Pac-Man (SSF2)

PAC-MAN is a veteran starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. He was initially revealed as a playable character on May 27, 2016, when videos and files from the game were leaked. He was officially confirmed on a special emergency Dev Blog, along with, on May 29, 2016. His sprites are custom-made and, alongside with his moveset, based on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, which consists of references from PAC-MAN, PAC-LAND, and other games from the NAMCO franchise.

PAC-MAN is currently ranked 14th in A+ tier on the current tier list, ten times greater than PAC-MAN's previous placement in the previous tier list, 14th of B+ tier, and twenty times greater than his very first placement in the previous tier list from previous patches of the game, in 24th place. PAC-MAN's biggest strength is his stage control: he has very good projectiles in his Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant, which are very versatile, can create various intricate set-ups and can also KO at high percents, and they also provide him great spacing and edgeguarding abilities. He has a numerous amount of KO options in his smash attacks, Bonus Fruit (with the Apple or the Key), back throw, all aerials, and as well as his potentially strong special moves, Power Pellet (when he eats the Power Pellet) and Pac-Jump. PAC-MAN also has a fantastic recovery: both Pac-Jump and Power Pellet travel a long distance, and the latter doesn't leave him helpless. PAC-MAN also possesses a potentially deadly grab and throw game, as most of his throws set up juggles or combo into aerials for KO potential at higher precents. He also possesses a very strong juggling game, as well as for a strong edgeguarding and combo game, like and. Due to his decent air speed, he has an amazing air game, along with fast and high priority aerial attacks that provide good spacing and edgeguarding tools, with his down aerial sending a flurry of stomps and the last hit launching the opponents upwards, making it a very frustrating combo move to punish. His relatively slow falling speed allows him to break out of juggles, and combined with his recovery, he has one of the best vertical and horizontal recoveries in the game. Since forward aerial, back aerial and Power Pellet have outlarged and disjointed range and he has slow falling speed, this helps in PAC-MAN's great edgeguarding tactic in the wall of pain.

However, PAC-MAN possesses a few notable weaknesses. PAC-MAN has a rather large hurtbox, and combined with how most of his non-special attacks extend slightly from his body, he is easily hit and maneuvered around with attacks. Some of his KO options (like neutral aerial) are unreliable or hard to land, and his special moves can be used against him, including hitting the hydrant. His grab is also very punishable if he misses. His mobility is only average at best, and his range is rather poor, and because of this, he struggles against fast characters, like, or characters with disjointed hitboxes, like and.

PAC-MAN has a very small player-base due to how he requires a lot of tech-skill and is overall hard to play as, but overall a very effective neutral game.. However, Kyoz has been shown to do very well with PAC-MAN along with causing a huge upset back in Gax Saga, including taking out Gax himself (widely considered one of the best SSF2 Beta players as of right now, and the best player of PAC-MAN himself). However, Kyoz has been mainly inactive outside of this. The only other notable PAC-MAN player is Playridise, but it has been pretty debated among certain players whether or not he deserves the title of the second-best PAC-MAN player, due to his lack of consistent results as a PAC-MAN player. Although PAC-MAN's weaknesses are apparent enough to accept, PAC-MAN's strengths are signficantlly enough to make him a high-tier character.

Attributes
PAC-MAN is notable for being a speedy, yet floaty middleweight character whose attributes slightly deviate from the typicality of his weight class; as well as for having unique properties in his moveset. He has decent air speed (improving his aerial mobility), and is rather on the floatier side of the cast, and he has good running speeds, but is overall above-average, and he has above-average walking speeds, and he also has a high jumping height, as well as for being one of the characters with a crawling ability.

Overall, PAC-MAN, in terms of his playstyle, is an unorthodox character focused on horizontal combos. PAC-MAN has good power in his moveset, as many of his attacks, including tilt attacks, smash attacks, aerials and special attacks, are notable for having outlarged range and lingering hitboxes, providing him great spacing and edgeguarding abilities. He possesses a strong juggling game, with up aerial having great vertical range and having the abilities of keeping the opponents in the air, while also being a reliable KO move, up tilt also having a large vertical hitbox, and forward aerial, back aerial and neutral aerial having outlarged vertical and horizontal range for juggling capabilities.

PAC-MAN's greatest strength is his stage-control (similar to 's stage-controlling game): he has very good projectiles in his Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant, which are very versatile, can create various intricate set-ups and can also KO at high percents, and they also provide him great spacing and edgeguarding abilities. Outside of his special attacks, he has a numerous amount of KO options in his smash attacks, Bonus Fruit (with the Apple or the Key), back throw, all aerials, and as well as his potentially strong special moves, Power Pellet (when he eats the Power Pellet) and Pac-Jump, and they are very versatile themselves for KO potential.

PAC-MAN has a decent grab and throw game, while he possesses one of the longest grabs in the game. His up throw is PAC-MAN's best throw, although it possesses set knockback which disallows it to KO at high precents (unless if used at higher surfaces of the stage), which is a potent juggling and combo starter that combos into neutral aerial or up aerial for KO confirms at high precents, while forward throw and back throw are strong edgeguarding setups (while also having slight combo potential at low-to-mid precents, and can combo into forward aerial, neutral aerial and back aerial for KO confirms at high precents). Down throw is similar to up throw in terms of starting juggles and combos, albeit much more versatile and does not possess set knockback. Back throw is PAC-MAN's strongest throw, being able to kill most characters at around 100%. Overall, PAC-MAN possesses a strong combo game vertically and horizontally.

Also, PAC-MAN also possesses unqiue projectiles in his special attacks, while being very unique themselves. His neutral special, Bonus Fruit, provides a several amount of "fruit" projectiles that has various effects upon a single fruit. It functions similar to 's Judge, providing several weak-to-strong effects, but the fruit being chosen is not randomized. However, some of the fruit provide strong effects, such as the apple killing at around 120%, the bell freezing the opponent, allowing PAC-MAN followup-potential and punish or even KO with his smash attacks or his other strong moves, and lastly, the key, a strong projectile that will KO all characters reliably below 60%. Lastly, one of his unique moves is his down special, Fire Hydrant, as PAC-MAN drops a hydrant projectile which can be moved if it is attacked, making it act similar to 's Purple Plum, albeit with much less endurance, and it can be used as a great edgeguarding tool.

Overall, PAC-MAN is described as a powerful "bait-and-punish," a melee-oriented character who possesses a great moveset that pressures the opponents and manipulate their behavior, and they have superior speed and power to certainly exploit all characters, and he has high KO potential, and heavy damage-output, similar to, and he doesn't possess vital flaws as well. As a result, PAC-MAN is notrious for being one of the most powerful characters throughout the game, as many players either consider him high-tier or top-tier, with most considering top-tier. Although his weaknessess are obvious, his strengths are drastically enough to outnumber his flaws, making him a high-tier character.