Advice for a New(Super Smash Bros and) Pac-Man Player?

[Jaeva]

On a forward note, before I begin this thread, I'd like to clarify, I'm sorry if this is posted in the wrong area of forum, or has already been asked on this forum before. I'm pretty new to these kinds of things.

Hello! I'm a very new Smash player. Before SSB4, I'd play Smash every 3 months or so, when I went over to a cousins house, and only for about an hour, my days of sweeping my casual Cousin were never a thing, all I'd do is spam Ike's Up Special, Aether and rack up damage, before getting rekt. Still, it was fun and Ike has a special place in my heart because of it. However, recently, I bought a Blue 3DS using money I saved up, (Wtf, the Red 3DS with the exact same specs was $30 more then the Blue one.. Clearly nintendo is color biased) along with Super Smash Bros 4, which I was hyped when I got due to the countless weeks of watching Super Smash Bros 4 guides and matches. (Which I seemed to forget as soon as I played.) I had taken a liking to Lil Mac at first, however, I dropped him due to not being able to recover when knocked out of stage. Soon, I had gone through a flurry of characters such as Robin, Link, Ness, Captain Falcon, Ike (Who I still like playing as for fun) and Pit. However, none of them had really stuck. Bored, I decided to pick up Pac-man to try him out. I hated him, he was crazy weak and I hated his specials (Which at the time, I just spammed B, I litterally had no idea you could charge, and I thought that the trampoline was only a one jump recovery, along with thinking the fire hydrant was the gayest thing since Ellen DeGeneres). After about 2 weeks of getting the movement down, I started looking up some guides for characters and alas, I had found one for Pac Man, fun. I realized how much I had missed out on, and picked him up again, and I absolutely loved it. The Technicality and positions for the Fire Hydrant, along with the Normal Attacks were a joy to me. I went through huge amounts of tutorials, however, I didn't seem to get any better, it was odd, like I hit a skill ceiling. So then, I looked up some guides for Pac Man on google, clicking the link from a Website called "SmashBoards." In the four minutes of me reading it, I already learned so much more then anything of Youtube, and already I was doing better. However, I feel like I have alot to still learn.

So, I'm asking you guys for tips and strategies, and really, because of how new I am, just general basic tips on anything.

I would appreciate it, however, if you're too busy or something, that's cool, please just don't be that rude guy though.

Love you all, and I'm liking this Forum. - Falchion.

 

[Goggalor]

Well first of all, I'm glad you have a lot of fun playing as Pac-Man because he will take a lot of time to learn him. I know I was in the same position as you when I picked up the game on launch. I had the idea to main other characters in mind, but I played as Pac-Man for a bit and was like, "Hey, this character is pretty fun" and a year later I'm a super dedicated Pac-Man main.

As far as tips for playing and learning the character, I'm going to say that you shouldn't get discouraged if you get flustered with trying to "play him properly". I've seen many examples of Pac-Man playing in multiple different ways. Look up Abadango, Zage, and Kool-Aid on YouTube. I don't think Kool-Aid plays Pac-Man much anymore, but Abadango and Zage are easily the top Pac-Man players so watch them and try to pick up a few tricks from them and how they play.

Learning how to use, and take advantage of, each fruit is critical. Don't be the guy who just charges up the key and goes from there. There are plenty of other things, and fortunately the thread for that has plenty of reading material that everyone here has compiled over the past year. So give that a read.
http://smashboards.com/threads/pac-attack-advanced-techniques-and-strategy-guide.373546/

I don't want to blather on much more, so I'll let you off with that last thread I linked.

Welcome to the Pac-Army =]

 

[dragontamer]

Ehhh... the poll is in poor taste but welcome aboard!

Most strategies in this game are advanced tech. I don't believe anyone has made a "curriculum" of material for Smash in general, just a collection of tips that hopefully becomes useful if you learn them.

I'm a little bit "rambly" in this video, and I personally like Bair as a spacing tool moreso than Fair today. But I've got a video from several months ago that you can go ahead and watch. The first 2 or 3 minutes are more important than the later bits... and I think that overall the "Fair footsies" strategy is too weak to be applied at a tournament level.

I just rewatched the video and yeah, I'm definitely a stronger player today than I used to be. But it's something I got on hand. Still, at a beginner level or For Glory mode online... "Fair Footsies vs tall characters" probably is an okay crutch to lean on.

Better opponents will be able to dash-attack after the hit and capture the neutral. But as far as a "crutch to learn the neutral game", Fair can be used as a beginner training tool IMO.

------

If there was a single concept that you need to master ASAP, it is footsies in general. Watching your opponent, very carefully calculating the hurtboxes of yourself and your opponent, and understanding the hitboxes / threat range of your opponents.

The neutral game / footsies is the most important aspect of competitive play... moreso if you are deciding to main PacMan. PacMan's kill options are subpar compared to the rest of the cast... so the only way to make it up is to dominate the neutral / footsie game.

------

If you can get maybe... 50/50 wins online in For Glory, start looking for a local group (like Xanadu) to play at. Online play has lag and prevents learning of deeper strategies. In particular, you will find that players offline can very reliably catch your fruits and punish your rolls, while players online cannot.

Another note: learn to catch fruit and punish rolls. :-) Its very possible to punish rolls on reaction with FTilt or Jab... and even FSmash or DSmash when you predict a roll. This is mostly an "offline" strategy however, because even slight amounts of lag online make it impossible to execute. Hell, the lag from an improper TV can make roll punishing impossible.

 

[Nu~]

I would also reccomend to watch dee. Easily the best pacman main right now.

http://youtu.be/t2lqBm1Ulbw

Pac is all about using your tools creativity to force your opponent to play your game.

 

[Jaeva]

Well first of all, I'm glad you have a lot of fun playing as Pac-Man because he will take a lot of time to learn him. I know I was in the same position as you when I picked up the game on launch. I had the idea to main other characters in mind, but I played as Pac-Man for a bit and was like, "Hey, this character is pretty fun" and a year later I'm a super dedicated Pac-Man main.

As far as tips for playing and learning the character, I'm going to say that you shouldn't get discouraged if you get flustered with trying to "play him properly". I've seen many examples of Pac-Man playing in multiple different ways. Look up Abadango, Zage, and Kool-Aid on YouTube. I don't think Kool-Aid plays Pac-Man much anymore, but Abadango and Zage are easily the top Pac-Man players so watch them and try to pick up a few tricks from them and how they play.

Learning how to use, and take advantage of, each fruit is critical. Don't be the guy who just charges up the key and goes from there. There are plenty of other things, and fortunately the thread for that has plenty of reading material that everyone here has compiled over the past year. So give that a read.
http://smashboards.com/threads/pac-attack-advanced-techniques-and-strategy-guide.373546/

I don't want to blather on much more, so I'll let you off with that last thread I linked.

Welcome to the Pac-Army =]

No No! Blather on all you'd like. I eat this stuff up like Cherries (Ba dum tsh)

I'll check it out. Learning about technicalities and combos are prolly the most fun, yet frustrating part about it.

Ehhh... the poll is in poor taste but welcome aboard!

Most strategies in this game are advanced tech. I don't believe anyone has made a "curriculum" of material for Smash in general, just a collection of tips that hopefully becomes useful if you learn them.

I'm a little bit "rambly" in this video, and I personally like Bair as a spacing tool moreso than Fair today. But I've got a video from several months ago that you can go ahead and watch. The first 2 or 3 minutes are more important than the later bits... and I think that overall the "Fair footsies" strategy is too weak to be applied at a tournament level.

I just rewatched the video and yeah, I'm definitely a stronger player today than I used to be. But it's something I got on hand. Still, at a beginner level or For Glory mode online... "Fair Footsies vs tall characters" probably is an okay crutch to lean on.

Better opponents will be able to dash-attack after the hit and capture the neutral. But as far as a "crutch to learn the neutral game", Fair can be used as a beginner training tool IMO.

------

If there was a single concept that you need to master ASAP, it is footsies in general. Watching your opponent, very carefully calculating the hurtboxes of yourself and your opponent, and understanding the hitboxes / threat range of your opponents.

The neutral game / footsies is the most important aspect of competitive play... moreso if you are deciding to main PacMan. PacMan's kill options are subpar compared to the rest of the cast... so the only way to make it up is to dominate the neutral / footsie game.

------

If you can get maybe... 50/50 wins online in For Glory, start looking for a local group (like Xanadu) to play at. Online play has lag and prevents learning of deeper strategies. In particular, you will find that players offline can very reliably catch your fruits and punish your rolls, while players online cannot.

Another note: learn to catch fruit and punish rolls. :-) Its very possible to punish rolls on reaction with FTilt or Jab... and even FSmash or DSmash when you predict a roll. This is mostly an "offline" strategy however, because even slight amounts of lag online make it impossible to execute. Hell, the lag from an improper TV can make roll punishing impossible.

Alright. I've already found myself to be incredibly good at dodging, I'd say that's what I'm a natural at. And yeah, I see this lag. It's horrid, sadly I don't have any competitive group near me, as I live in Kansas, however, I have plenty of friends who go to offline groups and are pretty good! My friend Miles has single handedly made me despise any Link players now, but that's probably because of my inadequate skill./

I would also reccomend to watch dee. Easily the best pacman main right now.

http://youtu.be/t2lqBm1Ulbw

Pac is all about using your tools creativity to force your opponent to play your game.

Hm. I love it. I want to get the advanced plays down first, and then adapt to my own "unique/strange" Pac-man style once I've got it down. That's why I love Pac-man so much, so many different play styles.

 

[Jaeva]

Also, I always have issues kicking the fire hydrant before it pushes me away, usually resulting in me getting punishe What should I do there?

 

[Goggalor]

Usually, the most common way that I'll do it is to run off the side and BAir it first, then usually spot dodging the water gush or short hopping over it and hitting with an aerial will do the trick.

 

[Jaeva]

Alright. I'll try it out later and come back with results.

 

[dragontamer]

Also, I always have issues kicking the fire hydrant before it pushes me away, usually resulting in me getting punishe What should I do there?

The fastest and most reliable launch is Dash off, fast fall, FSmash.

Bair is used for the jab setup. If you are just going to FTilt the hydrant, you probably should have fast-fall FSmashed it instead.

Some setups you should try:

Bair -> USmash
Bair -> Jab
Bair -> Fair