Super Smash Bros. V - Now With Redesigned Menus! (yay)

WeirdChillFever · May 11, 2016

*Reads game balancing*
*Reads how grounded UpBs don't cause helplessness anymore*
*HOLYSMOKESPACMAN intensifies*

C3CC · May 12, 2016

Ok, my feedback.

First, the roster...

It has way too many characters. It should cap at 70. Although I'd add the Toad instead of Captain Toad, it's a nice addition. I also applaud the inclusion of King K. Rool, Cranky Kong, Ridley, Sceptile, Paper Mario, Inkling and the return of Wolf and the Ice Climbers. Daisy should not be playable, ever (but I'm biased because I hate the character with a burning passion). I also don't like how you redesigned absolutely every character almost completely. Sure, some tweaks would be fine (I think Bowser's Side B needs to go) but most of the changes you are proposing are just unnecessary. For example, while I do get that transformations are being brought back in order to give uniqueness to Zelda and Samus, I really think they should stay apart from Sheik and Zero Suit Samus respectively. It just feels better in my opinion.

In terms of balance...

Why remove swimming? I think it's great that characters are able to escape from bodies of water. I hated drowning in Melee. In fact, I think that gliding should return and added to some characters, like Paper Mario folding into a paper plane or Toon Link using the Deku Leaf. Footstool Jumping being techable is always right in my book.

The stages...

Your ideas sound cool. I especially liked Bowser's Castle (long overdue, by the way). The Battle Theater sounds really fun as well. If it were up to me, I'd give each franchise two stages: one that's competitively viable and one that's gimmicky. One would be unlocked from the start, and the other would be unlockable. The only franchises that go past the 2-stage limit are Super Mario, which gets 4, and The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon, which get 3 each. I would not make a single stage from a past game return, however; every single stage would be brand new.

Now in miscellaneous...

Dude, you pretty much stole my ideas, hahaha. I also want that 8-player Smash to be merged with standard Smash, Target Test and Board the Platform stages for each character, and the Tips section to be reorganized. I also concur on everything related to the Adventure Mode.

Kudos to you for making such an elaborate post!

Munomario777 · May 13, 2016

C3CC said:
Ok, my feedback.

First, the roster...

It has way too many characters. It should cap at 70.

If this were an actual Smash game, yeah, I'd agree. It's more of an "idea dump," just me throwing in stuff that I think would be cool in Smash. It could be interesting to try and trim things down, though, maybe a little section where I say what I'd include out of the post's content if I were limited to ~70 characters.

Although I'd add the Toad instead of Captain Toad, it's a nice addition.

Captain Toad just has more of an identity, as well as unique moveset potential. There are tons of Toads that look like "the" Toad, whereas Captain Toad has his own unique thing going on from a visual perspective; and while "the" Toad could use mushrooms or whatever, I think that Captain Toad has an actual gameplay theme going on – that being, having poor mobility but making platforms, etc to help him out.

I also applaud the inclusion of King K. Rool, Cranky Kong, Ridley, Sceptile, Paper Mario, Inkling and the return of Wolf and the Ice Climbers. Daisy should not be playable, ever (but I'm biased because I hate the character with a burning passion).

That's why I didn't include her, haha.

I also don't like how you redesigned absolutely every character almost completely. Sure, some tweaks would be fine (I think Bowser's Side B needs to go) but most of the changes you are proposing are just unnecessary. For example, while I do get that transformations are being brought back in order to give uniqueness to Zelda and Samus, I really think they should stay apart from Sheik and Zero Suit Samus respectively. It just feels better in my opinion.

I'm just having some fun with it, seeing what I can do to freshen up some of the more "plain" movesets (when compared to things like Shulk / Robin / Rosaluma / etc), or to fix some things that I've always found odd (like Mario's cape being sspec instead of a recovery move, or Sonic having two spindashes). My goal is to make each moveset fitting to the character and have its own unique theme / gimmick / whatever, and that goes for the veterans too.

As for Zelda and Samus in particular, I feel that the transforming mechanic adds something unique to these fighters in terms of gameplay. It also seems quite odd to have the same character (just in a different outfit) be two separate characters, I dunno. This is all very subjective of course, so we're bound to disagree on something

Are there any other changes in particular that you dislike?

In terms of balance...

Why remove swimming? I think it's great that characters are able to escape from bodies of water. I hated drowning in Melee. In fact, I think that gliding should return and added to some characters, like Paper Mario folding into a paper plane or Toon Link using the Deku Leaf. Footstool Jumping being techable is always right in my book.

Swimming, while logical, was removed mainly so that stages with water could still have normal bottom blast zones, for competitive matches and whatnot. I could just remove it from the competitive stages (omega-form) though.

As for gliding, I've implemented it into some fighters' moves: Paper Mario, Toon Link, Tetra, Lark, and Charizard can glide after using certain special moves, for example. I did always find the implementation of gliding to be a bit clumsy, what with having to jump before doing it; this is a bit more elegant, I feel.

The stages...

Your ideas sound cool. I especially liked Bowser's Castle (long overdue, by the way). The Battle Theater sounds really fun as well. If it were up to me, I'd give each franchise two stages: one that's competitively viable and one that's gimmicky. One would be unlocked from the start, and the other would be unlockable. The only franchises that go past the 2-stage limit are Super Mario, which gets 4, and The Legend of Zelda and Pokémon, which get 3 each. I would not make a single stage from a past game return, however; every single stage would be brand new.

That's kind of like what I've done already, actually, barring the stage count. Each stage's normal form is meant for casual play, often having hazards, a bigger layout, or something like that. Even Final Destination has Master / Crazy Hand acting as hazards! The omega forms from Smash 4 have been turned into competitive-friendly versions, essentially: they remove hazards and give the stages layouts that are better suited for competitive play. If I were to limit myself to "realistic" amounts of content, though, the two-stage-per-franchise thing sounds like a good idea, although I may raise the count a bit for some franchises.

Now in miscellaneous...

Dude, you pretty much stole my ideas, hahaha. I also want that 8-player Smash to be merged with standard Smash, Target Test and Board the Platform stages for each character, and the Tips section to be reorganized. I also concur on everything related to the Adventure Mode.

Kudos to you for making such an elaborate post!

Thanks for the feedback, I do put quite some time into the post

WeirdChillFever · May 13, 2016

Grounded Up Bs not causing helpnessless is the best change and nobody can convince me otherwise.
Damn I want to play your game.

Even if I like Daisy, her being a Peach-alt isn't as big of a blasphemy as some fans like to claim.
Just add flower effects instead of hearts, have a giant flower be her Toad and give her a MK7/MK8 or even a Super Mario Galaxy 2 flower as parasol and its a perfect Daisy.

Though I would like to advocate for Daisy as a Peach semi-clone á la Lucina, as Peach has always been one of the most complicated characters to play.
Daisy could fill the niche of Easy Peachy and have Peach's moveset without the float, being buffed in areas like power and speed.
Especially with the added wavelanding boogaloo, Peach is really technical and Daisy can fullify the needs for those who want Peach's moveset without the technical stuff.
The Final Smash could enhance her moves so they deal the Flower effect.

C3CC · May 13, 2016

Munomario777 said:
If this were an actual Smash game, yeah, I'd agree. It's more of an "idea dump," just me throwing in stuff that I think would be cool in Smash. It could be interesting to try and trim things down, though, maybe a little section where I say what I'd include out of the post's content if I were limited to ~70 characters.

Captain Toad just has more of an identity, as well as unique moveset potential. There are tons of Toads that look like "the" Toad, whereas Captain Toad has his own unique thing going on from a visual perspective; and while "the" Toad could use mushrooms or whatever, I think that Captain Toad has an actual gameplay theme going on – that being, having poor mobility but making platforms, etc to help him out.

That's why I didn't include her, haha.

I'm just having some fun with it, seeing what I can do to freshen up some of the more "plain" movesets (when compared to things like Shulk / Robin / Rosaluma / etc), or to fix some things that I've always found odd (like Mario's cape being sspec instead of a recovery move, or Sonic having two spindashes). My goal is to make each moveset fitting to the character and have its own unique theme / gimmick / whatever, and that goes for the veterans too.

As for Zelda and Samus in particular, I feel that the transforming mechanic adds something unique to these fighters in terms of gameplay. It also seems quite odd to have the same character (just in a different outfit) be two separate characters, I dunno. This is all very subjective of course, so we're bound to disagree on something

Are there any other changes in particular that you dislike?

Swimming, while logical, was removed mainly so that stages with water could still have normal bottom blast zones, for competitive matches and whatnot. I could just remove it from the competitive stages (omega-form) though.

As for gliding, I've implemented it into some fighters' moves: Paper Mario, Toon Link, Tetra, Lark, and Charizard can glide after using certain special moves, for example. I did always find the implementation of gliding to be a bit clumsy, what with having to jump before doing it; this is a bit more elegant, I feel.

That's kind of like what I've done already, actually, barring the stage count. Each stage's normal form is meant for casual play, often having hazards, a bigger layout, or something like that. Even Final Destination has Master / Crazy Hand acting as hazards! The omega forms from Smash 4 have been turned into competitive-friendly versions, essentially: they remove hazards and give the stages layouts that are better suited for competitive play. If I were to limit myself to "realistic" amounts of content, though, the two-stage-per-franchise thing sounds like a good idea, although I may raise the count a bit for some franchises.

Thanks for the feedback, I do put quite some time into the post

Oh, I get things better now. Not really, just the ones I mentioned. Sakurai should really hire a couple fans for the next Smash game for advice

Or even better, hire a completely new director.

WeirdChillFever · May 13, 2016

One change it'd implement if I were in charge is cutting recovery distance.
If you've gimped someone down to the blastzone you should be rewarded in general instead of the opponent being able to recover from everywhere.

This doesn't mean we can't have Villager-esque recoveries, but they should be the outlier, not the norm.
Edgehogging being removed should've made the balance between off-stage chasing and survivability good enough, no need to double recovery distances on top of that.

Also, buff

C3CC · May 14, 2016

Do you guys think adding a fifth special move by pressing the left control stick would be viable? Of course, that wouldn't be possible with the GameCube controller (but seriously guys, you need to let it go someday anyway).

WeirdChillFever · May 14, 2016

C3CC said:
Do you guys think adding a fifth special move by pressing the left control stick would be viable? Of course, that wouldn't be possible with the GameCube controller (but seriously guys, you need to let it go someday anyway).

#3DSMasterrace

Here was once a rant on how you can't tilt the control stick to the left and how clicking the control stick would be better but then I actually read.
Yeah good idea, though a lot of dev time.
Adding things in Melee with 20+ characters was pretty easy, but adding a new special for 60+ characters takes up a lot of dev time.
Then again customs also did.

I approve!
Then pressing the other stick can cause the Neutral Smash.

Munomario777 · May 14, 2016

C3CC said:
Do you guys think adding a fifth special move by pressing the left control stick would be viable? Of course, that wouldn't be possible with the GameCube controller (but seriously guys, you need to let it go someday anyway).

...Eh. It'd be quite unintuitive to be honest, and a pain to do in the middle of a fight. It just doesn't seem necessary IMO, particularly since I've already added a new layer to the controls (the Final Smashes).

C3CC · May 14, 2016

Munomario777 said:
...Eh. It'd be quite unintuitive to be honest, and a pain to do in the middle of a fight. It just doesn't seem necessary IMO, particularly since I've already added a new layer to the controls (the Final Smashes).

Why do you think so? I just grabbed my Pro Controller and tried it out and it doesn't seem very uncomfortable. I just think that the sticks also being buttons and not being used for that is a waste. And yes, you did, but what if Final Smashes are deactivated?

Personally, I would love to have a fifth special move. It'd be kind of weird since it would be the one special move not used by pressing B, but whatever.

Munomario777 · May 14, 2016

C3CC said:
Why do you think so? I just grabbed my Pro Controller and tried it out and it doesn't seem very uncomfortable. I just think that the sticks also being buttons and not being used for that is a waste. And yes, you did, but what if Final Smashes are deactivated?

Personally, I would love to have a fifth special move. It'd be kind of weird since it would be the one special move not used by pressing B, but whatever.

I dunno, it just seems unnecessary at this point. We don't need another special move, so there's no reason to add one (especially since it'd be inaccessible to anyone not using a Pro Controller). The point of Smash is to have a simple control scheme, and this is really stretching that when it's not needed at all.

The idea is that Final Smashes wouldn't be turned off, they'd be an actual core gameplay feature.

WeirdChillFever · May 14, 2016

I do like the idea of using Control Stick clicks for a Neutral Smash, but I'd rather not have a fifth special

C3CC · May 17, 2016

Clicks for Neutral Smash could also work. Anything that makes use of the clicks is fine with me.

That being said, I'd like to talk about something a little bit more controversial: the music. How would you guys feel if they made many new, incredible songs, at the cost of not bringing a single song from a previous game back?

Don't get me wrong. The soundtracks just get better by the time, but I'm not a fan or recycling stuff. This is coming from a person who gets the chills when listening to Onett's theme and listening to Temple's theme while doing homework. I wouldn't mind a soundtrack of only 200+ songs as opposed to the one with 500+ we have now if it's entirely made by new songs.This mindset includes no multiple remixes of the same theme (I'm looking at you, Jungle Hijinxs, and your three remixes of the same freaking song).

Munomario777 · May 17, 2016

C3CC said:
That being said, I'd like to talk about something a little bit more controversial: the music. How would you guys feel if they made many new, incredible songs, at the cost of not bringing a single song from a previous game back?

Don't get me wrong. The soundtracks just get better by the time, but I'm not a fan or recycling stuff. This is coming from a person who gets the chills when listening to Onett's theme and listening to Temple's theme while doing homework. I wouldn't mind a soundtrack of only 200+ songs as opposed to the one with 500+ we have now if it's entirely made by new songs.This mindset includes no multiple remixes of the same theme (I'm looking at you, Jungle Hijinxs, and your three remixes of the same freaking song).

I don't see why there'd be a need to omit old songs though – it's not like porting over tracks from past games, Smash series or otherwise, takes nearly as much time as actually composing and recording a brand-new remix.

WeirdChillFever · May 17, 2016

Plus, they're the most iconic songs.

EDIT: Is my avatar some weird anime guy?

C3CC · May 17, 2016

Munomario777 said:
I don't see why there'd be a need to omit old songs though – it's not like porting over tracks from past games, Smash series or otherwise, takes nearly as much time as actually composing and recording a brand-new remix.

It's just for the sake of having a completely new, fresh game. Sometimes I can't help but feel that Smash 4 is just a polished Brawl (and very well polished, by the way). There's too much content reused from that game, especially stages. I'd also like everyone to get brand new voice acting (yes, I'm aware that hiring all the voice actors again would be expensive).

Munomario777 · May 17, 2016

C3CC said:
It's just for the sake of having a completely new, fresh game. Sometimes I can't help but feel that Smash 4 is just a polished Brawl (and very well polished, by the way). There's too much content reused from that game, especially stages. I'd also like everyone to get brand new voice acting (yes, I'm aware that hiring all the voice actors again would be expensive).

I don't see how omitting old music and stages improves the game though?

C3CC · May 18, 2016

Munomario777 said:
I don't see how omitting old music and stages improves the game though?

I never said it makes the game better or worse, it's just that I prefer when I get only new stuff and not recycled things.

WeirdChillFever · May 18, 2016

Just seperate the old and the new stuff instead of pretending the game has enormous amounts of content by cramming everything on one stage select screen.

I'm fine with retro stages along with new stuff, but it should be 50/50 at most and seperated from the actually new stuff.

Retro songs are great, none of them should be cut for the sake of cutting.

TheDarkKnightNoivern · May 18, 2016

The roster seems unnecessarily big, I'd cut Fawful, Kamek, Triforce Heroes, Hawlucha, Cranky, Agatio, ??? (Whoever the hell that is) and Lark while replacing Lana with Impa, Cranky with Dixie (Or just add Dixie too), Blood Falcon with Black Shadow while also adding a Rythm Heaven rep, a more important pokemon like Genesect or Zoroark or a placeholder for gen 7, another Warioware character like Ashley or Captain Syrup, I'd also add Snake back and Lara Croft considering you have Sub-Zero of all characters but I may be biased.

I also don't see a reason to cut anyone considering how massive this roster is but you do you.

Munomario777 · May 18, 2016

TheDarkKnightNoivern said:
The roster seems unnecessarily big, I'd cut Fawful, Kamek, Triforce Heroes, Hawlucha, Cranky, Agatio, ??? (Whoever the hell that is) and Lark while replacing Lana with Impa, Cranky with Dixie (Or just add Dixie too), Blood Falcon with Black Shadow while also adding a Rythm Heaven rep, a more important pokemon like Genesect or Zoroark or a placeholder for gen 7, another Warioware character like Ashley or Captain Syrup, I'd also add Snake back and Lara Croft considering you have Sub-Zero of all characters but I may be biased.

I also don't see a reason to cut anyone considering how massive this roster is but you do you.

I actually do plan to cut the roster down to about 70-75 characters; you can catch a sneak peek here. (I still have to properly Photoshop it and everything before I add it to the post.)

"???" is a placeholder for a Rhythm Heaven rep; I'm not quite decided on who I'd add yet.

I feel that Impa would add a lot less moveset-wise than Lana would (you can see all the newcomer movesets in the second spoiler tag). Most of the other stuff is just personal preference, so I'll not take the time to argue it.

WeirdChillFever · May 21, 2016

Good job on slimming down the roster and adding a few characters along the way.
Blood Falcon is amazing and I didn't miss any characters.

I'd swap Waluigi for Takamaru but that's just nitpicking

SpaceMiner · May 28, 2016

KraidSSB said:
I would NOT want the next smash game to have that many characters, 50 is a lot, but 90!?! That would be terrible for the competitive smash scene, there would be so much jank and nonsense, even more so than smash 4. Oh, and a lot of new comers seem completely pointless to add. LIKE CRANKEY KONG? ARE U FKEN KIDDING ME

Lol Fun Fun Fun

ElectroLightning · May 30, 2016

Hmmmm...

Returning Veterans: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Rosalina, Bowser Jr., Wario, GAW, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Link, Zelda, Shiek, Ganondorf, Toon Link, Samus, ZSS, Pit, Marth, Ike, Robin, Kirby, Meta Knight, DDD, Lil' Mac, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Pikachu, Charizard, Lucario, Jigglypuff, Greninja, Duck Hunt, ROB, Ness, FALCON PU- Capt. Falcon, Villager, Olimar, Wii Fit Trainer, Shulk, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Mewtwo, Lucas, Ryu, Cloud, Ice Climbers, and Snake

Newcomers: Inkling, Saki, Chibi-Robo, Captain Toad, Sora, Bandana Dee, Tetra, Tiki, Exitebiker

Bowser Jr., Wario, GAW, Ganondorf, Toon Link, Marth, Meta Knight, Falco, Wolf, Lucario, Jigglypuff, ROB, Duck Hunt, Ness, Capt. Falcon, Luigi, Shulk, Mewtwo, Ryu, Cloud, Sonic, and Snake

Chibi-Robo, Tiki, Tetra, Exitebiker, Saki

Bowser Jr.: Beat Classic Mode and All-Star Mode with Bowser on Hard difficulty or higher
Wario: Beat Classic Mode with Mario on Very Hard difficulty or higher with no continues
GAW: Play the game for 48 hours
Ganondorf: Win on the Gerudo Valley Stage 20 times with Link
Toon Link: Unlock all of Link's Custom Moves
Marth: Win a match with all of the starting characters
Meta Knight: Win on the Halberd Stage 10 times
Falco: KO 5 opponents in Cruel Brawl
Wolf: Complete All-Star Mode on Intense difficulty with Fox or higher
Lucario: Take 10,000 damage in total
Jigglypuff: Win 400 matches
ROB: Complete Target Test with all beginning characters
Duck Hunt: Complete All-Star on Normal difficulty or higher with ROB and GAW
Ness: Win 30 matches
Capt. Falcon: Complete "new mode" in under 7 minutes
Luigi: Win 14 matches
Shulk: Win on the Gaur Plain stage 10 times AND destroy Metal Face 5 times
Mewtwo: Complete Classic Mode on Insane difficulty with no continues
Ryu: Land 50 Final Smashes
Cloud: Unlock the Midgar stage, win on it 15 times, and use the Summon Matria 20 times
Sonic: Complete All-Star on Outrageous difficulty
Snake: Inflict 10,000 damage total

Chibi-Robo: Collect 150 trophies
Tiki: Unlock Marth and Complete Classic Mode on Hard difficulty or higher with him and Ike using no continues
Tetra: Complete Classic Mode with all the beginning characters on Very Hard difficulty using no continues
Saki: KO foes 1000 times in total
Exitebiker: Win 600 matches

Airdodging stays the same, but with one difference. You can airdodge only once while in the air. This may seem small, but it changes the air game quite a bit. This assists aerial combos and makes reading airdodges more rewarding, but makes airdodging riskier. Therefore, air game will be slightly more rewarding if you're on the offensive, but slighty riskier for the foes on the receiving end.

Rolling has 2 new features. For example, if you tap the control stick very lightly, your character will roll slightly in the direction you tapped. This takes rolling to an entire new level! With this new mechanic, you can't just punish rolls like you could in the previous games. This allows all sorts of replacements for previous techniques! Also, rolling has grab invisiblity at the beginning, allowing for more toying with the new rolling mechanics.

Shield Breaking has a very small change. For example, if Mario hit an opponent with a fully charged Forward Smash, the shield would break and would send the opponent the same way if the opponent was hit without the shield, but with a quarter of the normal knockback and with the Dazed effect. This allows Marth's Shield Breaker and Shulk's new and improved Back Slash to be much more effective near the ledge, but that is about it.

TBA

WeirdChillFever · Jun 1, 2016

Wuhu Island from the Wii U game makes a return. The omega form stays in the swordfighting stadium.

The omega form stays in the swordfighting stadium.

the swordfighting stadium.

Best change yet.

QuintonShark8714 · Jun 3, 2016

ElectroLightning said:
Hmmmm...

Returning Veterans: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Yoshi, Rosalina, Bowser Jr., Wario, GAW, Donkey Kong, Diddy Kong, Link, Zelda, Shiek, Ganondorf, Toon Link, Samus, ZSS, Pit, Marth, Ike, Robin, Kirby, Meta Knight, DDD, Lil' Mac, Fox, Falco, Wolf, Pikachu, Charizard, Lucario, Jigglypuff, Duck Hunt, ROB, Ness, FALCON PU- Capt. Falcon, Villager, Olimar, Wii Fit Trainer, Shulk, Sonic, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Mewtwo, Lucas, Ryu, Cloud, Ice Climbers, and Snake

Newcomers: Inkling, Saki, Chibi-Robo, Captain Toad, Takamaru, Sora, Bandana Dee, Tetra, Tiki, Exitebiker

Bowser Jr., Wario, GAW, Ganondorf, Toon Link, Marth, Meta Knight, Falco, Wolf, Lucario, Jigglypuff, ROB, Ness, Capt. Falcon, Shulk, Mewtwo, Lucas, Sonic, and Snake

Chibi-Robo, Tiki, Tetra, Exitebiker, Saki

Your cuts

I disagree with all your cuts (expect Bayonetta and the clones)

Pokémon having 5 without Greninja nor a Gen 7/8 would be unfair
Because Pokémon having 5 whling Mario having 7 and Zelda having 6 would be unfair.

I don't think Palutena is going anywhere because she's the second most important Kid Icarus character (just like Falco and Wolf to Star Fox and Luigi to Super Mario)

Also here are other possible newcomers:
Dixie Kong
King K. Rool
Impa
Ridley
Elma
New Nintendo IP Character
Sukapon (as the Odd Ball of SSB5)

and speaking of odd balls i doubt Duck Hunt will be a starter because
1. Shulk being unlockable instead of Duck Hunt was odd and unlikely
2. Duck Hunt is the Odd Ball of SSB4 (just like Jigglypuff to the original, GAW to melee and R.O.B. to brawl)

I also doubt Marth and Shulk being unlockable because it feels odd to me nowadays
and doubt Rosalina being a starter as well because the reason why Wario is currently unlockable could possibly happen to Rosalina too

Btw buff the SSB4 unlockable amount
to 2 [

]
or 5 [

] 6 if brought back

And either have

or

unlockable
because both of them being unlockable was also odd and unlikely

ElectroLightning · Jun 3, 2016

QuintonShark8714 said:
Your cuts

I disagree with all your cuts (expect Bayonetta and the clones)

Oops, forgot Greninja... The reason I got rid of 2 Kid Icarus reps is because of the franchise itself. Kid Icarus only has 3 games, 1 really good one, 1 no one has heard of (Myth and Monsters), and 1 pretty good one. Kid Icarus, IMO, only deserves Pit. And about Corrin, he is just like Roy, advertisment. The only reason Roy was brought back was because of the fans, and I can't see that happening with Corrin.

Pokémon having 5 without Greninja nor a Gen 7/8 would be unfair
Because Pokémon having 5 whling Mario having 7 and Zelda having 6 would be unfair.

I don't think Palutena is going anywhere because she's the second most important Kid Icarus character (just like Falco and Wolf to Star Fox and Luigi to Super Mario)

Read above

Also here are other possible newcomers:
Dixie Kong
King K. Rool
Impa
Ridley
Elma
New Nintendo IP Character
Sukapon (as the Odd Ball of SSB5)

I think 9 newcomers is enough, we can't have too much characters, and it would be bad for the competitive scene.

and speaking of odd balls i doubt Duck Hunt will be a starter because
1. Shulk being unlockable instead of Duck Hunt was odd and unlikely
2. Duck Hunt is the Odd Ball of SSB4 (just like Jigglypuff to the original, GAW to melee and R.O.B. to brawl)

Agreed, going to fix that...

I also doubt Marth and Shulk being unlockable because it feels odd to me nowadays
and doubt Rosalina being a starter as well because the reason why Wario is currently unlockable could possibly happen to Rosalina too

Marth was unlockable in Melee and Brawl and I think have Smash 4 having him as a starter was a mistake

Btw buff the SSB4 unlockable amount
to 2 []
or 5 [] 6 if brought back

I'll do Ryu, Cloud, and Duck Hunt. And Bowser Jr. is an unlockable...

And either have or unlockable
because both of them being unlockable was also odd and unlikely

Agreed.

QuintonShark8714 · Jun 3, 2016

By clones i mean the clone trio

not Roy also because he just became Luigified just Falco and Ganondorf in brawl
So can you tell me the reason you cuted Roy?
And i think the only reason why Marth was starter because Lucina

ElectroLightning · Jun 3, 2016

QuintonShark8714 said:
By clones i mean the clone trio
not Roy also because he just became Luigified just Falco and Ganondorf in brawl
So can you tell me the reason you cuted Roy?
And i think the only reason why Marth was starter because Lucina

Would adding him as DLC count as cutting him, since that was what I was planning.

QuintonShark8714 · Jun 3, 2016

ElectroLightning said:
Would adding him as DLC count as cutting him, since that was what I was planning.

Yes pretty much since that what happened to Lucas and Mewtwo

ElectroLightning · Jun 3, 2016

QuintonShark8714 said:
Yes pretty much since that what happened to Lucas and Mewtwo

I'll consider it, but his moveset would be changed drastically.

QuintonShark8714 · Jun 3, 2016

ElectroLightning said:
I'll consider it, but his moveset would be changed drastically.

Who else would you consider DLC?

ElectroLightning · Jun 4, 2016

QuintonShark8714 said:
Who else would you consider DLC?

King K. Roll, Pichu, and Isaac.

TheVill4ger · Jun 4, 2016

I understand the Inkling, but why do we need Paper Mario?

Munomario777 · Jun 4, 2016

TheVill4ger said:
I understand the Inkling, but why do we need Paper Mario?

Because his series (the first two games, anyway) is highly renowned, he's a fan-favorite when it comes to Mario newcomers, and has a lot of unique moveset potential.

Opossum · Jun 4, 2016

Munomario777 said:
Please excuse our appearance during renovation

Hey all! We all have our ideas for what we want in the next Smash game. So, here are mine!

That's the roster. A grand total of 80 fighters!

For the sake of convenience, I've separated the post into spoiler tags.

Smash V uses Smash for Wii U as a base, and adds stuff from there. This way, we can add a lot of new stuff, and don't have to use up dev time reinventing the wheel.

The HUD has also seen some significant changes:

It now shows more information, such as the player number and your custom tag. You can also see an all-new gameplay mechanic: the Final Smash meter. It fills up whenever you connect with attacks, or whenever you yourself are hit. Generally, you'll only fill it once or maybe twice a match. Once it's full, the Smash Ball on the HUD surges with blue flames, as they spew out of the top / right / bottom openings. This gives you a passive buff of some sort, which varies from fighter to fighter. The longer you hold the buff, the more time you have to use it – but like the Smash Ball itself, it also becomes easier to knock your charge out of you! You go down to about 3/4 full if this happens. Also, if your opponent has their meter full, you can attack them to fill your meter twice as fast! Do you go in close to fill your own meter, or stay away to lower the risk of getting hit by their Final Smash?

Speaking of the Final Smash, it's activated by pressing A and B together with a full meter. (This way, you can use Neutral Specials even if your Final Smash is ready.) They now tend to be a single powerful attack, e.g. Triforce Slash or Mario Finale, rather than transformations like Wario-Man. Final Smashes also no longer have invincibility; they are still immune to attacks, but you can grab an opponent right before their Final Smash starts! It's like super-armor, but it also negates damage. Final Smashes can also be blocked with shields, as well as the toughest super-armor; those that act like command-grabs can be beaten by attacks during their startup.

And of course, the Smash Ball item is still present. If you break it open, your meter will be "covered up" by another, full meter, representing the Smash Ball – your meter is full now. Once you use up that charge (which also goes away when you're KO'd), your old meter will return, and it can still begin to fill up behind the scenes (or shrink if you're KO'd).

Another goal is to bring back some popular mechanics from past games. Fast-falls are faster this time around, while normal falling speeds are unchanged. You can cancel a fast-fall by tapping up on the control stick. Ledge-canceling is back for aerial attacks. Dash-based techniques, like dash-dancing, are now enhanced thanks to a longer initial-dash animation. Zairs like Link's Hookshot can grapple to walls, like in Melee. Shields can be pushed off of ledges again. And finally, jumping during a dash retains all your momentum.

With that said, not everything returns exactly how it was. Custom moves and equipment have been excluded from this game, in the interest of focusing on the fighters' core movesets. L-canceling does not make a return, but in the interest of having the type of combos that it allowed for, landing lag on aerials is halved if you connect with the attack successfully. Perfect pivoting now has a more lenient timing window. Special moves can be used straight out of a shield, which opens up a lot of options for escaping pressure.

And then there are a lot of little tweaks. Windboxes no longer push fighters up by default. Swimming has been removed, but fighters fall much more slowly in water. Recovery moves no longer cause a helpless state when used from the ground. Footstools and tripping are now techable. The timer has been moved to the bottom-center of the screen, so that it's closer to the rest of the HUD. Invincibility during throw animations has been removed. Ice-based attacks have a bit of extra hitstun. After finishing off a combo with a kill move, each fighter has a unique "combo catchphrase" – whether it be Mario's "Here we gooooo!", Sonic's "I'll play with you some other time!", or Captain Falcon's "Hyes!". Each fighter also has a unique victory theme, and they're all brand-new arrangements.

Customized controls also have a couple of improvements. You can customize them a lot more this time around. Don't want to input smashes with the control stick + attack button? Disable it. Want to map your up taunt to the A button? Sure, why not? Additionally, inputs such as the c-stick are no longer proxies for two buttons (e.g. the c-stick tells the game to input a direction on the control stick simultaneously); rather, they are their own distinct commands. It should work about the same, but online issues (you try to use a smash attack and instead end up jabbing) or things like not being able to move in midair after a c-sticked aerial should be all fixed. This goes for the grab button too!

The "Tips" feature is now an archive of tips, sorted by category, character, et cetera. You can now view any tip whenever you like! This game also places focus on the competitive community. An official tournament ruleset is built into the game, and tweaked based partially on community feedback. This ruleset is also used for For Glory. There is also a cheat code which unlcoks all of the fighters, stages, and music tracks. It's hidden deep within the Super Smash Bros. V Dojo! Ideal for tournament setups. You can also run online bracket-based tournaments, or if you're in an actual tourney, sync up an online bracket between all the setups.

Overall, the goal here is to appeal to all parts of the Smash community. Make sure that the game is still fun casually, but also make the game more fit for competitive play.

Captain Toad, leader of the Toad Brigade, ventures into the world of Smash Bros! He has trekked throughout the Mushroom Kingdom and traversed the cosmos, but this is his greatest challenge yet. He's come prepared though, with a backpack full of supplies that also has the benefit of making him quite heavy, and thus hard to launch! He's such a small target too, so good luck hitting him. With that said, the Captain's backpack weighs him down quite a bit, making him slow and giving him the worst jumps in the game. He also falls like a rock, and can barely move around in the air – but hey, at least he can jump at all this time around.

Captain Toad's side special move has him hitch a ride in a minecart! Tracks not included. It acts like Wario's bike from past games. The minecart, however, deals more damage but is stuck on a set path of travel – you cannot turn around. It also will not stop for anything; if it hits a wall, it simply explodes. As a result, it is impossible to pick up the minecart. As a bonus, pressing the A button causes Captain Toad to throw a turnip out of the minecart as a quick but weak projectile.

His neutral special move has him charge up and then flash his headlamp. It has good reach, and can be charged as well as aimed up, right, or left. It can paralyze opponents, lasting longer if you've charged the move. It's excellent for comboing into other attacks! With his up special move, Captain Toad throws a grappling hook up into the air – in midair, this is preceded by a little hop. Captain Toad's recovery relies mostly on grappling to ledges, but the minecart and the little hop can help too. This move is also useful for combat; the hook, at the sweetspot (the extent of its travel), yanks the foe right down to Captain Toad! You can even aim it side-to-side a bit. The grappling hook is also used for Captain Toad's grab.

As for Captain Toad's down special move, it's a bit of a wild card. Captain Toad plucks something from the ground to use in battle. You get a randomized item, but if you wait between uses, your chances of getting a rarer, better item will increase. Do you use the move constantly to always have an item, or save it for a really good tool?

Turnips are the most common item by far. You can throw them for a nice projectile option.

Super Gems are rarer than turnips. Not only do they deal more damage when thrown, but Captain Toad also holds the gem in front of him to block attacks! Just don't let it take too much damage and break.

Mushrooms heal Captain Toad a good amount, and while they aren't used for attacking, that's still a good reward.

Potted Piranha Plants will automatically snap at nearby foes whilst being held. Captain Toad can also throw the Piranha Plant, which deals a little bit of damage on its own. It won't snap at foes whilst flying through the air, but after it lands, it becomes a bit of a trap! Just be aware that these guys can be destroyed by the opponent's attacks.

Captain Toad's forward smash uses the Super Pickax for an overhead swing. This attack sure is powerful! ...Just don't let the foe hit you while it's stuck in the ground after the swing. For his up smash, Captain Toad tosses his backpack upward to hit foes. The move packs range and power, but is a bit slow. Similarly, his down smash attack is based on a spinning maneuver from Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. It covers a wide area and is quite powerful, but he gets dizzy afterward, so watch out! Perhaps using an item from Down Special can help lead into these attacks?

As for standard attacks, they include a rapid jab where he plucks coins from the ground, several slow-but-powerful backpack-swinging attacks, and a ground-pound down aerial. For his Final Smash, Captain Toad plucks a giant turnip from the ground and then throws it! This should be familiar to those who have beaten Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.

Finally, you can choose colors based on the Toad Brigade, and even play as Captain Toadette! They play exactly the same, of course. Generally, Captain Toad is a fighter that benefits from patience. If you try to go all-out with your attacks, their sluggishness may be your demise! Instead, wait for an opening – you've got the time, you are quite heavy. You can also use your down special move to create openings for yourself! Or, in the case of the mushroom, making even more time. Just make sure that your opponent doesn't breach your defenses!

Paper Mario, adventurer across land, sea, and even different dimensions (in more ways that one!). And now, this paper-thin hero is ready to enter the battle! He's the lightest character in the game, surpassing even Jigglypuff. Paper Mario battles using various elements from his games, such as the partners. Due to his extremely light weight, he wants to keep the opponent out as much as possible. Also, he can go flat on the ground in his crouch to dodge attacks, uses his tube mode for crawls, fold into a paper boat to swim, and dodges have him turn 90 degrees, becoming invisible thanks to his flat nature. His Smash Taunt is even a Goombella tattle! Now that's accuracy.

Paper Mario's down special move is all about his partners – his sidekicks from the Paper Mario series. He's never alone in this fight! If you hold the button, you can cycle through them, and a simple "tap" has your current partner perform a special attack unique to each partner. Additionally, pressing the attack button in the middle of one of Paper Mario's moves will cause the partner to attack alongside Paper Mario. It can be performed in any of the four directions, and is good for covering your weak points. Press A right when one of your attacks connects to attack in perfect unison!

Koops' special move is Power Shell. Paper Mario jumps on Koops as he retracts into his shell, sending Koops flying forward at high speed. If you use Down Special again, he stalls briefly and then comes straight back like a boomerang! Tricky. For his standard attack, Koops enters his shell again and performs a bashing attack. This attack can beat out other moves with ease and has good power, but is rather slow to start.

Admiral Bobbery uses Bomb as his special move, where he walks forward at a slow pace. Inputting the move again has him explode after a delay, which is quite powerful. He can be knocked back by attacks, but thanks to his "Hold Fast" ability, he has launch-resistance for attacks that deal up to 10%, although he will stop in his tracks whilst resisting an attack. Bobbery's standard attack has him perform a surprisingly weak explosion, but this attack's true strength is its outstanding range thanks to the blast radius.

Vivian pulls Mario into the shadows using Veil. You can hold the button to stay hidden (bar the shadow on the ground) for up to two seconds, and then perform an attack as you reappear that becomes more powerful the longer you stay hidden. Sneaky! You can even use this to retreat straight to the ground from midair in a snap, but while you can move quite fast whilst in the shadow, the attack out of it has ending lag. Vivian's standard attack is Fiery Jinx, a move which has good reach and transcendent properties but is a tad telegraphed. Vivian also changes the appearance of Mario's dodges!

Lakilester gives Mario a lift when you use Down Special, and you can move freely in any direction for a second. Ascend, descend, you name it. This deals no damage, but is a boon for recovery. You can jump to cancel this at any time, able to attack afterward. For his standard attack, Lakilester uses Spiny Flip to toss a Spiny Egg. He's the only partner with a projectile attack, but it is somewhat slow.

Finally, Watt uses Power Shock for her special move, which creates two bolts of lightning that travel to either side along the ground. In midair, it's instead a single bolt that travels straight down and creates two bolts upon hitting the ground. The move is slow (although Paper Mario can move before Watt finishes), but has a paralyzing effect that can prove to be quite potent! Watt's standard move, Electro Dash, also has "stunning" combo ability.

For his side special move, Paper Mario throws his hammer in a high arc that you can aim at different angles. It's a quick projectile with decent power, but it'll only really hit foes who are in the air. Paper Mario can also catch the hammer and use it as a throwing item, and his partners may be able to help! Paper Mario, luckily, has a spare hammer or two, so he can use his other hammer attacks even if the projectile was just thrown. His up special move has him crunch up and then leap into the air: the Spring Jump! After this chargeable leap, Paper Mario turns into a paper plane to glide through the air – you can cancel this into an attack.

Paper Mario's neutral special move is helpful for offsetting his light weight: he pulls out a Super Mushroom and eats it, restoring some health! This takes quite some time to finish, and it cannot be canceled, so you're very vulnerable. But if there's an opening, you can really lengthen your endurance! Just don't push your luck.

Paper Mario's standard attacks include hammer attacks, as well as a few punches and maybe a jumping uppercut here or there. Other notable attacks include a neutral aerial attack using Barry, a hammer attack on his forward smash that should feel very familiar, and a bouncing stomp attack for a down aerial which can be used to chain into another attack! Also, Thoreau makes an appearance as a long-ranged grab.

With a full Final Smash meter, Paper Mario gains copies of himself, and they stack up with Paper Mario to make him several layers thick. Each time you're hit with a decently-powerful attack, one of these five copies is destroyed, but you take much less knockback from the attack. Copies also increase your attack damage, so make sure to conserve them! The Final Smash has your copies fold into a giant hammer – a powerful move, especially with all of your copies intact.

Generally, Paper Mario is a very strategic character. You need to manage your partners, healing, your hammer, and even your copies with a full Final Smash meter. Don't just go rushing into the heat of battle headfirst; you're extremely frail after all! Play it safe, wait for an opening, and then get in a big chain of attacks to rack up some damage! Your partners and other tools will help a lot here.

Kamek joins the battle as the first new Yoshi's Island rep other than Yoshi himself. He's always riding his broom (giving him good mobility both on the ground and in midair), and uses his wand for his standard attacks as a weapon. He's very lightweight.

His neutral special move is called Spell. Kamek waves his wand, firing one of those jumbles of shapes from the Mario games. If it hits a fighter, it'll deal three hits of damage -- one for each shape. This will lock the foe in place for a moment. If it hits a projectile, item, etc, it'll turn it into a Shy Guy -- much like how Kamek's shots in the Mario games turn blocks into enemies. The Shy Guy will attack foes who draw near, and can be knocked around by either fighter like a weaker version of Pac-Man's hydrant. In midair, the magic is fired diagonally downward. It'll create a Shy Guy upon hitting a wall/floor, so it's not only effective against projectile users. (This also applies to the grounded version.)

Side Special is Bubble Shot. Kamek fires a large bubble forwards from his wand (like the one Baby Mario goes into), which travels very slowly and pops when attacked. If a foe touches it without attacking it, they're trapped in the bubble until they can wiggle out. This is an excellent trap, and allows Kamek to land a follow-up attack. However, a foe can attack the bubble to pop it.

Up Special is Warp, which does what it says on the tin. However, it won't leave Kamek in a helpless state, meaning it can be used to extend aerial combos.

Down Special is Duplicate. Kamek waves his wand as a puff of smoke envelops him, and then when it dissipates, there are two Kameks! Only one is the "real" Kamek, however; you can choose which one that is by holding a direction on the control stick before the puff of smoke goes away. The real Kamek acts just like normal. The clone will go away after getting hit, and won't block projectiles or cause freeze frames to the attacker. The clone mirrors Kamek's every move, and its attacks do indeed have hitboxes attached. It also doesn't obey collision, so it can go inside of surfaces or stand in midair if Kamek moves in a certain way. The clone looks identical to Kamek, which makes it tricky for foes to deal with.

The Final Smash has Kamek summon a Shy Guy (if one is already onstage from the Neutral Special, it'll get this effect instead) and using his magic, make it grow immensely in size! It'll then jump up and slam down on the nearest foe before shrinking to a normal size. This mirrors how in Yoshi's Island, Kamek would often make normal enemies grow into bosses.

Kamek's yarn form from Yoshi's Woolly World appears as an alt, and his props -- like the broomstick, wand, projectiles, Shy Guys, etc. -- change too. Kamek's victory theme is a remixed excerpt from his theme in Yoshi's Island, and he enters the battle in a puff of smoke.

Waluigi Time!

His physics are very weird overall, with high gravity, moderate floatiness, a high jump, and high air acceleration.Like the Wii Fit Trainer, Waluigi has weird hitboxes on a lot of his moves. No attack is without a second knockback angle; experiment and see what combos you can pull off!

Down Special has him pull out a Mario Kart item box, which gives him a random item. The longer you go without using the move, the better your chances of getting a better item become.

Banana Peels act just like normal, except they can only be used once.

Green Shells are fast and powerful, but can be hit back.

Boomerangs have three uses like in MK8; after the third one, they don’t come back.

Mushrooms make Waluigi giant for a few seconds!

Bullet Bills act like normal, except not quite as strong.

Bob-ombs are super-powerful, but they explode in your face after a few seconds!

Blue Shells are the ultimate reward, targeting the nearest player like a homing missile. Just be careful not to get caught in the blast! It KOs extremely early, but the foe can kamikaze with it, or dodge it entirely with precise timing. It goes both ways!

Nspec has him serve a tennis ball with his racket. It can be angled up or down depending on when you time the swing (press B to toss the ball up a bit, then press again to swing), and bounces off the ground; it’s more powerful after a single bounce, losing that power after a second bounce (referencing tennis). Like Wii Fit’s soccer ball, it can be knocked around by attacks. If holding an item, Waluigi serves that instead, sending it at higher speeds than normal with the bonus of aiming! Bullet Bills act like missiles, and Blue Shells are exploding torpedoes.

Sspec has him swim through the air, a weird-feeling mobility tool that can be angled up or down and deals combo-friendly damage. When he “pushes off” after the startup, it deals pretty powerful backward knockback!

Uspec is a weird, springy jump upward. Like sspec, it can meteor smash foes below him. If you hold back during startup, it becomes a backflip; this version has him twirl around and glide to safety like Luigi in Super Mario 64 DS. He does move backward during the backflip, so it may be best to face away from the stage when recovering. The spinning can also be canceled into an aerial, after which Waluigi enters helpless.

Waluigi glows with a purple aura with his meter full, giving his moves odd effects, e.g. freezing or flower-headedness. They're not quite random, but unless you do some research, you don't really know which attack gives which effect! His actual Final Smash has two phases. First, he uses a technique similar to Luigi's Negative Zone from Brawl, inverting an area around himself. After he's caught foes in this area and slowed them to a crawl, he lets out a "WAAAAAA!" as the zone shatters, sending the caught opponents flying! This functions as a command-grab on a technical level, meaning that this move can be interrupted with any attack or be dodged, but can go through shields and super-armor.

Cranky Kong Goes Bananas!

He comes as a "modern" DK rep, drawing inspiration from Tropical Freeze and his abilities there, plus his shop items from Returns.

Neutral Special is the Dentures. Cranky tosses some artificial teeth forwards at high speeds, like he does in Tropical Freeze. It's a faster version of Mario's fireball, but deals less damage and only mere flinching. It's good for harassing foes from a distance.

Side Special is the Barrel Roll. Cranky pulls out a barrel and pushes it forwards as it rolls along the ground, acting as a projectile to damage foes. Hold the button to instead ride the barrel (with a similar animation to rolling as DK with a partner Kong on top in the newer DKC titles), similarly to the Villager's Lloid Rocket.

Up Special is the Extra Life Balloon. Cranky grabs onto a red balloon from DKCR and DKC:TF, which act as extra lives in those games. Here they serve a similar purpose, saving Cranky from getting knocked offstage. Unlike the Villager, Cranky can't control his ascent speed, instead acting like a slower-rising version of the DHD's recovery move. The balloon can be popped, but Cranky can also pop it manually to deal damage to nearby foes without entering a helpless state (although the helpless state will occur if an opponent pops the balloon).

Down Special is Squawks the Parrot. He'll fly forwards (at a downwards angle if used in midair) and peck foes from a distance, knocking the opponent towards Cranky. While Cranky can't move until the bird either returns or hits something, he can use it to start a chain of attacks from afar.

Cranky's standard attacks utilize his cane. One of these is the down aerial, his signature pogo bounce from Tropical Freeze! Tap the button (or flick the c-stick) for a single downward thrust that gains Cranky more height and spikes opponents, but is harder to land. Hold it instead for a long-lasting bounce that isn't as powerful, but is easier to hit with. This is a great recovery option with an opponent nearby -- try luring a foe over with a vulnerable balloon recovery, popping the balloon, jumping, and pogoing the foe's head for a spike and extra recovery! Just make sure you're close to the ledge, since you can't use the balloon again after popping it manually (unless you're hit).

Final Smash is the Kong POW from Tropical Freeze. When you collect 100 bananas in that game, you can use a partner-specific super attack. Cranky's turns all onscreen enemies into Banana Coins. In Smash, he'll perform the Kong POW, and Banana Coins will rain down from the skies to deal damage to foes.

Cranky Kong's victory theme is the "stage clear" theme from Tropical Freeze.

King K. Rool Joins The Battle!

He uses the abilities from his different outfits throughout the DK series, but has his king appearance (with the others as alts). He has projectiles with odd trajectories, which can be tricky to dodge. His movement abilities are also surprisingly good for his size, except for his lacking midair jumps.

His neutral special move is a shot from his Blunderbuss, which releases a puff of smoke. Any foes within that smoke will take extra damage and knockback from attacks, but so will K. Rool himself. Only one can be active at a time; it'll disappear after five seconds or so. The move can be charged to propel the cloud forwards a distance before it stops.

For the side special move, K. Rool fires a cannonball from his Blunderbuss, pretty much Dedede's Gordos from SSB4 (which have been replaced this time around, but we'll get there when we get there).

Up Special is his propeller pack from DKC3. It's slow-to-rise like DK's recovery move, but has good horizontal movement and can damage foes higher up thanks to the propeller itself. It won't rise when used on the ground. At the beginning of the move, a small robotic pod is left behind, and at the end, a bolt of electricity appears between it and K. Rool, knocking the foe towards him! While this is a neat way to deal damage, it'll also cause the pack to explode, damaging foes for a powerful hit and putting K. Rool into helpless -- the bolt hits the foe into the blast! However, if you miss, the helpless state (or ending lag for the grounded version) is very punishable. By the way, the helpless animation has him fall down covered in black soot, as if he got blown up in a cartoon.

Down Special is Canonball Fall. K. Rool shouts up into the skies, causing a cannonball to fall from the top blast zone a short distance in front of him. Upon landing, it'll bounce off and then in front of the stage, like in the original games. He can act before the ball appears, so it's a delayed but powerful option. It has minimal lag, but is very telegraphed. It's a decently powerful finisher, and can be comboed into by other attacks. The move can be charged for a bigger, more powerful cannonball, at the cost of K. Rool being wide open during the charge. Bigger cannonballs also have more delay before falling, which may help with combos and setups.

K. Rool's attacks tend to be rather slow to end, but very powerful. They're safe on hit for the most part thanks to high knockback, and have decent shield pushback.

Forward Smash has K. Rool throw his crown like a boomerang. Has very long range, but leaves K. Rool open as he waits for his crown to return.

Up Smash is a leaping belly flop attack, which allows him to dodge attacks (he leaps during the charge) and deals a lot of damage and knockback, but has ending lag.

Down Smash has him throw out two orbs from the up special to either side, and when the charge is released (after a 1-2 second delay), a bolt will connect them. Charging increases the range instead of the damage, and it'll stun foes for a moment to allow for a follow-up. It's an interesting trap, but of course not very good at all for attacking in a pinch.

K. Rool's Final Smash is the Blast-O-Matic, a giant doomsday laser device. It appears at the edge of the screen behind K. Rool, and fires a giant laser. K. Rool can control the laser by using the Final Smash input again, turning it on and off. It only has a limited amount of firing time, so he'll have to get tricky to make the best of it!

K. Rool has a variety of projectiles and traps that he can use to confuse his foes and combo. He's got a lot of convoluted yet effective combos and setups he can use, and can trick and confuse foes easily with his projectiles' odd behavior, and the many ways he can combine them. There is, however, some risk to this reward, since he can't use a lot of his projectiles again if they're in play (so he can't use any of the moves he used in his combo/setup again, a decent punishment), and he has a general problem with ending lag.

Impa Appears On The Scene!

She replaces Sheik, pretty much. Several of her moves are similar, but she also utilizes her giant sword for heavy-hitting attacks.

Her down special move is a style switch. By default she uses her sword for certain moves, which is powerful but slow and gives her water-based magic. She can swap to her naginata, which is quick but weak and features fire magic. Regardless of her weapon, Impa's stats are the same: a lot like Sheik's. Not all of Impa's moves use the weapon, mind you.

Neutral Special is a chargeable move using magic. With the greatsword, Impa summons kunai made of water in the air around her, and when it’s released, they fall to the ground. They can combo into other attacks, or even create traps (they don't move with you if you have momentum when you use the move). With her naginata, she stabs it into the ground similarly to Eruption, creating pillars of flames a distance away to either side. A great way to cover space, but it’s short-ranged if uncharged. The stab combos into the flames, and they’re powerful at full-charge!

Side Special is a multi-hit move in the vein of Dancing Blade, reminiscent of Hyrule Warriors' attacks. It has three hits, all of which can be angled up or down – this may be necessary in order to follow the foe's DI! If you use the naginata, the foe may not be able to react quickly enough to the fast attacks and escape, but this version packs less of a punch than the greatsword version. Each attack causes Impa to take a stride forward, giving this attack a nice ability to cover ground or even advance in midair (even if it doesn't slow your descent).

Up Special is a recovery move. Greatsword is a leap up followed by many spinning descending slashes (like her B+Y combo in Hyrule Warriors). Impa retains any forward momentum she had prior to this move, and it can be canceled at any point during the spinning slashes. Naginata is instead a leap upward, stabbing upward. If Impa hits a wall or the ledge, she sticks her naginata into the stage and then launches herself up into the air from it – a moment later, it teleports back to her hands magically.

Impa’s tilts, jab, and dash attack are the same as Sheik’s, and don’t change with the weapon style.

Forward smash is a powerful but slow slamming attack with the sword, whereas the naginata is used for a thrusting attack.

Up smash is an upward attack with the weapon. The greatsword is swung upward similarly to Cloud’s, whereas the naginata is put to use in a spinning attack overhead.

Down smash with the sword is a spinning attack that’s slow but meaty, whereas the naginata has Impa spin around it and kick, using the embedded staff as a pivot point.

Dair with the greatsword is a somersualt, attacking below Impa in an arc and knocking the opponent backward powerfully. Naginata style is an instant diving stab downward, which is very quick but also weak. Upon landing, press A again to perform dsmash instantly since your staff is already embedded into the ground. It’s a true-combo!

Fair is a downward-angled attack with the weapon in hand. The sword resembles Cloud’s, spike and all, whereas the naginata is a stab at a bit of a downward angle with great reach.

Uair, nair, and bair are similar to Sheik’s, but are geared more towards combos and less toward KOing.

With a full Final Smash meter, Impa gains an aura of her magic: speed-increasing water with the greatsword, attack-boosting fire with the naginata. Sort of a yin-yang type thing; the boosts cover the weapons' respective weaknesses. The Final Smash is either a giant wave of water sent out to either side, or a serpent made of flames that chases the opponent.

Sheik appears as an alternate costume.

Lana Spells It Out!

Coming from from Hyrule Warriors, she uses her spell book for a unique type of sorcery. She's also extremely quick and agile, able to leap across the battlefield with ease and outpace many opponents; she's perhaps the quickest and nimblest Zelda character. She's a very lightweight character, but some of her other attributes help her keep foes away.

Neutral Special is Spell Block. Lana holds out her spell book in front of her, creating a transparent, light blue cube (color changes with alternate costumes) that's about as tall as she is. It'll act as a soft platform from above, and have similar collision to fighters when walked into from the sides, except it cannot be pushed, and can be wall-jumped off of. It helps give Lana some high ground to perform attacks, but only three can be in play at a time. Use the move while standing on top of a Spell Block, and Lana will cause it to "roll" forwards, moving one cube space forwards and damaging fighters. It won't act as a solid object during this time -- only a hitbox -- and Lana can jump off after initiating the action, although that takes a moment (but once she's got it going, it's quick to continue rolling the block). Spell Blocks will fall due to gravity, so they're ineffective for recovering.

Side Special is Magic Orb. Lana shoots a light blue orb of magic out of her spell book, acting as a projectile. If it hits a Spell Block, it'll bounce right off, at a 45-degree, upwards angle, good for hitting foes or comboing with some forethought. Subsequent, non-horizontal bounces just bounce like you'd expect. The move can also be charged, and a charged orb will cause Spell Blocks to shatter instead of bouncing off, dealing damage and potentially causing a chain reaction if enough Spell Blocks are nearby. In midair, the Magic Orb is fired at a 45 degree, downwards angle, and it can still be charged. It can bounce off of blocks with normal physics (unlike the grounded version's first bounce), and both can only bounce off of Spell Blocks -- they disappear upon touching anything else.

Up Special is Page Whirlwind. Lana opens her spell book and spins around with it as pages fly out, surrounding her in a mini-tornado as she rises upwards. A good recovery that deals damage to opponents and has good movement both horizontally and vertically (moreso the former), but leaves Lana in helpless. On the ground, she won't rise up or be left in helpless; it's a good combo/approach tool thanks to low ending lag on the ground.

Down Special is Block Magnet. Lana spreads her limbs outwards, facing the camera, her arms stretched to either side. Lana will then "pull" her Spell Blocks horizontally towards her, dealing damage to foes and dragging them in close for a follow-up attack; the blocks disappear upon contact with Lana or another block

Lana's smash attacks utilize the rectangular-prism-shaped blocks that she creates in Hyrule Warriors. The forward smash has her create one from the ground, able to weakly hit opponents at the beginning of the charge, a bit of a distance away. Upon releasing the charge, Lana rushes forward at high speeds, shattering the block and dealing pretty powerful damage and knockback over a good area. This move is powerful, but its endlag makes it punishable, and Lana herself deals little damage (although the up-close hit can combo into the explosion). Also, the block can be destroyed by opponents, although it does block projectiles. Even if the block is destroyed by a projectile, Lana can still hit an opponent with the long-ranged command-dash!

Up smash has Lana create a rectangular block above her, dealing a bit of damage as it appears, before sending it upward a short distance but with great force. A powerful and long-reaching anti-air, but its endlag makes it punsihable.

Down smash creates two blocks to either side just like fsmash but a bit closer, and after the charge, Lana sends them to either side as they slide along the ground a decent distance. Not only does this cover a big area to either side, but it can also be used to push Lana's spell blocks from nspec.

Lana's standard attacks are a combination of light-blue magic and book pages. They're nice, long-ranged attacks with disjointed hitboxes, but lack somewhat in damage output. Lana also has a few standard kicks, which are her quickest moves. Also, her jab combo has many hits, like in Hyrule Warriors.

Lana's Final Smash is the Summoning Gate. Lana holds her spell book up in the air as a Summoning Gate appears in front of her. Then, out comes... a giant Cucco?! It'll attack fighters as if they had attacked it, dealing a lot of damage. Don't mess with the Cucco!

Tri Force Heroes Join The Fray!

This is essentially a trio character, like the Icies but with three members. You can also swap which one you want to control, and they each have different movesets. Additionally, you can tell them to do certain things and stay put, e.g. telling the green one to hold up his shield as a wall. For more detail, see my MYM entry.

Tetra Sails Into Smash!

Tetra's main weapons include a pistol and a pirate cutlass from Hyrule Warriors Legends, each in a different hand. She specializes in quick attacks and combos. Her attitude shows in her animations, as she often twirls her weapons after using them (similar to Bayonetta after using Bullet Arts on an attack).

Neutral Special has Tetra fire her pistol straight forward. It's a quick, rather powerful projectile, but she needs to laggily reload after firing it (by using the move again). Similarly to Bayonetta, she can fire her pistol following any attack (smashes, tilts, dash attack, jab, throws, aerials, specials, and throws) by pressing B. This is her primary way of finishing off a stock, as the pistol can auto-aim at the opponent you just hit.

Side Special is the Grappling Hook from Wind Waker. It's a long-ranged command grab, and can also grapple to ledges. Good for extending a combo or countering shields / attacking from a distance, and transitions into Tetra's normal grab state, with pummels and throws. She wraps the opponent up in the rope, and steps on their feet for the pummel. If you press B during this move, you can fire your pistol mid-move, even while pulling an opponent in! Prettty fancy, and can KO near the ledge.

Up Special has Tetra explode a bomb beneath her after some rather lengthy startup, propelling her upward and serving as a spike to foes below her if the sweetspot in the center is landed (otherwise it's good horizontal knockback). She'll then pull out the sail from Wind Waker, using it Skyward Sword-style to glide slowly to the ground. This mirrors Toon Link's tweaked Spin Attack, which now -- spoilers! -- allows him to use the Deku Leaf afterward to glide to safety. You can press B at any point during this move to fire your pistol, if it's loaded of course.

Down Special has her stomp her foot on the ground as she winks, the foot stomp dealing little damage and having a small hitbox (it spikes at the edge however). It'll cause a "plank" of the stage to pop up in front of her, acting as a nicely-sized grounded hitbox about its own width (half a Battlefield platform) away from Tetra. Sneaky! She can even follow up with an upward-angled pistol shot by pressing B. In midair, Tetra performs a stall-then-fall, still doing the thing with the plank when she lands.

Forward smash is the Skull Hammer, which has two variations depending on the charge. Low charge is the spinning horizontal version, and charge it halfway or more for the slower but stronger overhead swing. This move has endlag either way, but pressing B to fire your pistol can help ward off foes.

Up smash is an upward sword slash in an uppercut, knocking the foe directly above Tetra. She can then fire her pistol upward by pressing B for a powerful kill combo! Just don't get too trigger-happy, don't wanna waste your shot without hitting anything.

Down smash has her pull out two bombs and throw them down to the ground at either side, exploding for a long-ranged but end-laggy attack. Her pistol is fired upwards for this attack, deterring foes from attacking from above -- this move's blind spot.

Jab is a single sword slash to knock the foe away a small distance. The pistol shot by pressing B acts as the second hit here.

Ftilt is a two-hit sword combo, similar to Meta Knight's. The second hit has three variations if you angle it. The animations are based directly on Toon Link's sword animations from Wind Waker.

Utilt is a handstand kick, not unlike Fox's. It has a forward knockback angle, and unlike Fox, Tetra actually completes the cartwheel-type thing, causing this attack to move her forward quite a bit as she leaps forward onto her feet from the handstand. Thus, you can either keep your melee combo going at lower percents, or use your pistol to get a guaranteed follow-up if they're knocked out of range.

Dtilt is a low slice with the cutlass, with a semi-spike and a horizontal pistol shot.

Dash attack is a roll along the ground, like Link's from Wind Waker. It's quick and can be used repeatedly (she can keep dashing after using the move), giving Tetra a boost in speed, and it has very low ending lag. It also knocks foes forwards and upwards, allowing Tetra to follow up on the attack. She'll perform a small hop upon reaching the ledge, too.

Nair is a spinning cutlass attack, like Marth's but with only one swing. It's a very quick attack, and its low knockback is nice for combos. Depending on when you time your B press, Tetra fires her pistol either forward or backward.

Fair is a swift sword slice, good for comboing but lacking somewhat in damage.

Bair is a backward stab with her cutlass. It's similar to Pit's bair, but with more exaggerated windup: a solid KO move.

Uair is a quick stab upward with her cutlass. Unlike Toon Link's, this move does not linger, making it more suited for comboing with its low damage and knockback.

Dair is a stomp downward with one foot. It's a spike, but a very weak one; your pistol however is fired straight down, and has a more powerful spike effect.

Tetra's Final Smash has her pull out a barrel and slam it down onto the ground, attempting to trap a foe inside of it. If she catches a foe, she'll throw them into a giant catapult, referencing the scene from Wind Waker where she launches Link into the Forsaken Fortress. The catapult deals lots of knockback, but the barrel has rather short range, so it can be tricky to land even if it is a command-grab.

Sceptile Makes The Cut!

This Gen III rep comes in to slice up the competition! Sceptile is an agile fighter, lightweight despite its size. It utilizes its connection with plants in battle.

Sceptile’s primary mechanic is Grassy Terrain. A few of Sceptile’s moves (namely, some of its specials) will cover the ground in overgrown grass. This grass has no effect on Sceptile’s opponents, and while it cannot be destroyed, it disappears after a few seconds. The primary purpose of Grassy Terrain is to add special properties to Sceptile’s attacks. Additionally, Sceptile can hide in grass by crouching, but it can still be hit; just not by attacks that hit up high. Sceptile can crawl to move around in the grass, but the shaking grass gives it away.

Neutral Special is Bullet Seed. Sceptile spits a round of three seeds from its mouth, beginning with one right in front of its feet, then ⅔ of a platform away, and then another one an entire platform away from the last seed. These seeds will weakly damage opponents, but they also sprout Grassy Terrain! If the ground is already covered in grass, the seeds instead sprout into vines a couple of seconds later in order to deal a delayed hit to opponents. Just note that if a seed hits a foe or is reflected, it disappears and cannot sprout anything.

Side Special is Agility. Sceptile performs a command-dash at high speeds, dealing weak damage and knockback as well as having a small window of intangibility on startup. Sceptile also creates Grassy Terrain as it dashes, but only when used on the ground of course. The move is faster if used in preexisting Grassy Terrain: normally there’s sizable endlag, but Grassy Terrain makes it combo-friendly and a bit harder to punish! (If you use the move in midair, its lag is canceled completely upon landing in Grassy Terrain, so you may still be able to combo.)

Up Special is Leaf Storm. Sceptile pauses momentarily and then spins around, ascending with a cyclone of leaves. This gives Sceptile good vertical recovery, but somewhat limited horizontal movement. On the ground, this is instead a leaf-whirlwind projectile fired upward at a 45* angle, resembling Leaf Tornado.

Down Special normally has Sceptile simply crouch down, put one hand to the ground, and create a small patch of Grassy Terrain. In midair, this is preceded by a stall-then-fall attack. If Sceptile is already standing on some grass, the Grassy Terrain creation is replaced by Giga Drain, which works much like it does in Pokken. Sceptile puts a hand on the ground in order to create a plant a distance away, connected to Sceptile via a vine. If the Grassy Terrain does not extend the full distance of the move, it will be “cut short” and appear closer to Sceptile; this goes for other plants of this nature. Anyway, if you catch a foe at the right distance, the plant will begin healing Sceptile whilst sucking the life out of the opponent! It’s a command-grab too, but there’s a lot of ending lag, and some startup too. Plus you need that grass on the ground. But boy, is it worth it! You can even cancel the startup early on in the animation into a shield or dodge, which can come in handy when using the stall-then-fall to land.

Sceptile’s forward smash is Leaf Blade, a powerful slashing attack with the leaves on its wrist used as blades. This attack is swift and powerful, but is not disjointed, and also has Sceptile lunge forward during the attack -- shield pushback won’t save you from getting grabbed! When on Grassy Terrain, Sceptile’s stomp during the lunge also creates a thorned bush a distance away to damage distant foes. It also sticks around for a second or so after-the-fact; while it loses its hitbox after the initial pop-up, the plant can still damage foes who are knocked into it with an attack.

Up smash is X-Scissor, a slicing attack with the leaves on both wrists which somewhat resembles Sheik’s up smash. The attack has a lot of power at the sweetspot! If you’ve made grass where you’re standing, the motion where Sceptile’s arms go to either side at the end of the attack correlates to thorns that come out of the ground to either side, covering additional horizontal space.

Down smash is Detect. Sceptile can tank a single blow during the charge, like Ryu’s Focus Attack, and then deliver a strike of its own. Namely, the attack is Pursuit, a dashing attack which acts like Agility but is shorter and does not create grass, but in exchange is always good for comboing. Normally Sceptile still takes half the damage of the attack it blocked, but Grassy Terrain forms a shield of vines to protect Sceptile and leave it completely unscathed! Unless it’s a multi-hit attack.

Jab is a couple of Leaf Blade slashes followed by Sceptile turning around and using its tail to create a storm of leaves for a rapid jab, then a powerful back-kick as a finisher. If there is Grassy Terrain nearby, you can press the A button one last time to have a vine rise from the ground and hit the foe again!

Forward tilt is a powerful whack with Sceptile’s tail. It’s a bit slow, but has nice range and power to it.

Up tilt is similar to Yoshi’s, an upward tail attack, but with improved reach thanks to Sceptile’s longer tail. Grassy Terrain helps out by creating a vine that goes in front of Sceptile’s tail, extending a distance upward in order to help Sceptile hit foes who are further in front of it.

Down tilt has Sceptile, from a low crouch, swipe both arms in front of it for a two-hit attack that may remind one of Bowser’s down tilt. Sceptile can evade attacks with its low crouch, and this move has good reach too! If there is grass available, Sceptile also plants a Grass Knot, a little thing that can trip up a dashing opponent. This is not a normal trip effect; instead, it’s somewhat like Sonic’s dash grab. Just a little bit of lag that only happens if you’re dashing, but one that Sceptile can definitely capitalize on!

Dash attack is a blindingly quick slash with Leaf Blade, which can be used to combo but can also be punished if it does not connect. Grassy Terrain helps by allowing Sceptile to hide in the grass immediately after this attack, right after the hitbox disappears, by holding down.

Nair is Leaf Storm, like Mewtwo’s but with a cyclone of leaves. This move has more reach and a disjoint but deals a bit less damage. Additionally, its endlag and landing lag make it less usable for combos.

Fair is a Leaf Blade slice. It’s again like Mewtwo’s, but has significantly more reach at the cost of kill power. It can be used for spacing and combos, though.

Bair is an attack where Sceptile spins around and outstretches one arm to attack with Leaf Blade. A quick move with some decent kill power behind it.

Uair is a backflipping tail attack, with lots of disjointed reach but some noticeable lag.

Dair is another use of X-Scissor, where Sceptile attacks downward with the leaves on both wrists -- they begin straight below Sceptile, and end up to either side of its body. At the very start, it’s a powerful spike, but after that it’s got rather weak sideways knockback.

Sceptile's grab is rather average, but with Grassy Terrain, a vine grows out of the ground in front of Sceptile to increase its range dramatically! If your grab attempt fails, you can act before the vine even retracts into the ground; it has no more lag than a normal grab despite being a tether. Pressing grab in midair will have the nearest Grassy Terrain reach out at Sceptile with a vine to pull Sceptile to that area of ground: a great mobility or recovery tool!

With a full Final Smash meter, Sceptile will Mega Evolve, leaving grass everywhere it goes as well as making the plants themselves a bit more powerful. Its Final Smash has it fire its tail like a missile, a powerful long-ranged attack -- try grabbing a foe with the plant to guarantee a hit. It's powerful enough to knock 'em right out of its grasp! The foe however may see this coming, so try to mix it up.

Hawlucha Enters The Ring!

Similar to my MYM entry -- a paper machine gun to Jigglypuff's glass cannon, specializing in crazy aerial combos and grab setups.

Bandana Dee Takes A Stab At It!

He fights using his signature spear, giving him impressive range for such a small stature. The tip can launch foes far away, while the shaft itself deals weak knockback towards him to combo. He can also use this to pull foes out of the air, as he's generally more effective on the ground.

Neutral Special is Spear Throw, where he throws his spear in an arc as another one appears in his hand. Charge to throw multiple spears.

Side Special has his spear grow a parasol-like metal dish that replaces the spearhead, in reference to the Parasol Waddle Dees from the Kirby games. On the ground, he holds it in front of him and charges forwards, as it blocks attacks. In midair, it functions as a pseudo-glide similar to the Parasol ability from Kirby.

Up Special is Spear Copter, where he twirls the spear to ascend like a helicopter.

Down Special is the Parasol Guard, which has Bandana Dee hold the parasol in front of him like a shield to block attacks from the front. He can poke his spear forwards during this, but the poke has lag, so the foe can shield grab him easily.

He has a rapid jab, a flurry of spear strikes in reference to the "Multispear Attack."

Forward Tilt, Up Tilt, and Down Tilt are spear pokes.

Dash Attack is a pole vault with the spear. Knocks opponents up into the air and sends Dee up with them, good for starting combos.

Forward Smash is a long-ranged spear poke, reaching over 2 Waddle Dees to the side.

Up Smash is a spear spin above him.

Down Smash has him stab his spear into the ground, releasing some shockwaves to either side. They launch the foe into the air, which is convenient since this attack also acts like a jump for Bandana Dee.

Fair and Uair are similar to their tilt counterparts.

Bair is a thrust backwards with the spear, hitting with the non-pointy end. Good knockback but slow to start up.

Dair is a stall-then-fall with the spear held below him called the Moon Drop.

Final Smash is the Megaton Punch, where correct timing leads to a devastating, long-ranged blow!

Bandana Dee's victory theme is based on the one from Kirby's Return to Dreamland.

Slippy Crashes The Party!

The mechanic of Team Star Fox, Slippy fittingly enough uses a lot of gadgets in his moveset. He's not as quick or agile as his fellow Star Fox reps, but he makes up for it! (And yes, his entrance animation has him crash-land onto the battlefield -- too bad he can't use that Arwing in battle.)

Neutral Special is a blaster, like Fox's and Falco's. It has startup lag, but can be aimed up to 45 degrees up or down. The projectile has some nice power and moderate knockback to it, traveling at a decent speed.

Side Special has him pull out a camera turret from Star Fox Guard. It has a harmless laser coming out of it, acting as an aiming mechanism; it reaches about 1/3 of a stage's length, and any foes who come within range are shot (although there is time to dodge or block it). Useful to either use in setups / combos, or to pressure foes and keep them out of certain areas. Only one can be out at a time, however, and they can be destroyed and also vanish after a certain amount of time. Pressing nspec again does nothing, but if you're near a camera you can pick it up to reposition it.

Down Special has him pull out a Reflector, much like Fox's. However, instead of holding it, Slippy deploys it wherever he's standing as it hovers in the air. It continues to reflect projectiles, both from Slippy (or his cameras!) and his opponents. This can be used to both keep opponents from projectile-spamming you, and to get some ricochet-type setups with your own projectiles. Only one can be onscreen at a time, but pressing the move again causes it to warp right to you. Also, upon taking a certain amount of damage (either by reflecting projectiles or being directly attacked), it can be destroyed.

Up Special has him try to imitate Fire Fox, but his gadget backfires and explodes! This sends him further than Fire Fox and has a powerful explosion at the base, but deals a bit of recoil damage, cannot be aimed further than 45 degrees to either side, and cannot snap to the ledge until the move ends. It's an extremely powerful finisher though.

Black Knight Radiates With Power!

Hailing from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, he's a super-heavyweight villain. (yay) He's heavier than even Bowser, and stands tall over Ganon. His huge sword gives him powerful, long-ranged attacks with a similar "feel" to Ike's.

Neutral Special is a shockwave of light that travels along the ground. The sword slam that creates it is also very powerful. Has little endlag, but quite a bit of startup. The shockwave itself knocks the opponent upward. If you hold the button, you'll execute an even slower strike with the critical hit animation from his game (specifically the one for ranged swords). It has more startup, but both the shockwave and the sword itself pack a lot of power -- it's a long-range and close-range punish tool, but very telegraphed and a rarity to hit with.

Side Special is a column-of-light energy projectile, which travels across the ground. It acts pretty much just like a mid-charge Ore Club tornado, with some startup but good KO power.

Up Special is a warp in any direction, using Warp Powder. You can warp off the ground to extend combos, particularly off of your projectiles. The distance however is not that great -- but when used from the ground, you can act out of it almost immediately.

Down Special is another counter, oh joy. However, immediately after counterattacking, you'll teleport straight to the foe. You can adjust it with the control stick -- hold up, for example, to appear above the opponent. The counterattack itself isn't as strong as others, with fixed damage and knockback, but this property gives it unique combo potential.

Overall, your gameplan revolves around your specials, and mix-ups using them. After a shockwave, you can either teleport in with an attack, a counter, or use a sspec projectile -- you can mix things up. If you teleport in to attack, your foe may try to attack you during your sizable startup lag -- this is an opportunity to use your counter!

Final Smash is Eclipse, a series of four powerful sword strikes which deals exactly 208% of damage. Needless to say, it's a one-hit KO, but it has a lot of startup -- try using your mindgame stuff to lead into it. It also stays out for a while due to the multiple attacks, so it can catch dodges easily.

Viridi Commands Her Forces!

From Kid Icarus: Uprising, she fights using plants, nature (being the goddess thereof), and her staff. She has a few similarities to Palutena -- her staff, floating around like a goddess, etc -- but for the most part, her moveset is very different. She plays a powerful keep-away game, with ranged attacks and traps to control where foes go -- being a goddess, of course, she's naturally proficient at controlling mortals.

Viridi has great mobility, with a dashing speed matching that of Palutena's, and great jump height, air speed, and traction. However, she's very lightweight and floaty, shown by how she floats across the battlefield when dashing much like Palutena does.

Neutral Special is Pew Pew. A Pew Pew (a cannon-like plant minion, part of Viridi's Forces of Nature) sprouts out of the ground, and stays there. Press the button again, and it'll fire a nut-like projectile that travels rather slowly, but deals a good amount of damage. The Pew Pew can be destroyed by sustaining enough damage, and you can't make another Pew Pew until your current one is dispatched.

Side Special is Bumpety Bomb. They're those guys in Smash Run who look like bombs, with skulls on the front and wheels. Anyway, it'll light its fuse and then start rolling forwards at a brisk pace. It won't deal any damage normally -- acting like a walking fighter collision-wise -- but after its fuse depletes, KER-PLOW! It explodes, dealing a lot of damage. You need to space it right to land the explosion. Only one Bumpety Bomb can be in play at a time.

Up Special is Nutski. Viridi grabs onto one as it flies upwards, for a Snake-style recovery. On the ground, she'll instead release it up into the air, and it'll damage foes on contact. You can have it go a bit left or right at the beginning.

Down Special is Leaf Trap. Viridi creates a large, green, platform-sized leaf on the ground beneath her feet. It'll remain stationary, and if a foe steps on it, they'll be poisoned -- that is, they take constant damage while on the leaf. Viridi can hold the Down Special input after placing a leaf to have a gust of wind lift it upwards, and it'll now act as a soft platform. You can spawn a Pew Pew on the leaf and make it rise up to aim your shots, or have it rise right as a Bumpety Bomb goes over it to mix things up. Lifting a foe up is also an opportune time to hit them with a Nutski! To make a new leaf, simply tap the button rather than holding it. In midair, Viridi creates the leaf below her feet as usual, but this time she rides it as it slowly floats downwards; she stands on it with her arms crossed, head held upwards, and eyes closed, being superior to these puny mortals. She can move it left and right, and pressing B causes a gust of wind to blow the leaf upwards -- this can only be done once. While Viridi cannot attack whilst riding the leaf, she can jump off, although she won't be able to use the move again until she lands. The leaf will then fall straight down at a decent pace -- due to the force of Viridi's jump -- and act as a platform. If it lands, it'll act just like a normal grounded Leaf Trap, although you can't blow it upwards until it's landed.

Viridi's standard attacks utilize her staff, for long-ranged blows. Her staff attacks, uniquely, plant flowers on foes' heads like a Lip's Stick, so Viridi benefits from staying away from foes and letting the flowers do their work. However, her attacks aren't especially quick, so she has some trouble escaping from pressure. The flower effect won't refresh if you hit the foe again, and won't apply at all if the move is stale, so Viridi gains some benefit from spacing out her attacks (time-wise).

Up Smash is a giant tree that grows near-instantly, a lot like Palutena's up smash. It acts as a solid wall, though, blocking projectiles and even most fighters' approaches, at the cost of dealing less damage.

Forward Smash is a thorny vine that comes out of the ground, at a distance. It can also go below ledges.

Down Smash is a rosebush that forms around Viridi. Has excellent range, but a hefty cooldown.

Final Smash is the Reset Bomb. It comes in from the background, and when it hits the stage, the entire screen flashes white, as all foes onscreen are given the flower effect, and those near the bomb itself are damaged. For about ten seconds afterwards, the stage is overrun with plant life, which powers up Viridi's attacks. Flower status effects and the Leaf Trap deal more damage per second, staff attacks have more range, and all attacks are powered up and quicker. After ten seconds or so, the plants shrivel up, ending the Final Smash.

Ridley Dives Into The Fray!

He is, unsurprisingly, the biggest fighter in the game. He's a unique heavyweight in that he's very fast and effective in midair, but rather clumsy and slow on the ground (although still just as powerful). He's got five midair jumps, so he's very good at staying in the air, as well as recovering. His attacks have excellent reach (for obvious reasons) as well as good damage output and decent midair combo ability, but his attacks are rather slow, leaving him open if he misses.

Neutral Special is a red plasma beam that can be aimed, and charged for more damage and distance. It's not very spammable -- it has to charge to be effective at a distance -- but it can be good for one-off long-ranged attacks.

Ridley's side special move is a command grab, similar to Bowser's, but he'll instead drag the foe along the ground (preceded by a Flame Choke-style dive down if in midair, with a forwards angle), not stopping until he either reaches a ledge or, on walk-off stages, gets close to the blast zone. The foe is then knocked upwards and forwards a bit, and Ridley recoils back and up -- the foe is prime for an aerial follow-up. Bring a foe close to the blast zone, and make them panic!

For an up special recovery, Ridley performs a short upwards spiral like Charizard's Fly move. It's not that good on its own, but Ridley's multiple jumps make up for it.

Ridley's down special move has him fly forwards along the ground, dragging his tail through the ground (again, after a dive if in midair), and he can let go of the button to stop. It has some startup lag, but allows him to attack from up high and safely hit grounded foes -- the tail is disjointed, and cannot be damaged. When the move ends, Ridley is in the air, perfect for following up on the upwards-angled knockback.

As for standard attacks, they often involve either his tail, claws, or in some cases his wings. His attacks tend to be rather slow, but excel in reach. His size, though, also makes him a bigger target.

With a full Final Smash meter, Ridley gains robotic limb-type things resembling Meta Ridley, giving him quicker attacks. His Final Smash is a giant fireball, with devastating damage but some startup.

Blood Falcon Boosts In!

He's a semi-clone of Captain Falcon. His attacks all all cause him to "boost" in the direction of the input, giving him some crazy mobility but making him harder to control. This mirrors how in the F-Zero games, his vehicle has more boost power, but less grip ability. Most of the moves' animations are similar to the Captain's, but the "boosting" aspect gives them different properties and uses. The good thing is he can traverse the stage quickly while attacking, but the downside to the "boosting" is that his attacks have more endlag, and come right towards an opponent so they can punish more easily. He's also harder to control. As for specials, he's got the Falcon Dash Punch, Wind-Up Raptor Boost, Falcon Strike, and Wizard's Dropkick customs (the FDP also has Smash 64 speed). His victory theme is the same as Captain Falcon's from Melee (except, of course, with a new remix).

Alph Is Pikm-in The House!

He's a semi-clone of Olimar, and uses Rock and Winged Pikmin instead of Olimar's five colors. Rock Pikmin act like the Purple ones, and Winged Pikmin lower opponents' gravity for the Rock Pikmin to deliver their high damage and knockback attacks for a kill. When used for aerial attacks, Winged Pikmin propel Alph in that direction, and when used for smashes or thrown, they can fly a long distance. Alph's playstyle is rather different, and for differences from Olimar, see Olimar's character overview.

Excite Biker Revs Up!

Similar to my MYM entry. He's always on his bike, using it for many attacks. He also has the unique ability to use any attack while dashing. His "overheat" mechanic heats him up the more he attacks, powering up moves but making him take damage and eventually explode if he gets too hot! Luckily, he can cool down by moving. The explosion, however, is a powerful finisher, so there's a risk-reward element.

Isaac Shapes The Earth!

He's from Golden Sun, and uses sword attacks as well as ranged Psynergy moves. Has a defense-oriented, zone-y/camp-y playstyle, able to keep foes at a distance with his multiple ranged attacks. He has slightly below-average mobility, but has a good weight stat.

Neutral Special is Ragnarok, where a giant psynergy sword appears above Isaac and, when the move's charge is released, stabs down at the ground (or air) in front of him at an angle a bit more horizontal than 45 degrees. It has a huge hitbox and is very powerful when charged, but is also slow both to start and to end. That said, if you jump and then use this move, its distance and coverage can make up for this sluggishness, While it's charging, it has a weak hitbox to deter foes, like an anti-air shield.

Side Special is Move. Isaac holds his hand forward and creates a giant Psynergy hand, much like his Assist Trophy appearance, except the hand moves very slowly and can’t travel quite as far. It lasts for about five seconds, and acts like Palutena’s Reflect Barrier in terms of solidity, but it can be wall-jumped off of, dodge-rolled behind, and pushed back by dashing into it. If the B button is held, you can control the hand using other inputs, even if it’s after you initially deployed the hand. Isaac however cannot act during this, having to retain the pose and thus vulnerable to attack. The actions are as follows:

Hold up to have the hand enter a “catching” pose, able to catch and throw back projectiles.

Tap forward to have it flick its fingers to hit an opponent, which is a bit telegraphed but can be useful for getting an opponent away from the hand.

Tap down to have it form a fist and slam straight downward, a very telegraphed but extremely powerful spike to midair foes and pitfall to grounded foes.

Finally, hold back on the control stick to stop the hand in place, and let go to have it start moving again.

Up Special is Rock Pillar. Isaac creates a pillar of rock underneath him, acting pretty much like Kragg's up special move from Rivals of Aether. Extend combos, aid your recovery, edgeguard against low recoveries, and more!

Down Special is Nettle. Isaac stomps his foot on the ground, causing a thorned, spike-shaped plant to appear out of the ground about a platform's distance away. This move is pretty quick, but the plant sticks around for about a second, during which you can't use the move again. It knocks foes up a bit, excellent for beginning a combo or deterring approaches. If the button is held, the plant extends towards Isaac and pulls him to that spot, almost like a tether recovery. In midair, the plant appears from the nearest platform directly below Isaac, popping a foe right up to him. If there's no platform below Isaac, it just appears at the nearest terrain; this can be helpful with the tether version!

Forward Smash is Quake. Isaac charges up and then stomps the ground with great force, causing three square segments of the ground in front of him to rise up to damage opponents, in order. (In the original game, this is called "Quake Sphere.") This attack has long range and is very powerful, but its lag makes it punishable.

Up Smash is Avalanche, an eruption of rocks and energy from the ground. It's similar to Palutena's up smash, but it has more power and horizontal range at the base at the cost of vertical reach.

Down Smash is Stone Spire. Isaac summons an arrowhead-shaped boulder from the sky in front of him, hitting foes very high up but having startup lag. Fully-charged, he summons two, one to each side.

Jab is a simple three hit sword swing. Quick to come out and has nice reach, but his sword attacks in general aren't particularly strong.

Ftilt is a sword stab forward; see P:M Roy.

Utilt is Punji Strike, where Isaac summons a bamboo stalk out of the ground. It's very long, and comes out at a 45* angle, so it's an anti-air with horizontal reach too.

Dtilt is Sand, where Isaac turns into sand and slides along the ground like Cloud's dtilt.

Isaac's dash attack is a slow but powerful attack using this animation.

Nair has a circle of rocks surround him, for a multi-hit like Mewtwo's nair but with more range and a bit of protection from attacks at the cost of less combo ability and a bit of a slow startup. Other aerials are sword strikes, which play well into his ranged moves.

Grab involves the Move hand, and is a ranged grab like the P:M version, since the hand appears at a distance. The hand also executes the throws, with Isaac mirroring them with his own hand as if commanding the Move hand. Isaac can also grab foes up-close, but the Move hand throws are better in general -- for combos, KOs, and damage output -- although you can uniquely grab two opponents at once.

Up Throw is Scoop, where the hand tosses the foe upward as if digging into sand. If you use the long-ranged grab, Isaac can move sooner, able to get more follow-ups as a result.

Forward Throw is toss forward like a baseball pitch (with the hand anyways). It's a good KO throw with the hand.

Down Throw is Pound -- the hand forms a fist, and slams down on the foe. Isaac can act right when the foe gets hit at long-range in order to use a follow-up, and offstage, it's a meteor smash.

Back Throw is a simple backward toss, obviously more effective with the hand since they're sent right to you.

With a full meter, you glow with a Golden (Sun) aura, which increases the power of your psynergy moves. Final Smash is Gaia, where rocks come out from the ground and rise up at high speeds, dealing immense knockback. Like PK Starstorm from Brawl, but reversed.

Isaac in general is kind of like Toon Link (funnily enough, he was based on Tink from a programming perspective during his P:M development) -- he's effective at zoning, but has trouble escaping pressure. Keep foes at a distance, and use moves like nspec, fsmash, and distance-grab combos to get the KO!

Sami Advances Into Battle!

This playable character from Advance Wars fights by creating troops and military vehicles to pressure and attack foes. The summons are similar in size and appearance to those in the Assist Trophy.

Sami's military training means she's very agile, able to get around the stage quickly, but she's rather light. Standard attacks consist of acrobatic, swift kicks, as well as her firing her rifle -- this doesn't actually shoot a bullet, but rather causes a little explosion like some of the Mii Gunner's moves. Her smashes have her fire a rocket launcher, very powerful attacks indeed that can also hit from afar. (Dsmash is like the Mii Gunner's, usmash is the same as Snake's but without randomized horizontal movement, and fsmash is a plain rocket-launch projectile forward, or at an up / down angle.) Her grab is also quick, and her throws have good utility for combos and tech-chases.

Neutral Special is Infantry, a foot soldier who marches around the stage and shoots forward. Two infantry units can be out at once, and upon being KO'd (by taking a certain amount of damage), they lie down on the ground for a couple seconds before disappearing. During this time, they still count towards the cap, so you can't keep spamming them when they're killed. Foot soldiers are quick to spawn and die quickly, but deal little damage.

Side Special is the Recon unit, a troop on a motorcycle that travels much faster than the Infantry units, but gets knocked off of his bike and killed by any flinching attack, and can only deal ramming damage. Smash input the move to have the Recon unit go faster, making it a better long-range projectile but eliminating many follow-ups Sami could otherwise get (she can't keep up with the unit). A bit slower to die than Infantry units, as the bike must go offscreen too. Also, it takes a bit more time to spawn this unit, and only one can be deployed.

Down Special is the Tank. It fires off an explosive round that moves slowly but deals great damage. It'll then advance (wars) a small distance, and then repeat the cycle. The round's slow speed makes it tricky to hit opponents with, but using another attack to hit opponents into the round can prove quite effective. Only one can be out at once, and while the tank is much more durable than other units, it breaks into pieces if destroyed, and the pieces don't disappear for three seconds.

Up Special is Airlift. Sami summons and grabs onto a military helicopter above him, and she can fly around similarly to Snake's recovery move. The blades will deal damage, and the move causes a helpless state. Attacking the helicopter without hitting Sami causes the helicopter to break to pieces, which doesn't cause Andy to enter helpless, but does prevent her from summoning another helicopter until the pieces disappear by hitting the ground or a blast zone. They fall quite a bit faster than Sami does, so this isn't necessarily a death sentence. On the ground, Sami doesn't grab on, and the helicopter flies up and shoots down at the ground at opponents below. However, doing this keeps Sami from recovering until the helicopter flies away five seconds later, due to the cap of one helicopter at a time.

Final Smash is an airstrike, which causes a devastating missile to fall down from the skies.

Andy appears as an alt costume.

Chibi-Robo Mops The Floor With 'Em!

He's very small -- even smaller and lighter than Olimar -- and fights with "small" things that are scaled up like he is, like a giant toothbrush. He's pretty dang fast and agile due to his light weight, and his small stature allows him to evade many attacks. He gets KO'd easily, however.

Neutral Special is the Zip Lash, from the game of the same name. He swings his cord around in one hand like a lasso -- in midair, the helicopter-like spin gives him about a second-long hover -- and when the charge is released, Chibi-Robo throws it in whichever direction the control stick is held in. The distance of the cord is increased with charge, but the damage is not. It'll damage opponents of course, and the cord can bounce off of surfaces like R.O.B.'s beam. It can also plow straight through opponents. If the button is held after being released, the plug will stick to surfaces instead of bouncing off of them, and Chibi-Robo will be pulled straight to where it sticks, unable to act but dealing damage to opponents he hits. This is great for recovery, as well as positioning. If it sticks into a ceiling or wall, he'll dangle from it for a second before the plug falls out. If it hits an opponent while the button is held, it'll pull them towards Chibi-Robo if he's grounded, or vice-versa if he's in midair. The opponent and Chibi-Robo can still act during this, unlike when Chibi-Robo is being pulled to a surface.

Side Special is the Toothbrush, which he sweeps forwards with like a broom as long as the button is held. Drags opponents along, and while Chibi-Robo is slower when using it, it acts as a good approach tool, and can get opponents closer to the ledge for a kill.

Up Special is the Chibi-Copter, which provides little vertical recovery but allows Chibi-Robo to enter a "slow falling" state like Peach's parasol. Causes a helpless state afterwards, and can't be brought out again like the parasol, but the blades can deal damage.

Down Special is Plug In. Chibi-Robo plugs his cord into the ground, charging up energy. Above Chibi-Robo's head is a battery symbol, which fills up as he stays plugged in, tethered to the ground. It takes about three seconds of being plugged in to fill up, and Chibi-Robo will have his plug pulled out of the ground if he's knocked back with enough force. Chibi-Robo has a limited attack pool during this -- his cord attacks are replaced with weak punches and kicks, although they can still be used to keep the foe away with some skill -- but in return, completing the charge gives Chibi-Robo a ten-second buff to all his cord attacks! The buff is signified by his plug prongs sparking with electricity, and during the buff, his cord-based attacks deal 1.5x the damage and more knockback. Chibi-Robo can abort the charge by inputting the move again, allowing him to bait and fake-out opponents. Using the move successfully (staying plugged in for three seconds) while he's already got a charge will reset the timer, and the excess energy is released as Chibi-Robo surges with damaging electricity. In midair, rather than plugging into... the air I guess, he'll throw his cord downwards, acting like a downwards neutral special. By the way, you can plug into a surface straight away from a Zip Lash if you hold the button all the way through. Anyway, the aerial version of this move is a good, quick landing option, and you can choose whether or not to come down to the ground, and whether or not to stay plugged in upon arriving.

More about down special: if you're next to an opponent, you can instead plug into them as a command grab, healing yourself while siphoning energy from (dealing damage to) your opponent! This doesn't give you the buff however. Speaking of the buff, it gives nspec more reach, sspec added movement speed and more rapid scrubbing, and uspec more horizontal and vertical speed.

Many moves have him use his cord -- Chibi-Robo fits the archetype of a whip user, but with added electric sweetspots at the tip. Jab has him swing it around like the Zip Lash's charging animation, ftilt is the other swing from Zip Lash (good range but a bit slower than jab), utilt is an upwards swing, dtilt is a downwards cord sweep, nair is like ZSS's, fair is somewhat similar to Marth's, bair is a spinning cord whip behind him, uair has him throw the cord upwards for a shocking multi-hit, and dair is a downwards spike with the cord as it's tossed downwards with great force. With a Plug In buff, these briefly paralyze the foe, and his attacks are quick enough to capitalize on this for comboing purposes.

Forward Smash is the clippers from Chibi-Robo: Park Patrol. Has good range and is quick enough, and also deals good damage.

Up Smash has a random piece of trash or candy come out of Chibi Robo's opening top. The apperance may vary, but the move remains the same functionally.

Down Smash has Chibi-Robo swing his cord around the ground, much like Shulk's down smash.

Grab has Chibi-Robo put opponents in his head as the lid on top opens, and the throws have him toss them out as varying objects (with varying effects) come out to hit them.

With a full Final Smash meter, Chibi-Robo has a permanent full charge, although his down special move is still useful for defensive purposes or for the command grab (and the midair version). The Final Smash itself has him discharge all his electricity into the ground by plugging into it, damaging all grounded foes. In midair, it's instead a downward-angled electrical beam attack.

Inkling Dives Inkto The Fray!

Similar to my MYM entry; lays down ink and uses it to go super fast, cancel ending lag, enhance attacks, et cetera. There are, however, some changes from that moveset:

Overcharged smashes have been removed, but the smashes are powered up when used in ink.

With a full Final Smash meter, the Inkling gains the Hero Suit and matching weapons from Splatoon's single-player mode. This inkreases the damage of both attacks and ink. The Final Smash is the Inkstrike: pretty much the overcharged up smash, but it doesn't need ink on the ground.

The victory theme is pretty much this, but also with the looping bit from Splatoon. The Octoling also appears as an alt.

Wonder-Red Unites Up!

Wonder-Red is a super-fast combo fighter. He rivals even Captain Falcon in this regard!

Side Special is the Wonder-Liner. He creates a white line like in the game, which can be moved with the control stick - like PK Thunder. It damages foes weakly, knocking them in the direction it’s traveling in. You can form one of three shapes with it too, creating a Unite Morph to boost your attacks and switch up your playstyle. (Not all moves use them.)

Form a circle for Unite Hand. Its attacks are extremely powerful, but tend to be somewhat slow. A neat trick is to make a circle with the Liner, knock the foe toward you (in the part where you’re drawing towards yourself), and then punch ‘em into oblivion! This Morph is equipped by default, at the start of a battle.

Make a straight line to equip the Unite Sword. It boasts impressive reach, and can actually be used to combo. Depending on where in the sword you hit a foe, it has different knockback angles. (The hilt knocks them far away, the middle knocks them upward, and the tip brings the foe right to you!)

Finally, form an L shape for the Unite Gun, a giant pistol. All of its attacks are projectiles, packing an explosive punch if you hit right as the bullet leaves the gun. It goes without saying, but this Unite Morph has the best range. Use it to finish off combos that are otherwise out of reach! The downside? There’s some lag to these attacks, and you need to be precise.

You can switch Unite Morphs very quickly with enough dexterity -- Unite Sword, perhaps the most versatile Morph, also happens to be the simplest to access, being a simple straight line. You can cancel the Wonder-Liner by shielding -- this way, you don’t activate the new Unite Morph. (Normally you’d release B, which gives you the new Morph.)

Neutral Special is an attack that varies depending on your Unite Morph.

With the Unite Hand, this is a chargeable uppercut. It can be shield-canceled during the charge to store it, and not only does it pack a punch, but it also propels Wonder-Red upward if it has enough charge.

The Unite Sword’s version of this move has Wonder-Red hold it above his head to charge (like how it’s held in TW101). It is held in such a way that you can use the broad side to reflect projectiles or block attacks! When the charge is released, Wonder-Red performs a giant slash not unlike Melee Marth’s Shield Breaker. It has the potential to be very powerful, but the charge cannot be stored.

The Unite Gun has a projectile for nspec, turning the gun into the Unite Launcher. It’s a straight up rocket launcher, with a slow but powerful projectile. That’s gonna leave a mark…

Up Special is the Unite Rocket, which has Wonder-Red create a rocket ship Unite Morph around himself to ascend. It’s a powerful spike if you hit a foe underneath you right as you blast off! It also deals damage and upward knockback on the way up, but it won’t really KO outside of a stage-spike. Also, it leaves you helpless in midair.

Down Special is Unite Guts. A red, gelatin-dessert-like Unite Morph briefly appears around Wonder-Red to protect him from attacks like a counter (it can also reflect projectiles). The opponent will be bounced back with knockback equal to their own attack, and if it's successful, Wonder-Red can leap out of the gelatin at high speeds in any direction by holding the control stick to pursue with a follow-up (the leap also deals damage and excellent comboing knockback), or create space between him and his opponent. It has a bit of a bounce-back effect even if the foe doesn't attack, but Wonder-Red cannot perform the leap if this occurs, it doesn't deal actual knockback or hitstun, the move has too much endlag to really capitalize on this, and grabs still beat it. Still, this is excellent for keeping your momentum even if your foe tries to break your combo!

Fsmash is, generally, a lunging attack. With the Unite Hand, you charge up and then perform a sliding punch that’s more powerful at the start. Unite Sword is used for a long-range thrust where you move across the ground. Finally, Unite Gun has Wonder-Red leap forward for weak forward knockback as he tackles the foe, and then he fires the giant gun to true-combo the foe he just hit, flying backward from the recoil. Unite Hand and Unite Sword’s fsmashes can be used at lower percents to combo. Unite Sword combos for longer, but Unite Hand packs the KO power.

Usmash with the Unite Hand and Unite Sword are leaping attacks, performing an uppercut with the Unite Morph. At low percents, you can combo into an aerial attack (by the way, it goes about as high as a normal jump). Unite Gun’s version is like Snake’s in many ways, taking the form of a rocket launcher.

Dsmash, when used with Unite Hand, is a spinning punch where Wonder-Red makes a full 360* spin, punching powerfully to both sides. Unite Sword is a rapid spin not unlike the Spin Attack, whereas the Unite Gun shoots explosive rounds to both sides not unlike the Mii Gunner’s down smash but more long-ranged.

Jab is two straight punches, a flurry of rapid hits, and then a roundhouse kick as the finisher. By the way, Wonder-Red’s tilts have multiple attacks too!

Ftilt is a spinning kick, a thrusting kick, and then a leaning thrusting punch. He takes a step forward with each attack, allowing for advancing attacks and for safe cross-ups if it's blocked or dodged, but has some startup. Each hit can be angled up or down, and at low percents, the third hit can combo into fsmash / usmash and then more combos after that.

Utilt is a spinning uppercut like Mario's utilt, followed by a backflip kick. Hits the foe a short distance upward in order to combo, but the first hit has short range.

Dtilt is a spinning sweep kick, a crouching jab, and then a kick resembling Ryu's strong down attack. This attack has nice reach and can actually avoid some attacks with the legs, but cannot hit foes who are decently off the ground. The third hit has decently powerful semi-spike knockback, and sets up for tech-chases.

Dash attack is a straight kick, sliding low to the ground. Its low knockback makes it ideal for combos.

Nair is a rapid spinning attack, reminiscent of the original game. Like Bayonetta’s, it can be held for as long as you want. It varies with your Unite Morph: Unite Hand is powerful but laggy, Unite Sword is long-ranged, and Unite Gun is weak with mediocre range but fires a spray of non-flinching bullets throughout.

Fair with the Unite Hand is a punch where Wonder-Red leans forward: excellent range and damage / knockback, but it has a lot of lag in all regards. With the Unite Sword, it’s an attack much like Shulk’s fair, while the Unite Gun is like the Mii Gunner’s fair: a shot forward that propels Wonder-Red backward.

Bair has Wonder-Red spin around and attack behind him. Unite Hand is powerful but laggy with a straight punch, Unite Sword resembles Cloud’s bair, and Unite Gun is a backward projectile that propels you forward.

Uair is the only aerial that doesn’t change with your Morph, oddly enough. It’s a simple backflip kick, but it knocks the foe forward with weak knockback that’s excellent for comboing! For best results, get a running start to follow the knockback.

Dair with the Unite Hand is a slam downward with both hands, in the same vein as DK’s fair. With the Unite Sword, it’s a stall-then-fall stab with a spike at the start. And the Unite Gun packs a downward shot that’s both a downward projectile and a source of slight upward propulsion.

With a full Final Smash meter, Wonder-Red begins to glow a golden hue as a mechanical covering obscures his face, signifying that he's entered Unlimited Form! This increases Wonder-Red's speed and acceleration to absurd degrees, and also makes his Unite Morphs even bigger! The Final Smash itself is a powerful finishing move, where Wonder-Red leaps into the air at a forward angle and attacks using the Unite Hand in a massive uppercut (see TW101's boxart).

Wonder-Red's alternate costumes consist of the other Wonderful Ones as well as his alter ego, and his victory theme is pulled straight from TW101.

Henry Fleming Boils The Competition!

The main character from Codename: S.T.E.A.M., he fights using a unique "steam" mechanic. Next to his portrait during battle, there's a steampunk-esque gauge that fills up with steam. It'll replenish over time, but using special moves and smash attacks will deplete some of the steam gauge, becoming far less potent without any steam left. Henry's standard attacks also become more powerful depending on how much steam is left. Resource management is key when playing as Henry, as you'll need to save your charge for when it's needed -- whether that be recovering, KOing, or what have you.

Neutral Special is the Eagle Rifle. It can be charged by holding the button, and upon release, it'll fire a steam-propelled bullet. Charging the move increases the bullet's speed and damage, but also uses up more steam (the charge time is rather quick). At full charge, it'll eat up all your steam, but deal lots of damage and knockback. If you miss, Henry will be significantly weakened for some time. Alternatively, a simple "tap" fires a quick, weak shot that uses up little steam -- you can rapid fire these, just like how the weapon fired three shots in the original game. With no steam left, it's simply a windbox that pushes foes away with a bit of steam.

Side Special is Steam Train. A train whistle blows as Henry dashes forwards at high speeds, dealing a good amount of damage and knockback that's perfect for comboing. Henry can land a lot of powerful follow-ups with this attack, and it's an excellent mobility tool that can be jump canceled at any time. It uses up a bit of steam, but not too much -- it can't be used excessively, though.

Up Special is the Rocket Pack. Henry soars up into the air as steam shoots out of the bottom of his steam tank backpack and it sprouts mechanical eagle wings. You can hold the button to fly farther, at the cost of more and more steam. Without any steam, the wings just flap a bit, gaining a tiny bit of height but not much of a recovery. The move has a hitbox that grows in power the longer it's gone on, and Henry will accelerate in a similar manner over time. If you're knocked too far offstage, you'll lose a lot of steam.

Down Special is Overwatch. Henry flips a switch on his Eagle Rifle, causing a "hissssss" sound to be heard. Then, suddenly, half of your current steam reserves have vanished! Don't worry, though -- it's not gone, it's just somewhere else. Use the move again, and Henry will perform an Overwatch attack. In the original game, you could set aside a certain amount of steam, and save it for an attack during the enemy's turn. In Smash, you can set it aside for a powerful, super-quick attack at the cost of losing steam. When you use the Overwatch attack, Henry will leap forwards at a mostly horizontal angle, having super armor for the duration of the attack, and let out a big, powerful burst of steam from his Eagle Rifle, the recoil sending him backwards. The steam takes the form of a projectile that can go a fair distance, and has strength dependent on the amount of steam you saved up earlier (it's extremely powerful at its maximum charge). The leap has a hitbox that will always combo into the steam projectile.

Henry's standard attacks mostly consist of attacks with the Eagle Rifle. He uses it as a melee weapon, using its size to deliver powerful swings. These attacks increase in power and speed the more steam you have, thanks to small steam vents on the rifle propelling it through the swing more quickly. His jab combo, like Cloud's, has him kick twice before following up with a rifle swing. Quite a few of his attacks have him shoot steam from it instead, dealing long-range damage.

Forward Smash is the Steam Crossbow. It can be aimed, and shoots a quick, long-range projectile. It'll use some steam, and although it's more energy-efficient than the Eagle Rifle shots, it also deals less damage. But its aiming capabilities help for hitting foes. Without any steam to propel the bolt, it'll simply fall to the ground.

Up Smash is the Bomb Lobber. Henry places his Eagle Rifle on the floor, aiming upwards -- much like Shulk's up smash -- and it fires a "steam bomb" upwards. Charging the move packs more steam into the mechanical sphere, and when it hits a foe, it'll explode into a burst of steam with good upwards knockback that can KO. It also has great upwards reach, but of course, uses steam. Without any steam, it'll simply let out a puff of smoke upwards.

Down Smash is Sentry. Henry holds his Eagle Rifle up in the air, facing downwards, and it releases a Sentry turret. The turret will face in the same direction as Henry when he uses the move, and when a foe gets in its sights, it'll fire a steam projectile. The more charge -- and steam -- you put in, the more damage it'll dish out. The turret can be destroyed, though, and has a bit of a delay before firing. This move is like a ranged version of Snake's down smash.

Henry's Final Smash is the Eagle Strike. He flips another switch on his Eagle Rifle, this time summoning a giant, golden, metal eagle (a good deal larger than in the image) to come down from the skies right in front of him! On impact with the ground or an opponent, it'll explode into a massive blast of steam, damaging nearby foes. Aside from the initial, more powerful strike, the lingering steam will deal constant damage to foes before it disappears -- Henry also uses this opportunity to fill his reserves to max with the steam cloud.

Knuckles Smashes Through!

Similar to my MYM entry; he's fast, powerful, but somewhat easy to avoid. His victory theme is based on the main theme from Sonic & Knuckles.

With that said, tweaks have been made.

His glide is now mapped to aerial Side Special (on the ground, it's still the Spindash). You can still use it out of the Drill Claw dive.

With a full Final Smash meter, Knuckles goes Super! He's now faster and more agile, and packs even more of a punch. The actual Final Smash now has him slam the Master Emerald into the ground with great force, unleashing a shockwave along the ground, to either side. It can hit foes who are a bit above the ground, and you can also hit foes with the actual Master Emerald slam itself to true-combo into the powerful shockwave.

Zero Maverocks The Battlefield!

This Mega Man X rep has a lot of quick sword attacks, much like the source material. All of his special moves can be charged Mega Man X-style, and you can use any non-special attack and move around while you charge. Start charging, continue to combo, and finish them off with a charged special move!

Zero has very high ground speed and air speed / acceleration, as well as good jump height and a fast falling speed. He has a unique Mega Man-style wall jump, where a "cling" input has him slide down the wall. From here, he can press the jump button to do a little "hop," able to scale a single wall like in the Mega Man X series! He can only do it four times before landing or grabbing a ledge however. He can also use a normal wall jump by flicking the control stick away from the wall, although this renders him unable to cling or wall-hop until landing / ledge-grabbing.

Neutral Special is the classic Buster shot, going from a weak, rapid-fire lemon (it shoots three times) to a powerful blast when charged. On the charge mechanic: releasing the button unleashes the attack you started charging with, and you can't use say, the Buster charge on an up special to recover. This however gives you the ability to aim your specials in any direction (up, down, sideways, and the four diagonals) with the control stick upon release.

Side Special is the classic Mega Man X dash, which damages opponents weakly and travels great distances with charge. It can again go in any of the eight directions, a very versatile, quick mobility tool. (This shares the basic animation with Zero's normal dash, but has afterimages to differentiate it.)

Up Special is Transfer, a teleport in a flash of light. It deals little damage on startup, but its true power is at the end. It travels further and deals more damage at the end if you charge it. It's a unique combo finisher, but otherwise it's telegraphed enough to avoid. It leaves Zero in helpless unless used from the ground, so whereas sspec is better for chasing foes and extending combos, uspec is best used as a finisher. Or, of course, a super-safe recovery.

Down Special is the Shield Boomerang, which has the unique property of holding out the shield during the charge whenever you're not attacking, protecting against most attacks and all projectiles. The thrown shield itself acts like a boomerang, can be thrown in any direction, and travels further with charge. On the way back, it knocks the foe toward Zero to combo. If it hits right before boomeranging back, it's guaranteed to hit on the way back too.

The neat thing about the charging, is that the animation is identical for all the specials (except when the shield is out with dspec), so you don't know what Zero is preparing to do! Mindgames, son. The specials are also, however, still useful without a charge -- but obviously not as powerful. By the way, fully-charged specials can be used during the ending lag of other moves, canceling the lag.

Jab is a three-hit sword combo, mirroring his combo from the original games (particularly the "Lizetus Elf" variety for the third hit).

Ftilt is the "Cottus Elf," a sword swing that also creates a beam not unlike the 2D Zelda titles. The projectile isn't very powerful, but adds a good bit of range to the attack -- about 2/3 of a platform. It's got significantly less range than the buster, but has a melee hit to compensate. It can also be angled up or down.

Utilt is the Triple Rod, an upward stab with an extendable rod. You can press the button repeatedly to extend it up to three times (including the initial attack), which adds range and can potentially net you an extra hit or two at low percents.

Dtilt is a quick, low sweep with his sword that can set up for combos not unlike Lucas' dtilt.

Dash attack is an arcing sword slash, reminiscent of his dashing attack from his games.

Fsmash is a charged slash toward the ground, with an animation like Marth's but speed and range like Meta Knight's. It also sends bits of rubble flying upward, increasing the range a bit but not dealing as much damage as the blade does.

Usmash is the Chain Rod, a spinning attack above Zero's head. Has a lot of area coverage, and is fairly quick, although its long duration makes it punishable if whiffed.

Dsmash is the Recoil Rod, which Zero fires down into the ground to both attack enemies and propel himself upward to combo. On the ledge, it's a deadly spike.

Nair is a spinning slash, not unlike Meta Knight's -- the main differences are increased speed (it happens in the blink of an eye) and more range.

Fair is a small slash with his sword, a basic midair attack of his in the original games. It lacks a bit in reach, but it's very quick, which combined with low knockback makes it the perfect comboing tool.

Bair is a backwards kick, similar to Samus' in animation. It turns Zero around, allowing him to easily chase opponents after this move and combo into another aerial due to the low knockback.

Uair is an upwards stabbing attack, like Link's but without lingering properties. It's good for juggling.

Dair is the Sky Chaser, a downward stab as a fall, no-stall attack that launches rocks to either side upon landing. It's also a spike at the beginning of the move.

Zero's grab utilizes his Zero Knuckle. His grab has great reach, almost telekinetically holding the foe with the energy which emits from his hand, although it is somewhat laggy on whiff.

With a full Final Smash meter, Zero's blade gains elemental properties that depend on the move used, giving his attacks either more damage (fire; mostly on KO moves), more hitstun and combo ability (ice; mostly on combo moves), or range (thunder; mostly on spacing moves). His Final Smash is the Rekkoha, an attack where he punches the ground to summon beams of energy from the sky. It covers the entire screen vertically, but horizontally it's about as wide as Ness's PK Starstorm. It's very quick and brief, so it can be dodged, but is also easier to combo into.

Proto Man appears as an alt, with his shield being used for dspec.

Banjo and Kazooie Get Jiggy With it!

Banjo and Kazooie, icons of the 64-bit era! They bring with them a lot of their signature techniques. Hold the jump button in midair to perform a Feathery Flap, which briefly slows your descent and can be canceled into an attack. It can only be used once though. Additionally, their shielding animation resembles the Wonderwing maneuver. When put to sleep, Banjo snoozes away inside his backpack, while Kazooie lies down on top. And of course, general animations are faithfully recreated from the original duology.

Neutral Special is the Egg Shot. Depending on how much the move is charged, you get either quick-but-weak normal eggs that can be rapid-fired thrice, stronger fire eggs, ice eggs that can stun foes like any other ice attack, or grenade eggs that take some time to charge but pack a punch. You can also aim them up or backward like Pit’s arrows. If you tap down or shield during the charge, it’ll be laid out of Kazooie’s rear end, and bounce in a high arc a couple of times (like in the original game). This will weakly damage foes and acts as a good trap, but the egg can be broken.

Side Special is the Talon Trot. Kazooie takes over for Banjo in terms of walking, granting the duo both increased speed / traction and immunity to surface hazards such as banana peels, slippery ice, and the Inkling’s ink. You can jump whilst in this form, and when you do, Kazooie flails her legs for a weak multi-hit attack. You can end this move at any time by simply pressing B again (you can also hold B from the get-go, and release to end it), possibly following up on the flailing attack!

Up Special first has Kazooie perform the Shock Spring Jump (which can spike foes!), and then begin to fly. It does not act like normal glides; instead, your aerial speed is increased greatly, while your descent is slowed to a crawl. You can also press the B or jump button once per flight to perform another flap up. The move can be canceled into an aerial attack, but unless you started it on the ground, you enter helpless afterward. You can also use this move straight out of a Talon Trot.

Down Special has Kazooie lay a Clockwork Kazooie. If you simply tap the button, it patrols the stage similarly to a Mechakoopa, and you can detonate it by inputting the move again. It cannot be picked up though, and does not explode immediately; there’s a delay. Hold the button, and you can actually control its movements for as long as the button is held! It even has a jump, and multiple midair flaps. You’re vulnerable while doing this, but upon releasing the button, it explodes instantly, without the delay! It’s very quick and agile too, so this is a very powerful tool.

Forward smash is the Beak Bayonet, where Banjo wields Kazooie as a weapon and lunges forward. It has a super-powerful tipper!

Up smash is the Flap Flip, a leaping backflip that hits way up high but is most powerful at the start. If you hit late into the move, though, you can jump out of it and combo out of the relatively weak knockback!

Down smash is the Breegull Bash, where Banjo slams Kazooie onto the ground in front of him to attack. This attack is very powerful, but also has significant ending lag.

For the jab, Banjo swipes thrice in front of him with his claws like in the original game.

Forward tilt is a pecking attack by Kazooie. Its range is impressive, and it can be angled.

Up tilt is Wing Whack, where Kazooie attacks in an arc above her. It covers a wide area.

Down tilt is the Beak Barge, a sliding attack with Kazooie’s beak.

The dash attack is a roll along the ground, from Banjo-Tooie. (The original game’s version is a dodge-roll.)

Nair is the Tooie version of the Pack Whack, a spinning attack with his backpack. It covers both sides, like a single-hit version of Marth’s.

The fair is the Rat-a-Tat Tap, a three-hit pecking attack from Kazooie.

Bair is a backward kick by Banjo, a beefy KO move.

Uair is a peck straight up by Kazooie. Quick and good for juggling.

For the dair, the duo perform a stall-then-fall in the form of the Beak Buster: a dive downward with Kazooie’s beak as the main event.

Banjo has a normal grab, but for his forward throw, he puts the opponent into his backpack and can then carry them around DK-style!

The Final Smash is the Mighty Jinjonator from the final boss of the first game. It launches itself straight at the opponent! Telegraphed, but powerful. Try distracting the foe with a Clockwork Kazooie, perhaps.

General Stuff

Slow, big heavyweights are buffed overall, as you'll see below.

Miscellaneous balancing, of course. These may or may not be noted in individual sections, depending on whether or not I feel like it. Rather than nerfing top-tiers, most balancing is done by buffing fighters that didn't perform very well in the previous game.

Full alternate costumes aplenty! Each character has at least one, whether it be Luigi's Mr. L alt or Bowser's Dry Bowser appearance! Alts also have the full eight colors in addition to the character's eight regular colors, so Little Mac is no longer the exception. That means sixteen colors total for each character -- in the case of multiple alts, the eight extra colors are split up between them. As for fighters like the Villager and the Inkling, who have alts for male and female versions, the eight extra slots are instead used to continue that pattern and provide more redesigns/recolors (unless otherwise stated). Alts may now have different animations, props, etc. By the by, a lot of alts are inspired by Project: M, because those guys are just awesome at making alts.

Red Luigi

Doc has been relegated to an alt.

Fireballs are now noticeably faster to fire, so they can be used to extend combos or to zone more effectively. However, only two can exist at a time.

The cape has been moved to Mario's Up Special. First you'll rise up about the height of the old Super Jump Punch, and then Mario automatically goes into a divebomb (like holding forward in SMW). You have a hitbox on the way down, and create a shockwave upon landing at the cost of some punishable landing lag. Tap back on the control stick or press A or B to perform a "flap," like pressing back on the control stick in the original game. You can only do this once, but it gets a decent-if-not-outstanding amount of horizontal distance, and if you do it right before you land, you can reduce your landing lag greatly at the cost of not creating the shockwave. During the "flap," Mario also doesn't have a hitbox, nor does he while rising up, so there are some vulnerable bits to this recovery.

As for Side Special, it's now the Luma Spin from Super Mario Galaxy. It's a pretty powerful attack that hits to both sides and reflects projectiles, but has some cooldown between uses as well as endlag. In midair it gives Mario a short hop's worth of height, but can only be used once before landing. A solid finisher, recovery / mobility tool, and general combat option.

F.L.U.D.D. wets the ground when used, decreasing traction. Using it in midair activates the Hover Nozzle, which acts like a Peach float.

Dash attack changed to the slide and dive from Super Mario 64 and Sunshine, complete with the little jump up that serves as a second hit. If you dive off of a ledge, you can cancel it with a jump at any time, but you can still hit opponents! Also, using F.L.U.D.D. to wet the ground allows Mario to slide super-far and super-fast with his dash attack, Sunshine-style!

With a full Final Smash meter, Mario surges with flames, giving fire effects and added damage to his attacks. His Final Smash itself, the Mario Finale, is also more powerful, trapping the foe more consistently.

Other alts besides Dr. Mario are based on various power-ups throughout the series, plus a Super Mario Maker costume. Mario's new victory theme is from Super Mario World (the stage clear theme), as are a lot of his sound effects and some animations. The looping bit after the initial victory fanfare, by the way, is part of the title theme from SMW. Dr. Mario has a different victory theme, based on his games.

Green Mario

Fireballs are now the Ice Flower's projectiles. They're a bit laggier to fire, but have added hitstun like other ice attacks.

Luigi has a new Down Special: his Poltergust. He uses the "blow" function to create a windbox, and he can aim the move or walk around just like a cracker launcher. In midair, he aims it down to slow his fall. If you press A during this move, you can toggle between suction and blowing; suction acts like a command grab even in midair, acting like a weaker version of his Final Smash when you decide to launch your opponent.

If the Green Missile is used whilst dashing and is not charged, the starting lag is decreased as Luigi transitions smoothly from the dash to the special move.

Luigi can slide sideways during the back throw, representing his slipperiness and allowing for earlier KOs by sliding towards the blast zone.

Luigi's new side taunt has him talking and moving his hands, complete with the voice clips from the Mario & Luigi series.

Unlike most fighters, Luigi doesn't retain momentum when jumping from a dash. This measure has been taken to retain his "weird" feel.

With a full Final Smash meter, Luigi surges with electrical power in reference to the Mario & Luigi series. His attacks have a tiny bit of stun to them, giving them more combo potential -- his fireballs are also the Thunderhand ability from M&L.

There's a Mr. L alt from Super Paper Mario, plus Dr. Luigi. The latter uses L-shaped capsules from the Dr. Luigi game for Neutral Special. Luigi's victory theme is an excerpt of the Luigi's Mansion theme, but Dr. Luigi shares his with Dr. Mario's, and Mr. L's is a remixed excerpt from his theme in Super Paper Mario.

Toadstool

Neutral Special is more powerful; rather than spitting out spores, Toadsworth -- Toad's replacement due to Captain Toad being a fighter -- smacks foes with his cane.

Peach now has a down special move in midair: it's a command grab, pretty much just like picking up foes in Mario 2 USA. Good for air-to-ground combat. And of course, you can confirm it out of a footstool.

Hover can now be used in segments -- you can stop and start hovering as many times as you want, although there is a delay between consecutive hovers, and the maximum total hover time remains unchanged. Special moves can also be used while hovering, and Peach can choose between double jumping and floating; hold the button to float, tap to double jump. Finally, float canceling is back from Melee, and is granted to all fighters with similar hovers, whether they be special move hovers or unique mechanics like Peach's.

Peach's air speed has been increased, as well as her aerial acceleration.

When shielding, Peach now guards herself using her parasol.

Final Smash changed to the Peach Beam from Paper Mario 64. With a full meter, she has a bright aura around her, increasing her air speed, air acceleration, and float length -- in other words, she can zip around the stage with ease, which helps with combos and such.

Daisy is an alternate costume, complete with a "Hi I'm Daisy!" taunt. Her Neutral Special uses her signature blue crystal from the sports games, and her Up Special has her use a giant flower as a parasol. Peach and Daisy's sports outfits also appear as alts. Peach's victory theme is still the fanfare from the original game, but the loop after that is the theme that plays when she's saved in most of the Mario games.

Booser

Neutral Special changed to a concentrated fire projectile. The new move is similar to Bowser's fireball attacks from classic boss fights, particularly those in the Galaxy titles. It hits multiple times, keeping foes in place so that Bowser can come in with a heavy blow.

Flying Slam can now grab foes who are below Bowser if used in midair. If used whilst dashing, Bowser leaps a short distance during the grab. This is more punishable when Bowser lands, but covers more distance and gives the "flying" part of the move horizontal momentum from the get-go. Also, when used as a sacrificial KO, Bowser comes out on top.

Bowser Bomb now creates a shockwave upon landing; think Super Mario Galaxy.

Up Special is now a giant leap. It's like Dedede's, but more horizontal than vertical, quicker to hit the ground again, cannot be canceled, and makes shockwaves upon landing like the Bowser Bomb. Also, it has super armor and a decently-large hitbox on startup.

Bowser's "Tough Guy" passive armor is still present, and is now stronger when delivering an attack -- the slower the attack, the stronger the armor. With his aerials in particular, this can give him a way to break out of attack strings.

Dair has less lag on all fronts, allowing Bowser to land more easily.

Down smash can slide around like Whirling Fortress could.

Lag on all aerials is reduced, and they autocancel from a short hop too.

Bowser's down taunt has the Project: M treatment.

Bowser's new Final Smash is a giant punch based on his attack from Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, complete with "SHOWTIIIIME!". When his meter is full, he'll surge with intense flames, powering his attacks up even further than usual.

Dry Bowser, Dark Bowser, and Meowser appear as alts. His victory theme is the World Bowser theme from 3D World, with the first eight notes being emphasized (before the saxophone kicks in).

Rosaluma

If you tap the button while Luma is flying through the air from Luma Shot, he won't move around, allowing for more effective, reliable positioning. He'll also stay put if Rosalina is knocked away from him while they're together, opening up opportunities for revenge! Rosalina can still call Luma back after this, of course.

Rosalina can move and attack whilst charging Luma Shot, and release it at any time. This allows her to use the move to extend combos, but it is impossible to use defensive maneuvers such as shielding or dodging during this time, grabs are not usable whilst charging, and Luma's attacks will not occur while he's waiting to be shot out.

On a similar note, Star Bits can be performed in the middle of one of Rosalina's attacks, but not while she shields, dodges, or suffers hitstun.

Launch Star has a different aesthetic: the Luma will transform into the Launch Star as Rosalina is launched out of it, and then the Luma reappears by her side when she exits the helpless state (so the Luma can't be attacked as Rosalina floats to the stage in helpless). It'll have a different look depending on the color of Luma chosen. More importantly, though, this means that Rosalina's recovery is greatly hindered without Luma. By herself, an up special input simply has her float upwards a bit, which is slow and covers mediocre distance. Rosalina can now save a tumbling Luma with Launch Star, though, unless the Luma's health points have been depleted.

Gravitational Pull can now pull opponents in with a long-ranged windbox. While it won't deal damage, it is useful for gimping, edgeguarding, etc.

When Rosalina's Final Smash meter is full, she becomes surrounded by swirling celestial energy reminiscent of the Cosmic Guide from SMG2, which gives her attacks more reach (particularly the ones where she makes tiny galaxies).

The color of your Luma changes with your palette swap rather than randomly, to avoid confusion. The the "star" on Rosalina's wand, as well as her crown, also match the Luma's color. Clicking on Luma allows you to change Luma's color independently of Rosalina's, and her crown and wand will change colors to match.

Rosalina has her sports outfit, from games like Mario Kart and Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, as an alt. Luma, on the other hand, has a lot more color variations to choose from, many of them taking inspiration from the Lumas in the Galaxy games. After Rosalina's new victory fanfare, Galaxy's main theme will play on a loop during the results screen.

T. Yoshisaur Munchakoopas

Yoshi now has multiple midair jumps, each reminiscent of the SNES original's flutter jump. The first two or so gain him a decent amount of height, but after that he's just breaking even with the next three or so.

Side Special changed to Egg Toss, where Yoshi readies an egg and can aim it up and down with the control stick. It's possible to move while aiming, this move acting much like the SNES original. The eggs even bounce off of surfaces up to three times, go through multiple foes, and gain power with each ricochet.

After eating an opponent with Neutral Special, their egg follows you, like in the original game. Before they break out, you can throw the egg with sspec to get the foe anywhere on the battlefield; you can move around after eating them, just like in Super Mario World 2.

Up Special changed to Dragon Wings. Yoshi sprouts the wings from Super Mario World briefly and flaps them once, gaining a decent upward boost.

Grab is faster in both startup and endlag, and his rolls and sidesteps have been improved.

The grab involving Yoshi's tongue can be used as a midair attack, but won't knock foes away like most zairs do. Instead, it "licks" foes towards Yoshi, allowing for combo opportunities. If it hits, Yoshi retracts his tongue, rather than lingering as this zair and others normally do. It only pulls foes in initially; the lingering hit is instead a normal, low-knockback attack. Yoshi can uniquely aim his zair either straight up or backwards, like in Yoshi's Island. The addition of a tether recovery also gives him a boost when getting back to the ledge.

Back Throw changed to a souped-up Egg Lay, reminiscent of one of the customs in SSB4: Yoshi lays the opponent as an egg and fires them backwards at high speeds, dealing great knockback and having a unique hitstun animation in the form of the egg. It functions the same as normal hitstun, though, and not like the eggs from Neutral Special. It's purely an aesthetic touch.

Yoshi's Final Smash has been changed to the giant egg from Yoshi's New Island. With a full meter, Yoshi's shell flashes many colors, like the Omnishell from Super Mario World. This boosts all of his special moves except nspec, as if he ate a colored shell in Super Mario World. Uspec goes higher and deals damage, sspec now shoots fireballs instead of eggs, and dspec now makes a shockwave.

Yarn alt from Woolly World, complete with yarn balls taking the place of eggs, propeller double jump, mallet Yoshi Bomb, etc. After the victory fanfare, this will play on loop.

Baby Bowser

Bowser Jr. can have two Mechakoopas on-stage at a time.

Also, he now has a Peach-style hover using the Clown Car's propeller.

Abandon Ship can be used in the middle of attacks -- the Clown Car will continue the attack before exploding. Use the hammer to do a pseudo-Wombo Combo with the Clown Car! If you perform Abandon Ship standalone, however, it has super-armor during the startup lag. Also, he'll now get his Clown Car back when hit with even a weak attack.

Clown Kart Dash, when used from a dash, does not have the wind-up period at the start. It's now a smooth transition, retaining your momentum.

His grab is quicker, and his throws have more utility.

With a full Final Smash meter, the Clown Car gets powered up, gaining a universal movement speed buff as it surges with electricity. The Final Smash itself is a "Big Steely," where Bowser Jr. hops out of the Clown Car as it turns upside down and releases a giant cannonball from the cockpit, just like in the final battle of Super Mario World. Bowser Jr. uses his hammer to knock it forward, causing it to roll along the ground at high speeds to deal a lot of damage.

Boom Boom joins the Koopalings as Bowser Jr.'s eighth full alternate costume. Bowser Jr.'s victory theme has been changed to a brief excerpt of his theme from Super Mario Galaxy, with the classic airship theme as the loop afterward.

PhD in Pain

Relegated to a Mario alt, as aforementioned.

Wah.

The overalls outfit is the default one.

As such, Wario Land has a bit of an influence on his moveset this time around. Wario's new side special move is the Shoulder Bash. It has light armor that grows as the move goes on, and a jump continues the attack in midair! It won't cause a helpless state either, so it can be used for recovery thanks to a slightly reduced falling speed and increased horizontal speed during the attack. (And unlike the P:M version, it can travel quite a distance.)

Corkscrew can move as much horizontally as it can vertically, allowing Wario to extend combos more easily, as well as aiding recovery.

Wario's down smash is a ground pound punch, which creates a shockwave, and his down aerial is a ground pound that can be canceled on hit into another aerial.

Dair is now a ground-pound. It can spike foes at the start, and acts similarly to Greninja's except it retains horizontal momentum and can be canceled similarly to Kirby's Stone. It also has super-armor on startup.

Throws changed to resemble Wario World, as well as some Wario Land 4 influence for Forward Throw, and a Shake It!! reference for the pummel.

Wario's main finishers have been reduced in endlag, making them safer to use.

With a full Final Smash meter, Wario will turn into Wario-Man. While not quite as broken as before, Wario-Man still has the ability to attack in rather quick succession along with a bit more mobility (most other effects are no longer present). The Final Smash itself has Wario-Man grab an opponent, and then essentially perform Kirby's up throw on them, landing with the end of Brawl's reveal trailer.

Mr. Game & Watching You In Your Sleep

Endlag on most moves has been decreased a bit, and he has more combo potential.

Chef, when used only a single time, is much faster. It has faster startup, and you can act soon after it as long as you don't use it repeatedly.

Judge's chances of getting a high number go up if you wait a while before using it.

Oil Panic also functions as a command grab, where he carries the foe around like DK's cargo throw and then thrusts the bucket forward for a throw.

With a full Final Smash meter, Game & Watch can cancel any of his moves on-hit like Turbo Mode. Really gives off a low-framerate kinda vibe, but you can only chain so many attacks together. The actual Final Smash has G&W forcefully flatten the opponent by clapping two cymbals together, and then he performs a jumble of rapid-fire attacks ending with a "10" Judge hammer. Geez!

Ice Chaingrabbers

The duo's infamous chaingrabs have been removed, as per SSB4's anti-chaingrab measure. However, to compensate, the climbers' throw animations are slowed down greatly. This gives the Climbers player more time to prepare a follow-up attack with the partner. While they can't chaingrab anymore, the Ice Climbers won't be letting anyone off easy!

Belay is turned into a poor tether recovery when used solo, as the leader tosses the rope upwards a very short distance in hope of connecting with a ledge. Deals no damage, and retains the little "hop." The rope is thrown at the apex of the hop, adding a bit of range to Sopo's recovery.

Squall Hammer, when used out of a dash, keeps the dash's momentum in a sliding spin attack.

The partner can now recover when separated from the leader. The tweaks to Belay mentioned above aid further in this, although they won't use aerials to protect themselves while recovering. That's what swapping is for, I guess.

When both Climbers grab the ledge, the leader grabs the edge itself, and the partner dangles from the leader's feet.

With a full Final Smash meter, they'll have a chilly aura of snow around them, which gives their attacks ice properties. Normally it's only the usual hitstun-increasing effect, but powerful attacks have the freeze effect present in past games. Either way, it's good for comboing, especially when combined with desynchs. The Final Smash itself is a big snowball that rolls across the stage to deal damage, getting bigger, faster, and stronger too! as it rolls.

The partner's attacks are no longer weakened, and the leader can also spike with Forward Aerial.

You can change Popo and Nana's colors individually; clicking once on a Climber makes them the leader, but subsequent clicks change that Climber's color independently of the other. Pressing X or Y to change colors will change Nana's to "match" Popo's, and even with desynched colors, the Climbers' gloves will still be the same color.

Dankey Kang

He's bigger, faster, and stronger too!

Spinning Kong moved to Side Special, with the midair version now matching the grounded version (and without an ascent, only a slowed fall; think R.O.B.'s side special).

The new up special move is a Barrel Cannon, an aimable recovery move that has startup but travels a respectable distance and is pretty dang powerful as a finisher. It also has super armor while you're in the cannon, and can be aimed downward -- this can help escape combos, but don't get too predictable. On the ground, this instead has DK toss a Barrel item at an upward-forward angle (can be angled like Yoshi's old uspec). He can catch it if he wants (even out of the air), then throw it again.

Hand Slap has less lag if you only slap once, so the large shockwave hitbox can be used to combo.

Dash Attack is now more like the move from the DKC games -- it gains DK momentum, transitions cleanly into a dash or a second dash attack, can be jump canceled on hit, goes over ledges, and stuff like that. Great for approaching, as jumping retains the momentum. This is a crucial move for DK, as it allows him to move more quickly than he ever could before. However, due to the small hitbox, it's beat out by most attacks.

Fair gives a small upwards boost if the spike connects.

Final Smash changed completely. Clap to stun foes nearby, then wail on 'em DKCR style with button-mashing and finish with a ton of knockback! With a full meter, he'll glow with a golden, banana-like aura, increasing his attack strength.

DK has his boxing gloves as an alt from Punch-Out!! Wii. Funky Kong is also a costume option.

Hoo-Hah Kong

Diddy can have two bananas on the stage at a time. However, each one lasts a shorter time.

Like Donkey Kong's, the dash attack can now go off of ledges and be canceled into a jump, even in midair (DK's can do this too).

The Final Smash has been changed to Rambi. He'll ram into foes as Diddy rides on top, and you can control where he goes for a bit. With a full meter, his Rocketbarrel pack is always equipped, giving him more speed on the ground and in the air and increasing his aerial acceleration to ridiculous degrees.

Dixie Kong appears as an alt, with different props and animations for actions like Neutral Special, Up Special, double jump, et cetera. Diddy Kong's victory theme has been changed to the DKC2 stage clear jingle.

Zelda

Complete redesign. He's now got his Hyrule Warriors appearance, and has an all-new moveset with more focus on classic Zelda items and some other fun stuff too.

Link

Like Link, Zelda is now based on her Hyrule Warriors design.

Din's Fire no longer causes a helpless state, and now has transcendent priority. It's also quicker to explode. Most importantly, it now sticks around like in P:M, but using the move again creates a bolt of magic lightning between Zelda and the fireball. It's like Absa from RoA.

Zelda can now move horizontally after using Farore's Wind. It can also be used to combo when used from the ground, since it doesn't cause helpless and has little endlag.

Zelda's Phantom (of Slash fame) continues to patrol the stage after being summoned, acting as a minion. Use the move again to have it swing its sword, a laggy but powerful attack. It'll hold its shield up in front of it at all times, not only protecting it from attacks at that spot but also acting as a wall that can be wall-jumped off of, grappled to with tethers, and fighters can bounce off of it after being hit to create combos. A much-needed zoning tool, and it can also be used for combos!

Zelda uses her rapier from Hyrule Warriors in quite a few attacks for some added reach, as well as faster attack speed.

Zelda's speed on the ground and in the air is increased, as is her aerial mobility. Additionally, she has improved frame data and hitbox placements on attacks.

With a full Final Smash meter, Zelda has an aura around her with a similar appearance to her magic attacks, giving them added reach.

Other Zeldas from throughout the series appear as alternate costumes (plus a costume based on Ganon's puppet thing from TP).

Ganon (the "dorf" is stupid lol)

With a new Hyrule Warriors appearance, comes a new Zelda-inspired moveset!

Ganon's movement speeds have been sped up quite a bit, giving him that menacing feel he needs. He uses his twin swords from Hyrule Warriors for powerful standard attacks, dragging them along the ground as he runs. He also now has a hover, which lasts for two seconds, can move in any direction at his air speed, and you can use any attack during the hover.

Neutral Special is the Dead Man's Volley. With similar startup and endlag to the Warlock Punch, Ganon tosses a purple, slow-moving orb of dark energy ahead of him. It travels at about his old walk speed, and deals a lot of damage. It can also loosely home in on opponents, and Ganon can grab and throw it again, in the direction he's facing, by inputting the move again while near the Volley. It has a bit less lag this way. The Dead Man's Volley is best used to pressure goes into a hasty reaction, or to combo into it from other moves. It's easy to defend against, since it deals little shield damage and can be hit back by attacks that deal knockback. It can then hit Ganon, but he can hit it back too! It's very reminiscent of the Zelda games, and each reflection increases the damage and speed. This, however, is not a great idea for Ganon seeing as how his attacks tend to be rather slow.

Side Special is still the Flame Choke, but with some differences. It doesn't cause a helpless state in midair, and if you press grab as you land the grounded version, you can transition to Ganon's normal grab, able to then use throws. Ganon also has heavy armor during the move, although its startup and endlag aren't the best. Use this to punish a shield or attack after a Volley, or just in general. Dead Man's Volley is also a boon to your tech chasing, as it can eliminate one of the roll options.

Up Special creates two portals a decent distance away in a direction of your choosing, and then Ganon goes through the one that was created near him, into the other one. The portals will stay around, and if you're already near one of them, you can use the move again to go through them without entering helpless (you will enter helpless if you make a new set of portals, by the by). You can bring foes with you into the pre existing portals to help with combos, since you have a pretty sizeable frame advantage. You can't however enter the portals twice without landing in between. The Volley can also enter portals, which may throw off your opponent. After exiting a portal, the volley will travel in a straight line briefly, so it's possible to set up a Volley to go in an infinite, Portal-style loop. A deadly trap! ...Until you need to use the portals to recover, that is.

Down Special has him, after a lot of heavy-armor startup lag, punch the ground to make shockwaves that reach very far across the ground, and even off ledges. These shockwaves stun the opponent for a decent amount of time, allowing Ganon to get a follow-up, and also deal heavy shield damage. The move's ending lag isn't that major either, although the starting lag is obviously very punishable. Used in combination with a Volley and Flame Choke, you can really condition your opponent! In midair, you'll rise up during the startup lag before slamming down in a fast-falling attack.

Forward smash is an elbow attack, and press the button again for a heavy sword slash in reference to Twilight Princess. It has punishable endlag, but a lot of power.

Up smash has him swing one sword high into the sky, like Marth's usmash, and then a bolt of lightning comes down from the skies to strike it like a lightning rod! It acts like Pikachu's Thunder from pre-SSB4 games, and can go through a dark portal if one's above Ganon. It's a powerful attack, since the sword true combos into the lightning to act as a pseudo-thunderspike! You can also use the move a second time with your other sword by inputting it again during the endlag.

Down smash has a blast of dark energy come up out of the ground, a short distance away (about 2/3 of a Battlefield platform between him and the dark energy). It's a long-distance move, and has vertical reach as high as Ganon himself. It does have a blind spot between Ganon and the dark energy, although Ganon stomps his foot as the dark energy comes up to combo into the energy -- much like Bayonetta's dsmash. At higher percents it can kill, and at low percents it can combo due to low ending lag.

Ftilt and dtilt, inspired by Twilight Princess, stay the same. Dash attack also remains, but with some medium armor added in to tough it through attacks. Jab is a punch-to-sword combo, and utilt is similar to the P:M version. Nair is a Marth-style swing with both swords, offering two hits, more damage, and consistent coverage at the cost of startup lag. Fair is a double-kick forward much like the old nair, his fastest aerial. Bair is a thrust backward with both swords like Pit's, dealing tons of damage and knockback but being very slow to end and on landing. Dair is the world-famous Thunder Stomp, and uair is a backflip sword attack with two hits thanks to the double swords. If you land just the first hit and then land, it's possible to combo out of it.

With a full Final Smash meter, his aura of darkness gives his attacks even more power. Beast Ganon is still the Final Smash, but boasts a new Hyrule Warriors design.

Alternate costumes include his Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess incarnations, a recolor for each, and Demise and Phantom Ganon.

Overall, Ganon is all about manipulating his opponent: forcing them to shield or attack with Dead Man's Volley, to jump with his shockwave, etc etc. He's a powerhouse too, so one slip-up, or bait-and-punish, can be devastating! He's got combos too, with moves like nair, fair, uair, dsmash, the Volley, down special, and portals lending themselves nicely to comboing.

Buttlet

Hold the button during an aerial Spin Attack to use the Deku Leaf to glide down, much like Peach's parasol, in place of the finishing slash. It's a trade-off between better recovery, and more power with the final hit. Toon Link can throw a bomb from the leaf if he's already holding one. Pressing B causes him to swing the leaf, like using the move from the ground in the original game, creating a gust of wind diagonally downwards. It acts as a projectile, but you're put into helpless. The projectile however can help cover your landing, and it also gives you some backward-upward momentum.

Bow can now be aimed in 360 degrees of motion, making it more useful. Fully charged, it's a Fire Arrow, leaving a hitbox on the ground.

If you throw a bomb without smashing the control stick, it won't explode upon hitting the ground, so it can roll along it a bit or act as a timebomb (although it can be picked up by anyone). Sometimes when pulling out a bomb, Toon Link will instead pull out a pig from Wind Waker. It acts just like a bomb, dealing the same amount of damage, but it won't explode. It can thus be reused, unlike a bomb, and can be held without backfiring. It'll wander around too, like a Mr. Saturn.

If you're attacked while pulling out a bomb, it'll explode on both Toon Link and the attacker, which can help get you out of pressure -- but not scot-free. Even the pig has a vengeance towards its attacker!

Dair now retains sideways momentum, and bounces off of foes it hits with the non-spiking hitbox.

Hookshot can now catch bombs and other items, which can come in handy.

New entrance animation involves Toon Link hopping out of his boat before it leaves the screen in a cyclone.

Side taunt moved to down taunt, and the new side taunt has Toon Link look through his telescope. Up Taunt has a windbox that pushes fighters away from Toon Link, which is perfect for disrespectful edgeguards.

Final Smash is now the Ballad of Gales. Toon Link pulls out the Wind Waker and plays a song, specifically the Ballad of Gales. This causes a large cyclone to be created and then travel forwards at high speeds, not unlike the Ore Club item. If it hits an opponent, they're dragged along and spun around for a second, dealing some damage before being shot up into the air for a KO. It's similar to Link's, but a projectile instead of the user rushing out himself. With a full Final Smash meter, he has gusts of wind surrounding him, increasing his movement speeds as well as adding slight wind effects to attacks.

Toon Link has a costume with the Minish Cap. Full-costume alts include the Outset Island getup, complete with non-Master Sword and standard wooden shield (although the functions of both are unchanged), and the engineer appearance from Spirit Tracks with its own sword and shield too. Both also have their fair share of palette swaps. The victory theme is a remixed, more upbeat version of 0:15 to 0:20 in this video.

Big Mac

Power Meter mechanic removed, to avoid redundancy with the Final Smash meter. Little Mac's meter, however, has the same appearance as the Power Meter from Smash 4. The KO Punch is moved to the Final Smash, replacing Giga Mac, and is a guaranteed OHKO this time around. With a full meter, his boxing gloves are engulfed in fire, powering up his attacks including his aerials.

Straight Lunge's charge can be stored by pressing shield, but if you do that, its charge level will be halved upon using it. Still, it's pretty useful thanks to its super armor on startup. It also has minimal endlag if it connects, so at low charges, you can continue a combo. Also, if you've charged and stored a Straight Lunge, you won't fall while using it in midair, which helps a lot when recovering.

Slip Counter has been reworked. It now produces a star effect when the counterattack hits, like in Punch-Out!! for the Wii. It also has a functional overhaul, acting like his Compact Counter custom -- deal barely any knockback, but combo out of it. And as a final touch, the counter will get you double the normal amount added to your Final Smash meter, just like getting stars in the Punch-Out!! games. You may even be able to land a counter, fill up your meter, and get that KO Uppercut in as a true combo out of the counter! Yikes.

Taunts are more likely to trigger Doc Louis's voice clips.

The eight alternate costume slots are now split evenly between the wireframe and hooded Little Macs, with four alternate colorations for each. Eight normal Macs, four hooded, and four wireframes.

Duck Hunt Duo

Duck Jump can be canceled into an aerial attack.

Rather than having randomized heights, the shots on Forward Smash can be angled for different heights, meaning that the attack is much more consistent.

Metroid

Samus's Screw Attack functions like in the Metroid games, giving Samus multiple smaller hops upwards with each press of the button (but with a limited amount of hops, of course). She'll stay in the spinning electric state for some time after each jump, dealing prolonged damage to foes she hits. She can also cancel the move into another attack after reaching the hop's climax, serving as an excellent combo tool.

Samus's nair is back to the Melee version, a nice get-off-me move.

Super Missiles can KO like in Melee. Normal Missiles on the other hand are significantly slower and don't have homing properties. This enables Samus to use them as midair traps, similarly to one of her customs from Smash 4.

Metroid can crawl using the morph ball, complete with boost ball crawl attack and sped-up, non-morph-ball dodge rolls. Her crawl is very quick compared to other crawls, and is in fact an excellent mobility tool thanks to its ability to go right underneath many attacks.

Hold the button during dash attack, and you'll rush forward at high speeds with blue afterimages, like in Super Metroid. It's faster than your normal dash, can be jump canceled, and has a hitbox, but there is some startup -- perhaps it's best used after a projectile, so the foe has a harder time jumping over it.

Down smash has down tilt's old animation, and vice-versa.

Forward smash has three variations based on the beam types from Metroid Prime, based on the angle of the attack like Mac's fsmash. Angled sideways is the same as before, using the Plasma Beam. Aim up for the Wave Beam, a longer-ranged attack that hits multiple times but has less KO power. Aim down for the Ice Beam, a low hit that has extra hitstun at low charge, and a Freezie effect at high charge, but again lacks in terms of knockback and also reach. Also, the next "arm cannon explosion" attack you use after this will have the same effect, so you can use this to get strategic with your moves and combos.

All melee attacks using the arm cannon create explosions like fair and the smash attacks do, and the explosions are bigger and have more range this time around. This includes the second hit of jab (which links better now), dair, and bthrow.

With a full Final Smash meter, Samus enters Hypermode from the Metroid Prime series, changing her attacks into Phazon type attacks. These attacks drain extra damage after the hit like a flower effect, about half the attack's damage. Samus' Final Smash is also reskinned to suit the change.

Samus has full alts based on her other suits, beyond simple palette swaps. Samus is back to her Brawl design, based on Metroid Prime and Super Metroid. Samus' victory theme is a mixture of her Smash 64 and Melee ones.

Pickle Chew

Hold the button during Thunder Jolt for Thunder Wave, which acts similarly to the SSB4 custom. It still paralyzes foes, but has increased damage in return for longer startup lag.

Quick Attack, like other recovery moves, doesn't leave Pikachu helpless when used from the ground. However, the grounded version of the move lacks the second half (you can use the move again immediately after by holding the button for what's effectively a three-stage Quick Attack, but this leaves Pikachu in freefall).

Thunder can go through all soft / semi-soft / super-soft platforms, but not solid ones. Additionally, if Thunder hits a foe while it's not above Pikachu, you can cancel the move's animation. Great for comboing, but it leaves you open if the bolt misses.

The uncharged version of Skull Bash, if used whilst dashing, now transitions seamlessly from the dash, using the momentum for the attack.

Jab now has a finisher: a spinning tail attack.

Bair changed to an attack involving Pikachu's tail. It extends its tail backwards as it surges with electricity. The attack lingers on for a moment, being a good high-percent KO move early on, while a late hit is great for extending chains of attacks. (It has sex kick properties.)

With a full Final Smash meter, Pikachu surges with electricity, allowing his attacks to reach out-of-range foes as the electricity jumps to their body like a bolt of lightning to the ground. Volt Tackle, Pikachu's Final Smash, now homes in on the nearest opponent, hits the foe, and then ends, stunning nearby foes. It's a single attack that hits the nearest opponent and stuns them for a long time, allowing for a follow-up such as a charged smash attack.

Pichu and Raichu appear as alts, as does Pikachu Libre from Pokken Tournament.

All Pokemon victory themes: *click*

Not A Dragon Type For... Some Reason

Charizard is a heavyweight that also has a solid recovery and great air speed (which has been improved quite a bit this time around, along with midair jump height). Its slowness in attacking is its weakness, although it's been mitigated a bit with slightly faster attacks.

Flamethrower doesn't shrink over time, but instead loses its ability to cause foes to flinch if it's low on charge (signified by less intense flames). In midair, Charizard will use its wings to hover as it uses the move for up to two seconds, and you can still move forward and back -- this is a boon to both combat and to recovery, as you can safely breathe flames from above. A move truly befitting of a Flying type Pokemon!

Flare Blitz no longer deals recoil damage to Charizard if it doesn't connect with an opponent. Charizard also suffers less lag upon hitting an opponent, since it's now possible to tech the tumble.

Fly can be used in any direction like Fire Fox, and doesn't cause a helpless state (but can only be used once per airtime, refreshed when you're hit) -- it helps with aerial mobility and recovery, as well as comboing. Hold the button, and you'll start gliding afterward.

Rock Smash is replaced with Dragon Rage. Charizard lowers its head similarly to its up taunt, building up rage. Holding the button causes Charizard to charge the move; the charge also has super-armor. Upon release, Charizard fires a fiery projectile from its mouth, increasing in intensity and power the more it's charged. This move can also be aimed left or right or dash-canceled like Focus Attack. (If performed in midair, Charizard flaps its wings to gain propulsion, and also fires the projectile in the direction opposite of its travel, although its power is halved if you dash-cancel compared to a normal release.) The move's charge, unlike Focus Attack, has true super-armor and is a projectile; in exchange, it does not put foes into the crumple state, although the charged projectile can KO at high percents.

With a full Final Smash meter, Charizard undergoes a Mega Evolution into Mega Charizard X, increasing its attack power with its blue flames. The actual Final Smash is Fire Blast, a projectile of blue flames that travels quickly, covers a good vertical area, and deals great damage and knockback at the cost of some startup lag.

Goku

Lucario's aura mechanic has been reworked entirely. Rather than a comeback mechanic, aura is now represented in the form of a unique effect caused by Lucario's attacks. Whenever it connects with an attack, the same blue glow appears on an opponent as in Smash 4, lasting as long as they're in hitstun. During that time, Lucario can attack again to hit the aura-ed foe from anywhere on the screen! This long-distance attack won't add more aura to the foe, and will use up that aura (so only one attack per aura). It's similar to one of Mewtwo's bugged "custom moves" from SSB4. This allows Lucario to perform a unique breed of combos, and even though the loss of the old aura mechanic leaves its attacks rather weak, it can make up for this by hitting foes another time to KO or combo. Of note, however, is the limitation that Lucario can only apply aura to a foe once per combo (to apply it again, the foe has to exit hitstun for at least two frames). The moveset is of course tweaked a bit to reflect this new mechanic, such as attacks overall being quite weak individually.

Only certain attacks utilize this mechanic; namely, ones which create visible blasts of aura. This goes for both creating and utilizing aura. Aura-compatible attacks are:

Jab (if used at a distance with aura, you can use all three hits; this attack's low knockback means the aura doesn't last very long)

Forward tilt (has longer startup than before)

Smash attacks

Neutral aerial (hits only once now)

Up aerial

Down aerial

Pummel, but not throws; each pummel adds a little bit of aura to the foe, so you'll need to get several in to get any good combos

Aura Sphere

Force Palm

ExtremeSpeed

Any moves not listed here do not have aura effects, visually nor functionally. The core of Lucario's gameplay in terms of combos is using no-aura attacks to chain together hits (such as forward air strings, for example), and then using an aura attack to knock 'em away with the aura effect, another one to bring 'em back, and then hit them again with another attack! This is crucial, since Lucario's attacks overall lack in terms of damage and knockback individually.

Don't worry, though; Lucario still has traces of its SSB4 aura mechanic! Rage, much like the old aura mechanic, affects Lucario in more ways than just knockback on attacks, unlike most fighters. "Aurage" increases the damage and size / range of its special moves like in SSB4, and also causes Lucario to fill up its Final Smash meter more quickly! A damaged Lucario is still a force to be reckoned with.

Aura Sphere no longer has the ability to trap shields at the ledge. If the foe has an aura effect, the Aura Sphere has a bit of a unique interaction -- it'll be fired directly at the foe, homing in on them too until the aura disappears. It won't hit them from anywhere onscreen though, like most attacks do.

Side Special is now Bone Rush, a dash forward with a bone staff in hand (see Pokken). If it connects, you can press the button repeatedly to attack with the bone. You can aim up or down and press the button to perform a more damaging strike that either sends the foe up into the air or meteor smashes near the ledge respectively, or you can keep the control stick neutral or held sideways to perform four strikes that deal more damage overall but are less favorable for comboing and KOing in terms of knockback. (This reflects how in the games, Bone Rush has the potential to hit anywhere from two to five times.) This move can also be used for recovery, or to extend combos thanks to the dash. It, however, cannot be used with the new aura mechanics (since it uses a bone to attack, instead of Lucario's own aura-infused body). Aurage, though, does help it out by giving the dash increased range and speed. If used from a dash, this move's startup is decreased, since Lucario is already dashing.

Extreme Speed no longer has absurd amounts of landing lag, and can in fact be used as a pseudo-wavedash. It also now has a hitbox throughout the attack, so ExtremeSpeed -> pseudo-wavedashing follow-up combos are very possible!

Force Palm has been moved to Down Special. On the ground it acts similarly, but if Lucario is in midair when the command grab's knockback would activate, it'll throw the opponent at a downward angle instead of straight forward. This is a decent KO option offstage, but onstage it can open up bounce combos or tech chases! If the opponent has aura and is outside your grab range, Lucario can grab the opponent from anywhere, bringing them right to him as they disappear and reappear in a flash of aura. This is unique to Force Palm, not working with normal grabs. Also, remotely grabbing an opponent means that it's not enhanced by aurage like Lucario's specials normally are. (If multiple opponents are aura'd, Lucario grabs the closest one. If both opponents are at the exact same distance... welp.)

Lucario's forward smash has it rush forward a stage builder block's distance in the blink of an eye, almost appearing to teleport, before striking. It's an effective way to get past a foe's attacks, and is pretty powerful too. (This move is inspired by Pokken.)

The aura energy created by nair lingers a bit, even after the attack ends. This will apply the aura effect to foes still, so you can hit the foe again if you hit with the lingering hitbox.

First hit of dair deals a decently-powerful meteor smash. Normally the second hit cancels it out before the foe can get KO'd, but at super-high percents it's a powerful spike! More prominently, if aura runs out right in between the two hits, you can hit a foe with only the first hit's spike! This requires impeccable timing though.

Like Charizard, Lucario will Mega Evolve when its Final Smash meter is full -- this results in a boost in attack power, as well as maxed-out aurage. It's not as powerful as the Final Smash used to be, though, and of course lacks super armor. The Final Smash itself is an Aura Bomb -- a super-powered, giant Aura Sphere. It's thrown straight forward, and moves slowly so you can combo into it. Perhaps Lucario's new aura mechanic may come in handy?

Jiggs

Jigglypuff's crouch has her deflate and flatten entirely, so it's possible to dodge almost any attack and punish with a Rest! Her hurtbox isn't completely nonexistent, though, so she can still be hit by low attacks. This is one of Jigglypuff's best attributes on the ground.

Jigglypuff's short hop has been restored to its former height, so Jigglypuff can once again perform two aerials in a short hop.

Pound has been replaced with Disarming Voice, a Fairy-type projectile made of sound that travels rather quickly. It can keep opponents occupied for Jigglypuff to float in and do what she does best. It also bypasses shields and other defensive techniques, even super armor.

Sing has been moved to Neutral Special to replace Rollout, and also has seen some rather large changes. If Jigglypuff successfully puts a foe to sleep on the ground, it can cancel the animation to follow up with an attack more easily. In midair, this new Sing cancel isn't present, but the move now puts midair foes to sleep too, falling helplessly until they break out of the sleep. As an edgeguard, of course, it's very risky, especially since the foe can't be put into this pseudo-helpless state while they have a hitbox out (start and endlag are fair game though; this also goes for sleeping).

As for Up Special, it's now Gyro Ball, where Jigglypuff spins around whilst slowly rising; it appears similar to its side taunt. This deals multiple hits of damage. In midair it gives Jigglypuff a decent vertical recovery but nothing great, and on the ground Jigglypuff can spin at high speeds to attack its foes; whilst spinning, Jigglypuff still has access to its air mobility. The move, when used in midair, causes helpless.

Rest has been restored to its Melee power, and Rest combos have been restored to their former glory. Rest also heals Jigglypuff when used, and heals more damage if you successfully hit an opponent.

Jigglypuff has adopted a form of "Wectoring", a glitch in early versions of Smash 4 that enabled Wario to fly across the screen at high speeds after getting knocked back by an attack. It's an incredible tool for getting around in the air and returning to the stage, but is counterbalanced by Jigglypuff's extremely low weight.

Jigglypuff's aerial attacks have increased range and disjoint. Also, thanks to changes in airdodge mechanics (only one airdodge per airtime), Jigglypuff's wall of pain and other such techniques are more effective.

Jiggs' smash attacks have their Brawl power restored.

When Jigglypuff's Final Smash meter is full, it uses Puff Up to double its size and thus increase its range (but not attack power, oddly enough). It's a bit heavier, but also has a bigger hurtbox. Rest is a lot easier to land, so watch out! The Final Smash itself has it deflate forcefully, like the old Final Smash (although its quicker startup and more consistent hitbox make it easier to land).

Lucario

Mewtwo's tail is longer, increasing the reach of many attacks, and much of it is disjointed. In addition, the very tip of the tail knocks opponents towards Mewtwo, great for comboing and throwing opponents off.

Now has a float similar to the P:M version, with a "crossed arms" pose similar to that used in his helpless state. The float can be used in place of its midair jump by holding the button, although a midair jump and a hover cannot be used in succession without landing first.

Teleport can be used effectively for positioning due to decreased ending and landing lag; it can be acted out of almost instantly, and won't cause a helpless state. It's now a great tool for comboing, approaching, escaping juggles, and of course a safer recovery.

New Down Special is Telekinesis. Mewtwo, after noticeable startup lag, surges with energy, pulling anything within a decent area toward itself with great force; it acts like knockback, but as such it can be blocked or dodged. Mewtwo can use any attack out of this, but if the foe's percent is too high, Mewtwo may not be able to execute slower attacks before its opponent arrives. Still, this is an excellent way to catch air-dodges, or even extend combos. But if Mewtwo misses, its endlag is noticeable; while it can be canceled into atttacks, defensive maneuvers cannot be used out of this endlag.

When Mewtwo's meter is full, it'll Mega Evolve into Mega Mewtwo X, increasing its weight and attack power, and the Final Smash itself is Mega Mewtwo Y using Psyshock, like in Smash 4.

Mewtwo has Shadow Mewtwo from Pokken as an alternate costume.

Mewtwo

Shadow Sneak has less lag on many fronts, so it can be used to combo into other attacks. Standard and aerial attacks can be used while charging the move in order to combo into the reappearing hit. Also, without an opponent in range, Greninja does not perform the attack, allowing it to act sooner. Greninja can also teleport straight to a ledge-hang or a wall-cling! If used whilst dashing, Shadow Sneak has Greninja instantly warp about a platform's distance ahead, and if a foe is in range, attack like normal. Sneak up on and confuse your opponents!

The object created by Substitute has a hitbox when launched by attacks, and like the Sandbag item, can now be grabbed and thrown (again having a hitbox).

Greninja's Hydro Pump has gained techniques similar to Pikachu's QALC. Unlike Quick Attack, the full distance of this move can be used from the ground.

Like Mario, Greninja can now "wet" the ground by using water attacks. The effect is temporary, lasting only a few seconds, but it allows Greninja to slide great distances with Hydro Pump's pseudo-wavedash and zip across the stage like, well, a ninja. Sliding up smashes, dash grabs, and pivoted moves / perfect pivots also gain distance -- this is universal for all fighters on wet ground.

Greninja's attacks have generally reduced endlag, and some in startup lag.

Its grab is also significantly faster, and its throws have more utility for combos.

With a full meter, Greninja has water energy pulsating around it, which constantly covers the ground in water like Squirtle's as well as powering up water-based attacks.

Greninja has an alternate costume that dresses him up in actual ninja garb, which goes rather nicely with his name, sneaky tactics, and speed.

Final Destination

Fox can jump out of his Reflector, like in Melee. It also deals a meteor smash, albeit a weak one, to midair opponents.

Fire Fox, when aimed diagonally downward, still has a bounce off of the ground. Now, however, it's not a helpless state, so you can use aerials out of it -- Fire-Fox-to-aerial-attack combos are pretty fun to pull off. Alternatively, bait out an air dodge after using the bounce and punish with a smash attack for the kill!

Fox Illusion, when used from a dash, is a near-instant flash which has only half the range. It's even quicker, but cannot travel nearly as far. Still, it may be useful for combos!

With a full Final Smash meter, Fox gains Fox Illusion afterimages, and his dash speed is increased by a considerable amount as well as making it deal damage. His Final Smash is still a Landmaster, but it can be attacked to reduce the duration of the Final Smash.

Happy Feet

Falco's Reflector sends projectiles at a higher speed without multiplying damage. Like Fox's, it can also deal a meteor smash to airborne opponents, but since the hitbox leaves Falco's body, it's more useful and long-ranged. A miss is much laggier, however, and he can't jump out of Reflector like Fox can. The meteor smash also isn't as powerful as Fox's. It'll trip grounded opponents 100% of the time, by the way, for guaranteed followups -- to avoid infinites, it won't "re-trip" foes who are already sitting on their rear ends.

Falco Phantasm is noticeably quicker to start and end, and possesses weak armor on startup, allowing Falco to get out of sticky situations. However, it deals no damage to opponents. Unlike the Fox Illusion, Falco's Phantasm travels the full distance when used from a dash.

Blaster has been sped up quite a bit.

Fire Bird has the same new bounce mechanics as Fire Fox.

Falco with a full meter has afterimages like Fox, but this increases his aerial mobility and jump height instead of dashing speed. His Final Smash has him jump up into the air as an Arwing flies in from behind him, covering the whole screen in one quick, powerful, but dodgeable attack.

Can't Let You Cut Him

Wolf can jump out of his Reflector, and while it lacks a speed multiplier, it amplifies projectiles' power more than the other two. It also has a bigger hitbox at the start of the move, and one at the end too (barring a jump cancel).

Like Fox and Falco's side specials since SSB4, Wolf Flash no longer causes a helpless state.

Wolf with a full meter has an aura of purple fire energy, like in his up special move, giving his attacks more hitstun and shield damage to combo and to pressure shields. His Final Smash is like Falco's, but his Wolfen instead comes from the background and is more powerful.

Wolf's victory theme has been changed to the opening of his theme, "Star Wolf."

Eight-Inch Genocide Machine

Kirby's air speed has been improved by quite a bit, aiding recovery, approaches, combos, and lots of other cool stuff.

Kirby has improved range on his attacks -- his kicks have their Brawl range back.

If you hold a direction while swallowing an opponent with B, you can copy that special move instead of nspec! You still use the same input, nspec, to use it however. Keep your foe guessing as to what ability you have!

Kirby can also inhale any item or projectile; press down / special to swallow the item and heal yourself for half the damage it would have dealt, or press the attack button to spit it out as a star that's as powerful as the thing you inhaled. Non-damaging things have a minimum star damage of 5%, and healing items follow the same rules as before when swallowed. Swallowing projectiles works as a great anti-camping measure.

Kirby has a new Side Special: the Warp Star! He rides it Air Ride-style, gliding through the air with ease. You'll need to charge it, though, again like in Air Ride. (If you're already dashing, you can just tap the button to start riding instantly at your dash speed, or you can choose to charge the move.) This increases the speed and damage of the Warp Star, and in midair you can only go so far before it bursts into stars (this is increased by charging the move). If a foe shields or attacks the Warp Star, Kirby crashes like in the original games (when he uses it to crash-land into a stage), leaving him in special-fall. Kirby can jump off of the Warp Star, sending it as a pseudo-projectile, but he cannot use the move again until he lands on solid ground (getting hit won't help unless Kirby was put into helpless) and the Warp Star has disappeared or crashed. Overall, though, this is a much-needed mobility tool for Kirby, if a tricky one.

Final Cutter, when used from the ground, can be canceled into an aerial attack at the peak. It's also stronger if you do follow through, though. You can continue combos, or finish them then and there.

Stone is faster to transform, and Kirby can use the move whilst dashing to slide along the ground and hit opponents. Also, upon exiting Stone, Kirby performs the Stone Uppercut, an upward punch with a fist made of stone. Counter those grab attempts!

Kirby has a new down tilt in the form of the slide attack from his home series. He'll slide along the ground and kick similarly to Mega Man. Upon hitting a foe, he'll bounce backwards into the air a bit, as the foe is dealt a good amount of knockback. It's a good spacing tool to make or close distance between Kirby and the opponent, and can also KO foes at higher damage levels.

He also has a new dash attack: Wheel. He turns into the classic wheel and rolls forward for as long as the button is held. Kirby can be damaged during this, but can turn around like Sonic's spindash; it acts pretty much just like that move, in fact.

Hammer has been moved to forward smash, still a heavy-hitting move that can be charged for fire effects. The uncharged version is quicker to start than the old special move was, now comparable to Kirby's old forward smash. The kick from the old fsmash, by the way, has been reimagined as a rapid-jab finisher.

Up smash is now Hi-Jump. Kirby gains a cape and, after he "crouches" down to charge, jumps upward in a pose resembling Superman's flight whilst surrounded with a yellow aura, like a comet with a trail. Anyway, Kirby leaps up higher with more charge, and it's actually a decent KO move at the base of the jump. You can also angle it left or right a bit.

New down smash uses Kirby's Mirror ability. He splits in two like in the Mirror Body attack during the charge, possibly avoiding attacks. Then he recombines forcefully, dealing damage to foes who are in between the two Kirbys (especially in the very center). Attacking Kirby while he's split in two deals only half the damage and gets rid of that copy, leaving Kirby himself ready to act again, although he does go through some lag.

Kirby's new forward air is Fire, pretty much his Melee dash attack. It moves him forward a decent amount while is descent is stopped temporarily, but each consecutive use of this move slows his descent less and gives him less distance.

Kirby has a new neutral air using the Ball ability: he turns into a bouncy ball, acting as a super-long sex kick (it lasts about a full second, but can be ended halfway through and onward). Colliding with a surface in this form causes Kirby to bounce up, and his falling speed is also increased while he's a ball; this allows for unique bouncy combos!

Forward and back throws can go off of ledges again, but rather than suiciding, Kirby will instead knock the opponent horizontally towards the ledge for a potential stage spike, albeit a weak one. It won't finish off a foe until higher percents, but can be used to begin an offstage combo.

With a full Final Smash meter, Kirby goes Hypernova -- that is, he turns rainbow-colored. This only affects his Inhale, which is now bigger and packs more suction power, and can be ended with little lag; perhaps it can actually be used to combo? (If you happen to have a Copy Ability, it'll go away temporarily, coming right back after you use up your Final Smash or get the meter knocked out of you.) The Final Smash itself is the Robobot Armor. Kirby boards the mech from Kirby: Planet Robobot, acting as a timed transformation (about ten seconds long). He has access to the mech's special, powered-up Copy Abilities as attacks:

Neutral Special is Beam, a powerful multi-hit laser projectile.

Side Special is Wheel, where the mech turns into a car-type thing and dashes forward at high speeds. It has spikes on the front that deal a lot of damage.

Up Special is Jet, a free-flight mode with a chargeable projectile. Doesn't cause helpless, and can be canceled into other actions.

Down Special is Bomb. You'll release a little bomb-bot that dashes forward, exploding on impact.

Up Smash is Parasol, spinning the blades for an upward-aimed attack.

Side Smash is Stone, a powerful double punch with giant fists.

Down Smash is Fire, releasing a burst of flames to either side.

Standard attacks utilize the mech's physique and powerful melee attacks, as well as the Sword ability's blades, the Spark ability's plasma cannons, the Ice ability's fans, and the ESP ability's disembodied hands and energy orbs.

The grab uses the same scanner from the original game. There, it's used to copy a foe's powers; here, it's used as a long-ranged grab!

Kirby has a yarn alt from Epic Yarn, and his victory theme is in the style of Smash 64's version. If a team of Kirbys wins a battle, they'll perform the signature victory dance from his series (where Kirby creates two copies of himself just to do a funky dance), along with an extended victory theme.

D3

Side Special has been reverted to the Waddle Dee Toss, with Gordos and Waddle Doos having been removed for consistency's sake. Dedede can jump on top of a Waddle Dee and "footstool" it to ride it. They'll also roam around and attack foes, and Dedede can now launch them as projectiles by attacking them. How cruel!

Jet Hammer is replaced with the Waddle Dance. Hold the button, and Dedede starts dancing, much like his old Brawl Final Smash -- he has super armor for the duration of the move. The beat is similar as well: "one, two, three-four-five!" Holding a direction on the control stick causes Dedede to point in that direction while dancing, giving a command to this Waddle Dees on each sound of the beat. When the dance ends, they'll repeat what he said in that order and with the same beat. Strings of commands can be up to five orders long, but you can do fewer by releasing the special button early. This move also has super-armor which lasts from startup up until you input the second command. It can also be dash-canceled like Focus Attack at any time during the armored period by holding the shield button and tapping a direction on the control stick. Use this to escape combos! While you cannot command your minions until they are finished with their current orders, you can still use Down Special for its armored properties.

Hold sideways to make the Waddle Dees move in that direction, about 2/3 a Battlefield platform's width. In midair, this comes with a bit of upwards momentum in an arc.

Hold up to tell them to jump up the height of a grounded Kirby jump. They'll perform the action after this while still in midair, even jumping again.

Hold down to tell them to perform a forwards jump in an arc that'll deal damage; it's much like their attack in the original games. In midair, this is instead a downwards dive that'll damage foes and send them downwards.

Hold the stick in a neutral direction to have your Waddle Dees swing a parasol to deal damage to foes in front of them, like the ones used by some Waddle Dees in the Kirby series.

Your minions won't move while you're dancing, leaving them open to be attacked if not used carefully. Longer command chains are more risky, but can yield more powerful results. You can also use Inhale to reposition them, or use them as ammo for your star projectiles.

Dedede's range and power nerfs that he got in Smash 4 have been undone for the most part.

When his Final Smash meter is full, not only does Masked Dedede gain a bit of attack power, but the Waddle Dees are also turned into Waddle Doos! Not only do they gain a more powerful beam attack instead of a parasol, but they also have some light launch resistance, more attack power in general, and they'll even help out during the Final Smash by firing beams to tack on extra damage!

Dedede's victory theme is reminiscent of Kirby's from Melee.

Metagame-Killer Knight

Mach Tornado is moved to Up Special, replacing Shuttle Loop. When used in midair, it gains much more vertical distance at the cost of horizontal movement.

Neutral Special changed to a tornado projectile, resembling those from his boss fights. It's similar to the Mii Swordfighter's tornado projectile.

Side Special is now a command-dash, resembling his sideways-flying maneuver that he often uses in the Kirby games to fly from one side of the screen to another. He extends his sword to damage the opponent, and it acts like a glide from Brawl except it can be canceled into a jump, air-dodge, or any other special move, but it does cause helpless after you finish that action (you can however jump-cancel it and then perform an aerial). It does not refresh upon being hit, and unlike Brawl's version of glides, you cannot angle it up or down. On the ground, Meta Knight winds up briefly and then dashes forward in the same pose with incredible speed, but this has a set distance and can be punished; it's much like Fox Illusion, but can be canceled into a jump or special move as long as you successfully hit an opponent. It's great for combos! If used from a dash, the command-dash has much less start-up.

Down aerial changed to the stall-then-fall from older versions of P:M. Can be angled left or right, and resembles his fights from the Kirby games. Good for extending combos, thanks to low landing lag.

With a full meter, he becomes surrounded in dark energy, his bright eyes showing through the darkness. This gives him brief moments of invulnerability as he attacks, as well as more distance on his rolls and Dimensional Cape.

Galacta Knight appears as an alternate costume, and there's also an option to play as Meta Knight without his mask on.

Pikman and Olimin

Pikmin limit raised from three to five, and the fixed plucking order from SSB4 is retained. This means that it's easy to have one of each Pikmin type, and of course, buffs Olimar greatly.

Pikmin grow in effectiveness by budding and growing flowers; the base leaf form is weaker than SSB4, but the flower ones are very strong.

Hold the button when using Side Special for Pikmin Charge, which has all of your Pikmin charge forwards and attack foes. They'll each deal damage, and the foe is tripped if two or more Pikmin are used. Great for follow-ups, although this requires some careful planning to take full advantage of. Try throwing out all your Pikmin except for two, using Pikmin Charge, pulling out a Purple, and landing a KO move!

Up Special changed to the Ionium Jet, which is a single upwards (or diagonal) boost from a jetpack. It leaves Olimar in helpless, but deals damage and can be canceled into any aerial attack other than the zair. It's similar to Olimar's recovery move in P:M.

Has a new zair in the form of the Pikmin Chain, essentially his Up Special from Brawl but forwards (or backwards or up or down thanks to the new zair aiming mechanic) instead of diagonal. It's quicker to get back to the ledge than the Ionium Jet, and gives Olimar a significant range increase the more Pikmin he has. It's also an excellent spacing tool of course.

Pikmin can be called back even while flying through the air after being thrown / used in a smash attack. Since your Pikmin can be thrown off of the ledge from fsmash, this is a welcome change.

Alph, Olimar's new semi-clone, focuses more on power, with Rock and Winged Pikmin allowing him to KO rather early. However, he lacks Olimar's five Pikmin limit -- retaining the max of three from SSB4 instead -- leading to different strategies overall. Alph does have Pikmin Charge, though, and his recovery move is the old, Brawl-style Pikmin Chain -- although he also has Olimar's new zair, and Pikmin Chain no longer causes a helpless state. Winged Pikmin can carry Alph through the air during Pikmin Chain (even if they're not in the lead), which aids recovery greatly, and this feature isn't shared with the zair.

With a full Final Smash meter, both Olimar and Alph have their Pikmin limits raised by three, and they automatically get the full amount of Pikmin without having to pluck them.

Olimar's alternate costume is Louie, whereas Alph gets Brittany and Charlie from Pikmin 3. He has a new victory theme based on the "End of Day" theme from Pikmin, and Alph uses the Pikmin 3 version.

Killager

Balloon Trip's balloons grow over time; the longer the move is used, the easier it is to pop them and gimp the Villager. This also gives a nice visual indicator for when they'll pop. Pressing the attack button pops them manually, which deals damage to foes; the power increases with bigger balloons.

If the Lloyd Rocket is used from a dash, you retain momentum from the dash as you deploy the rocket. You can even use this top hop onto it whilst retaining your speed!

Villager has a new up aerial: he casts his fishing rod upward, and if he hits a foe, he'll reel 'em in, dealing a decently powerful meteor smash -- it can be chained into another aerial. It has excellent vertical reach, but doesn't reach sideways at all.

As for dair, its randomness has been removed: instead, the amount of turnips will recharge over time, so if you use the move sparingly, you'll get more turnips and thus more power (plus a spike with all three). Kinda like how you have to be smart with the turnip markets... kinda? Eh, I dunno. Less RNG, more strategy, yay.

With a full Final Smash meter, Villager's tools are now the golden variations, dealing more damage.

Captain Fabulous

Falcon Punch can be properly b-reversed, like in P:M.

Raptor Boost no longer causes a helpless state, and if used while grounded, Captain Falcon doesn't fall to the ground upon whiffing. Also, it can be used from a dash to reduce startup lag.

Falcon Kick restores the midair jump.

Knee Smash is easier to land, like in Melee.

With a full Final Smash meter, he's covered in flames for more attack power. (I considered making the full-meter effect the "boost" stuff from Blood Falcon, but I decided to have it as a separate character instead.) Also, his Final Smash is no longer a cutscene. Instead, the Blue Falcon comes in from the side of the screen - behind Falcon - at high speeds. It'll knock foes into the air as the Captain leaps over it. The car itself deals okay damage with set, non-KOing knockback, but land the move close enough to Falcon, and the mighty Falcon Punch he uses while leaping will connect! The punch deals massive damage and knockback, but you have to hit close enough to Falcon.

Captain Rainbow appears as an alt, complete with different move aesthetics and voice clips.

Merth

ALL OF THIS.

With a full Final Smash meter, Marth's sword begins to surge with blue energy, powering up his attacks.

Lucina has been relegated to an alt, and Chrom joins the party too. Their combo catchphrases are pulled straight from Awakening; they're the critical hit quotes. Marth, on the other hand, uses the effects from his Final Smash (this applies to all the FE characters who don't appear in Awakening or Fates and thus lack critical hit quotes).

We Like...

Eruption meteor smashes at the tip, making it a deadly edgeguard.

Quick Draw can be jump-canceled before Ike attacks. In midair, this uses up your double jump but doesn't cause helpless. When used on the ground, a trail of rock explosions from the ground follows your assault, appearing about a second after you dashed there. This combined with the jump-cancel allows you to use it for comboing and the like. From a dash, an uncharged Quick Draw has reduced startup.

Ike has a new down special move: he slams his sword into the ground to create a shockwave, his ranged attack from the Fire Emblem series. It only affects grounded opponents and is a bit slow to recover from after using the move (it has endlag), but it deals quite a bit of damage and is good for hitting a foe after they've been knocked out of reach. In midair, it's a downward sword attack that can meteor smash opponents. The move also has super armor on startup.

With a full Final Smash meter, Ike gains a blue aura with a similar appearance to Eruption, which gives him a movement speed buff.

Ike's new victory theme is a remixed excerpt from his theme in Radiant Dawn. Roy, although no longer a playable character, appears as an alternate costume for Ike.

Holy Gender Neutral Name, Batman!

Robin's female version is now the default. Yay for easy-to-add female reps!

Nosferatu is used a distance from Robin, about a platform away. This gives him a way to deal with goes who like to shield his projectiles, although he can't use Nosferatu at close range.

Dash attack changed to a leaping sword slam down onto the ground, not unlike Link's, in reference to Awakening. It can be used with the Levin Sword unlike the old dash attack, and is a viable KO move. Also, hold A, B, or the shield button during the move to sidestep-dodge backward right after attacking. While this can save you from punishes, try not to get too predictable with it.

When his Final Smash meter is filled up, Robin's tomes are all refreshed, and he also has a golden aura that gives his sword attacks more damage and keeps his Levin Sword from running out. He also has a new Final Smash: Meteor. While absent from Awakening, this tome is one of the most powerful. A meteor falls from the sky a short distance in front of Robin, causing a giant fireball explosion. It's very powerful, and has excellent reach.

Robin's new victory theme is a remixed excerpt from Awakening's main theme. The combo catchphrases are the critical hit quotes from Awakening.

When Robin blocks an attack, she has a special quote: "Predictable!"

Merth, Without A Tipper

Relegated to a Marth alt, as aforementioned.

Our Boy

As aforementioned, he's now an Ike alt. His sword has been bulked up in design, now a fusion between the Sword of Seals and Ragnell. Also, the shockwave effects are replaced with flames.

Corn

Corrin's dash speed has been increased.

Dragon Lunge can now be manually canceled by pressing shield or down on the control stick. Also, if you're dashing, the "hop" from this move goes further thanks to your momentum.

Like Robin, the female Corrin is now the default, and the victory theme is now a remixed excerpt of "Lost in Thoughts, All Alone." As for combo catchphrases, they're pulled straight from Fates, like Lucina's and Robin's are from Awakening.

This Character Stinks

Press the shield button during PK Flash to stop using the move, and have the flash keep going on its current path. Once it hits a surface, or you press B again, it explodes! This is quite a deadly trap, but this version of the move can be beaten out by any attack, and also does nothing to shields. Additionally, pressing B to detonate the PK Flash has quite the delay. Still, this can be great for forcing and punishing a reaction!

PK Fire, when used in midair, will create the flame pillar when hitting the ground, not just an opponent. This can be great for setting traps and the like, and combined with the new PK Flash, makes Ness a trap-oriented character. If Ness lands during PK Fire's startup lag, he'll create the pillar right where he is with little lag.

PSI Magnet can be shield-canceled much like PK Flash, which causes Ness to leave the forcefield where it is. It will still absorb any energy projectile, but does not heal Ness. Additionally, things like Samus' Missiles are no longer stopped, since they do not explode unless they actually hit Ness. By pressing dspec again, Ness can cause the forcefield to explode weakly, producing a decently-powerful windbox around it, as well as knockback on the level of Lucas' PSI Magnet to anyone who is actually touching the magnet directly.

PK Thunder has much less ending lag when the projectile hits an opponent, allowing Ness to follow up on this versatile, long-ranged option more effectively. In midair, though, it'll still cause a helpless state.

With a full Final Smash meter, Ness becomes surrounded with PSI energy, boosting the power and range of his attacks. PK Starstorm lasts a shorter time and can't be aimed, hitting only near Ness, but deals more damage.

Nair changed to a multi-hit with PSI effects. It deals more damage as a result, and while the animation lasts just as long, the hitboxes are out for longer. It's now similar to Zelda's nair.

Down aerial changed to the Smash 64 version, which is much quicker to start up.

Pajamas Ness appears as an alt, as does Ninten. His victory theme resembles its Smash 64 version. His "combo catchphrase" is the "SMAAAASH!!" graphic and SFX from EarthBound.

Subspace Protagonist

Neutral Special has been changed to Offense Up. It's a storable charge move that takes some time to charge up, and when it's fully charged, his hands begin to glow. Lucas's PSI attacks are now powered up greatly in terms of damage, and non-PSI moves gain the PSI effect, increasing their damage. This allows Lucas to deal more damage when comboing and KO more easily, but whiffing an attack causes it to have much more endlag, and getting hit with a decently strong attack caused Lucas to lose the buff. In short, Lucas's attacks are stronger but much more punishable, making this a risky but rewarding maneuver. Lucas must also play more aggressively with this buff active, as using attacks without landing them increases the ending lag. The buff will wear off after thirty seconds, and using the move again during this time has no effect.

PK Fire reskinned to PK Freeze, like in P:M. It also has less ending lag. Being an ice attack, it deals more hitstun than normal, allowing Lucas to follow up on the attack more effectively. Unlike in P:M, the reskin simply turns the bolt projectile a light blue, and the fire effect on hit into the hexagonal effect from the old PK Freeze.

PK Thunder 2 can be steered mid-travel, somewhat similarly to Lucario's recovery move. If used from the ground, it can also be canceled into an aerial on hit before the final, stronger hit. What's cool about this is, Lucas can PKT2 into an opponent on the ground, curve upwards, and rather than PKT2's knockback, he can KO them with another aerial, or start a combo at lower percentages. Another change to PK Thunder: while moving the bolt around, pressing B causes it to disappear and the move to end, allowing Lucas to follow up on this more easily. It will, however, still leave him in helpless in midair.

With a full Final Smash meter, Lucas is surrounded by PSI energy, boosting the range of his attacks as well as his movement capabilities. PK Starstorm is changed; it now comes from the side of the screen behind Lucas rather than the skies, and is a concentrated beam attack sort of like Samus's.

Lucas has his P:M alternate costume, and shares his combo catchphrase with Ness. "SMAAAASH!!"

Monando Boy

Monado Art Lag Canceling -- a technique where you time a Monado Art so that it activates right as you're landing from an aerial, and cancels the landing lag -- now works on all types of ending lag. It's tricky to pull off, but it's been made a tad more lenient. It can even cancel taunt animations for extra style points, as the voice clip continues to play.

While cycling through Monado Arts, hold B when selecting an art to "save" it. You can then select the art you want to use. (So if you've cycled through to Speed and you hold B, you'll advance to Shield, save Shield, and then can select another art to apply right away.) Then the next time you use Monado Arts, you'll switch straight to that art! It's great for getting in combos and setups (for example, comboing with Buster and finishing with Smash).

Also, you can continue cycling through Arts even if you use an attack whilst doing so, which may help with timing your lag cancels!

Back Slash has been replaced with Monado Purge, an energy projectile from the Monado's blade that changes with your selected art. By default, without an art, it's a Blade Beam-like projectile with a color matching that of the Monado's beam.

With Jump, it's a taller, green projectile, which deals upward, combo-friendly knockback but less damage. You can capitalize on the knockback with Jump's jump height combined with an aerial to combo.

Speed gives you a faster, R.O.B. like beam with a blue coloration. It's quicker to fire and to travel, but deals less damage. Use it to follow up on a melee attack.

Shield gives you a yellow, Palutena-Reflect-like barrier that moves slowly forward, blocking attacks, fighters, and projectiles. Deals no damage or knockback, but is excellent for defense.

Buster gives you a purple, arrow-shaped projectile that hits multiple times like the Limit Blade Beam. It deals the most damage and has multiple hits to keep foes in place for a bit longer, potentially lending to follow-ups with its low knockback, but travels slowly and has lag upon firing.

Smash fires an unstable red orb that explodes on impact. It deals good damage and the most knockback of any Purge variant, able to KO at percents befitting of the Smash art, but the explosion can damage Shulk if he's caught in it, and this version has sizable startup lag.

Vision, with the Speed Art activated, is now like the Dash Vision custom: a weaker strike that sends Shulk forward to combo out of it. Meanwhile, Shield mode makes the counter window even longer, and Jump turns the slash into a leaping uppercut slash that covers vertical distance as well as allowing Shulk to detect attacks with greater range. Also, no matter your Art, Vision's time-slow effect is more powerful, making it less likely that the foe will escape, and the alternate version can be used in midair.

Air Slash is angled forward when in Speed mode; it has less vertical reach, but can go further horizontally.

Forward tilt has more range, in line with his other moves.

Back, up, and down aerials linger more to match the animation; they're much easier to hit with, although they deal the most damage at the start.

Shulk has gained improved frame data -- that is to say, the speed of his attacks is quicker -- from Smash 4, helping to mitigate one of his biggest flaws. He also benefits from the universal addition of reduced landing lag when an aerial connects, as he can combo more easily.

With a full Final Smash meter, Shulk glows with blue energy, as if he's using Vision, boosting the buffs from his Monado Arts and lowering the downsides a bit.

As a bit of visual humor, Shulk's alternate costume gives him a beret, a black swirly mustache, an artist's smock, and replaces his Monado with a paintbrush with color-changing paint (it changes with the Art he selects) on the end that splashes out when normally, the Monado's lightsaber blade extends. (Get it? Monado Arts?)

The Flightless Angel

Pit's midair jumps have been restored to their Brawl height. In fact, many nerfs to attacks like damage, lag, and the like have been reverted! Nice.

Bow can be aimed in 360 degrees of motion during the charge.

Upperdash Arm has less ending lag on whiff. Also, it transitions smoothly from a dash.

Power of Flight acts like Wings of Icarus, Pit's up special move from Brawl. It's a quick, versatile mobility tool which can be canceled into an aerial attack. His wings burn up when he's about to run out of time; use an aerial to avoid entering helpless!

Guardian Orbitars can be jump-canceled. This is a good way to punish a foe who attacks your Orbitars (and is thus in the endlag of their attack).

Infinite jab is like his Brawl side special, with more coverage as a result.

With a full Final Smash meter, Pit dons the Three Sacred Treasures, boosting the effectiveness of various attacks with the Arrow of Light, protecting him some with the Mirror Shield, and giving him more effective midair jumps with the Wings of Pegasus. The actual Final Smash is still the same, giving foes a "bullet hell" to dodge.

Pit's post-victory theme loop is an instrumental remix of his "Victory Song." It sounds a lot more grand and triumphant than the original, of course, but it's a neat nod for whoever's played Uprising. Also< Dark Pit is now an alt, still retaining his edge and unique victory theme.

Goddess of Light

As customs are removed, Palutena's specials are now Heavenly Light, Super Speed, Jump Glide, and Lightweight.

The rest of Palutena's moveset is adjusted to fit these special moves, with a fast, hit-and-run style and a focus on zoning as well.

Some of the other custom moves are incorporated as non-special moves, as are some of the Powers from Uprising that didn't appear in Smash 4.

Forward Smash is now Explosive Flame, which acts just like the custom from SSB4 aside from the ability to be charged. It's a good long-range attack, and can be used as a follow-up after some moves.

Palutena's attacks have been generally improved, mostly in terms of startup and endlag.

With a full Final Smash meter, Palutena becomes surrounded by a divine light aura, giving her an increase in attack power.

Palutena has a new victory theme, and the looping part after it is an excerpt from the Skyworld theme.

Original the Character

Now a Pit alt, as aforementioned.

R.O.B.O.T.

The Famicom version of R.O.B. is now the default.

Sanic

Many of Sonic's attacks are sped up a bit. Sonic's dash is also even faster now, from a 3.5 to a 4 (like in Project: M). Gotta go faster, faster, fasterfasterfaster...

Homing Attack is much faster to start up, and more accurate, at the cost of KO power. Sonic will strike a pose at the end -- if a foe blocks the attack, the stunt will leave Sonic vulnerable. If Sonic hits his target successfully, however, he can cancel the stunt into an attack -- this is an excellent combo tool. If Sonic misses completely, the attack has ending lag. Sonic can also use the Homing Attack multiple times in midair, unlike in SSB4, but if you miss, you'll have to wait until you land again. If the button is pressed during the startup (or if Sonic fails to target anything), he'll fly at a forwards, slightly-down angle, with greatly reduced ending lag on whiff but no homing capabilities.

Side Special is now Sonic's sole Spin Dash, a combination of the old side special move and Spin Charge -- Sonic's old down special from SSB4 and Brawl. It's lost the "hop," has the traveling speed of the old Spin Charge, and keeps the favorable traits of the Spin Dash from SSB4. Also, if you jump during the charge, you can release the Spin Dash before touching the ground, and the move now has a hitbox whilst charging (the hitbox during the dash itself is more consistent as well). Sonic's staple technique, the spinshot, is easier to perform, with a more lenient timing window.

The Spin Dash has lost the ability to turn around mid-dash, but gained the ability to use any special move -- including another Spin Dash, even in the opposite direction -- out of a Spin Dash jump or midair Spin Dash. This is a great tool for mobility and confusing opponents, and also eliminates the danger of self-destructing offstage. However, to help compensate, the Spin Dash is easier to interrupt and out-prioritize with an attack. If you use this move from a dash without any charge, Sonic begins rolling instantly, just like in the classics. Finally, the "BSBS" mechanic (it's an acronym for something, and it's not what you'd think), a bug-slash-mechanic that prevented Sonic from double-jumping following a Spin Dash in certain situations, has been fixed.

Sonic's new up special move is the Light Speed Dash. Charge up and then zoom at light-speed, leaving a light-blue trail. You can aim it in any direction, and even perform an edge-cancel. The move causes helpless unless performed from the ground. It's a good mobility tool, and also deals a bit of damage and knockback in the direction of travel. Use it to combo! Also, you can wall-jump at the end of the move even if used in midair, and then use a single aerial before entering helpless.

Sonic has a new down special move too: the Bounce Bracelet. He'll curl up into a ball and rise up a bit (when used on the ground, the jump is about as high as a normal jump, and can damage foes), before rocketing down to damage opponents. The downwards attack can't be canceled, but Sonic will -- like the name suggests -- bounce off of anything he hits: opponents, shields, projectiles, the ground, anything! He can attack soon afterwards too, and since it'll knock foes it hits upwards into the air (or deal a meteor smash if they're in midair), it's an excellent combo starter. Sonic won't be able to use the move again until he lands, though, and the move's startup lag makes it rather telegraphed. If you land on a slope, you'll bounce off at an angle, which can surprise a foe. Sonic also retains any sideways momentum he had before using the move, which is nice. It's an excellent landing option and combo tool -- just be careful not to self-destruct!

Down smash changed to the Sonic Flare breakdance attack from Sonic Battle. It hits three times and sends foes upwards.

Up smash is a backflip kick, with his feet in a blur as if he's running. If used from a dash, Sonic will keep running during the charge -- the animation is him running in place, like the Super Peel-Out from Sonic CD. Talk about a sliding up smash!

Nair is the Insta-Shield from Sonic 3, which has good range, deals extra damage to shields, and packs a disjointed, transcendent hitbox.

Fair is changed to resemble the Humming Top. It's still got the same basic functionality, but is now based on an actual move from his home series. It also has a bit more reach.

Dair is shorter in duration, allowing Sonic to act sooner with downwards momentum. If Sonic already has downwards momentum from a previous dair, he can initiate another one and skip the stall.

All normal grounded attacks have reduced damage and knockback, allowing them to combo more effectively.

Side taunt has the line from Brawl. "You're too slow!" It can also be canceled into a dash for a bit of extra speed, but the voice clip won't restart if you taunt while the previous one is still going. Can't make that line too annoying after all! (Although it's still a very powerful tool in Sonic's arsenal.)

With a full Final Smash meter, Sonic gains blue afterimages, reminiscent of the Boost Mode from Sonic Advance 2 or the parkour system from Sonic Lost World. This not only gives him double the air speed and acceleration, but also allows him to cancel attacks on-hit Turbo Mode style! He can chain up to three hits together this way, leading to some pretty insane combos. The Final Smash itself is the same as in SSB4, except it packs more power but has a shorter duration, and is easier to control. It may be easy to dodge, however, so perhaps it's best used as a combo finisher.

Classic and Metal Sonic appear as alternate costumes, complete with unique animations, props, sound effects, and Super forms for the Final Smash. Sonic himself -- and these alts -- also have full recolors this time around, rather than just different shades of blue. Sonic's victory theme has a new remix, in the style of Sonic Generations' stage clear theme, complete with the looping "S Rank" jingle afterwards.

LEMON LEMON LEMON

Metal Blade, when shot diagonally into the ground, rolls along the ground, tripping opponents. This adds some follow-up potential to Mega Man's ranged game, and the blade will fall off of ledges. It'll disappear after traveling a certain distance or hitting a wall. Mega Man can also now have up to two Metal Blades out at a time.

Leaf Shield has less lag when created. Mega Man can also use any other attack while shielded, with only Down Special throwing the shield.

Mega Man can use his midair jump after using Rush Coil.

Mega Man's slide (down tilt) can be used from a dash, and has less ending lag. It can also ledge cancel, and has super armor on startup.

With a full Final Smash meter, Mega Man uses the Super Adapter to fuse with Rush, giving him more midair jumps and increased attack power. The Final Smash itself is now a giant beam using his and Rush's power combined.

Since Mega Man has a new Final Smash, you can now play as X, EXE, Volnutt, and Star Force Mega Man as alternate costumes (albeit with classic Mega Man's proportions). Also, the looping part after his victory theme is Mega Man 2's title theme.

Puck-Man

With a full Final Smash meter, Pac-Man gains an aura of retro-game-style pixels, increasing the range of his attacks as the pixels form into shapes to go in unison with his limbs -- good for his long-ranged playstyle. The Final Smash itself has him turn giant briefly to chomp across the screen, similar to his current SSB4 Final Smash but as a single attack.

Can I Make A Lame Pun For This Bit? SURE-YOU-CAN!!!

"True" command inputs for moves can be used even during the ending lag of moves; if you're quick enough, you can use Hadoken, Tatsumaki, or Shoryuken before Ryu recovers from lag! This takes some considerable skill, and has a somewhat limited range of options, but adds a lot to Ryu's combo game if you manage to pull it off. This can only be done if you actually land the attack, though.

Ryu's attacks also have their ending lag reduced by a lot if you land the attack, so you can combo into other moves more easily even beyond true specials.

With a full Final Smash meter, Ryu has the same appearance as he does in the Street Fighter series with his Super Meter full. He doesn't gain any passive buffs, but in return, he has two Final Smashes like in SSB4.

A Cloud of Strife Looming Over the Fanbase

Cloud's Limit Break and Final Smash meters have been combined into one, with dspec still charging the meter just like before, but it takes quite a bit longer to charge it all the way. To use a special move with Limit, press A+B instead of B (plus a direction if applicable). Your special moves only take up about 1/4 of the meter, whereas the Final Smash itself requires the whole thing. Manage your meter wisely! To account for this change, Limit Break attacks have been lessened in power a bit. The full-meter effect is the same as it was in SSB4 except Cloud's jump force is increased just enough to give him back his short-hop air-dodge.

Cloud's down throw is now better for comboing, launching the foe upwards a bit at a slight forwards angle.

Banonetta

The goal here is to give Bayo her old combos back as well as some new ones, but keep the zero-deaths out.

Down-angled After Burner Kick is a weak 45* meteor smash. She also doesn’t bounce off upon landing the move, keeping her momentum. She can also cancel the move in midair at any time after hitting the foe, to keep combos going. Grounded foes will slide along the ground a bit to place them in front of Bayonetta.

Witch Twist gains a bit more height and cannot be SDI’d out of as easily, but does not refresh after a midair jump, and can only be used once in midair. However, due to universal recovery move changes, Bayonetta can still use the move twice from the ground. It's still possible to get a combo going out of a midair Witch Twist, but to get a kill combo, you need to be grounded, and your foe needs to be at a decent percent.

Witch Time’s duration now factors in the damage of the countered attack, but in return doesn't stale as much. It's now a reliable counter, but only has a big effect on powerful attacks; you won't get a kill off of a jab read.

With a full Final Smash meter, Bayonetta is surrounded by an aura of dark magic; this causes her attacks to inflict a short-lived Witch Time with each hit, making combos easier. It's not too insane though, especially since it's weakened with each successive hit. Her actual Final Smash skips the "filling-the-meter" bit, and also has normal knockback as opposed to Danger Zone mechanics.

Snake? Snake?! SNAAAAAAAKE!!!

C4 can be knocked off by the opponent like a Pikmin, landing on the ground. To compensate, it'll stick onto a foe if it drops from above. It can also be picked up from the ground as a throwing item and thrown to stick onto foes. The opponent can technically do this too, but Snake's control over the C4 makes this point moot.

Nikita can be ended by releasing B, causing it to zoom forward at high speeds, retaining its angle.

Up smash no longer has randomized horizontal movement.

Snake cannot activate his mines from dsmash, but he can be harmed by them if the foe activates them.

Snake's Final Smash is now a super-powered-up rocket launcher.

Amiibo have a new use in this game: tag-team battles. By tapping an amiibo to your controller, you can swap to that fighter mid-battle! You can also assign custom moves to your amiibo, but they don't get stronger in terms of stats or anything when used for tag-teams. Even when you swap fighter, your percent stays the same; this is best used to adapt to the situation.

New character per stock is an available Special Smash mode (like the ending of Smash Tour), with customizable character amounts in stock, time, and coin battles.

Also added to Special Smash is "combo-cancel mode," which acts much like Turbo Mode in Project: M.

Eight player smash is merged into the standard smash mode, activated automatically whenever a fifth controller is brought in. Eight player mode now supports all stages as well as custom stages. Special Smash too. Basically anything you could do in the regular Smash mode.

Special Smash is no longer its own mode, now accessed through the rules menu as a third page of rules. This means that it's also available online when playing with friends!

Adventure mode returns from Melee; the stages are platforming oriented, and you use a different character for each stage, with the stages making use of that character's abilities and teaching you how to use them. You use all of the characters throughout the course of the mode, and this doesn't have much of a "story" to it, unlike the SSE. There are some cutscenes, but they're mostly simple and serve to transition to the next stage.

Target Test is back, with one unique to each character like in Melee. Same with Board the Platforms.

Stage Builder has another layer behind the stage for drawing backgrounds (basically for stuff like Hyrule Castle's tower with the platforms on it). All foreground textures and backdrops from the actual stages can be used, and mixed together if one so wishes. All of the gimmicks from Brawl's stage builder make a return as well, such as ice blocks, falling platforms, and conveyor belts, plus new ones. The weight limit is much more generous, collision when two textures meet is drastically improved (they now combine into one collision body to prevent clipping and such), grabbable ledges and spawn points can be placed manually, and the grid can be made smaller with another press of the X button for fine details. If you don't have a Wii U Gamepad (assuming that the NX isn't packed with a tablet controller), you can use a tablet or other smart device to draw stages with an app and send them to the game, or build them real-time as if it were a Gamepad -- this lets you test them as you draw.

Training mode improved. Frame-by-frame advancement, hitbox display toggle, on-the-fly character changing, customizable settings spanning both normal and Special Smash, the ability to make the CPU do something on a loop ala Street Fighter, and improved UI in general -- for example, holding a shoulder button lets you scroll through things like damage and items faster. There's also a brand-new stage only available in training mode, which looks like the online waiting room stage but has platforms. You can configure the platforms in the training mode menu to function identically to any basic, tournament-legal stage; the main platform even gains walls, slopes, etc. to match the original stage.

Yeah, that's the stage-select screen. When you press "start" after selecting your characters, you don't go to a completely different menu – rather, the character roster just slides offscreen to the left, making way for the stages to come in from the right. Also, the center portion of the bottom area of the screen slides down to make way for the stage-image preview.

As for custom stages, you can arrange them however you'd like in their own selection screen. You can also toggle which custom stages you want to include in the random stage switch, rather than just an overarching "custom stages on / off" deal. Omega form stages also have this same treatment. "Toggle List" changes between starters, counterpicks, and an all-stage list; it's meant mostly for competitive matches.

In the My Music mode, you can set any music to play on any stage, and even import your own from an SD card! Music tracks are now unlocked by playing on that particular stage, omega forms included. New remixes are aplenty this time around, and more effort has been put towards giving the game a distinctive music style. Think epic orchestra + jazzy big band. Also, expect some old classics to return here, with updated visuals and new remixes!

Super Smash Bros.

Battlefield now takes place inside a giant floating coliseum, with Greek-inspired architecture.

Music:

[REMIX] Battlefield Series Medley

Battlefield (SSB4)

Battlefield (Brawl)

Battlefield Ver. 2 (Brawl)

Battlefield (Melee)

Battlefield (Super Smash Bros.)

Credits (Super Smash Bros.) Ver. 2 (SSB4 mix)

Trophy Rush (SSB4)

Multi-Man Smash (SSB4)

Multi-Man Melee 2 (Melee)

Menu (Melee) (Brawl mix)

Boss Battle (Melee)

Final Destination has the same layout as before, but the visual design of the platform is a reimagining of Melee's. The main platform is similar, but there are also now polygons floating all over the place. Master and Crazy Hand are also seen battling each other in the background. Two battles for the price of one!

Music:

[REMIX] Main Theme (SSB4)

[REMIX] Final Destination Series Medley

Final Destination (SSB4)

Final Destination Ver. 2 (SSB4)

Final Destination (Brawl)

Final Destination (Melee)

Master Hand Battle (Super Smash Bros.)

Master Hand (SSB4)

Master Core (SSB4)

Master Fortress First/Second Wave Mix (SSB4)

Menu (Melee) Ver. 2 (SSB4 mix)

Opening Theme (Melee) (Brawl mix)

Multi Man Melee (Melee)

Credits (Super Smash Bros.) (Brawl mix)

Target Test (Melee)

Boss Battle Song 2 (Brawl)

Super Mario Bros.

Bowser's Castle is as shown in the link (except with a visual design matching the background, and less drastic elevation changes; and yes I did make that image isn't it awesome), and has hazards too. The Podoboos occasionally come up out of the pit to harm fighters. The Thwomp, meanwhile, takes out the bridge and top platform, and slowly sinks into the lava, acting as a platform. Once it sinks, the lava is exposed until the bridge and platform reappear -- watch your step! All of these hazards are extremely telegraphed, with the Podoboos following a set pattern and the Thwomp being a rare occurrence that's preceded by screen-shaking.

Music:

[REMIX] Castle (Super Mario World)

[REMIX] Castle (New Super Mario Bros. U)

[REMIX] Koopa's Road/Final Battle (Super Mario 64)

[REMIX] The Grand Finale (Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story)

[REMIX] Big Baby Bowser Battle! (Yoshi's Island)

Fortress Boss (Super Mario World) (SSB4 mix)

Castle/Boss Fortress (Super Mario World/Super Mario Bros. 3) (Brawl mix)

Bowser's Castle (Mario Kart 8)

Bowser's Galaxy Reactor (Super Mario Galaxy)

The Final Battle (Super Mario Galaxy 2)

Bowser's Galaxy Generator (Super Mario Galaxy 2) (Mario & Sonic Olympics mix)

World Bowser (Super Mario 3D World)

The Great Tower Showdown 2 (Super Mario 3D World)

Final Bowser Level (Super Mario 3D World)

GBA Bowser Castle 1 (Mario Kart 7)

Lava / Volcano Theme (Super Mario 3D World)

Comet Observatory from Super Mario Galaxy travels to different areas Delfino-style, including the observatory domes, the Gateway, and the map area. As a neat touch, the Starship Mario, the Toad Brigade's ship, etc can be seen flying around, and Star Bits rain down from the sky in the background. The omega form stays on the "bridge" at the front of the Observatory.

Music:

[REMIX] Gusty Garden Galaxy / Egg Planet (Super Mario Galaxy)

[REMIX] Starship Mario (Super Mario Galaxy 2)

[REMIX] Another Story (Super Mario Galaxy 2)

[REMIX] Puzzle Plank Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy 2)

Rosalina in the Observatory/Luma's Theme (Super Mario Galaxy) (SSB4 mix)

Roslaina in the Observatory 3 (Super Mario Galaxy)

Gusty Garden Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)

Egg Planet (Super Mario Galaxy)

Main Theme (Super Mario Galaxy 2)

Buoy Base Galaxy (Super Mario Galaxy)

Purple Comet (Super Mario Galaxy)

Bowser Jr.'s Airship Armada (Super Mario Galaxy)

Mount Wario from Mario Kart 8 is a travelling stage in the vein of Mario Circuit. It starts at the helicopter starting line and stops at major setpieces before ending at the stadium and looping, and karts race on the track like in Mario Circuit. The omega form doesn't land, following the karts as they race toward the finish line before coming to rest at the stadium. It has the same platform layout as Pokémon Stadium's neutral form.

Music:

Mount Wario (Mario Kart 8) (changes dynamically to fit the section of the track, like in Mario Kart 8; edited to fit the different pacing of Smash)

Mario Kart Stadium (Mario Kart 8)

Credits Theme (Mario Kart 8)

Dolphin Shoals (Mario Kart 8)

Sherbet Land (Mario Kart 8)

Cloudtop Cruise (Mario Kart 8) (SSB4 mix)

Dragon Driftway (Mario Kart 8)

Super Bell Subway (Mario Kart 8)

Cheese Land (Mario Kart 8)

Baby Park (Mario Kart 8)

...Plus all the music from both Mario Circuits in Smash Wii U.

Battle Stage from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door takes place where the battles did in that game. Hanging wooden platforms move around sideways and vertically, and reimagined TTYD locales (with an art style similar to Paper Mario: Color Splash for Wii U) serve as backdrops. The background changes mid-match as the curtains close and then reopen. The audience also gets involved; the better a player does, the more of the audience begins rooting for them, represented by their clothing/shells/whatever changing to their color; this will cause them to throw that player helpful items, sorta like the Isabelle AT. The omega form removes the walkoffs and audience, but keeps the two moving platforms.

Music:

[REMIX] Battle Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)

[REMIX] Battle Theme (Paper Mario)

[REMIX] Title Theme (Super Paper Mario)

Title Theme (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door)

Brobot Battle (Super Paper Mario)

Lineland (Super Paper Mario)

Rogueport (Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door) (Smash 3DS mix)

Battle Theme (Paper Mario: Sticker Star)

Happy Adventure, Delightful Adventure (Super Mario RPG)

Armed Boss (Super Mario RPG)

Forest Maze (Super Mario RPG)

Yoshi's Island

Woolly World from SSB4 returns.

Music:

[REMIX] Woolly World Medley (Yoshi's Woolly World)

Yarn Yoshi Takes Shape! (Woolly World) (Smash 4 mix)

Welcome To Yoshi's Woolly World! (Woolly World)

Bounceabout Woods (Woolly World)

Clawdaddy Beach (Woolly World)

Across the Fluttering Dunes (Woolly World)

Spiky Stroll (Woolly World)

Yoshi and Cookies (Woolly World)

Scarf Roll Scamper (Woolly World)

Fluffin' Puffin Babysitting (Woolly World)

Sunset at Curtain Falls (Woolly World)

Fluffy Snow, Here We Go! / A Little Light Snowfall (Woolly World)

Yoshi's Island from Brawl is back! Its art style is very distinctive. The platforms to either side always come after the Fly Guy. (Only one appears this time.)

Added music tracks:

[REMIX] Yoshi's Island Medley (Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island)

Game & Watch

Flat Zone from Melee is back, and the flat effect no longer messes with hitboxes and whatnot. The omega form takes place on top of the Game & Watch itself.

Ice Climber

Summit from Brawl is back.

Donkey Kong

Sunset Shore from DKCR is as shown in the link. Fighters have a unique silhouette look here. The left ledge demonstrates a new type of ledge for this game: angled walls can still have ledges, but fighters will hang at an angle.

Gangplank Galleon from the SNES classic Donkey Kong Country takes place on one of K. Rool's pirate ships, with cannonballs firing at you from the background. The omega form takes place on the mast.

The Legend of Zelda

Hyrule Castle is actually a brand-new stage. Its visuals are similar to P:M's HD remaster, but its platform layout is now like Battlefield's, except the top platform is significantly wider while the other two are quite thin.

Temple from Melee is back.

Pirate Ship from Brawl is back, and the various islands from the game now appear in the background. Swimming isn't present anymore; this goes for all stages. You do fall slowly in water though, and your jumps go higher.

Excitebike

Excitebike Arena from Mario Kart 8 features randomly-arranged terrain like in that game, and Shy Guys on dirt bikes occasionally drive through the stage. The omega form gives the stage a fixed layout: the same as Battlefield's. There's a three-tiered ramp in the background, holding up the platforms. This also moves the Shy Guys to the background, right behind the fighters, driving over the ramp -- the two back lanes still go to the edge of the screen, but fighters don't interact with them.

Music:

Excitebike Arena (Mario Kart 8)

Metroid

Tallon Overworld from Metroid Prime has stunning aesthetics, and its platform layout is similar to that of Town and City's city portion.

Brinstar Depths from Melee is back. You can actually grab the ledges now!

Pokemon

Distortion World from Pokemon Platinum takes place in an alternate dimension, where the laws of physics are... questionable at best. There are platforms on every side of the screen, and they all look like they should be ground -- they're just rotated 90 degrees, the "tops" facing the center. They extend to the edges of the screen, so you can't go to the other side of them. Every so often, the stage will suddenly rotate 90 degrees, changing which surfaces act as the floor/ceiling/walls! Each is shaped differently, of course. Additionally, there are "trees" which occasionally pop out of one of the surfaces, acting as either a wall (like the stick in Garden of Hope) or a drop-through platform. The omega form has the four "floors" come together to form a solid stage, with each one being on a different outer side of the main platform. (The floor of the omega form is one floor, the left-hand wall is another "floor," etc etc.)

Kalos Pokemon League from Smash Wii U makes a return. The platforms match those of Pokemon Stadium, and the transitions are now more tame: the Legendaries are gone, the platforms don't go up off the top of the screen, and the main thing that changes is the platform layout.

The steel form now has a single sword in the center of the screen, with the flat edge acting as a wall (it's rotated 90 degrees). It hits players as it falls, but that's about it.

The dragon form is the most volatile, with a single burst of flames in the center of the stage as it transforms. After that, though, the only thing that changes is the platforms and how they're now stacked on top of each other in the center of the stage.

The fire form, at the beginning, has bursts of fire underneath the platforms, like the original stage. They push the platforms up, and appear on occasion. The knockback is far too weak to KO, but you can stand on top of the platform to get a possible combo! After the extremely brief flame burst, the platforms will begin to fall again, lifted up by the next burst.

Finally, the water transformation initially floods the whole stage with a downpour of water, which covers the entire screen and briefly pushes fighters downward. After that, the effect is limited to waterfalls that come out of the bottom of the platforms. They make the platforms safer, but only one platform has the waterfalls at any given time.

Mother

Onett from Melee makes a return.

Fourside from Melee is also back. This time, it's got a competitive-friendly layout, with the small building-like structure on top of the main tower turned into two stacked soft platforms, and the two rightmost buildings joined with a bridge. (Every other platform is removed.)

F-Zero

Big Blue from Mario Kart 8 takes place on a platform that flies along the track, and is a combination of Port Town Aero Dive and the SSB4 Mario Circuit stage. Shy Guys race along the track, all driving the Blue Falcon kart.

Music:

Big Blue (Mario Kart 8)

Mute City (Mario Kart 8)

Star Fox

Corneria from Melee returns.

So does Lylat from Brawl, sans tilting.

Kirby

Blue Sky Palace from Kirby and the Rainbow Curse has a clay art style, and Elline (the paintbrush girl that represents you using the Wii U's gamepad screen) constantly draws lines for platforms. The stage is expansive normally with lots of opportunities to fall if you're not careful, especially since it slowly but surely scrolls to the side!

Music:

[REMIX] Main Theme (Kirby and the Rainbow Curse -- it's the main menu theme)

[REMIX] Blue Sky Palace (Rainbow Curse -- incorporates all the level themes from this world)

Rainbow Across the Skies (Rainbow Curse)

The Wild Red Yonder (Rainbow Curse)

Kirby Rocket's Big Blastoff (Rainbow Curse)

The Adventure Begins (Rainbow Curse)

Up the Big Ol' Tree (Rainbow Curse)

The Forest of Whispy Woods (Rainbow Curse)

Deploy the Kirby Tank! (Rainbow Curse)

Woodland Battle (Rainbow Curse)

Fountain of Dreams from Melee makes a return, and it looks absolutely gorgeous with the HD makeover.

Kid Icarus

Skyworld from Brawl makes a return. It now resembles the omega form of the stage from SSB4, but with two of the supersoft cloud platforms added to either side. They extend above the bottom blast zone, but while they are a boon for edgeguardng, you can get spiked right through 'em!

Added music tracks:

[REMIX] Lady Cupid (Rhythm Heaven Fever)

Palutena's Temple from Smash Wii U is back.

Pikmin

Garden of Hope from the Wii U game makes a return.

Fire Emblem

Castle Siege from Brawl is back.

Coliseum from Smash Wii U is back.

Splatoon

Inkopolis Plaza looks like this, taking place above Splatoon's main hub.

Animal Crossing

Smashville makes a return, but with Town & City's graphics.

Punch Out!!

Boxing Ring from Smash 4 is back.

Rhythm Heaven

Rhythm Concert is a stage based entirely around music, taking place on a concert stage. Each song is pulled from the games, and everything -- from the dynamic platforms to the bouncing background -- moves to the beat. Mastering the rhythm is key to victory on this stage, and the platform depends on the current song. There's a screen with equalizers below the stage, steel girders, speakers, and stuff like that as decoration. The audience also claps along to the beat, matching the platform's movements.

Music:

[REMIX] Remix 10 (Fever -- Now with real instruments!)

[REMIX] Rhythm Heaven Fever Medley (Pulls from the main theme, menus, and credits music.)

Dreams of our Generation (Fever -- Plus the Japanese version! This goes for all music that has lyrics. The audience claps to the beat.)

Hole in One (Fever -- The audience claps to the beat. Every other loop is the sequel version of the music -- this goes for all games with sequels.)

See-Saw (Fever -- The audience claps to the beat, speeding up when the see-saw does in the game.)

Double Date (Fever -- The audience claps to the beat, every two beats.)

Fork Lifter (Fever -- The audience claps with the original claps in the song.)

Tambourine (Fever -- The monkey makes an appearance, and the audience claps or stomps to mimic his tambourine.)

Monkey Watch (Fever -- The audience claps when the monkeys do in the game.)

Working Dough (Fever -- The audience claps / stomps when the small / big orbs are hit.)

Built to Scale (Fever -- The audience's clapping speeds up / slows down with the music.)

Air Rally (Fever -- Forthington, the cat, makes an appearance to signal the audience on when to clap off-beat, just like in the game.)

Figure Fighter (Fever -- The muscle doll appears on the stage, and the audience claps when he punches to power his new microphone-activated puffing-up mechanism.)

Ringside (Fever -- The reporter and wrestler are live on stage having an interview. The audience claps to the beat.)

Micro-Row (Fever -- The audience claps with the A presses from the game.)

Samurai Slice (Fever -- The audience claps with the beat, and claps harder when you slice in the original game.)

Catch of the Day (Fever -- The audience claps to the beat.)

Flipper-Flop (Fever -- Captain Tuck and the Flippers make an appearance and perform live on stage as the audience claps with the flips, flops, and flipper-rolls.)

Exhibition Match (Fever -- The match happens live on-stage, and the audience claps to the beat but goes quiet when the pitcher throws the ball.

Bossa Nova (Fever -- The two sides of the audience clap to the two different beats.)

Love Rap (Fever -- The rappers appear on-stage for a live performance as the audience claps to the beat.)

Tap Troupe (Fever -- "Ready, and bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum, bum-bum, clap clap-clap!")

Cheer Readers (Fever -- The pep squad performs live on stage and cheers on the fighters as the audience claps to the beat.)

Karate Man (Fever -- The audience claps to the beat.)

Also, like, every single remix from Fever can play on this stage as the audience claps to the beat. There are also some added sound layers, to replicate the sound effects of the minigame.

Kung Fu Ball (Fever -- The ball kicking / punching / fire-breathing happens live on-stage, as the audience claps to the beat.)

Pirate Crew (Fever -- The captain makes an appearance on stage. "Everybody clap!" "Okay, right clap!")

The Clappy Trio (Fever version -- The trio makes an appearance onstage to perform their clapping act. The audience's claps are lighter than normal here, as to not steal the show from the performers.)

Hi-Hat Medley (Fever -- Mixes together the three songs. The audience claps to the same beat as the hi-hat, with the loudest clap coming when you'd release the hi-hat.)

Sonic the Hedgehog

City Escape from Sonic Generations takes place on the truck as it rampages through the city, and the platform tilts quite a bit since the truck has a side-on view and the city streets are as sloped as San Francisco. The truck's saw blades and rocket boosters act as hazards, and platforms are present in the form of G.U.N. crates, scaffolding, and such. The omega form faces the truck front-on.

Music:

[REMIX] City Escape (Sonic Generations -- mixes together the classic and modern versions)

City Escape Modern (Sonic Generations)

City Escape Classic (Sonic Generations)

City Escape (Sonic Adventure 2)

[REMIX] Speed Highway (Sonic Generations -- same deal as before)

Crisis City Modern (Sonic Generations)

Crisis City Classic (Sonic Generations)

Chemical Plant Modern (Sonic Generations)

Chemical Plant Classic (Sonic Generations)

Rooftop Run Modern (Sonic Generations)

Rooftop Run Classic (Sonic Generations)

Metal Sonic Battle (Sonic Generations)

Metal Harbor (Sonic Adventure 2)

Green Forest (Sonic Adventure 2)

Live & Learn (Sonic Adventure 2)

Open Your Heart (Sonic Adventure)

Green Hill Zone has a new layout, much bigger than the Brawl one and with Sonic Generations' visual style. The chained platform swings back and forth.

Added music tracks:

Green Hill Modern (Sonic Generations)

Green Hill Classic (Sonic Generations)

Deadly Six Battle (Sonic Lost World)

Tropical Coast Zone 2 (Sonic Lost World)

Final Boss (Sonic Lost World)

...And all of Windy Hill / Green Hill (Brawl)'s music that's not present in other stages.

Mega Man

Wily Castle from Smash Wii U returns, and the Yellow Devil is gone. Good riddance, now we have another competitive stage.

Pac-Man

Pac-Maze is back with a new layout. Its platforms are close together, creating a maze-like feel. Also, the ghosts will travel between the foreground and background via the tunnels leading to the bottom of the screen.

Banjo-Kazooie

Spiral Mountain has many platforms along the side of the mountain (matching the spiral path), and fighters can go on the surrounding ground as well. The omega form is at the very peak of the mountain, with wooden platforms extending out to either side to make some room to battle.

Metal Gear Solid

Shadow Moses Island returns.

Bayonetta

Umbra Clock Tower is back.

Street Fighter

Suzaku Castle returns from Smash 4. Now it's just a plain walk-off, faithful to the original game.

Final Fantasy

Midgar is back from Smash 4. It has an expanded music selection, drawing not only from FFVII but also the entire series.

Miscellaneous

Nintendo Land takes place on top of the tower with Miis touring the park below, and elements from the different minigames appear and can be interacted with. You can battle on either the "head" of the tower or the ring around it, both acting as platforms. Both will rotate around slowly for a view of the entire park. The ring moves up and down, sometimes above the main platform and sometimes below it.

Wuhu Island from the Wii U game makes a return. The omega form stays in the swordfighting stadium.

The final stage is The Credits. Unlocked by beating any single-player mode, it's basically the game's credits. It takes the form of a flat platform, with the credits themselves acting as slowly falling platforms. The omega version is unchanged, except in the normal version you can break the credit letters. The music of course consists of the credits themes from countless titles, from Mario to Zelda to Final Fantasy to of course Smash Bros. itself. (I wonder if this should be King K. Rool's home stage...)

ASSIST TROPHIES

All past ATs return, except for those who have been promoted to playable character or appear in another role.

The Sprixie Princesses from Super Mario 3D World use their fairy plumbing tools to attack opponents after you free them from their bottle. This is done by throwing it at an opponent -- the bottle is automatically picked up when the AT is used.

Boos from Luigi's Mansion (and the Mario series in general) do what they do in Mario, advancing towards anyone who's looking away from them. They're pretty fast here, though, so fighters are encouraged to look away from the AT summoner if the summoner plays it right. This isn't often ideal for the target.

Tom Nook from Animal Crossing throws bags of money on opponents' heads, representing debt and being clearly labeled as such. This will either A) immobilize them while on the ground, or B) meteor smash them in midair.

Adam Malkovich from Metroid: Other M doesn't authorize opponents to use randomly chosen moves. If they're sent offstage, he'll block up special moves -- yikes!

Glass Joe from Punch-Out!! tries to punch opponents, but nothing happens. He's essentially the Goldeen of ATs. On that note, Goldeen is replaced with Magikarp in a Pokeball.

ITEMS

The Ice Flower is like the Fire Flower, but with an ice effect (think the ICs' Blizzard move).

The Watermelon from Yoshi's Island can be eaten in order to shoot seeds rapid-fire.

A Flying Disc from Wii Sports Resort / Nintendogs is thrown in an arc similar to DHD's side special move.

The 3DS' Stylus is a battering item -- true to the original, it extends to great lengths for attacks.

The Ultra Hand not only has long range, but also functions like a grab, so it can beat out shields.

The Power Glove gives you super-charged punching attacks, with an electric effect.

Speed Shoes from Sonic come in a classic monitor box, which must be attacked to use. When it is, the user is sped up, like when the speed is turned up in training mode. Lasts for ten seconds, and the music speeds up like in the classic games.

A Ring, also from Sonic, will protect whoever obtains it from the next attack (taking no damage and reduced knockback). It'll then fly out, so they or anyone else can grab it again! It can only be grabbed a certain amount of times though.

Tweaks to Returning Items

Sandbag can now be grabbed and thrown. It also takes the extra hitstun from electric attacks.

TRAILERS

Reveal Trailer (E3 20-whatever)

Starts with the iconic flaming Smash Bros. symbol. It opens up, but the flames don't go away. Instead, we're treated to a foreshadowing: in a somewhat similar style to the opening of Ocarina of Time, the Original Twelve are standing opposite to three silhouettes. In the middle, the silhouette of Ganon's redesign, and to either side, the silhouettes can just barely be made out as Ridley and King K. Rool. This foreshadows to another trailer, which will come in a year's time...

We hear Ganon's evil laugh as the camera zooms in on Link's eye, showing a reflection of the three figures, and then the segment ends.

We hear the ever-recognizable sound of a charging smash attack, as it goes on for two whole seconds. Suddenly, the pitch-black screen is SMASHED apart by Mario's fireball side smash, and we're brought right into the new version of Battlefield! The original twelve, Pit, Bowser, and Villager are seen fighting on Battlefield, Bowser's Castle, Sunset Shore, Kokiri Forest, and Smashville, showing off their new moves and game mechanics like the Final Smash meter. For a split second, a lone banjo appears in the background of one of the stages.

After a minute or so of this, we see Mario on Delfino Plaza, still in gameplay. We see him washing off orange goop with F.L.U.D.D., seeming to be a new part of the stage. (Sadly, this stage would be cut later in development, and serves only for this gag. ) But then, cutting back to CGI, we see something moving through the goop. A humanoid figure emerges, shakes off the ink, and turns around to face the camera...

INKLING Claims Its Turf! Gameplay of the Inkling on the aforementioned stages as well as Inkopolis Plaza is shown, demonstrating the ink mechanics and other attacks. The alternate costumes are also shown off. Then, right as a terrified Luigi is cornered by the Inkling, and all hope seems lost, a disembodied, transparent, Mario-ish glove picks Luigi up as a minecart comes in from behind him, running the Inkling over. In the minecart is none other than...

CAPTAIN TOAD Ventures Into Battle! Gameplay shows off his focus on structures, the gamepad hand, his terrible mobility, and his cowardly nature and personality. Plucky Pass Beginnings, his home stage, is also featured.

The trailer ends by cutting back to the opening shot, as the twelve leap at the silhouettes and vice-versa, bullet time kicks in while they're in midair, and the logo of the new game flies onscreen, letter by letter as the announcer exclaims: Super Smash Bros. V!!! But then...

The logo fades away as wee see the fighters in deep space, on a large asteroid -- which is surrounded by others. They all look up at a distant asteroid, as a shadowy figure stands on top, silhouetted by the sun. The first eight notes of the classic N64 title's main theme can be heard being played by an electric guitar, building up to the reveal of...

BANJO AND KAZOOIE Join The Battle! The rest of the Banjo-Kazooie opening theme plays (up to 0:07 in this video) as they jump off of the asteroid and their splash screen appears. The music stops when the splash screen comes up, and then gameplay of their stage, multiple jumps, Kazooie pecking with her beak, and such. Then, however, they get KO'd, and it cuts back to CGI.

They then find one of Bottles' molehills from their game, and pop out having learned some new abilities. These abilites are then shown off in CGI and then in gameplay, and the trailer finally ends with the duo performing a taunt, complete with Banjo's signature "Gyah-ha!"

Later at the show, a brief presentation is shown explaining the new gameplay mechanics, in addition to a demonstration match between Mario and Banjo-Kazooie. Another match between Kirby and the Inkling is shown as well, inkluding the Kirby hat. (The hat, by the way, allows Kirby to simulate the Inkling's squid form with his squishy crouch, swimming through ink with ease.)

If you've got any suggestions, why not, well, suggest 'em? New ideas and feedback are always welcome! (Just don't bump the thread if it's been inactive for a while, that's what got my old post locked.)

While I disagree with some of your ideas (mainly some ideas for certain veterans: namely, KO Punch being Mac's Final Smash instead of Giga Mac/having it retain its extra meter from Smash 4 and Mario losing his Super Jump Punch, which is basically his most iconic move and works as a great combo move given you removed helplessness on grounded recoveries), and most importantly Chrom being an alt (his canonical swordstyle is too different from Ike and especially Marth to be an alt: this was part of Sakurai's reasoning for not putting him in).

HOWEVER.

I will endlessly give praise to the fact that Henry Fleming made the roster. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. is an incredibly underrated game. I would suggest adding the Lady Liberty as a traveling stage to the stage list though.

Munomario777 · Jun 5, 2016

Opossum said:
While I disagree with some of your ideas (mainly some ideas for certain veterans: namely, KO Punch being Mac's Final Smash instead of Giga Mac/having it retain its extra meter from Smash 4 and Mario losing his Super Jump Punch, which is basically his most iconic move and works as a great combo move given you removed helplessness on grounded recoveries), and most importantly Chrom being an alt (his canonical swordstyle is too different from Ike and especially Marth to be an alt: this was part of Sakurai's reasoning for not putting him in).

HOWEVER.

I will endlessly give praise to the fact that Henry Fleming made the roster. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. is an incredibly underrated game. I would suggest adding the Lady Liberty as a traveling stage to the stage list though.

Thanks for the feedback! I've made a few tweaks:

Little Mac's meter is the same as the others. (This was something I forgot to change when I actually made the HUD in image form.) Additionally, Giga Mac is now his full-meter effect.
Mario's up smash is now the Super Jump Punch. It's a great combo move, one of the cornerstones of his combo game. Land all eight hits, and you even get a 1-UP!
Chrom is no longer an alternate costume, and Robin has him back for her Final Smash.
Unrelatedly, Ike's Quick Draw no longer stops in midair upon hitting a foe, and has a much bigger autocancel window.
Also unrelatedly, Chibi-Robo has been added back into the game!

QuintonShark8714 · Jun 9, 2016

ElectroLightning said:
King K. Roll, Pichu, and Isaac.

You added

but not

nor

? and not even Sceptile?
WHY!!!
Pichu is literally the worse ever character in Smash History and alnost nobody wants him back expect 12-30 people
I already know your reason why you remove the other but over 9000 people doubt Palutena will be removed because look at Earthbound and look where we are now
Earthbound franchise - 3 games
Earthbound characters - 2 out of the bunch
I think

is a mistake just like

and

because their all originally supposed to be alts of

,

and

respectively until Sakurai himself wanted to add variety instead of turning them to Alts.

Like Dr. Mario having the Pills and Mario Tornado

Dark Pit having the Electro Shock Arm and Dark Pit Staff

and Lucina being easier to play then Marth

But because of their demand of turning them to alts, i turned

to alts for

respectively in my roster like they originally supposed to be

and BTW either have

or

unlockable or keep it the way it is

TheDarkKnightNoivern · Jun 9, 2016

QuintonShark8714 said:
You added but not nor ? and not even Sceptile?
WHY!!!
Pichu is literally the worse ever character in Smash History and alnost nobody wants him back expect 12-30 people
I already know your reason why you remove the other but over 9000 people doubt Palutena will be removed because look at Earthbound and look where we are now
Earthbound franchise - 3 games
Earthbound characters - 2 out of the bunch
I think is a mistake just like and because their all originally supposed to be alts of , and respectively until Sakurai himself wanted to add variety instead of turning them to Alts.

Like Dr. Mario having the Pills and Mario Tornado

Dark Pit having the Electro Shock Arm and Dark Pit Staff

and Lucina being easier to play then Marth

But because of their demand of turning them to alts, i turned to alts for respectively in my roster like they originally supposed to be

I don't really understand the idea of making them alts again, they're already glorified alts so let them just keep those few differences they have and please the fans of that character.

There's no reason for them to not do what they did in Smash 4 again

ElectroLightning · Jun 9, 2016

QuintonShark8714 said:
You added but not nor ? and not even Sceptile?
WHY!!!
Pichu is literally the worse ever character in Smash History and alnost nobody wants him back expect 12-30 people
I already know your reason why you remove the other but over 9000 people doubt Palutena will be removed because look at Earthbound and look where we are now
Earthbound franchise - 3 games
Earthbound characters - 2 out of the bunch

Ever heard of buffs? I was going to make it an extremely fast glass cannon. And Lucas was considered to be cut.
I think is a mistake just like and because their all originally supposed to be alts of , and respectively until Sakurai himself wanted to add variety instead of turning them to Alts.

Like Dr. Mario having the Pills and Mario Tornado

Dark Pit having the Electro Shock Arm and Dark Pit Staff

and Lucina being easier to play then Marth

But because of their demand of turning them to alts, i turned to alts for respectively in my roster like they originally supposed to be

and BTW either have or unlockable or keep it the way it is
I made Luigi unlockable...

Super Smash Bros. V - Now With Redesigned Menus! (yay)

Smash Hero

Smash Lord

Smash Master

Smash Hero

Smash Lord

Smash Hero

Smash Lord

Smash Hero

Smash Master

Smash Lord

Smash Master

Smash Hero

Smash Lord

Smash Master

Smash Hero

Smash Lord

Smash Master

Smash Lord

Smash Hero

Smash Master

Smash Master

Smash Hero

Smash Rookie

Banned via Warnings

Smash Hero

Smash Apprentice

Banned via Warnings

Smash Apprentice

Banned via Warnings

Smash Apprentice

Banned via Warnings

Smash Apprentice

Banned via Warnings

Smash Rookie

Smash Master

Thread Title Changer

Smash Master

Smash Apprentice

Smash Master

Banned via Warnings

Information

Network