User:Quickity

Mr. Game & Watch (, Mr. Game & Watch) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed alongside and the rest of the returning roster on June 12th, 2018 during E3 2018. Mr. Game & Watch is classified as Fighter #26, the last fighter number of the Melee veterans.

As in his Smash 4 incarnation, Mr. Game & Watch reuses his sound effects from Melee and Brawl for Ultimate. Once again, Mr. Game & Watch still uses Game & Watch-esque "bleep-blooping" sound effects, traitionally like his previous protrayal incarnations, derived from the original series in order to represent his "voice".

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Mr. Game & Watch must then be defeated on Flat Zone X (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Mr. Game & Watch being the 52nd character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in its unlock tree, being the 6th character unlocked after.
 * Have Mr. Game & Watch join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Mr. Game & Watch is a character of extremes. He is remarkable for being a short, speedy, and floaty lightweight character that has some typical attributes of characters in his weight class. His mobility is overall very fantastic, in this case of his aerial mobility: he possesses the 18th-fastest air speed, the 13th-highest air acceleration, the 21st-lowest gravity on par with and, and the 6th-slowest falling speed. Outside of his acceptable aerial mobility, his grounded mobility is very exceptional: aside from his jumps and his short hop being both the 13th-lowest, he possesses fairly swift walking and running speeds, the 16th-fastest initial dash, the 5th-highest traction, a small size, and among the lowest crouch in the game that allows him to evade multiple attacks: like and 's shield breaker, and 's forward tilt. He also possesses a unique crawling ability with his dash attack, because it lowers Mr. Game & Watch's hurtbox in order to low-profile certain attacks. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch's mobility is quite exceptional for a lightweight, but his low falling speed can be somewhat detrimental. His short size also makes him difficult to strike, especially when crouching.

Unlike most other lightweights, Mr. Game & Watch possesses multiple attacks with large, disjointed and lingering hitboxes, and, additionally. possesses a numerous amount of powerful KO options. All of his smash attacks have very high power, low ending lag and are moderately fast throughout, with each of them possessing unique attributes and their own distinctive strengths (all of which tend to typically cause at around 20% if uncharged, and 30% if fully charged): Forward smash is among the strongest in the game if sweetspotted while having low endlag and good range, with the sweetspot being safe on shield, and is also fully disjointed and noticeably long-ranged, allowing it to space out opponents effectively, given Mr. Game & Watch's minimal size; as opposed to the other figthers, it also has the interesting trait of allowing Mr. Game & Watch to turn around controllably during its initial frames after its use; similarily to, , , and 's back aerial. His up smash is also extremely formidable to challenge, and comes out with full-body invincibility while the hitboxes are active, as this makes it extremely difficult to challenge and this can potentially cause the opponents to get themselves knocked out relatively early if the move is charged up while Mr. Game & Watch remains completely untouched. It also possesses a large and long-distancing hitbox that lingers for a fair amount of time, making it a raw anti-airing and juggling move, with the latter being used against fast-fallers and heavyweights at low-to-mid precents. While it has the slowest startup of all smash attacks, it has minimal endlag and is completely safe on shield. Down smash sends opponents at an awkward semi-spike angle offstage, while its sweetspot buries opponents long enough to lead into a forward smash, even at low-to-medium percentages. It also has a very large hitbox, allowing it to easily 2-frame several recoveries, and acts as an excellent punishment-option on rolls. Like his other smash attacks, down smash is safe on shield when spaced properly. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch possesses an excellent arsenal of powerful smash attacks, and all of which can KO relatively early if charged up.

Outside of his smash attacks, Mr. Game & Watch's other attacks throughout his playstyle have strong KOing potential. Forward tilt comes out quickly; has a lingering hitbox (allowing it to catch rolls and spot dodges if timed slightly off), and kills under 100% by the ledge, sending characters at a semi-spike, and can easily gimp characters with vulnerable recoveries, as the late hitbox is powerful enough to do so. Down tilt lowers Mr. Game & Watch's hurtbox to match his crouch, allowing him to whiff-punish certain attacks. It also possesses high power and semi-spikes opponents off the stage; leading to edgeguards and killing outright at 100%. His new forward aerial's explosion kills opponents at 115% by the ledge and 125% center-stage, while his down aerial has been strengthened to become a viable KO-move at around 130%. Similarly, his back aerial now sends at a flatter angle, and the final hit possesses enough power to KO below 100% off-stage. The clean hit on down aerial boasts a powerful meteor smash that can KO reliably below 65%, and the late hit also deals good knockback that can KO near 130%, and even sooner if it connects near the top blast zone, courtesy of the move's upward launch angle. The move's low ending lag allows as to be used as a potent edgeguarding and landing option, giving him a deadly mixup game in the air at all times.

Mr. Game & Watch also possesses a trump-card in his down special, Oil Panic, which is utilized as Mr. Game & Watch's primary defense against camping and projectiles, as it both absorbs energy-based projectiles from several attacks: such as Mega Buster, Ray of Punishment/Chroma Dust and PK Fire, and reflects physical projectiles like 's Blunderbuss, 's Blazing End, and 's Turnips. This can lead to massive advantages against certain characters—,, , , /, , and and the rest of the fighters with projectiles have notable difficulty fighting Mr. Game & Watch as it severely limits their playstyles and movesets. Oil Panic also has the notable ability of carrying over the charge to subsequent stocks, which can be used as a lethal finisher and even mind-games. The area in which Oil Panic can absorb projectiles is also deceptively large, which allows Mr. Game & Watch to store energy into Oil Panic merely by standing close to just the edge of any energy-based hitbox. However, Oil Panic possesses the glaring weakness of being filled with extremely frail attacks: such as 's and 's blizzard. This causes Mr. Game & Watch to fill Oil Panic extremely quickly, rendering its defensive value useless, and forces him to either hold onto a weak use of it, or dump it without purposefully damaging the opponent in order to use it again as a defensive tool. Oil Panic is also a potent combo-finisher with nearly instantaneous startup lag; with its fairly large, lingering hitbox coming out on just the 2nd frame, as well as extreme knockback that can kill at single-digit percents when at max-power (power is dependent on projectiles absorbed). It is also notably difficult to defend against a fully charged use of it, as the lingering hitbox can still hit spot dodges if timed even slightly off, and a powerful-enough charge can break a full shield, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to punish with one of his powerful smash attacks, or even with Judge, his most infamous and signature move; Judge #9 deals extremly powerful knockback at all percentages, to the point where it can reliably OHKO any character reliably below 25% or lower precents, but OHKOs most characters at as early as 0% if used with fresh enough rage and at adjacent range, making it an incredible punishment tool, and it additionally provides several different effects with powerful distinctive strengths; such as Judge #3 infilicting high shield damage, #2 possessing a 20% chance of tripping the opponent, #6 semi-spiking the opponent powerfully, and #7 healing Mr. Game & Watch by 4% will 3 apples. The threat of Judge forces his opponents to be very careful when using laggy attacks; especially due to Mr. Game & Watch's ability to perform an occasionally situational true combo into it. One of the best ways to confirm a Judge is with down throw: using a down throw, and comboing into a neutral aerial will lead into an unavoidable Judge, which becomes even more potent if used in the air or with high rage. Depending on the opponent's falling speed, a jump may be necessary to reach them. Another reliable way to confirm one is by landing with a down aerial: should Mr. Game & Watch land immediately after meteor smashing the opponent with it, Judge can be landed without fail. This combo works optimally on platforms; due to its limited-percentage range and Judge #9's ability to KO as low as 20% or lower precents at closer range.

Mr. Game & Watch's strongest attribute is his formidable aerial game. All of his aerial attacks possess lingering and disjointed hitboxes and, in the case of neutral aerial and up 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. All of his aerials also have enough range to be spaced correctly; thanks to Mr. Game & Watch's excellent aerial mobility, allowing it to zone and approach opponents safely in the air and the ground. Each of Mr. Game & Watch's aerials also have their own distinct strengths: his neutral aerial (Tropical Fish) is his fastest aerial, a fairly powerful multi-hit move, even when stale, and can easily gimp poor recoveries; due to its late hitbox being sufficiently powerful enough to do so. Due to its speed and power, it also works as a good out-of-shield or approaching option, and its long duration allows him to break combos. His forward aerial (Bombs Away) is Mr. Game & Watch's second-strongest aerial, which this grants it good combo and edgeguarding potential in return. It can also easily put opponents off-stage, and is the primary component of the wall of pain technique: once an opponent with a poor recovery is launched off-stage, Mr. Game & Watch can follow up with several other forward and back aerials until they reach the blast zone, where Mr. Game & Watch can finish the opponent off with another forward or a back aerial, or even Fire, the greatest finisher of the wall of pain; due to its ascending hitbox being powerful enough to KO off-stage incredibly early. His back aerial (Turtle Bridge) is Mr. Game & Watch's strongest aerial, an effective KOing option, and has a remarkable range, given Mr. Game & Watch's small size; thanks to his low jumping height, this is one of the most useful components of Mr. Game & Watch's notorious wall of pain. It is also safe on shield if spaced correctly; due to its high damage-output, the ability to auto-cancel out of a short hop and above-average hitlag, and it is also Mr. Game & Watch's fourth-fastest aerial, making it a bit unpredictable. His up aerial (Spitball Sparky) is his third-fastest aerial, has a deceptively long-lasting hitbox and long range, which can be problematic for any opponent that has issues dealing with juggling, and it is also a powerful finisher near the upper blast line, somewhat granting back his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm. Lastly, down aerial, Mr. Game & Watch's second-fastest and third-strongest aerial, a fairly powerful keyblade sex kick-esque thrust, can be utilized as a highly damaging OoS or pressuring option, and has low ending lag and landing lag. It can sometimes also work as an anti-airing and anti-juggling option against characters with slow aerial mobility or moveset, and boasts among the strongest spike in the game that can KO as early as 55% or lower precents, while easily gimping multiple recoveries. As well, landing with it can lead into various other moves, especially a smash attack, a tilt, Judge or Oil Panic, which allows Mr. Game & Watch to take stocks incredibly early.

Mr. Game & Watch also has a very potent combo and aerial juggling game. Down throw combos into Oil Panic, Judge, and neutral aerial at low percentages. Chef can deal massive damage if multiple food-sized projectiles hit, allowing it to get around 30-40% off of a single edgeguard. The pan also hits opponents into the stream of meat through a semi-spike, and at high percents can launch opponents fast enough to miss the food entirely and lead to more ledge trapping. Chef's speed and pattern makes it extremely difficult for certain characters to recover, such as or. Not only does Chef deal massive damage, but landing the move allows Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with a grab, neutral aerial, forward tilt, dash attack, and even Judge. His up tilt (Flagman), though possessing worse range of all attacks, deals high damage and combos into neutral aerial and Judge at low percentages. Once Mr. Game & Watch has his opponents above him, he can juggle them for massive damage using his up and neutral aerials. His up aerial (Spitball Sparky) acts similar to 's up aerial, pushing opponents upwards, albeit with much less force. Despite the lack of its complete KO power, it has decent launch-power to push opponents vertically at the blast zone, allowing for early off-stage KOs, granting him back his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm, but can only be used off the top of the stage. All in all, Mr. Game & Watch's strong KO power is also paired with highly damaging combos and juggles. Because of this, Mr. Game & Watch possesses an oppressive neutral game.

Mr. Game & Watch sports a formidable grab and throw game; possessing one of the longest and fastest grabs in the game simultaneously, and his pummel is one of the fastest and damaging in the game. His up throw and down throw are Mr. Game & Watch's most useful combo throws; easily comboing into neutral aerial or up aerial for juggling opponents rapidly, or even comboing into his formidable special moves, Judge and Oil Panic. Additionally, his back throw and forward throw are very useful at sending the opponents off-stage; due to their high knockback-scaling and low angle, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to set up edgeguards, and they can easily KO outright at around 160% by the ledge, especially if DI'd, and back throw and especially forward throw can combo into Judge, Oil Panic, forward aerial, back aerial and down aerial for a combo breaker or finisher, or more further a KO confirm. Lastly, down throw is Mr. Game & Watch's strongest throw; although it deals the lowest damage of all his throws; which is compensated by dealing high knockback, being able to KO lightweights as early as 150%-180%, and middleweights at around 190%-200%. Additionally, up throw is Mr. Game & Watch's best throw; dealing the highest damage output of all throws, functions the same as down throw, and is strengthened enough to become a viable KO throw at high precents, killing at around 170% on the platforms of the stage on lightweights.

Lastly, Mr. Game & Watch's unmatched floatiness, extreme air speed, decent jumps, an incredible recovery and oppressive aerial game gives him a tremendous off-stage presence. Mr. Game & Watch possesses a fantastic recovery option, as well as large, long-lasting, swift, long-ranged and disjointed aerials that can all auto-cancel in a short hop (neutral and back aerial) and a full jump and even Fire (forward, up and down aerial), though all of them can even auto-cancel out of a short hop if falling off a platform while using one of them. This means that he is a formidable edgeguarder and is extremely hard to gimp himself. His up special, Fire, has instantenous startup on the 3rd frame, invincibility in its early frames, and a strong vertical hitbox on its initial hitbox, and decent launching-power horizontally, allowing for early off-stage KOs if it hits opposite the blast zone. This makes it deadly, as it can stage spike unwary opponents while also easily gimping characters with poor recoveries; like and. It is also an extremely useful combo breaker and one of the game's best out-of-shield options; due to its fast startup and invincibility. His back aerial (Turtle Bridge) is a large, long-lasting disjointed multi-hit move that deals high knockback at the final hit. The move's large disjoint trades and beats out a lot of recoveries that possess hitboxes, and the multi-hit nature of the move makes it hard to tech for stage-spikes and often drags opponents stuck in the move closer to the blast zone. For many characters, getting hit with Turtle Bridge is often fatal off-stage, as the move lingers long enough to shift the opponent closer to the blast zone before dealing the final knockback on the last hit; thus making it a primary component of the wall of pain. On the ledge, Chef punishes ledge-hangers and covers getup attacks and rolls (hit by the pan), forcing the opponents to jump. This can easily allow Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with neutral aerial and force the opponent back off-stage. His new forward aerial can be comboed into with Chef and has strong KO potential on its own. Lastly, his up air has the notable quality of having no set limit on its distance, which can lead to interesting interactions when reflected by opponents, and subsequently by Mr. Game & Watch himself. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch is extremely deadly off the stage and at the ledge to all characters, even those with great recoveries like, , and even himself. Finally, his neutral game is also winning: due to possessing long-lasting, disjointed, unique and powerful aerials that can auto-cancel in a short hop (neutral and back aerial) and a full jump and even Fire (forward, up and down aerial), and unlimited safe options on shield, and the improved ability to camp and approach.

As compensated for his amalgamation of strengths, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a myriad of notable drawbacks too. Thanks to his two-dimensional appearance, he is paired with for being portrayed as the third-lightest character in the game; which is further exacerbated by his extreme floatiness and overall average mobility at best. As a consequence, Mr. Game & Watch is prone to getting easily knocked out just as quickly before 40% by a sufficently powerful set of attacks. Additionally, while he surprisingly possesses fantastic range for his minimal size, he still possesses overall shorter range than a handful of the cast; like, , , and. This is worsened by the fact that multiple of his disjointed attacks throughout his playstyle: like down tilt, up tilt, and forward smash possess underwhelming range for a favorable disjoint; with the latter being unlikely to possess this trait. Thanks to this, Mr. Game & Watch is easily kept at arm's length by seveal of the sword-wielding cast; like and, though his approaches aren't canceled out. While his new forward aerial is one of the strongest and most-damaging in the game, it possesses minimal priority. As expected from a projectile, any move can hit the bomb and make it disappear. This makes it unsuitable for approaching and forces Mr. Game & Watch to approach with his back aerial instead. It is also a much more situational move in general (though it became more better than his previous forward air from SSB4), due to its higher lag and delayed hitbox; as the bomb will only explode upon touching the ground or waiting for half a second after 30 frames. Additionally, while his up aerial has achieved early off-stage KOs; making his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm less inconsistent, more juggling and damage-racking capabilities, it possesses minimal knockback, so it lacks KO potential on the stage as a result. While Mr. Game & Watch's down throw and up throw are reliable combo starters, Mr. Game & Watch's throws fail to KO until at realistic percentages (in this case of Sudden Death); despite KOing lightweights relatively early, with his strongest throw, down throw, KOing at around 200%. However, his defensive attributes are benefited: his rolls, despite gaining among the shortest distance and being relatively slow and often punishable if used sparingly, possess good amount of intangibility and the animation is quite fast; rolling Mr. Game & Watch in a choppy frame-by-frame manner, making it difficult for opponents to punish, his sidestep is also one of the fastest in the game, and the reintroduction of directional air dodges, while granting Mr. Game & Watch even more intangibility, improve his recovery more than the other fighters; thanks to Fire lacking helplessness, this also increases his jumping height.

All in all, Mr. Game & Watch is described as a formidable glass cannon with an all-rounder-archetype (while also being viewed as the most potent "glass cannon"-fighter in the game), a character possessing a potent offense while being very vulnerable himself, as well as possessing great potential against much of the cast. He has high KO power, and incredible damage-racking capabilites. By these same particular merits, Mr. Game & Watch can easily be knocked out just as quickly before his opponent does - thanks to his third-lightest weight, which is compensated by a fantastic camping and approach, decent defensive attributes, and his overall fast and long-ranged attacks and overall slow and short-ranged attacks are paired with each other, which can be made up for with his disjointed and long-lasting hitboxes, high shield pressure, and an oppressive off-stage presence, and a formidable grounded and aerial game backed by an incredible recovery and early KOs. He is also one of the most disliked characters in competitive play; due to containing a reputation for being one of the most frustrating characters to deal with; due to his amazing out-of-shield options, brutal combo and juggling game, an oppressive off-stage presence and explosive power through his powerful smash attacks, tilts, aerials, throws and special moves, especially Judge and Oil Panic; which makes him very difficult to punish and allows him to deal large damage and close out stocks quickly in a short amount of time. Overall, his strengths considerably outweigh his weaknesses, making Mr. Game & Watch one of the most fragile characters, but also one of the most powerful in all of Smash.

In the end, Mr. Game & Watch is widely considered to be top-tier or upper high-tier; thanks to his good mobility, high auto-canceling window, advantaged state, and possesses high popularity in the competitive play. Additionally, Mr. Game & Watch plays incredibly fine at the highest levels of play, and he possesses a quality representation in online tournaments, and ridiculously positive tournament-results - thanks to the efforts of players: including Extra, Regi, Notty, and especially Maister.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Mr. Game and Watch has some of the most noticeable changes in the transition to Ultimate, as several of his animations have been altered to change his appearance to the games they originate from when he performs them. This has led to a massive overhaul in his moveset that goes beyond changes to aesthetic appearances, as many of these moves have been mechanically altered and, in some cases, completely reworked altogether in their purpose and utility. As a result, Mr. Game and Watch has undergone a large plethora of buffs and nerfs in his transition to Ultimate, arguably the most out of any other returning veteran; however, while these changes have weakened his most powerful tools and set-ups from SSB4, they have also greatly improved several of his more underwhelming moves in his toolkit from the previous game, and the changes to game-mechanics have benefitted these changes as well. As a result, Mr. Game & Watch has been significantly buffed overall.

Mr. Game and Watch's KO and edgeguarding potential have been improved considerably. A majority of his regular moves, including forward tilt and down tilt, have much stronger knockback, with the latter now capable of KOing as early as 100%. The ability to run-cancel improves the utility of these attacks further, and now gives Mr. Game and Watch quick KO options he didn't have access to SSB4. To further add to this, his smash attacks are stronger as well - down smash was significantly improved as it now has much less startup lag and is also capable of burying grounded opponents when sweetspotted, which can lead to a forward smash for early guaranteed KO setups. Forward smash also has improved knockback, and is easier to sweetspot, making it a more potent punishing move. Lastly, up smash has increased knockback scaling, a longer duration, and now renders Mr. Game and Watch completely invincible during the attack. Back aerial and down aerial are stronger, leading them to become stronger options to punish opponents who are offstage. Chef's trajectory can now be controlled, which makes it much easier to catch opponents who are trying to reach for the ledge and is now more effective keeping control of the neutral game. His approach is now one of the most formidable in the game; dash attack causes Mr. Game & Watch to slide lower on the ground, allowing him to low-profile certain attacks more effectively ad allow him to continue approaching once again; combined with his higher mobility, increased running speed and a significantly faster initial dash; gives him a deceptively long dash-dance and the ability to dash-cancel to run much faster than a sizeable portion of the cast, making him more like a rushdown-like type. Lastly, his up smash grants full invinciblity to Mr. Game & Watch's attire instead of his head and frontal limbs (such as his right arm and foot), making it more effective at stuffing out attacks and anti-airing, and also covers much more range both vertically and horizontally, though the former has been reduced; especially behind Mr. Game & Watch (its hitbox is deceptively more larger and lingers for a good amount of time), and it deals much more knockback, KOing incredibly early.

Mr. Game and Watch's attacks have also increased utility overall. Changes to neutral aerial's first hits allow them to catch opponents above him more effectively, and the move's reduced landing lag means it can now be used as a KO confirm at higher percents (particularly into down tilt), while also having its KO potential improved. Forward tilt has a much longer duration, making it an effective option for both 2-framing and spotdodging while also having its KO potential improved, and up tilt's hits connect into each other much more reliably; improving its consistency. Oil Panic can now reflect physical projectiles in addition to absorbing energy-based projectiles, and Judge's numbers #5, #7, #8, and #9 have improved. Mr. Game and Watch now sports a much more disjointed dash and pivot grab, giving it effective reach. To top it off, his grab and throw game has been significantly buffed; his back throw and forward throw are more effective for launching the opponents off-stage while also having their KO potential improved, and down throw is now Mr. Game & Watcch's realistic KO throw, being able to KO most of the lightweight fellows reliably under 150% to 170%, while also remaining as his primary combo throw at low-to-mid precents and also grants more invinciblity. His up throw remains as his second-reliable combo starter; although its knockback was significantlly reduced, it has much more versatility and utility than in SSB4, and furthermore retains its KO potential at realisitc precents. Lastly, his aerials now have a higher auto-canceling window (thanks to the weakening of landng lag); his neutral aerial and back aerial can once again auto-cancel out of a short hop like in Brawl, forward aerial's auto-cancel window has been significantly increased (thanks to its higher lag), allowing it to auto-cancel after a full jump or even Fire. His up aerial can still reliably auto-cancel out of a full hop; despite auto-canceling much later. Finally, his down aerial's auto-cancel window matches its interruptibility, allowing it to auto-cancel after a full hop and Fire.

In addition to this, Mr. Game & Watch has gained two new attacks in his forward and up aerials; which are more versatile and useful than before. His forward aerial now depicts Mr. Game & Watch dropping a projectile-esque bomb in front of him, originating from either Mario's Bombs Away, Bomb Sweeper, or Safebuster, all of which featured similar bombs; compared to his old forward aerial, it posseses much more versatility, as its explosion can cover the entire ledge of a stage, it can possess utility to be a combo starter at low percentages, as a shield-pressuring/destruction tool, and a landing option (as it is much safer on block), and has stronger knockback and damage output, making it a better KO move. Meanwhile, his up aerial now depicts Mr. Game & Watch shooting out a single puff of air upwards as a projectile while his model more effectively resembles his appearance in Spitball Sparky; functioning very similarly to 's up aerial; this projectile has much more vertical range than his old up air, and is more reliable for keeping opponents trapped in it, improving its juggling and damage-racking capabilities considerably, and furthermore, acheives it early off-stage KOs off the vertical blast zone, making his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm less inconsisent and more difficult to punish.

Finally, Mr. Game and Watch now possesses much stronger out-of-shield options and juggling tools. Most notably, Fire now has adeceptively large hitbox on the 3rd frame that replaces its windbox from SSB4; it launches opponent directly upwards, and can even be followed up with a neutral aerial or up aerial to keep opponents in the air for even longer. Because of this, it is now near-universally considered as the best OoS option and the best up special in the entire game. Combined with the fact that it functions similarily to the ' up special] ([[Belay); intangibility on Mr. Game & Watch during his ascent, and both hitboxes deal powerful knockback, this is a great edgeguarding tool and the most formidable wall of pain finisher, and grants it early off-stage KOs. As well, neutral aerial and up aerial's changes allow them to keep the opponent in the air more consistently; due to their lingering hitboxes, and allow them to combo into themselves at lower percents, while neutral aerial retains its relatively strong knockback; allowing it to serve as an emergency KO option, even when used out of shield.

However, Mr. Game and Watch has also received a few notable nerfs. His two most potent strengths from SSB4 - his up smash and down throw-setups - have been toned down considerably: down throw now deals much more knockback, removing its follow-up potential at higher percents, but simultaneously makes it Mr. Game & Watch's realistic KO throw; compounded with the changes to his up aerial, which has lost all of its KO potential, this effectively removes his powerful (though inconsistent) "Toot Toot" KO confirm from SSB4, which consisted of a down throw to an up aerial. Despite the startup-reduction, full invinciblity to Mr. Game & Watch's attire and increased knockback to up smash, it has lost all of its frames of invinciblity during the move's startup; as well as during the whole period it is charged up, making it much less effective as an anti-air, and allows opponents to challenge it easier (though its effectively increased range and lingering hitbox makes more effective as an anti-air and less punishable at the same time). While his new forward aerial possesses more utility than his old forward aerial, it has much weaker priority to the point that the bomb disappears if it gets hit and the hitbox does not completely cover it, making it a riskier option to challenge opponents in the air with.

Additionally, several of Mr. Game and Watch's new animations have resulted in hitbox-reductions for several of his attacks; including forward tilt, up aerial, up tilt, and most notably, his down tilt; the latter of which is now incapable of hitting aerial opponents altogether (with the potential exception of being used on them during the frames where the hitboxes activate). This reduces Mr. Game and Watch's deceptive reach (though it is still quite solid enough), and requires him to be closer towards opponents more often than before. Judge #9 is also less effective; since instead of not having SDI at all, it now has a double SDI-multiplier, which (combined with its high hitlag) makes it much easier to escape and reduces its effectiveness for early KOs. Lastly, despite his oppressive improvements, Mr. Game and Watch retains a few of the same issues from his SSB4 incarnation; namely his poor endurance, short reach outside of back aerial, and a lack of reliable approaching options, with the buffs to his neutral aerial and Chef failing to fully address this issue (though all of which have been weakened considerably).

Overall, Mr. Game and Watch generally retains much of his bait-and-punish playstyle from SSB4, though the adjustments and increased utility he received to several of his attacks, as well as his significantly improved KO power, have led him to become more of an "all-rounder" type of character to his fellow lightweight brethren. Though competitive reception of Mr. Game and Watch was initially negative overall, he has shown extremely powerful success in the tournament scene, thanks to the efforts of players including, , , and especially. This has garnered Mr. Game and Watch a strikingly positive reception overall, where most players regard him as a top-tier character overall in competitive play. In the end, this incarnation of Mr. Game and Watch is near universally considered to be his best iteration in the series yet, considering him either top-tier or upper high-tier, overshadowing most of the nerfs listed above.

Aesthetics

 * Standard attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.
 * Standard attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.
 * Standard attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.

Ground attacks

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

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:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down 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:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws and other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Pummel:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Pummel:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:

Special moves

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

Update history
Mr. Game and Watch has been slightly buffed via updates; in patch-update, forward aerial's explosion had its range increased to match the visual explosion and down aerial auto-cancels slightly earlier to match its interruptibility. now has Octopus trap opponents for longer periods of time, and in patch, up tilt's first hit now deals weight-independent set knockback, allowing it to always connect into the second hit, even at higher percents and against lightweights, and in , his shield-size has been significantly increased. In, the feather of Mr. Game & Watch's animation in his forward smash was patched out of the game.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Oil Panic scaling
The greater damage an absorbed energy-based projectile is supposed to deal, the higher damage the oil spill will deal. Oil Panic will multiply the damage per unit by 2, though the result is capped at 16%. As a result, the maximum damage Oil Panic deals is 48%. So for example, if 20%, 12% and 4% enter Oil Panic, the result will be 40% dealt not considering factors such as the 1v1 multiplier and stale-move negation.

Strong projectiles can fill two to three bucket units at once. If a move deals 10% (eg. Trick Shot), it will fill the bucket by two units. However, if a move deals 20% (Sun Salutation at max charge), it will fill by three. For each additional unit filled in one go, 8% is deducted from the previous unit, making it deal less damage overall.

Hero's special move Snooze launches an energy-based projectile that can be absorbed despite not dealing any damage. Absorbing it fills the bucket by one unit and adds 6.7% damage to the bucket.

On-screen appearance

 * Progresses along a row of unlit Game & Watch LCD frames until reaching the foreground.

Taunts

 * Up Taunt: Rings his bell overhead at a high-arcing angle. Similar to his side taunt, it originates from the Game & Watch's alarm feature.
 * Side Taunt: Rings his bell at a low angle. Similar to his up taunt, it originates from the Game & Watch's alarm feature.
 * Down Taunt: Sits down and sighs deeply, huffing out a large puff of air from Spitball Sparky; in order to catch his breath. Originates from the Game & Watch version of Mario Bros.; when Mario and Luigi finished a level.

Idle poses

 * Hops in place with his arms and legs outstretched.
 * Briefly looks behind himself while tipping his left hand and right leg upwards; similarly to the.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Rings his alarm bell leftwards, then rightwards while simuntaneously turning around. Afterwards, he continues to ring his bell leftwards indefinitely.
 * Up: Performs some sort of erratic dance: jumps with his arms outstretched about in choppy frame-by-frame positions, tripping halfway, before teetering on his right foot. He then proceeds to jump back and forth, landing on his right foot, then his forehead. Somewhat resembles his walking animation from Smash 4.
 * Right: Continously juggles a series of 3 balls while using his appearance from Ball; also known as Mr. Juggler.

In competitive play
Upon the release of Ultimate, Mr. Game & Watch's competitive reception was mostly poor; this was because many players considered the nerfs he received - particularly the lack of priority on his new forward aerial, the reduction of invincibility-frames on his up smash, and the loss of his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm - as significant enough to outweigh the buffs he was given. Likely as a result, most players considered him a low-tier or even a bottom-tier character. It later became clear that the buffs were far more significant than the nerfs. In particular, Mr. Game & Watch has a strong advantage state due to his aerial juggle game, an amazing out of shield option (as his up special is invincible on startup on frame 3), and low ending lag on his smash attacks, with down smash burying opponents, allowing for easy KOs as well. Mr. Game & Watch also sports a strong matchup spread, having positive matchups against certain high tier and top tier characters such as, , , , , , , , and , but has disadvantageous matchups against , , , , and.

Initial results with the character were sparse. Over time, however, Mr. Game & Watch began to show strong signs of success at both a local and national level;, , , and have made respectable placements in each of their respective regions, with Regi in particular placing 7th at. On a larger scale, however, has made very strong strides on both a regional and national level, placing top 3 at several major events including, , , , , , , and. In the process of doing so, he has also taken sets off of high-level players including, , , , , , , , , , and. Samsora and ESAM in particular have struggled against Maister, with them being 0-4 and 0-6 against Maister in sets, respectively. Maister was able to go from being unranked in the first PGRU to top 10 status in the second PGRU while solo-maining the character.

Due to Maister's strong success with the character, Mr. Game & Watch has earned a drastically more positive reception from the community, as most competitive players view him as an upper-high or top-tier character, with ESAM, MVD,, and Dabuz considering him a top-10 character, and going as far to say he might be the best character in the game.

Starting in mid-March, as a result of the COVID-19 quarantine, offline tournaments were postponed with the new medium of competition being held almost entirely online. Because of the added input delay due to Ultimate's online system, Mr. Game & Watch is considered an even more viable character than he already was, thanks to his already powerful aerials, smash attacks, and out of shield game becoming much safer in neutral and in advantage. Several Mr. Game & Watch players, including Maister, Regi Shikimi, and, have performed well at major online tournaments; all 3 of them were ranked on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Fall 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from July 13th, 2019 to December 15th, 2019.

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


 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Europe. Placed 2nd at, 7th at , 9th at , and 25th at both and  with wins over players such as , , and . Currently ranked 6th on the England Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Mr. Game & Watch players in Japan. Placed 9th at, 13th at, 17th at , and 25th at both and  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Australia. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , 4th at , 5th at , and 9th at with wins over players such as , , and . Currently ranked 2nd on the Australian Power Rankings.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Chile. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Currently ranked 1st on the Chilean Ultimate Power Rankings. Online, placed 3rd at , 2nd at , 5th at both  and . Formerly ranked 72nd on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.
 * (#6) - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in the world. Placed 1st at both  and, 2nd at , and 3rd at both  and . Currently ranked 1st on the Mexican Power Rankings. He is also one of the best players online, winning both  and  as well as placing 2nd at  and . Currently ranked 3rd on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.
 * - One of the best Mr. Game & Watch players in Japan. Placed 9th at, 17th at both and , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Mr. Game & Watch players in Mexico. Placed 7th at, 9th at , 13th at , and 33rd at . Currently ranked 7th on the Mexican Power Rankings. Online, placed 4th at , 9th at , and 17th at . Currently ranked 28th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Florida. Placed 9th at, 13th at , and 17th at with wins over players such as , , and . Online, placed 5th at  and 17th at both  and . Formerly ranked 16th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Arizona. Placed 5th at, 7th at , , and , and 9th at with wins over players such as , , and . Formerly ranked 6th on the Arizona Ultimate Power Rankings.

: A Long Legacy
Mr. Game & Watch fights classic characters on retro stages. They are fought in reverse order of release dates, similar to All-Star Mode in, except for Pac-Man, who is ordered between Kirby and Duck Hunt, rather than between Donkey Kong and the Mr. Game & Watch horde.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Mr. Game & Watch has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Despit Mr. Game & Watch performing an absence in the opening cutscene of World of Light, he was vaporized by the lightning beams, and then was trapped later under Galeem's imprisonment; alongside the rest of the fighters (sans ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Mr. Game & Watch is unlocked and found in the dead-end reminiscent of PAC-MAZE of The Light Realm. He can be found by going through the teleporters to find the correct path. After finding the correct path through the maze, the player must defeat the Sidestepper and Nikki spirits blocking him; in order to awaken Mr. Game & Watch.

Spirits
Mr. Game & Watch's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Mr. Game & Watch has been unlocked. Unlocking Mr. Game & Watch 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.

Trivia

 * This particular game (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) is the initial game in the series where Mr. Game & Watch is portrayed holding an object different than his signature bell in his official artwork, instead being shown holding the flag from Flagman (the same one as his up tilt). It also resembles his Alt. trophy in.
 * In-game, however, Mr. Game & Watch changes his appearance to match his traditional appearace in Flagman, rather than using his own neutral appearance.
 * Additionally, this is also the third game in the series where his official artwork depicted him without his signature alarm bell.
 * Mr. Game & Watch's render pose somewhat resembles his render in Smash 4, although mirrored, and the positioning of his legs has been mirrored too.
 * It is also the first time in the series where his pose in his official artwork shows him facing right instead of left.
 * Mr. Game & Watch,, , , , , , , and are the only nine characters in Ultimate who have kept the same falling speed for three games in a row.
 * During the launch of Ultimates official website, Mr. Game & Watch's name was erroneously labeled as "Mr. GAME & WATA'CH" exclusively on the mobile variant of his fighter-page. The typo was later corrected.
 * In 's showcase-trailer, Mr. Game & Watch is seen utilizing his previous animation of his forward smash from Smash 4. However, it was later changed to reference its origin-game (Fire Attack) like multiple of his his other moves. This change attracted criticism for its portrayal of a stereotypical-incarnation of a Native American (itself sourced from the original version of ); Nintendo of America responded to the criticism by apologizing for the outdated imagery and promising to alter it by removing the feather from Mr. Game & Watch's model, matching a change seen in the traditional game Fire Attack in Game & Watch Gallery 4.
 * The screenshot of 4 replicas of Mr. Game & Watches on Flat Zone X possesses an old animation from Smash 4 on the building; in which Mr. Game & Watch retains his regular appearance when using his standard attack. In the final game, Mr. Game & Watch instead changes his appearance into that of the main protagonist of Greenhouse; also known as Stanley the Fugimator.
 * The  spirit also had its artwork altered in the same patch as well, removing the feather.
 * Although Mr. Game & Watch lacks visible-eyes in his neutral incarnation, the loading screen and the damage meter-render when parrying (which temporarily lights up the selected character's eyes) makes Mr. Game & Watch glow where his eyes would be (which is also further combined with the fact that he still possesses eyesight; even though he lacks visible-eyes, a opposed to the other fighters). The same applies to his activation-picture of his Final Smash, and, in addition, when he gets the Smash Ball, which focuses on where his eyes would be, as with the other characters.
 * While a multipility of his move cause him to resemble respective characters from the Game & Watch series with eyes, they are not affected by parrying and, furthermore, do not grant Mr. Game & Watch the ability to emit red/purple-flashing eyes in the previews and in-game of Spirit Battles.
 * Along with and, Mr. Game & Watch is one of the few characters in Ultimate to lack voice-clips in the Sound Test; despite  and  being included. This is probably because the game considers his various "bleep-bloops" as sound effects instead.
 * In-spite of other languages having a translated word for the term "Mr.", no other language uses it in Ultimate for Mr. Game & Watch's name except for Russian, appropriately using "Г-н".
 * On the character selection screen, the icon in the Japanese version show Mr. Game & Watch's name within only one row, while in the English version; it is shown with two rows. He shares this distinctive trait with, , , , , the s, and.
 * Mr. Game & Watch's "transformation" into other respective Game & Watch characters are fully 2-D, unlike his regular model, although the manhole-cover in his down tilt is still rendered in 3-D. This can be seen when under the effect of a Metal Box, or additionally when low-profiling a lightning projectile.
 * Mr. Game & Watch's route in Classic Mode is vaguely similar to 's; as both characters fight retro-incarnated video-game characters from the NES era for opponents, though the dates of the released video-game figthers in his route his reversed.
 * Coincidentally, they are chronologically the oldest fighters in Ultimate, with Mr. Game & Watch being older than Pac-Man by seven months.
 * The two Judge-sprites that appear on the celebration-screen for Mr. Game & Watch's Classic Mode-route carry a #3 and #9, which is for "san-kyu", or "thank you".
 * In the form of all Game & Watch series-spirits, Mr. Game & Watch is one of the only four characters to utilize their default costumes in a spirit battle present at the game's initial launch, the others being, , and R.O.B.
 * Mr. Game & Watch is also one of two of these characters to utilize his default costume in more than one spirit battle, the other being Bowser Jr., and the only one of those four to do so at launch.
 * Alongside Yoshi and Bowser Jr., Mr. Game & Watch is one of the few characters with a spirit battle where all of his alternate costumes appear.
 * As a consequence of the lack of visible-eyes, Mr. Game & Watch is currently the only character with puppet fighters in World of Light that lack their signature red or purple-flashing eyes, simply using his ordinary model and a variety of alternative costumes without alterations.
 * Pac-Man, Samus, and Dark Samus also share this distinction, though it is only through the previews of the Spirit Battles, where they, along with Mr. Game & Watch, do not emit red or purple-flashing eyes.
 * Mr. Game & Watch is one of few characters who possesses a pair of moves that trigger Special Zoom, being Judge and Oil Panic.
 * Due to a programming oversight, the sweetspots of Mr. Game & Watch's down smash fail to cause any hitstunned-effect to appear on aerial or downed targets. This is due to the effect being misspelled as "noamal" in the scripts.
 * In Mr. Game & Watch's showcase trailer in Ultimate, Mr. Game & Watch is seen using his Vermin incarnation in his down smash, which had a slightly different expression on his face (such as his eyes being circular and large, his hair being more bigger than the original and his mouth being more extended) compared to its final incarnation in the final release.
 * When a character becomes a ball in Mr. Game & Watch's throws, they are considered a UI element instead of a part of the foreground, and as such will appear over Windy Hill Zone's grass.
 * Oddly, Mr. Game & Watch used to be unable to angle his shield directly forward; as doing so caused the shield to reset to its neutral position. This was fixed in later patches.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Mr. Game & Watch must then be defeated on Flat Zone X (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Mr. Game & Watch being the 52nd character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in its unlock tree, being the 6th character unlocked after.
 * Have Mr. Game & Watch join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Mr. Game & Watch is a character of extremes. He is remarkable for being a short, speedy, and floaty lightweight character that has some typical attributes of characters in his weight class. His mobility is overall very fantastic, in this case of his aerial mobility: he possesses the 18th-fastest air speed, the 13th-highest air acceleration, the 21st-lowest gravity on par with and, and the 6th-slowest falling speed. Outside of his acceptable aerial mobility, his grounded mobility is very exceptional: aside from his jumps and his short hop being both the 13th-lowest, he possesses fairly swift walking and running speeds, the 16th-fastest initial dash, the 5th-highest traction, a small size, and among the lowest crouch in the game that allows him to evade multiple attacks: like and 's shield breaker, and 's forward tilt. He also possesses a unique crawling ability with his dash attack, because it lowers Mr. Game & Watch's hurtbox in order to low-profile certain attacks. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch's mobility is quite exceptional for a lightweight, but his low falling speed can be somewhat detrimental. His short size also makes him difficult to strike, especially when crouching.

Unlike most other lightweights, Mr. Game & Watch possesses multiple attacks with large, disjointed and lingering hitboxes, and, additionally. possesses a numerous amount of powerful KO options. All of his smash attacks have very high power, low ending lag and are moderately fast throughout, with each of them possessing unique attributes and their own distinctive strengths (all of which tend to typically cause at around 20% if uncharged, and 30% if fully charged): Forward smash is among the strongest in the game if sweetspotted while having low endlag and good range, with the sweetspot being safe on shield, and is also fully disjointed and noticeably long-ranged, allowing it to space out opponents effectively, given Mr. Game & Watch's minimal size; as opposed to the other figthers, it also has the interesting trait of allowing Mr. Game & Watch to turn around controllably during its initial frames after its use; similarily to, , , and 's back aerial. His up smash is also extremely formidable to challenge, and comes out with full-body invincibility while the hitboxes are active, as this makes it extremely difficult to challenge and this can potentially cause the opponents to get themselves knocked out relatively early if the move is charged up while Mr. Game & Watch remains completely untouched. It also possesses a large and long-distancing hitbox that lingers for a fair amount of time, making it a raw anti-airing and juggling move, with the latter being used against fast-fallers and heavyweights at low-to-mid precents. While it has the slowest startup of all smash attacks, it has minimal endlag and is completely safe on shield. Down smash sends opponents at an awkward semi-spike angle offstage, while its sweetspot buries opponents long enough to lead into a forward smash, even at low-to-medium percentages. It also has a very large hitbox, allowing it to easily 2-frame several recoveries, and acts as an excellent punishment-option on rolls. Like his other smash attacks, down smash is safe on shield when spaced properly. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch possesses an excellent arsenal of powerful smash attacks, and all of which can KO relatively early if charged up.

Outside of his smash attacks, Mr. Game & Watch's other attacks throughout his playstyle have strong KOing potential. Forward tilt comes out quickly; has a lingering hitbox (allowing it to catch rolls and spot dodges if timed slightly off), and kills under 100% by the ledge, sending characters at a semi-spike, and can easily gimp characters with vulnerable recoveries, as the late hitbox is powerful enough to do so. Down tilt lowers Mr. Game & Watch's hurtbox to match his crouch, allowing him to whiff-punish certain attacks. It also possesses high power and semi-spikes opponents off the stage; leading to edgeguards and killing outright at 100%. His new forward aerial's explosion kills opponents at 115% by the ledge and 125% center-stage, while his down aerial has been strengthened to become a viable KO-move at around 130%. Similarly, his back aerial now sends at a flatter angle, and the final hit possesses enough power to KO below 100% off-stage. The clean hit on down aerial boasts a powerful meteor smash that can KO reliably below 65%, and the late hit also deals good knockback that can KO near 130%, and even sooner if it connects near the top blast zone, courtesy of the move's upward launch angle. The move's low ending lag allows as to be used as a potent edgeguarding and landing option, giving him a deadly mixup game in the air at all times.

Mr. Game & Watch also possesses a trump-card in his down special, Oil Panic, which is utilized as Mr. Game & Watch's primary defense against camping and projectiles, as it both absorbs energy-based projectiles from several attacks: such as Mega Buster, Ray of Punishment/Chroma Dust and PK Fire, and reflects physical projectiles like 's Blunderbuss, 's Blazing End, and 's Turnips. This can lead to massive advantages against certain characters—,, , , /, , and and the rest of the fighters with projectiles have notable difficulty fighting Mr. Game & Watch as it severely limits their playstyles and movesets. Oil Panic also has the notable ability of carrying over the charge to subsequent stocks, which can be used as a lethal finisher and even mind-games. The area in which Oil Panic can absorb projectiles is also deceptively large, which allows Mr. Game & Watch to store energy into Oil Panic merely by standing close to just the edge of any energy-based hitbox. However, Oil Panic possesses the glaring weakness of being filled with extremely frail attacks: such as 's and 's blizzard. This causes Mr. Game & Watch to fill Oil Panic extremely quickly, rendering its defensive value useless, and forces him to either hold onto a weak use of it, or dump it without purposefully damaging the opponent in order to use it again as a defensive tool. Oil Panic is also a potent combo-finisher with nearly instantaneous startup lag; with its fairly large, lingering hitbox coming out on just the 2nd frame, as well as extreme knockback that can kill at single-digit percents when at max-power (power is dependent on projectiles absorbed). It is also notably difficult to defend against a fully charged use of it, as the lingering hitbox can still hit spot dodges if timed even slightly off, and a powerful-enough charge can break a full shield, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to punish with one of his powerful smash attacks, or even with Judge, his most infamous and signature move; Judge #9 deals extremly powerful knockback at all percentages, to the point where it can reliably OHKO any character reliably below 25% or lower precents, but OHKOs most characters at as early as 0% if used with fresh enough rage and at adjacent range, making it an incredible punishment tool, and it additionally provides several different effects with powerful distinctive strengths; such as Judge #3 infilicting high shield damage, #2 possessing a 20% chance of tripping the opponent, #6 semi-spiking the opponent powerfully, and #7 healing Mr. Game & Watch by 4% will 3 apples. The threat of Judge forces his opponents to be very careful when using laggy attacks; especially due to Mr. Game & Watch's ability to perform an occasionally situational true combo into it. One of the best ways to confirm a Judge is with down throw: using a down throw, and comboing into a neutral aerial will lead into an unavoidable Judge, which becomes even more potent if used in the air or with high rage. Depending on the opponent's falling speed, a jump may be necessary to reach them. Another reliable way to confirm one is by landing with a down aerial: should Mr. Game & Watch land immediately after meteor smashing the opponent with it, Judge can be landed without fail. This combo works optimally on platforms; due to its limited-percentage range and Judge #9's ability to KO as low as 20% or lower precents at closer range.

Mr. Game & Watch's strongest strength is his formidable aerial game. All of his aerial attacks have lingering and disjointed hitboxes and, in the case of neutral aerial and up 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. All of his aerials also have enough range to be spaced correctly; thanks to Mr. Game & Watch's excellent aerial mobility, allowing it to zone and approach opponents safely in the air and the ground. Each of Mr. Game & Watch's aerials also have their own distinct strengths: his neutral aerial (Tropical Fish) is his fastest aerial, a fairly powerful multi-hit move, even when stale, and can easily gimp poor recoveries; due to its late hitbox being sufficiently powerful enough to do so. Due to its speed and power, it also works as a good out-of-shield or approaching option, and its long duration allows him to break combos. His forward aerial (Bombs Away) is Mr. Game & Watch's second-strongest aerial, which this grants it good combo and edgeguarding potential in return. It can also easily put opponents off-stage, and is the primary component of the wall of pain technique: once an opponent with a poor recovery is launched off-stage, Mr. Game & Watch can follow up with several other forward and back aerials until they reach the blast zone, where Mr. Game & Watch can finish the opponent off with another forward or a back aerial, or even Fire, the greatest finisher of the wall of pain; due to its ascending hitbox being powerful enough to KO off-stage incredibly early. His back aerial (Turtle Bridge) is Mr. Game & Watch's strongest aerial, an effective KOing option, and has a remarkable range, given Mr. Game & Watch's small size; thanks to his low jumping height, this is one of the most useful components of Mr. Game & Watch's notorious wall of pain. It is also safe on shield if spaced correctly; due to its high damage-output, the ability to auto-cancel out of a short hop and above-average hitlag, and it is also Mr. Game & Watch's fourth-fastest aerial, making it a bit unpredictable. His up aerial (Spitball Sparky) is his third-fastest aerial, has a deceptively long-lasting hitbox and long range, which can be problematic for any opponent that has issues dealing with juggling, and it is also a powerful finisher near the upper blast line, somewhat granting back his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm. Lastly, down aerial, Mr. Game & Watch's second-fastest and third-strongest aerial, a fairly powerful keyblade sex kick-esque thrust, can be utilized as a highly damaging OoS or pressuring option, and has low ending lag and landing lag. It can sometimes also work as an anti-airing and anti-juggling option against characters with slow aerial mobility or moveset, and boasts among the strongest spike in the game that can KO as early as 55% or lower precents, while easily gimping multiple recoveries. As well, landing with it can lead into various other moves, especially a smash attack, a tilt, Judge or Oil Panic, which allows Mr. Game & Watch to take stocks incredibly early.

Mr. Game & Watch also has a very potent combo and aerial juggling game. Down throw combos into Oil Panic, Judge, and neutral aerial at low percentages. Chef can deal massive damage if multiple food-sized projectiles hit, allowing it to get around 30-40% off of a single edgeguard. The pan also hits opponents into the stream of meat through a semi-spike, and at high percents can launch opponents fast enough to miss the food entirely and lead to more ledge trapping. Chef's speed and pattern makes it extremely difficult for certain characters to recover, such as or. Not only does Chef deal massive damage, but landing the move allows Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with a grab, neutral aerial, forward tilt, dash attack, and even Judge. His up tilt (Flagman), though possessing worse range of all attacks, deals high damage and combos into neutral aerial and Judge at low percentages. Once Mr. Game & Watch has his opponents above him, he can juggle them for massive damage using his up and neutral aerials. His up aerial (Spitball Sparky) acts similar to 's up aerial, pushing opponents upwards, albeit with much less force. Despite the lack of its complete KO power, it has decent launch-power to push opponents vertically at the blast zone, allowing for early off-stage KOs, granting him back his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm, but can only be used off the top of the stage. All in all, Mr. Game & Watch's strong KO power is also paired with highly damaging combos and juggles. Because of this, Mr. Game & Watch possesses an oppressive neutral game.

Mr. Game & Watch sports a formidable grab and throw game; possessing one of the longest and fastest grabs in the game simultaneously, and his pummel is one of the fastest and damaging in the game. His up throw and down throw are Mr. Game & Watch's most useful combo throws; easily comboing into neutral aerial or up aerial for juggling opponents rapidly, or even comboing into his formidable special moves, Judge and Oil Panic. Additionally, his back throw and forward throw are very useful at sending the opponents off-stage; due to their high knockback-scaling and low angle, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to set up edgeguards, and they can easily KO outright at around 160% by the ledge, especially if DI'd, and back throw and especially forward throw can combo into Judge, Oil Panic, forward aerial, back aerial and down aerial for a combo breaker or finisher, or more further a KO confirm. Lastly, down throw is Mr. Game & Watch's strongest throw; although it deals the lowest damage of all his throws; which is compensated by dealing high knockback, being able to KO lightweights as early as 150%-180%, and middleweights at around 190%-200%. Additionally, up throw is Mr. Game & Watch's best throw; dealing the highest damage output of all throws, functions the same as down throw, and is strengthened enough to become a viable KO throw at high precents, killing at around 170% on the pltforms of the stage on lightweights.

Lastly, Mr. Game & Watch's unmatched floatiness, extreme air speed, decent jumps, an incredible recovery and oppressive aerial game gives him a tremendous off-stage presence. Mr. Game & Watch possesses a fantastic recovery option, as well as large, long-lasting, swift, long-ranged and disjointed aerials that can all auto-cancel in a short hop (neutral and back aerial) and a full jump and even Fire (forward, up and down aerial), though all of them can even auto-cancel out of a short hop if falling off a platform while using one of them. This means that he is a formidable edgeguarder and is extremely hard to gimp himself. His up special, Fire, has instantenous startup on the 3rd frame, invincibility in its early frames, and a strong vertical hitbox on its initial hitbox, and decent launching-power horizontally, allowing for early off-stage KOs if it hits opposite the blast zone. This makes it deadly, as it can stage spike unwary opponents while also easily gimping characters with poor recoveries; like and. It is also an extremely useful combo breaker and one of the game's best out-of-shield options; due to its fast startup and invincibility. His back aerial (Turtle Bridge) is a large, long-lasting disjointed multi-hit move that deals high knockback at the final hit. The move's large disjoint trades and beats out a lot of recoveries that possess hitboxes, and the multi-hit nature of the move makes it hard to tech for stage-spikes and often drags opponents stuck in the move closer to the blast zone. For many characters, getting hit with Turtle Bridge is often fatal off-stage, as the move lingers long enough to shift the opponent closer to the blast zone before dealing the final knockback on the last hit; thus making it a primary component of the wall of pain. On the ledge, Chef punishes ledge-hangers and covers getup attacks and rolls (hit by the pan), forcing the opponents to jump. This can easily allow Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with neutral aerial and force the opponent back off-stage. His new forward aerial can be comboed into with Chef and has strong KO potential on its own. Lastly, his up air has the notable quality of having no set limit on its distance, which can lead to interesting interactions when reflected by opponents, and subsequently by Mr. Game & Watch himself. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch is extremely deadly off the stage and at the ledge to all characters, even those with great recoveries like, , and even himself. Finally, his neutral game is also winning: due to possessing long-lasting, disjointed, unique and powerful aerials that can auto-cancel in a short hop (neutral and back aerial) and a full jump and even Fire (forward, up and down aerial), and unlimited safe options on shield, and the improved ability to camp and approach.

As compensated for his amalgamation of strengths, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a myriad of notable drawbacks too. Thanks to his two-dimensional appearance, he is paired with for being portrayed as the third-lightest character in the game; which is further exacerbated by his extreme floatiness and overall average mobility at best. As a consequence, Mr. Game & Watch is prone to getting easily knocked out just as quickly before 40% by a sufficently powerful set of attacks. Additionally, while he surprisingly possesses fantastic range for his minimal size, he still possesses overall shorter range than a handful of the cast; like, , , and. This is worsened by the fact that multiple of his disjointed attacks throughout his playstyle: like down tilt, up tilt, and forward smash possess underwhelming range for a favorable disjoint; with the latter being unlikely to possess this trait. Thanks to this, Mr. Game & Watch is easily kept at arm's length by seveal of the sword-wielding cast; like and, though his approaches aren't canceled out. While his new forward aerial is one of the strongest and most-damaging in the game, it possesses minimal priority. As expected from a projectile, any move can hit the bomb and make it disappear. This makes it unsuitable for approaching and forces Mr. Game & Watch to approach with his back aerial instead. It is also a much more situational move in general (though it became more better than his previous forward air from SSB4), due to its higher lag and delayed hitbox; as the bomb will only explode upon touching the ground or waiting for half a second after 30 frames. Additionally, while his up aerial has achieved early off-stage KOs; making his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm less inconsistent, more juggling and damage-racking capabilities, it possesses minimal knockback, so it lacks KO potential on the stage as a result. While Mr. Game & Watch's down throw and up throw are reliable combo starters, Mr. Game & Watch's throws fail to KO until at realistic percentages (in this case of Sudden Death); despite KOing lightweights relatively early, with his strongest throw, down throw, KOing at around 200%. However, his defensive attributes are benefited: his rolls, despite gaining among the shortest distance and being relatively slow and often punishable, possess good amount of intangibility and the animation is quite fast; rolling Mr. Game & Watch in a choppy frame-by-frame manner, making it difficult for opponents to punish, his sidestep is also one of the fastest in the game, and the reintroduction of directional air dodges, while granting Mr. Game & Watch even more intangibility, improve his recovery more than the other fighters; thanks to Fire lacking helplessness, this also increases his jumping height.

All in all, Mr. Game & Watch is described as a formidable glass cannon with an all-rounder-archetype (while also being viewed as the most potent "glass cannon"-fighter in the game), a character possessing a potent offense while being very vulnerable himself, as well as possessing great potential against much of the cast. He has high KO power, and incredible damage-racking capabilites. By these same particular merits, Mr. Game & Watch can easily be knocked out just as quickly before his opponent does - thanks to his third-lightest weight, which is compensated by a fantastic camping and approach, decent defensive attributes, and his overall fast and long-ranged attacks and overall slow and short-ranged attacks are paired with each other, which can be made up for with his disjointed and long-lasting hitboxes, high shield pressure, and an oppressive off-stage presence, and a formidable grounded and aerial game backed by an incredible recovery and early KOs. He is also one of the most disliked characters in competitive play; due to containing a reputation for being one of the most frustrating characters to deal with; due to his amazing out-of-shield options, brutal combo and juggling game, an oppressive off-stage presence and explosive power through his powerful smash attacks, tilts, aerials, throws and special moves, especially Judge and Oil Panic; which makes him very difficult to punish and allows him to deal large damage and close out stocks quickly in a short amount of time. Overall, his strengths considerably outweigh his weaknesses, making Mr. Game & Watch one of the most fragile characters, but also one of the most powerful in all of Smash.

In the end, Mr. Game & Watch is widely considered to be top-tier or upper high-tier; thanks to his good mobility, high auto-canceling window, advantaged state, and possesses high popularity in the competitive play. Additionally, Mr. Game & Watch plays incredibly fine at the highest levels of play, and he possesses a quality representation in online tournaments, and ridiculously positive tournament-results - thanks to the efforts of players: including Extra, Regi, Notty, and especially Maister.

Aesthetics

 * Standard attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.
 * Standard attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.
 * Standard attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.

Ground attacks

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

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * {{Buff|Nevertheless, the landing hit still retains its combo potential at low precents, and its safety on shield is spaced more correctly
 * {{nerf|The landing hit launches at a lower angle (68° → 58°) and deals much less knockback overall (90 base/120 scaling → 95/60). In combination with the removal of frame-canceling, this removes both its combo potential and its ability to KO at realistic percents.}}
 * {{buff|It has a longer auto-canceling window (frame 38-39 → 38-41), and retains its initial auto-cancel window.}}
 * {{buff|Additionally, the landing hit can still KO reliably at around extreme precents.}}
 * {{change|The move has a slightly altered animation; where Mr. Game and Watch has his legs positioned to the side of his body, rather than below it.}}
 * Up aerial:
 * {{change|Up aerial has been reworked: it shoots a single puff of air that functions as a projectile, flying straight up and hitting multiple times, much like {{SSBU|Mega Man}}'s up aerial, and it depicts Mr. Game & Watch to resemble his appearance more from Spitball Sparky.}}
 * {{buff|Due to its new properties, it has much more vertical range, making it a more reliable followup option.}}
 * {{buff|It has a much longer duration (frames 6-12/20-22 → 9-14/15-20/21-26/27-32/33-36/37-42), significantly improving its juggling potential.}}
 * {{buff|The looping hits launch opponents more inward (94° → 97°) and use set knockback (20 base/60 scaling → 63/55/40 set/100 scaling), and the move no longer causes hitlag (1× → 0×). This allows for all hits to connect more reliably and makes them nearly impossible to escape.}}
 * {{nerf|The move has more startup (frame 6 → 9), with its total duration increased as well (FAF 40 → 43), being interruptibile just after the hitboxes cease.}}
 * {{nerf|It auto-cancels later (frame 41 → 44), and no longer has an initial auto-cancel window.}}
 * {{buff|Nevertheless, it can still auto-cancel more reliably out of a jump or after Fire.}}
 * {{nerf|It deals less damage (7% (hit 1), 9% (hit 2) → 1.8% (hits 1-5), 3% (hit 6); 16% total → 12%).}}
 * {{nerf|The hitbox is much smaller overall (6.5u/4.3u → 3.8u (hits 1-5), 4.3u (hit 6)), reducing its horizontal range.}}
 * {{change|It no longer possesses windboxes, allowing it to hit consistently without pushing opponents out of range, but removing the ability to juggle opponents during vulnerable states (such as helplessness).}}
 * {{change|The last hit deals significantly less knockback (55 base/98 scaling → 65/35). This removes its KO potential, but in combination with its longer duration and multi-hit nature, this allows it to combo far more effectively into other moves, including another up aerial to carry the opponent closer to the vertical blast line.}}
 * {{buff|This grants it drastically early KOs off the vertical blast zone if used on aerial opponents more rapidly, thus granting back his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm, however, under irregular circumstances.}}
 * Down aerial:
 * {{buff|The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves down aerial's combo potential on-stage, compounded further by its reduced landing lag.}}
 * {{buff|The weakening of meteor-canceling makes the clean hit more likely a spike, thus making it impossible to escape its knockback and makes it more easy to KO opponents with more effectively early.}}
 * {{buff|It auto-cancels earlier (frame 51 → 49), matching its interruptibility, and allowing it to auto-cancel after a full hop and Fire. It also retains its initial auto-cancel window in addition to this.}}
 * {{buff|The late hit deals much more knockback (20 base/106 scaling → 22/117), improving its KO potential.}}
 * {{change|The move can no longer be frame-canceled; however, this is compensated by its reduced landing lag.}}
 * {{buff|The key's size is larger, matching the vertical range of the sourspot more closely, increasing its range and improving its approaching abilities.}}
 * Back aerial:
 * {{Buff|Nevertheless, the landing hit still retains its combo potential at low precents, and its safety on shield is spaced more correctly
 * {{nerf|The landing hit launches at a lower angle (68° → 58°) and deals much less knockback overall (90 base/120 scaling → 95/60). In combination with the removal of frame-canceling, this removes both its combo potential and its ability to KO at realistic percents.}}
 * {{buff|It has a longer auto-canceling window (frame 38-39 → 38-41), and retains its initial auto-cancel window.}}
 * {{buff|Additionally, the landing hit can still KO reliably at around extreme precents.}}
 * {{change|The move has a slightly altered animation; where Mr. Game and Watch has his legs positioned to the side of his body, rather than below it.}}
 * Up aerial:
 * {{change|Up aerial has been reworked: it shoots a single puff of air that functions as a projectile, flying straight up and hitting multiple times, much like {{SSBU|Mega Man}}'s up aerial, and it depicts Mr. Game & Watch to resemble his appearance more from Spitball Sparky.}}
 * {{buff|Due to its new properties, it has much more vertical range, making it a more reliable followup option.}}
 * {{buff|It has a much longer duration (frames 6-12/20-22 → 9-14/15-20/21-26/27-32/33-36/37-42), significantly improving its juggling potential.}}
 * {{buff|The looping hits launch opponents more inward (94° → 97°) and use set knockback (20 base/60 scaling → 63/55/40 set/100 scaling), and the move no longer causes hitlag (1× → 0×). This allows for all hits to connect more reliably and makes them nearly impossible to escape.}}
 * {{nerf|The move has more startup (frame 6 → 9), with its total duration increased as well (FAF 40 → 43), being interruptibile just after the hitboxes cease.}}
 * {{nerf|It auto-cancels later (frame 41 → 44), and no longer has an initial auto-cancel window.}}
 * {{buff|Nevertheless, it can still auto-cancel more reliably out of a jump or after Fire.}}
 * {{nerf|It deals less damage (7% (hit 1), 9% (hit 2) → 1.8% (hits 1-5), 3% (hit 6); 16% total → 12%).}}
 * {{nerf|The hitbox is much smaller overall (6.5u/4.3u → 3.8u (hits 1-5), 4.3u (hit 6)), reducing its horizontal range.}}
 * {{change|It no longer possesses windboxes, allowing it to hit consistently without pushing opponents out of range, but removing the ability to juggle opponents during vulnerable states (such as helplessness).}}
 * {{change|The last hit deals significantly less knockback (55 base/98 scaling → 65/35). This removes its KO potential, but in combination with its longer duration and multi-hit nature, this allows it to combo far more effectively into other moves, including another up aerial to carry the opponent closer to the vertical blast line.}}
 * {{buff|This grants it drastically early KOs off the vertical blast zone if used on aerial opponents more rapidly, thus granting back his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm, however, under irregular circumstances.}}
 * Down aerial:
 * {{buff|The removal of teching for grounded meteor smashes improves down aerial's combo potential on-stage, compounded further by its reduced landing lag.}}
 * {{buff|The weakening of meteor-canceling makes the clean hit more likely a spike, thus making it impossible to escape its knockback and makes it more easy to KO opponents with more effectively early.}}
 * {{buff|It auto-cancels earlier (frame 51 → 49), matching its interruptibility, and allowing it to auto-cancel after a full hop and Fire. It also retains its initial auto-cancel window in addition to this.}}
 * {{buff|The late hit deals much more knockback (20 base/106 scaling → 22/117), improving its KO potential.}}
 * {{change|The move can no longer be frame-canceled; however, this is compensated by its reduced landing lag.}}
 * {{buff|The key's size is larger, matching the vertical range of the sourspot more closely, increasing its range and improving its approaching abilities.}}
 * {{buff|The weakening of meteor-canceling makes the clean hit more likely a spike, thus making it impossible to escape its knockback and makes it more easy to KO opponents with more effectively early.}}
 * {{buff|It auto-cancels earlier (frame 51 → 49), matching its interruptibility, and allowing it to auto-cancel after a full hop and Fire. It also retains its initial auto-cancel window in addition to this.}}
 * {{buff|The late hit deals much more knockback (20 base/106 scaling → 22/117), improving its KO potential.}}
 * {{change|The move can no longer be frame-canceled; however, this is compensated by its reduced landing lag.}}
 * {{buff|The key's size is larger, matching the vertical range of the sourspot more closely, increasing its range and improving its approaching abilities.}}

Throws and other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Pummel:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Pummel:
 * Forward throw:
 * Back throw:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Up throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Edge attack:

Special moves

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

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

Oil Panic scaling
The greater damage an absorbed energy-based projectile is supposed to deal, the higher damage the oil spill will deal. Oil Panic will multiply the damage per unit by 2, though the result is capped at 16%. As a result, the maximum damage Oil Panic deals is 48%. So for example, if 20%, 12% and 4% enter Oil Panic, the result will be 40% dealt not considering factors such as the 1v1 multiplier and stale-move negation.

Strong projectiles can fill two to three bucket units at once. If a move deals 10% (eg. Trick Shot), it will fill the bucket by two units. However, if a move deals 20% (Sun Salutation at max charge), it will fill by three. For each additional unit filled in one go, 8% is deducted from the previous unit, making it deal less damage overall.

Hero's special move Snooze launches an energy-based projectile that can be absorbed despite not dealing any damage. Absorbing it fills the bucket by one unit and adds 6.7% damage to the bucket.

On-screen appearance

 * Moves along a row of Game & Watch LCD frames until reaching the foreground.

Taunts

 * Up Taunt: Rings his bell overhead at a high-arcing angle. Similar to his side taunt, it originates from the Game & Watch's alarm feature.
 * Side Taunt: Rings his bell at a low angle. Similar to his up taunt, it originates from the Game & Watch's alarm feature.
 * Down Taunt: Sits down and sighs deeply, huffing out a large puff of air from Spitball Sparky; in order to catch his breath. Originates from the Game & Watch version of Mario Bros.; when Mario and Luigi finished a level.

Idle poses

 * Hops in place with his arms and legs outstretched.
 * Briefly looks behind himself; similarly to the.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Rings his alarm bell leftwards, then rightwards while simuntaneously turning around. Afterwards, he continues to ring his bell leftwards indefinitely.
 * Up: Performs some sort of erratic dance: jumps with his arms outstretched about in choppy frame-by-frame positions, tripping halfway, before teetering on his right foot. He then proceeds to jump back and forth, landing on his right foot, then his forehead. Somewhat resembles his walking animation from Smash 4.
 * Right: Continously juggles a series of 3 balls while using his appearance from Ball; also known as Mr. Juggler.

In competitive play
Upon the release of Ultimate, Mr. Game & Watch's competitive reception was mostly poor; this was because many players considered the nerfs he received - particularly the lack of priority on his new forward aerial, the reduction of invincibility-frames on his up smash, and the loss of his "Toot-Toot" KO confirm - as significant enough to outweigh the buffs he was given. Likely as a result, most players considered him a low-tier or even a bottom-tier character. It later became clear that the buffs were far more significant than the nerfs. In particular, Mr. Game & Watch has a strong advantage state due to his aerial juggle game, an amazing out of shield option (as his up special is invincible on startup on frame 3), and low ending lag on his smash attacks, with down smash burying opponents, allowing for easy KOs as well. Mr. Game & Watch also sports a strong matchup spread, having positive matchups against certain high tier and top tier characters such as, , , , , , , , and , but has disadvantageous matchups against , , , , and.

Initial results with the character were sparse. Over time, however, Mr. Game & Watch began to show strong signs of success at both a local and national level;, , , and have made respectable placements in each of their respective regions, with Regi in particular placing 7th at. On a larger scale, however, has made very strong strides on both a regional and national level, placing top 3 at several major events including, , , , , , , and. In the process of doing so, he has also taken sets off of high-level players including, , , , , , , , , , and. Samsora and ESAM in particular have struggled against Maister, with them being 0-4 and 0-6 against Maister in sets, respectively. Maister was able to go from being unranked in the first PGRU to top 10 status in the second PGRU while solo-maining the character.

Due to Maister's strong success with the character, Mr. Game & Watch has earned a drastically more positive reception from the community, as most competitive players view him as an upper-high or top-tier character, with ESAM, MVD,, and Dabuz considering him a top-10 character, and going as far to say he might be the best character in the game.

Starting in mid-March, as a result of the COVID-19 quarantine, offline tournaments were postponed with the new medium of competition being held almost entirely online. Because of the added input delay due to Ultimate's online system, Mr. Game & Watch is considered an even more viable character than he already was, thanks to his already powerful aerials, smash attacks, and out of shield game becoming much safer in neutral and in advantage. Several Mr. Game & Watch players, including Maister, Regi Shikimi, and, have performed well at major online tournaments; all 3 of them were ranked on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Fall 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from July 13th, 2019 to December 15th, 2019.

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


 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Europe. Placed 2nd at, 7th at , 9th at , and 25th at both and  with wins over players such as , , and . Currently ranked 6th on the England Power Rankings.
 * - One of the best Mr. Game & Watch players in Japan. Placed 9th at, 13th at, 17th at , and 25th at both and  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Australia. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , 4th at , 5th at , and 9th at with wins over players such as , , and . Currently ranked 2nd on the Australian Power Rankings.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Chile. Placed 1st at, 2nd at , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and . Currently ranked 1st on the Chilean Ultimate Power Rankings. Online, placed 3rd at , 2nd at , 5th at both  and . Formerly ranked 72nd on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.
 * (#6) - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in the world. Placed 1st at both  and, 2nd at , and 3rd at both  and . Currently ranked 1st on the Mexican Power Rankings. He is also one of the best players online, winning both  and  as well as placing 2nd at  and . Currently ranked 3rd on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.
 * - One of the best Mr. Game & Watch players in Japan. Placed 9th at, 17th at both and , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Mr. Game & Watch players in Mexico. Placed 7th at, 9th at , 13th at , and 33rd at . Currently ranked 7th on the Mexican Power Rankings. Online, placed 4th at , 9th at , and 17th at . Currently ranked 28th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Florida. Placed 9th at, 13th at , and 17th at with wins over players such as , , and . Online, placed 5th at  and 17th at both  and . Formerly ranked 16th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.
 * - The best Mr. Game & Watch player in Arizona. Placed 5th at, 7th at , , and , and 9th at with wins over players such as , , and . Formerly ranked 6th on the Arizona Ultimate Power Rankings.

: A Long Legacy
Mr. Game & Watch fights classic characters on retro stages. They are fought in reverse order of release dates, similar to All-Star Mode in, except for Pac-Man, who is ordered between Kirby and Duck Hunt, rather than between Donkey Kong and the Mr. Game & Watch horde.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Mr. Game & Watch has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Despit Mr. Game & Watch performing an absence in the opening cutscene of World of Light, he was vaporized by the lightning beams, and then was trapped later under Galeem's imprisonment; alongside the rest of the fighters (sans ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Mr. Game & Watch is unlocked and found in the dead-end reminiscent of PAC-MAZE of The Light Realm. He can be found by going through the teleporters to find the correct path. After finding the correct path through the maze, the player must defeat the Sidestepper and Nikki spirits blocking him; in order to awaken Mr. Game & Watch.

Spirits
Mr. Game & Watch's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Mr. Game & Watch has been unlocked. Unlocking Mr. Game & Watch 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.

Trivia

 * This particular game (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate) is the initial game in the series where Mr. Game & Watch is portrayed holding an object different than his signature bell in his official artwork, instead being shown holding the flag from Flagman (the same one as his up tilt). It also resembles his Alt. trophy in.
 * In-game, however, Mr. Game & Watch changes his appearance to match his traditional appearace in Flagman, rather than using his own neutral appearance.
 * Additionally, this is also the third game in the series where his official artwork depicted him without his signature alarm bell.
 * Mr. Game & Watch's render pose somewhat resembles his render in Smash 4, although mirrored, and the positioning of his legs has been mirrored too.
 * It is also the first time in the series where his pose in his official artwork shows him facing right instead of left.
 * Mr. Game & Watch,, , , , , , , and are the only nine characters in Ultimate who have kept the same falling speed for three games in a row.
 * During the launch of Ultimates official website, Mr. Game & Watch's name was erroneously labeled as "Mr. GAME & WATA'CH" exclusively on the mobile variant of his fighter-page. The typo was later corrected.
 * In 's showcase-trailer, Mr. Game & Watch is seen utilizing his previous animation of his forward smash from Smash 4. However, it was later changed to reference its origin-game (Fire Attack) like multiple of his his other moves. This change attracted criticism for its portrayal of a stereotypical-incarnation of a Native American (itself sourced from the original version of ); Nintendo of America responded to the criticism by apologizing for the outdated imagery and promising to alter it by removing the feather from Mr. Game & Watch's model, matching a change seen in the traditional game Fire Attack in Game & Watch Gallery 4.
 * The screenshot of 4 replicas of Mr. Game & Watches on Flat Zone X possesses an old animation from Smash 4 on the building; in which Mr. Game & Watch retains his regular appearance when using his standard attack. In the final game, Mr. Game & Watch instead changes his appearance into that of the main protagonist of Greenhouse; also known as Stanley the Fugimator.
 * The  spirit also had its artwork altered in the same patch as well, removing the feather.
 * Although Mr. Game & Watch lacks visible-eyes in his neutral incarnation, the loading screen and the damage meter-render when parrying (which temporarily lights up the selected character's eyes) makes Mr. Game & Watch glow where his eyes would be (which is also further combined with the fact that he still possesses eyesight; even though he lacks visible-eyes, a opposed to the other fighters). The same applies to his activation-picture of his Final Smash, and, in addition, when he gets the Smash Ball, which focuses on where his eyes would be, as with the other characters.
 * While a multipility of his move cause him to resemble respective characters from the Game & Watch series with eyes, they are not affected by parrying and, furthermore, do not grant Mr. Game & Watch the ability to emit red/purple-flashing eyes in the previews and in-game of Spirit Battles.
 * Along with and, Mr. Game & Watch is one of the few characters in Ultimate to lack voice-clips in the Sound Test; despite  and  being included. This is probably because the game considers his various "bleep-bloops" as sound effects instead.
 * In-spite of other languages having a translated word for the term "Mr.", no other language uses it in Ultimate for Mr. Game & Watch's name except for Russian, appropriately using "Г-н".
 * On the character selection screen, the icon in the Japanese version show Mr. Game & Watch's name within only one row, while in the English version; it is shown with two rows. He shares this distinctive trait with, , , , , the s, and.
 * Mr. Game & Watch's "transformation" into other respective Game & Watch characters are fully 2-D, unlike his regular model, although the manhole-cover in his down tilt is still rendered in 3-D. This can be seen when under the effect of a Metal Box, or additionally when low-profiling a lightning projectile.
 * Mr. Game & Watch's route in Classic Mode is vaguely similar to 's; as both characters fight retro-incarnated video-game characters from the NES era for opponents, though the dates of the released video-game figthers in his route his reversed.
 * Coincidentally, they are chronologically the oldest fighters in Ultimate, with Mr. Game & Watch being older than Pac-Man by seven months.
 * The two Judge-sprites that appear on the celebration-screen for Mr. Game & Watch's Classic Mode-route carry a #3 and #9, which is for "san-kyu", or "thank you".
 * In the form of all Game & Watch series-spirits, Mr. Game & Watch is one of the only four characters to utilize their default costumes in a spirit battle present at the game's initial launch, the others being, , and R.O.B.
 * Mr. Game & Watch is also one of two of these characters to utilize his default costume in more than one spirit battle, the other being Bowser Jr., and the only one of those four to do so at launch.
 * Alongside Yoshi and Bowser Jr., Mr. Game & Watch is one of the few characters with a spirit battle where all of his alternate costumes appear.
 * As a consequence of the lack of visible-eyes, Mr. Game & Watch is currently the only character with puppet fighters in World of Light that lack their signature red or purple-flashing eyes, simply using his ordinary model and a variety of alternative costumes without alterations.
 * Pac-Man, Samus, and Dark Samus also share this distinction, though it is only through the previews of the Spirit Battles, where they, along with Mr. Game & Watch, do not emit red or purple-flashing eyes.
 * Mr. Game & Watch is one of few characters who possesses a pair of moves that trigger Special Zoom, being Judge and Oil Panic.
 * Due to a programming oversight, the sweetspots of Mr. Game & Watch's down smash fail to cause any hitstunned-effect to appear on aerial or downed targets. This is due to the effect being misspelled as "noamal" in the scripts.
 * In Mr. Game & Watch's showcase trailer in Ultimate, Mr. Game & Watch is seen using his Vermin incarnation in his down smash, which had a slightly different expression on his face (such as his eyes being circular and large, his hair being more bigger than the original and his mouth being more extended) compared to its final incarnation in the final release.
 * When a character becomes a ball in Mr. Game & Watch's throws, they are considered a UI element instead of a part of the foreground, and as such will appear over Windy Hill Zone's grass.
 * Oddly, Mr. Game & Watch used to be unable to angle his shield directly forward; as doing so caused the shield to reset to its neutral position. This was fixed in later patches.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Pac-Man must then be defeated on Pac-Land (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Pac-Man being the 49th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 3rd character unlocked after.
 * Have Pac-Man join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Pac-Man is a projectile-based middleweight whose attributes slightly deviate from the typicality of his weight class. Pac-Man's mobility is overall Although his aerial and dashing speeds are quite swift (making him rather rushdown-oriented); and his air acceleration and traction are above-average, his walking speed is slightly below-average, while his falling speed is also the 14th-slowest; and his gravity is the 11th-lowest in the game, though his jumping height is the 28th-highest in the game. As a result, these traits make him a rather floaty character, albeit not to the degree of. Pac-Man also possesses the ability of crawling and wall-jumping, with the latter improving his recovery, although the former is largely impractical; because of his crouch's tall height. Overall, Pac-Man's mobility is quite exceptional to the other middleweights, though his decent floatiness can make him somewhat susceptible to combos and juggles or, due to his below-average weight, early KOs.

Like, Pac-Man is reliant on his item-producing special moves to control the flow of battle and win in the neutral game. Two special moves, Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant, grant him numerous mix-ups for almost any situation: each object provided by Bonus Fruit has different attributes, which makes them good spacing, combo, and edge-guarding options, and some notably possess early KO potential as a way to overcome his smash attacks' slow speeds and low ranges; such as the Apple or the Key. This allows him to confuse and forcing-movements from his opponents to put them in disadvantageous positions, especially off-stage.

Fire Hydrant, when utilized in the air, functions similarly to Stone, which makes it useful for covering landings or breaking combos. It is also Pac-Man's most powerful projectile when launched, which makes it a viable KO-option from a distance. In addition to its offensive potential, Fire Hydrant has defensive potential; thanks to its shots of water possessing a pushing effect. As a result, the water can be utilized to space out his opponents, gimp sveral characters with poor recoveries; like and, and can even force the opponents into Pac-Man's attacks. Apart from his projectiles, Pac-Man also possesses a slacky, but potent, KOing option in Power Pellet, which functions both as a great recovery and mindgame option, as it can be aimed prematurely and made to curve in creative angles; using his Fire Hydrant's pushing effect, and can also be confirmed off of Bonus Fruit's Bell. Pac-Jump is an effective vertical recovery should all three trampoline jumps be used, and makes it safe to edge-guard off-stage, as Pac-Man will likely make it back onto the stage. It is also difficult to gimp, especially from an overhead-perspective; thanks to Pac-Man's jumps possessing unblockable hitboxes, and can function as a good out-of-shield option when used properly. Because of this particular positivity, this means that Pac-Man is a formidable edgeguarder and a versatile zoner altogether; as he can easily pressure his opponents effectively with his projectiles.

Outside of his special moves, Pac-Man possesses a good combo and juggling game, as well as for a prominent grounded game. Though his ground attacks are somewhat-fragile with slight ending lag, they are still solid enough to KO at reasonable precentages; his standard attack and tilts are fast and extend his hitboxes (forward tilt) or slide himself forward (down tilt), letting him attack out of shield easily or poke opponents at a safe distance. His forward tilt possesses remarkable range, effectively semi-spikes the opponents, and deals high knockback and KOs reliably under 120% by the ledge. Lastly, his up tilt is a reliable combo starter, comes out with intangibility on his fist, making it effective at interrupting and stuffing out several stall-then-falls and down aerials. Though it has notably mediocre range, it is notorious for being an incredible anti-airing and juggling tool against fast-fallers, and is still solid enough to KO at around realistic percents. His down tilt comes out extremely quickly, and it has high interrputibility, KOs at high precents by the ledge, and also and can reliably combo into his dash attack; which allows Pac-Man to follow up with almost any grounded attack; as his dash attack hits multiple times with nearly the lack of ending lag; such as his safe and fast standard attack. Lastly, all of his smash attacks possess high power and knockback, low startup, high KO power (all of which can KO reliably below 100%; with none of them being particularly slow), oppressive range; but also notable high ending lag too. Pac-Man's formidable aerial game also possesses high capability. All of his aerial attacks have lingering and somewhat-disjointed hitboxes and, in the case of down aerial, multiple hits. Their duration is the primary reason Pac-Man is deceptively difficult to challenge in the air, as opponents will most likely collide within an attack's final frames. All of his aerials also have enough range to be spaced correctly; thanks to Pac-Man's excellent aerial mobility, allowing it to zone and approach opponents safely in the air and the ground. Each of Mr. Game & Watch's aerials also have their own distinct strengths: his aerials are fast and can chain into themselves, especially his forward and up aerials. His neutral aerial is a useful out-of-shield option and both it and his back aerial are effective off-stage finishers; making him overall good at damage-racking and edgeguarding. Not only his neutral aerial is an effective OoS option, it deals extreme knockback during its initial frames and can KO reliably below 150%, and can easily gimp and stage spike poor recoveries; as its late hitbox is sufficiently powerful enough to do so. Forward aerial is Pac-Man's most useful aerial; as it has good combo potential in return. It can also easily place the opponents off-stage, and is the primary component of the wall of pain technique: once an opponent is caught by Pac-Man by the ledge, he can follow up with several forward and back aerials until they reach the blast zone, where Pac-Man can finish the opponent with another forward/back aerial, or even Power Pellet, and, like back aerial, can easily gimp poor recoveries. Back aerial is Pac-Man's strongest aerial; an effective KOing option, remarkable range, powerful knockback, and KOs at around 100% by the ledge, making it an effective edgeguarding tool. His up aerial has a deceptively long-ranged and lingering hitbox that reaches behind him too, and deals high knockback, making it an acceptable finisher near the vertical blast line while also being notorious for juggling and racking up damage simultaneously. Lastly, his down aerial can be utilized as a highly damaging OoS or pressuring option, and has low startup and landing lag, and noticeably disjointed hitboxes. It can sometimes also work as an anti-airing and anti-juggling option against characters with slow aerial mobility or moveset, and the final hit is strengthened enough to KO as early as 130%, while easily gimping multiple recoveries with its final hit at high precents. As well, landing with it can lead into various other attacks; especially a smash attack, a tilt, Power Pellet or Bonus Fruit (if the Key is ready), which allows Pac-Man to take stocks incredibly early.

Pac-Man sports a respectable grab and throw game; he possesses a rather long-ranged grab with long-lasting grabboxes; giving him among the longest set of grabs in the game. His throws have their own distinctive utility; with his up throw and down throw possessing high combo (making them his primary combo starters) potential; and the latter being able to combo notably well into Bonus Fruit's key, Power Pellet, a dash attack, or a short-hopped forward aerial into neutral aerial for KO confirms at high precents. Although the latter-most combo fails to work on small-sized characters whose hurtboxes are low after missing a tech, it can still be beneficial, as Pac-Man can instead lock the opponent with a short-hopped forward aerial at low-to-medium percentages. His forward throw, his weakest throw, can easily combo into his neutral aerial or forward aerial, and can also easily set up wall of pain techniques. Like his back throw, it sets up edgeguards and it is useful for sending the opponents at a disadvantageous position off-stage. Lastly, back throw is Pac-Man's strongest throw; being able to KO mot opponents as early as 140% by the ledge and 165% center-stage, while up throw is strengthened enough to become a viable KO throw at higher precents, killing at around 190%.

For all of Pac-Man's exploitable strengths, Pac-Man is not flawless, however. One of his biggest issues is his inability to KO early; because of the overwhelming majority of his moveset dealing low base knockback. Although his tilts and aerials are fast and are still solid enough to KO at around reasonable precentages, only his clean neutral aerial and clean back aerial possess actual KO potential. In turn, this is further compounded by their reliability being most apparent at high percentages and/or while near the left or right blast lines. His primary KO options (his smash attacks), can KO near the edge; easily thanks to their respectable damage-outputs and knockback growth, but are very punishable and predictable; because of their considerable amounts of startup and ending lag. Pac-Man also has viable KOing options in Bonus Fruit's key and flying Fire Hydrant that can both KO quite early; because of their extreme knockback, but the former needs to be charged in order to be accessible, whereas the latter can be easily utilied against Pac-Man just as he is about to launch it; as expected from the reflection of projectiles. Additionally, Pac-Man's overall average range at best and awkward hitboxes can make landing hits or spacing difficult against opponents with higher reach than Pac-Man himself, while his overall average mobility at best can make it difficult to both chase down opponents or create space and charge his Bonus Fruits, especially against rushdown-oriented characters.

Pac-Man’s tether grab (while nowhere as awful as it was in and ) is still flawed in a few situations. His grab is extremly punishble; as it possess some risk which leaves him vulnerable if he misses - thanks to its long animation and considerable amount of ending lag. Although his down throw and up throw have utility f being Pac-Man's most useful combo starters, his forward throw and back throw were unimpressive; due to both of them lacking utility beyond launching the opponent at a disadvantageous spot off-stage, nor possessing enough knockback to KO at realistic precents; with his strongest throws (up and back throws) KOing at around 200%, with the latter KOing much earlier than up throw.

Despite their perks, all of Pac-Man's special moves can be utilized against him; as expected from reflected projectiles. Bonus Fruit's objects are items that can only exist once at a time; hence the opponents can grab them out of the air, nullifying one of Pac-Man's only projectiles so long as they hold onto it. So long as Bonus Fruit is nullified, Pac-Man is disadvantaged at spacing, KOing and mindgames, while a competent opponent can utilize his own Bonus Fruit against Pac-Man himself. His Fire Hydrant, another projectile, can be turned against him as well; it can be knocked back or reflected by opponents, even in the first few frames when it is released, making it possible for Pac-Man to immediately be dealt noticeable damage. Its pushing effect also affects and pushes Pac-Man himself away from it, and can expense Pac-Man a stock if he is careless. Despite being powerful to KO quite early while also functioning as a fantastic recovery, Power Pellet is highly predictable and can be highly interrupted by any attack; though its Super Armor when he eats the Power Pellet, which drops a healing Power Pellet that can be utilized or eaten by the opponent, and his Pac-Jump, though giving great vertical height to make it a fantastic recovery, can also be utilized by opponents for gimping Pac-Man's own recovery, or even harming the trampoline. Due to these possibilities, a good Pac-Man player must keep watch of where his items are in order to inflict the highest knockback possible at a safer range, and avoid his items' abilities being turned against him.

Overall, Pac-Man is described as a versatile zoner; Pac-Man excels at mindgames and damage-racking, yet his moveset's overall mediocre base knockback and average range make him difficult for him to KO opponents early. As a result, he is dependent on utilizing traps and zoning; in order to continually deal damage and set up a KO, such as collectively using his aerial game, Bonus Fruit, and varied recovery to edgeguard. While Pac-Man's special moves grant him a uniquely versatile moveset, they can also hinder him in battle, as one careless move can ultimately decide the momentum of not only himself, but even the whole match itself.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Possibly due to his low-tier status in Smash 4 (ranked 46th out of 55 characters; ranking at the top of F tier), Pac-Man has been significantly buffed overall in his transition to Ultimate.

One of Pac-Man's biggest buffs involves his grab, which was widely regarded as the worst grab in Super Smash Bros. 4 due to its lag and hitbox issues. It is now significantly faster overall, acts as one continuous hitbox instead of separate short-lasting ones, and is more in line with the cast due to the universal increase to grab ending lag, eliminating his worst weakness and giving him a very reliable grab. Additionally, Bonus Fruit now cycles significantly faster and allows Pac-Man to charge cancel by jumping, giving him more options and speeding up a previously slow-charging projectile. If Pac-Man picks up a fruit he previously dropped, he can begin the cycle at the one he is currently holding. This technique, dubbed Fruit Recycling, allows Pac-Man to constantly pressure with his Bonus Fruits by allowing him to switch fruits and set up new combos after catching a fruit. The Bell fruit can now paralyze opponents if Z-dropped as well, granting a new item setup.

Other improvements come in the form of changes to his mobility; his overall speed is faster; compared to his mediocre speed in Smash 4. His recovery reaches further, as Power Pellet is faster and less punishable, grants even more distance, has less lag on a wall collision, and no longer makes him tumble when he runs into the ground, instead allowing him to move along the floor. He has also received an abundance of buffs to his standard moveset: his Up and Down tilt attacks have less lag, and some of his best aerial combo initiators (such as neutral aerial and forward aerial) have altered knockback, allowing his attacks to flow better into each other. The universal reduction to landing lag further improves his respectable combo ability by allowing him access to his quick aerials, while the ability to dash cancel ground moves lets him approach with his tilts.

Some of his attacks have new benefits, with moves such as down tilt being less punishable due to momentum changes, dash attack hitting one extra time while having even less endlag (relative to the final hit), down aerial connecting better and doing more damage, and his new up tilt reaching higher while also being much faster. Finally, his mediocre KO potential has been improved, as his punishable smash attacks have less startup, forward smash in particular is much stronger, Power Pellet's fully charged sweetspot is much stronger, and the aforementioned buffs to Bonus Fruit allow Pac-Man to access the Key projectile more easily.

However, Pac-Man received some noticeable nerfs that affect his combo game. The mechanics of his Bonus Fruits have been changed in many ways, severely limiting the variety of item techniques he can perform: the time window for catching fruits is now very narrow, as most of the fruits disappear almost immediately after hitting an opponent, while the Cherry and Strawberry now have a set distance and no longer linger on the ground. Z-dropped fruits cannot be picked up again, and with the changes to footstools and locks, Pac-Man can no longer perform his notorious zero-to-death footstool combos. While all these changes prevent the opponent from capitalizing on his own fruits, it also makes his item-camping play even more straightforward. Fire Hydrant's physics have also been changed, as it loses more momentum and height from each bounce, making it less effective for coverage and setups when sent flying. In addition, many moves are less useful for launching Hydrant, lessening the variety of coverage and pressure.

His new up tilt is more situational than his previous up tilt, as it can no longer hit opponents directly next to him, and it is unable to hit his Fire Hydrant to send it at a backwards angle. Neutral and forward aerials can no longer lock, removing lock followups, though this is compensated by their adjusted knockback values which allow them to combo at a wider percent range. Pac-Jump is even more exploitable than before, as opponents can now hit the trampoline to reduce its uses. Finally, Pac-Man retains many of his former issues despite his buffs, such as mediocre range and a dependence on setups to KO.

Overall, Pac-Man's moveset is now more consistent for fighting against close confrontations, and his tools have been improved to keep up with the fast pace of Ultimate. The changes overall make Pac-Man a significantly more formidable fighter, though his playstyle has less of an emphasis over item stalling and rewards item positioning and setups more than before. Though Pac-Man's representation is generally poor, he has obtained very strong results competitively thanks to the efforts of players such as, , and especially. As a result, Pac-Man has achieved a positive reception across the community overall, where he is near universally considered to be a high tier character in comparison to his low tier status in SSB4, with some players like and  even claiming Pac-Man is a top tier.

Update history
Aside from glitch fixes, Pac-Man has received a mix of buffs and nerfs via game updates, but has been buffed slightly overall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Pac-Man's hitboxes, see here.
 * Pac-Man can crawl and wall jump.

On-screen appearance

 * Starts out as the traditional 2D classic-retro Pac-Man sprite; performs a sluggish chomp, and then jumps out of it into his traditional 3D form.

Taunts

 * Up Taunt: Performs the Namco Roulette; where he raises his right palm forwards, and summons a sprite and associated sound effect from a respective classic Namco game.
 * Side Taunt: Turns into his classic 2D-design, and chomps from side-to-side while his chomping sound from Pac-Man plays.
 * Down Taunt: Lays on the ground as 2 fairies from Pac-Land fly in rings, and a few music-notes appear above Pac-Man head. During this, an arrangement of the first five notes of the intermission theme from Pac-Man plays.

Idle Poses

 * Scratches his head in a confusing manner; similarily to the particular pose during 's cameo in his reveaal-trailer.
 * Looks at the screen and winks while giving a thumbs-up to the audience; similarly to his official artwork from Smash 4, and furthermore resembles his spirit artwork and 's up taunt.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses

 * Left: Swirls forward while chomping in his traditional 2D-design, jumps out of it in his 3D-design, trips, and fist-pumps happily.
 * Up: Chases a vulnerable ghost in 2D form, then poses in 3D form.
 * Right: Falls from the sky, lands on the ground while a sign reading "7650" appears on the foreground, then winks and gives a thumbs up with Buttercup; who flies from the top of the screen. This particular pose is based on Pac-Land. Both the sign and Buttercup are absent in Team Battles.

In competitive play
Ever since the release of Ultimate, Pac-Man has seen a highly positive response; thanks to buffs to his mobility, a faster cycle-period during his Bonus Fruit, and an improved grab and KO potential; all of which improved his combo ability. As a result of the buffs, Pac-Man has seen powerful results from players, most notably and, ever since the early metagame. Tea in particular has recently seen increasing success, placing top 8 at several majors and supermajors and defeating several top-players from around the world. As a result, Pac-Man has achieved a significantly stronger reception from the community in comparison to his days in Smash 4, with most people believing Pac-Man is either at the top of high-tier or in top-tier.

Most historically significant players
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Fall 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from July 13th, 2019 to December 15th, 2019.

See also: Category:Pac-Man professionals (SSBU)


 * - One of the best online Japanese Pac-Man players. Placed 2nd at, 3rd at , and 5th at Tamisuma 284 SP. Previously ranked 10th on the 12th Smashmate SP ranking, 11th on the 7th SP ranking, and 12th on the 3rd SP ranking. Offline, placed 1st at both and  with wins over players like , , and . Currently ranked 87th on the Japan Player Rankings.
 * - The best Pac-Man player in Puerto Rico. Placed 1st at, , and , 4th at , and 25th at with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - The best Pac-Man player in Mexico. Placed 5th at and 17th at, , and  with wins over players such as  and.
 * - The best Pac-Man player in New England. Placed 7th at, 9th at , and 13th at both and . Currently ranked 6th on the Connecticut Power Rankings.
 * - The best Pac-Man player online. Placed 3rd at, 4th at , 9th at , and 17th at . Currently ranked 47th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v7. Offline, placed 17th at and 33rd at  with wins over players such as  and.
 * - One of the best Pac-Man players in Europe. Placed 13th at and, 17th at , and 25th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - One of the best Pac-Man players in the world. Placed 7th at both and, 9th at both  and , and 13th at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * (#12) - The best Pac-Man player in the world. Placed 1st at, and , 2nd at both  and , and 3rd at  with wins over players such as , , and.
 * - Placed 4th at, 7th at , 17th at , and 33rd at with wins over players such as , , and . Online, placed 9th at , 13th at , and 25th at . Formerly ranked 46th on the Wi-Fi Warrior Rank v5.

: Ageless Classic
Pac-Man fights classic characters who debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment System or appeared in an NES game at least once. These characters are listed in accordance to their original release date, similar to All Star-Mode in SSB4. substitutes for the Link of the original Legend of Zelda, whose artwork depicted him as younger than the modern. To go with the theme, Pac-Man faces Dracula as the final boss of his route as he was the oldest boss who debuted on the NES console, like many characters in his route, and is a supernatural foe similar to the Ghosts.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Pac-Man has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Despite being absent in the opening cutscene of World of Light, he was vaporized by the lightning beams; and then was later under Galeem's imprisonment; alongside the rest of the fighters (with the exclusion of ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

By taking 's route, the player can find Pac-Man near the mushroom-area.

Spirit
PAC-MAN's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Pac-Man has been unlocked. Unlocking Pac-Man in World of Light allows the player to preview the 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.

Trivia

 * Pac-Man's stock icon, alongside that of the three different types, is among the few ones that do not depict the character's head. Instead, it takes on the look of Pac-Man's original arcade sprite, which also served as a life counter in the arcade game.
 * Instead of having recolored sections of his stock icon for his alternate costumes, his palette swaps are represented by a colored neon bar underneath his stock icon, which appear similar to the wall sections from the original Pac-Man.
 * Pac-Man's artwork in Ultimate resembles his artwork in Pac-Man Vs., albeit with Pac-Man angled differently.
 * Pac-Man is unlockable in 's Classic Mode column, likely referencing how the two are round balls that primarily revolve around eating enemies.
 * Alongside and, both fighters appear in the "Ghosts" spirit Battle; Kirby represents Blinky, Jigglypuff represents Pinky, Squirtle represents Inky, while Pac-Man himself represents Clyde.
 * In addition, is another fighter to appear in one of the spirit battles where it involves ghosts from the  series, as Mr. Game & Watch (in his blue costume) represents TURN-TO-BLUE.
 * Pac-Man is the only third-party character in Kirby's unlock column.
 * In Pac-Man's showcase video, it shows that the water from Fire Hydrant can be punched out of the air, but this is not possible in the final game.
 * Pac-Man is the only character where one of his rounds in Classic Mode uses no music.
 * If Pac-Man uses his Final Smash during a match and wins the match, and if his "Up" victory pose plays, the large Pac-Man sprite will not appear, causing Pac-Man's model to appear out of thin air.
 * Pac-Man's forward aerial deals exactly 7.65%, which is a subtle easter egg: the number 765 can be pronounced in Japanese as "na-mu-ko". This particular number, known as a  number, commonly appears in Namco games and is even referenced through Pac-Man's Final Smash.
 * Pac-Man,, , and are the only fighters who do not emit red-flashing eyes in the spirit battle previews in World of Light.
 * Humorously, the 3D model used for his Classic form is labeled internally as "pizzapacman."
 * Pac-Man is one of the two third-party fighters in the base game that do not appear in any CGI trailers in Ultimate, the other being.
 * Despite also debuting on the Nintendo Entertainment System or appearing at least once on the NES,, , , , , , Koopalings, and  do not appear in Pac-Man's Classic Mode route.