Luffy (SSF2)

Luffy is a new starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. He was revealed during the Day 4 stream at Super Smash Con 2016 and released the following year in Beta 1.0. His sprites are heavily edited versions of the sprites he used in Jump Ultimate Stars, using his appearance based on the second part of One Piece. Luffy was one of the most heavily requested characters within the community, so much so that, despite the developers' initial refusal to include any more manga and anime characters, they eventually relented and added him to the game.

Luffy is currently ranked 23rd in the tier list for Version 1.3.1.2 of the game. Luffy's body parts stretch to ridiculous lengths as he fights, giving him the best overall reach in the game. His grapple-centric moveset gives him a very unique combo game that heavily punishes anyone who dares to attempt to block his attacks. Of particular note is his Gum-Gum Rocket, which can ladder many characters to death due to restoring his double jump with each successful grab. He has a number of good finishers, including forward smash, up smash, dash attack, forward air, back air, down air, and forward throw. His Gum-Gum Balloon can also be used as a situational edgeguard due to its strong windbox, which can push people away from the ledge without refreshing their recovery.

However, Luffy's primary flaw is his lack of disjoints in spite of his long range. By drastically extending his limbs outwards, he's also extending his hurtboxes, making him easily punishable or outprioritized by most attacks. His frame data is also on the slower side, further exacerbating this problem. His recovery is not particularly great either, as his Gum-Gum Snap is a tether recovery that doesn't give him any extra height. His Gum-Gum Balloon can be used to recover, but it gains only a moderate amount of height which diminishes after each use and does not restore itself until he lands, regardless of whether he gets hit. These things make him especially prone to gimps, especially ledgehogs.

Luffy's strengths mostly overshadow his weaknesses, putting him in the higher end of mid tier.