Bonus Fruit

Bonus Fruit (, Fruits Target) is Pac-Man's neutral special move.

Overview
A chargeable move, Pac-Man holds out a bonus item from his original appearance and cycles through them, starting at the iconic Cherry. The items cycle in the same order they do in the original arcade game: Cherry, Strawberry, Orange, Apple, Melon, Galaxian, Bell, and Key. Pac-Man cannot cycle past the key, and will instead put the key away for later use. After reaching the Orange, each item takes longer to charge.

Pac-Man can save his selected fruit by shielding, jumping, or dodging, and continues to cycle starting from the last fruit he selected by holding the special button (tapping it will instead use the stored fruit). On the ground, Pac-Man can quickly interrupt the charging process by tapping the shield button. Interrupting the charge in midair in this manner is significantly more difficult, though the player can also air dodge to cancel the charge. During the charging process, opponents can attack the item, which causes hitlag but no other effects.

Once an item is selected, Pac-Man throws the item as a projectile, with each one having unique properties when thrown. Only one Bonus Fruit can exist at any time for each Pac-Man; it cannot be used again until the item thrown disappears from the stage, and Pac-Man cannot produce a Bonus Fruit if his opponent is currently holding it. Being hit either while charging or when holding a grabbed fruit as an item (regardless of whether it is Pac-Man or an opponent) has a high chance of causing the holder to drop the held fruit.

Thrown items can be caught out of the air (by opponents as well as by Pac-Man), and can be picked up while traveling or if they land on the ground, though they disappear quickly if left alone; if they collide with hitboxes (such as players or Fire Hydrant), they will pop upwards and disappear much quicker. If they have already been thrown normally as an item and do not collide with any hitboxes, the user cannot regrab the thrown item.

Bonus Fruits will follow their usual trajectories even if they collide with a surface; the exceptions are the Galaxian and Bell, which stops traveling upon hitting a wall, and goes through solid surfaces during its initial travel, respectively. Their trajectories can be affected by exterior push sources, most notably from Fire Hydrant's water. If thrown in different angles as caught items, they behave in unique ways due to them still following their programmed behaviors, such as the Melon staying in place and drifting down slowly.

In Smash 4, all Bonus Fruit variants can be re-caught and will not disappear for around 3 seconds upon coming to a rest if dropped from the air. In addition, each fruit bounces twice and has their "lifetime" refreshed upon each re-catch, giving Pac-Man a powerful and lasting item game once a fruit is caught. It is possible to accomplish several feats with proper technical skill (such as using the key to start zero-death, infinite footstool combos). A compiled guide to re-catch every Bonus Fruit on competitively legal stages can be found here.

Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:


 * 1) Bonus Fruit: Default.
 * 2) Freaky Fruit: Gives the fruit awkward and sporadic behavior, making them harder to avoid, at the cost of less damage. Also takes slightly longer to cycle past the orange. With the exception of the Galaxian and Bell, all fruits disappear immediately on hit, preventing fruit-grabbing after hitting an opponent.
 * 3. Lazy Fruit (known as Bone-Idle Fruit in the PAL version): The fruit will travel at an excessively slow pace, and do not disappear, instead sticking around for a while. It also changes each fruit's general behavior, making them weaker, but harder to avoid.

Fruit Recycle
Fruit Recycle, Fruit Recycling, or Fruit Loops is a technique in Ultimate that allows Pac-Man to charge a Bonus Fruit again if he catches it. To do this, Pac-Man must first throw a Bonus Fruit, catch it and then begin charging Bonus Fruit again. This allows Pac-Man's Bonus Fruit to continue charging from the fruit he is currently holding. Reflected fruit can be recycled if caught, but Pocketed fruit cannot. can also perform this technique by copying Pac-Man's Bonus Fruit ability using Inhale.

Fruit Recycle allows Pac-Man to perform combos which are more complex and varied than previously possible in Smash 4. It has several applications such as using a fruit to hit an enemy and then turning it into a different fruit to perform combo setups, or simply using charge cancelling to put a caught Bonus Fruit back into storage.

Spirit
The Bonus Fruit appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a Novice-class support spirit.

In Adventure Mode: World of Light, the Bonus Fruit is presumably one of the countless spirits captured by Galeem during his takeover of the universe. The Bonus Fruit's spirit is located in the valley section of The Light Realm.

The Bonus Fruit uses two puppet fighters and is fought on the Pac-Land stage's Ω form. During the battle, the Pac-Man puppet fighters favor their Bonus Fruit neutral special while the player's fighter must defeat both fighters in twenty seconds, referencing the Bonus Fruit's short time span in PAC-MAN.

Origin
Bonus fruits are one of the staples of the games. In the original arcade game, they appear near the ghost's lair, and vanish after a set time. Consuming one yields bonus points depending on the fruit. The fruits in the original Pac-Man are, in order: Cherry, Strawberry, Orange, Apple, Melon, Galaxian Starship, Bell, and Key. Upon reaching the Key, the fruit no longer changes for the remainder of the game. In the original arcade game, after reaching Orange, the fruit begins changing every other level rather than every level (meaning Orange appears for two levels, then Apple for two levels, and so on). This is reflected in Bonus Fruit by having its charge time double once it reaches Orange.

The paralyzing effect and sound effect of the Bell comes from the bell in, which would make any enemies freeze momentarily in place on contact.

The Galaxian Ship's movement is based off its original appearance in.

Trivia

 * Oddly enough, in the All-Star Rest Area and Online Practice Stage, the Galaxian will not make any sounds whatsoever when thrown.
 * Bonus Fruits are not affected by the size of Pac-Man: for example, a Pac-Man under the effects of a Super Mushroom will still charge a standard-sized fruit.