Pac-Man

Here comes Pac-Man! With an everlasting hunger for battle, feast your appetite for action with this fresh yet familiar take on the most iconic character in all of gaming!

Pac-Man takes much of what he has in the Super Smash Bros. series with him into Rivals of Aether, although he has a few new tricks up his sleeve just as well!

Unlike most characters in Rivals, Pac-Man doesn’t have a central gimmick…

…Rather, all of his specials have gimmicks of their own that can each interact with one another in unique ways!

Bonus Fruit works nearly identically to how it does in Smash, with a few adjustments made for better gamefeel in Rivals! If you’re unfamiliar with how it works in Smash, then you must be craving an explanation!

The move will cycle between 8 different fruits, starting with cherry, and going on to strawberry, orange, apple, melon, galaxian, bell, and key. Each fruit has different properties to it, and each property can vary. For example, cherry does light knockback and moves in a short arc, whereas orange does a little more knockback and damage while flinging straight forward at moderate speed.

Some fruits move in whackier patterns than most! The Galaxian will fly forward, perform a shuttle loop, and proceed to fly diagonally up before disappearing.

One difference with Rivals’ itteration of Bonus Fruit is that Pac-Man can press attack or shield when he’s within the fruit’s proximity to pocket it for later use. This can only be done once per rotation however, meaning that if he throws another fruit after pocketing it, he can’t pick it up again.

Pac-Man drops a Fire Hydrant down below, and every few seconds, it’ll blast a gush of water either from up top or either side of itself! Although this might seem relatively harmless, this can be useful for throwing off your opponents at the right time or positioning yourself just right for certain attacks! However, there are a couple ways you can deal damage with the hydrant…


The hydrant can be batted away by both your own and other opponents’ attacks and can hurt anyone except whoever hit the hydrant, and Pac-Man can drop the hydrant on opponents, too.

While the name may remain the same as his side special from Smash, it’s basically a new move entirely!

Pac-Man throws his power pellet forward, and it will stick to almost anything it hits, whether it be an opponent, his hydrant, his trampoline, or even walls! Pressing FSpecial again will make him create a pac-dot chain which goes to the pellet, whereas he’ll follow it in his classic form before chomping down on the pellet with a hard bite! This can be useful for not only extending combos, but also recovery if you play your cards right!

Pac-Man’s Up Special from Smash returns, but with some new attributes to it! Like always, the trampoline has two additional bounces before it breaks and send anyone who touches it into free fall…

…Except this time more than just players can bounce on the trampoline!

That’s right! now Pac-Man can use his trampoline to automatically turn his hydrant into a deadly projectile, or bounce the hydrant higher if it’s already flung about!

Furthermore, his fruits can be launched up into the air by the trampoline if they have gravitational properties to them

– Pac-Man’s power pellet will disappear if he’s hit too hard, parried, or KO’d, so all should be warry of this depending on if they’re playing as or against him.
– Pac-Man’s fruit can bounce off any solid object, beit his hydrant, walls, or other objects like Kragg’s rock. Use this to your advantage in catching fruit.
– The bell can stun opponents longer depending on their damage, so at high percents, stun them with the bell so you can dish out a stronger attack against them!
– While they’re stronger on the first few active frames, Pac-Man’s strongs will linger for a brief amount of time. This can be handy for dishing out extra damage and more.
– Pac-Man’s down air can be risky to use in some situations, but if it lands, it’ll be a real pain in the butt. Not for him though… You can also air dodge or double jump to cancel it in midair!
– Pac-Man’s dash attack can be cancelled with a jump or up strong if it hits, and it can be interrupted if jump is pressed and it doesn’t hit.

All Coding and Animation – TheSmashWaffle
Additional SFX – Pac-Man, Pac-Man World 2, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Notable Beta Testers – Dakota, Gnome/Mallow, ricE, VVizard, SnolidIce, EquinoxDoodles, ArtistofSeer, VirG, CurtDog420, GrucYord, Ventaver, and Ghostabo

Reiga for color pallet guidance and assistance
Spam for being a key motivator (and comissioning Crazy Canonade for me)
Modeling Clay for making Crazy Canonade

Dedicated to Toru Iwatani, the creator of Pac-Man, the many other talents behind the Pac-Man series, and everyone who’s inspired and motivated me to come as far as I have.