Luigi vs. Pac-Man

## Description

*Which of these two iconic ghostbusters of gaming will be busted themselves in this retro fight? The plumber in green, or the pellet-eater in yellow?*

## Interlude

Hiro: Ghosts, undead apparitions that can appear to the living with varying intentions, usually causing mischief or worse. But there's one thing that scares even these spectres. Two, actually.

**MBStarscream: And that's Luigi, Nintendo's green-clad brotherly sidekick.**

Hiro: And Pac-Man, Namco's ghost-devouring mascot. I'm Hiro Hamada.

**MBStarscream: I'm MBStarscream.**

Hiro: And it's our job to examine both warriors' strength, abilities, weapons, and weaknesses to see who would win in a fight.

## Luigi

Hiro: Green 'Stache. King of Second Bananas. The original pallet swap. Plain old player two. No matter what, Luigi never seems to be able to catch a break, always living in the shadow of his brother.

**MBStarscream: But in reality, he's got many advantages over ol' Mario. He's taller, a floatier jumper, a coward, a klutz... okay, maybe his only advantages are height and jumping in gameplay. But he's still got some surprises.**

Hiro: Like the fact that he was destined for greatness as one of the seven Star Children alongside Princess Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Wario, Donkey Kong, and Mario. He was kidnapped by Kamek the Magikoopa as a baby, but was later rescued by the Yoshi clan. Since then Luigi, alongside his brother have developed into true heroes, keeping the Mushroom Kingdom safe from Bowser's evil plans over the decades.

**MBStarscream: As a star child, Luigi has superhuman strength, durability, and agility. He can shatter blocks made of brick with his bare hands, survive the vacuum of space, and is the greatest jumper in the Mushroom Kingdom, surpassing even his brother, thanks to his Scuttle Jump slowing down his falls.**

Hiro: Like his brother, Luigi has the ability to conjure and shoot fire at his opponents. Unlike his brother however, Luigi's fireballs are colored green, and aren't effected by gravity. He also has the ability to harness electricity in battle. He uses it to electrocute his enemies, paralyze his opponents, and launch projectiles back at his opponents.

**MBStarscream: By initiating a strange dance, Luigi can create the Negative Zone, a giant green void that causes a random status effect to anyone in it, ranging from a decrease in speed, to constant taunting. His melee moveset is quite potent, with the Luigi Cyclone, the Green Missile, and the Super Jump Punch, which sends his enemies flying.**

Hiro: Luigi most often wields a hammer, which he uses to deflect projectiles and break materials as hard as stone. But his strongest asset is the Poltergust 5000, a vacuum cleaner which can capture ghosts. Its currents are not only powerful enough to capture ghosts, but lift objects like spiked balls.

**MBStarscream: It also has three different types of light; a regular flashlight, a strobe light which is perfect for stunning, and a Darklight feature which is used to locate invisible objects. The Polturgust also has three different elemental medallions; fire, water, and ice.**

Hiro: Another power-up in Luigi's arsenal is the Vanish Power Flower, which turns him completely invisible and intangible, allowing him to walk through surfaces such as metal bars. Overall, Luigi's abilities make him quite a strong player in his own right.

**MBStarscream: If there's anything Luigi got from his brother, it's the massive strength needed to lift a castle and effortlessly kick it away. Other such feats include dodging lasers, briefly walking on water, surviving being shot out of cannons, defeating Dimentio and King Boo, and rescuing Mario on three separate occasions. He doesn't even have to DO anything to win!**

Hiro: However, Luigi is significantly less bold that Mario, likely as a result of being subordinate to his brother for so long, and is often portrayed as a klutz. For example, once while trying to defeat an enemy, Luigi tried to throw his blooper friend but tripped and accidentally dropped the blooper in a nearby lava pool. The blooper survived, but wasn't happy with the Green Thunder.

**MBStarscream: Luigi is also prone to sleeping in serious situations, such as the time he fell asleep during an important meeting that was talking about a disease that the Toads were catching called the blorbs. But still, there's plenty of reasons why you should respect the mascot of second players.**

*Luigi: Here we go... (gulps)*

## Pac-Man

**MBStarscream: Let's play charades. Who am I? (Imitates the sound of Pac-Man eating pellets, followed by his "lose a life" sound effect)**

Hiro: Chances are, you guessed Pac-Man. And if so, you're correct. Though he is mostly known for braving dangerous mazes and the ghosts that lurk within them, he hails from Pac-Land along with other Pac-People and even a family of his own, his wife Ms. Pac-Man and his two children Baby Pac-Man and Jr. Pac-Man.

**MBStarscream: Okay, Pac-Man? Pac-Land? Pac-People? Pac-kids? What's here that isn't Pac-y?**

Hiro: Why, evil ghosts that love to terrify the inhabitants of Pac-Land, of course. The most notable ghosts are the four members of the Ghost Gang - Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde - whom Pac-Man has battled several times to save his home from their antics, thinking with his belly more often than not.

**MBStarscream: Yeah, he likes to eat a lot. The usual meal includes Pac-Dots and fruits including cherries, strawberries, oranges, and apples. Oh, and ghosts.**

Hiro: He achieves the ability to devour his spectral enemies by consuming a Power Pellet, which will cause ghosts to turn blue and become vulnerable for a limited time. He has several abilities like Rev Roll, a charged fast roll similar to Sonic's Spin Dash, and, uh, Butt Bounce, which works like Mario's Ground Pound.

**MBStarscream: If Pac-Man has at least one Pac-Dot he can shoot one from his hand like a bullet and damage enemies. He has a stronger variation of this attack, except he will spin around and then shoot a huge blast of Pac-Dots from his hand.**

Hiro: Pac-Man can jump in the air and flip with his foot extended to smash high up boxes, and using the Steel Ball Power Up, Pac-Man's body will become steel and he can hardly be damaged, enabling him to stand on fire and walk across lava without issue. Using the Shrink Pellet, Pac-Man will shrink in size and will be able to go through small doors, and with the Electro-Shock Power Pellet, Pac-Man can shoot electricity from his hands.

**MBStarscream: Pac-Man can cause a shockwave that kills two enemies at a time with Triple Butt Bounce, and using the Red Ribbon Power Pellet Pac-Man's body will glow. When running a red afterimage will follow behind him. If he creates a ring around enemies the ring will close and do damage to them.**

Hiro: Pac-Man has access to Power Berries using the Tree of Life that grant him flight along with newer abilities. The Yellow Berry gives him the power to eat ghosts, fly and survive the netherworld. The Fire Berry transforms him into Fire Pac-Man and gives him pyrokinesis. The Ice Berry transforms him into Ice Pac-Man and allows him to manipulate ice.

**MBStarscream: The Magnet Berry transforms him into Magnet Pac-Man and gives him the powers of magnetism where his tongue turns into a magnet allowing him to attract in ghosts and then eat them as well as run up metallic objects. With the Chameleon Berry, Pac-Man's tongue is now even longer and can eat up ghosts from a distance. Chameleon Pac-Man can also turn invisible where he can sneak up on ghosts.**

Hiro: Finally, the Mega Berry makes Pac-Man grow 60ft in height and able to fight off monsters too big for him to face in his normal-sized form. Pac-Man definitely has everything he needs to put ghosts in their place every day.

**MBStarscream: He's strong enough to easily smash open barrels, crates, treasure chests, and more with a single punch, reel in fish more than twice his size and yank it out of the water with no problems whatsoever, and destroy a small army of Erwin's battle mechs and heavy artillery vehicles.**

Hiro: Pac-Man has survived being in the epicenter of a large explosion caused by the destruction of Erwin's death machine, resisted a gravitational pull strong enough to pull in Spooky, and run at speeds faster than sound.

**MBStarscream: But this little yellow ghost-eater isn't perfect. Since he eats first and asks questions later, he can easily be baited with food, and most of his power-ups are only temporary, lasting a few seconds at most.**

Hiro: He must also make sure to eat a Power Pellet before thinking of taking a ghost head-on, or it's game over. But that's not even his greatest weaknesses. Two words:

Hiro and **MBStarscream: ADAM. SANDLER.**

Hiro: *But*, Pac-Man still isn't one to trifle with. He ain't afraid of no ghosts, and will gladly eat any who threaten his home and those he holds dear.

*Pac-Man: Pac-Man's the name, Chompin's my game!*

## Fatal Fiction

*Mario flips a coin.*

Hiro: Well, a spooky mansion like this seems like a fitting arena for these two to settle the score. Can green beat yellow in a Fatal Fiction?

**MBStarscream: At least one of them can make sure my house isn't haunted.**

*Luigi's Mansion*

Smothered in blankets of moonlit mist, the mansion cast its silhouette against the nighttime sky. Just outside, a slim and tall man with a dark brown moustache dressed in white gloves, blue overalls and a green shirt and cap shivered like it was a cold winter, but braced his nerves and pushed open the gates.

**Luigi** got closer to the mansion, each step towards the closed door feeling like an eternity. From inside, the door creaked open and a shaky Luigi peeked inside before tiptoeing in...then jumped with a scream as the door slammed shut behind him. After taking a moment to recover, Luigi fumbled with his Poltergust until he finally brought up a flashlight and looked around with the newfound illumination.

He did not have much time to explore before an 8-bit sound made him yelp again and shine his flashlight at the source, revealing a yellow sphere moving towards him while opening and closing a mouth of some kind. At first Luigi thought it was some sort of yellow Chain Chomp until stopped in front of him before growing arms, legs and a smiling face. The yellow creature, **Pac-Man**, took a stance which Luigi shakily reciprocated.

"Let's-a go..." Luigi said nervously.

**FIGHT!**

Pac-Man quickly rolled towards Luigi and collided with the plumber before he could react, knocking him back. He ran forward to attack Luigi again, but was pushed away by an outward gust of air from Luigi's vacuum. Pac-Man tried to jump on Luigi's head, but Luigi sprung into the air with his fist extended, hitting Pac-Man clean into the air and causing fire damage to him. When his back hit the ground, Luigi spun him around by the feet, then threw him behind him. Pac-Man got up, only to be met by Luigi rocketing himself forward in a missile fashion to headbutt the ghost-eater. Luigi then pulled out the Poltergust and used it to suck Pac-Man in closer as he desperately tried to outrun the vacuum's strong pull.

Thinking quickly, Pac-Man summoned a fruit and threw it back at Luigi, hitting him in the face and causing him to reel his head back, pointing his vacuum upward in the process. The Poltergust's sudden change in direction caused Pac-Man to run at full speed towards the nearest wall, unable to stop himself from hitting it face-first. Pulling himself off of the wall, Pac-Man turned to Luigi and charged at him, only to be blinded by a flash of white light from the Poltergust. Luigi then rushed a disoriented Pac-Man, flailing his fists and bopping them repeatedly before shoving him on their back. He then pulled out a hammer and nearly flattened Pac-Man with it if not for the Pac-Land defender rolling backward. But just as he was on his feet, a swing from Luigi's hammer launched him across the mansion.

Pac-Man pulled out a tan-colored pellet and swallowed it, instantly gaining a tan aura, before running a circle around Luigi, the plumber quickly getting dizzy as he tried to keep track of his opponent. Worse yet, the trial of tan Pac-Man left behind closed in on Luigi, harming him. Pac-Man followed up by jumping above Luigi and coming down with a Butt Bounce, crushing him. As he jumped off of him, Luigi inflated himself to normal proportions and scowled angrily before doing an odd dance as a sphere of negative energy enveloped him and Pac-Man. Pac-Man was affected by the tripping and slow down effects and starts trying to escape, but Luigi hopped on Pac-Man's head, stunning him.

Mario's brother in green proceeded to crouch down, gathering energy, then jump into the air like a rocket. At a certain altitude, he performed a Ground Pound and crash, butt-first, onto Pac-man's head. He then jumped off, yelping because his pants were on fire from re-entry, then put out the fire as Pac-Man got up. Pac-Man ate a blue-colored pellet, glowing a similarly-colored aura as he shot electricity out of his hands at Luigi. Luigi retaliated with a sphere of lightning that paralyzed Pac-Man, allowing him to follow up by spinning in a corkscrew fashion, his extended fists pummeling Pac-Man.

The two ghost-hunters took turns punching each other, both surprisingly matched in hand-to-hand. Until Luigi jumped back and launched green fireballs at Pac-Man, each hit making the spherical hero step back until he finally swallowed a fireball and spat it back out at Luigi, the Star Child yelping in pain as he was hit in the chest. Pac-Man then sent out a chain of pellets before turning into his classic self and rushing forward to eat them all, sending Luigi running in terror with the chomping Pac-Man right behind him. Unfortunately, Pac-Man chomped down on Luigi's back and tossed him away with his mouth.

Not finished yet, Pac-Man, still in 8-bit form, quickly moved left and right, rapidly chomping at Luigi. When he stopped, Pac-Man shot multiple Pac-Dots at a dazed Luigi before rolling towards him. However, he was met with an upward swing of Luigi's hammer that sent him into the air. Luigi immediately jumped up and struck at Pac-Man repeatedly, finishing by knocking Pac-Man back down to the ground. Luigi came down to hit Pac-Man on the head with his hammer, but Pac-Man rolled away as the hammer slammed onto the floor. Luigi started spinning around with his hammer trying to strike Pac-Man, but the Pac-Land protector chomped down on the hammer and with a sharp turn of his body sent Luigi flying. The hammer still in his mouth, Pac-Man swallowed it whole before rolling towards Luigi once more.

Luigi managed to catch the rolling pellet-eater with his hands and kicked him away, then sucked him into the Poltergust. After a moment of silence, Luigi sighed in relief, but quickly grew concerned as his vacuum started shaking uncontrollably. When it started tearing, Luigi threw it down and stepped back, looking up in horror as a massive sphere-shaped shadow loomed over him.

Outside the mansion, the front door flew open and Luigi rushed out, screaming like a little girl. Seconds later, a gigantic 8-bit Pac-Man smashed through the front of the mansion and chased Luigi around the house in circles, the plumber's wails echoing through the night as he pushed his running speed to its limit. Luigi kept running, then stopped in his tracks as the giant Pac-Man was suddenly right in front of him. It was too late to turn back; Pac-Man rammed into Luigi like a rhino as he charged past him. This knocked Luigi into the air, before Pac-Man rushed in from the other side to tackle him again. This process repeated itself a couple times, knocking Luigi even higher up each time Pac-Man rammed into him, before Luigi landed on the roof of the mansion.

Now normal-sized, Pac-Man jumped onto the roof to join Luigi as the brother of Mario got to his feet. Luigi pulled out a Power Flower and used it to become partially immaterial. Pac-Man tried shooting Pac-Dots at him, but was confused when his projectiles phased through Luigi. Luigi rushed forward and knocked Pac-Man dangerously close to the edge of the roof with a series of punches and a strong kick. Pac-Man ate a silver-colored pellet and gained a metal sheen as he charged at Luigi. Luigi tried to punch him in the face, but held his hand in pain before Pac-Man knocked him back; only by holding on with one hand did Luigi manage to avoid falling off the mansion roof.

Luigi pulled himself up onto the roof as Pac-Man charged. Luigi jumped over him, and Pac-Man skidded to a stop before he went over the edge, only to fall over anyway courtesy of a butt bounce from the cowardly ghostbuster. Pac-Man jumped back up onto the roof and produced a fire hydrant beneath him that shot out blasts of water at Luigi, pushing him away. Luigi managed to power through the water blast with his Green Missile, smashing through the fire hydrant and hitting Pac-Man in the face. The combatants then started fighting in close-quarters again, but Luigi quickly gained the upper hand and slammed Pac-Man into the ground, then hit him with another hammer repeatedly.

Knocking Pac-Man into the air, Luigi jumped up and sent the pellet-eater downward with another whack of his hammer. Once gravity had pulled them both back down to the roof, Luigi pummeled him mercilessly with his hammer for several moments. When he stopped, a bruised and weakened Pac-Man collapsed to one knee as Luigi put his hammer down. A Super Jump Punch sent Pac-Man flying up, and picking up his hammer again, Luigi swung it as his opponent as hard as he could.

Pac-Man screamed as he flew into the moon, disappearing without a trace. Alone on the roof of his mansion, Luigi jumped for joy. "Yeah! Go wee-gee! Go wee-gee!"

**FATALITY!**

## Results

**MBStarscream: Nintendo: 2. Pac-Man: Nil.**

Hiro: Luigi's cowardice and clumsiness might have initially held him back in this fight, and Pac-Man's own power-ups and experience could give him trouble for a while, but it only delayed the inevitable.

**MBStarscream: Pac-Man was badly outshone by Luigi in terms of physical stats. Now before you point out that Luigi can barely lift a large radish about the size of a small car, he's been able to do far more impressive than that. He's defeated Bowser multiple times, including times when the Koopa King was amped by Power Stars, which can create pocket dimensions full of stars.**

Hiro: In speed, Luigi is capable of reacting to Bowser and Bowser Jr. riding the Koopa Clown Car, which flew to the sun and the home planet to a nearby galaxy in a short period of time, and dodging attacks from a Grand Star-powered Bowser, who can tag Starship Mario with his meteors and flew the center of the universe. Even Pac-Man wasn't that fast.

**MBStarscream: Pac-Man was also definitely not tough enough to take hits from Bowser and other Power Star users. Luigi's experience in fighting Bowser alongside his brother so many times also gave him a major advantage in combat experience, and the foes he's fought over the years, even excluding Bowser, also outclassed anything that Pac-Man's encountered.**

Hiro: With his advantages in physicality, power-ups and experience, Luigi managed to score a surprise despite Pac-Man's best efforts.

**MBStarscream: He sent that guy *Pack*ing.**

Hiro: Luigi wins.

## Advantages

### Luigi (Winner)

* Stronger
* Faster
* More durable
* Had more experience
* Has fought stronger enemies
* Power-ups could counter Pac-Man's own