Welcome to the Maze! A Beginners Pac-Man Guide - (In-depth Apple + Melon Guide Added)

[Nu~]

You're thinking of the melon actually, but I understand

 

[ptrk83]

5 more days guys and I will get to play you all!!!

 

[Bauske]

I'm totally picking it up at midnight and playing no one but Pac-Man the whole time!

 

[AGES]

Man, can't wait to open SSB4 for the first time and get straight to messing around with Pac techs. Looking like such a fun character, and at the very least decent too. Counting down practically to the hours

I also agree about custom moves, I honestly like all of pacmans specials as they are and the customs don't seem to be much of any use over his current specials. Not gonna lie, hydrant 2 looks pretty interesting though despite the fact Pacman is hurt from it as well, can be nice to sort of "booby trap" a part of the stage, like a platform on Battlefield over a trampoline you have set up.

 

[Zage]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Hydrant 2 becomes our goto pick on Battle Field. It'd help limit our opponents options when approaching so we can set up our Neutral-B game alot easier.

 

[Skymin50]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Hydrant 2 becomes our goto pick on Battle Field. It'd help limit our opponents options when approaching so we can set up our Neutral-B game alot easier.

For sure, it's some interesting edge-guard potential too.

 

[Gam3rALO]

4 more days!! Can't wait to play as pac man! First character I play!

 

[ptrk83]

I know that the game is coming out in a few days for the rest of the world. If I will try to update this guide as fast as I can during this time as more and more things are discovered.. If it is not up there right away, give me time, I will definitely update during the weekend.

 

[Gam3rALO]

TOMORROW IS THE DAY

I am SUPER excited!

 

[Skymin50]

TOMORROW IS THE DAY

I am SUPER excited!

Time to develop more Pac-Man metas! I'll be excited to play all of you if I can.

Arrivederci, see you all tommorow when we can chomp it up.

 

[Nu~]

Tomorrow is the day...
Rest well my Pacman fans, he shall grace us with his presence soon enough.

 

[MachoCheeze]

I was at a midnight release! I LOVE Pac-Man!

He just clicked with me so well.

 

[AGES]

At long last

It begins.

 

[Skymin50]

Well, after playing (and somehow winning against a japanese Duck Hunt) Pac-Man for a little bit, I love him as well.

He seems like he can play a zoner, and that looks especially good with characters like DHD because you can get some breathing room with Pac-Man to get keys and stuff.

I like him. I like him a lot.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

Pac-Man just found himself a new fan.

I have to yet lose For Glory using him! His moveset is amazingly well-done and just has fun rhythm to it. Nice fighter close-up but he's best at mixing fights up with his crazy gadgets and tricks.

Count me in to come visit the boards now and then.

 

[Gam3rALO]

I GOT IT!!!! Gotta get update first!

 

[Nu~]

With this game in my hands...
Heads will roll, mountains will crumble, and the natural balance will fall out of whack because...

PAC-MAN WILL DEFEAT ALLLL
XD

 

[SphericalCrusher]

Awesome write-up! I am loving Pacman! Way more than I thought I would...and the fact that I'm a huge Pacman fan makes it all the better. I believe it's between him or Shulk for new characters I want to get better with.

 

[ptrk83]

I am glad everyone is enjoying Pac-Man

 

[Skymin50]

So what customs would Pac-Man use, if at all? I can see Slow and Crazy Fruits having uses as mix ups if the tournament allows customs, as to throw your opponent off.

Slow (Lazy?) Fruit's Galaxian is pretty good for just tearing through shields and percentage racking. Let it hit the opponent once, grab it, possibly fair or similar, and throw it again - you get about 50%, though I've only tested this on Sandbag. But it's still good for tearing through opponents.

Crazy Fruit also has it's uses - Melon is good for edgeguarding, potentially?

I like Up-B 2 and 3. 3 is a little weird to use, because it takes away the insane recovery the regular gives you, but you can potentially ground opponents which is nice. Might be good for Mac matchups.

Up-B 2 is a little..wonky, but it's safe sometimes and that's fine. Good hitbox too.

I'm not sure ALL of his customs are usable, but they are good.

Not sure what to think of the Hydrant ones - but Exploding Plug was super disapointing. Side-B ones are weird too. Side-B 2 is too weak - and sure it's good recovery, but Side-B is a great kill move.

 

[Chinaux]

I love pac-man. He reminds me a lot of G&W. Both of them are super goofy with their moves. Great guide, by the way! I liked playing pac-man but could never win.

 

[Gam3rALO]

Loving Pac man!

 

[Skymin50]

Well, I have good news:

Standing on top of a hydrant whilst a Little Mac KO punches you (providing it's yours) seems to actually not cause you to die.

I just got a replay of it, not sure if it was just some other situation but it felt ****ing beautiful to watch.

 

[S3R4PH]

Well, I have good news:

Standing on top of a hydrant whilst a Little Mac KO punches you (providing it's yours) seems to actually not cause you to die.

I just got a replay of it, not sure if it was just some other situation but it felt ****ing beautiful to watch.

Hydrant is too good. It puts him into the blind-spots of some characters. I'm really loving this character so far, he has the ability to just cause massive chaos with his specials. His dash attack is really great too, and being able to control his forward+b makes it a super-viable recovery move.

Been hitting up the lab trying out different setups with the fire hydrant... Galaga is my favorite item to throw so far, and if you can catch it, it's even better. The key is amazingly fast and hits super freakin' hard. I definitely feel like I could take Pac-Man to the top lol, he's amazing.

EDIT: (Oh by the way, first post woo.)

 

[Gam3rALO]

I am starting to win for glory matches with PAC man!

Only thing that is annoying is the hydrant can be hit back at you.

Ay solution to this?

 

[Skymin50]

I am starting to win for glory matches with PAC man!

Only thing that is annoying is the hydrant can be hit back at you.

Ay solution to this?

I find that just trying to roll away from it, or putting yourself in a situation where it's hard to be hit by it works. A good way to get fruit is to set down hydrant, jump on it, and right after you double jump/singular jump, press B. Bonus Fruit has a bit of float added to it, so you can get some extra height.

Airdodging is good if you feel it might be knocked before you even get down.

 

[AGES]

I am starting to win for glory matches with PAC man!

Only thing that is annoying is the hydrant can be hit back at you.

Ay solution to this?

Try sticking to only using it when you have a decent amount of distance between you and your opponent. Also don't be too reckless with using it, I've had players try to bait the hydrant and either try to put me in a juggle state before I knock it away where i can't use the hydrant for landing, or they simply try to hit it as their own projectile. Setting up a trampoline can open up some safe hydrant spots, depending on the matchup imo.

Also, what is everyones favorite fruit to use so far? I personally have been really enjoying the apple, it charges quickly, has a cool trajectory in both land and air, and surprisingly decent knockback.

 

[CornFlakes]

So I feel as if Pacman is a character that can play Keepaway, Rushdown, and Footsies. I suppose the key to using him successfully is knowing what the opposing character can do, and then applying the best tactic of the three I listed above. He's looking like a very versatile character.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

I'm gonna be here so much.

Fruit = Best Projectile

 

[Skymin50]

Also, what is everyones favorite fruit to use so far? I personally have been really enjoying the apple, it charges quickly, has a cool trajectory in both land and air, and surprisingly decent knockback.

Galaxian is fun to throw people off but Key isn't bad either.

 

[~ Valkyrie ~]

Galaxian is fun to throw people off but Key isn't bad either.

I also enjoy Galaxian! That little sound effect it does is just too adorable. Bonus Fruit though is definitely best "plain projectile"-move ever after Peach's Turnips.

 

[ptrk83]

My favorite fruit are the apple and melon. You can chase after the melon and predict their shield with a grab it if they jump you can pretty much just call that ****. Also people have no idea what to do with the apple lol. Too fun.

 

[Gam3rALO]

I find it funny im getting away with missed grabs 95% of the time.

I am also winning around 90% of my matches with PAC man. Trying other characters too but it looks like I might only have 2-5 mains, maybe even 4 with PAC being primary.

Thanks for the help guys on the hydrant problem I had.

Anyone else having a problem where sometimes it is easy to get the orange (third fruit) and sometimes it is really hard?

 

[AetherEch0s]

68% win rate with mostly pac-man so far in for glory. i feel like people dont know what his moves do. they walk into obvious hydrants and keys so often.

 

[Maple42]

I've been finding ample success on "For Glory" matches; this is due to the information gathered from the kind boards, as well as experience. I wish to contribute back, so here are some conclusions I have come to....

First off, the dash attack is extremely swift, and can easily punish various attacks that have landing lag, such as variations of downwards kicks such as Sonic's or Zamus, as well as common aerials like Pikachu's back air. If they are not knocked backwards, it can be further capitalized by a jab or a neutral air. Even better, if they are knocked back, it gives you plenty of time to charge up to the Key (which will be mentioned later). All in all, it is spammable, safe, and can lead up to combos.

I've heard that many people use the fire hydrant for zoning, and that is perfectly fine; however, I use it for more offensive purposes. If you have been launched above the upper blast zone, a hydrant will not be easily seen, and makes your landing back on the stage much easier. Also, the edgeguarding applications are numerous; you can either place it on very edge to give your opponent a hard time getting back up (again, giving you time to set up the Key), or simply off the stage, targeting your opponent and racking up damage.
A curious technique would be to throw a Key at the fire hydrant; together, they are very hard to dodge, and it's likely that one or both will hit. If either powerful projectile hits, it will give you ample time to charge up again. However, if they both hit, it does an impressive 28%. It may seem like a lot of setup, but it is rather common that you have both of these variables set up, as they synergize well with each other.
(As a note on the key / hydrant combo, if you throw the key as the hydrant spews water, the key will change directions diagonally and will not launch the hydrant.)

I'm always looking for a way to get time to charge the Key, for it is the most reliable kill move we have, doing 15% and lots of knockback. If the opponent is off the stage, it has potential to kill at relatively low percents (40-ish, from my experience). As a rule of thumb, I generally release it when it'll do enough knockback so that I can charge it up once again, risk-free. It is truly versatile, much like ROB's gyro, and can be used loosely to apply continuous pressure. It can be set up by knockback from other moves, at the beginning of the match, while your opponent is coming back from getting KO'd, passively as you're far away, or, most of the time, by using the Hydrant.

Finally, Pac-Man has been blessed with recovery prowess; akin to Meta Knight, he has several options when it comes to saving himself. Side B's malleability in its path creates a mental dilemma for the opponent: do they risk going for the punish, knowing that the path may change to do upwards of 17%? However, a mind game should be as far as it goes; trying to damage an opponent rather than focusing on getting back on the stage may lead to a KO that shouldn't have happened.

________________

Aether, I agree wholeheartedly; I have had many opponents that see that I'm launching the hydrant at them, and try to mimic me, and have it fail due to not knowing that you need 12% damage iirc to make it a projectile. Oftentimes, when I'm far away from the ledge and they see my initial trampoline fail to get me there, the opponent drops their guard, unaware that the trampoline will push me to safety. Some even have the audacity to taunt!

 

[ScubaF_ingSteve]

Pac-man is godlike. Downthrow is amazing for set ups, spacing is too easy with hydrant and side-b, dash attack is amazing. I have never felt more comfortable with a character.

 

[Maple42]

Pac-Man draws parallels to Mario in the sense that he's rather easy to control; other similarities include the neutral air, up air and down special.
After watching Pac-Man replays, I found an unnerving trend in the high usage of down aerials; it doesn't do enough damage or knockback to stop you from being punished, and the hydrant outclasses it on such a level that there shouldn't be any situation in which you'd use down air.

The matches I'm losing are ones against Bowser and Ganondorf; other than the obvious trend that both characters are heavyweights, the reason I'm having trouble is due to the low-percentage kills they can achieve. The solution I came up with is to stop being so punish-heavy; maybe don't go for that neutral air when a hard hitter is off the stage, or not pursuing a dash attack every time an inkling of landing lag appears.
In these match-ups, it'll be paramount to use the spacing tools we have: the fire hydrant and the myriad of projectiles we can cycle through. At high percentages, don't be afraid to simply charge up the key, hit them off the edge, charge the key again, and repeat the process until they're gone. We can't risk a stock because we want to get pokes in-close.

 

[Xeynid]

Pac Man is best man.

Should it be clarified in the OP that power pellet's damage is based on hitting the enemy before/after you get to the pellet itself? (4% before, 12% after, 17% at the pellet, as at that point both hits... hit, and they don't do exactly 12 and 4.)

Also, it seems to be possible to hit the opponent twice with power pellet (for ~21% damage) if you curve it properly and are spaced exactly correctly.

At low percents, it's possible to hit the enemy so that they get knocked back by the 4% hit into the pellet, where they take another 4% hit and a 12% hit. At higher percents, it's possible to hit with the pellet point-blank (which deals 10%), then hit them again with the 12%. At lower percents, it's POSSIBLE (but really hard...) to hit the opponent twice with the pre-pellet hit, then again with the after-pellet.

EDIT: Well, it's possible at all sub ~140% percents to turn a point-blank pellet into 21~22% damage.

 

[Skymin50]

Just a note. Back air, if you hit a sweet-spot, does enough to knock Hydrant towards people. If you need to knock it into someone that's a good idea.

 

[Xeynid]

Just a note. Back air, if you hit a sweet-spot, does enough to knock Hydrant towards people. If you need to knock it into someone that's a good idea.

Where is the sweetspot? I seem to be unable to find it.