Underrated?!

[Soyaccino]

I’m new to PAC but I cannot help that notice....
No one plays him.

He’s always listed as lower tier....

But I LOVE his move set and have found more success with him than most others.

Is there some gaping hole in his gameplay I’ve not come across yet that’s going to nerf my life?
Would he be more popular if he had blue hair and a sword?

 

[Penroze]

I wouldn't say no one plays him. Most people are just intimidated by his five trillion IQ plays.

 

[dragontamer]

I wouldn't say no one plays him. Most people are just intimidated by his five trillion IQ plays.

People are also intimidated at his relatively fast-attacks with decent disjoint, and don't realize that PacMan needs to attack the opponent to 180% before he has a chance of an "easy" kill move (BAir or BThrow)

Before 180%, PacMan's kill options are... Key, Hydrant, and Smashes. I guess you can hit a weaker player with these, but they aren't easy to hit at high level play IMO.

Is there some gaping hole in his gameplay I’ve not come across yet that’s going to nerf my life?

Killing people. FSmash kills now, but intelligent opponents know how to avoid it. FSmash fails to kill consistently at jab-lock percents, so the only way you can get FSmash setup is Bell, and that setup isn't exactly reliable. Its not like Pacman has an EZ-mode Marth / Lucina's Nair (hit1) -> Fast Fall -> FSmash.

In my experience, "Killing" opponents is mostly about throwing them off the ledge and hoping they don't figure out my Hydrant setups. Its janky, but I'll take the kill. Better opponents eventually figure my setups out, but its still surprising to me how few people know how PacMan's hydrant ledge-traps work.

There are some characters and situations which PacMan can setup a gimp. I've KO'd Donkey Kong after he's used his double-jump by just blocking their return path with repeated Hydrants. Ike / Chrom / Cloud can be KO'd if they lost their double-jump with a simple Fair->Fair ->double jump -> Fair Fair combo off stage.

At high tiers, opponents can KO you off of tilts (Pichu's FTilt), or off of a Tilt combo (Peach's DTilt -> FAir). PacMan has no easy kill combo that I'm aware of, so you're forced to do a hard read with a Smash attack of some kind. Good Hydrant placement can make reads easier (ex: Hydrant forces most opponents without reflectors off the ledge), but I'm not aware of a kill-option if the opponent does a jumping getup off the ledge. (Roll, quick-getup, and getup-attack can be predicted/punished by FSmash or DSmash. I can't think of a kill move if the opponent jumps however)

 

[Wigglerman]

He's not the easiest to play and requires, in my own play style, unpredictability. Pac-Man can, from time to time, fall victim to predictable 'flow charting' but generally the idea is to play just out of reach and make people feel uncomfortable and get some good punishes with people's get ups. He can often set up a lot of tech/roll scenarios which can net him either a killing F-Smash or keep the situation going with fruits. He's got good air capabilities now which catches a lot of people off guard.

Hyradant is as useful as before and can cause less experienced players to make bad slip ups. A lot of people focus on the Hydrant once it's been dropped. This is great for Pac because he either gets to charge fruit, he gets to punish them with a smash or hydrant to the face if they weaken it but fail to send it flying or set up a combo situation should they actually knock the hydrant away (as they're now wide open).

His kill options, however, are as weak as before. F Smash is more than capable of locking a kill now but still requires some % build up. Hydrant flinging is another kill option. However Hydrant off stage is easily my most used tool for low recovering enemies so they get stage spiked. Probably the most reliable option as it isn't too difficult to get people off stage and keep them there for a lengthy period. Bell set ups should be practiced (Guilty of not doing so but really need to do so) to net earlier kills also.

Is Pac under rated? I say yes but I don't think he's a sleeper top tier. His suggested place by many in high tier feels fitting with the buffs he was given in Ultimate but he still has some rough match ups, including the majority of top.