User:Flat Zone+

Mr. Game & Watch (, Mr. Game & Watch) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. After being initaited as a cameo in the epilogue of 's trailer, Mr. Game & Watch was announced during the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza on October 23rd, 2014. Like in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, he possesses no voice actor, instead emits Game & Watch-esque sound effects derived in the form of various "bleep-bloops" from his original and eponymous series of the same name to represent his "voice".

Mr. Game & Watch is ranked 8th out of 55 on the current tier list, placing him at the dead-center of the A tier. This is a moderate drop from his previous ranking in Brawl, where he was ranked 2nd out of 38. Mr. Game & Watch's strengths include oppressive combo and air games, when combined with the changes to hitstun canceling/directional influence, as well as overall high damage-output in-spite of his minimal size and third-lightest weight, in combination of Mr. Game & Watch's exceptionally fast frame-data. His overall mobility is also respectable: with above-average running speeds being able to chase-down and approach his opponents easily off a distance to make him on par with faster characters (ex., , and ), with his recovery in particular being impressive, due to Fire's long-ranged distance, intangibility during ascent, large edge-sweetspot, and general safety, which significantly boosts up his defensive game.

While possessing fairly damaging attacks and combos, Mr. Game & Watch also sports plenty of reliable and powerful hard-hitting finishers that can KO and take stocks incredibly early for his weight class, which can place him on par with some heavyweights, such as, the heaviest character, and. The most remarkable examples include: his neutral attack's finisher at high precents by the edge, his tilt attacks at high percents, all of his smash attacks, his aerial attacks, throws aside from down throw, Judge #9, Fire off-stage and Oil Panic.

Mr. Game & Watch is also a fearsome edgeguarder: due to his impressive recovery and moderately fast aerials that are all capable of auto-cancelling out of short hops, rendering edge-guard breaking ineffective against him. His landing lag, while not supplemented by auto-cancels, is actually quite low and is among the best in the game in terms of the total amount of frames in aerial-move lag upon landing. His neutral game is also exceptional: due to possessing unnaturally versatile aerials that can all auto-cancel out of a short hop and unlimited safe options on shield.

However, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a few notable weaknesses as well. One of Mr. Game & Watch's biggest flaws includes a surprising inability to KO at higher percentages, despite dealing a lot of damage quickly. This is due to Mr. Game & Watch's finishers being burdened with either inconsistent KO set-ups (such as down throw into up aerial), sluggish KO options (up smash), or provide large sourspots (such as forward and down smashes, respectively). The latter is further worsened by the fact that his forward and down smashes have smaller sweetspots and larger sourspots that take priority over them since Brawl, compared to the other characters.

Additionally, while he possesses surprisingly good range for his minimal size due to his disjointed hitboxes, he still possesses shorter range than a handful of the cast, such as, , , and. Thanks to his two-dimensional appearance, he is also the standalone third-lightest character in the game, making him susceptible to early KOs (especially off the top boundary of the stage), which is further exacerbated by the loss of Bucket Braking and the introduction of rage, although his weight has indirectly became heavier since 's absence from Smash 4 and 's drastically lighter weight since Melee.

Mr. Game & Watch's grab and throw game is also lackluster outside of down throw: as his grab still possesses short reach, his pummel is the fourth-slowest in the game, and none of his other throws possess the same utility that his down throw possesses, nor are they strong enough to KO until at realistic percentages. Lastly, some of his other attacks in his playstyle are considered to be situational due to either being portrayed as a luck-oriented attack (Judge), or the opponent requires to possess an energy-based projectile (Oil Panic) in order to have the moves function in succession. His neutral game, while exceptional, is also lacking: due to providing no aerials that auto-cancel from a short hop aside from neutral and back aerial and his limited amount of safe options on shield.

Overall, despite being less effective than in Brawl, due to his lack of severe weaknesses, as well as one of the lowest technical and learning-curves in the game, Mr. Game & Watch has undergone some of the highest level of representation in tournaments due to his noticeable strengths and popularity in competitive play, and he has also achieved excellent results in tournaments, such as placing 17th at EVO 2016 and  placing 13th and 17th at GENESIS 5 and 2GG: Hyrule Saga, respectively, and placing 1st at, and  ranking 1st on the Australian Smash 4 Power Rankings, and  placing 3rd at , 7th at , 9th at , 13th at. Owing to Mr. Game & Watch's incredible tournament-placings, several smashers have regarded Mr. Game & Watch as one of the best characters in the game throughout SSB4's competitive lifespan.

Mr. Game & Watch must then be defeated on Flat Zone 2.
 * Play 90 VS Matches.
 * Complete with 10 different characters.

Mr. Game & Watch must then be defeated on Flat Zone X.
 * Play 80 VS Matches.
 * Clear on Intensity 2.0 or higher with 5 characters.

Attributes
Mr. Game & Watch's archetype as a short lightweight slightly differs from the majority of his fellow lightweight brethren in his own weight class. Owing to his two-dimensional appearance, Mr. Game & Watch possesses the third-lightest weight in the game (surpassed by only and ). While Mr. Game & Watch is rather small in relation to the majority of retrospectively proportioned characters in SSB4, he is of below-average size among the entire cast. This renders his hurtbox rather miniscule while retaining his range intactly long due to the overwhelming majority of his moveset possessing disjointed hitboxes. On the other hand, the remainder of Mr. Game & Watch's mobility is exceptional. Aside from the fifth-slowest falling speed, below-average gravity and low jumps, he is tied for the seventh-fastest air acceleration, has above-average walking and dashing speeds, the sixteenth-highest traction, a low short hop and fast air speed. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch's mobility and movement-speed are quite exceptional for a lightweight, but his low falling speed can be somewhat detrimental. To round out his exceptional speed and mobility, his short size also makes him difficult to hit, especially when crouching, giving him a somewhat unnatural defensive game. As a result of these attributes, Mr. Game & Watch holds a distinctive combination of multiple charateristic archetypes, such as a jack-of-all-trades, a rushdowner in practice, and a zoner glass cannon due to Chef's uniqueness as a projectile.

Mr. Game & Watch is a character of extremes: unlike most of the fellow lightweights (with the potential expection of ), Mr. Game & Watch possesses an unorthodox playstyle with several attacks possessing noticeable disjointed hitboxes, with some of them reaching relatively far from Mr. Game & Watch himself, giving him deceptively long range on par with several sword-fighters (ex. and ). His damage-output is unnaturally high in-spite of his small structre and low weight, and he possesses an oppressive juggling and combo game, allowing him to easily rack up a decent amount of damage with a few amount of attacks. His down throw is one of the best combo starters in Smash 4: being able to be followed by his up tilt (on floaty characters) or standard attack (on fast-fallers) at low percents, Judge, up smash (on heavyweights) or Oil Panic from low/high percentages, all aerial attacks (excluding down aerial) from medium/high percentages, and Fire at high percents. His formidable combo game is further compounded by his great air game, with his neutral, forward, back and up aerials all possessing good combo utility and being fairly damaging, especially the former.

Mr. Game & Watch's aerial game is one of his most formidable attributes, which is further exacerbatted by his excellent aerial mobility: Mr. Game & Watch's unmatched floatiness, exceptional air speed and air acceleration, as well as for an impressive recovery, giving him a tremendous off-stage survivability, even surpassing. All of his aerial attacks have lingering hitboxes and, in the case of neutral aerial and back aerial, multiple hits. Their duration is the primary reason Mr. Game & Watch is deceptively difficult to challenge in the air, as opponents will most likely collide within an attack's final frames if they attempt to challenge his moves. All of his aerials, aside from up aerial, also have enough range to be spaced effectively thanks to Mr. Game & Watch's aerial mobility, allowing him to zone and approach opponents safely in the air. Each of Mr. Game & Watch's aerials also have their own distinct strengths: his neutral aerial is his most damaging one, and possesses deceptively high range above and beside himself and his surroundings, and deals deceptively high damage if all hits connect. The last hit deals moderate knockback, making it difficult to punish, as well as being rarely escaped by SDI, and possesses the ability to be followed up by other attacks, while the final hit is powerful enough to KO reliably under 105% or higher precentages. His forward aerial possesses deceptive range and deals strong knockback (when clean), KOing at around 115% while being a steep semi-spike, making it useful for edgeguarding and the wall of pain, and the late hit can be followed up by another attack when timed later despite the aerials' ending lag, which is circumvented by their lingering hitboxes, making it a good approaching tool. It is also one of the strongest pseudo-sex kicks in the game, even when stale, and can easily gimp poor recoveries due to its late hitbox being sufficiently strong enough to do so. Due to its speed and power, it also works as a good OoS or approaching option, and its long duration allows it to break combos quite effectively. His back aerial, while less damaging than in Brawl, is still pretty useful due to its disjointed range and low knockback that allows it to be followed by another one, giving it effective edgeguarding ability, and makes it a primary component of the wall of pain technique: once an opponent with a poor recovery is caught off-stage, Mr. Game & Watch can follow up with several back/forward aerials until they reach the horizontal blast zones, where Mr. Game & Watch can finish the opponent off with another forward/back aerial, or even Fire, arguably the greatest finisher of the wall of pain of all of Smash.

Mr. Game & Watch's up and down aerials possess primary utility for KOing. His up aerial is his strongest aerial, but its gigantic windboxes make it difficult to connect into the second hit, which carries all the knockback. Nevertheless, its windbox can also safely space the aerial, anti-air, juggle and retain the opponents in the air rapidly for a long period, while surprisingly pushing the opponents near the vertical blast zone for an early KO at even 0% to low precents. Meanwhile, his down aerial boasts an effectively powerful meteor smash that can KO as early as 65% or lower precents, as well as being a safe stall-then-fall (coupled with his effective recovery, Mr. Game & Watch's low falling speed, the move's low cooldown and progressing slower than the other stall-then-falls), giving Mr. Game & Watch an effective move for edgeguarding, ending a stock early, and getting out of juggles, while down aerial's late hit is strengthed enough to KO reliably at around 130%.

Furthermore, Mr. Game & Watch's grounded game is quite prominent: his neutral attack is notorious for being an incredible damage-racking tool, as well as for a pressuring against shields and opponents, as spamming it against a shield as long as possible will potentially result in a shield-break, in combination of neutral attack's finisher's prominent shield damage and pushback. The finisher possesses considerable amount of range and knockback to KO at around 150% by the ledge. Forward tilt comes out quickly, possesses the properties of a sex kick, like down smash and down tilt, because of their deceptively long duration of the activated hitboxes, while being a powerful semi-spike that KOs under 100% by the edge and 120% center-stage. His up tilt is his strongest, though shortest-ranged tilt attack, consist of two hits, possesses high anti-air and juggling capabilities while also being a good combo starter, and a reliable KO option at high precents; killing at around 125%. Lastly, down tilt is a steep semi-spike, and it possesses a formidable windbox above it, like his up aerial, which can juggle, anti-air and keep the opponents in the air for a long period, as well as potentially interupting several recoveries (such as 's Quick Draw), and can easily gimp and KO opponents who possess incredible recoveries (such as 's Power of Flight) by sending them above the vertical blast line. The semi-spike itself can KO as early as 90% and 120% center-stage, making it one of the strongest down tilts in the game. All of Mr. Game & Watch's smash attacks possess their own distinctive strengths and unique properties (all of which are completely safe on shield due to their overall low lag): forward smash boasts among the longest range out of all them in the game thanks to its noticeable disjoint, considering the torch and the flame's long and large size, respectively, giving it deceptive reach. It comes out very quickly and provides good interruptibility, as well as for being a powerful finisher that can KO as early as 90%, and it is one of the strongest forward smashes in the game if sweetspotted, and its small sourspot makes it easy for the sweetspot to reliably land. His up smash is unsurprisingly his most effective smash attack. Although it is his slowest smash attack startup-wise, it is circumvented by an invincibility-window during the entire startup until the hitboxes dissipate, which is located at Mr. Game & Watch's head and middle-body hurtboxes (such as his frontal limbs: right arm and leg) as a form of defense. As a result, it is a powerful psuedo-counterattack that causes interruptibility against aerials and approaches and can KO as early as 90% or under 60% if fully charged, while also easily gimping characters with poor recoveries: such as and. Lastly, down smash is his longest-ranged and fastest smash attack, it has a deceptively long hitbox-duration, allowing it to catch rolls and spot dodges. When sourspotted, it is one of the strongest semi-spikes in the game that can KO as early as 90% by the edge and 150% center-stage. When sweetspotted, it becomes one of the strongest down smashes in the game, KOing below 95%. The sweetspots are also very easy to land due to their hitboxes being deceptively disjointed when combined with the hammers' large size. It also has a deceptively gigantic hitbox, allowing it to 2-frame and gimp several recoveries while also being a good edgeguarding move. It also has the lowest total duration out of all down smashes in the game when considering its minimal ending lag, allowing it to surprise his opponent by performing another down smash after a missed one, especially as a surprise KO tool. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch sports an excellent arsenal of unique smash attacks in the game that are all useful for mix-ups and surprise KOs.

Mr. Game & Watch sports a trustworthy grab and throw game: unlike most of the other characters, his grabs possesses noticeable disjointed range (especially considering his dash and pivot grabs), giving them deceptive reach. To further supplement this, his grabs are tied for the fastest in the game. While his pummel is the fourth-slowest in the game, it is paired with 's for being the fourth most-damaging pummel in the game, making it one of the strongest in the game when combined with with its moderate speed. As a cherry on top, he is tied for possessing the fastest grabs and he also possesses the third highest-damaging set of throws (tied with surpassing only,  and ). His down throw is either one of the most powerful combo starters: being able to be followed by his up tilt (on floaty characters) or standard attack (on fast-fallers) at low percents, Judge, up smash (on heavyweights) or Oil Panic from low/high percentages, all aerials (even down aerial near the ledge for a KO confirm) from medium/high percentages, and Fire at high percents, or even a good tool to force the opponent into a tech-chasing scenario in-spite of its new vertical knockback. As a threatening assist to down throw's purpose as a combo starter, it is the primary component of Mr. Game & Watch's infamously powerful (though inconsistent) "Toot-Toot" KO confirm, as down throw is easily followed up into an up aerial for KOing opponents as a deadly setup, though its small hitboxes and large windboxes make this quite difficult. Up throw is a heavily strong combo starter at the same direction of down throw, albeit with much more overall power, so it is less reliant on combos and more reliant in KOing. It also has KO potential, albeit only reliant at very reasonable precentages or if performed at high platforms and surfaces of the stage, such as the. In this case of KOs, down throw is also Mr. Game & Watch's strongest throw in-spite of its below-average base knockback, it has the highest knockback scaling out of all throws, as it can KO middleweights starting at about 185%, especially if Mr. Game & Watch has rage. Lastly, forward and back throws have utility for throwing the opponent off-stage, especially when nearing the blast lines or if Mr. Game & Watch has rage, though this can be mitigated by DI. Both also have KO potential, albeit only at very high precentages or if nearing the horizontal blast lines, or if Mr. Game & Watch has the aforementioned rage, although the two are lacking in overall effectiveness when it comes to usefulness.

While he possesses fairly damaging attacks and combos, Mr. Game & Watch also sports plenty of reliable and powerful hard-hitting finishers that can KO and take stocks incredibly early for his weight class, which can place him on par with some heavyweights, such as, the heaviest character, and. The most remarkable examples include: his tilt attacks at high percents, all of his smash attacks, his aerial attacks, throws, Judge #9 and Oil Panic. Finally, his special moveset is one of the most powerful in the game, albeit polarized. His neutral special (Chef) is weak, but can effectively stun players, as well as functioning as an efficient anti-pressuring and edgeguarding option from afar, as it prevents opponents from reaching the ledge while recovering. His up special (Fire) grants exceptional vertical distance and deals relatively high knockback, making it an effective wall-of-pain finisher and KO option at the horizontal blast lines, as well as significantly slowing down his descent and giving him full horizontal control after usage, giving Mr. Game & Watch an amazing recovery that is also difficult to edgeguard due to Mr. Game & Watch being brieftly intangible during his ascent. Mr. Game & Watch also possesses a trump-card in his side special (Judge), which is infamously polarized due to being luck-based: its effects range from casuing virtually no knockback while damaging Mr. Game & Watch himself (#1) to inflicting extremely huge knockback that can one-hit KO every character from 0% to even minimal percents (#9). Finally, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a trump-card in his down special (Oil Panic), which can absorb three energy-based projectiles (or one extremely powerful energy-based projectile) before unleashing a powerful oil-splashing attack that can score a one-hit KO depending on how much damage it has absorbed. However, it only works on characters with absorbable projectiles (such as and ), making it situational and generally not that useful, but still remains useable in multiple scenarios.

While possessing several positive traits, Mr. Game & Watch still possessess a few notable weaknesses. Thanks to his two-dimensional appearance, he is portrayed as the third-lightest character in the game (only surpassing and ). Remaining flat, light and floaty, Mr. Game & Watch cannot endure powerful hits, rendering him susceptible to early KOs, which is further compounded by the loss of Bucket Braking. The indirect loss of Bucket Braking and momentum-canceling are considered a double-edged sword for Mr. Game & Watch: they are additional burdens to these issues, as both of which gave him amazing horizontal endurance for a lighter heavyweight from the previous title, so this drastically hinders his endurance, especially horizontally, yet it drastically improves his combo game and benefits him by taking stocks much earlier. Rage further worsens this, as Mr. Game & Watch will receive the risk of getting sent flying even further by characters who acheive high levels of it, while his lack of enough endurance prevents Mr. Game & Watch from reaping the advantages of rage itself owing to his floaty lightweight status. He also has mediocre defensive attributes: possessing notoriously short-reaching rolls that travel as strictly far as a footstep, and are quite slow, often punishable even with sparing usefulness. His grab and throw game outside of grab-oriented combos is lackluster: his grab still possesses short reach, his pummel is the fourth-slowest in the game, and he possesses no other useful throws aside from his down throw, and none of his throws excel in KO potential until at very reasonable precentages, with his strongest throws (up throw and down throw, respectively) only KOing at around 200%.

Despite possessing deceptively large, disjointed hitboxes, Mr. Game & Watch's overall range is mostly mediocre. Their range was also nerfed from Brawl, with his attacks being much less wide and far. This is further worsened by the fact that most of his moveset (such as up tilt, down tilt and forward smash) being burdened with underwhelming range for favorable disjoints. Swordfighters, such as and, are able to retain Mr. Game & Watch at arm's length and stop his approaches because of this. While the majority of his moveset possesses quick/almost no start-up, his moveset is especially burdened from the combination of medium/high ending lag in most of his attacks, with his aerial attacks aside from neutral aerial, in particular, suffering from moderate/high landing lag, allowing him to be easily punished when his moves are whiffed, and allowing characters with faster frame-data (such as and ) to out-frame-data and pressure Mr. Game & Watch easily. Finally, some of his special moveset is considered to be situational (depending on the matchup): with Judge being an unsafe move in general due to its randomness requiring it to be a luck-oriented attack, and Oil Panic only providing usefulness when facing a character with an absorbable projectile.

Mr. Game & Watch possesses a relatively noteworthy custom moveset, as he can gain a number of several new tools and options, as well as giving him several new great advantages to his kit. Short-Order Chef is significantly weaker, but is performed much faster, allowing him to space and edgeguard more easily, as well as initiating more pressure more easier due to its faster performance and altered damage-outputs. Chain Judge lacks special effects, but deals more damage the higher the number is, significantly improving the move's consistency and damage-racking capabilities. Heavy Trampoline grants less distance at the expense of boasting more effectiveness in terms of power, while Trampoline Launch lacks parachute at the expense of granting more distance and being stronger as well, allowing them to KO much earlier when nearing both the vertical and horizontal blast zones, respectively.

All in all, Mr. Game & Watch is described as an unorthodox glass cannon whose considered high-tier at worst due to possessing several clear strengths and a few weaknesses, overshadowing his flaws as a result. He can pressure his opponents by racking up tons of damage when combined wit his fast frame-data, and KO them outright early with one of his finishers. By these same merits, Mr. Game & Watch himself is susceptible to being finished off earlier than most of the cast. Nevertheless, Mr. Game & Watch's minimal learing-curve and difficulty for new players to understand him renders him both a simple beginner-friendly and "low-effort, high-reward" archetype. His deceptive disjointed hitboxes also forces his opponent to play extra carefully and defensively, as if Mr. Game & Watch outranges his opponent with a single disjoint, this will not only rank him with the top-tier brethren, but even at the same level with the highest-ranking sole fighter in SSB4,.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mr. Game & Watch was typically seen as an upper top-tier/god-tier character. Mr. Game & Watch was a small target with solid aerial mobility and fast movement-speed both on foot and in the air, who possessed surprisingly powerful attacks, several disjointed attacks with large hitboxes, an immense recovery with intangibility, and he possessed a tremendous and famus tool in his Oil Panic-bucket. Oil Panic was not only a notoriously powerful tool to deal with projectiles and all levels of camping, but it was also an incredible momentum-canceling tool, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to access solid horizontal and vertical endurance for a lighter heavyweight (despite his second-lightest weight with ), and he boasted an array of powerful approaching options, and reliable methods to rack up tons of damage. On the other hand, Mr. Game & Watch suffered from possessing slow startup on several of his attacks (such as up smash) and possessing an array of multi-hit attacks which could be SDIed out of. Nevertheless, Mr. Game & Watch was regarded as a viable top-tier, due to outclassing a sizeable portion of the cast, and not even struggling against characters above him on the tier list. In Super Smash Bros. 4, Mr. Game & Watch has witnessed a mixture of several buffs and nerfs. Regarding his top-tier status since Brawl and SSB4's more polarizing balance, Mr. Game & Watch has been overall nerfed, however, the changes to the game's mechanics have benefitted him both directly and indirectly and he has relatively seen a few downgrades as much as other veterans did, so his nerfs were not as eclipsing to overshadow his buffs.

The biggest buff towards his transitioning to SSB4 involves Mr. Game & Watch's previously-impressive combo game, his down throw is now a drastically potent combo throw, which can potentially lead into an up aerial for a KO, most remarkably, also referred as the powerful (though inconsistent) "Toot-Toot" KO confirm. While Oil Panic has had its valuable "Bucket Braking" ability removed, it also fills faster, letting Mr. Game & Watch utilize one of his most situational special moves more frequently. Additionally, Oil Panic can now reflect physical projectiles that are non-absorbable, drastically giving him usage with once one of his most situational special moves, especially in his kit. His recovery has also been improved: due to his faster air speed, the reintroduction of directional air dodges since Melee, which improves Mr. Game & Watch's defensive game as twice as the other characters, intangibility on Mr. Game & Watch during his ascent, Fire's increased vertical distance, which also no longer suffers from the grab-release glitch, and Oil Panic's newly-acquired jump-boost mechanic.

Furthermore, Mr. Game & Watch's KO potential and range have all been heavily improved: the improvements to disjointed hitboxes further supplementes his moveset range-wise: which is greatly exampled by his forward tilt, down smash and, most notably, forward smash, as the latter's sweetspot is much more larger and more disjointed than the sourspot itself and now takes anti-rebounding priority over the sourspot altogether, which is further worsened by his noticeably higher damage-output, making it easier for him to rack up damage and land early KOs. This increases Mr. Game & Watch's deceptive reach, and requires him to be less closer to his opponent in order to attack. The changes to hitstun-canceling can be considered a double-edged sword for Mr. Game & Watch: they indirectly removed Bucket Braking and momentum-canceling, which greatly hinders his endurance, especially horizontally, it makes him more susceptible to combos, yet it improves his combo game and KO potential, with the former due to his altered down throw being now an effectively powerful combo starter. Furthermore, his aerial game has been improved: such as his neutral aerial: it retains the ability of auto-canceling with short hops and retains its deceptive multi-hit range, and its lower lag and longer duration allows him to wall out his opponents with multiple neutral aerials, in this case for the wall of pain, which strengthens his options to approach or punish opponents. The weakening of SDI makes neutral and back aerials, Judge #5 very difficult to escape, and the aforementioned indirect removal of momentum-canceling hinders his endurance, but drastically improves his KO potential altogether, especially with Judge #9. In exchange of the loss of Bucket Braking, his endurance has nevertheless been improved: his weight remains unchanged, but due to 's absence (along with Pokémon Trainer) in Smash 4 and 's significantly lighter weight since Melee, with the latter now being the standalone 2nd-lightest character in the game, Mr. Game & Watch is nevertheless heavier relative to the cast, which not only allows him to survive longer, but also reap the benefits of rage and subsitutes for the loss of Bucket Braking.

His grab and throw game has been improved as well: his grab possesses much more disjointed range, and his grab is universally faster as a cherry on top, his pummel is universally faster (no longer being one of the slowest in the game), deals more damage and is one of the strongest pummels in the game, allowing him to rack up damage before throwing the opponent. His throws are more powerful and (in this case of down throw) more effective for initiating combos, and possess increased KO power at high precentages. His juggling game is much more oppressive and harder to exploit: his down tilt, while being once again a great semi-spike and KO option, has gained a formidable windbox that can cause potential interruptibility against several recoveries (such as 's Quick Draw), can anti-air and keep the opponents in the air for a long period, and can easily gimp characters with great recoveries by pushing them near the upper blast line (such as 's Power of Flight) to KO them. His approach has been improved: due to the universally general increase to mobility in SSB4, his mobility and speed have been universally increased, and his range in several of his attacks have been increased too, unlike most other characters, as they suffered from the general reduction of range and spacing in SSB4. Despite their higher lag, several of his moves possess more versatility and utility, and they are much more harder to avoid and punish: up smash renders his head invincible instead of intangible. Additionally, it renders his middle-body hurtboxes/frontal limbs invincible as well, and the invincibility-window lasts significantly for the whole entire period it is charged up until the hitboxes activate. As a result, it is a formidable psuedo-counterattack and counter-based KO move to challenge if an opponent hits him throughout the entire startup, and it can easily interrupt aerials and approaches, and stuff out several attacks with much more effectiveness, making it a more oppressive anti-air move, despite its vertical range being greatly reduced due to the loss of its floating static-hitbox above. Down tilt is now much more effective for KOs in comparison to in Brawl and Melee, due to being a much more steeper semi-spike and dealing much more knockback. Up tilt consists of two hits, with the first hit being weight-independent and dealing much more hitstun, and it has less lag, making it good as a follow-up from the newly-altered down throw and as a KO option at high precentages due to the second hit's increased knockback.

However, Mr. Game & Watch has received a few noteworty nerfs as well. Most of his moveset are burdened by increased lag, which weakens his options to approach or punish opponents. In particular, his aerials (excluding forward aerial) all have increased landing lag (especially his down aerial), though his overall landing lag still remains quite low. Mr. Game & Watch's overall range, damage-output and KO potential have been reduced, making it harder for him to rack up damage, space out and land KOs. The former is due to his attacks being less wide and reaching less far thanks to their altered animations and the universal reduction of range in SSB4, such as his down tilt, forward aerial, back aerial, and, most notably, up tilt, the latter of which has an inconsistent two-hit nature under multiple scenarios (such as if Mr. Game & Watch has rage) altogether. This reduces Mr. Game & Watch's deceptive reach, and requires him to be more closer to his opponent, especially at point-blank range and closer-quarters, in order to attack. However, Mr. Game & Watch's reach was arguably reduced the least out of all the returning veterans in Smash 4 due to his retained disjointed hitboxes. The universal changes to SSB4's mechanics and engines both benefit and hinder him simultaneously: the changes to hitstun canceling can be considered a double-edged sword for Mr. Game & Watch, but hurt him overll: they indirectly removed Bucket Braking and momentum-canceling, which greatly hinders his endurance, especially horizontally, it makes him more susceptible to combos, yet it improves his combo game and KO potential due to his altered down throw being now one of the most effective combo starter, which is further supplemented by the weakening to DI. However, down throw's new vertical knockback removes its ability to meteor smash opponents near the edge.

In addition, due to the polarizing balance in SSB4 being problematic towards most of the game's roster, most of the universal changes and introductions to SSB4's mechanics also hinder Mr. Game & Watch as well. In particular, he suffers from the removal of edge-momentum shifting, as he could previously make solid utility of it while using Judge and Chef in order to approach. While the inclusion of rage also benefits Mr. Game & Watch as much as some other characters by allowing him to KO much earlier and launching his opponents earlier and farther, his namely poor endurance prevents him from making great utility of it, as it carries the risk of rendering Mr. Game & Watch to be launched earlier by other characters, where he will typically not endure long enough to take advantage of it. The aforementioned most notable change he received was to the indirect loss of Bucket Braking, as well as, by extension, the indirect removal of momentum-canceling is also considered another double-edged sword for Mr. Game & Watch: while it drastically improves his KO potential, it renders himself more susceptible to early KOs when considering his lightweight status, alongside the rest of the game's roster, sans heavyweights. His mobility has also taken a hit relative to the cast, although the former is generally due to the changes to Brawl's mechanics, combined with the universal increase other characters received to their mobility by 10%, including Mr. Game & Watch himself, though relatively merely. While his dashing speed still remains above-average by a huge margin, it is nevertheless lower relative to the cast due to being one of the few characters whose dashing speed has been decreased, despite having his walking speed and air speed increased. Additionally, he has the dubious distinction of being the only returning veteran whose dashing speed has been directly reduced in SSB4. The removal of DACUS has also hindered Mr. Game & Watch's approach, as he can no longer dash-cancel an up smash in order to traverse horizontally forward while the move is performed. Lastly, despite his exploitable improvements, he still retains some of his former issues from Brawl: namely his poor endurance, most of his moveset being burdened with moderate/heavy ending lag or somewhat short range, mediocre defensive attributes, and a lack of reliable approaching options.

Overall, while Mr. Game & Watch is generally perceived less effective than in Brawl, due most of his aforementioned weaknesses being still remarkable and his aforementioned nerfs above resulting in a moderate tier-decline, removed some of Mr. Game & Watch's effective tools and key-traits and strengths that made him prominent in Brawl, and rendered him more of a polarizing glass cannon, he still generally retains his "all-rounder" archetype in SSB4: as those weaknesses were either nevertheless toned down or removed altogether, and while his exploitable strengths fail to properly address his flaws, Mr. Game & Watch still nevertheless remains viable. He also benefits from the changes to the game's mechanics as twice as some other returning veterans, despite removing most of his infamously powerful tools from Brawl due to SSB4's polarizing balance, rendering his SSB4 counterpart a shell of his Brawl iteration, but still remains viable. He still possesses multiple dedicated players, such as, and , who have received solidly oppressive results with the character, in combination of his better popularity in competitive play. In the end, Mr. Game & Watch is one of the few Brawl top-tier veterans to keep performing well in competitive play, alongside, , , the , , and. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch fares relatively better than in Brawl.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Pummel:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Pummel:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:

Special moves

 * Chef:
 * Judge:
 * Fire:
 * Oil Panic:
 * Octopus:
 * Judge:
 * Fire:
 * Oil Panic:
 * Octopus:
 * Fire:
 * Oil Panic:
 * Octopus:
 * Fire:
 * Oil Panic:
 * Octopus:
 * Oil Panic:
 * Octopus:
 * Oil Panic:
 * Octopus:
 * Octopus:
 * Octopus:
 * Octopus:
 * Octopus:
 * Octopus:
 * Octopus:

Update history
Mr. Game & Watch has received a mixture of buffs and nerfs via game-updates. Initially perceived as a high low-tier during the release of SSB4, he was overall considerably buffed. Update 1.0.6 worsened his up tilt's combo potential on the downside, but it increased the frying-pan-hitbox for all variations of Chef on the upside. Update 1.0.8 noticeably improved down tilt's KO potential, and improved back aerial and down aerial's spacing potential and safety by decreasing its landing lag, which gives the latter move the least amount of landing lag among all stall-then-falls in the game, now giving Mr. Game & Watch both unlimited safe options on shield and a safer landing option, respectively.

The changes to shielding mechanics brought about by updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 also indirectly buffed Mr. Game & Watch, as they make his moves that hit multiple times or have high damage-outputs and, by extension, Judge #3 and #5 much more reliable at pressuring shields while not indirectly worsening his defensive game.

Lastly, however, update 1.1.3 noticeably worsened Mr. Game & Watch's potential in doubles-play (while being one of the best in the game) by halving Oil Panic's damage output when it has absorbed a teammate's projectiles, but also improved forward smash's effectiveness by switching the positioning of the sourspots and sweetspots and giving the latter more priority and now taking it over the sourspot, and made his pummel faster, allowing him to rack up damage before a throw. Update 1.1.5 brought a pair of final, yet infamous buffs to Mr. Game & Watch's up tilt, which drastically improved both its somewhat infamous inconsistency of altering the first hit's knockback to deal weight-independent set knockback and its combo potential by altering the second hit's angle.

Overall, Mr. Game & Watch fares considerably better than he did during the launch of Smash 4, now being slightly at the same potency of his Brawl iteration.

 1.0.6

 1.0.8  1.1.3

 1.1.5

Moveset
For a gallery of Mr. Game & Watch's hitboxes, see here.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the PGR 100, which recognizes the official top 100 players in Super Smash Bros. 4 of all time.

See also: Category:Mr. Game & Watch professionals (SSB4)


 * - The best player in Australia. Won, , and with a win over . Ranked 1st on the Australian Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in the United States. Placed 3rd at, 7th at , 9th at , 13th at , and 33rd at with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 3rd on the lifetime Washington Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * (#81) - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in the world. Placed 1st at, 13th at and , and 17th at  with wins over players such as , , , and . Ranked 8th on the Mexican Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in the world for most of the game's active lifespan. Placed 7th at, 13th at both and , and 17th at both  and  with wins over players such as , , and . Ranked 6th on the Mexican Smash 4 Power Rankings.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Japan. Placed 4th at, 7th at , 9th at , and 13th at with wins over players such as , , and.

Tier placement and history
Since the early metagame, Mr. Game & Watch has maintained a contentiously mixed perception in regard to his tier-placement and viability, primarily due to the fact that he had been initially nerfed overall in his transition from Brawl to Smash 4, in combination of SSB4's more polarizing balance and the changes to the game's mechanics that done more harm than good overall. Players acknowledged the combination of his heavily-damaging combos, potent raw power, disjointed hitboxes, exceptionally impressive KO potential and possessing one of the best recoveries in SSB4, but also noticed his third-lightest weight, lackluster range and sub-par grab and throw game at the same time. Mr. Game & Watch's results had typically been rather obscure until EVO 2015, where placed 13th there, and opinions of his potential became more positive overtime due to some decent results brought by  as well. This led him to being ranked 35th on the first 4BR tier list.

However, Mr. Game & Watch's overall results and representation in tournaments still stood out to be rather low in competitive play, even with the recent high placings of and Regi's relatively higher-placing of 17th at EVO 2016. Although these results allowed Mr. Game & Watch to only minimally drop to 37th on the second tier list as the highest-ranking low-tier in the game, the inclusion of and  would harm him, since their respective combo and camping games would prove them to be quite oppressive and dominating matchups across the cast. The addition of the DLC characters would cause his representation in tournaments to decline. As such, he dropped to 40th on the third tier list, before rising to 39th on the fourth and current tier list, tying with as the most median characters in the game. While his placings remained scarce, those few achievements have allowed him to find a rather solid placement as a mid-tier character due to the expansion of the tiers in the fourth tier list. Despite his current mid-tiered ranking, a variety of players, including professionals, have debated this and considered that Mr. Game & Watch is relaively underrated and should be ranked much higher, with some professionals (such as ESAM and ZeRo) ranking him as far as high-tier.

Trophies

 * Mr. Game & Watch
 * ntsc Game & Watch was first released in 1980, making the series the father of the Game Boy and Nintendo DS. Or maybe an older sibling? Anyway...in Smash Bros., Mr. Game & Watch uses distinct retro moves to damage his foes. However, he's only two dimensional, so he's pretty easy to send flying.


 * ntsc Game & Watch was a series of handheld video games that started in 1980, which pretty much makes Mr. Game & Watch the father of the Game Boy and Nintendo DS. Or maybe an older sibling? Anyway...in Smash Bros., Mr. Game & Watch uses distinct retro moves to damage his foes. However, he only has two dimensions, so he's pretty easy to send flying.


 * pal Game & Watch was a series of handheld video games that started in 1980, before even the Game Boy. In this game, you can play as the guy who starred in them, moving about in his quirky, oh-so-retro little way. He can string together some pretty powerful attacks but, unfortunately, being 2D makes him very easy to launch.


 * Mr. Game & Watch (Alt.)
 * Mr. Game & Watch's Oil Panic special catches shots and turns them into oil. After catching three, the bucket will be full and you'll be able to throw oil all over your enemies. Some shots, like Samus's fully powered Charge Shot, will fill the bucket in one go! Throwing the oil you get from a shot like that can KO your foes in a flash!


 * Octopus
 * The Game & Watch title Octopus featured a hero collecting treasure while avoiding a bothersome giant octopus's tentacles. Activate Mr. Game & Watch's Final Smash to transform into that octopus! Ram into opponents, and use the attack button to extend the tentacles. The only thing you can't do is change the direction you're facing.

Solo Events

 * All-Star Battle: Melee: Mr. Game & Watch is one of the opponents fought in this event. All of the opponents debuted in Melee.
 * Great Fox Defense: As, the player must defeat three Mr. Game & Watches without allowing a single one to land on the stage. The first Mr. Game & Watch has 3 stocks on Easy, 5 on Normal and 7 on Hard. The second Mr. Game & Watch has 2 stocks on Easy, 3 on Normal and 5 on Hard. The third Mr. Game & Watch has 1 stock on Easy, 2 on Normal and 4 on Hard.
 * That Elusive 9: Mr. Game & Watch must defeat a metal Mr. Game & Watch by using Judge 9.

Co-op Events

 * Flat Fracas: and Mr. Game & Watch must defeat "Game & Watch" versions of  and Giant  in a 1 stock battle.
 * Keep 'Em off the Ship!: and Falco must defeat four Mr. Game & Watches without allowing a single one to land on the stage. The first Mr. Game & Watch has 4 stocks on Easy, 8 on Normal and 11 on Hard. The second Mr. Game & Watch has 5 stocks on Easy, 9 on Normal and 12 on Hard. The third Mr. Game & Watch has 4 stocks on Easy, 7 on Normal and 9 on Hard. The fourth Mr. Game & Watch has 3 stocks on Easy, 6 on Normal and 8 on Hard.
 * Secret Smash: Mr. Game & Watch and must defeat another Duck Hunt and Mr. Game & Watch.
 * The Ultimate Battle: Two players select a character and must defeat the entire roster.
 * Unlikely Allies: and  must defeat sixteen Mr. Game & Watches.

Trivia

 * Mr. Game & Watch's official artwork in Super Smash Bros. 4 is the first in the series to feature him without his bell. This is distinctively shared with his, though it it only through his official artwork in the character-selection screen.
 * It is also the only artwork to not feature an item in his hands, as his Ultimate iteration possesses the flag from his up tilt in his official artwork.
 * Mr. Game & Watch was the only veteran to be officially shown, but denied to be confirmed before 's release, due to Mr. Game & Watch been initially revealed as a cameo in 's trailer.
 * Mr. Game & Watch is one of three characters to have been teased before their official reveal, with the other two being and.
 * Mr. Game & Watch was the last veteran to be shown as a playable character by an official source, as was shown off multiple times in the 50-Fact Extravaganza, while Mr. Game & Watch was not revealed until after the Direct was over.
 * As Mr. Game & Watch possesses an outline of his own, Mr. Game & Watch does not possess a black-colored outline, like the rest of the characters in . As a result, it is his white outline that changes colors to denote his team-affiliation and other such effects.
 * Unlike his other attacks that are officially rendered 2D, Mr. Game & Watch's down tilt is rendered in 3D. This was also the case in Brawl.
 * However, it will be rendered in 2D if it is performed at the edge of a stage or platform, or if performed on 2D/retro-stages, like Flat Zone X, Flat Zone 2, Super Mario Maker, etc.
 * Mr. Game & Watch possesses several various animations in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS that are different in comparison to their official appearance in.
 * The parachute utilized in Fire and its custom variations spreads further out in for Nintendo 3DS than in for Wii U.
 * When performing up aerial, Mr. Game & Watch's head visibly inflates then deflates like a balloon in, and remains stagnant in.
 * Mr. Game & Watch's hands in for Nintendo 3DS are spread out when either walking or running, but in for Wii U, his hands are clenched fists.
 * Chef depicts Mr. Game & Watch's hands being clenched fists in for Nintendo 3DS, but his hands in for Wii U resemble how they previously appear in Brawl.
 * When performing either his initial jump or pummel or a throw, Mr. Game & Watch's hands are realistic. This only applies for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, not for Wii U. In the latter's case, clenched fists.
 * During his down air, Mr. Game & Watch's hands are clenched fists that are holding onto the key more respectively, only in for Nintendo 3DS. In for Wii U, his hands are slightly more spreaded out, with his left hand being left open instead of gripping onto the key.
 * In for Nintendo 3DS, Mr. Game & Watch's parachute is slightly positioned more vertically to separate from him and his hands are clenched fists. In for Wii U, the parachute is positioned closer to Mr. Game & Watch to attach to his hands, with the latter resembling how they previously appear in Brawl.
 * In for Wii U, Mr. Game & Watch's hands are more realistic when grabbing. In for Nintendo 3DS, Mr. Game & Watch's hands are less authentic and are clenched fists during their start-up and ending lag, and his hands are less graphic and don't represent his thumb when grabbing.
 * In for Wii U, Mr. Game & Watch's hands are depicted to be "spread-out"-like and realistic hands while performing a charged swing of a battered item or a Home-Run Bat, especially during its wind-up, though his hands are more realistic and his mouth is slightly more than in Brawl. However, in for Nintendo 3DS, his hands are clenched fists in order to depict him to grip onto the Home-Run Bat.
 * Oddly, when Mr. Game & Watch utilizes his taunts, his hands change back to how they traditionally made an appearance in Brawl. This only occurs in for Wii U, not for Nintendo 3DS, which are clenched fists.
 * In for Nintendo 3DS, Mr. Game & Watch performs his hopping idle pose, rather than a taunt, after choosing a path in Classic Mode.
 * In his slow walking animation, Mr. Game & Watch continously teeters on each foot while stretching his other leg forward and his arms outward, and he nods his head up-and-down constantly. In for Nintendo 3DS, his left hand is spread-out. In for Wii U, it is a clenched fist.
 * Mr. Game & Watch,, and are the only three characters to possess special charging sounds for their smash attacks, with Mr. Game & Watch's being depicted as a low-pitched and echoed "beeping" noise, which replaces his previous charging-sound from Brawl, which was depicted as a charging-up and echoing "bleeping" sound that greatly resembles the particular sounds normal smash attacks typically emit.
 * He is also the only returning veteran with this characteristic trait.
 * Mr. Game & Watch and are the only unlockable veterans in both versions of SSB4 to appear in a newcomer's poster art.
 * Mr. Game & Watch and are the only unlockable characters to appear in more than a single newcomer's poster art.
 * Although Mr. Game & Watch possesses the lack of visible eyes, Mr. Game & Watch's portrait in the traditional character-selection screen in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U still emits the small-sparkling effect when he is selected, with the sparkle making an appearance on where his eyes would be positioned.
 * If Mr. Game & Watch wears a Franklin Badge, Screw Attack or Rocket Belt, it is revealed that he does not sport a mirrored stance, and instead still utilizes his left arm in most of his attacks, like in Melee and Brawl.
 * Mr. Game & Watch is the only character and veteran in the entire series to be depicted up-side-down against the glass pane after being Screen KO'd.
 * Smash 4 is also marked the first game where this distinction is included.
 * He is also the only veteran with this trait.

Trivia

 * Black Mage is the only character whose fully-charged smash attacks provide drastically different functionality in comparison to his uncharged smash attacks.
 * He is the only newcomer with this characteristic trait.
 * In demo v0.7, whereas Black Mage was introduced as a surprise unlockable character, Black Mage could be easily unlocked in demo v0.7 by playing 10 battles on Brawl Mode, then defeating him in a duel on Chaos Shrine. Performing this also unlocked the latter stage.
 * However, the game also provided a glitch that could be performed to unlock him earlier: which was done by selecting the CPU in the player-3 slot to Lloyd and the player playing as ; entering the stage Tower of Salvation, the player must inhale Lloyd and then spit him out, which resulted in Lloyd being trapped in the particular "Star" form. The player then must self-destruct until they ran out of stocks, and then would be able to fight and unlock Black Mage.
 * Black Mage, along with, , , , , and , are the only characters so far who currently wear their default costumes in Team Battle when they are picked on the blue team.
 * Black Mage and Mega Man are the only characters so far whose normal attacks provide the functionality as projectiles. In Black Mage's case, his fully-charged forward smash.

Although Duck Hunt's grounded game is less effective than their aerial game, it still does not remain without its respective utility. Their neutral attack is their most effective grounded attack, thanks to a number of perks: its second and third hits provide disjointed hitboxes; its neutral infinite is reliable for damage-racking, even at high percentages; and its last hit and infinite's finisher are reliable for spacing and, though at a less extent, KOing at reasonably high precents at the edge, beginning earlier than 190%, thanks to their immense knockback growth. Despite its almost nonexistent horizontal range, Duck Hunt's up tilt is perhaps their second-most effective grounded attack. It is a reliable combo starter against middle/heavyweights and fast-fallers, yet its immense knockback growth and fairly minimal start-up lag also allow it to function as Duck Hunt's most consistent KOing option. Their forward tilt, down tilt and dash attack are impressive for spacing, yet are also useful for launching Trick Shot's tin can back into the line of fire, with the latter, while being burdened with noticeable ending lag, being generally the most useful out of the aforementioned three due to its deceptively large hitbox, in combination of possessing usage as a quick burst-option due to Duck Hunt's fast initial dashing speed, and the clean hit can KO at reasonable precentages near the edge of Final Destination. It also deals good shield damage, allowing it to provide impressive pressure against shields quite efficiently. Typically, if Duck Hunt performs this attack on his own Trick Shot, the can will be propelled diagonally forward, which provides its obvious advantages, but it can also be intentionally sent careening behind the duo if the player times the collision properly by striking the can as close as possible to the pair's body, a technique that can take opponents by surprise. Lastly, complementing their tilt attacks, all of Duck Hunt's smash attacks boast respectable power thanks to their immense knockback growth (final hit) and impressive damage-outputs (initial hits), and can increase their ranges via charging.

While possessing several positives on one hand, Duck Hunt are burdened with glaring weaknesses, with potentially the most unfortunate weakness is that, outside of their aerial game, the aspects of their kit that don't revolve around their versatile projectiles are rather lackluster. For example: while their aerials are undeniably the best parts of their kit outside of their special moveset, some aren't without their flaws. Although forward aerial is fairly fast at frame 7 and provides decent range, it provides atrocious KO power; even with the sweetspot, the move doesn't start KOing middleweights until around 180% from the edge of Final Destination, and the fact that the move has sourspots adds a layer of inconsistency to its already poor KO power. In addition, down aerial has some inconsistencies of its own, as while it is a decent spike on paper, the two hits don't always connect into each other. Duck Hunt's endurance also leaves more to be desired due to their low weight and exploitable recovery; while Duck Jump covers good horizontal and vertical distance, its unremarkable speed and lack of protection make it prone to edge guards. While their recovery fares better than in SSB4 due to it being able to be canceled into attacks and air dodges, the fact that Duck Hunt can only cancel their recovery 50 frames later still makes it fairly exploitable.

Duck Hunt (, Duckhunt), known in PAL versions as Duck Hunt Duo, are playable fighters in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. They were officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 during Ultimate's E3 2018 trailer alongside, , and the rest of the returning roster. Like, and the , although the duo are a archetypical tag-team, Duck Hunt are collectively classified as Fighter #59.

Duck Hunt retain their realistic and respective dog-barks and duck-quacks, vocalizing a combination of recycled voice-clips from SSB4, along with additional new ones too.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Duck Hunt must then be defeated on (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Duck Hunt being the 56th characters to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the last character unlocked after.
 * Have Duck Hunt join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Duck Hunt are a archetypical duo that fight collectively as if they were a single character, much like. They are lightweights, and specifically weigh as much as, which places them among the bottom 20 in that category. Duck Hunt also have below-average height, above-average walking/dashing speeds (being the 25th and 36th-fastest, respectively), a slow initial dashing speed (tied for the 12th-slowest, with, , , and ), low traction (the 15th-lowest), above-average air speed (tied for the 20th-fastest, with , , , and ), average air acceleration and falling speed, and low gravity (the 14th-lowest). Duck Hunt can also crawl and wall jump. These traits render Duck Hunt a tag-team character who, while lacking strong burst-based movement and options on the ground due to their slow initial dashing speed, does a good job at maintaining aerial presence with their fast air speed and fairly high jumps. Collectively speaking, their overall mobility is above-average, even on the ground, despite Duck Hunt's lack of burst-movement options in that scenario.

As their name in the PAL version suggests, Duck Hunt is not a singular character, but indeed an archetypical tag-team like the and. In Duck Hunt's case, their team consists of the dog and a duck from . In addition to using spins, paw-swipes, headbutts and pecks, the dog and duck each partake in special moves: The dog initiates their neutral and down specials, Trick Shot and Wild Gunman, whereas the duck performs their up special, Duck Jump. However, Duck Hunt also provide five attacks that reference the : their smash attacks; the remainder of Trick Shot; and their side special, Clay Shooting.

Due to the offense of Duck Hunt's three unique projectiles for special moves, Duck Hunt excel in zoning and stage-controling with an emphasis on setups. Trick Shot generates a tin-can that explodes on contact, and the fact that its maneuverability can be controlled by the player with the press of the special button make it a key-component of Duck Hunt's pressure, setups, and stage-control. Additionally, the fact that the can is generated on frame 1 gives it utility as a combo breaker. This renders it effective for not only playing mindgames, but also helping Duck Hunt with edge-guarding. However, the explosion also damages Duck Hunt, which forces careful spacing between them and the tin can. It also boasts immense knockback growth, which is enough to KO fellow middleweights under 155% by the edge of Final Destination. Clay Shooting involves throwing a clay pigeon that can be detonated with the press of the special button. It not only has utility as a zoning tool, but it also functions as Duck Hunt's most potent combo starter, as the fact that they can controllably function out of the move before it detonates allows them to chain the move into itself, aerials, or a combination of the two. Clay Shooting's long range makes it useful for luring opponents from a distance and spacing, and especially for hindering an opponent's approach. Wild Gunman summons a gunman that shoots from their respective gun after a delay. This further supplements their zoning and setup-centered playstyle, since they can controllably function out of the move before the gunshot. In addition, the gunmen possess their own hurtboxes, giving it occasional utility for blocking attacks. Wild Gunman is best suited for mindgames like Trick Shot, but both attacks can synchronize rather well with each other. Unlike in SSB4, however, Wild Gunman now provides immense offensive utility because of its varying damage-outputs up to 8-11%, impressive knockback (as it even KOs fellow heavies under 165% by the edge of Final Destination). However, one glaring caveat is the fact that each gunman will get knocked out, unable to fire if they are dealt at least 5%. Another perk that each of Duck Hunt's offensive special moves is their inherent defensive capabilities: Trick Shot's tin can, Clay Shooting's clay pigeon, and Wild Gunman's gunmen are each able to block an opponent's projectiles, in a similar to and 's s. Lastly, Duck Jump is a maneuverable recovery that covers a decent amount of vertical and horizontal distance.

Duck Hunt's air game is perhaps the strongest aspect of their offense after their projectiles, and typically synchronizes well with the latter's suitability for stage-control courtesy of their good air speed. All of their aerial attacks have lingering hitboxes and, in the case of up aerial, multiple hits. Their duration is the primary reason Duck Hunt is deceptively difficult to challenge in the air, as opponents will most likely collide within an attack's final frames if they attempt to challenge their movesset. All of their aerials, aside from neutral aerial, also have enough range to be spaced effectively thanks to Duck Hunt's aerial mobility, allowing it to zone and approach opponents safely in the air. Each of Duck Hunt's aerials also sport their own distinct strengths: Duck Hunt's neutral aerial is their fastest aerial and one of the strongest sex kicks in Ultimate, even when stale, which is useful for edge-guarding thanks to its minimal start-up lag and properties for a sex kick, while its clean hitbox is strong enough to reliably KO even on-stage opponents at reasonable percentages. Both their forward and back aerials are useful for edge-guarding, while the latter's sweetspot and their up aerial are also strong enough to KO reliably. Lastly, Duck Hunt's down aerial is their most damaging aerial and is able to meteor smash. Back aerial is a fast and powerful finisher that comes out at frame 7 and KOs middleweights as early as 120% from the edge of Final Destination, making it even deadlier in the context of edgeguarding. Neutral aerial also compliments their edgeguarding abilities, as it comes out fast at frame 6 and has lingering hitboxes that make it useful for gimps while the strong hit also functions as a passable KO move, KOing middleweights at 135% from the edge of Final Destination. Finally, up air is a good vertical finisher that starts KOing middleweights at around 135% near the blast zone, plus it comes out fast a frame 6 and has a decent amount of active frames.

Sandbag is a newcomer unlockable character in Super Smash Flash 2. It was first revealed in SSF2 Dev Blog #5 on April 1, 2016 and initially thought to be an April Fools' Day joke. However, a special blog, SSF2 Dev Blog #5.1, was released two days later confirming Sandbag's inclusion as the game's "joke" character. Sandbag was a pet project by developer, James Hadden, and its development was completed in a week's time thanks to the character using only three sprites in all of its animations which were then rotated, stretched, and distorted in Flash to create over 70 unique animations.

Attributes
Sandbag, true to its playstyle, is a highly unorthodox character in function, utilizing moves that normally would not be seen on any other fighter in the series. Sandbag has fairly average attributes all around, his weight being tied with Mario, Luigi and Waluigi, counting as a middleweight character, his walking speeds are fast, even being tied with Fox, but his running speeds are very slow, since he only hops as opposed of actually running, counted as the second-slowest character in the game, the first character to be the slowest is Jigglypuff.

As mentioned before, Sandbag's animations have the dubious distinction of possessing the unorthodox combination of being stretched out, rotated and distorted. This gives Sandbag a staple asset: long, deceptive melee disjointed range, especially for a character of his weight class. In combination of Sandbag's exceptional frame-data (as nearly half of his moveset, excluding his dash attack, down smash and down aerial, activate earlier than/on frame 7), it can combine its attack-speed and prominent power to render himself formidable, for compensation to his lack of mobility. One of Sandbag's biggest strengths includes its damage-racking capability: most of its moveset deal good amounts of damage-outputs and great frame-data, letting Sandbag increase its opponents' damage quickly and efficiently and provide immense pressure. Because of this, it also boasts good setups into several different finishers, such as its forward smash and dash attack. It also possesses one of the fastest sidesteps in the game, assisting his defensive capabilities.

The effectiveness of its damage-racking capabilities also extends to its aerial game. All of its aerial attacks provide exceptional frame-data and have respective utility as combo starters or extenders, such as its neutral and back aerials, or as finishers, most notably with its down aerial, which is not only currently the strongest spike in the game, it is also among the fastest meteor smashes in the game. Aside from those, each aerial sports their own distinctive usage. Neutral aerial behaves very similarly to a sex kick, making it a useful tool out of shield, as well as a method to break combos with effectiveness, and its clean hit can KO fellow middleweights at about earlier than 150% by the edge of Final Destination. Forward aerial and down aerial are among the strongest aerial attacks and overall attacks in the entire game, with the latter being able to KO even the heaviest character at 0% off a single edge-guard, and the former being a steep semi-spike that kills fellow middleweights at around 155% center-stage, making them effective for zero-to-death combos, and both of which are comparatively fast for their power. Back aerial is Sandbag's fastest aerial, and it launches at a near-vertical trajectory, which makes it useable for beginning or extending combos, with limited KO ability as well, however. Finally, up aerial is Sandbag's weakest aerial attack in terms of power, in exchange for high chaining and juggling capabilities, as well as building up good aerial pressure and being a situational finisher near the upper blast line against floaty characters, doing so at about 165%.

It also sports an exceptional grab and throw game: possessing one of the longest and fastest non-tether grabs in the game, especially his dash grab. In combination of his pummel's comparatively good speed and damage-output, his throws also boast their own distinctive usage: his forward throw and back throw are both by far the strongest forward/back throws and the second-strongest throw of all kinds in the entire game, only rivaled by 's back throw, respectively. However, their sluggishness makes them easy to DI, though the latter is more difficult to do so. However, it can set up serviceable edge-guards if not killing outright. His up throw and down throw are both impressive chain grabs and combo starters, and, although limited, can KO at reasonably high precents, doing so at about 170-80%. Additionally, all of its throws have strong collateral hitboxes that can restrain bystanders.

Sandbag's special moveset also reflects its absurdity and unorthodox playstyle. Its neutral special move, Capsule Spawn, gives it the oppurtunity to spawn a Capsule that can contain any item currently active in the items switch, and provides a chance to explode instead, dealing high damage and knockback, making it a situational finisher, killing fellow middleweights at about 115% by the ledge, rendering it one of Sandbag's primary tools for camping and dealing with projectiles, especially against items, and making Sandbag one of the only characters with this tactic in no-item scenarios. Its side special move, Sandgrab, is a long-ranged command grab, allowing it to by-pass shields, and it can also provide good horizontal recovery in mid-air. Its down special move, Sanddash, is a controllable burst of movement that can be directed at all trajectories, and it can cancel into the rest of his moveset besides another Sanddash. Lastly, its up special move, Bomb-omb Toss, can potentially turn the tide of battle if a player touches the Bomb-omb first, as it can potentially KO even the heaviest characters under 25% and the lightest characters at 0% when near the horizontal blast lines.

As Sandbag is widely perceived as a joke-based character, its strengths and useful qualities are overwhelmed by an abundance of flaws, especially concerning its mobility, as it possesses some of the slowest raw mobility in the game: for example, its movement depicts it only performing a series of low hops with large pauses in between them, which not only gives it unsurprisingly the worst running and walking speeds, but also gives it unarguably slowest grounded mobility in the game. In combination of its sub-par air speed, its mobility is arguably the single-worst in the entire game if its elements are absent, and gives him notoriously terrible matchups against rushdowners (i.e., ) or characters with superior mobility (i.e. , ), especially on foot. This can theortically be remedied by the usage of Soaping and Sanddash, with which, it possesses some of the best mobility in the game, covering the entire Waiting Room in about two-thirds of a second. Should it make usage of its mobility in a more traditional manner, however, it becomes horribly disadvantaged in aggressive play.

Its lack of mobility also spreads through its frame-data. While proportionally possessing some of the best frame-data and reach among characters of his weight class, it definitely lacks the best frame-data and range in the game. Even though the majority of its grounded moveset have quick startup, they also suffer from medium/heavy ending lag, making Sandbag vulnerable to attacks if it misses said moves. This also extends to its KO potential: while possessing several solid finishers, all of them are generally offset by the underwhelming majority of poor damage-outputs (Sandgrab), low knockback-values (up aerial), narrow hitbox-positionings (forward and back air), requiring either luck or no-item battles (Capsule Spawn) and the "high-risk, high-reward" of leading to self-destructs (Bob-omb Toss). Its strongest attacks are also his slowest attacks in his kit, especially his dash attack. This forces Sandbag to play more defensively and cautiously, and requires it to at least acheive successful hard-reads or edgeguards in order to secure a KO, and makes it flounder against characters that can out-frame-data Sandbag, such as and.

Most of its special moves are also not reliable. Though Capsule Spawn has a chance to spawn an explosive capsule, the chances of this happening are very rare; additionally, the move only has use as a "get-off-me" option if all items are turned off. Despite Sandgrab being a command grab, Sandbag will undergo heavy ending lag if it misses, making it open for punishment much like some of its ground moves. Additionally, although Sandbag has a theoretically infinite recovery in Bomb-omb Toss, it requires Sandbag to damage itself to actually gain any height at all, making the move risky at high percentages, which is further exacerbated though Sandbag's inability to grab ledges, and if Sandbag is under the stage, it may have the risk of stage-spiking itself on the underside or the sides of the stage, completely obliterating its offstage survivability.

Overall, Sandbag is a very powerful fighter who has a very unorthodox playstyle. However, its multiple strengths are drastically outnumbered by its abundance of flaws, preventing it from being a top-tier or high-tier character.

Wario (, Wario) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside and the rest of the returning roster during Ultimate's E3 2018 trailer. Wario is classified as Fighter #30.

As in SSB4, 's portrayal of Wario from Brawl was repurposed for Ultimate in all regions.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Wario must then be defeated on WarioWare, Inc. (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Wario being the 24th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in her unlock tree, being the 7th character unlocked after.
 * Have Wario join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Wario is a short, heavyweight character, tying with, and the Belmonts for the 14th-18th heaviest character in the game, yet boasts surprisingly excellent overall mobility for a character of his weight class, especially in the air. For reflection, he boasts the 8th-fastest air speed in the game, in addition to being tied with and  for the 2nd-best air acceleration, surpassed by only. Wario also sports an above-average falling speed and the 26th-highest gravity, which, alongside the previous attributes, gives him an amazing aerial prowess in exchange for below-average jumps. However, his grounded mobility pales and leaves a lot for desiration in comparison, yet it is still respectable overall. In exchange for the 12th-slowest walking speed, his dashing speed and traction are both slightly above-average at best.

Wario is a character of extremes: unlike a majority other heavyweights, Wario excels in formidable aerial combatants and prowess: owing to a deceptively aerial game thanks to possessing the best aerial mobility and surprisingly fantastic movement in the air that is only rivaled by, along with an excellent amount of recovering options. Using his high mobility and versatile aerial attacks, Wario is able to dip in and out of the fray to bait attacks and punish. Wario's attacks in general also tend to be disjointed, as his hands don't have a hurtbox. He's also fairly hard to hit since he's relatively nimble and short for a heavy character, though fairly wide, meaning he can still be vulnerable to combos and juggles.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Lucas was perceived as a lower high-tier character (ranked 21st out of 38 on the current tier list). This is primarily regarding his numerous amount of fairly solid attacks, a solid recovery, immense KO potential, raw power, a strong and effective special moveset (including a strong projectile in PK Fire, and a powerful and surprisingly versatile absorption move in PSI Magnet) and a whole bunch of useful advanced techniques, he suffered from possessing short range, average frame-data, an unspectacular grab outside of KOs, limited/difficult to land KO options and he was very exploitable to grab release-oriented follow-ups. His grounded grab-release was 10 frames longer than almost the rest of the cast (aside from ), making him vulnerable to inescapable chain grabs and KO setups, while his aerial grab release was also fairly exploitable. As a result, Lucas was a dominant threat against characters he ouclassed below him, but simultaneously struggled with a majority of the cast above him (especially since numerous characters simply outclassed him), but he overall saw impressive success within the singles-meta, although he was much more effective in doubles, as his grab-release was less exploitable and when paired with the right teammate, his PSI Magnet became an incredibly powerful and abusable tool.

As a result, Lucas received a mixture of buffs and nerfs in his transition to SSB4. However, due to Smash 4's balance becoming more polarizing than in previous installments, his nerfs have became more pronounced and apparent overall, in combination of his lower high-ranking placement in Brawl. Nevertheless, Lucas has been signifcantly buffed, due to the game's numerous universal changes significantly benefitting him, along with him receiving some heavily useful buffs as well. Like, perhaps the single-biggest improvement he received came from the removal of the 10 extra frames of ending lag that were a part of his grounded grab release animation, which was one of his most significant flaws and detriments to his endurance. This is further supplemented by the removal of chain grabbing, which was a large part as to the reason his grab-release was extremely exploitable. Lucas' recovery, outside of advanced techniques, has been improved: as both PK Thunder 2 and Rope Snake now cover more amount of distance. Rope Snake has also received more utility as a zoning option due to it receiving a hitbox when performed as a grab aerial. Furthermore, Lucas' once merely average frame-data has been sped up, allowing him to dish up amount of damage more quicker, although this is one Lucas' least favorable changes due to the universal hindrance to frame-data in SSB4, a case that most other returning veterans had suffered from.

Lucas has also been indirectly buffed from the changes to Smash 4's mechanics: not only due to the removal of chain grabbing and, by extension, the changes to air releases, but also because of the changes to hitstun canceling, combined with the weakening of DI, which has giving him a powerful combo game, which is most evident with the modifications to his down throw having resulted in it becoming one of his best combo starters. The removal of edgehogging also improves the safety of his recovery, in combination of its aforementioned improvements, and the introduction of ledge-trumping further improves his previously fearsome edgeguarding game, in exchange for subsituting for the loss of edgehogging. His moveset, despite being nerfed in most situations, have not only seen improvements in terms of speed/frame-data, but also have been improved in terms of KO potential as well (most notably up aerial, which also has greater juggling potential), which is further supplemented by the introduction of rage.

Power Meter and KO Uppercut
Deal damage to opponents or receive damage to charge the meter. Charge it to the max to make your neutral special a KO Uppercut. ''Unleash a powerful uppercut that launches opponents. You get various perks for using this on the ground.

Little Mac has a unique fighter ability, dubbed the Power Meter, which is displayed permanently above his damage meter. Inflicting and/or receiving damage will fill the Power Meter; when it is full, Little Mac's neutral special (Straight Lunge) is replaced by KO Uppercut. Additionally, the Power Meter is also filled if Little Mac hits a shield or an invincible character, and if he is hit while shielding or invincible. The grounded version of KO Uppercut provides multiple perks: it can KO almost the entire cast approximately under 35% and can KO almost the entire cast as early as 0%, becomes a true one-hit KO if Little Mac reaps a sheer amount of rage, boasts almost nonexistent start-up, grants super armor right before its hitbox appears, and is unblockable. In comparison, the aerial version is significantly weaker (KOing opponents at ≈80%), and is susceptible to both blocks and counterattacks. Since Little Mac leaps in order to throw KO Uppercut, it can also boast utility as a situational recovering option. However, this is ill-advised unless Little Mac is recovering from a high angle, since KO Uppercut has immense ending lag and does not snap to the edge.

KO Uppercut will replace Straight Lunge until it is performed, Little Mac is KO'd, or if he is sent tumbling 4 seconds after he gains access to KO Uppercut.

On-screen appearance

 * Little Mac walks onto the stage while throwing a series of punches before tossing his hooded sweatsuit off. If either of his sweatsuit-equipped alternate costumes are being equipped, he will still perform the tossing animation while retaining his sweatsuit on.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Turns his back to the screen, bends down, then raises his fist triumphantly. Sometimes, Doc Louis will chime in and say "Hit 'em, baby!" (, Strike, Mac!)
 * Side taunt: Further secures his right boxing-glove by pulling its string with his teeth, then resumes his battling stance while scoffing. Sometimes, Doc Louis will chime in and say "Let 'em have it, Mac!" (, Hit them hard, Mac!)
 * Down taunt: Throws a series of punches/shadowboxes while facing the screen, and then strikes a fighting stance while smirking. Sometimes, Doc Louis will chime in and say "Show 'em what you got, Mac baby!" (, Show them your punch!)

Idle poses

 * Shuffles his feet.
 * Shifts his head back and forth in front of his fists.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses
Little Mac wears the World Video Boxing Association (WVBA) World Circuit from the Wii version of Punch-Out!! in his victory poses. In Team Battles, Doc Louis will be absent and he will remain silent. In all of Little Mac's victory poses, Doc Louis will say one of the following quotes randomly depending on which pose is selected and which costume is used:
 * Left: Throws a feint punch and shadowboxes against Doc Louis, who stumbles before they both stike a pose with an arm raised while facing towards the camera, with Little Mac turning to the camera while holding his fist up triumphantly after throwing a pair of low punches, whereas Louis cheers him on.
 * Up: Doc Louis bumps Little Mac with his belly before holding up Little Mac's arm, as a would after a boxing match.
 * Right: Runs and turns his back towards the screen, briefly shuffles his feet like his feet-shuffling idle pose, before throwing a spinning-triumphant uppercut while Doc Louis cheers him on.

In competitive play
During the initial release of Ultimate, several players had high hopes for Little Mac due to improvements to his notoriously awful recovery and ability to cancel grounded moves. As such, despite Little Mac's changes and the game’s mechanics proving to be detrimental to some of his best tools, especially his grounded game, the immense buffs from Mac's transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, most commonly his infamously poor aerial game, notoriously the worst in Smash 4, has been drastically improved, going from potentially possessing the worst air game in SSB4 to being one of the best in Ultimate. Because of this, opinions on Little Mac have immediately became true, with the general consensus believing that he is not only a borderline top-tier, but most of the consensus maintain him for a contender of being the best character in the game.

Throughout the game's lifespan, alongside a plenty of effective buffs from game-updates, especially from patches 3.1.0 and 13.0.0, and representation from Little Mac's top-professionals, such as, , and , his strengths have pratically allowing him to achieve consistent success in top-level play. Even in the online metagame, Peanut’s strong presence in weekly tournaments has heavily offset his lack of aerial utility and vulnerability to edgeguards since Smash 4, represented by Little Mac proceeding to maintain high representation in both national-level tournaments and Wi-Fi Warrior Ranked tournaments.

As of current competitive play, Little Mac has begun to gain a better reception, despite being previously effective since the release of Ultimate, due to more representation and Little Mac's professionals adapting to the recent metagame. While he is still considered one of the best characters in the game, some players have begun to debate about his tier-placement and competitive viability, as some players skeptically percieve him as a low-tier, and, at worst (at some point), a definitive bottom-tier due to being one of the most nerfed characters during the transition from Smash 4 to Ultimate. Overall, professional players still perceive him in the competitive setting as an viable top-tier character, despite his requirement to perform an amount of work necessary to perform as him effectively at the highest level of play for a top-tier.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Little Mac professionals (SSBU)


 * - One of the best Little Mac players in Japan. Placed 5th at, 9th at , 17th at , 25th at and 33rd at . Online, placed 9th at . Has wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Little Mac players in the United States. Placed 3rd at, 5th at , 7th at , 17th at and 33rd at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Little Mac player in the United States. Placed 13th at both and  as well as 33rd at, , and  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Little Mac player in the world. Placed 13th at both and, 25th at , and 33rd at both  and . He has wins over players such as , , and.

: Friendly Sparring
Little Mac's route features opponents that, like him, specialize in. During each Round, every item except the Sandbag is disabled. As such, the Sandbag can be hit, but will only spawn confetti.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Little Mac has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Although Little Mac makes an absence during the opening cutscene of World of Light, he was eventually vaporized and later placed under Galeem's imprisonment, alongside the rest of the other fighters (sans ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light for procession to create a new world.

Little Mac can be found near a city-based area obstructed through a door. In order to access his unlock-battle, the player must initially complete the Power Plant sub-area so the door can open.

Spirits
Little Mac's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Little Mac has been unlocked. Unlocking Little Mac in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a fighter spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, Little Mac makes an appearance as a primary spirit as Giga Mac.

Trivia

 * Little Mac's Showcase Video depicts him following 's motor bike while wearing his pink sweatsuit. This is a reference to the Punch-Out!! series, where Little Mac runs alongside Doc Louis on his bicycle.
 * Little Mac's pose in his official Ultimate artwork resembles the pose he performs while using Slip Counter.
 * Little Mac's Classic Mode provides a high spawn rate of Sandbag, as a reference to his reveal video where he has a Sandbag in his training ring, as well as usage of similar punching bags by real-life boxers.
 * Like in Smash 4, Little Mac's wireframe alternate costume has dark green hair in-game, as opposed to it being black in his render.
 * Despite fighting opponents who specialize in close-range combat abilities, Giga Bowser does not appear as his final boss.
 * In Little Mac's on-screen appearance, there are two inconsistencies that weren't present in Super Smash Bros. 4:
 * The left-facing animation will depict Little Mac facing away from the camera when walking into the stage, but after removing said sweatshirt, he repositions himself to face the screen.
 * The P7 alternate costume involving Wire-Frame Mac will show his sweatshirt colored green when he enters the stage, but when removing the sweatshirt, its color changes to pink.
 * Little Mac,, , , and  are the only characters to never appear as minions in any Spirit Battles.
 * In World of Light, Little Mac is one of the few base roster fighters who is not affiliated with Dharkon in any way, as all of his encounters as himself or as a puppet fighter are all in association with Galeem. Olimar, Ivysaur,, , , , , , and all share this distinction as well.
 * There is an animation-malfunction in Little Mac’s aerial Rising Uppercut. On the third frame of the animation, his leg becomes contorted, with his calf bent nearly 180° degrees and his foot sticking out of his thigh. This particular error also makes a reappearance from Smash 4.
 * Little Mac makes a number of references to his home-series:
 * The pose he strikes in his artwork for his fighter spirit is directly based on a piece of promotional artwork for the Wii version of . By extension, this is also based on his reveal trailer's splash art from SSB4, as well as his official artwork for SSB4, though the latter is a modified version of this particular pose, with a better center of gravity and his stance being shifted to the right, along with his arms being positioned differently.
 * His alternate costumes include his signature-hooded sweatsuit equipped during his training segments with Doc Louis, his World Video Boxing Association (WVBA) Champion attire from the Wii version of Punch-Out!!, a design based on the blond protagonist of Super Punch-Out!!, and a wireframe-design based on the first-person perspective from the arcade version of Punch-Out!!
 * As a result, Little Mac also has the most alternate costumes in the series, with a total of 16. Oddly, his wireframe alternate costumes do not appear in hordes in Special Orders in or Classic Mode in.
 * He is by far the only character to display visual battle-damage. Upon reaching or passing 100%, or upon being screen KO'd, bandages and bruises appear on his face. This is a reference to the Wii version of Punch-Out!!, where Little Mac will gradually begin looking bruised and battered if he gets hit too many times.
 * His official poster showing him fighting references DK's appearance as a secret opponent during Mac's Last Stand in the Wii version of Punch-Out!!
 * He wears the World Video Boxing Association (WVBA) World Circuit during all of his victory poses.
 * His KO Uppercut is a reference to the Star Punch, his signature move in the Punch-Out!! series. By extension, his Power Meter originated from the arcade version of Punch-Out!!
 * His Final Smash, Giga Mac, is a transformation that can be used in the two-player mode of the Wii version of Punch-Out!!
 * Despite being symmetrical in some instances, such as his during taunts and on-screen appearance, he is not mirrored when he faces left and right because he uses an, like in his home-series.
 * Little Mac provides the most costumes in the series, possessing a total of 16.
 * Interestingly, Little Mac shares a few animations with . This includes some of his poses when knocked back with a weak attack, swing animations for battering items such as a Beam Sword or a Home Run Bat, and animations while buried or stunned. This has led several players to believe that Captain Falcon's model was used as a base for creating Little Mac's model.
 * In regard to Little Mac's model, his mouth will jarringly close when his shadowboxing and shuffling victory poses conclude.
 * Prior to the introduction of Special Zoom in Ultimate, Little Mac and were the only characters who had special moves that affect the in-game camera, with both KO Uppercut and all of Cloud's Limit Break moves (barring Limit Break Blade Beam) zooming in and slowing down time upon hitting their targets. Coincidentally, both moves involve dealing or receiving damage in order to be available for use.

Moveset
For a gallery of R.O.B.'s hitboxes, see here.

{{MovesetTable
 * game=SSBU
 * neutralcount=2
 * neutralname=11 / 12
 * neutral1dmg=3%
 * neutral2dmg=3%
 * neutraldesc=Two alternating {{iw|wikipedia|hook|boxing}}s. Both of its hits hit on frame 3, which ties it with down tilt as R.O.B.'s fastest attack. Its first hit can be repeated by holding the attack button, and can also jab lock opponents, while the second hit is useful for spacing.
 * ftiltname=S2
 * ftiltdmg=7% (body), 8% (arm), 10% (arm's tip)
 * ftiltdesc=Delivers a lunging, one-handed {{s|wikipedia|hook-punch}}. Despite possessing noticeable ending lag, it has exceptionally fast start-up (frame 7) for a conventional tilt attack of its own kind, although this renders it R.O.B.'s slowest tilt attack. This attack can be angled; the tip of R.O.B.'s arm is impressive for spacing, beginning at 50%, and the tip of R.O.B.'s arm is also a sweetspot, which deals the highest amount of damage out of all of the move's hitboxes. Due to its rather exceptional power, it is also one of the strongest forward tilts in Ultimate. When at the edge of Final Destination, it can KO middleweights under 140%, even when sourspotted, and it can KO middleweights at around 165% at the center of Final Destination, especially if sweetspotted, and can KO even earlier if R.O.B. has high levels of rage. It launches the opponents far enough to edgeguard and ledge-trap (especially when angled down) and, due to its disjointed range, can lead to eaarly gimps or 2-frame punishes.
 * utiltname=Hi2
 * utiltdmg=3% (hit 1), 5% (hit 2 tip), 6% (hit 2 middle)
 * utiltdesc=Quickly thrusts his arms vertically in a similar position of a {{s|wikipedia|yoga tree pose}}, also referred as {{s|wikipedia|Vriksasana}}. Visually, the animation virtually seems like a shortened version of {{SSBU|Wii Fit Trainer}}'s up smash. Due to its minimal start-up (frame 4) and comparatively below-average ending lag, it is great for starting combos and chaining into itself, up smash and up aerial from low/medium percentages, or functioning as an anti-air and juggling attack, or can otherwise lead into KO confirms with those same moves at high ones due to the move's rather low ending lag, in combination of the aforementioned moves possessing enough KO potential under 105%. However, while it has exceptional vertical range/coverage, its almost nonexistent horizontal range/coverage, in combination of noticeable blindspots located at R.O.B.'s sides and the move's rather misleading positioning of its hitboxes, forces R.O.B. to practically stand next to a grounded opponent in order to land it, and renders him vulnerable at the sides in a similar manner to stall-then-falls.
 * dtiltname=Lw2
 * dtiltdmg=5%
 * dtiltdesc=Quickly extends his arms to perform a two-handed, crouching lunge-hook at a low-diagonal trajectory ahead across the floor. It activates on frame 3, which not only ties it with neutral attack as R.O.B.'s fastest attack in his entire kit, but also ties with {{SSBU|Ness}}, {{SSBU|Lucas}}, {{SSBU|Meta Knight}} and {{SSBU|Little Mac}}'s down tilts as the absolute fastest down tilt in Ultimate, like in SSB4. Although it has a small chance to trip opponents, its overall immense speed/agility and its almost nonexistent amount of lag pratically offsets this and makes it an excellent set-up option and combo starter/extender. This is also one of R.O.B.'s quickest out-of-shield options when facing the opponent, outside of his grab. Due to its low knockback, it can also combo into itself in several situations, allowing the player to rack up damage on the opponent, or can chain into itself multiple times to initiate intricate zero-to-death combos or can lead into KO confirms if R.O.B. manages to buffer any of his finishers when the move's ending lag is finished. Overall, it is widely considered by several smashers to be the best down tilt in the game and one of the best moves overall in Ultimate due to its fast startup, low ending lag, good range, safety on shield, shield stabing and shield-pressuring ability, and almost infinite utility as a combo starter and extender. If it does end up tripping the opponent, this will allow R.O.B. to peform trip-based follow-ups or simply lead into KO confirms, especially with up throw.
 * dashname=DashA
 * dashdmg=7%
 * dashdesc=A lunging, double-armed, slamming forearm club. It can be followed up with forward aerial if the opponent's reaction/DI is read properly. It is also rewarding as an approaching option due to the animation depicting R.O.B.'s arms being angled in a rather unpredictable trajectory, in combination of its comparatively fast start-up (frame 7) for a dash attack, giving it low predictability.
 * bairname=PK Drop Kick ({{ja|ＰＫドロップキック|Pīkei Doroppu Kikku}})
 * bairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|15}} (clean), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|8}} (late)
 * bairdesc=A lunging, two-footed backward {{s|wikipedia|dropkick}} that produces a spark of PSI located on his feet. It has comparatively fast start-up for a conventional aerial attack of its own kind (frame 10) and even its power. It functions as a strong pseudo-sex kick. While the late hit deals pathetically underwhelming knockback, the initial hit is immensely powerful, being one of the strongest aerial attacks overall in Ultimate. When at the edge of Final Destination, it can KO even heavies under 135%, and can KO middleweights under 160% at the center of Final Destination, especially if Ness has high levels of rage. Outside of that, it is also servicable at edgeguarding and ledge-trapping, and due to its wide hitbox-coverage, it can also space opponents out and gimp characters with poor/linear recoveries quite well. It also has the ability to 2-frame recoveries as well, which makes it a prominent part for Ness' disadvantageous matchups against characters with superior disjoints, like {{SSBU|Ike}} and {{SSBU|Lucina}}, which allows him to zone out and abuse other characters with lower range than his. Overall, Ness' strongest and second-most reliable aerial attack, if not his absolute best one. Auto-cancels out of a short hop.
 * uairname=PK Wiper ({{ja|ＰＫワイパー|Pīkei Waipā}})
 * uairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|2.5}} (hits 1-4), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|5}} (hit 5)
 * uairdesc=Waves his finger in an arc above his head while generating sparkles of PSI, hitting up to 5 times. Like the rest of his other aerial attacks, it auto-cancels from a short hop. As of update 2.0.0, it auto-cancels much earlier to match its interruptibility. A great combo and juggling tool, as its linking hits and last hit's vertical angle make a combination altogether to make it a great combo extender. Its consistent multi-hit nature also render it an impressive juggling and damage-racking tool as well. It is also quite a formidable finisher near the upper blast line at high percentages since the final hit deals extremely high knockback scaling, KOing even heavies at the range. Overall great power.
 * nairname=Weak Jab ({{ja|苦手ジャブ|Nigate Jabu}})
 * nairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|2}}
 * nairdesc=A downward-angled jab. It has pratically minimal overall lag, utilizes the auto-link angle, and prior to update 2.0.0, inflicts set knockback. Due to it coming out on frame 2, it is the fastest aerial of all kinds in Ultimate. Unlike in SSB4, if the opponent collides with Mac's fist, it will powerfully meteor smash, in a similar fashion to {{SSBU|Ryu}} and {{SSBU|Ken}}'s down aerials, albeit with slightly weaker power overall, though its power is still rather impressive for a fast meteor smash, KOing middleweights as low as 60% off the stage. Due to its immense speed and almost nonexistent lag, it has utility as a combo breaker of sorts or spammed to combo when in the air and possessing a very practical use of getting Little Mac out of hitstun without using a landing option very quickly and efficiently. It also utilizes the autolink angle, which allows Mac to use it to combo upon landing. However, it has extremely short range, making it risky for offensive play. It has a small hitbox on Mac's pelvis that launches vertically with above-average knockback (dealing enough knockback to KO middleweights under 170% on Final Destination); while it is extremely unlikely to hit in a typical match, this gives it extremely niche utility as a situational, yet deceptively good combo starter, as it can initiate intricate zero-to-death combos, with Little Mac's mains/players humorously referring to it as the "shitbox" due to its position on Mac. It can auto-cancel extremely quickly, and can be performed twice with a short hop without suffering from landing lag if it is performed at the peak of a short hop, similar to most other moves: such as {{SSBU|Pac-Man}}'s forward aerial, {{SSBU|Mario}}'s up aerial, {{SSBU|Mr. Game & Watch}}'s neutral/forward aerials and nearly all of {{SSBU|Ness}}' aerial attacks.
 * fairname=Weak Uppercut ({{ja|苦手アッパーカット|Nigate Appākatto}})
 * fairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|5}} (sweetspot), {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (sourspot)
 * fairdesc=Throws an {{s|wikipedia|overhand}}. Visually, its animation appears to be a shortened version of to {{SSBU|Mario}}'s forward aerial. It activates on frame 11, and has a relatively long duration of hitboxes. Fittingly for its speed and a non-meteor smashing attack, it is also one of the strongest forward aerials in Ultimate, with the sweetspot KOing middleweights under 105% by the edge of Final Destination, and the sourspot KOing Mario under 125% by the edge of Final Destination. Due to being a steep semi-spike with large, long-lasting hitboxes, it can efficiently edgeguard/ledge-trap, gimp opponents (especially those with poor recoveries past 100%) and start a tech-chasing scenario at low precents; or can lead to 2 frame punishes. It auto-cancels with a short hop and can combo out of several of Little Mac's moveset. Although risky, it can combo into Jolt Haymaker when performed precisely; at medium percentages, this combo leaves the opponent in an unfavorable position, and can even KO early while off-stage. Overall, it is arguably Little Mac's most useful and reliable aerial attack; especially in his kit.
 * bairname=Weak Back Knuckle ({{ja|苦手バックナックル|Nigate Bakku Nakkuru}})
 * bairdmg={{ShortHopDmgSSBU|6}} (sweetspot) {{ShortHopDmgSSBU|4}} (sourspot)
 * bairdesc=Throws a {{s|wikipedia|backfist}}. Like forward aerial, it is a quick semi-spike that can be used either to edge-guard or fend off opponents. Compared to his forward aerial, it deals 1% more damage when sweetspotted, but comes out 1 frame slower, though it gains the ability to auto-cancel with a short hop. It is also Little Mac's strongest aerial, but is too weak to KO reliably and is best suited for possibly gimping an opponent.

Update history
R.O.B has received a mixture of buffs and nerfs via game updates. Initially regarded as one of the best characters in the launch of Ultimate, R.O.B. has been slightly nerfed overall. The removal of Gyro-canceling was perhaps R.O.B.'s single-most significant nerf during update 1.1.0, as it effectively removed several movement and mobility-based options and advanced techniques R.O.B. could perform in previous installments. R.O.B was affected more than most other characters during version 3.0.0 with the universal reduction of shield damage to projectiles and the down tilt-loop became harder to set up in version 4.0.0, with buffs being only quality-of-life updates to make moves connect more consistently.

Overall, while faring slightly worse than at the launch Ultimate, R.O.B. nevertheless remains pratically viable in the competitive scene and is still regarded as a high-tier and lower top-tier character throughout the game's lifespan.


 * usmashname=Around the World (, Shuttle Loop)
 * usmashdmg=1% (charge),
 * usmashdesc=Sends his forward and performs an arching "" trick with it, hitting initially in front of, then above and behind Ness. It provides a hitbox while charging and can hang from the ledge, but can only be held for an additional half of a second instead of two, and has a maximum-charge damage-multiplier of 1.2×. A decent anti-air and a good out-of-shield option. It is more powerful if the opponent is behind Ness, though it has mooderately mediocre power for a conventional smash attack of its own kind. It is unsurprisingly the second-weakest up smash in terms of knockback (surpassed by only  and KOing middleweights at around 120% and around 90% when fully charged, though this allows it to function an unorthodox combo-starter at medium/high percents. The attack has a hitbox while charging and can hang over ledges, allowing for potential edgeguarding situations and gimping, as well as leading to 2 frame punishes.
 * dsmashname=Walk the Dog (, Yo-Yo Shot)
 * dsmashdmg=1% (charge),
 * dsmashdesc=Sends his backward and performs the "" with it before pulling the yo-yo behind himself, hitting initially behind, then in front of Ness. It provides a hitbox while charging and can hang from the ledge, but can only be held for an additional half of a second instead of two, and has a maximum-charge damage-multiplier of 1.2×. Might have troubles linking correctly if the opponent is at the furthest point of the back hit. Covers get-up options and punishes rolls well, but cannot connect well if the opponent is at the longest range of the move. It can also edgeguard and ledge-trap relatively easily, and is a steep semi-spike with high coverage and rather impressive power (even stronger than his up smash), KOing middleweights at around the range of 102% by the edge and 29% later at the center of Final Destination, and can KO even earlier when charged up. The attack has a hitbox while charging and can hang over ledges, allowing for potential edgeguarding situations and gimping, as well as leading to 2-frame punishes.
 * nairname=Ness Spin
 * nairdmg= (clean), (late)
 * nairdesc=Spins diagonally in the air with his arms outstretched, emitting PSI from his hands. The animiation is similar to other conventional neutral aerials of its own kind, such as, /, , , and the , albeit slightly quicker. Despite its animation, however, it is not a multi-hit attack. Quick for an aerial attack of its own kind, and is Ness' fastest aerial attack in terms of start-up despite its moderate ending lag, coming out on frame 5 and behaving like a sex kick. Rather useful to break combos and as an out-of-shield option. Auto-cancels from a short hop. Its power is rather impressive for a short-ranged and quick move of its own kind and speed, dealing enough knockback to KO middleweights under 102% by the edge of Final Destination, rendering it one of the strongest aerial attacks and "pseudo-sex kicks" in Ultimate. It provides immense coverage at all of Ness' body and sides, making it an impressive landing option to assist his floatiness when landing, and giving him one of the easiest methods to escape disadvantage. It is also useful for edgeguarding and ledge-trapping due to its long duration (this also gives it good combo potential, especially at low precents), and it has utility for approaching due to its ability to auto-cancel out of a short hop, in combination of Ness' above-average air speed, though the latter is pratically situational and offset by its rather poor range. It has minimally the landing lag of a soft landing off a jump, consisting of only 9 frames of landing lag.
 * fairname=Aerial PK Hand Stamp (
 * fairdmg= (hit 1-3), (hit 4)
 * fairdesc=A that generates a stream of PSI-sparks from his hands. Activates on frame 8, rendering it being tied with up aerial for the second-fastest out of Ness' aerials. Comparatively safe on shield if Ness retreats during the attack (in combination of Ness' air acceleration and the move's impressive reach), this makes it effective as an edgeguarding option and a spacing tool, useful to start and continue combos, and is effective at damage-racking and building up pressure. In combination of Ness' fast air speed and the move's impressive reach, it is also one of Ness' best approaching tools. The final hit can KO middleweights under 155% by the edge of Final Destination. Like the rest of his other aerials, it auto-cancels from a short hop. Can chain into itself multiple times at low percentages, making it an effective wall-of-pain tool.

His grab game is also very versatile: his grab-range is surprisingly long (especially for a comparative character of both his own weight class and size), extending the distance of his entire body and stretching out his limb he is grabbing with. He also boasts a notoriously quick pummel, and can therefore rack up high damage quickly while resetting his stale moves before throwing the opponent. His down throw is a solid combo starter that can chain grab fast-fallers at low percents and KO at high percents. It also has a moment of intangibility, giving it safety against bystanders. His up throw can reliably initiate intricate aerial combos at low/medium percents, and forward throw can start combos at low percents and can force a sacrificial KO. Like up throw, it serves as a situational KO throw by the edge at high precents, due to its very high angle in combination of being vulnerable to DI, it can only KO reliably under 195% by the edge of Waiting Room. His back throw is guaranteed to put the opponent into a bad position due to being a steep, yet weak meteor smash with high hitstun despite its severe lack of KO potential, by either forcing them to recover low (which can easily lead into a down aerial) or forcing them into a tech-chasing scenario, or either setting up an edgeguard.

His special moveset gives him a variety of options for utility and versatility: Beam Whip, his neutral special move, can function as an interruption-based and zoning tool that can build up pressure, and it is chargeable to become Wave Beam, a quick-moving projectile useful for edgeguarding gimping characters with weak recoveries and KOing high-precent opponents. His side special move, Spear Throw, can function as a useful edgeguarding/ledge-trapping and gimping tool as well, and pins the opponent in-place for a short while, allowing Bandana Dee to follow-up and achieve guaranteed KO confirms. The spear can also KO at very high precents, only reliant on doing so if near the horizontal blast zones, however. Waddle Copter, his up special move, is a respectably powerful attack (especially out of shield) that can allow Bandana Dee to escape disadvantage and combos/juggling, secure early surprise KOs, and has utility to provide impressive horizontal recovery due to its hovering technique/ability. Finally, his down special move, Parasol Drill, can function as a mobility-based and approaching option as a method to overcome Dee's overall lack of mobility, and deals respectable knockback to secure early KOs. Upon being performed mid-air, the move becomes Parasol Dive, a stall-then-fall attack that unleashes a flurry of relatively powerful meteor smashing hitboxes with an impressive damage-output and high coverage, giving Bandana Dee an incredible landing option to overcome his floatiness and escape disadvantage, and it can also function as an anti-juggling tool as well, and thus greatly assists his offensive and damage-racking capabilities, as well as for his rather problematic, if not lacking KO power.

However, Bandana Dee's prime issue is his awful KO potential; despite possessing several solid finishers for a comparative character of his own weight class and size, he struggles to pick up early KOs, as none of his highest-knockback/strongest moves have KO potential on middleweights under 100%, and his primary KO options are burdened with difficulty to land on (back aerial and Waddle Copter), are slow/have inconvenient frame-data (smash attacks), or simply aren't reliable finishers until very high percents due to either being burdened with low base knockback (down throw) or low/below-average or merely average knockback scaling (forward throw), or completely lack overall power at all (back throw). While he boasts some of the best grab and combo games, not all of its areas are perfect, however. Although his grab and combo games are outstanding at low/medium percents, this is not true at high percents: as Bandana Dee cannot reliably get KO confirms without platforms at any percent, despite possessing a myriad of combo starters. Forward throw will be less reliable for combos at high precents while still lacking in KO power at high precents due to its high angle and vulnerability to DI. Back throw is underwhelmingly weak for a spike, so it completely lacks KO potential and opponents can easily break out of hitstun in order to escape Dee's wrath. Up throw's follow-up potential will stop at high precents while still being ineffective at KOing due to its last hit's merely average power. Lastly, down throw is easy to DI due to its slow startup, has difficulty chain grabing slow/average-fallers, and will not KO middleweights until starting at about merely 135%. This particular lack of KO potential can force Bandana Dee to rely on hard-reads or edgeguarding to take a stock early; however, the latter is made extremely risky by his recovery, or lack thereof.

Bandana Dee's range is also fluorescently lacking as well. Despite possessing a disjointed weapon (his spear), his spear possesses arguably the shortest range out of any conventional weapon in SSF2. In combination of his hitboxes possessing unfavorable positionings/or being narrow, this gives him notoriously lackluster matchups against characters with superior disjoints (i.e., ) or characters with exceptionally long reach (i.e. , ).

His special moves are also very easy to counteract if met with the proper reaction: Beam Whip by itself is pathetically weak, and lacks enough utility outside of interrupting approaches, and Wave Beam can be easily avoided and reflected, and due to being a predictable projectile despite its fast progression, it is easily vulnerable to absorption. Spear Throw is very weak (especially for a pseudo-command grabing projectile), its overall distance is pathetically short, and opponents can easily escape the pin via button-mashing, making it unreliable for follow-ups aside from hard-reads or at high precents. Its rather minimal range results in it providing little/no priority, so potentially any attack (even the weakest) that collides with it will make it disappear. This, combined with his unimpressive mobility, gives him particularly poor matchups against characters with projectile-heavy playstyles or heavy camping and projectile-nullifying abilities: i.e., , and , but most notoriously, ,  and. Waddle Copter is also easily avoided despite its only moderate start-up for an out-of-shield option, and it can be comparatively weak on either heavies (ex. ) or fast-fallers (ex. ). Lastly, the aerial version of Parasol Drill, Parasol Dive, is much weaker than the grounded version, making it less reliable for KOing despite its downward-launching trajectory and multi-meteor smashing hitboxes, and the grounded version can be easily avoided as well due to its slow start-up and high predictability, and is unsafe on shield due to its noticeable ending lag, hindering Dee's approach.

His recovery is very linear and very easily predicted; his second-lowest air speed not only gives Bandana Dee unsurprisingly the second-worst mobility and air movement-speed in the game (surpassed by ), but also gives him some of the hardest time returning back to the stage quickly and makes him susceptible to characters with superior air mobility (i.e., and ), his jumps are short-distanced and, unlike , only provides a maximum of three midair jumps, and despite Waddle Copter's decent horizontal distance and controllability, it is one of the worst vertical recovering moves in the game and easy to intercept, considering its minimum vertical height (despite its disjointed edge-sweetspots), rendering his vertical recovery one of, if not the absolute worst in the game. He also has pratically unimpressive endurance: as he is extremely light, tied with and  for the third-lightest character in the game (even lighter than Kirby) and has low gravity, giving him not only very poor vertical endurance, but also worse horizontal endurance than characters of a similar weight class due to his abysmal overall recovery, as well as among the worst overall endurance in the game.

Forward tilt is Tails' slowest tilt attack, but is still fast enough to throw out, and is effective at spacing beginning at 45%, and it can easily 2-frame opponents due to its decent reach. Additionally, it also possesses the dubious distinction of being one of the only few tilt attacks to possess a sweetspot, which can cause tumbling even at 0% due to its massive base knockback, and can KO middleweights early at high precents by the edge, starting at about 105%. Otherwise, it can simply set up an edgeguard. His up tilt unleashes high-damaging multi-hits, with the last hit dealing moderate knockback, allowing it to lead into follow-ups or combos while providing KO potential and initiating aerial pressure at high precents. Furthermore, it can also set up juggling at low precents, can anti-air and juggle exceptionally well, and hinder landing options depending on the opponent's falling speed due to its long-lasting hitboxes. Down tilt is Tails' fastest tilt attack, and is one of the fastest overall moves in the game (especially in his kit, though it is slightly rivaled by other comparative down tilts, such as, , and 's), and it shoves Tails slightly forward, like Sonic's down tilt, giving him the ability to pseudo-crawl. Like Sonic, it can also shield poke relatively well against characters with narrow/tall hurtboxes, such as /. It can also heavily rack up damage and damage exceptionally well due to its low knockback, albeit at a drastically less degree than Ness'. Dash attack has rather minimal utility outside of damage-racking and edgeguarding, and has no KO potential, but can still have utility for being a good approaching option due to Tails' rather respectable mobility. Due to its moment of Spin Dash, this move is difficult to react to and has minimal predictability.

To round out the effectiveness of Tails' grounded game, his smash attacks are notable for their power, their speed, their uniqueness and even their range. Each of their boasts their own utility: forward smash is considered among Tails' most reliable KO options due to its quick speed (though it is slightly slower than Sonic's forward smash in terms of start-up) and impressive power. Unlike Sonic, it has notoriously low ending lag and moves Tails slightly forward. However, it conversely provides considerably less range than Sonic's forward smash, so it is less effective than his at spacing. Up smash is one of the more unique smash attacks in the game, as it boosts Tails vertically as high as a jump via a Spin Dash. Unlike Sonic's, Tails' up smash only consists of a single-powerful hit that fails to run out of power, but conversely has less duration of a hitbox than Sonic's. Despite that, it has relatively quicker speed than Sonic's, and it shares a moment of intangibility while the hitbox activates. Due to boosting Tails up with a ascending hitbox, it is one of the best jugglers and anti-airs in the game, and is one of the best vertical finishers in the game. DACUS further improves this, and its KO power can be further boosted up by hitting the opponent further in the air (despite dealing relatively less power than Sonic's up smash), especially if they have slow falling speed, which makes this move particularly deadly against characters with low vertical endurance (i.e. or ). Lastly, down smash provides wide coverage in front of, and behind Tails, and is perhaps Tails' single-strongest finisher due to being Tails' strongest smash attack, as well as dealing the heaviest damage out of all three smashes. It also provides long-lasting hitboxes that fail to run out of power, even when stale, similar to his up smash, albeit with a longer duration, making it effective at 2-framing and ledge-trapping, as well as punishing defensive options, such as beating out rolls or spot dodges.

While Tails' grab game is comparatively mediocre out of the rest of his moveset in terms of overwhelmingness, Tails' grab game is still respectable: despite possessing the fifth-shortest grab in the current demo, his grab is among the fastest in the game. While his pummel is slightly/moderately slow, he can still rack up a decent amount of damage before throwing an opponent due to its relatively above-average speed. Up throw and forward throw are reliable combo starters that gives Tails the ability to perform plenty of damaging combos beginning at 0%, though the latter primarily serves as a purpose to force the opponent off-stage or serve as a defensive "restraining order" tool at high precents, or can also set up an edgeguard as well. It can also potentially chain grab if his grab has been buffered. Forward throw also has KO potential at the edge, though this is only reliant on very high precentages and is heavily dependent on DI. Back throw is a steep semi-spike that can start tech-chasing situations and edgeguarding attempts. Because of its high base knockback, it is Tails' second-strongest throw and one of the strongest throws in the game, especially when used near the edge. Up throw has the unique ability to hover Tails left or right during its start-up, and immedtately causes ground-to-air transitions, and doesn't cause tumble until beginning at 0% due to its minimal base knockback, allowing him to perform intricate air-based follow-ups or potentially zero-to-death combos, especially at the ledge with his down aerial, and it can lead into read-based follow-ups and KO confirms at high precents as well if the opponent manages to DI, but its combo potential stop at around 150%. Like his forward throw, it can also chain grab exceptionally well, but due to its ground-to-air transitioning, Tails must quickly fast fall in order to land another grab after performing up throw. It also has KO potential, only reliant at very reasonable precentages or at stages with high-elevated platforms. Lastly, down throw is generally considered his least reliable throw, but it can still chain grab, start combos at low percents and also has KO potential (being one of the strongest throws in the game), although it only KOs at very high percents or if nearing the top blast line. Like up throw, it can also initiate aerial pressure or begin juggles if not KOing outright.

His grab game is also very versatile: his grab-range is surprisingly long (especially for a comparative character of both his own weight class and size), extending the distance of his entire body and stretching out his limb he is grabbing with. He also boasts a notoriously quick pummel, and can therefore rack up high damage quickly while resetting his stale moves before throwing the opponent. His down throw is a solid combo starter that can chain grab fast-fallers at low percents and KO at high percents. It also has a moment of intangibility, giving it safety against bystanders. His up throw can reliably initiate intricate aerial combos at low to mid percent, and forward throw can start combos at low percents and can force a sacrificial KO. His back throw is guaranteed to put the foe into a bad position, by either forcing them to recover low (which can easily lead into a down aerial) or forcing them into a tech chase scenario.

Isaac is a newcomer starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. He was revealed on the McLeodGaming Direct stream on July 21, 2014. He was also seen and playable by fans at APEX 2015. His sprites are custom-made and based on his Assist Trophy appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but with a completely custom moveset. He is voiced by Darcy Maguire-Wheelahan, being the only playable characater who has a custom voice actor.

Isaac is ranked 9th on the current tier list, a large rise from the 32nd place in the previous tier list. Thanks to his sword and his powers, Isaac possesses great disjointed range in several of his attacks, like his forward tilt or his neutral special, which keeps the opponent in place. He also has strong KO moves in his smash attacks, forward aerial, back aerial and up aerial, a good punish game, and several offensive and defensive mix-ups with down tilt's long-lasting hitbox or using Move or Gaia, which are useful to get out of a disadvantage state.

However, Isaac's movement speed is average and has issues in approaching fast opponents like Captain Falcon. He also has poor frame data in his moveset, as seen in his long-ranged attacks, and despite his good options to get out of a disadvantage state, he is vulnerable to combos due to him being tall and quite heavy and falling rather quickly. His recovery move, Scoop, while long-distanced, is also quite linear without Move and has a hitbox only on the hand below him, giving him poor coverage during his recovery.

Attributes
Isaac is a very unique character compared to the rest of the roster.

Fittingly for a swordfighter of Isaac's own weight class, perhaps Isaac's single most biggest strength involves his prominent punishing game, which is a method to overcome Isaac's lack of. His moveset involves a combination of attacks that originate from the Golden Sun series, along with his relatively long sword that is slightly at the same length of Ike's sword, and most notably, the Psynergy Hand. This gives Isaac a staple asset: deceptively long range, disjointed hitboxes and an exceptional spacing game, which is often citied for his top-tier placement in SSF2. He can punish exceptionally well with his neutral special move, Vine, and smash attacks (with down smash being his quickest, and all of them provide notable disjoints) and his down tilt, the latter of which provides a long-lasting hitbox that uniquely doesn't run out of power, especially when stale, leading to various mix-up opportunities or KO confirms or simply KOing outright with this move at high precents. It can also shield stab relatively well, making it relatively safe on shield in combination of its low ending lag. Dash attack Isaac is also exceptionally good in the neutral game with his side special move, Move, and forward tilt. Due to this, Isaac boasts some of the highest amount of options to escape disadvantage, despite his vulnerability to combos.

Isaac's air game is comparatively solid for a swordfighter. His aerial attacks combo and string well into each other, making him very deadly at close-quarters to mid-ranges and giving him impressive offensive and damage-racking capabilities, with his neutral air unleashing a wide coverage at all areas and dealing good knockback and exceptional damage-output, especially considering its multi-hit nature, which gives Isaac one of the best landing and edgeguarding options in his kit, and forward air and back air being both decent spacers, up air being a brutal, yet sluggish KO and juggling option with immense pressure, and down air being a multi-hit meteor smash that can gimp recoveries efficiently or secure early KOs off-stage.

Isaac's grab game is the least overwhelming among the rest of his moveset, but still nevertheless packs its own utility. Unlike most other swordfighters' grab games, Isaac's grab game is comparatively solid. Isaac has a very solid grab, with great range and merely moderate ending lag, alongside a relatively fast pummel with moderate damage-output. Isaac can chain grab with his down throw (which deals high damage and has multiple hits for extension), forcing his opponents to rely on DI mix-ups to escape. His up throw, down throw and, by extension up tilt, are great combo starters (down throw being the more reliable of the two, and up tilt providing the most range and knockback out of the two, while also being a good KO option), and his forward throw and back throw, while providing the least usefulness out of all of his throws, can force opponents off-stage, set up an edgeguard or serve as situational KO throws at high precents by the edge. Up throw is also Isaac's strongest throw, dealing enough knockback to KO middleweights under 146%. Isaac is also complimented by a great grab-range, making it easy to get his chain-grabs and start combos.

He can also box aggressive players out by throwing out his long-lasting hitboxes, giving him a heavily great offensive game. Isaac is perhaps best known for his diverse special moveset: his neutral special move, Vine, is a pseudo-command grab that ensnares/traps the opponent in vines, allowing for guaranteed follow-ups, read-based combos and leading into guaranteed KO confirms, especially with his smash attacks. Vine also provides deceptive range that surprisingly beats out tether grabs, rendering Vine as the longest pseudo-command grab and the longest-ranged non-tether grab in the game. His side special move, Move, is considered to be Isaac's single-best move. It is a long-lasting, yet slow-moving projectile that even covers all of the length of any stage in the entire game upon holding down the special button, even when hit. This is one of the best tools for controling the stage, camping and zoning. It is a long-lasting move that consists of separate, short-living hitboxes that push the opponent forward, and upon pressing any move-button (aside from the corresponding button of where it was previously held to initiate Move), it will turn into a powerful attack that either flings the opponent upward (up); meteor smashes the opponent downward (down) or reverses its direction to shove the opponent at the opposite direction the move was held at (forward/back), which makes it excellent at KOing/anti-airing (up); edgeguarding/gimping/ledge-trapping (down); and mix-ups and complicating approaches (forward/back). It also causes Isaac to float in mid-air, allowing him His up special move, Scoop, is a exceptionally long-ranged recovery that flings Isaac very high, and the Psynergy Hand is rendered a hitbox below Isaac that deals moderate knockback, and it has active edge-sweetspots during ascent. Finally, his down side special, Gaia, is deceptively tough to avoid. He is also difficult to juggle due to this, as the move causes Isaac to summon a giant rock from the ground from anywhere from the stage, forcing opponents to rethink their approach and play extra defensively/cautiously.

Although he has well-rounded strengths for a swordfighter, he still has his weaknesses. Despite his overall mobility being respectable for a swordfighter of his weight class, his overall raw mobility and movement-speed are still only mediocre, with the eighth-slowest air acceleration and only average running speed. His high short hop also complicates his ability to approach, making his approach comittial. This makes him especially susceptible to rushdowners with superior mobility (i.e., and ). This is further worsened by his otherwise good attacks (such as forward air) lack low-reaching hitboxes to work without delaying initially. His frame-data is also rather awkward for a swordfighter, making it difficult to perform combos in a more traditional manner. For example: some of his moveset, notably his up smash, forward smash, forward aerial, back aerial and neutral special, are burdened with either considerable lag or awkward hitbox-placements, respectively, or potentially even both. This forces Isaac to make utility of his moveset cautiously, and allows characters with superior frame-data (i.e. and ) to heavily pressure him with their fast attack-speed.

Despite possessing some of the best ability to escape disadvantage, not all of its areas are completely perfect. His above-average weight and high gravity give him vulnerability to combos and juggling, although his slow falling speed make him espeicially vulnerable to Star KOs. His recovery is also very easy to exploit. Despite Scoop's long distance, Scoop is fairly linear, travels a rather slow distance and aside from the Psynergy Hand at the beginning, no hitbox is provided other than that during the move, giving it poor coverage and making it vulnerable to edgeguarding and gimping, forcing him to over-rely on Move's mix-ups and floating technique in order to get back on stage. Additionally, due to his relatively slow speed, he is easy to camp out, giving him poor matchups against characters with powerful projectile-camping abilities, like, , and.

While he boasts some of the best special moveset, not all of its areas are perfect and is easily counteracted when met with proper reaction. Vine has considerable start-up, making this a high-risk move to throw out most often. Even if Vine traps an opponent, the opponent can easily escape via button-mashing, making guaranteed follow-ups at 0% to minimal precents notoriously impossible. Move also renders Isaac incapable of controllably moving himself until the Psynergy Hand disappears or if the attack finishes, giving him complete vulnerability of getting hit (especially if an opponent is behind him), so performing this move in serious situations is very risky outside of edgeguarding or if the opponent is in front of him. Scoop is rather Isaac's least effective special move, due to its lack of hitbox outside of the Psynergy Hand at the beginning positioned below himself, which deals only moderate knockback. It also travels at a rather slow and linear distance, making it vulnerable to edgeguards, edgehogging and gimps and giving it poor coverage and high predictability. Lastly, Gaia takes rather a lot of time to position itself towards opponents due to its rather thin hitbox, and without Gaia, Isaac cannot escape disadvantage or juggling, forcing him to over-rely on either Gaia or neutral aerial in order to land safely on the ground.

Overall, Isaac is a virtually unique swordsman who heavily relies on punishes and escaping disadvantage. Once he gets the advantage, it is difficult, if not impossible to escape his wrath. His impressive zoning and camping games, as well as for his well-rounded strengths for a swordfighter also make him one of the strongest swordfighters in the game, if not the absolute hardest swordfighter to deal with in the entire game. However, although he can escape disadvantage just as easily, Isaac himself will almost never be difficult to combo due to his above-average weight and gravity. This is further burdened by his below-average overall mobility and slow falling speed, which also makes his approaches complicated and gives him rather merely average endurance for a swordfighter, despite his nature as a semi-heavyweight. Despite this, Isaac is still a popular choice for competitve play as his issues are not enough to detract from his strengths in a significant manner. Regardless, Isaac's tier-placement is still questionable throughout the metagames.