Pacman

Pacman.png

**Pac-Man** (パックマン, *Pakkuman*), rendered in-game as **PACMAN** in the Japanese version and as **PAC-MAN** in all other versions, is a newcomer in *Super Smash Bros. All Stars*. Initially revealed on August 23rd, 2018 to attendees of the E8 2018 Smash Bros. Roundtable, he was later confirmed to the public on Nintendo of America's Twitter account alongside Palutena and the Mii Fighters. Pac-Man is one of six third-party characters in *SSB All Stars*, alongside Capcom's Mega Man and Ryu, Sega's Sonic and Bayonetta, and Square Enix's Cloud, as well as the third third-party character revealed.

Pac-Man's moveset involves signature aspects of his home series, such as throwing fruits and eating Power Pellets,[2] while also referencing numerous other Namco games in a few ways, most notably via his up taunt. While Pac-Man retains his classic "wedge" form, he only uses it occasionally, such as for his down tilt and his side taunt. Instead, he mostly uses his "ball" form that appeared on game cabinet artwork and advertising before it debuted in-game in the Japanese version of *Pac-Land*.

Pac-Man is currently ranked 46th out of 58 on the tier list, placing him in the E tier. This makes him the sixth lowest ranking low-tier character and the lowest ranking third-party character. Pac-Man has possibly the most combat-effective projectile in Bonus Fruit, which can produce different kinds of effects depending on the used object, allowing for a myriad of set-ups, edgeguarding, or KO options. He additionally possess a very useful tool in Fire Hydrant due to its ability to punish enemies from below, work as an obstacle, function as a KO option, and even act as a combo breaker in the air or on the ground by stalling his descent and using the hydrant's water, respectively. This combines well with Pac-Man's effective damage racking potential, as his attacks' mostly fast speeds and low base knockback allow for combos or jab resets at low percentages. Pac-Man also boasts good recovery thanks to Power Pellet and Pac-Jump covering great distances alongside his ability to wall jump.

However, Pac-Man suffers from numerous flaws. His grounded mobility is only average at best, which gives him issues with approaching faster characters. Despite the aforementioned coverage Pac-Man's overall recovery possesses, it is quite predictable, slow and easily interruptible. His KO options are particularly lacking, due to his strongest ones (smash attacks) being hard to land and easily punishable, while they and his other options (clean neutral aerial, clean back aerial, Bonus Fruit's key and flying/tumbling Fire Hydrant) have low base knockback, making it very difficult for him to KO before his opponent gets to a significantly high percentage.

Finally, Pac-Man has two unique and significant issues: his grab game and double-edged special moves. While he has a long tether grab and is tied with Mario for having the second most damaging pummel in the game, his grabs are notoriously laggy overall and his throws have little combo potential in general. This gives him problems with opponents who overuse shields, while granting him little reward from landing his grabs. Secondly, all four of his special moves can be turned against him, such as by being reflected or even being used by his opponents; one particularly disadvantageous matchup is with Rosalina & Luma due to their Gravitational Pull.

As a result, Pac-Man's heavy reliance on item control makes him quite a rarity in tournaments. However, several of his mains, such as Tea and Zage, have shown that he can perform item combos like item set-ups and shield breaks, even at high-level play. Regardless, Pac Man is still considered a poor character due to a lack of representation and results as of late, with ESAM going as far as saying he is a candidate for the absolute worst character in the game, and Mr. R considering Pac-Man to be the 2nd worst character in the game respectively.