Sandbag (SSF2)

Sandbag is a newcomer starter 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 Super Smash Flash to create over 70 unique animations. Unlike its traditional availability as an unlockable character from previous patches of the game, he is available as a starter instead in Super Smash Flash 2.

Sandbag is currently ranked at 45 of F tier in the current tier list, ranking it as the absolute worst character in the game, ten times lower than his previous placement, 45 of C tier, and a noticeable small drop from 38th of D tier from the second-previous tier list, where he was residing at lower-tier. Sandbag also contains powerful KO moves in its smash attacks, aerials, forward throw and back throw, as well as for his potentially strong special moves, Bomb-omb Toss and Capsule. Sandbag possesses an extreme high damage-output, a great aerial game, and the most powerful spike with down aerial in the game. He also provides an oppressive spacing and edgeguarding game, a solid grab and throw game, as well as for long range in most of his attacks (thanks to its large-sized body possessing unique and great properties). His special moves also possess powerful properties, and his infinite recovery is among the best in the game (as long as Sandbag is not KO'd), and most of his moves are fast enough to contain little-to-no startup lag to easily rack up enough damage to KO opponents afterward.

However, Sandbag is underwhelmed by a multipility of flaws. Sandbag contains severe difficultes within the neutral game; due to most of its aerials (such as down aerial) being hard to land. Many of its other attacks, especially ones that contain powerful knockback, are slow and laggy or may contain awkward properties that make them difficult in the neutral game, and they possess medium-to-heavy endlag, causing Sandbag to be vunerable to attacks that easily overwhelm it. While Sandbag does have a great aerial game, it is notrious for possessing one of the worst ground games. The second-slowest running speed, relatively slow walking speeds, and overall laggy and short-reaching attacks (with the expection of his tilt attacks) also compounds this flaw, as well as for ranking his approach the second-weakest. Sandbag's defensive game is also very punishable, possessing slow and short-reaching rolls that gain less intangibilities, causing Sandbag to be open to attacks with lingering hitboxes. His sidestep possesses less amount of intangibilities, making it extremely punishable. Sandbag also suffers a high falling speed and an outlarged hurtbox, giving him disadvantageous struggles against characters with large, disjointed and long-lasting hitboxes like and, and (due to lacking a real projectile itself) zoners with projectile-heavy playstyles, like ,  and. His special moves are also overall situational, with Capsule Spawn containing a rare occurence of exploding (with the expection of if all items are turned off), Sandgrab covering short horizontal distance and high endlag if landed (making Sandbag vunerable), and Bomb-omb Toss being somewhat linear for a recovery and causing Sandbag to SD and get stage-spiked. His high falling speed makes him suspectible to juggles or combos. Despite being a middleweight, it also possesses high hitstun; which (coupled with Bomb-omb Toss, high falling speeds, an outlarged hurtbox, below-average speed and a mediocre defense) makes him extremely suspectible to early KOs, especially vertically.

Sandbag appears to have a little playerbase and a somewhat-lackluster representation in online tournaments. The only notable competitive players of Sandbag are Mew2ube and MedK, who are currently inactive and do not use Sandbag for recent online tournaments. Though his strengths make Sandbag a powerful fighter, the multipility of strengths drastically outweigh the aformentioned positive traits, and are enough to rank Sandbag as the absolute worst character in the game.

Attributes
Sandbag, true to its playstyle, is a highly unorthodox character in terms of functions, utilizing moves that ordinarily would not be seen on any other fighter in the series. Sandbag is a middleweight character who possesses above-average attributes all around, his walking speeds are fast, even being tied with, but his running speeds are very slow, since he only hops as opposed of actual running, counted as the second-slowest character in the game, the initial character to be the slowest is.

One of Sandbag's biggest strengths is its damage-racking capabilities. Most of its moves deal good amounts of damage and have very fast startup, letting Sandbag increase its opponents' damage quickly and efficiently. Because of this, it also boasts good setups into many different finishers, such as its forward smash and dash attack. It also possesses one of the fastest sidesteps in the game. His aerial game is also very prominent. All of its aerials have good startup and can be used as combo starters or extenders, such as its neutral and back aerials, or as finishers, most notably with its down aerial, which is currently the strongest spike in the game and among the fastest, even being tied with and 's down aerial. Sandbag also contains powerful KO moves in its smash attacks, aerials, forward throw and back throw, as well as for his potentially strong special moves, Bomb-omb Toss and Capsule.

Sandbag's special moves also reflect its absurdity and unorthodox playstyle. Its neutral special, Capsule Spawn, allows it to spawn a Capsule that can contain any item currently active in the item switch and has a chance to explode instead, dealing high damage and knockback, making it a situational finisher. Its side special, Sandgrab, is a command grab, allowing it to bypass shields, and it can also provide good horizontal recovery in midair. Its down special, Sanddash, is a controllable burst of movement that can be directed anywhere (improving its recovering abilities), and it can cancel into any of his attacks. Lastly, its up special, Bomb-omb Toss, can potentially turn the tide of battle if a player touches the Bomb-omb first.

Sandbag also sports a solid grab and throw game; possessing one of the long-ranged and fastest grabs in the game. His up throw is Sandbag's best throw, chain-grabbing or following up to Bomb-omb Toss against fast-fallers and heavyweights. Forward throw and back throw are very useful for setting up edgeguarding situations. Down throw and especially up throw can easily combo into Bomb-omb Toss, down aerial, forward aerial or up aerial for KO confirms at higher precents. Additionally, forward throw and back throw are Sandbag's strongest throws, being able to KO most characters at around 100%. While his grab does possess long range, it is extremely easy to punish; due to its decent endlag.

However, as Sandbag is a joking character, its useful qualities are overwhelmed by an abundance of weaknesses, especially concerning its mobility, as it possesses some of the slowest raw-mobility in the game. This can be remedied by utilizing Soaping and Sanddash, with which it can then move extremely fast, covering the entire Waiting Room in about two thirds of a second. Most of its grounded moves, even though they have a fast startup, also have medium-to-heavy ending lag, causing Sandbag to be open to attacks if it misses said moves.

While Sandbag does have a great aerial game, it is notrious for possessing one of the worst ground games. The second-slowest running speed, relatively slow walking speeds, and overall laggy and short-reaching attacks (with the expection of his tilt attacks) also compounds this flaw, as well as for ranking his approach the second-weakest. Sandbag's defensive game is also very punishable, possessing slow and short-reaching rolls that gain less intangibilities, causing Sandbag to be open to attacks with lingering hitboxes. His sidestep possesses less amount of intangibilities, making it extremely punishable.

Sandbag's most greatest weakness is its vast body; in a similar vein to 's large head, while his body stretches out to grant him great range and powerful knockback in many of his attacks that depicts Sandbag using it, it also functions as a large hurtbox, which means, in a similar vein to and, that every time Sandbag attacks, its hurtboxes extend, causing him to be outnumbered by spacing attacks and large, disjointed and long-lasting hitboxes that easily underwhelm him. His high falling speed also increases this type of flaw, and makes him suspectible to juggles or combos. Despite being a middleweight, it also possesses high hitstun; which (coupled with Bomb-omb Toss, high falling speeds, an outlarged hurtbox, below-average speed and a mediocre defense) makes him extremely suspectible to early KOs, especially vertically.

Most of its special moves are also lackluster of reliability. Though Capsule Spawn has a chance to spawn an explosive capsule, it contains an extremely rare occurence; additionally, the move only has utility as a "get-off-me" option if all items are turned off, and it can be used against Sandbag, completely backfiring the entire move and potentially causing Sandbag to get punished instead of its opponent. 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 grounded moves. Additionally, although Sandbag has a theoretically infinite recovery in Bomb-omb Toss, it requires Sandbag to recieve severe recoil damage 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 survivability off-stage. Also, Bomb-omb Toss is a risky move to use at higher precents, as it will potentially cause Sandbag to self-destruct.

Overall, Sandbag is a very powerful fighter who contains 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.