User:MasterofTwoDimensions

Mr. Game & Watch (, Mr. Game & Watch) is a playable veteran character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl; returning from his debut from Super Smash Bros. Melee. Initially, Mr. Game & Watch was indirectly revealed from a leaked copy of the game. However, he was officially confirmed on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! website on March 10, 2008, one day after Brawl was released in North America. Once again, he utilizes Game & Watch-esque sound effects that are derived in the form of "bleep-bloops" from the traditional series of the same name to represent and, furthermore, develop his "voice".

Mr. Game & Watch is currently ranked at 3rd of S tier on Brawl's tier list, placing him at the bottom of S tier. This renders him as both the second-highest ranking veteran and the third highest-ranking fighter in Brawl. The largest benefit Mr. Game & Watch gained in Brawl were the physics-changes; where he is significantly less vulnerable to combos, his back aerial is significantly more useful; due to hitlag, and the leaning towards defensive gameplay boosts Mr. Game & Watch's strengths in general. Mr. Game & Watch's strengths include a formidable set of aerial and combo games; as well as for impressive damage-output, despite his minimal size and weight. For some of his individual attributes, Mr. Game & Watch possesses large and disjointed hitboxes in most of his attacks; with his attacks being rather fast in terms of startup and ending lag and the majority being quite powerful (especially his brutal smash attacks; all of which can reliably KO under 100% while none being particularly slow). Mr. Game & Watch additionally possesses amazing survivability for a character of his weight class; as his amazing bucket braking momentum-canceling gives him the horizontal endurance potential of a lighter heavyweight, while his recovery covers great distance and provides great protection and intangibility against edgeguarding. Mr. Game & Watch also possesses above-average speed in terms of movement (the 15th-fastest running and 18th-fastest walking speeds), and he also possesses good mobility, effective tilts and aerial attacks, and a down throw that can force a tech-chase opportunity on any fighter at any percent. His landing lag, while supplemented by auto-cancels, is actually quite low and is among the best in the game in terms of the total amount of frames in aerial-move-lag upon landing.

However, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a few remarkable weaknesses too. While Mr. Game & Watch's attacks are fast in terms of startup, they are particularly heavy in ending lag; with his aerials also all possessing high landing lag (with the exception of his neutral aerial). His attacks, while possessing large hitboxes, additionally possess poor-to-mediocre reach. This results in him being easily punished when his attacks are shielded, and complicates safe approaches. His projectile is also laggy and short-ranged, while being mostly ineffective; preventing him from being able to outcamp most characters to cover his approaching-difficulties. Additionally, he is very susceptible to vertical KO attacks; as his vertical endurance is among the worst (Bucket Braking is significantly less effective when launched vertically), his grab and throw game is rather poor in general (he possesses one of the shortest-reaching grabs and near useless throws outside of his down throw), and his rolls are rather slow while gaining among the shortest distance.

Regardless, Mr. Game & Watch's strengths significantly outweigh his aforementioned flaws, placing him solidly at around top-tier; and resulting in overall powerful matchups, that are dominating and countering against characters below him and a few on top of him on the tier list, while being lackluster against, and he has achieved tremendous tournament-results.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following:
 * Play 250 VS. matches.
 * Clear Target Smash!! with 30 different characters on any single difficulty level.
 * Have Mr. Game & Watch join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary (Battleship Halberd Bridge).

With the exception of the third method, Mr. Game & Watch must then be defeated on Flat Zone 2.

Attributes
Mr. Game & Watch's archetype as a short lightweight packs an extreme punch; as his attributes marginally differ from his fellow lightweights in his weight class. Initially, his most remarkable attribute is his small size: Mr. Game & Watch possesses among the smallest size (although his size was increased in Brawl) in the game, however, he is taller than a few of the small-sized figthers; like, and the. Subsequently, Mr. Game & Watch possesses extreme aerial mobility; he sports the 9th-fastest air speed, the 10th-highest air acceleration, the 17th-lowest gravity, the 10th-slowest falling speed, and the 16th-highest air friction. Furthermore, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a versatile grounded mobility; despite the 5th-lowest set of jumps, and additionally a minimal short hop; he possesses the 13th-highest traction, and the 15th-fastest running and 18th-fastest walking speeds in the game; respectively. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch's mobility rather opposes to the other lightweight fellows, but his low falling speed makes him somewhat susceptible to juggles and, although he is less vulnerable to combos, early KOs.

Unlike most other lightweight fellows, Mr. Game & Watch possesses several attacks with favourable disjointed hitboxes. The Ice Climbers are a pair of middleweights (weighing the same as ,, , , and ) that are the archetypical tag-team characters depicted in "two-in-one", though each Climber is a unique character in their own rights and mobilities. The partner (Nana; by default) has higher mobility attributes (walking, dashing, air and falling speeds, gravity, and air acceleration), but simultaneously receives more damage and knockback than the leader (Popo; by default). Their aerial mobility is quite exceptional and overall decent: the leader is paired with for possessing the 3rd-slowest air speed, and the partner possesses the 8th-slowest air speed, the 21st-highest air acceleration (the partner) and the 25th-highest air acceleration (the leader), below-average gravity, the 13th-highest air friction, and the 10th-slowest falling speed. Their grounded mobility is also very exceptional too: they possess decent walking and dashing speeds; though the leader possesses the 18th-slowest running speeds, and the partner possesses above-average running speeds, and both are paired with for possessing the 7th-slowest initial dash, and they both possess below-average walking speeds, and the 3rd-lowest traction in the game. Another unique trait that the partner possesses is their forward aerial's ability to meteor smash. Due to technically being a pair of fighters, the Ice Climbers are able to grab two different items. Unlike in previous installments, they are no longer hard to grab and throw, unless the partner is the one being grabbed (when the leader is grabbed, the partner will panic). When separated, AI takes control of the partner, and guides them back to the leader. In this scenario, it is advisable to stick to and protect the partner.

The Ice Climbers' most primary strength is their oppressive damage-racking capabilities when together; they possess swift frame-data in their playstyle and, in this case of up tilt and Blizzard, multiple hits. This means they possess high KO power, inflicting high shield damage and massive damage-output when together. Starting with their grounded game, they possess decent mobility on the ground; with their running speed fast enough to approach their opponents, making them more like a rushdown-archetype, and they have good versatility in their grounded attacks: their standard attack can hit up to multiple times while not being an infinite-jab, and the finisher launches at a semi-spike and KOs outright at around very high precents. Their forward tilt come out quickly on the 9th frame, and kills reliably under 120% by the ledge and launching the opponents at a semi-spike, whilst possessing remarkable range and possesses the notable interesting trait of being angled either upwards or downwards, giving it good edgeguarding abilities. Their up tilt possesses the weakest knockback of all tilt attacks, but this makes it more notorious for being an anti-airing and juggling tool; due to its powerful multi-hit nature and high damage-output, as well as possessing good interruptibility against several stall-then-falls and down aerials, which is further compounded by their remarkably high range and high combo potential. Finally, their down tilt comes out instantaneously on the 8th frame, possesses good range and powerfully semi-spikes the opponents, KOing reliably below 100% and leading to edgeguards. All of their smash attacks possess high power, low startup, two hits, high damage and remarkable range while possessing unique properties: Forward smash is among the strongest in the game if both climbers are together; KOing at around 85%, but is still solid to KO at high precents enough if separated while possessing low startup and acceptable range. His up smash possesses high knockback; KOing at around 90%, while also having great range and low startup (like their other smash attacks), making them effective for anti-airing and juggling at low precents. Additionally, it possesses the notable trait of possessing a hitbox at their primary bodies that function as sourspots. Down smash possesses the highest range of all smash attacks; reaches behind and in front of themselves, and deals solid knockback to KO reliably under 115%. In the end, the climbers possess an excellent arsenal of smash attacks that possess high versatility.

The Ice Climbers' solid grounded game is also reflected by their versatile aerial game; possessing versatile, long-ranged, swift and disjointed aerials, while additionally possessing fast frame-data. Their neutral aerial function very similarly to a sex kick, comes out quickly on the 6th frame (giving it almost minimal-to-no startup), launches the opponent at a strong semi-spike and can KO at around 150% by the ledge during the initial frames. Their forward aerial is the Ice Climbers' strongest aerial; an effective KOing and anti-juggling option; killing as early as 100%, possesses remarkable range, given the Ice Climbers' small size; similarly to, , and , it interestingly consists of more than one hit for a forward aerial, allowing it to deal more damage. Additionally, it contains a sweetspot at the partner's hammer at the hammer-head that powerfully meteor smashes the opponents to KO as early as 65%, though it is the Ice Climbers' slowest aerial, making it a bit predictable and easier to read, it can easily gimp several characters with poor recoveries, and this is a primary component of the wall of pain technique: once an opponent with a poor recovery is launched off-stage, the Ice Climbers can follow up with several back aerials and sourspotted forward aerials until they reach the blast zone, where the Ice Climbers can finish the opponent off with another forward or back aerial, or even Belay. Their back aerial comes out unexpectedly on the 8th frame, deals solidly high knockback to KO as early as 115% while possessing acceptable range. Their up aerial are one of their most useful aerials for several amount of situations; juggling at low percents, racking up damage, KO confirms, an effective KOing option at around 100%, anti-airing and being a powerful finisher near the vertical blast line. Lastly, their down aerial, though their least-useful aerial overall, is a comfortable landing option; because of traveling much slower than the other stall-then-falls, and the partner's hitbox will powerfully semi-spike the opponents to KO reliably as early as 140% center-stage and 95% by the ledge. Because it travels slower than the other stall-then-falls, this makes it among the most safest stall-then-fall in the game for edgeguarding; like. Landing with the aerial allows them to follow up with various other attacks; such as a tilt attack, a smash attack, Squall Hammer or Belay, which allows the Ice Climbers to take stocks incredibly early.

The Ice Climbers sport an acceptable grab and throw game; despite possessing the shortest set of grabs in the game. Down throw can easily combo into up aerial, neutral aerial, Squall Hammer, or forward aerial; with the latter being used for KO confirms, and can also combo into Belay at high precents for good KO confirms. Forward throw and back throw, the latter dealing the lowest knockback of all throws, have utility of sending the opponents off-stage; although they are overall the Ice Climbers' least useful throws in general, they possess slight combo potential at around low percentages. Their up throw deals very high knockback; allowing for early off-stage KOs near the vertical blast zone, while also comboing into up aerial, back aerial, neutral aerial, forward aerial and even Belay. Lastly, their down throw is the Ice Climbers' strongest throw, being able to KO reliably below 170%.

Lastly, the Ice Climbers possess a few interesting attacks in their arsenal. Initially, they possesses a versatile zoning and edgeguarding game: their neutral special (Ice Shot) is an icy projectile fired by each Ice Climber which slides along the ground, making it impossible to avoid by crouching/crawling; and can easily create difficulties to several characters who are trying to recover to reach the ledge; like and, though it can damage the Climbers themselves if the blocks are attacked an reflected. This makes them one of the most formidable edgeguarders in the game, and they are difficult to gimp themselves, however. Their down special (Blizzard) can freeze the opponents, and has both Ice Climbers attacking at each side whether on the ground or mid-aerially. Because it freezes the opponent for a good period, it can easily gimp several recoveries and allow them to follow up with multiple moves; such as up tilt, forward smash or up smash. Their side special (Squall Hammer) is a decent approaching attack with good multi-hit nature, damage, range and speed; as well as for minimal lag; spinning the Ice Climbers around each other in a forward-moving hammer-wielding attack, and the final hit deals strong knockback and has good combo potential in return, while also KOing at around high precents off-stage or near the vertical blast zone. By mashing the button, they can gain noticeable height and stall then in the air for a moment, making it a potential recovering option (albeit not an effective one). Their up special (Belay) is a powerful KO move (though not as powerful as in Brawl); should the second Climber connect with the opponent, but it is generally a risky use of the move given that it separates the Climbers and forcing them into a helpless condition. It is much more suited for recovery, as well as for saving the separated partner from falling off-stage. Because the partner possesses intangibility and a hitbox upon ascending and deals powerful knockback, this makes it deadly, as it can easily gimp characters with poor recoveries; like and, and lastly can function as a powerful anti-airing, out-of-shield and stage-spiking tool. Although minor, the Ice Climbers nevertheless have a unique fighter ability: their traction is not affected by the conditions of slippery surfaces; such as ice, whereas they will somewhat slide on non-slippery surfaces.

However, with their amalgamation of strengths out of the way, the Ice Climbers are remarkably flawless. The Ice Climbers are paired with ,, , , and for being portrayed as the 17th-lightest characters in the game. Combined with their floatiness, poor air speed and overall average mobility at best, they overall possess fragile survivability at best. As a result, the Ice Climbers are easily knocked out as early as 35% by a sufficiently powerful set of attacks. This is further accomplished by the loss of wobbling and infinity of chain-grabbing; and the fact that the partner (Nana, by default) is considerably lighter than the leader (Popo, by default); taking more damage and knockback, despite possessing higher mobility than the leader simultaneously; this consequencely makes the partner-climber significantly weaker than the leader, and very susceptible to early KOs. One of the Ice Climbers' greatest their dependability on each-other; more remarkably, the partner is the primary issue of this particular flaw. The Ice Climbers possesses the most devastating damage-racking and KOing capabilities, and additionally one of the most powerful meteor smashes in the game in their forward aerial and a fantastic recovery - special thanks to the partner (Nana, by default). Should the leader (Popo, by default) lose the CPU-controlled partner-climber, the leader lacks the ability fight nearly as effectively. As the Ice Climbers' attacks were designed to be two-in-one, the leader's attacks alone reduce their damage-racking and KO ability, making it much harder to accumulate percentages on the opponents; despite the power of their smash attacks. The leader alone also cannot perform nearly as multiple chain-grabs without the partner; combinated with the removal of wobbling, greatly reducing the threatening nature of their typical grabs. In return, the leader alone is left vulnerable to chain-grabs and throwing-setups; due to their lackluster air speed and falling speed. Unfortunately, several characters possess attacks, such as 's shine, and 's special moves and 's forward aerial, that can easily separate the leader from the partner; which is furthermore exacerbated by the fact that the partner is effectively more fragile than the leader to compound this particular problem. In addition, while the climbers possess fantastic range for their small size, they still possess shorter range than a handful of the cast; like, , , and ; which is further exacerbated by the fact that multiple of their moves (ex. forward smash, down tilt and more notably, up tilt) possess underwhelming range to compensate. As a consequence, the Ice Climbers are easily kept at bay by arm's length and their approaches are cancelled out by several of the projectile-wielding cast; like and.

Furthermore, a powerful grounded-based approach, they possess a complicated aerial approach. Thanks to an incredible jumping height, the 3rd-slowest air speed (the leader), the 8th-slowest air speed (the partner), the 10th-slowest falling speed, an above-average short hop, sluggish and laggy aerials; giving the Ice Climbers a poor SHFFL. Their slacky aerial and falling speeds also make the ability of both landing and pursuing airborne opponents extremely difficult. However, due to their poor air/falling speeds, and only one situational meteor smash (their forward aerial), their aerial game does not complement their powerful grounded game overall. These various traits also give the Ice Climbers a below-average edgeguarding game, and they lack an extremely effective off-stage option; giving them a poor off-stage presence. In addition, the Ice Climbers have the second-worst traction in the game after and, this makes them highly reliant on wavedashing to approach, and technical bugs; such as mistimed air dodges, can set them up for significant punishment. Owing to their slightly below-average weight and low falling speed, the Ice Climbers are also highly vulnerable to being KO'd from the upper blast line. Additionally, the Ice Climbers lack most reliable KO options outside of their smash attacks, forward aerial, down throw and Belay: as most of their attacks are either too fragile to KO at realistic precents (forward and back throw), short-ranged (up tilt), slow/sluggish or difficult to land (forward aerial), or easily avoidable (Belay).

Additionally, while the climbers possess one of the most formidable chain-grabs in the game, their grab and throw game beyond their chain-grabs, down throw and up throw (their primary combo throws) is outstandingly lackluster; although it is in comparison to their traditional grab and throw game in Brawl, it still drastically flawed in multiple situations; their set of grabs is the dead-shortest in the game (giving them among the shortest-reaching set of grabs in the game), one of the least-damaging pummels in the game; while among the fastest in the game, pointless throws outside of up throw and down throw. Although up throw can surprisingly KO quite early near the vertical blast zone, it lacks enough KO power reliably well on-stage beyond 200%, and, to make this flaw even more worse, none of their throws possess enough KO power to kill reliably at around realistic precentages; with their strongest throws, up throw and down throw, KOing at around 200%. Additionally, forward throw and back throw, their weakest throws in terms of KO potential, lack utility beyond launching the opponent at a disadvantageous position off-stage, and their minimal knockback denies them to KO reliably well beyond realistic precents until well past 200% by the ledge, or even earlier if close to the blast zones. Lastly, the leader's grab is highly punishable and vulnerable if missed; thanks to its considerable amount of ending lag. The Ice Climbers also sport mediocre defensive attributes; despite swift rolls, their rolls possess small period of intangibility, and are quite slow, somewhat laggy, often punishable if utilized sparingly; which is shared with their spot dodges and air dodges; though the latter grants more intangibility, making it less punishable. Their defensive attributes are more situational in general: when the leader and the partner are separated; while the AI guides the partner back to the leader, the partner possesses unability to function and defend themselves from, regardless if careless or not, almost all threats. Because of this, it is important for the leader to hurry back to the partner, though this can potentially lead the leader into dangerous situations as well.

Lastly, their primary recovering method in their up special (Belay) is also on the situational side of the cast. Combined with the fact that the partner becomes intangible during the attack, it is one of the greatest recoveries in the game, and additionally one of the hardest to gimp - thanks to the partner. However, should the leader perform their recovery without the partner, their options in their recovery are entirely limited; the leader is forced to recover with Squall Hammer, which travels only at a horizontal distance, and it descends quite fast and travels at a negligible height if mashing the special-button. Overall, their recovery, while one of the longest in the game and functioning similar to Fire, is prone to endangering the partner; which is further compounded by their lackluster air speed, as they can either miss the ledge entirely or be left vulnerable against edgeguarders. To punish their recovery, the partner can be easily KO'd or separated to prevent them from using their recovery more effectively. If the partner is unable to reach the ledge, then it can place the leader at a disadvantageous spot off-stage; even if they make it back to the stage. Since the partner flings the leader much higher, it is possible to overshoot the ledge; leaving the leader uncapable to defend themselves while descending on the stage in a helpless condition; combined with their floatiness. As a result of these particular drawbacks, their recovery is one of the easiest to gimp; thanks to the leader's vulnerableness, despite being placed below the intangible partner during the move.

All in all, the Ice Climbers are considered to be glass cannon-like puppeteers; racking up damage and KOing their opponents very easily, at the expense of low defensive capabilities. Beyond these particular strengths, the Ice Climbers are both prone to being finished off just as quickly before most of the other characters do.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Previously, the Ice Climbers were infamous for possessing one of the most powerful damage-racking capabilities; thanks to wobbling in Melee and infinite chain-grabs in Brawl, and additionally achieve a KO from them. Possibly as a result of this, in the transition from Brawl to Ultimate, the Ice Climbers were drastically nerfed; although they were effectively buffed simultaneously. Their grab and throw game was significantly impacted the most; the partner-climber can no longer grab or function when the leader is grabbed or throwing an opponent (except when in the air), the leader's set of grabs possess noticeably increased startup and ending lag; making them highly punishable if missed (compared to ). Combined with the removal of wobbling and the reducement of the leader's set of grabs, their infamous chain-grabs were completely removed; and the leader's grabbing range is the dead-shortest in the game. Additionally, they retain their weak and pointless throws outside of down throw (with none of them beyond down throw possessing much utility or enough KO power), and their up throw's knockback has been reduced; disallowing it to KO reliably at around realisitc precents; not even KOing reliably well beyond 200%. Lastly, their back throw and forward throw are only useful for launching the opponents off-stage, albeit they are both still too weak to KO at around realistic precents.

Outside of this, the Ice Climbers have received a combined bag of buffs and nerfs. On the nerfed side; the Ice Climbers' nerfs were more remarkable than they were in Brawl, the base damage-output on several of their attacks in their toolkit have been highly reduced; and several of their attacks connect less reliably when they are together; due to its reduced hitlag. The partner-climber also no longer performs Blizzard behind the leader when utilized on the ground, and Blizzard itself is less effective as a spacing tool; due to being almost useless when used at maximum-range, as well as for its increased ending lag and cooldown. The partner-climber is also significantly more easier to launch and KO than the leader; due to taking 1.02x more damage and knockback from all attacks; and the AI's intelligence has been reduced, leading to more likely self-destructs; making it harder for each of them to stay together and, simultaneously, makes the partner significantly more lighter and more fragile than the leader. Finally; due to the particular changes in Belay's hitboxes, the move can gain significantly less height if the hitbox is out-prioritized, and its overall size is smaller; making it harder to connect against grounded opponents.

The result of their oppressive damage-racking capabilities have resulted in damage-reductions and, in this case of forward smash, range-decreasements for several of the Ice Climbers' attacks in their kit; like forward tilt, up tilt, all smash attacks and, most remarkably, their up aerial. While their new up aerial possesses much more versatility and utility than their previous up air, it possesses less vertical range to the point that it will deny to strike grounded opponents. It is also much more situational than in Brawl; due to its higher lag (increased startup and ending lag), and its higher difficulty to connect against grounded opponents. Additionally, while their new down smash is more powerful than in Brawl, it is much harder to connect both hits together if both climbers are on-stage. Even if it does, the maximum-damage is much lower and, without the partner-climber, only strikes at a single side when performing it solo.

However, in terms of buffs, as with almost every other returning veteran; their mobility has been considerably increased and the partner-climber is now faster and possesses much higher mobility than the leader, making it harder to separate them. Several of their attacks; including forward smash, down smash, and forward aerial possess higher damage and KO power, and the Ice Climbers possess a superior combo and juggling game; due to the removal of hitstun-canceling and the weakening of SDI; respectively. This is further complemented by the fact that desynching remains as a formidablly powerful tool that gives the Ice Climbers highly effective and high-damaging combos. Thanks to improved freezing properties, the Ice Climbers can freeze the opponents with Blizzard much easier and longer, which can lead to high damage-output, KOs while edgeguarding, shield-pressure, and follow-ups if performed correctly.

Additionally, the Ice Climbers gained two new attacks in their down smash and up aerial (in a similar fashion to ); their down smash now depicts the Ice Climbers sweeping their hammers in a downward-lunging arc horizontally while facing each respective side, which covers effectively much more range if both clcimbers are present and deal much more knockback, improving their KO potential; although it doesn't hit twice like in the the previous game. Their up aerial now depicts the Ice Climbers swinging their hammers overhead at a horizontal arc instead of holding them overhead in the air, which covers much more horizontal and vertical range and deal much more knockback, improving their KO potential more effectively. In addition to this, their grabboxes also extend significantly more further; giving the leader's grabs decent reach. Their throws have also been improved; their up throw deals more damage while also remaining as an effective combo starter. Although its knockback has been reduced, it has high knockback scaling; allowing it to KO incredibly early near the upper blast line. Additionally, they also recieved a new down throw; where it depicts the leader lifting the opponent overhead before slamming them onto the ground. Compared to their previous down throw, it has much more utility and versatility, and deals much more knockback, allowing it to KO middleweights reliably under 195%. Although its combo potential has been worsened at mid-to-high precents, it still remains as an effective combo starter at low-to-mid precents.

Nevertheless, the Ice Climbers are significantly less effective than in Brawl, although to what extent is unknown, especially since they are difficult to play at a high level and it is unknown how far their desync combos can be developed and be applied into competitive matches. Even with the game mechanics giving them multiple benefits, the changes have either weakened or entirely removed the tools that have made the Ice Climbers prominent. Despite this, players such as, , and have achieved respectable tournament results while using them.

Ground attacks

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

Special moves

 * Ice Shot:
 * Squall Hammer:
 * Belay:
 * Blizzard:
 * Iceberg:
 * Squall Hammer:
 * Belay:
 * Blizzard:
 * Iceberg:
 * Belay:
 * Blizzard:
 * Iceberg:
 * Blizzard:
 * Iceberg:
 * Blizzard:
 * Iceberg:
 * Blizzard:
 * Iceberg:
 * Iceberg:
 * Iceberg:
 * Iceberg:

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, traditionally like his previous portrayal 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 appearance 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 multiple of his moves 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 fighters 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, making Mr. Game & Watch the oldest figther in the game, and Pac-Man, the second-oldest.
 * 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 after going past the west-direction of 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 of s, is among the few characters that don't 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 eponymous arcade-game.
 * Instead of possessing 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 official artwork in Ultimate resembles his artwork in PAC-MAN Vs., albeit it depicts Pac-Man being angled differently.
 * Pac-Man is the third-unlockable fighter in 's Classic Mode column; likely referencing how the two are round balls that primarily revolve around eating opponents. Furthermore, Pac-Man is the only third-party character in Kirby's unlock-column.
 * Alongside and, both fighters appear in the "Ghosts" Spirit Battles; Kirby represents Blinky, Jigglypuff represents Pinky, Squirtle represents Inky, while Pac-Man himself represents Clyde. Additionally,  is another fighter to make an appearance 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.
 * In Pac-Man's showcase-trailer, it shows that the water from Fire Hydrant can be punched out of the air, but this is not potential in the final game.
 * Pac-Man is currently the only character to possess a Classic Mode-route with one of the rounds playing no.
 * If Pac-Man utilizes his Final Smash during a match and wins the match, and if his upward-victory pose plays, the large 2D-Pac-Man sprite will not be displayed on the screen, causing Pac-Man's 3D-model to appear out of thin air. This was considered to be a noticeable bug.
 * Pac-Man's forward aerial deals exactly 7.65%, which is a subtle easter egg: the same particular number "765" can be pronounced in Japanese as "na-mu-ko". This particular number, known as a  number, commonly appears in the Namco games; and is even referenced through Pac-Man's Final Smash.
 * Pac-Man,, , and are the only fighters who deny to emit red/purple-flashing eyes through the previews of Spirit Battles in World of Light, though they possess red/purple-flasing eyes in-game of Spirit Battles, while the latter (Mr. Game & Watch) instead retains his regular appearance with no alterations or glowing eyes, rather using a variety of alternative costumes.
 * Humorously, the 3D model utilized for his classic appearance is labeled internally as "pizzapacman."
 * Pac-Man is one of the two third-party fighters in the base-game that make an absence in any CGI trailers in Ultimate, the other being.
 * Despite also debuting on the Nintendo Entertainment System or making an appearance at least once on the NES,, , , , , , Koopalings, and  make an absence in Pac-Man's route in Classic Mode.
 * Pac-Man is one of the two figthers to fight classic "old-school"-oriented video-game characters from the NES-era for opponents from retro-stages in their routes in Classic Mode; the other being . Additionally, Pac-Man is currently the only third-party to possess this particular trait. Their route are also vaugely similar to each-other, though the dates of the released video-games for Mr. Game & Watch's route is reversed.
 * Coincidentally, they are chronologically the oldest fighters in Ultimate, with Pac-Man being younger than Mr. Game & Watch by seven months, making Mr. Game & Watch the oldest figther in the game, and Pac-Man, the second-oldest.

Gallery
!colspan="4"| This article refers to Mr. Game & Watch's changes across time, following his addition in Beta 1.0. Mr. Game & Watch has undergone a massive plethora of buffs and nerfs; arguably the most out of any veteran in the game, while being overall significantly buffed. Although indirect bugs or nerfs related to down throw are denied to be underestimated and drastically outweigh the aforementioned buffs, his buffs are still apparent enough to drastically outweigh them all, ranking him as one of the most formidable characters in the game, despite being left in B tier in the most recent tier list.

Misc.


Rayman is a newcomer unlockable character in Super Smash Flash 2. His reveal was shown during the livestream at the third day of Super Smash Con 2018. His reveal was shown during the livestream of the third day at Super Smash Con 2018. His appearance is based on his design in the game Rayman Origins. His moveset consists of moves from throughout several games in the Rayman franchise, and retains his voice-clips from the same series.

Rayman is currently placed at 38th of C+ tier on the current tier list. Rayman has formidable KO moves in his smash attacks, all aerials, forward throw, up throw and down throw, and Helicopter, as well as for his potentially powerful special moves, LockJaw, Vortex and Plum, and has drastically long range throughout his moveset - thanks to his limbless trait and unique properties of his bodyparts. His relatively slow falling speed allows him to break out of combos and juggles, and combined with Helicopter, he has one of the best horizontal recoveries in the game, which can be extended with a Plum to make it one of the best vertical recoveries in the game. His range, combined with his LockJaw. which can be used as a tether grab, and Vortex, also make him a great edgeguarder, with his down aerial being notable for spiking opponents at the final hit. Due to his long-lasting aerials with lingering hitboxes, along with Plum that grants him midair jumps since it functions as a helpful platform, this helps in Rayman's great edgeguarding tactic in the wall of pain.

However, Rayman possesses a fair amount of notable weaknesses. Thanks to his limbless appearance, Rayman is tied with, and  for being the 13th-lightest character in the game. Combined with Rayman's floatiness, it causes Rayman to be suspectible of getting easily knocked out as early as 50% vertically, especially off the top of the screen. While his levitating body-parts give him depectively long range, they lack disjointed hitboxes and extend his hurtboxes, in a similar vein to 's playstyle, and his vertical recovery is very negative without a Plum, as Helicopter barely gives him negligible vertical distance and just slows down his vertical descent. Landing the sweetspot with his aerials are mostly difficult, and most of his attacks also tend to have blindspots on certain points.

Rayman has a small playerbase, but an overall effective presentation in online tournaments. The only notable competitive player of Rayman is Dog, who is currently active and has utility with Rayman, alongside, in tournaments. Though his weaknesses are not to be underestimated, his significant strengths drastically outnumber his aforementioned weaknesses, ranking him as one of the best characters in the game.

Attributes
Rayman is overall remarkable for being a speedy, yet floaty and relatively lightweight character who possesses outstanding mobility for a mid-lightweight. His grounded mobility is excellent: he has among the fastest dashing speeds in the game, the 5th-highest traction on par with, and the 6th-fastest walking speeds in the game on par with and. Rayman also has high aerial mobility: high amount of height in his jumps, decent air speed, low air acceleration, the 8th-lowest falling speed on par with. Overall, Rayman's mobility is quite exceptional for a handful of the cast, though his falling speed can be somewhat detrimental. Lastly, he also has a crawling ability and among the lowest crouch in the game that allows him to easily evade various attacks.

Overall, Rayman appears to be a particularly unorthodox character with his limbs levitating around his body. This trait gives Rayman his staple asset: an formidablly long melee range both in the ground and in the air. His jab's range, for example, is arguably among the longest in the game, even outspacing 's infinite-hit finisher. He also has highly fast frame data with his tilts, jab, up special, and aerials. His sends a flurry of punches to knock the opponents downward, making it a very frustrating combo move for opponents to deal with. These traits grant him a naturally strong combo game and strong spacing abilities.

Rayman's grounded game is his most tremendous asset. His running speed is one of the fastest in the game, allowing him to easily approach his opponents at a further distance. He also possesses one of the lowest crouches, along with a crawling ability, which allows him to easily evade an opposing attack that spaces and can easily stop an approach, allowing Rayman to continue approaching once again after evading an opposing attack with it. All of his smash attacks have high power, great range and low lag throughout, while possessing unique properties and, excluding down smash the range effectively increased if charged up: Forward smash and up smash is among the strongest and long-ranged in the game, though his forward smash possesses moderate startup, it possesses minimal endlag and is completely safe on shield, like his other smash attacks. Down smash possesses the second-lowest startup of all other smash attacks, while also having effective range. All of which can KO reliably under 100%, and none of them are particularly laggy. On top of that, when his forward and up smash gets charged up, his fist grows into a bigger size and his range significantly increases, which differs from the other fighters. Forward tilt comes out quickly, and possesses effective reach for a tilt. His up tilt and down tilt are notable for being decent juggling and anti-air tools and combo starters. Lastly, all of his tilts can KO outright at 100%.

Rayman's aerial game is among the most formidable in the game, due to possessing high aerial mobility. All of his aerials have tremendous power, high KO power and drastically high range, in this case of back aerial and neutral aerial, possess lingering and deceptive hitboxes and, in this case of, multiple hits. His neutral aerial possesses extremely high range to effectively reach opponents at a distance, making it a great approaching option. His forward aerial possesses excellent range to be a good approaching tool both in the air or the ground. His back aerial, although possessing the worst range of all aerials, possesses decent range, and becomes among the strongest in the game when sweetspotted, killing at around 120% and semi-spiking them powerfully. His up aerial possesses tremendous range at the same rate of his neutral aerial. When sweetspotted, it becomes among the strongest in the game to KO as early as 80%. When sourspotted, it is a notorious anti-air and juggling tool, even at high precents. Lastly, his down aerial, a multi-hit move, is notable for performing a flurry of punches below Rayman, dragging the opponents with him downwards, with the final hit being a strong meteor smash to KO relatively early, and can also function as an anti-juggling tool, while easily gimping characters with poor recoveries, like or. Landing the move can follow up into several attacks; like his smash attacks, dash attack, up tilt or LockJaw, which allows Rayman to take out stocks incredibly early. Not only his aerials deal high damage and are safe on shield; due to their high range, damage-output and decent hitlag, his neutral aerial, back aerial, forward aerial and especially LockJaw are notorious for being formidable components of Rayman's wall of pain technique: if Rayman catches his opponent at the ledge, he can follow up with several neutral, back or forward aerials or even LockJaw until they reach the blast zone, and he can use his plum during this technique. Once the opponent is near the horizontal blast zone, he can finish the opponent off with LockJaw, Plum, down aerial, and another neutral, forward and back aerial.

Rayman sports a prominent grab and throw game; possessing one of the longest grabs in the game, despite possessing a heavily laggy grab. He has a combo throw in his up throw and back throw. His up throw is Rayman's most-damaging throw, and can easily combo into neutral aerial, up aerial or Helicopter for simple KO confirms. His down throw is also a potent combo starter related to up throw, but can also combo into down aerial directly near the ledge to easily net a stock for an easy KO confirm. His forward and back throws possess high utility for setting up edgeguards (with forward throw having slight combo potential at low-to-mid precents). Lastly, his up and down throws are Rayman's strongest throws, being able to KO most of the cast at around 100%, while forward throw is strengthened enough to become a viable KO throw at higher precents, killing at around 120%. Additionally, similarily to, and ; back throw has the interesting trait of completely turning Rayman around after its use, allowing him to freely edgeguard and begin the wall of pain techniques after using it at the ledge.

Rayman has good KO power in his smash attacks, tilts, throws and aerials, with his aerials also fast for their decent amount of high power. Rayman also has a great neutral game, with his down special, the plum, his neutral special, LockJaw, being a command grab, and his side special, Vortex, a tornado projectile, being able to trap opponents in, allowing Rayman follow-up potential and punish with one of his powerful attacks.

His edgeguarding game is among the best in the game. Due to his sheer melee range, all of his aerials, tilts, smash attacks, and especially his jab can all have utility to safely edgeguard the opponent on/off the stage. His neutral air, forward air, back air, and down air are notable for possessing lingering hitboxes, while also being somewhat powerful. Furthermore, his neutral special, LockJaw, and side special, Vortex, though laggy in the process, can have utility to setup traps or launch an aerial throw to follow up with any aerial move. Rayman's down aerial is notorious for quickly launching a flurry of punches downwards, dragging opponents down with him as well. This move, when used for the wall of the pain or edgeguarding, is very difficult to punish and can be used to score early KOs.

One of Rayman's unique moves is his down special, Plum, which grants Rayman a giant-sized purple plum. The giant plum functions as both a platform and a projectile that starts moving throughout the stage, allowing Rayman to move the plum while standing on it by attacking with tilts or smash attacks. These particular properties make the giant plum a very useful tool in a number of situations: the plum can function as an incredible stage-controlling tool and an advanced combo tool. Furthermore, the plum can be an incredible recovering tool, theoretically granting a lot of vertical and infinite height if used properly. It can also simply be used for an emergency platform off-stage, which grants Rayman back his midair jump.

Although Rayman is strengthened enough to become a versatile fighter, Rayman is not without a fair amount of noticeable weaknesses. Several of his attacks possess blindspots, as they stretch out his hands without hitboxes in between the hands and body. This leads to situations where his hitboxes have awkward placements. For example: his up tilt will deny to affect a tiny opponent (ex. ) if Rayman utilizes the move at adjacent range or behind himself.

On top of that, Rayman lacks disjointed hitboxes in a few of his attacks. Because most of his moves involve stretching his limbs and levitating them away from his body, in a similar vein to, this means, with a few exceptions, that every time Rayman attacks, his hurtboxes also extend. This makes him very vulnerable to characters with projectile-heavy playstyles (ex., , and ), and somewhat vulnerable to characters with disjointed hitboxes (ex. , , and ).

His recovery is also highly on the situational side of the cast. In theory, he has a theoretically infinite vertical and horizontal recovery—thanks to his plum. However, should Rayman deprive his Plum, his recovering options are drastically limited to his midair jump and his up special, Helicopter (though with the latter being one of the best horizontal recoveries in the game), which grant negligible vertical height, with the latter only slowing down his vertical descent and granting him full horizontal movement; such traits make his recovery very easy to gimp. Additionally, the plum can be utilized against him. As expected from a relefcted projectile, the plum can attack Rayman when striked by an opponent, which subsequently can knock him off and away from the stage if he is standing on it. As such, Rayman players need to take precautions in order to maximize his recovery.

In the end, Rayman is described as a highly unorthodox all-rounder (and is viewed to be the most potent all-rounder in the game), a character who possesses reliable KO attacks and potent offense, as well as not possessing major weaknesses. Rayman possesses high KO power, out-ranged attacks with somewhat disjointed hitboxes, as well as for possessing a powerful combo, juggling, spacing and edgeguarding game, and high damage output, alongside high shield pressure, and a strong grounded game and air game backed by an excellent recovery via the plum. Overall, Rayman's flaws are drastically overshadowed by a multipility of his strengths, making Rayman one of the most powerful characters throughout the game, as players either consider him high-tier or top-tier; with most considering top-tier.

Trivia

 * Rayman's artwork is based on this pose he makes in the opening cutscene of Rayman Origins.
 * Rayman's Ball version is a reference to the bubble form he enters if he dies in Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends.
 * Rayman, along with, Yoshi, , , , , and , are the only characters so far who do not go into a helpless state under normal circumstances.

External link

 * Rayman's reveal video

PAC-MAN is a veteran starter character in Super Smash Flash 2. He was initially revealed as a playable character on May 27, 2016, when videos and files from the game were leaked. He was officially confirmed on a special emergency Dev Blog, along with, on May 29, 2016. His sprites are custom-made and, alongside with his moveset, based on his appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, which consists of references from PAC-MAN, PAC-LAND, and other games from the NAMCO franchise.

PAC-MAN is currently ranked 14th in A+ tier on the current tier list, ten times greater than PAC-MAN's previous placement in the previous tier list, 14th of B+ tier (where he was currently residing at mid-low tier), and twenty times greater than his very initial placement in the previous tier list from previous patches of the game, in 24th place. PAC-MAN's biggest strength is his stage-control: he possesses a fantastic set of excellent projectiles in his Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant, which are very versatile, can create various intricate set-ups and can also KO at high percents, and they also provide him great spacing and edgeguarding abilities. He has a numerous amount of KO options in his smash attacks, Bonus Fruit (with the Apple or the Key), up throw, forward throw, back throw, all aerials, and as well as his formidable special moves, Power Pellet (when he eats the Power Pellet) and Pac-Jump. PAC-MAN also has a fantastic recovery: both Pac-Jump and Power Pellet travel a long distance, and the latter doesn't leave him helpless. PAC-MAN also possesses a potentially deadly grab and throw game; possessing the 3rd-longest grab in the game after He also possesses a versatile juggling game, as well as for a powerful edgeguarding and combo game. Due to his sufficent air speed, he has an amazing aerial game, along with swift, moderately high-ranged and high-prioritied aerials that provide good spacing and edgeguarding tools, with his down aerial sending a flurry of stomps and the last hit launching the opponents upwards, making it a very frustrating combo-move to punish. His relatively slow falling speed allows him to break out of juggles, and combined with his recovery, he has one of the best vertical and horizontal recoveries in the game. Since forward aerial, back aerial, neutral aerial and Power Pellet have outlarged and disjointed range and he has slow falling speed, this helps in PAC-MAN's great edgeguarding tactic in the wall of pain. His overall mobility is also acceptable, giving him fantastic manueverability and allowing him to.

However, PAC-MAN possesses a rather large hurtbox; and combined with how most of his attacks in his ordinary playstyle extend slightly from his body, he is easily harmed and maneuvered around with attacks. Some of his KO options (like neutral aerial) are unreliable or hard to land, and his special moves can be utilized against him, including hitting the hydrant. His grab is also very punishable if he misses - thanks to its considerable endlag. His mobility is only average at best, and his overall range is rather on the negative side, and because of this, he struggles against speedy characters (ex. ), or characters with disjointed hitboxes (ex. and ). His only consistent KO options are his raw smash attacks, Apple, Key, Hydrant, back throw, and neutral aerial. Several of these particular KO options are unreliable; the Apple only works at 130%~, the Key takes up a sizable time to charge, the Hydrant-projectile can be utilized against him, and his neutral aerial has to strike at the initial frames of the attack for it to have any KO potential at all. Following this, all of his special moves can be utilized against him (Fruits can be intercepted mid-flight, and Pac-Jump also may have PAC-MAN to plummet to his death if interrupted). PAC-MAN also has a situational grab, despite being better than Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U; due to quicker execution and more active frames (even beyond the beam at times), as it can be tediously slackier at a distance, and its maximum endlag makes it risky and easily punishable, which also makes his chain-grab situational - while one of the strongest in the game. PAC-MAN also has problematic issues when being counterplayed by opponents who know how he works and his main gimmicks, which makes him rather inconsistent at online tournaments. He also seems to struggle against most of the cast due to them being able to stop a lot of his traps from happening, rendering PAC-MAN as a less efficient character. PAC-MAN loses to a lot of faster characters who can rush him down easily, and characters with disjoints; due to his lack of them, making setups extremely difficult.

PAC-MAN possesses a minimal playerbase; due to how he requires a lot of tech-skill and is overall hard to play as, but he possesses an overall a very effective neutral game.. However, Kyoz has been shown to do very well with PAC-MAN, along with causing a huge upset back in Gax Saga, including taking out Gax himself (widely considered one of the best SSF2 Beta players as of right now, and the best player of PAC-MAN himself). However, Kyoz has been primarily inactive outside of this. The only other notable PAC-MAN player is Playridise, but it has been pretty debated among certain players whether or not he deserves the title of the second-best PAC-MAN player, due to his lack of consistent results as a PAC-MAN player. Although PAC-MAN's weaknesses are apparent enough to not be underestimated, PAC-MAN's strengths are signficantly enough to make him a high-tier character.

Attributes
PAC-MAN is notable for being a projectile-based, speedy, somewhat small-sized and floaty middleweight character whose attributes slightly deviate from the typicality of his weight class; as well as for possessing unique properties in his moveset. PAC-MAN's aerial game is quite fantastic: the 11th-fastest air speed on par with, and , the 12th-highest air acceleration, the lowest air friction, the 9th-lowest gravity on par with  and , the 5th-slowest falling speed on par with  and. His grounded mobility is overall exceptional for a middleweight: he possesses the 5th-fastest walking speeds, sufficient running speeds, good height in his short hop and jumps, and the 5th-lowest traction on par with, and.

Overall, PAC-MAN, in terms of his playstyle, is a relatively unorthodox figther focusing on a heavy projectile-based playstyle. PAC-MAN has good power in his moveset. Many of PAC-MAN attacks, including tilt attacks, smash attacks, aerials and special moves, are notable for possessing outlarged range and lingering hitboxes, providing him great spacing and edgeguarding abilities. He possesses a strong juggling game; with up aerial having great vertical range and having the abilities of keeping the opponents in the air, while also being a reliable KO move, up tilt also possessing a large vertical hitbox, and forward aerial, back aerial and neutral aerial having outlarged vertical and horizontal range for juggling capabilities. PAC-MAN possesses a tremendous grounded game; with a fast frame-data in his tilt attacks, smash attacks and dash attack - his tilts are very powerful and swift enough to KO reliably below 100%. Forward tilt comes out quickly at the same rate as down tilt, deals high knockback, sports solid range and semi-spikes powerfully, killing at around 100% by the ledge. His up tilt is PAC-MAN's strongest one, possesses remarkable range and KOs reliably under 100%. Down tilt comes out unexpectedly, and KOs reliably under 150% and properls PAC-MAN slightly forwards to low-profile certain attacks; like his dash attack. His smash attacks are relatively fast and disjointed with solid range, while they possess unique properties and their own strengths: forward smash is among the strongest and long-ranged in the game if used initially to KO reliably under 100%, which is also shared with up smash, and is notable for possessing a weight-independent hitbox at the early frames that knocks the opponent into the second hit, and down smash possesses the highest range and the fastest startup of all smash attacks, and KOs at around 100%. All of his smash attacks can easily gimp poor recoveries, because the late hitboxes are powerful enough to do so.

PAC-MAN's grounded game is also reflected by his formidable aerial game; with swift frame-data in his aerial attacks. All of his aerial attacks sport lingering and disjointed hitboxes and, in the case of down aerial, multiple hits. Due to their speed and power, they also work as good out-of-shield or approaching options, and their long durations allow them to break combos. Each of PAC-MAN's aerials possess their own distinctive strengths: his neutral aerial is PAC-MAN's fastest and strongest aerial; possesses properties of a sex kick, and has remarkably high range, and KOs at around 115% if used initially, and, along with his other aerials, can easily gimp several figthers with poor recoveries, because the late hitbox is sufficently powerful enough to perform so. His forward aerial and back aerial (though back aerial is PAC-MAN's slowest aerial, making it quite predictable) are PAC-MAN's most useful ones for several situations: edgeguarding and placing the opponents off the stage, and are the primary components of the wall of pain technique: once an opponent is caught by PAC-MAN off-stage, he can follow up rapidly with several back aerial and forward aerials until they reach the blast zone; similarily to, , , , , and , and then PAC-MAN can finish the opponent off with another forward or back aerial, or Power Pellet, Bonus Fruit (if the Key is ready), Pac-Jump or Fire Hydrant. His up aerial is PAC-MAN's 2nd most-useful one for juggling and anti-airing, and is PAC-MAN's second-strongest aerial, an effective KOing option, and possesses remarkable range, and is an effective finisher at the vertical blast zone. His down aerial is notrious for sending out a series of stomps below himself, thus making it a tricky edgeguarding and combo-move to punish; with the last hit being powerful, launching the opponents at a semi-spike, achieving guaranteed early KOs. It also works as a high-damaging out-of-shield and anti-juggling option against characters with slow mobility, and, not only it hits multiple times, landing the move can allow PAC-MAN follow up into multiple moves: such as a smash attack, a tilt, or even Power Pellet, Bonus Fruit (if the Key is already prepared) or Pac-Jump, allowing PAC-MAN to close stocks incredibly early.

PAC-MAN's greatest strength is his stage-control (similar to 's stage-controlling game): he has fantastic projectiles in his Bonus Fruit and Fire Hydrant, which are very versatile, can create various intricate set-ups and can also net an incredibly-early KO at high percents, and they also provide him great spacing and edgeguarding abilities. Outside of his special moves, he has a numerous amount of KO options in his smash attacks, tilt attacks, Bonus Fruit (with the Apple or the Key), back throw, all aerials, and as well as his formidable special moves, Power Pellet (when he eats the Power Pellet) and Pac-Jump, and they are very versatile themselves for KO potential.

PAC-MAN sports an oppressive grab and throw game; possessing the 3rd-longest set of grabs in the game, despite possessing a heavily laggy grab. His up throw is PAC-MAN's best throw, although it possesses set knockback which prevents it to KO at any precentages, nor can it KO at around realistic precents (unless if utilized at higher surfaces of the stage), which is a potent juggling and combo starter that combos into neutral aerial or up aerial for KO confirms at high precents, while forward throw and back throw are strong edgeguarding setups (while also having slight combo potential at low-to-mid precents, and can combo into forward aerial, neutral aerial and back aerial for KO confirms at high precents). Down throw is similar to up throw in terms of starting juggles and combos, albeit much more versatile and does not possess set knockback, allowing it to KO at high precentages. Back throw is PAC-MAN's strongest throw, being able to KO most of the cast at around 100%, while up throw and forward throw are strengthened enough to become viable KO throws at higher precents, killing at around 120%. Overall, PAC-MAN possesses a strong combo game vertically and horizontally.

PAC-MAN's special moves are all very diverse and allow for different approaches and strategies. He possesses a unique projectile-game with Bonus Fruit, which randomizes through 8 fruits, each with their own properties, and when combined with the Fruit-Catching technique (pressing the attack-button right after throwing the fruit to catch it), it gives PAC-MAN a considerable offensive game and a grounded game too. PAC-MAN's Pac-Jump and Fire Hydrant give him many tricks when played with as they both have the ability to move opponents. PAC-MAN also has a potent chain-grab and one of the best ledge-traps in the game - thanks to the fact he can combine Fire Hydrant and Pac-Jump at any point (i.e. the ledge), making his edgeguarding game fantastic. PAC-MAN also has a fantastic out of shield game thanks to his neutral aerial, Pac-Jump, and his free usage of picked Fruits in Z-drops and throws. PAC-MAN also possesses unqiue projectiles in his special moves, while being very unique themselves. His neutral special, Bonus Fruit, provides a several amount of "fruit" projectiles that has various effects upon a single fruit. It functions similar to Judge, providing several fragile-to-powerful effects, but the fruit being chosen is not randomized. However, some of the fruit provide strong effects, such as the apple killing at around 120%, the bell freezing the opponent, allowing PAC-MAN followup-potential and punish or even KO with his smash attacks or his other powerful moves, and lastly, the key, a strong projectile that will KO all characters reliably below 60%. Lastly, one of his unique moves is his down special, Fire Hydrant, as PAC-MAN drops a hydrant projectile which can be moved if it is attacked, making it act similar to 's Plum, albeit with much less endurance, and it can be utilized as a great edgeguarding tool. In the end, PAC-MAN possesses surprisingly excellent range for a middleweight by his kind.

However, PAC-MAN has undergone a multipility of notable flaws. His only consistent KO options are his raw smash attacks, Apple, Key, Fire Hydrant, back throw, up throw, and neutral aerial. Some of these particular KO options are unreliable; the Apple only works at 130%~, the Key takes up a sizable time to charge, the Hydrant-projectile can be utilized against him (as expected by a reflected projectile), and his neutral aerial has to strike at the initial frames of the move for it to have any KO potential at all. Furthermore, all of his special moves can be utilized against him (Bonus Fruit can be intercepted mid-flight; Pac-Jump also may have PAC-MAN to plummet to his death if interrupted). PAC-MAN also possesses a situational grab and throw game; despite being better than Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U; due to quicker execution and more active frames (even beyond the beam at times), as it can be tediously slackier at a distance, and its maximum ending lag makes it risky and easily punishable; which also makes his chain-grab situational, while one of the strongest in the game. Additionally, while PAC-MAN's up throw is very useful for placing the opponents off-stage, its set knockback (as mentioned before) prevents it to KO at even realistic precentages until the Launch Rate is higher. Because of this, his up throw only serves as an OHKO throw if off-stage or if the Launch Rate is set to x1.5 or higher on-stage.

PAC-MAN also has problematic issues when being counterplayed by opponents who know how he works and his main gimmicks, which makes him rather inconsistent, while versatile at online tournaments. He also seems to struggle against most of the cast due to them being able to stop a lot of his traps from happening, rendering PAC-MAN as an inefficient, while among the most versatile characters in the game. PAC-MAN loses to a lot of faster characters who can rush him down easily, and characters with disjoints; due to his lack of them, making setups extremely difficult. Though PAC-MAN does sport a positive defensive game, he is very simple to shield-poke - due to possessing the smallest maximum-size of his shield (which leaves his feet exposed, and his shield is slightly pushed backwards, causing his face to get exposed once it shrinks), which has the high potential to shatter just as quickly before the other figthers.

Overall, PAC-MAN is described as a powerful "bait-and-punish," a melee-oriented character who possesses a great and versatile playstyle that pressures the opponents and manipulate their behavior, and they have superior speed and power to certainly exploit the most of the cast. He possesses high KO power, massive damage-output, and a versatile playstyle; fast frame-data in his moveset, and he doesn't possess vital flaws as well. As a result, PAC-MAN is notrious for being one of the most powerful characters throughout the game, as many players either consider him high-tier or top-tier; with most considering top-tier. His weaknessess are rather obvious, but his strengths are drastically enough to overshadow his flaws, residing him at around high-tier.

Notable players

 * Kyoz
 * Playridise
 * Unkown7

Tier placement history
PAC-MAN placed 27th out of 39 characters in the previous SSF2 Beta tier list making him a mid-low Character in the 1.0.2 metagame. However he rose to becoming 24th out of 39 characters in C+ tier making him the 2nd highest placing Mid Tier character.

Trivia

 * PAC-MAN,, , , , and are currently the only true "silent characters" in the game.
 * PAC-MAN's official artwork is taken from his official poster from the Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U website.
 * The pose in his official artwork matches the pose in his PAC-MAN WORLD artwork.
 * During several animations, PAC-MAN emits sound effects drawn from classic games such as PAC-MAN, PAC-LAND, ', ', and  instead of vocalizing.
 * Many of his animations — such as his idle, walk, and jump — are based on PAC-LAND.