3GOD
Smash Ace
I was interested in knowing which characters had the "best" aerial movement. Particularly, who is the fastest in the air horizontally? I ran two different tests with very similar results.
For the first test, I made a custom stage (Large) with blocks along the bottom (18 blocks) and platforms all the way up the left side creating a sort of "landing strip." I then had each character (one by one) go to the right edge of the top platform and held right to see how far each character got (how many blocks he/she traveled horizontally) and how much time it took. For each of these, I captured the video and analyzed it to estimate how many "blocks" he/she traveled and get the amount of time. These estimates were a little rough since it's hard to say exactly what fraction of a block has been traveled when the character lands. I wanted another test to get more accurate results.
For the second test, I altered my custom stage such that the "landing strip" only had 6 blocks with a wall of blocks on the right of the 6th block. I made each character teeter at the edge of the top platform and recorded the time (via video capture/analysis) it took for that character to travel from the edge of the platform to the wall. I had to make one exception for this test; King Dedede has such slow movement that I had to shorten the strip to 5 blocks in order to make him hit the wall before he hit the ground (I wanted to avoid jumping in these tests). The results of this test were generally VERY close to my first test results, so I think that both results are pretty good with the 2nd probably being a little better.
Anyway, I can describe these tests in more detail later if people desire it, but I believe the 2nd test gives fairly accurate results. I've sorted them from fastest in the air (Yoshi) to slowest in the air (King Dedede), and I've included their average horizontal air speed (in "blocks per second").
Character - Horizontal Air Speed
"S Class"
Yoshi - 4.04
Jigglypuff - 3.87
Wario - 3.71
Wolf - 3.63
Captain Falcon - 3.63
"A Class"
Sonic - 3.36
Donkey Kong - 3.36
Lucas - 3.30
Bowser - 3.30
Squirtle - 3.27
Mr. Game & Watch - 3.24
Marth - 3.24
"B Class"
Zero Suit Samus - 3.13
Charizard - 3.07
Zelda - 3.02
Samus - 2.97
Lucario - 2.95
Ness - 2.92
Mario - 2.92
"C Class"
Snake - 2.88
Toon Link - 2.83
Ike - 2.83
Pikachu - 2.74
Peach - 2.74
R.O.B. - 2.70
Pit - 2.70
Fox - 2.70
Falco - 2.70
"D Class"
Ganondorf - 2.62
Kirby - 2.59
Sheik - 2.57
Olimar - 2.55
Diddy Kong - 2.50
Link - 2.45
"F Class"
Meta Knight - 2.35
Ivysaur - 2.32
Ice Climbers - 2.32
Luigi - 2.29
King Dedede - 2.10
This list does NOT take into account things like gliding, B-moves, or aerials (ROB's Bair for instance) that may affect horizontal air speed.
What does this mean? How does this affect the game?
Well for many characters in the lowest class of air speed, they cannot approach very well from the air simply because they are too slow. If you choose a character with a good defensive ground game (Donkey Kong for instance - though not vs. Dedede obviously), you can really limit their approach options on the ground and take advantage of their slow movement if they attempt an aerial approach.
Certainly, this is not the only aspect of any given match, but it is an important factor to consider. If you know that your opponent is slow in the air, how can you use that to your advantage? Likewise, if you know your opponent is fast in the air, how should you adapt your play style for that particular match?
Also, one must consider that this only refers to horizontal air speed. Characters like Jigglypuff have great movement side to side, but feel like a slug vertically. On the other hand, Dedede moves very slowly side-to-side, but his vertical movement is pretty decent.
For the first test, I made a custom stage (Large) with blocks along the bottom (18 blocks) and platforms all the way up the left side creating a sort of "landing strip." I then had each character (one by one) go to the right edge of the top platform and held right to see how far each character got (how many blocks he/she traveled horizontally) and how much time it took. For each of these, I captured the video and analyzed it to estimate how many "blocks" he/she traveled and get the amount of time. These estimates were a little rough since it's hard to say exactly what fraction of a block has been traveled when the character lands. I wanted another test to get more accurate results.
For the second test, I altered my custom stage such that the "landing strip" only had 6 blocks with a wall of blocks on the right of the 6th block. I made each character teeter at the edge of the top platform and recorded the time (via video capture/analysis) it took for that character to travel from the edge of the platform to the wall. I had to make one exception for this test; King Dedede has such slow movement that I had to shorten the strip to 5 blocks in order to make him hit the wall before he hit the ground (I wanted to avoid jumping in these tests). The results of this test were generally VERY close to my first test results, so I think that both results are pretty good with the 2nd probably being a little better.
Anyway, I can describe these tests in more detail later if people desire it, but I believe the 2nd test gives fairly accurate results. I've sorted them from fastest in the air (Yoshi) to slowest in the air (King Dedede), and I've included their average horizontal air speed (in "blocks per second").
Character - Horizontal Air Speed
"S Class"
Yoshi - 4.04
Jigglypuff - 3.87
Wario - 3.71
Wolf - 3.63
Captain Falcon - 3.63
"A Class"
Sonic - 3.36
Donkey Kong - 3.36
Lucas - 3.30
Bowser - 3.30
Squirtle - 3.27
Mr. Game & Watch - 3.24
Marth - 3.24
"B Class"
Zero Suit Samus - 3.13
Charizard - 3.07
Zelda - 3.02
Samus - 2.97
Lucario - 2.95
Ness - 2.92
Mario - 2.92
"C Class"
Snake - 2.88
Toon Link - 2.83
Ike - 2.83
Pikachu - 2.74
Peach - 2.74
R.O.B. - 2.70
Pit - 2.70
Fox - 2.70
Falco - 2.70
"D Class"
Ganondorf - 2.62
Kirby - 2.59
Sheik - 2.57
Olimar - 2.55
Diddy Kong - 2.50
Link - 2.45
"F Class"
Meta Knight - 2.35
Ivysaur - 2.32
Ice Climbers - 2.32
Luigi - 2.29
King Dedede - 2.10
This list does NOT take into account things like gliding, B-moves, or aerials (ROB's Bair for instance) that may affect horizontal air speed.
What does this mean? How does this affect the game?
Well for many characters in the lowest class of air speed, they cannot approach very well from the air simply because they are too slow. If you choose a character with a good defensive ground game (Donkey Kong for instance - though not vs. Dedede obviously), you can really limit their approach options on the ground and take advantage of their slow movement if they attempt an aerial approach.
Certainly, this is not the only aspect of any given match, but it is an important factor to consider. If you know that your opponent is slow in the air, how can you use that to your advantage? Likewise, if you know your opponent is fast in the air, how should you adapt your play style for that particular match?
Also, one must consider that this only refers to horizontal air speed. Characters like Jigglypuff have great movement side to side, but feel like a slug vertically. On the other hand, Dedede moves very slowly side-to-side, but his vertical movement is pretty decent.