Too unsafe to throw out unless we've got a read. They're all disjointed, which is great, but our fastest one is at F13. That's not awful, but that hitbox is pretty small and only in front of Pac-Man. They've all got noticeable endlag too. That being said, they definitely get the job done when they connect. Problem is connecting with them.

Tilts: we've got problems if we're KO'ing with these

Throws: Inherently very risky, so much so that at last stock, high %, grabbing is not an option. To make things worse, Bthrow isn't really that strong, and Uthrow isn't either. Bthrow won't KO at any decent % unless you've got them next to the ledge. Uthrow won't KO until ~180% on some people. Rage helps both significantly, but then you're grabbing at high %.

Fruit: common problem, all lose to shield (and then can be stolen, except Key) and can be caught. Projectiles losing to shield is nothing new, but when your grab is as risky as ours is, people tend to sit in shield more. Something else people don't seem to take advantage of is that our Fruits are very easy to clank with. There's little reason to airdodge against them unless you're trying to catch them.

Trampoline: our reliable shield buster, but doesn't KO until ~190% or so.

Launched Hydrant: Loses to shield and also isn't that hard to clank with. People still airdodge launched hydrants instead of attacking them.

Gushed Fruit: Unless you're in the mix, loses to shield. Other problem is that against experienced opponents, this is pretty telegraphed. One thing I do a lot is hydrant -> run off Uthrow a bell in hand. Shamelessly stole this from @Phampy because I saw him bait someone with a missed pivot grab, have the bell hit, and then KO. I can usually get it to work once per opponent, but after that, they take countermeasures. It never happens again. I don't go for the pivot grab bait again, but they still have options. If they shield, I can grab them possibly. Then what? Whatever I do probably won't end the stock.

Aerials: let's not count gimps out, but let's not count on them too much either. Recoveries are generally pretty strong in this game.

Ledge traps: depends on the trap, but they all have counterplay if you know how they work. If they ever involve a trampoline, we can't Smash people for edge regrabs or waiting on the ledge. If we can side B them in time, great. Hydrant can punish too, but does it end the stock? Don't get me wrong, his traps certainly are good, but do they KO?

Another thing: to set up the trap, you forego offstage edgeguarding. It's an annoying decision to make sometimes.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

You sound just like me. His grab is why I see him at top 15 at most.



This is the other thing. People still don't know basic stuff about the character. Abadango is in Japan, so you would think everyone would lab against the character and figure out his limitations. Yet I still saw a C. Falcon going against him waste time launching hydrants as opposed to running through them and keeping pressure on Pac-Man. Most Sonic players do the same thing.

That being said, I still think he'll be able to handle any MU to a reasonable extent once everyone knows the MU, but consistency is what I'm worried about.

His exposure at APEX expected me to believe people would look more at PAC-MAN, but I guess I was incorrect. I firmly agree Abadango's success at APEX was because PAC-MAN was such a slept on character. I don't disrespect his skills, but it's an assumption I stand by. Also, I agree he'll be able to "handle" matchups, but actually beating them is the problem PAC-MAN will face.

 

[fromundaman]

One thing I do have to say about the shield thing is that you don't NEED to pressure a shield at high %s to get a kill.

If they're sitting in shield, charge. Key is one of the best punishers in the game; abuse that. The enemy can sit in shield all they want, but eventually they have to commit to an action, so use key to punish any commitment, no matter how small.

Because of this the key, much like KO punch, Charge Shot, etc. force the opponent to play differently or else suffer a huge punish that can cost a stock. Abuse this as well.
Also, contrarily to other moves of this sort, key is pretty easy to charge, meaning that you can safely mix things up by throwing it out on hard reads which keeps the opponent fearful of the key. I've caught quite a few people with key simply by guessing when they would drop shield or when they would start a dash; sure I'm wrong on that more than I'm right, but ultimately it diesn't matter since a single jab launched hydrant protects me for another key charge.


EDIT:

That said I do agree that Pac can handle most any MU, but I also agree tat I don't think he will solidly win many of them.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

One thing I do have to say about the shield thing is that you don't NEED to pressure a shield at high %s to get a kill.

If they're sitting in shield, charge. Key is one of the best punishers in the game; abuse that. The enemy can sit in shield all they want, but eventually they have to commit to an action, so use key to punish any commitment, no matter how small.

Because of this the key, much like KO punch, Charge Shot, etc. force the opponent to play differently or else suffer a huge punish that can cost a stock. Abuse this as well.
Also, contrarily to other moves of this sort, key is pretty easy to charge, meaning that you can safely mix things up by throwing it out on hard reads which keeps the opponent fearful of the key. I've caught quite a few people with key simply by guessing when they would drop shield or when they would start a dash; sure I'm wrong on that more than I'm right, but ultimately it diesn't matter since a single jab launched hydrant protects me for another key charge.


EDIT:

That said I do agree that Pac can handle most any MU, but I also agree tat I don't think he will solidly win many of them.

The one thing that moves like KO punch and Charge shot have over the key, is people can't shield the KO punch, and Charge Shot can kill very early and does huge shield pressure. Key does almost no shield pressure and you can be unlucky and have them catch it. Sometimes I find key to be unreliable to kill as well, it needs to have more oomph, IMO.

 

[fromundaman]

True on all counts, BUT it does start killing reliably around 140-ish if I remember correctly. It also does serve as a ridiculously good punishing move (which, when used to punish, shield damage doesn't matter). I use it as a last resort for killing, I admit, but it allows you to punish even the tiniest mistake with a KO at reasonable percents.
Sure, it's a little later than most other characters start killing reliably BUT we also rack up damage faster than any other character in the game IMO.

 

[Nu~]

I have a question for everyone who complains about our kill problems,

Why are you still approaching while you have the percent/stock lead, and your opponent decides to shield camp you?
Shield camping with the percent disadvantage is dumb.

Let them come to you and punish accordingly.

Edit:
The amount of damage that we wrack up forces the opponent to approach us.
If they make one mistake while in the offensive, we can kill them for it.

 

[Firedemon0]

Offstage is where I secure kills, Pac-man has great tools to get people off stage with fruit and his tilts. He is able to keep them there. Onstage, Pac-man has to get a hard read with unsafe or predictable moves. Offstage, his full toolkit can make it hell to get back to stage. Excluding a few characters, (Pika, Jiggs, Dedede, Shiek; etc) Pac-man can safely gimp almost the entire cast. His attacks always hit angled up, this leads opponents to generally just tumble toward ledge. The trick is learning where you opponent decides to air-dodge or otherwise make their reaction to your attempts to edge guard. Smash 4 has a unique edge game I love immensely, because I play so aggressively I am not afraid to launch myself offstage to make them uncomfortable and force mistakes.

Pac-man has strong tools to get players off stage, and into the air. He just is not consistent enough to be a one strike kill character which limits him. I would put him in top 15-20 range, he can definitely win against anyone, and he does not have any match-ups that he can't win. Difficult yes, but not unwinnable.

 

[Jenny Wakeman]

True on all counts, BUT it does start killing reliably around 140-ish if I remember correctly. It also does serve as a ridiculously good punishing move (which, when used to punish, shield damage doesn't matter). I use it as a last resort for killing, I admit, but it allows you to punish even the tiniest mistake with a KO at reasonable percents.
Sure, it's a little later than most other characters start killing reliably BUT we also rack up damage faster than any other character in the game IMO.

Killing reliably at 140% doesn't give me a good feeling. When there are characters that can kill at 100-110% reliably and we can't get a reliable kill until 140%, it makes me worried. Imagine being neck and neck last stock and we have to rack up more damage while the other person only needs to mindlessly throw out a smash (Luigi). We can make some AMAZING damage rackups, but remember, shield can stop most of them, and, bringing back the neck-and-neck scenario again, the opponent is going to shield to avoid all our attacks, especially when our grab is basically not an option.

I have a question for everyone who complains about our kill problems,

Why are you still approaching while you have the percent/stock lead, and your opponent decides to shield camp you?
Shield camping with the percent disadvantage is dumb.

Let them come to you and punish accordingly.

Edit:
The amount of damage that we wrack up forces the opponent to approach us.
If they make one mistake while in the offensive, we can kill them for it.

You're focusing on one situation of a match, when we are in the lead. What happens when you aren't in the lead? They don't have to approach and we do. And what can they do to avoid most of your damage output? Sit in shield. It is very easy for characters against us to make it into the lead or neck-and-neck, especially when we dont get kills and just keep pelting damage. Pikachu is one character I get infuriated by, because he juggles us like crazy and gets through all our stuff with one of the stupidest moves in the game, Quick Attack. What happens when all those juggle combos and such rack up? We have to approach Pikachu, who can honestly just camp us out with Jolts and sit in shield, and Quick Attack. I have had numerous matches where I was a stock ahead in the lead, running away trying not to get hit. People have caught up to me because they were able to catch me for one string or punish I made, as well as not being able to kill (I also get upset at the rage mechanic for helping the opponent). Us being in the lead makes people become more aggressive, which is something PAC-MAN hates dealing against. If that aggression breaks our rhythm, they can easily get momentum and come back. Trust me, it's happened to me before against matchups I know we do well against. It's made me shake salt so much because I think it's at times stupid and unfair.