Pac-Man (SSBU)

Pac-Man, stylized in-game as PAC-MAN, is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed alongside the rest of the veterans on June 12, 2018. Pac-Man is classified as Fighter #55. Like in Super Smash Bros. 4, Pac-Man reuses sound effects from various games and Bandai Namco arcade games.

Pac-Man is currently ranked 14th out of 82 on the tier list, which is a significant improvement over his appearance in SSB4 (where he was ranked 45th out of 54). Pac-Man's greatest strengths lie in his zoning capabilities thanks to his barrage of projectiles in Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant. Bonus Fruit is notable for having different projectiles with distinguishing properties, with Bell being the most effective one as it confirms into KOs. His Hydrant is notorious for creating a barrier that a lot of characters can struggle to deal with up close, allowing Pac-Man to continue setting up shop behind it. His recovery is among one of, if not, the best recoveries in the game due to its outstanding travel distance of Power Pellet and mixup potential and Pac-Jump giving him a high vertical boost. This makes Pac-Man one of the hardest characters to edgeguard due to his amount of options. Pac-Man's normals are also amazing in their own right as most of them have amazing frame data and shield safety, which allows him to box out his opponents at ease. Finally, his grab, previously seen as one of the worst in Smash 4, has been buffed significantly to increase its hitbox detection, allowing it to even beat spotdodges.

Despite his abundance of strengths, Pac-Man has some flaws. Pac-Man has few reliable ways to KO his opponent, with his smash attacks and aerials being pretty predictable, so holding shield can be effective against him. His projectiles can also be used against him, with the Bonus Fruit being able to be caught when shielded and used freely against him, as well as his Hydrant being able to be hit back at him by a strong enough move. His recovery, while amazing, is relatively exploitable, as both moves can be interrupted: Power Pellet can be canceled if the pellet is hit before Pac-Man dashes, and while Pac-Jump allows up to three total uses, it can be used by opponents to recover themselves, or force Pac-Man into helplessness if the trampoline is used three times.

Overall, Pac-Man has all the tools he needs to fare well in the meta while players who know the matchup can take advantage of his weaknesses. Pac-Man has seen some strong results and representation in both a major and supermajor level from players such as and.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Pac-Man must then be defeated on Pac-Land (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Pac-Man being the 49th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 3rd character unlocked after.
 * Have Pac-Man join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Pac-Man is a middleweight whose attributes deviate slightly from other fighters of his weight class. Although his dashing speed is average, his air speed is slightly above-average and his traction and air acceleration are above-average, Pac-Man's walking speed is slightly below-average, his falling speed is below-average, and his gravity is the 11th-lowest in the game. As a result, these traits make Pac-Man a rather floaty and relatively speedy character for a middleweight, albeit not to the degree of and, respectively. Pac-Man is also able to crawl and wall jump, although the former is generally impractical because of his crouch's tall height.

Pac-Man, like, is reliant on his item-producing special moves to control the flow of a battle and win in the neutral game. Two special moves, Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant, grant him numerous mix-ups for almost any situation. The fruits and objects generated by Bonus Fruit each have different attributes; in addition to functioning as useful spacing, combo, and edge-guarding options, some of them (primarily the apple, melon and key) notably boast respectable KO potential as a way to circumvent the sluggishness and short ranges of Pac-Man's smash attacks. As a result, Bonus Fruit allows Pac-Man to confuse and force movements from his opponents to put them in disadvantageous positions, especially off-stage.

When used in the air, Fire Hydrant functions similarly to Stone, which makes it useful for covering landings or breaking combos. It is also Pac-Man's most powerful projectile when launched, which makes it a viable KO option from a distance. In addition to its offensive potential, Fire Hydrant has defensive potential, thanks to its bursts of water possessing a push effect. As a result, the water can be used to create space, gimp poor recoveries, and even force opponents into Pac-Man's attacks.

Aside from his projectiles, Pac-Man also possesses a slow, but potent KO option in Power Pellet. Power Pellet also functions both as a great recovery and mindgame option: it can be aimed prematurely and made to curve in creative angles using his Fire Hydrant's push effect, and can function as a KO confirm from Bonus Fruit's bell. Pac-Jump is an effective vertical recovery should all of its trampoline jumps be used, and makes it safe to edge-guard off-stage, as Pac-Man will likely make it back onto the stage. It is also difficult to gimp, especially from an overhead perspective, thanks to Pac-Man's jumps having unblockable hitboxes. Due to its quick start-up and aforementioned hitboxes, Pac-Jump also functions as a good out of shield option when used properly.

Outside of his specials, Pac-Man has a good combo game. Though his ground attacks are weak with slight ending lag, Pac-Man's neutral attack and tilt attacks are fast. His tilts, in particular, also give him slightly extended hitboxes (forward tilt and up tilt) or slide him forward (down tilt), letting him attack out of shield easily or poke opponents at a safe distance. Pac-Man's dash attack is one of his best approach options, thanks to it hitting multiple times and having extremely minimal ending lag, the latter of which is very atypical for dash attacks. Pac-Man is also capable in the air; his aerial attacks are fast and can chain into themselves (especially his forward and up aerials). In addition, his neutral and back aerials are effective edge-guarding options; their clean hitboxes also make them useful from out of shield and for KOing, respectively.

Unlike in SSB4, Pac-Man has a respectable grab game; he possesses a rather long ranged grab with long lasting hitboxes, giving him a good grab range. His throws have some utility: up throw has combo potential (primarily into neutral and up aerials) at low to medium percentages, whereas down throw has a decent damage output and can set up tech-chases (most notably into Bonus Fruit's key, Power Pellet, dash attack, or a short hopped forward aerial into neutral aerial). Although the lattermost combo does not work on characters whose hurtboxes are low after missing a tech, it is still beneficial, as Pac-Man can instead lock the opponent with a short hopped forward aerial at low to medium percentages. Forward throw can be used for mix-ups due to its minimal ending lag and awkward launching angle, whereas back throw is a decent KO option.

Pac-Man has a few noticeable weakness, however; arguably his biggest one is his inability to KO early because of the overwhelming majority of his moves having low base knockback. Although his tilts and aerials are fast, only Pac-Man's down and clean back aerials can KO at reasonable percentages and especially while near the left or right blast lines. Although Pac-Man's smash attacks can KO easily while near the edge thanks to their respectable damage outputs and knockback growth values, they are very punishable and predictable because of their considerable start-up and ending lag.

Although Bonus Fruit's key and a launched Fire Hydrant are viable KO options, the former needs to be charged in order to be accessible, whereas the latter can be easily used against Pac-Man just as he is about to launch it. Additionally, Pac-Man's average overall range and awkward hitboxes can make landing hits or spacing difficult against opponents with long range. His below-average overall mobility can also make it difficult to chase down opponents, create space and/or cycle through Bonus Fruit, especially against rushdown-oriented characters.

Pac-Man's grab game, while nowhere near as awful as it was in SSB4, is still flawed in some ways. His grabs, despite being much more consistent, are still somewhat risky due to retaining fairly high ending lag that tether grabs are known for. Although Pac-Man's up throw now has combo potential and his back throw remains a reasonably strong KO option, his forward and down throws leave a lot to be desired. The former throw's higher damage output and base knockback make it only mediocre at best for mix-ups, whereas the latter throw has all but lost its already minimal combo potential due to its ending lag being increased.

Despite their perks, all of Pac-Man's special moves can be used against him. Bonus Fruit's objects are items that can only exist once at a time, hence opponents can grab them out of the air, nullifying one of Pac-Man's only projectiles so long as they hold onto it. So long as Bonus Fruit is nullified, Pac-Man is disadvantaged at spacing, KOing and mindgames, while a competent opponent can even use Bonus Fruit's items against him. Fire Hydrant can be turned against him as well; it can be knocked back or reflected by opponents, even in the first few frames when it is released, making it possible for Pac-Man to immediately be dealt noticeable damage. Its push effect also affects him, and can inadvertently cost Pac-Man if he is careless.

Despite being strong, Power Pellet is highly predictable and can be interrupted by any attack, which drops a healing Power Pellet that can be used by the opponent. Pac-Jump, despite propelling Pac-Man very high vertically, can also be used by opponents for gimping Pac-Man's own recovery. Due to these possibilities, a good Pac-Man player must keep watch of where his items are in order to inflict the highest knockback possible at a safer range, and avoid his items' abilities being turned against him.

Overall, Pac-Man excels at mindgames and damage racking, yet his moveset's overall low base knockback and average range make him difficult for him to KO opponents early. As a result, he is dependent on utilizing traps and zoning in order to continually deal damage and set up a KO, such as collectively using his air game, Bonus Fruit, and varied recovery to edge-guard. While Pac-Man's special moves grant him a uniquely versatile moveset, they can also hinder him in battle, as one careless move can ultimately decide the momentum of not only himself, but even the whole match itself.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Possibly due to his low tier status in Super Smash Bros. 4 (where he is ranked 45th out of 54 on SSB4's tier list), Pac-Man was buffed significantly overall in his transition to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. One of Pac-Man's biggest buffs involves his grab, which was widely regarded as the worst grab in SSB4 due to its lag and hitbox issues. It is now significantly faster overall, acts as a single, continuous hitbox instead of separate, short-lasting ones, and is more in line with the cast due to the universal increase to grab ending lag. When coupled with his up throw's newfound combo potential and his back throw remaining a reasonably strong KO option, Pac-Man now possesses a decent grab game.

Additionally, Bonus Fruit now cycles significantly faster and allows Pac-Man to charge cancel by jumping, giving him more options in the process. If Pac-Man picks up one of Bonus Fruit's items he previously dropped, he can begin the cycle at the one he is currently holding. This technique, dubbed the Fruit Recycle, allows Pac-Man to constantly pressure with his Bonus Fruit's items by allowing him to switch items and set up new combos after catching an item. Bonus Fruit's bell, in particular, can now paralyze opponents if it is Z-dropped, granting him a new item set-up.

Other improvements come in the form of changes to his mobility; his overall speed is faster compared to his mediocre speed in SSB4. His recovery reaches further, as Power Pellet is faster and less punishable, grants even more distance, has less lag on a wall collision, and no longer makes him tumble when he runs into the ground, instead allowing him to move along the floor. Pac-Man has also received an abundance of buffs to his standard moveset: his up and down tilt attacks have less lag, and some of his best aerial combo starters (such as neutral aerial and forward aerial) have altered knockback, allowing his attacks to flow better into each other. The universal reduction to landing lag further improves his respectable combo ability by allowing him access to his quick aerials, while the ability to dash cancel ground moves lets him approach with his tilts.

Some of Pac-Man's attacks have new benefits: down tilt is less punishable due to its momentum changes and lower ending lag, dash attack gains an additional hit while having even less ending lag (relative to its final hit), down aerial's hits link together much better and inflict more damage, and his new up tilt being faster overall and having higher vertical range. Finally, Pac-Man's mediocre KO potential has been improved: his smash attacks have less start-up, Power Pellet's fully charged sweetspot and forward smash are much stronger, back aerial launches at a lower angle, down aerial's final hit is much stronger and launches at a much lower angle, and Bonus Fruit's aforementioned buffs allow Pac-Man earlier access to its key.

However, Pac-Man received some noticeable nerfs that affect his combo game. The mechanics of his Bonus Fruit's items have been changed in many ways, severely limiting the variety of item techniques he can perform: the time window for catching the items is now very narrow, as most of the items disappear almost immediately after hitting an opponent, while the cherry and strawberry now have a set distance and no longer linger on the ground.

Bonus Fruit's items also cannot be picked up again after being Z-dropped; when coupled with the changes to footstools and locks, Pac-Man can no longer perform his notorious zero-to-death footstool combos. While all these changes prevent the opponent from capitalizing on his own fruits, it also makes his item-camping play even more straightforward. Fire Hydrant's physics have also been changed, as it loses more momentum and height from each bounce, making it less effective for coverage and set-ups when it is launched. In addition, many moves are less useful for launching Hydrant, lessening the variety of coverage and pressure.

Pac-Man's new up tilt is more situational than his previous up tilt, as it can no longer hit opponents directly next to him, and it is unable to launch Fire Hydrant backward. Neutral and forward aerials have lost their ability to lock, although this is compensated by their adjusted knockback values enabling them to combo at wider percentages. Pac-Jump is even more exploitable than before, as opponents can now hit the trampoline to reduce its uses. Finally, Pac-Man retains many of his former issues despite his buffs, such as mediocre overall range and a dependence on setups to KO.

Overall, Pac-Man's moveset is more consistent for close-quarters combat, and his tools have been improved to keep up with the fast pace of Ultimate. The changes overall make Pac-Man a significantly more formidable fighter, although his playstyle has less of an emphasis over item stalling and rewards item positioning and setups more than before. Although Pac-Man's representation is generally minimal, he has obtained very strong results competitively regardless, thanks to the efforts of players such as, and especially. As a result, Pac-Man has achieved a positive reception across the community overall, where he is near universally considered to be a high tier character in comparison to his low tier status in SSB4, with some players like and  even claiming that Pac-Man is a top tier fighter.

Update history
Pac-Man received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but was buffed slightly overall. Update 1.2.0 introduced a universal nerf by removing the ability to Z-drop items out of hitstun. This nerf hurt Pac-Man more than any other fighter, as it removed the defensive strategy of opponents getting hit by Bonus Fruit's item that Pac-Man is holding while attacking, allowing Pac-Man to run away and possibly punish the opponent. Update 2.0.0 then buffed Pac-Man's combo potential by making his forward and down aerials autocancel earlier and having Bonus Fruit's items last longer after making contact, widening the window to follow up and more easily keep opponents in hitstun.

Update 3.0.0's near-universal nerf to projectiles' shield damage outputs noticeably affected Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant. Update 3.1.0 improved up smash's first hit ability to link into its second hit by adjusting its launching angle. Update 4.0.0 fixed a notorious flaw with Pac-Man being forced to drop charging Bonus Fruit while being reversed; this no longer makes Pac-Man vulnerable after being reversed and now possibly lets him punish the opponent. Update 7.0.0 enlarged Pac-Man's shield as part of a near-universal buff, while update 8.0.0 nerfed his rolls slightly by standardizing their lag with the rest of the cast's rolls.

Overall, Pac-Man fares mildly better than he did at the launch of Ultimate. Although his optimal game plan has changed from that of a zoner to more of a bait-and-punish style because of the universal item and projectile nerfs and his combo-oriented buffs, Pac-Man's competitive standing has not changed much and he remains among the most significantly buffed veterans in the game (similarly to, and ).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Pac-Man's hitboxes, see here.
 * Pac-Man can crawl and wall jump.

On-screen appearance

 * Assumes his Classic Form, chomps slowly, and then assumes his normal form.

Taunts

 * Up Taunt: Performs the Namco Roulette, which involes him summoning a sprite and associated sound effect from a classic Namco game.
 * Side Taunt: Changes into his Classic Form and chomps from side to side while his chomping sound from  plays.
 * Down Taunt: Lays on the ground as a pair of fairies from Pac-Land and a few music notes appear above his head. During this, an arrangement of the first 5 notes of the intermission theme from Pac-Man plays.

Idle Poses

 * Rubs his head.
 * Looks at the screen and winks while giving a thumbs up, similarly to his official render from SSB4.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Appears in ball form, trips, and raises his fist.
 * Up: Chases a vulnerable ghost in 2D form, then poses in 3D form.
 * Right: Lands on the ground while a sign reading "7650" appears, then winks and gives a thumbs up alongside Buttercup, a fairy companion of his who debuted in Pac-Land. This pose is based his official artwork for the TurboGrafx-16 version of Pac-Land. Both the sign and Buttercup do not appear in Team Battles.

Tier placement and history
Ever since the release of Ultimate, Pac-Man has seen a highly positive response thanks to buffs to his mobility, Bonus Fruit, and grab game, all of which improved his combo potential. As a result of the buffs, Pac-Man has seen strong results from players, most notably and, ever since the early metagame. Tea in particular has recently seen increasing success, being able to win or place top 8 at several majors and supermajors and defeating several top players from around the world. As a result, Pac-Man has achieved a significantly stronger reception from the community compared to his SSB4 days, with most people believing Pac-Man is either at the top of high tier or a top tier fighter, making him ranked 14th on the first and current tier list.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Pac-Man players (SSBU)


 * - One of the best Pac-Man players in Japan. Placed 5th at, 7th at , 9th at , 13th at , and 17th at with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Pac-Man player in Puerto Rico. Placed 1st at, and , 4th at , 5th at , and 25th at with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Pac-Man players in the United States. Placed 2nd at, 5th at , and 17th at , , and with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Pac-Man player in Europe. Placed 7th at, 9th at , 17th at and , and 33rd at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Pac-Man players in the world in the early metagame. Placed 7th at both and, 9th at both  and , and 13th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 25th on the Spring 2019 PGRU.
 * - The best Pac-Man player in the world. Placed 1st at, and , 2nd at , and 3rd at . Ranked 5th on the UltRank 2022.

: Ageless Classic
Pac-Man's opponents are fighters who debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) or appeared in an NES game at least once. These fighters are listed in accordance with the dates of their debuts, similarly to All-Star Mode in Super Smash Bros. 4. The exceptions to this are and : the former uses his red alternate costume to reference 's color scheme during his time as the first Donkey Kong, whereas the latter is a substitute for the Link from the original The Legend of Zelda due to being the closest to his age compared to  and. The boss of this route, Dracula, also fits this theme due to the original Castlevania (his game of origin) debuting on the NES.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Pac-Man has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Although Pac-Man does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (except ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

By taking 's route, the player can find Pac-Man near the mushroom area.

Spirit
PAC-MAN's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Pac-Man has been unlocked. Unlocking Pac-Man in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.

Trivia

 * Pac-Man's stock icon, alongside that of the 3 different types, is among the few ones that do not depict the fighter's head. Instead, it takes on the look of Pac-Man's original arcade sprite, which also served as a life counter in the original Pac-Man.
 * Instead of having recolored sections of his stock icon for his alternate costumes, Pac-Man's alternate costumes are indicated by a colored tubular line underneath his stock icon. The line appears similar to the wall sections from the original Pac-Man.
 * Pac-Man is unlockable in 's Classic Mode column, likely in reference to how they are spherical, easygoing protagonists who are notable primarily for eating enemies.
 * Alongside and, both fighters appear in the "Ghosts" spirit Battle; Kirby represents Blinky, Jigglypuff represents Pinky, Squirtle represents Inky, and Pac-Man himself represents Clyde.
 * In addition, is another fighter to appear in one of the spirit battles where it involves ghosts from the  series. In this case, Mr. Game & Watch (using his blue alternate costume) represents TURN-TO-BLUE.
 * Pac-Man is the only third-party character in Kirby's unlock column.
 * In Pac-Man's showcase video, it shows that Fire Hydrant's bursts of water can be punched out of the air. However, this cannot be achieved in the released version of Ultimate.
 * On the same video, it also shows that attacking the trampoline from Pac-Jump would turn it green, and it would also put enemies into a helpless state when they jumped on it (regardless of the current level). These also cannot be achieved in the released version of Ultimate.
 * Pac-Man is the only fighter whose Classic Mode route features a Round that does not play any music.
 * If Pac-Man uses his Final Smash during a match and wins the match, and if his "up" victory pose plays, the large Pac-Man sprite will not appear, causing Pac-Man's model to appear out of thin air.
 * Oddly enough, the initial animation of his Super Pac-Man Final Smash in Ultimate doesn't have Pac-Man holding any Power Pellet or Super Pellet anymore, as opposed to how it was in SSB4, although he still has the animation of him eating them from the latter, appearing as he's only eating air in Ultimate before transforming into Super Pac-Man.
 * The damage output of Pac-Man's forward aerial (7.65%) is a subtle Easter egg. The number 765 can be pronounced in Japanese as "na-mu-ko"; this particular number, known as a  number, commonly appears in Namco games and is even referenced through Pac-Man's Final Smash.
 * Pac-Man,, , and Mr. Game & Watch are the only fighters who do not emit red-flashing eyes in the spirit battle previews in World of Light.
 * Humorously, the 3D model used for Pac-Man's Classic Form is labeled internally as "pizzapacman".
 * Pac-Man and are the only third-party fighters in the base version of Ultimate that do not appear in any of the game's CGI trailers.
 * Despite also debuting on the Nintendo Entertainment System or appearing at least once on the NES,, , , , , , Koopalings, and  do not appear in Pac-Man's Classic Mode route.