PAC-MAN
Fighter Number: 55
Fighter Group: Smash 4 Veterans
Franchise: Pac-Man
Game of Origin: Pac-Man (Arcade, 1980 (US/JP/EU)
What we have right here now, is an absolute legend. Pac-Man of course is one of the oldest video game characters. I think it's safe to say a good majority of characters owe their existence to Pac-Man. Now, Pac-Man of course isn't the oldest Smash character in the roster. That notion belongs to Mr. Game and Watch. But Pac-Man was marketed quite differently then the more generic LCD characters of the Game and Watch. Pac-Man was essentially the very first video game mascot. A notion of a cartoon character that was simple enough to show in the game and also have quirky art to put on the arcade cabinet. Pac-Man paved the way for many video game franchises to come. He is also the longest lasting franchise in Smash, predating both the arcade Donkey Kong and continuing on to this very day.
Even if most of the games carry on the rather simple gameplay of the arcade original, Pac-Man has delved into many other genres much like Nintendo's own plumber. There are 2D Platformers (Pac-Land the rather infamous stage that is in both Smash 4 Wii U and Ultimate is in fact based on Pac-Man's first platformer ever), Puzzle games, a point-and-click adventure, 3D Platfomers (The Pac-Man World games being where Pac-Man's design in Smash is heavily derived from), Party games, Pinball, Kart racing (Even appearing in the exclusive to
Arcade Mario Kart games), and probably others on a more obscure level.
Pac-Man's even delved into a fair bit of media in terms of a TV show in the 80s and the more recent Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. Although… in terms of the latter perhaps the less said about it, the better.
This scene may be all you need to know about it. There's a rumor going on that if Sakurai had been mandated to use the Ghostly Adventures design, he might of
rejected Pac-Man as a character outright. While that does sound a little extreme, as they could just make the different Pac-Man's as alts if Namco really wanted it. We probably couldn't fault him for wanting to keep Pac-Man a bit recognizable.
And while Namco's gone on to produce plenty of other lovable franchises from the Tekken games, the Tales of Series, Klonoa, and plenty more. Pac-Man's remained the company's main claim-to-fame and enduring mascot. When it was announced that Bandai Namco was involved with Smash starting with Smash 4, that instantly rose up all speculation about Pac-Man being in Smash. While there was some debate on maybe Namco would try not get too much special treatment. There was no doubt for many that it felt like Pac-Man could very well be inevitable as the chance must be too good to pass-up.
And happened it sure did. We had Megaman announced from the very first trailer for the game, Sonic would be announced to return. And come a rather surprisingly closed door session for Smash later in the day that the Mii Fighters and Palutena had already been announced. A trailer begin which would have two color stripes. Mario for red, Megaman and Sonic for Blue, and what is the 3rd primary color? None other then yellow, with the color of the stripe zooming out to the screen. A yellow circle appears on screen, and then shows the very simple look of Pac-Man as the tagline "
Pac-Man Hungers for Battle!". And once gameplay is shown, the Pac-Man World design is shown for his 3D appearance with an assortment of wacky moves based on classic Namco arcade games.
It's a wondrous inclusion that completed what I like to call the Mount Rushmore of gaming. Of which I mean Pac-Man, Mario, Megaman, and Sonic. I actually made it my mission to get an amiibo of each one so I could have sort of my own gaming Mount Rushmore in my house. I didn't get too huge into the Amiibo craze. As aside from those 4, I only got Waluigi, Luigi, and Pikachu. But those 4 I absolutely had to have. (I initially thought of getting every 3rd party character Amiibo, but given what that would have meant by the time Ultimate came around… I think I'm happy I didn't decide to pursue it to that level). While it was sad to see Snake couldn't have returned, the 3 3rd parties that were in the base game of Smash 4 were of legendary icon status that just made a whole ton of sense. As of this group of 3 3rd parties, my favorite of them is actually the
least merited for Smash. But that just tells you how awesome this set of 3rd parties were. Regardless of how many other 3rd parties join Smash. They're just not going to reach quite the level of these 3 altogether as the type of characters that most people's grandma knows. Pac-Man and Mega Man in particular are characters that are never going to be beaten in merit by any other 3rd party..
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Pac-Man is just one of those special cases where regardless of my greater attachment to Sonic and how Pac-Man isn't always Nintendo focused. He has a legendary status in gaming history that includes a multitude of appearances on Nintendo consoles since the 80s that mostly continues to this day. Pac-Man was 20 years old by the time Sonic was on a Nintendo console for the first time, and relevance to Nintendo matters for a Smash merit list. It would make absolute no sense for me to put Pac-Man below Sonic just because I like the latter more. And while Banjo and K. Rool are more Nintendo-centric, this is a case where Pac-Man's legacy starting from they hey day of the arcades is an even more enduring x-factor then the difficulty and/or popularity of the character. It's even fair to say that Banjo was more popularly requested all-time then Pac-Man is. But what certainly can't be argued I feel, is Pac-Man absolutely deserved to be in Smash. I at the very least hesitate to put him above Luigi But I feel it makes sense for Pac-Man to have one of the highest rankings of any 3rd party character to ever make it into Smash.
1. Link
2. Luigi
3. Pac-Man
4. Banjo & Kazooie
5. King K. Rool
6. Sonic the Hedgehog
7. Rosalina & Luma
8. Snake
9. Shulk
10. Pit
11. Ness
12. Jigglypuff
13. Duck Hunt
14. Steve
15. Mythra
16. Byleth
17. Wii Fit Trainer
18. Chrom
19. Dr. Mario
20. Dark Pit
21. Piranha Plant
