Pre-Release The Transition: New Mechanics, Re-works, Balance Changes Thread

[Thinkaman]

No, I am pretty sure "rage" is just a made-up community term.

 

[Erimir]

Rage is used in the name of that Rage Blaster, which works similarly. I'd say it's pretty official at this point.

Either way, the fact that it's an icon for a Smash Run power doesn't really mean much.

 

[Vulgun]

No, I am pretty sure "rage" is just a made-up community term.

Exactly. But to be fair, the first term it was given wasn't exactly anything swell, being called the "Hot Hot Effect" long ago. Though with the new "Rage Blaster" item, it's probably been an adopted name by the developers at this point.

Regardless, I'm curious to see if this new Custom Balance really refers to the "rage" effect or something else, too.

 

[Thinkaman]

Well, if Rage was a clear official name for the mechanic, and this option was indeed a Rage toggle, then surely it would be labeled as such, no?

 

[Erimir]

Who knows what it does. It could have a submenu with various options for custom balancing. Like removing rage, or multiplayer/team modifications, etc. We're all just speculating.

There's no evidence that Smash Run or custom equipment is returning as of yet, so it's speculation to assume it's related to that as well.

The most out-there complicated thing for it to be would be for it to allow you to fully customize characters by changing the damage or knockback on individual moves, their size/speed/weight/etc. Seems unlikely though.

 

[Thinkaman]

Who knows what it does. It could have a submenu with various options for custom balancing. Like removing rage, or multiplayer/team modifications, etc. We're all just speculating.

This is a good observation--many options on this menu are more than just a toggle.

It does have to be able to be represented by a single string, though, to make any sense as a line-item option.

There's no evidence that Smash Run or custom equipment is returning as of yet, so it's speculation to assume it's related to that as well.

We can count equipment out. There has been no mention of it, no GUI support for it, and the Mii Fighters and Palutena have been streamlined moveset-wise.

The most out-there complicated thing for it to be would be for it to allow you to fully customize characters by changing the damage or knockback on individual moves, their size/speed/weight/etc. Seems unlikely though.

This is multiple magnitudes too complex for the GUI at hand.

 

[Untouch]

Perhaps it's a submenu that changes base mechanics based on the pickups in smash run or smash tour?

 

[Erimir]

This is multiple magnitudes too complex for the GUI at hand.

No, in that case it would be a toggle, much like customs on or off in Smash 4 is a toggle. You don't go into the customize character mode when you use that toggle.

There would be a custom balancing mode elsewhere, this is just deciding whether to use it.

I don't think this is at all likely, mind you. But "custom balance" sure is a suggestive option label...

 

[MrGameguycolor]

Doc's full hop height is the same as Mario's. (Though it may change in the final game)

Doc's Super Sheet has an updated animation. Now swinging the cape upwards rather than sideways as to indicate the move's better vertical reach. (doesn't seem to hook on his neck like Mario's.)

 

[**Gilgamesh**]

I'm all for not rushing to ban things; by all means, consider and evaluate to your heart's content.

But Final Smash meter, aka "everyone has KO Punch (of wildly varying quality)" has the same issues as walk-offs, vaguely similar to reasons why people hate Bayonetta: they can reduce the outcome of the game to a very narrow set of interactions.

It's one thing to pick Little Mac and know what you're getting into at character select with this one specific character--sort of like picking Luigi or G&W and knowing they have luck-based side-specials. But we don't want to give everyone in the game KO Punch any more than we want to give everyone Judgement.

It makes for a fun diversion, like giving everyone raccoon tails so everyone can have Peach's float. But it's highly unlikely to be the heart of the game that it was balanced around, nor what new or returning players expect to play with.

Can we discuss Squads and he potential of 3v3s similar to DBZF but no tags?

 

[Nobie]

Meshima (JP mechanics breakdown/analysis person) said that it might very well be a rage toggle because it's called "handicap boost" in Japanese.

This actually would be rage toggle, it's called ハンデブースト (handicap boost) in Japanese. https://t.co/a7OZEQ1h0L

— Meshima (@Meshima_) August 8, 2018

 

[RonNewcomb]

I wonder if the characters are balanced with rage in mind though. If so, by turning it off to appease the player base's bad memories we are nerfing heavies.

This is a bit of a stretch but I feel like many of Pit’s buffs will also apply to Palutena. Pit’s had gobs of endlag shaved from many moves, not just aerials, and he has significantly higher damage and kill power as well. Pit’s a character people feel kinda ho-hum about, and Palutena doubly so. Now Pit’s going to be able to chain tilts into aerials which themselves had damage buffs, for example. Palutena will likely get frame data buffs to N/S/Dspecial at least, like Pit did, and be a more competent zoner. I’m also predicting some Utilt > Usmash shenanigans.

After reading Dabuz's take on the cast, I'm really excited I may get back Pit as a character. Landing lag reduction was the #1 thing I wanted for him, and more Brawl-esque arrows were #3. If they fixed the miserly hitboxes on his f-tilt and n-air then I'll almost certainly pick him up again. (Assuming I don't finally take Shulk for a spin.)

 

[Cutie Gwen]

I wonder if the characters are balanced with rage in mind though. If so, by turning it off to appease the player base's bad memories we are nerfing heavies.

Heavies get screwed enough as is so that'd just be mean

 

[Untouch]

The Squad Strike description never explicitly states that all 3/5 characters must be different, while it is heavily assumed to be the case, would there be any objections to making it the standard 1v1 mode if you can just pick 3 of the same character if you want?

 

[LancerStaff]

After reading Dabuz's take on the cast, I'm really excited I may get back Pit as a character. Landing lag reduction was the #1 thing I wanted for him, and more Brawl-esque arrows were #3. If they fixed the miserly hitboxes on his f-tilt and n-air then I'll almost certainly pick him up again. (Assuming I don't finally take Shulk for a spin.)

I don’t know about “more Brawl-esque” but the damage seems to be buffed a bit and the frame data (grounded namely, since aerial frame data was similar to Brawl’s) is a good deal better. Control wise it seems to be the same as 4, same with Dark Pit’s.

I think Ftilt’s hitboxes are still weird. As far as it’s intended use goes, catching people moving directly into it, it seems to be the same. It, Bair, and his throws seem to be largely if not entirely the same. As far as working as an anti-air goes, dash attack seems to fit the bill much more effectively with what seems to be a broad, consistently damaging attack that can kill. Utilt > aerial should be a thing too. I hardly think better hitboxes on Ftilt would accomplish much, at any rate.

People claim Nair links better but I don’t see it... Conversely I just never thought it linked poorly to begin with. SDI I believe is even worse now, and thus it should be harder to escape. It does do a bit more damage though, and with how important fast moves from a jump are going to be, the move is going to be even more important.

 

[Thinkaman]

We're all dumb, it's probably not a rage toggle simply because it's set to Off by default. D'oh.

 

[Zerp]

I think it's possible that it still has stuff to do with Rage, like, maybe if it's off we get the default Rage values, while if it's on we'll be able to set how strong or weak Rage's effect will be?

Although, I'm going to throw it out there that the icon's main design aspects being reused (it's actually slightly redesigned but nobody cares lol) doesn't mean it HAS to be related to Rage, the icon's very generic and it could symbolize something as generic as a character gaining power, it's someone surrounded by a fiery aura after-all. It could still be and likely is another kind of "custom balancing" like making all of X player's moves Y percent stronger or something like that.

 

[Frihetsanka]

We're all dumb, it's probably not a rage toggle simply because it's set to Off by default. D'oh.

Do we know that it's off by default? I admit that it's likely, although it is possible that they've changed some of the settings (see: 3 Stock, 2 minutes 30 seconds, that's unlikely to be the default).

Another question worth asking: What if Rage is on by default on For Glory? Some players would object to playing with rage on For Glory but no rage for tournaments (if Rage is off by default then it's clearly going to be off in tournaments as well, so, for the sake of the discussion, I will assume that it's on by default).

 

[ILJ]

Im ready for the first couple of patches for ultimate with all these buffs :'[

 

[Chiroz]

Roy's biggest (discernable) buff is set as neutral.

Roy's side-B is incredibly inconsistent in Smash 4. Basically his sweetspot knockback on that move grows so fast that at later %s if you hit with the sweetspot people just fall out of it before the next hit lands (and if you hit with the sourspot it just knocks enemies into the next hit's sweetspot). So it is impossible for Roy to actually land more than 2 hits of Side-B at high %s (unless the opponent is doing some horrible DI/SDI).

Making this move faster is actually like an immense buff to Roy, lol. It means he now retains one of his best grounded options even at high %s and doesn't have to stop using it. Hit 4 of Side-B is amazing, kills like at 90% on the edge (with no DI and no rage), imagine if that **** was actually land-able.

 

[**Gilgamesh**]

Roy's biggest (discernable) buff is set as neutral.

Roy's side-B is incredibly inconsistent in Smash 4. Basically his sweetspot knockback on that move grows so fast that at later %s if you hit with the sweetspot people just fall out of it before the next hit lands (and if you hit with the sourspot it just knocks enemies into the next hit's sweetspot). So it is impossible for Roy to actually land more than 2 hits of Side-B at high %s (unless the opponent is doing some horrible DI/SDI).

Making this move faster is actually like an immense buff to Roy, lol. It means he now retains one of his best grounded options even at high %s and doesn't have to stop using it. Hit 4 of Side-B is amazing, kills like at 90% on the edge (with no DI and no rage), imagine if that **** was actually land-able.

No reason to play Roy with Chrom being here unless his recovery is more garbage than him.

 

[Thinkaman]

No reason to play Roy with Chrom being here unless his recovery is more garbage than him.

Please post your frame data and damage values to the Roy and Chom sub-forums, they are dying for information over there.

 

[MrGameguycolor]

No reason to play Roy with Chrom being here unless his recovery is more garbage than him.

Wrong...
There's always a reason to play a character.

 

[Chiroz]

How do we know Wolf Flash has no helpless state? Was it something we could tell in the direct?

 

[Thinkaman]

How do we know Wolf Flash has no helpless state? Was it something we could tell in the direct?

This seems to be a cast-wide change. I'm unaware of any non-up-special move that causes helpless falling state.

 

[Chiroz]

This seems to be a cast-wide change. I'm unaware of any non-up-special move that causes helpless falling state.

Ok, thanks!

I am also assuming it did get changed because of exactly what you just said, I just wanted to know if there was hard evidence on it.

Edit: Rewording so my post doesn't seem rude.

 

[Thinkaman]

Not that I know of. But given that Fox's and Falco's were already changed in Smash 4, I think it's a super safe bet.

 

[ILJ]

I initially wrote a list of all the characters and their balance changes on the Smash Bros Ultimate Speculation Thread. However, it was soon buried under several pages, so for reference, I have it all here. This thread will have all the new re-works, changes and mechanics either a) displayed in video by Nintendo or b) in patch notes.

What the circles mean:

means a nerf.

means (mostly) even, aesthetic, or new move of unknown effect.

means a buff.
Credit to the Smash Bros. Wiki for the icons.

From E3, Treehouse, smashbros.com
General
Similar fall speed to Smash 4 (may be floatier or faster falling, not doing pixel measurements)
A bit faster than 4
Seems to be good for casuals (like Brawl) while still retaining competitive viability (like Melee), to deliver an experience that leans more towards both ends at once than Sm4sh. What I mean is that it's more competitive than 4 while still being more beginner-friendly than Melee, not slow like Brawl or anything.
Damage increased during 1v1s, by a multiplier of 1.2.
New perfect shields: now, releasing the Shield button right when your shield gets hit will cause the character to turn bright white with yellow eyes with no shield damage. Additionally, perfect shielding a weak attack will give you less time to retaliate than a strong attack (pointed out by Metal B )
New animation, which I call the Power Hit animation (like KO Punch, zooms in with lines to indicate power while the background turns dark blue). Plays when the opponent takes a fatal blow on their last stock in a 1v1 (extreme hype intensifies) or the opponent takes a powerful move (i.e. Falcon Punch, Super Jump Punch (fire sweetspot on luigi), Warlock Punch...).

Stages
New stages: Mario Odyssey, Plateau Tower, Moray Towers
Omega form, Battlefield form, AND hazardless forms all available (thx sakurai)

Fighters
Air dodging from Melee (NOT brawl/4) with no freefall, however most likely can only be used once before landing. There is wavelanding, but also heavy landing lag (no more wavedashing to approach/dodge safely) and also no airdodge immediately out of double jump (pointed out by @NobleClamtasm)
Dashes can be cancelled into any move
Fighters with mechanics like Limit, Pocket... where they store something is now on HUD
Fighters glow after being thrown/command thrown/grab released for 60 frames, during which they are immune to grabs/command grabs (pointed out by @Iridium)
You can tech wavelanding IF you've been hit first (pointed out by @Teeb147)
EVERYTHING (including footstools, spin animation, being on a wall when hit) is techable
All jumpsquat lasts 3 frames
You can roll out of jab locks
SH aerials do only 85% damage, though in a 1v1 this comes out at an overall 1.02x instead of 1.2x multiplier.
No more pivoting, though dash cancelling would probably negate this, and you can still dash-dance.
Wavelanding snaps the ledge.
Shield can no longer cancel out of dash.
You can't cancel initial dashes.
Smash attacks can be held for longer, but stops charging after a second.
Ledge attacks have increased intangibility, making them a better getup option. This is partially nullified by perfect shielding, which blocks all shield damage and is easier to do on getup attacks.
Most grabs are slower, most spotdodges are faster, and most backwards rolls are much slower.
RCO lag has been removed.

Spoiler: Fighter Changes

Mario (01)

New Taunts (Cappy, Thumbs Up)

New Alts (Mario Maker, Wedding). Removed Fire Mario and Wario alts.

New animations for FAir, Dash Attack, DSmash, UThrow, and F.L.U.D.D.

Super Jump Punch has Cappy on Mario's head and has a chance to use Purple Coins from Odyssey.

Mario jumps higher.

NAir has less landing lag.

FAir has less startup and landing lag.

DAir connects better.

FTilt deals more knockback.

Mario pummels faster.

Dash attack's new animation no longer lowers Mario's hurtbox, making it less effective for dodging.

UTilt has more ending lag.

DTilt has a shallower angle and more knockback, reducing its combo potential.

DThrow has a shallower angle, reducing its combo potential.

Super Jump Punch doesn't snap the ledge as early.

FSmash has more startup lag.

Cape has slightly more startup lag.

Overall: So far, nerfed, grab combo game reduced but can still rack damage effectively in other new ways
DK (02)

New Final Smash (Extremely long jab combo before finishing with a deadly punch)

Charged Giant Punch now has the Power Hit animation (like KO Punch, zooms in with lines to indicate power while the background turns dark blue)

Cargo throw now only uses 1 hand (like he carries Pauline in the arcade game)

FSmash, DTilt, and FAir have new animations.

Charging Giant Punch and ending Spinning Kong have new animations.

Giant Punch: No longer leaves DK in helplessness (pointed out by @Iridium)

FAir is much faster.

3 frame jumpsquat benefits DK a lot, as he can get into the air to follow up faster.

USmash can hit grounded opponents better.

Headbutt now has Super Armor.

Aerial Spinning Kong now has a well-connecting multi-hit and finisher.

Aerial Hand Slap has less landing lag, making it safer on shield and a decent combo starter.

Dash Attack has less ending lag.

Aerial Spinning Kong covers less distance.

Giant Punch has more startup and ending lag.

Grab has more ending lag.

Overall: So far, buffed, with a slightly faster, safer moveset.
Link (03)

Design Updated (now matches BoTW)

New Final Smash (ancient arrow from BoTW)

Grab changed, no longer a tether with Clawshot. Significantly less range, but less lag (pointed out by @Blackrider213)

FAir: First hit nerfed, but it leads easily into the powerful second hit (pointed out by @Iridium)

Neutral B: Arrows can be picked up and thrown. Link can pick up arrows and fire them alongside his regular arrow for a multi-shot attack (pointed out by @TheHumanSonikku)

FSmash: Shoots a spinning beam at 0% (pointed out by @Wyatt Davis)

Down B changed to remote bomb from BoTW, allowing for remote detonation (pointed out by @edde)

Reduced jumpsquat makes Link's ground-to-air game significantly better.

Jab now locks.

Link jumps higher.

Link dashes faster.

Link's sword is bigger.

Dash Attack's sweetspot deals more knockback.

Link gets his jump back after being hit out of Up-B.

Down-B now launches at a more shallow angle and deals much more knockback, significantly increasing its edgeguarding potential.

The removal of his tether grab means he can hit the grab button to drop his bomb without the lag of his ZAir.

UTilt has a new animation, with less range.

No longer has his long-range ZAir or tether recovery due to the removal of his Clawshot.

Remote Bombs take longer to spawn.

Spin Attack has more startup and ending lag on the ground.

Overall: Buffed so far, faster, stronger, and has better range
Samus (04)

New UThrow: Launches a missile into opponent, knocking them upwards (pointed out by @PlasmaSnow12)

Dark Samus alt replaced by black and yellow alt

Can charge Charge Shot in the Air (pointed out by @Murlough)

Bombs explode on contact (pointed out by @MasterOfKnees)

Air speed increased.

Roll has much less overall lag.

Forward smash's sweetspot is larger.

Down smash deals increased knockback.

NAir has much less overall lag.

UAir hits connect better.

DAir has much less landing lag.

Grab is faster.

BThrow deals more knockback.

Side B travels faster and stalls before flying forward.

Screw Attack has less ending lag.

BAir has slightly less startup lag.

FAir has less landing lag.

Jab 1 now has low set knockback and hitstun, making it struggle to combo into other moves, including Jab 2.

Dash Attack has significantly more knockback, greatly hindering its once powerful combo potential.

DThrow has a tweaked angle, hindering its combo potential.

Pummel is slower.

Overall: Although Samus received numerous buffs, her combo game was nerfed greatly and she is a much more projectile-focused character.
Yoshi (05)

Grab animation significantly changed (pointed out by Zinith )

FTilt has a new animation. (pointed out by Zinith )

Run animation changed, now more upright.

Egg Throw now bounces off the ground (pointed out by @YoshiandToad)

BAir: Hits are much faster (pointed out by Zinith ). Startup lag reduced.

Dash Attack has reduced startup lag (discovered by @Nikes)

DAir has much less startup lag.

Dash Attack covers a shorter distance (discovered by @Nikes)

Grab has slightly more startup lag.

Grounded Yoshi Bomb hit 2 comes out slightly slower.

Overall: A few nice buffs and a few minor nerfs means Yoshi is better overall.
Kirby (06)

Fully Charged Hammer now has the Power Hit Animation

New Rock: Chest from BoTW

Dash attack reverted to that of Melee. Compared to his old one, it's faster, deals more damage, is a single hit, and KOs.

Inhale: More projectiles can be inhaled including Samus's Charge Shot (pointed out by @Iridium)

Dash speed greatly increased.

Air speed slightly increased.

Jab can lock.

UTilt has more range.

DTilt seems to trip more often.

FSmash sends kirby farther, improving its range.

DSmash has increased range and the tips of Kirby's feet semi-spike.

BAir has less landing lag.

Kirbycide KOs opponents first.

Inhale has more range and less ending lag.

Charged Hammer deals more knockback.

Up-B has a bigger, better ascending hitbox.

Charged Hammer Flip has less startup lag.

UTilt has more ending lag, hindering its combo potential.

FSmash has slightly more ending lag.

Aerial Rock has slightly more startup lag.

Overall: Tons of buffs, especially to his lackluster speed, along with minimal nerfs, makes this puff significantly better.
Fox (07)

New Final Smash: Hops in a ship, blasts opponent with lasers with the Star Fox Crew

Sourspot DTilt has a better angle for combos.

All aerials have less landing lag.

FAir makes fox hover slightly, aiding his recovery.

BAir has more knockback.

Fire Fox has more knockback, making it riskier to edgeguard.

Shine has less startup lag.

Jab 1 and 2 have much less ending lag, making them better combo starters and making them connect better.

Only the first shine shine-stalls (pointed out by @Rhus)

DTilt has more ending lag.

Dash Attack is a worse combo starter.

USmash does significantly less knockback.

UAir has less knockback,

Side-B has more start-up and grounded ending lag, stops when it hits a shield, causes freefall, and has less range.

Overall: Significant nerfs to his kill moves and specials make him worse, even with the buffs to his aerials.
Pikachu (08)

Thunder makes Pikachu turn bright yellow when hit

Volt Tackle (final smash) is now a fast combo, similar to the final smashes of Greninja, Ike, etc.

New Alts: Pikachu Libre, Female Pokémon Trainer Pikachu

Quick attack now has an arrow pointing where it will go.

New Nair (strikes a pose while charging self with electricity). Multi-hits like that of Mewtwo and enables disgusting combos including Drag-Down NAir into USmash and UTilt.

Thunder hitting Pikachu does significantly more knockback, because Pika's confirms need to kill 30% earlier.

DAir: Now a powerful meteor smash, improving its edgeguarding potential. (pointed out by @Iridium)

Dash Attack now deals more damage and has less ending lag.

DSmash has less ending lag.

FAir deals more damage.

BAir is much faster.

UThrow deals more damage.

Aerial Thunder Jolt deals more damage.

FSmash has slightly less startup lag.

DSmash deals less damage.

DThrow deals less damage but still has the same knockback.

Thunder Jolt has slightly more startup lag.

Grab comes out slightly slower.

Overall: NAir is way too good and they buffed things that were already good with fairly insignificant nerfs, sakurai pls nerf
Luigi (09)

New UTilt: Uppercut (pointed out by @MarioMeteor)

New dash animation (pointed out by @MarioMeteor)

New green missile charging and misfire animations (pointed out by @MarioMeteor)

Up-B sweetspot has the Power Hit Animation, and seems to have a bit more horizontal distance. It also has significantly less landing lag.

New Combo: UTilt -> DAir -> FTilt (or maybe even an Up-B, from the proximity)

FTilt has slightly less startup and Luigi faces the front while using it.

Dash cancelling gives him something resembling good-ranged attacks and decent approach options due to his traction, such as slide-in FSmash.

Cyclone comes out slightly faster.

Down Taunt's hitbox comes out slightly slower.

Overall: Wasn't at the demo, but a few minuscule buffs can be picked out from his trailer. Also he can almost approach now which is always nice.
Ness (10)

New Grab: Holds onto opponents with PSI

New Pummel: Charges opponents with PSI (a very slow pummel).

PK Thunder Self-Hit hitbox now has the Power Hit Animation

New arrow on PK Thunder (points in the direction you will get launched if it hits at that angle. Makes it easier for new players, but makes it easier to read (pointed out by @ottobot)

PK Starstorm: Projectiles move slowly however swarm the screen, and gets characters from EarthBound (don't know their names rip) that know PK Starstorm to help him cast it

PK Flash: Increased speed, removed freefall, longer lifespan, and reduced lag. Now less PK Trash (pointed out by @Blank1)

Up Smash: Knockback increased (pointed out by @MysticKnives)

Ness' DSmash (and presumably USmash) have a hitbox when you charge them. When charging, it will even hang off nearby ledges and hit opponents. When combined with the increased max charge time, this improves his edgeguarding ability.

Air speed and dash speed increased.

PSI Magnet now has a small hitbox on Ness (pointed out by @Iridium)

Jab connects more reliably.

USmash deals much more knockback.

Ness' hands have a hitbox during NAir, improving its range.

New Up Air: Waves his hands up in the air with PSI. It's a multihit that deals more damage and hits 5 times, while retaining old up air's knockback and

BAir deals more damage.

DAir deals more knockback and is much stronger, with less ending lag.

PK Fire has less ending lag.

PK Fire has a bigger hitbox.

PK Thunder Self-Hit covers more distance.

PSI Magnet is larger, and doesn't stop his momentum in the air.

His new up air has less horizontal range, making it worse to land with and slightly harder to hit.

DThrow deals more knockback, weakening its combo potential.

PK Fire has increased startup lag.

PK Thunder Self-Hit deals less knockback, making the move safer to edgeguard.

USmash has significantly increased startup lag.

Overall: Buffed with more damaging moves and mobility, in exchange for a slightly weakened grab game.
Captain Falcon (11)

New FSmash, a flaming backhand punch.

Blood Falcon costume reads "HELL HAWK" instead of "BLOOD HAWK".

Falcon Punch: Gained the Power Hit Animation, now has a bigger vertical hitbox shaped like a pheonix

Raptor Boost gives Super Armor when he uses the attack

USmash has slightly less ending lag.

NAir hit 2 comes out much earlier.

USmash has more startup lag.

Falcon Dive has more startup lag.

FSmash has slightly more startup lag.

B-Reversed Falcon Punch has slightly more startup lag.

Overall: Too early to tell without any info from the demo, but has a few nice-looking tweaks on moves and slightly more startup lag on attacks,
Jigglypuff (12)

Rest: Gained the Power Hit Animation

Puff Up: Now has an angry face when puffing up, and is much faster

Jab 1 has less ending lag.

Jab 2 has less startup lag.

Rollout: Uncharged has much less lag (only 1 spin) (pointed out by @MarioMeteor)

UAir: Significantly less lag and earlier autocancelling allows it to combo better, specifically into FAir (maybe more aerials)

BAir: Ending lag decreased, autocancels earlier.

Puff Up ha a new, disjointed hitbox at the end much better for KOing (in the trailer, Mario and Toon Link get pushed away, and then jigglypuff yells her name, red sparks appear, and they get KO'd despite being far away). (pointed out by Erimir )

Overall: Any and every buff for the Puff is welcome, and the lack of visible nerfs is promising.
Peach (13)

Toad helps her when using her grab

Toad animation changed: instead of sticking him out, Toad seems to protect peach more (pointed out by @YoshiandToad)

Peach has a new down tilt, like Zelda's. Compared to her old one, no longer spikes, which greatly increases its combo potential, due to grounded spikes being cancellable with a tech.

Toad has much less startup lag.

Aerial Peach Bomber is much faster and has less startup lag.

Turnips bounce after hitting an opponent, instead of disappearing.

FSmash is now a random order again, making it impossible to prepare the weapon you want to use.
Overall: Not in the demo, but seems to be buffed.
Daisy (13 Echo)
- Peach clone with minor animation differences:
- Uses Blue Toad
- Has daisies instead of hearts
Bowser (14)

Giga Bowser: Warps behind the stage, a crosshair appears, and when you press A, wherever it is you punch and screen KO anyone there (at any percent)

New DSmash: Swipes quickly (at least for Bowser) in front and behind him (Pointed out by @bibbit). Also deals much more knockback, making it a vastly superior move.

Tough Guy has stronger armor, to the point where he can walk through Villager's slingshot and the multihit of Mewtwo's USmash.

DTilt is faster and connects more reliably.

Sourspot USmash does more damage.

All aerials have significantly less landing lag.

FAir has less startup lag.

Grab comes out faster.

UThrow deals more damage and knockback, making it a better kill throw.

DThrow is faster and deals more damage.

Fire Breath now has a hitbox at the end which causes slight knockback.

Side-B is faster.

Grounded Up-B has less ending lag and deals more damage.

Aerial Up-B's last hitbox deals drastically more knockback, making it risky to edgeguard and a potent kill move.

Jab Combo deals less damage.

DTilt deals less damage.

UAir has a sourspot.

UThrow's increased knockback removes most of its combo potential.

Side-B no longer autocancels.

Overall: Although it seems like he was buffed, the removal of UThrow combos make him even, if not slightly nerfed.
Ice Climbers (15)

Belay: Now has a blue rope

New DSmash: Lead smashes in front along the ground, AI smashes behind. Compared to the old one, much lower damage, but less ending lag (pointed out by @Blackrider213)

DThrow has a new animation: Popo jumps up and slams foes into the ground.

New DSmash has more range.

Side-B ends with a strong hit and the aerial version actually gives recovery if solo

Both ICs use grounded Blizzard on 1 side, improving its damage.

Up-B can be used to save Nana via teleportation and covers more distance.

UTilt does more knockback and damage, making it a better anti-air.

New DSmash only hits on one side if lead IC is solo.

Blizzard no longer hits behind ICs.

Nana: Now hops on the spot panicking when Popo is grabbed, no longer making Popo immune to grabs.

No longer attacks when Popo pummels (pointed out by MrGameguycolor )

Nana can neither grab nor throw; she will never grab and taunt when Popo throws (pointed out by MrGameguycolor )

The removal of chaingrabbing significantly hurts their effectiveness.

Overall: Basically Melee ICs (bc they undid most of Brawl's buffs) that can't do anything out of a grab but with a few buffs, meaning we have found the single most nerfed character in the entire game. The problem is all of their jank got removed, but that was the only thing that made them viable in any other game.
Sheik (16)

Not sure if this is in Smash 4, but Up-B has a fire effect

New final smash: The Sheikah Symbol appears in front of her, and everyone caught in it gets slashed repeatedly until they get KO'd (pointed out by @Blank1)

Grenade: String now moves straight out, removed freefall (pointed out by @TenZaBlade)

FSmash links into itself better, and it has slightly more range.

FAir's range has been increased.

UAir does slightly more knockback.

BAir does much more knockback, making it a viable KO move at high percents.

Sheik has a new pummel, where she knees the foe. Faster than the old one.

Aerial Needle Storm has slightly more knockback.

Bouncing Fish has slightly more knockback.

The removal of perfect pivoting also removes some of Sheik's combos.

FThrow and DThrow have slightly more knockback, reducing their combo potential.

Needle Storm charges slower.

Needle Storm doesn't cancel immediately, instead taking a while after charging before cancellable.

Vanish no longer has intangibility on startup.

The start-up of Bouncing Fish is longer and has an aesthetic splash of water.

Overall: Very slightly nerfed; better air game, worse combo game.
Zelda (17)

Model is re-designed, based on A Link between Worlds

Final Smash: Changed to Triforce of Wisdom (Pulls enemies into the Triforce of Wisdom, which then explodes into light)

The phantom can be left behind and remotely activated (pointed out by @ethanrodgers223)

Din's Fire: No longer causes freefall

Zelda dashes much faster and jumps much higher.

Jab now has a rapid jab and a finisher.

Jab has much less startup, going from slowest in the game to an average speed.

Jab combo deals more knockback, picking up KOs at reasonable percent.

Dash Attack deals more damage and knockback.

Both Lightning Kicks have much less landing lag.

DAir Sweetspot deals more damage and knockback.

Zelda can move in the air during Naryu's love.

Farore's Wind has less startup and ending lag, preserves more momentum after a jump, and can drift much sooner after the warp.

Phantom: Now a one hit button move, has 4 charging phases: Level One - Kick, Level Two - Fist, Level Three - Strike, Level Four - Slash (pointed out by @ethanrodgers223). Can also be left behind and remotely activated. This also makes it unsafe to reflect it, as

Overall: Significantly buffed, with faster, stronger attacks and significantly better attributes.
Dr. Mario (18)

No longer a clone due to new moves

New DAir: Thrusts legs down to spike the opponent.

DAir has more startup lag.

Overall: Not at demo, but that stomp looks nice.
Pichu (19)

Final Smash: Identical to that of Pikachu

No longer a clone due to new moves

New Combo (maybe): USmash->Thunder (pointed out by @Murlough)

FTilt now trips and has an electric effect (pointed out by @Octorockandroll)

Pichu can now crawl.

With the new rage mechanic, Pichu can rack tons of rage due to its self-harm ability.

Dash Attack has much less ending lag.

Electric attacks generally have more range.

Pichu's grab range has been increased.

Thunder meteors foes into the blast.

FTilt deals recoil damage due to the electric effect.

Overall: Lots of visible buffs, and it's not even in the demo. Potentially the only lightweight to benefit from rage.
Falco (20)

New final smash, like that of Fox but with a more wild flight pattern (pointed out by @YoshiandToad). Spams barrel rolls during it. A lot.

Rapid jab: New finisher (pointed out by @IndigoSSB)

New spot dodge (pointed out by @IndigoSSB)

Laser fire rate increased (pointed out by @IndigoSSB)

Shine has much less ending lag.

Overall: Not in demo, but specials are better.
Marth (21)

Dancing Blade: Now strikes much faster

Now fully dubbed in english outside of Japan (pointed out by @Iridium)

New idle, crouching, and spotdodge animations.

New victory animation: jumps in the air, swings his sword twice, and lands in his counter animation.

Dancing Blade's neutral inputs have new animations.

Dolphin Blade leaves afterimages.

Shield Breaker: Can be angled, power hit animation if it hits a shield

The tipper hitbox seems to be larger.

Jab connects more reliably.

All aerials have less landing lag.

Sourspot DAir launches at a more horizontal angle, making it better for edgeguards.

Jab has a new animation, a horizontal slash, which lowers its vertical range.

Dancing blade's fourth down-angled strike hits 3 times instead of 5.

Overall: Buffed a bit, especially his aerials.
Lucina (21 Echo)

Dancing Blade: Now strikes much faster

Shield Breaker: Can be angled, power hit animation if it hits a shield

Jab has a new animation, a horizontal slash, which lowers its vertical range.

Overall: Not at demo, but probably got Marth's buffs.
Young Link (22)

New final smash, not shown

No longer a clone due to link reworks

Rapid jab is faster and has a finisher.

Bombs don't hit Young Link if they hit a foe.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed.
Ganondorf (23)

Model updated to look like Melee

Warlock Punch now has the power hit animation

Dash speed increased.

Jump height increased.

Jab's sourspot has been removed.

UTilt has significantly less startup and ending lag. It also deals slightly more damage and knockback.

All smash attacks have disjointed hitboxes.

All aerials have significantly less landing lag.

FAir leans forward more like Melee, improving its reach.

FAir's auto-cancel window has been restored after being removed by a glitch in 4.

Grab range improved.

UThrow deals more damage.

Warlock Punch deals more damage and is stronger.

Grounded Flame Choke has less ending lag, increasing the amount of true follow-ups.

Dark Dive has higher knockback, launches at a more horizontal angle, and has less ending lag, increasing its edgeguarding and KO potential. It also deals damage to opponents who trade hits.

Grounded Wizard's Foot travels faster and has significantly less ending lag. The sourspot is also now on the leg instead of the foot, making the sweetspot easier to hit.

New FSmash: Swings a sword overhead in a broad, heavy, slow swing for massive damage (like Ike's FSmash). Compared to his old one, has much more range and deals more damage.

New DSmash: Jabs his sword along the ground on both sides (like Cloud's dsmash) (pointed out by @DesireDelta). Compared to his old one, has more range, has less startup, semi-spikes opponents, connects better, has a lower hitbox placement that hits crouching opponents, and lowers Ganondord's hurtbox.

New USmash: Swings his sword completely over his head, from one side to another (like Ike's usmash) (pointed out by @DesireDelta). Compared to his old one, has less startup and much more range.

New FSmash has slightly more startup and ending lag.

New USmash has more ending lag.

UAir has more startup and no longer hits below, making it much worse for edgeguarding and preventing jab locks.

Opponents can mash out of Ganoncide, significantly hindering its utility.

Overall: Significantly buffed and my boy EVEN USES THE GIANT SWORD IN HIS POCKET which is nice, although he's worse at edgeguarding (rip ganoncide lol)
Mewtwo (24)

New animations for NAir, Idle, Dash Attack, BAir, BThrow, and Disable.

New FTilt: a tail swipe. Compared to his old one, deals more damage and knockback.

FSmash can be angled.

USmash has more horizontal range.

Shadow Ball charges faster.

DTilt has more ending lag, reducing its combo potential.

Charged Shadow Ball is smaller and travels slower.

Confusion halts Mewtwo's momentum (like Mario's Cape), reducing its recovery utility.

Overall: Fairly even, with some nice buffs and necessary nerfs.
Roy (25)

New dash animation (pointed out by @MarioMeteor)

Double-Edge Dance strikes much faster

Charged Neutral B has the power hit animation and can be reversed before the attack

Jab has a new animation with more range.

Overall: Not in demo, but some minor buffs can be picked out from the trailer
Mr. Game & Watch (26)

All his attacks turn him into the characters from the game it's based on (Chef turns him into the chef, Judge turns him into the judge, etc.)

Final Smash is now a command grab that carries foes into the blast zone.

Overall: Not at demo, and no balance changes can be picked out.
Meta Knight (27)

New alt: Galacta Knight (pointed out by @Whababa). More specifically, now actually looks like Galacta Knight on his pink alt.

Pummel is faster.

Shuttle Loop: Reduced BKB on second hit

Overall: Too early to tell, not at demo
Pit (28)

New Final Smash: Stuns nearby foes, then Pit flies off on a chariot with winged horses and a crosshair appears. Wherever it is when A is pressed, Pit will charge through the enemy.

New animations for FSmash, NAir, and Rapid Jab (pointed out by @TMNTSSB4)

Multihits connect much better (pointed out by @TMNTSSB4 and LancerStaff )

UAir: Damage increased (10 total -> 12 total) (pointed out by LancerStaff )

Dash attack has increased knockback and an altered animation. He lunges faster and farther.

FAir and UAir deal more knockback.

BAir's sourspot seems to be gone.

DAir has a bigger hitbox.

All aerials have reduced landing lag.

Palutena's Bow has less ending lag and shoots faster arrows.

Upperdash Arm now has less ending lag when it slips off the ledge.

Power of Flight can grab the ledge when facing backwards.

Guardian Orbitars have decreased startup lag.

DAir: Clean hit damage decreased (10 -> 9), weakening its edgeguarding potential. (pointed out by LancerStaff )

Overall: Buffed a lot.
Dark Pit (28 Echo)
No changes can be found in his trailer, and he was not at E3, although it can be assumed he got most of Pit's buffs.
Zero Suit Samus (29)

New Idle Animation.

New Final Smash: Fires a laser with her Power Suit whilst on top of her gunship in the background.

Overall: Not at the demo, and nobody has a clue about ZSS changes.
Wario (30)

Max Waft has Power Hit effect

Dash Attack changed to Brawl F-Smash, shoulder bash. (pointed out by @Murlough)

Final Smash: Wario-Man is now a short animation of him beating up nearby foes before launching them.

USmash has more horizontal range.

BAir has much less ending lag.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed.
Snake (31)

New DSmash (pointed out by @MarioMeteor)

Snake got by far the most benefit from 3 frame jumpsquat, as his old one was 3 times as much (9 frames), making his ground-to-air game significantly better.

NAir is faster, has less ending lag, and connects better.

FAir has slightly less ending lag.

UThrow is a better combo throw than it was in Brawl due to combos being in Ultimate.

Remote Missile travels faster and turns quicker.

C4 sticks to foes more reliably than it did in Brawl.

Snake remains crouched when detonating C4 during a crouch.

UTilt has less horizontal range, making it not have a more disjointed hitbox than Melee Marth's grab.

Chain grabbing's removal means Snake is worse at damage racking with DThrow.

Overall: Sakurai, why'd you buff Snake? Sakurai? Sakurai? SAKURAAAIII
(at least they nerfed UTilt)
Ike (32)

Default Ike is now Path of Radiance Ike (pointed out by @Idon)

Idle Stance now uses his limp arm Path of Radiance stance (Even if wearing the Radiant Dawn costume) (pointed out by @Idon)

Down-B now has a blue flame effect (pointed out by @Idon)

Radiant Dawn Ike now voiced slightly differently compared to Path of Radiance Ike (pointed out by @Idon)

Great Aether has new cinematic shot at the beginning (pointed out by @Idon)

Fully Charged Eruption shoots a massive column of blue flame and has the power hit animation

Significantly decreased landing lag on all of his aerials

Movement speed increased

UTilt and FTilt have significantly decreased ending lag.

UAir has a new animation: an overhead slash. More range, and faster.

FAir has more ending lag.

New UAir has a shorter hitbox duration.

Overall: Seems to have a few good buffs with minimal nerfs, especially the buff to his landing lag.
Pokémon Trainer (33-35)

Zard is back on Trainer.

Female Trainer Alts

Squirtle: New dash animation (pointed out by @EMT~)

New dash attack or dash attack animation. Again, he has water around him while doing it (pointed out by @EMT~)

NO MORE TERRIBLE MECHANICS! YAY! No more stamina (solo mains are viable), no more type effectiveness

Changing Pokémon seemingly makes you intangible, being a quick and useful dodge

From the Armada-Zer0 match at the Invitational, it looks like they removed shellshifting on Squirtle (pointed out by @EMT~)

Overall: I forgot what ZeRo said about Trainer (other than Ivysaur is the best), but Trainer has certainly been buffed.
Diddy Kong (36)

Now has a gentleman combo.

DSmash Hit 2 comes out much faster.

DSmash has significantly less ending lag.

Monkey Flip Attack has a few extra frames of startup.

Overall: Not at demo, so too early to tell, however, his frame data was tweaked.
Lucas (37)

PK Starstorm updated to match that of Ness

Overall: Not at demo, and no non-aesthetic changes have been spotted in his trailer.
Sonic (38)

Super Sonic now slices across the screen at blazing fast speed (at least 5x his dash speed), knocking opponents up and juggling them into the blast zone

Homing Attack now has a reticle (pointed out by @TenZaBlade)

Dash Cancelling benefits Sonic a ton, as he can cancel his incredibly fast dash into any attack to surprise his opponents.

DTilt has a tweaked angle, making it a better combo starter.

All of his aerials except NAir have much less landing lag.

Homing Attack can be charged, and attacks almost immediately if you hit A.

A grounded charged Spin Dash can now be released in the air while keeping its charge.

UAir's hits connect less reliably.

Spin Dash can't be shield cancelled during a charge (can you believe sonic actually has to commit to something, it's crazy) and stops when it hits a shield.

Spring Jump has more ending lag, making it a worse combo starter and chaining into an aerial less reliably.

Overall: Buffed, but I'm happy that they nerfed the Spin Dash (yay)
King Dedede (39)

New Final Smash: Hits opponents into a stadium, pins them against a wall and uses his jet hammer for a missile barrage (pointed out by @YoshiandToad). No longer allows escape.

Can inhale and spit gordos (the gordos do NOT turn into stars)

DTilt and UTilt can be reversed during startup.

New BAir: Backwards hammer swing. Closer to the Brawl version, and has less landing lag.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed a good amount.
Olimar (40)

New grab: Uses all of his pikmin, pummels with his own fists, new UThrow (the pikmin work together to lob the opponent upwards) (pointed out by @Dig Dug)

His helmet gets cracked while in hitstun if he takes enough knockback.

His new pummel (uppercut) is much faster.

Overall: Not in demo, but has a new grab.
Lucario (41)

FSmash has more range.

Aura Sphere has less ending lag.

Double Team's counter activates faster.

Overall: Not at demo, but a few buffs can be picked out
R.O.B. (42)

DThrow: Now buries, making any follow-up R.O.B. feels like a true combo.

NAir is faster.

R.O.B. has a fuel gauge on his chasis, displaying fuel left for Up-B.

Overall: Not at demo, but a few buffs can be picked out.
Toon Link (43)

Toon Link is now more expressive.

USmash has an altered animation.

New FSmash: Uppercuts with his sword, finisher of a 4-hit combo in Windwaker (pointed out by @Khao). Compared to his old one, cannot follow up if it misses.

Overall: Not at demo, but has a few re-worked moves to seperate from Young Link
Wolf (44)

New, cleaner jab finisher, dash attack, FAir, FThrow, UThrow, DThrow, and Blaster animations.

New Nair, acts like that of Fox.

Wolf Flash no longer has a helpless state.
Villager (45)

Villager's rapid jabs have a finishing blow now, so after you release the attack button, Villager will throw out one last powerful punch (pointed out by @DakotaBonez)

Pocket's item grab animation has less landing lag, and his Grab pockets items.

Overall: Not much has been found out, but they buffed Pocket.
Mega Man (46)

2 more characters in Final Smash, Proto Man and Bass

Leaf Shield: Faster, no longer loses leaves (pointed out by Erimir )

FSmash moves farther.

Overall: May be buffed, however too early to tell
Wii Fit Trainer (47)

WFT is more expressive and has a more defined face.

UTilt has more range.

Deep Breathing's initial speed is faster.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed
Rosalina (48)

New NAir (pointed out by @Murlough). Compared to her old one, has much less endlag and hits in front first, however, has slightly more startup and much less range. It also has a neat visual glitch where her dress flies up, revealing that they didn't bother to add her legs or body above her knees.

Spoiler: AAA this is genuinely in the trailer btw pause at 0:05

View attachment 153957

Shield covers Luma as well.

Power Star pulls opponents in and grows bigger and faster, making it better.

Power Star is shorter.

Overall: Not at demo, too early to tell.
Little Mac (49)

New final smash, dashes forward with a jab flurry

The buff EVERY Mac player was waiting for, Jolt no longer triggers helplessness. Note that if he uses it in the air, it only has one charge and only refreshes when Mac touches the ground, like a double-jump.

KO punch now gives vertical momentum and does full KB in the air. It also has a new animation with an increased vertical hitbox, potentially going through platforms.

Can turn around before Straight Lunge

Aerials have reduced landing lag.

Mac jumps higher.

Straight Lunge can be cancelled by shielding.

KO Punch deals more damage.

Rising Uppercut is stronger, and has better overall distance.

Rising Uppercut always snaps the ledge.

Grounded Jolt Haymaker has less ending lag after going off stage, making it a potent edgeguarding tool.

Jab auto-transitions into gentleman combo instead of rapid jab, which is a buff because he has a terrible rapid jab.

FTilt has significantly less ending lag, making it actually safe on shield (something Mac never had).

FSmash actually hits adjacent opponents, due to the dead zone being removed.

The removal of powershielding makes it easier to destroy shield with high-damage attacks like Down-Angled FSmash.

Aerials are decent combo starters and deal more damage, making them more versatile.

Grab range has been increased and ending lag has been reduced, to the point where he has quite a good grab, instead of an incredibly terrible one.

DThrow has a more inwards angle and less knockback, improving its combo potential.

Straight Lunge charges faster, can release earlier, carries momentum, and is a good recovery option.

Rising Uppercut deals more damage.

Counter's damage multiplier has been increased, and its ending lag reduced, making it easier to KO with and harder to SD with.

KO Punch has much less ending lag.

KO Punch deals less knockback, even with the damage increase.

Grounded Jolt Haymaker covers less distance.

DTilt has slightly more ending lag, removing a few follow-up options, but it's still fairly safe on shield and still true combos into KO punch at KO percents.

UTilt has a few more frames of ending lag, making it not true combo into itself against most characters.

Overall: Buffed, with safer aerials and better specials/recovery, and moves that ACTUALLY FUNCTION, but why did they buff KO punch?
Greninja (50)

New DTilt: Sweeps the floor with his left hand. Launches at a much better angle for follow-ups.

Substitute activates faster.

During Shadow Sneak, Greninja's eyes on his shadow flash a bright red when he's about to strike, making it easier to avoid.

Overall: Not at demo, but if footstools are techable (which I believe they are) then his combo game may be weaker.
Miis (51-53)

New specials
Palutena (54)

Sidestep now has a visible warping effect.

Has Explosive Custom Side Special from 4 (pointed out by @Murlough). An exploding, multi-hit projectile that kills fairly well.

Counter now reflects projectiles (pointed out by @Murlough). Reflect portion also has less startup.

FTilt and UTilt move faster, allowing them to hit far-away foes faster.

FSmash and Dash Attack have less ending lag.

Overall: Not in the demo, but seems to have more useful, faster moves.
Pac-Man (55)

Hydrant: Hitting water will cancel the windbox

Final Smash: No longer controlled by player, instead Pac-Man dashes across the screen

New UTilt. He raises his fist rather than doing his headbutt thing. Similar speed to Sm4sh. (pointed out by @EMT~)

Hitboxes turn Pac-Man's trampoline green, making it behave like a red trampoline. (pointed out by

New 8-Bit character added to his taunt pool (pointed out by @TenZaBlade)

Grab speed (FINALLY) increased (pointed out by @DaUsername)

Bonus fruit: Charges much faster, (pointed out by @xzx)

Dash speed increased (pointed out by @xzx)

NAir: Hitbox size increased (pointed out by @xzx)

BAir: Landing lag decreased (22->18?) (pointed out by @xzx)

DAir: Angle modified, making opponents knocked away instead of up (pointed out by @xzx). A better move for edgeguarding, giving it a use.

General lag decreased (pointed out by @xzx)

Side B: End lag decreased (pointed out by @xzx)

Bonus Fruit: Damage increased at full charge (pointed out by @xzx)

Overall: Buffed a lot from Smash 4, with a faster moveset.
:ultrobin Robin (56) :ultrobin

Elwind launches the projectiles out diagonally.

The decrease to jumpsquat benefits Robin especially, as his jumpsquat time is more than halved (7 frames->3).

Overall: Not at demo, too early to tell.
Shulk (57)

Fiora appears during Final Smash.

Monado Arts: Input a direction to quickly pick a monado art.

NAir is faster.

DAir has less startup lag and more range.

Back Slash has less startup lag.

Air Slash hit 2 comes out faster, making it connect more reliably.

Overall: Not at demo, but seems to be buffed, with faster moves.
Bowser Jr. (58)

Final Smash hits much faster.

DTilt can eat food now.

Clown Cannon shoots faster, can have multiple cannonballs on the screen at once, and spiral in a straight line like the cannonballs in Kirby.

Final Smash has lowered duration.

Overall: Not in the demo, but at least they buffed the worst projectile in the game.
Duck Hunt (59)

The initial Can kick sends the Can farther. In Sm4sh, the Can ends up right next to DH if the move is done from the ground, but the Can seems to travel some distance in the DH trailer (pointed out by @EMT~)

UpB no longer makes you helpless upon ending. Good buff for Duck Hunt's exploitable recovery (pointed out by @EMT~)

The Gunmen look like they shoot more quickly upon use of the move (pointed out by @EMT~)

Jab Combo is faster.

UTilt is slightly faster.

Overall: Not in demo, but seems to be buffed with faster moves.
Ryu (60)

In 1v1s, Ryu always faces his foe (pointed out by @mister_subarashi). This makes it easier to get hit by Disable and makes it hard to use BAir, but makes it very hard to get hit from behind by Back Slash or Nosferatu.

Jab can now lock.

Can now cancel aerials into specials, similarly to certain ground attacks.

Overall: Buffed a bit, but not much is currently known.
Cloud (61)

Cross Slash's slashes are now very thin

Dash Attack can hit opponents hanging off of ledges.

Aerials have reduced landing lag.

Climhazzard's downwards attack has less landing lag and a wider window during which it sweetspots the ledge.

Limit charges faster.

Can only have a limit charge for 15 seconds before losing it (pointed out by @Murlough, confirmed by Tweek)

Loses limit if hit during Limit Charge.

NAir has a new animation, which has less range.

UAir no longer has a hitbox during the sword's initial ascension. This increases its startup, weakens its combo potential and prevents it from hitting grounded opponents as easily.

DAir's autocancel window is later.

Finishing Touch has a smaller hitbox.

Limit Cross Slash has less knockback.

Overall: Nerfed, but why less landing lag on aerials?
Corrin (62)

Corrin has a new pummel, a knee. Faster than before.

Side B no longer causes Corrin to hop, lowering his/her hurtbox during the move.

Draconic Ascent has reduced startup lag.

No longer drifts after Up-B. (pointed out by @Iridium)

Side B ends faster when idle. You still cannot drop by yourself.

Overall: Not many known balance changes. Seems to come out fairly even.
Bayonetta (63)

Grab is now magical, suspending opponents with black magic.

After A.B. Kick, you can D.A.B. Kick and then A.B. Kick again (found by @SoraKibzu on Twitter, pointed out by Zerp )

Witch time duration modified, either based off countered attack's KB or damage (pointed out by @Murlough)

Held NAir has more landing lag.

FAir has a new angle that doesn't connect into Side-B.

DAir has reduced knockback.

Bullet Climax's charge can no longer be cancelled.

D.A.B. Kick no longer has an autocancel window.

Witch Twist has more startup.

Witch Time's intangibility has been removed, its effect duration has been decreased, and its ending lag has been decreased, making it easy to punish with a grab and less damaging if you hit it.

Overall: Her incredible specials have been nerfed (particularly Witch Time) and her incredible air game is slightly laggier.

Note that when MKLeo carried Plup's Ridley off the top with Bayonetta, 1. Ridley has a ridiculously large hitbox, making him easy to combo, and 2. Plup plays Melee, so he probably doesn't know how to SDI that combo.

Still has 4 jumps if she uses Witch Twist.
Inklings (64)
- All alts are different models
- Most attacks give foes Ink (increasing damage by up to 3x)
- Neutral Special: Shoots a short stream of ink with the Splattershot
- Side Special throws remote bombs.
- Down Special: Pulls out a Splat Roller and rolls over foes, burying them
- Final Smash: Pulls out the Killer Wail and blasts foes
- Smash attacks use weapons like Slosher and Inkbrush
Ridley (65)
- Neutral Special: Shoots a bouncing fireball. Charge to shoot tons at a time.
- Side Special: Dashes forward, grabbing nearby foes and dragging them along the ground for massive damage and knockback. Can easily be mashed out of.
- Up Special: Flies in a given direction. Think a purple version of Pit's Up-B but with more startup.
- Down Special: Charges up (for maybe 20 frames?), before releasing his tail like a spear. Normally deals 1%, however has a sweetspot at the tip that deals 50%, triggers the powerful hit animation, and causes an opponent to fall over (as if they were impaled). With the exception of Shield Shulk, shatters shield in 1 hit (unless it's unblockable, in which case you get hit anyways). However, it's a free hit either way if the tiny sweetspot lands.
- Final Smash: Throws foes onto the side of a ship, then blows up the ship with a giant fiery death ray, KO'ing any on-board foes.

Spoiler: Frame Data (WIP)

Note: This was gathered going frame by frame in the character showcase videos (the mini combo videos Nintendo released on the website) and comparing it to Kurogane Hammer, and the ending lag might be wrong.

Note that all values are subject to change, and FAF is probably wrong, since the people at Nintendo probably aren't buffering everything (though it's a possibility. or it might be a bot that does set inputs)

FSmash: Hitbox comes out 5 frames later (15-20)

Cape: Hitbox comes out 1 frame later (12-13)

Grab: Ending lag increased (FAF 31-39)

Giant Punch: Hitbox comes out 6 frames later (19-25)

Dash Attack: Ending lag reduced (FAF 42-37)

Bombs generate at least 5 frames slower (get frame 17-22+)

Spin Attack (grounded): Hitbox comes out 5 frames later (10-15)

Spin Attack (grounded) has 2 more frames of ending lag (FAF 82-84)

USmash: Ending lag increased (FAF 78-79)

Grab comes out 3 frames earlier (16-13)

BAir comes out 1 frame earlier (11-10)

BAir has 4 more frames of ending lag (FAF 39-43)

DTilt has 4 more frames of ending lag (FAF 40-44)

FAir: Landing lag reduced (24-19)

DAir comes out 6 frames earlier (16-10)

Grab comes out at least 1 frame slower (14-15+)

BAir: Hit 2 comes out 4 frames earlier (17-13), hit 3 comes out 8 frames earlier (25-17)

Grounded Yoshi Bomb Hit 2 comes out 2 frames later (27-29)

Dash Attack comes out 2 frames earlier (12-10)

Hammer Flip Full Charge comes out 1 frame earlier (11-10)

Aerial Stone comes out 2 frames later (29-31)

Jab 1 and 2 have significantly less ending lag (FAF 18/21-4/4)

Fox Illusion comes out 4 frames later (21-25)

Shine comes out 3 frames earlier (6-3)

Standing Grab comes out 1 frame later (6-7)

Thunder Jolt comes out 2 frames later (19-21)

Clean FSmash comes out 1 frame earlier (18-17)

Luigi Cyclone comes out 1 frame earlier (10-9)

Down Taunt spike comes out 4 frames later (45-49)

PK Fire comes out 3 frames later (21-24)

USmash comes out 7 frames later (6-13)

USmash comes out 2 frames later (22-24)

USmash has 1 frame less ending lag (FAF 52-51)

Falcon Dive comes out 3 frames later (14-17)

NAir hit 2 comes out 7 frames earlier (20-13)

FSmash comes out 1 frame later (19-20)

B-Reversed Falcon Punch comes out 2 frames later (61-63)

Jab 1 has 7 frames less ending lag (FAF 17-10)

Jab 2 comes out 2 frames earlier (Hitbox out frame 5-3)

Be sure to correct me if I miss anything. I only have specials for newcomers.

Also, feel free to discuss the changes! Found a change particularly good or bad? Like a mechanic? Think a character is OP? Want to compain about Pikachu's NAir? Want to think Mashedpotato Samurai for buffing Cloud's BAir? Leave your opinion or your questions! I'll have frame data changes from the fighter videos soon enough.

-Toon Link's jab hitbox appears larger with a different animation having his foot extended more forward.
-Down air has less ending lag

 

[Awesomeperson159]

I haven't updated this in a while, oh well. Updated!

Doc's full hop height is the same as Mario's. (Though it may change in the final game)

Doc's Super Sheet has an updated animation. Now swinging the cape upwards rather than sideways as to indicate the move's better vertical reach. (doesn't seem to hook on his neck like Mario's.)

Thanks for the Sheet animation (didn't notice), but Doc actually has the same jump height as Mario in Smash 4.

 

[MrGameguycolor]

Thanks for the Sheet animation (didn't notice), but Doc actually has the same jump height as Mario in Smash 4.

You are welcome, but incorrect about the jump height.
There's a few lines of code (using the equipment system) that reduced his jump height, so while the raw data is the same as Mario's, it's still lower for Doc in-game.
Listed in paragraph 2.

 

[Awesomeperson159]

You are welcome, but incorrect about the jump height.
There's a few lines of code (using the equipment system) that reduced his jump height, so while the raw data is the same as Mario's, it's still lower for Doc in-game.
Listed in paragraph 2.

Huh. If he jumps lower, it should probably say that on the list of jump heights. Oh well. Still not sure that it's the same FH height without a side-by-side comparison, though.

 

[Zinith]

BlobSSB on Twitter did some frame analysis on Yoshi. Some was already listed in the OP, but here is some that's not there:

Egg Toss has reduced startup lag (15 -> 14)

Bair has reduced startup lag (11 -> 10)

Individual hits of bair each have 5-6 active frames instead of 1

He also says startup for Neutral B is still 21 frames, but that's before the August Direct where that move was shown again...
Also he couldn't tell Down B's hitbox starts as Captain Falcon's Raptor Boost obstructs it a bit...

 

[Awesomeperson159]

BlobSSB on Twitter did some frame analysis on Yoshi. Some was already listed in the OP, but here is some that's not there:

Egg Toss has reduced startup lag (15 -> 14)

Bair has reduced startup lag (11 -> 10)

Individual hits of bair each have 5-6 active frames instead of 1

He also says startup for Neutral B is still 21 frames, but that's before the August Direct where that move was shown again...
Also he couldn't tell Down B's hitbox starts as Captain Falcon's Raptor Boost obstructs it a bit...

Thanks for pointing that out!

As for Egg Lay, I went frame by frame, and it has 23 frames of startup
Also, you can tell when Yoshi Bomb's hitbox comes out, because he crouches down when it starts (you can tell the difference because he does it in 1 frame out of the ending animation of Egg Lay), jumps up, hits Falcon during startup (although he has super armor), gets stuck in hitlag for a few frames because he hit Falcon, and falls down. When he falls, the hitbox comes out.

 

[Zinith]

Thanks for pointing that out!

As for Egg Lay, I went frame by frame, and it has 23 frames of startup
Also, you can tell when Yoshi Bomb's hitbox comes out, because he crouches down when it starts (you can tell the difference because he does it in 1 frame out of the ending animation of Egg Lay), jumps up, hits Falcon during startup (although he has super armor), gets stuck in hitlag for a few frames because he hit Falcon, and falls down. When he falls, the hitbox comes out.

The Egg Lay data was from the August Direct? So that means it became slower inbetween Directs?

That was what I was trying to find out on the Yoshi Discord...

 

[Rubber]

Dedede's inhale is a reflector now, its not just gordos. Speaking
of gordos their hitbox got buffed a lot, and the gordo's eyes/sprites seems to be a tell for who has current ownership of the gordo (for when its reflected and stuff). This also might mean that when he gets knocked out of Gordo Toss and the gordo is neutral he might be able to interact with it unlike before.
less landing lag on his bair also means more combo potential.

 

[blackghost]

Just going to throw out there that that's the sort of thing that could easily be a pre-release bug. Witch Time is trying to slow the projectile down and inadvertently claims ownership. I'd be sure to test that one again when the game officially releases.

its not a bug more than likely. In her source game that's how witchtime worked.

 

[Amazing Ampharos]

its not a bug more than likely. In her source game that's how witchtime worked.

That's also really unintuitive to how the move actually works in Smash. Witch Time in Smash is just a move that slows down the targets (and it's a pretty solid move just doing that); stealing projectile ownership is strange and has no obvious connection to a layman but many obvious ways it could happen if you're thinking like a programmer. This is doubly true since in general projectiles only change ownership in Smash when really obvious things happen like bouncing off Reflectors and such (and notice that all the thefts either have big animations or make very distinct SFX; matches can have up to 8 players and be very chaotic so who owns which attacks is something that tends to be made VERY clear). I'm actually basically entirely confident the interaction is a bug. I'm less sure it's the type of bug that will be found and fixed before release since it's a pretty obscure situation for it to even be noticed, and I doubt anyone from Nintendo is reading this thread. That's why I suggest just testing it again when the game comes out because it's really unpredictable whether this will be fixed or not.

 

[Metal B]

Villager loses one balloon for his move Balloon Trip, if he/she uses it too many times in a row.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/smashbros/comments/9aw7np/at_125_villager_uses_his_recovery_for_the_3rd/

 

[blackghost]

That's also really unintuitive to how the move actually works in Smash. Witch Time in Smash is just a move that slows down the targets (and it's a pretty solid move just doing that); stealing projectile ownership is strange and has no obvious connection to a layman but many obvious ways it could happen if you're thinking like a programmer. This is doubly true since in general projectiles only change ownership in Smash when really obvious things happen like bouncing off Reflectors and such (and notice that all the thefts either have big animations or make very distinct SFX; matches can have up to 8 players and be very chaotic so who owns which attacks is something that tends to be made VERY clear). I'm actually basically entirely confident the interaction is a bug. I'm less sure it's the type of bug that will be found and fixed before release since it's a pretty obscure situation for it to even be noticed, and I doubt anyone from Nintendo is reading this thread. That's why I suggest just testing it again when the game comes out because it's really unpredictable whether this will be fixed or not.

But moves in smash have consistently tried to remain source accurate and when they cannot the game has used what it can. For example ryu collar breaker on street fighter is an overhead since that cannot trabsalte to smash they made it a shieldbreaker that has no connection to a layman either but thats how it worked.

As for clarityin an 8 player match and who has ownership, not buying it. Pocket already along exists along with 8 or 9 other reflectors i can think of. Its not obvious to a layman that zelda, lucas, ness, and pit all have reflectors either but you just learn.

Its really hard to say something is a bug when it is working EXACTLY as it did in her source game.

 

[Untouch]

Airdoding cannot just be used once before landing. If you get hit you can airdodge again. (Unless this doesn't apply to directional airdodges)

https://clips.twitch.tv/ComfortableSparklingKangarooPhilosoraptor