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

[Firedemon0]

@Blue Ninjakoopa it was cancelled with side B. edit: I take that back, I tried to duplicate it, and I was unsuccessful. I was able to kinda do it with up b, but I cannot consistently do it.

I wanted to add more to the Hydrant tech available that I did not see the main post. With the Hydrant you can very easily control where the water comes from based on your location to the hydrant. If you stand on it, it will go up, otherwise it will go to the sides. You can also use the side hydrant blast to angle your key throw at 45 degrees catching people going high off guard.

 

[AGES]

Speaking of galaxians i've been messing a bit with grabbing fruits, particularly the galaxian and bell as I feel theyre easiest to grab.

Note how the galaxian does around 11% on drop and the bell does 9%.
I think this might be useful tech for pac's hydrant and damage buildup if used right

 

[Bauske]

Yeah, I'm curious how to cancel the bonus fruit without dodging too. That would be helpful, and I can't tell how he did it in that video. Also, I used to be able to sweet spot his bair and kick the hydrant in one hit nearly all the time, but for some reason today I can't do it at all. What the heck? >:[

 

[Skymin50]

Yeah, I'm curious how to cancel the bonus fruit without dodging too. That would be helpful, and I can't tell how he did it in that video. Also, I used to be able to sweet spot his bair and kick the hydrant in one hit nearly all the time, but for some reason today I can't do it at all. What the heck? >:[

I kind of feel like it's random? I can do it almost all the time in For Glory matches but never in Practice.

 

[DrakeRowan]

You can cancel the PacMan fruit charge by tapping the shield button immediately followed by using special of choice - as shown in the video. The button timing has to be tight in order for it to work; but it's easy to get the hang of after a couple of tries. The fruit must progress at least one stage in order to do this, or else you'll just end up tossing the fruit (or w/e) you currently have.

 

[DasPoof]

I am still a newcomer when using Pac-Man, but I was wondering if anyone else liked to combo hydrant, apple, and Side-B to blast opponents high into the air to gain control over the stage. It is a risky combo if they dodge your Side-B because it will take you airborne.

 

[Zage]

In what situations would special canceling Neutral-B be optimal though? I can see it being useful to counter approaching opponents who are about to punish you for using it so close to them. Air dodging seems good otherwise imo.

 

[GeZ]

So has anyone mentioned the neutral b galaga regrab thingy?

If not, then it's using the ship that Pac man pulls from Up B and throwing it at an opponent at middle distance. Then you dash attack it after it does the loop. Dash attack covers the item grab and you can toss it again right after. I actually broke a friends shield with this today. Pretty hype.

 

[Bauske]

So has anyone mentioned the neutral b galaga regrab thingy?

If not, then it's using the ship that Pac man pulls from Up B and throwing it at an opponent at middle distance. Then you dash attack it after it does the loop. Dash attack covers the item grab and you can toss it again right after. I actually broke a friends shield with this today. Pretty hype.

The Galaxian is one of the best items he has because you can regrab it and throw it again or quick Z drop it onto people and pick it back up again. The bell is great for this as well.

 

[Skymin50]

The Galaxian is one of the best items he has because you can regrab it and throw it again or quick Z drop it onto people and pick it back up again. The bell is great for this as well.

I forgot, does the Bell still have the stun effect if you Z drop it or no?

 

[DrakeRowan]

I forgot, does the Bell still have the stun effect if you Z drop it or no?

No.

 

[CornFlakes]

Dire Hydrant is really fun lol. Sorta feel as if it's better against heavy hitters than standard hydrant. Anyway are you guys sticking with Pac-Jump or going with Power Pac Jump?

 

[Bauske]

I love his default moveset. If I could change one move it would be to the lazy bonus fruit, but otherwise I like what he has.

Palutena, on the other hand, has a terrible default special set. xD

 

[RenoInMO]

Thanks for this guide. Started trying to get better at Smash so I can go into more competitive stuff, and Pac-man is quickly becoming my favorite character. Any random tips anyone has would be super helpful as well.

 

[AGES]

I forgot, does the Bell still have the stun effect if you Z drop it or no?

No, but after you grab it you can throw it in all 4 directions and still get the stun. Throwing it down makes for some great aerial kill setups if you get the chance.

 

[Maple42]

Maybe Back Air isn't knocking away the Hydrant sometimes is because it's stale, and therefore not doing 11% .o.

 

[DasPoof]

Maybe Back Air isn't knocking away the Hydrant sometimes is because it's stale, and therefore not doing 11% .o.

I thought a move had to do a little over 12% to kill the hydrant, so sweet spot B Air does 12. But I am not sure..

 

[CCCM89]

I should mention that pac-man's recovery is so good, he can circle the underside of final destination. not just the variants, but final destination itself, and he's only using two of his fore recovery tricks. his side special into bouncing off the underside into a trampoline can get you all the way around, and that's not even using his wall jump or the bonus jump height from bonus fruit.

also, his up smash and dash attack both have next to no end-frames, meaning you can chain those attacks into virtually anything, and I do mean anything.

I notice the OP mentioned throwing fruit at the hydrant, but it should be noted that the key pierces through the hydrant, meaning you can knock off the hydrant, hit the enemy behind it with the key for 15%, then get another 13-15% from the hydrant, plus a launch that is equivalent to a side smash into a teammate waiting with an up smash.

Also, his grab is slow. you might think this is a bad thing, but the mind games, man, oh god the mind games. you grab away from your opponent, they dodge roll to the other side, and suddenly they're grabbed long after you started the move.
speaking of grabs, his forward air is NOT for launching, it's for chaining into a dash and/or grab at low percentage, and an up air or f-air into n-air at high and mid percentages. His back and down throws do around 1-12 damage each, while forward and up deal 5 and 6 respectively, but you can KO with an up throw surprisingly easily with a dash attack into grab.

you can KO with bonus fruit. specifically apple for vertical KO, melon for a humiliatingly slow side kill, and the key, which can come out of nowhere. they all instantly KO at around 120%, even against heavy-weights like bowser and ganon.

also with bonus fruit, the galaga fighter. throw it out, dash attack to pick it back up as it loops, then throw again. it's a very nice little combo.

hydrant dash and hydrant smash are fun. place hydrant, fight opponent, then dash through them as the water comes to get to the entire other side of the stage in less then a second. great for escaping. the hydrant smash is great to. just position yourself, charge up a smash, and let the water carry you into range. works for hydrant grabs as well, but less reliably.

I hope some of these haven't been discussed yet, and that they help everyone to play and counter pac-man better. I believe pac-man can be one hell of a tricky character. The mind games and denial he can pull out are insane, and the pressure can, and has, caused people to force a disconnect in Glory. I truly hope people decide he's high tier, because god damn it, he can loop the ****ing FD stage with his recoveries!

 

[DtJ Composer]

Turns out this thread has done a lot that I had planned on doing.

I wanna break it up and maybe format it differently? I'll look into better ways on this forum to have easier access to specific parts of info maybe

 

[Maple42]

CCCM89, all very good points. As for the tiering, I find Pac-Man has many parallels with Meta Knight (multiple ways of recovery, decent speed, great aerials) as well as many of his own unique projectiles.
Also, after testing On-Fire Hydrant a little longer, I have changed my mind upon its viability; this is due to two reason. One being that the Key can go through the fire, as opposed to the original hydrant, which sometimes deflected the Key with water. This means more consistent Key-Hydrant projectile spamming.
(On a related note, On-Fire Hydrant seems to do more damage when launched than the original as well; the original combo did 28%, while the On-Fire Hydrant combo does 30%. When making contact, it does fire-classified damage like how Mario's Fireball does; I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it.)
The second reason is that with On-Fire, it increases its own survivability. When I used the original Hydrant, opponents would shrug off the water and Smash it away. With On-Fire, this makes it so that it's going to stay a lot longer, and the opponent is less likely to be able to Smash it at you; if they do plan to do it, they'll have to wait for at least two spews of fire, since you'll have to charge the Smash directly after a spew due to the timing of said spews. This gives you time to charge up the Key (or in our more combo-heavy options, Galaxion or Bell), again making our Key-Hydrant combos more consistent.

 

[CCCM89]

forgot to mention, you don't need time to charge up to key, as long as you hold down B after you initially roll out of it, say after getting to apple, you'll pick up the rotation, but release B and it will fire off the fruit you have out.

 

[S3R4PH]

forgot to mention, you don't need time to charge up to key, as long as you hold down B after you initially roll out of it, say after getting to apple, you'll pick up the rotation, but release B and it will fire off the fruit you have out.

Whoa so that's how you do it then! Well I'll be damned...Going to be throwing those out a lot more often now lol WATCH OUT! Bravo Pac-Man...You're officially my main.

EDIT: Not only that, you can also apply the same with shield or air dodge. and throws lol.

 

[CCCM89]

s3raph, try circling the bottom of an FD varriant using power pellet to bounce you diagonally off the bottom of the stage to get you into your trampoline faster then normal. you can practically live down there as pac-man.

 

[Maple42]

I know .o.
I say "charge the key" as in "building up to the key, from whatever thing you were already at."
Also, on the timing of when to throw the key -
Against faster characters that like rushdown (such as the ever popular Sheik and Zero Suit Samus), I find it much harder for them to dodge a key from short range; patience will be... key in those kinds of situation. The opponent coming at you quickly may make you trigger happy, but it'll be paramount that every projectile thrown gives you time again to charge up. Galaxion may not be the best in these kinds of match-ups, because it can be caught quite easily by quick characters.

 

[S3R4PH]

Another cool thing I found, unsure if there's any real application for but it's worth noting, Pac-Man can angle his f-tilt upwards, straight, and downwards. Seems like we have a great poke.

edit: btw it's just seraph lol.

 

[StaffofSmashing]

Bonus Fruit. Key. USE IT
Gimping. All things before bell. Use it.

 

[GeZ]

What's the point of Z dropping items, and why is the bell good? The stun doesn't seem long enough to do much with it. Are you guys using SH Double Fair, and SH Fair > Nair? It's pretty based.

 

[DrakeRowan]

What's the point of Z dropping items, and why is the bell good? The stun doesn't seem long enough to do much with it. Are you guys using SH Double Fair, and SH Fair > Nair? It's pretty based.

Z-Dropping Fruit let's you use them multiple times as normally PacMan can only throw the item twice before he can't pick it up anymore. It also allows you to do some shenanigans with Hydrant by Z-Dropping fruit followed by using Hydrant.

Bell has situational uses, but I find it's best use is to score gimps with opponents hanging at the ledge. Notice the arc the bell is thrown when PacMan tosses it. At the right distance, it covers the ledge jump and the ledge itself. The opponent would have to get up from the ledge normally or do a ledge roll

 

[CornFlakes]

How do you Z-drop?

 

[DrakeRowan]

How do you Z-drop?

If your controls are the default, then just press the L shoulder button (which is grab).

 

[MachoCheeze]

It's very situational but I found another use for key/hydrant shenanigans.

When the opponent is up in the air you can throw the key at the jets of water which sends the key flying at a diagonal direction. It's really hard to land but it's unexpected as hell.

I've scored a few KO's on opponents who are trying to recover high or come at you diagonally in the air.

 

[Skymin50]

Grab might be good for rollout situations in For Glory (your opponents keep rolling)

Think they might roll to the other side of you? Throw a grab in the opposite direction (facing right, do it left) and if they roll to the left of you (if you're right) it's a free grab. Might be interesting.

 

[ptrk83]

Turns out this thread has done a lot that I had planned on doing.

I wanna break it up and maybe format it differently? I'll look into better ways on this forum to have easier access to specific parts of info maybe

Maybe break up basic guide and advance techniques?

 

[ChickenBandit]

Didn't see it in the OP, so I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but hydrant+sideB is an amazing combo. Jump, throw the hydrant down, start sideB and make a sideways U shape so that you go away from the hydrant then back into it (towards your opponent). Your side-B will do enough to launch the hydrant, and you'll rush the enemy on the ground. When landed perfectly you can do about 45-50%, imperfectly you'll do 12-24%, and at least from my online experience it's fairly difficult to dodge.

I'll try and take some ****ty video of it tonight with my phone.

 

[GeZ]

Z-Dropping Fruit let's you use them multiple times as normally PacMan can only throw the item twice before he can't pick it up anymore. It also allows you to do some shenanigans with Hydrant by Z-Dropping fruit followed by using Hydrant.

Bell has situational uses, but I find it's best use is to score gimps with opponents hanging at the ledge. Notice the arc the bell is thrown when PacMan tosses it. At the right distance, it covers the ledge jump and the ledge itself. The opponent would have to get up from the ledge normally or do a ledge roll

So you would Z drop bell specifically because it does good damage? Or why that over other stuff? I see the utility in Z dropping good projectiles though. With the Z drop fruit into hydrant trick, does that auto toss the hydrant if it's a strong enough item? Or is it to cover you/ the hydrant getting harassed?

Good explanation for the bell though. Forgot it's trajectory was so solid.

But seriously, are people taking advantage of Pacmans crazy SH double aerial game or am I soapboxing for no reason?

Edit: I forgot that you can't Z drop out of neutral b. So the items feasible for grabbing to Z drop seem to be the bell, galaxian, green slow thing, and I've managed to catch the apple, though not without a bit of difficulty. Still that's a good roster of stuff for throwing.

 

[DrakeRowan]

Tip: Using Hydrant off stage is amazing as an edgeguard. If the opponent is trying to go for the ledge from underneath (i.e from bottom left/right) and it's likely they'll make it back, always take the opportunity to throw down a Hydrant at them, especially if they're close to the stage. If it hits, the opponent may end up either getting stage spiked, or sent flying the other way.

So you would Z drop bell specifically because it does good damage? Or why that over other stuff? I see the utility in Z dropping good projectiles though. With the Z drop fruit into hydrant trick, does that auto toss the hydrant if it's a strong enough item? Or is it to cover you/ the hydrant getting harassed?

Good explanation for the bell though. Forgot it's trajectory was so solid.

But seriously, are people taking advantage of Pacmans crazy SH double aerial game or am I soapboxing for no reason?

If I have bell in hand, then normally I would just toss it regularly; especially when considering PacMan cannot summon any other item as long as you're holding a fruit (or w/e). Z Dropping Bell is nice (and if done right could lead to interesting mixups), but my priority would be to use the other fruit.

The Z-Drop into hydrant will auto-bounce the hydrant as soon as it lands with Melon, or a little after it lands with Galaga. All other items aren't strong enough (besides Key) to utilize the trick. It's uses are as you described, as a cover for PacMan and the Hydrant.

As for the double aerial game, I take advantage of it every match. PacMans SH game is very good. It's one of the reasons why I'm maining him. SH Fair is a crazy good hit confirm move.

 

[GeZ]

So I'm just going to make a post of stuff I've found and fooled with and you guys can get from it what you will.

So firstly his SH Fair is a good start to a bunch of stuff. Fair is actually really weak damage wise so it will simply push the opponent if you hit them with it while they're on the ground. That means that you can combo with it easily and use some fairly utility mixups.

For instance, I SH Fair. I can either Uair to try to get more of a combo going (though Uair will keep them on the ground at low percents?, Fair again and then do some grounded trick (I like grab in this instance), pass them in the air and Bair (good for reversing situations when you're SH'ing from the ledge), or Nair as it is a plausible combo tool or killer at very high percent.

You'd be surprised how often you'll catch people by surprise with SH Fair > Fair > grab.

Next, a good edgeguard to deal with opponents recovering from diagonally out below the stage, is run off stage Nair > Side B in a C shape to aim yourself for the ledge. It'll get you back to the stage while also slapping your opponent pretty hard, which is fun.

Hydrant Z drop tricks can be cool but Like Roan said the green fruit is the only one that will auto chuck the hydrant, and I'd say it's too risky to try the others.

Besides that I'm still working at the guy. His Dthrow and Bthrow seem to be the only throws I use, and they're both pretty good.

 

[ChickenBandit]

Didn't see it in the OP, so I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but hydrant+sideB is an amazing combo. Jump, throw the hydrant down, start sideB and make a sideways U shape so that you go away from the hydrant then back into it (towards your opponent). Your side-B will do enough to launch the hydrant, and you'll rush the enemy on the ground. When landed perfectly you can do about 45-50%, imperfectly you'll do 12-24%, and at least from my online experience it's fairly difficult to dodge

Here we go: vine *dot* co/v/OAupLznUQtX

If they're charging you your side B will hit them up into the hydrant for even more damage. If they keep their distance you'll hit them with the final (and strongest) part of your side B will hit them and the hydrant will potentially hit them twice (though this is rare).

I don't have enough posts to be able to post links.

 

[GeZ]

Yo, I have a ****ing accomplishment to share that's thanks to the knowledge from this thread. I just went 5-0 with a Japanese Greninja player. Didn't drop a god damn game. Bet that guys got the Pac-Fear in him now.

 

[Skymin50]

Here we go: vine.co/v/OAupLznUQtX

If they're charging you your side B will hit them up into the hydrant for even more damage. If they keep their distance you'll hit them with the final (and strongest) part of your side B will hit them and the hydrant will potentially hit them twice (though this is rare).

I don't have enough posts to be able to post links.

I like that, actually. (Fixed the link for you) It might be able to lead into bread and butter dash attack > fair > fair >nair for some good percentage. Let me go into the Lab really quick and see how much that'd do.

EDIT: It's...kind of tricky to land. I can't really land it well, but you said yourself it's rare so I guess it's that. Seems like you could lead up though.