Super Smash Bros. 64 - 09 to 12 / Characters

This page lists the unlockable fighters from Super Smash Bros. 64.

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09 – Luigi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luigissbu.png

The Eternal Understudy /
Lean, Green Fighting Machine!

^{3DS/Wii U}

^Brawl

^Melee

⁶⁴

Voiced by: Charles Martinet

Home Series: Super Mario Bros.

Debut: Mario Bros. [Arcade^note], 1983

Creator: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl (Unlockable), 3DS/Wii U (Starter), Ultimate (Unlockable)
Specials: Fireball, Green Missile, Super Jump Punch, Luigi Cyclone
Final Smash: Negative Zone (Brawl), Poltergust 5000 (3DS/Wii U) Poltergust G-00 (Ultimate)

"Bang bang!"

Mario's cowardly younger brother. Luigi has played second fiddle to his famous brother for a long time. Although he got his own year in celebration of his debut, it's apparently made him even more timid. Despite this, he's just as capable of fighting as his older brother and even shown to be a better jumper, and has even saved his own brother on more than one occassion. Even if he may be scared out of his wits most of the time, do not understimate the green wonder.

Luigi started his Smashing career as little more than a Moveset Clone of Mario with slightly higher jumps and far worse traction. Later installments slowly morphed the young Mario brother into an entirely different fighter altogether, being a trickier fighter to properly utilize. Overall, he's a stronger fighter with greater offensive options, but his speed is much slower and his attacks are a bit harder to master without getting seriously hurt. In the hands of a competent player, however... watch out.

Special Moves^{Click to show}

See the Mario Brothers page for more information on the character in his origin series.

Adaptation Personality Change: Luigi is usually as cheery as Mario, if a bit jumpy, and doesn't mind being in his shadow. In Smash Bros., he acts borderline melancholic and is implied to resent Mario a bit. Granted, the last part is limited to his Negative Zone, which he doesn't even have anymore, and the two repeatedly smacking each other off-stage in showcases.
Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear at the end of Simon and Richter's trailer in Ultimate if he was stopped by Carmilla from returning to his body or simply got spooked while doing so. For what it's worth, Nintendo's Twitter account claims that he's alright.
An Ice Person: One of his Fireball customs in 3DS/Wii U is a slow-travelling iceball variant with the ability to freeze opponents at higher percents.
Ass Kicks You:
- Starting in Melee, the last part of his standard combo attack has him thrust forward butt-first.
- As of 3DS/Wii U, his down throw has Luigi throw the opponent to the ground and Ground Pound them.
Art Evolution: In 64, he had purple overalls like in Super Mario World. In Melee, his jeans matched Mario's like in the Nintendo 64 era, and as in Brawl and 3DS/Wii U, his jeans are a darker shade of blue than Mario's as they've been since the Gamecube era. Also, as of Brawl, his face and height are more in-line with the Mario series, instead of resembling Mario's with few modifications. His shoes also became dark brown instead of light brown.
Artificial Stupidity: In Melee, CPU Luigis will only use Green Missile to recover. That means that they will never make it back on stage if they fall below the ledge.
Badass Adorable: Downplayed, though not as much as Mario. Luigi's still a capable twentysomething year old man, but his cute, cartoony design and quirky Manchild mannerisms make him a very lovable character.
Badass Finger Snap: He flicks out his green-colored Fireballs by pulling off a finger snapping motion as he's aiming the projectile's gravity-defying trajectory.
Bait-and-Switch: By finishing the very first level of the Adventure Mode with the timer ending with a two for the secondary digit, a short cutscene will show Mario jumping around Peach's castle, but instead of actually facing him, he's unexpectedly replaced by Luigi as he goes out of his way to jump on top of him to footstool his own brother and takes away the spotlight to be fought alongside Peach.
Bare-Fisted Monk: Most of his moveset, like his brother, but he doesn't seem to use his fists a whole lot, preferring open-palm strikes more.
Battle Intro: Jumps out of a Warp Pipe while saying "Let's-a go..." in a scared tone, while making a face similar to the one he does on the boxart of Luigi's Mansion.
Brought to You by the Letter "S": The "L" on his cap.
Butt-Monkey:
- Before Bowser was added to the roster in later installments of the series, he was used as the punching bag in 64's How-to-Play video.
- In The Subspace Emissary, Luigi is scared half to death by some Waddle Dees, hit into the sky with King Dedede's hammer, unnoticed by his own brother when he needed help, and he gets a badge stuck to his nose. It must suck being Luigi.
- For his reveal in 3DS/Wii U, 6 out of 10 of the screenshots on the official website were of him in pain or fear. For comparison, the rest of the characters screenshots are either of them doing something badass or silly.
- Whoever takes the promotional screenshots seems to have a thing for Luigi getting◊ destroyed in◊ Boxing Ring◊.
- In the trailer for the Super Mario Maker stage, Luigi is attacked by his brother for... no reason.
- His trophy in 3DS/Wii U makes a point in saying all the attention from The Year of Luigi just made him more shy and awkward.
- His appearance in Ultimate's reveal trailer has him appear at the very end, after the logo is shown, the epic music stops and everyone else (other than Yoshi) has already shown up. He even gets eaten and trapped into an egg by Yoshi, and is still in the egg by the time the video ends.
- In Simon's trailer for Ultimate, he not only finds himself in Castlevania, with his usual method of ghostfighting failing to work on the various creatures, he also gets his soul torn out of him by Death. And right as he's about to reenter his body, he gets spooked by Carmilla and her Tears of Blood.
- During Ken's character rundown, footage of Mario Bros. is shown where Mario flips over the Shellcreeper Luigi was about to jump on, killing Luigi.
- One of Ultimate's loading tips explicitly calls out Luigi when naming the three highest jumpers in the game.
  The Three Highest Jumpers – #1 is Falco, #2 is Greninja, and #3 is Zero Suit Samus. The difference was very slight, but it was enough to place Luigi as #4.
- Inverted in Melee when Luigi stomps on Mario's head to replace him in Adventure Mode.
Charged Attack: Green Missile, which is similar to Pikachu's Skull Bash. Has a small chance of "misfiring", which does even more damage than being fully charged. Charging for too long will tire Luigi out and leave him briefly stunned.
Chekhov's Gunman: In The Subspace Emissary. Who would have thought that someone who was scared of a Waddle Dee would ruin Tabuu's plan by saving everyone and helping to convince The Dragon to join them in saving the world.
Combo Breaker:
- Luigi's neutral aerial attack hits starting on frame 3 and has decent knockback, which can interrupt an opponent's combo and give Luigi some breathing room.
- In Ultimate, Luigi Cyclone gains properties that help it do this. Specifically, Luigi is completely invincible for part of its startup, beginning on frame 1 in the air.
Confusion Fu: A mild example. He has odd characteristics, some odd moves, and some of his moves don't hit exactly when you expect them to. And his Final Smash in Brawl: Negative Zone, is all kinds of weird. The misfire on his Green Missile is also unpredictable, whether it is charged or not.
Continuity Nod: His nickname in the Boxing Ring stage ("The Eternal Understudy") is the same as his unlock message from 64. Even before that, said title also received a mention in his Classic Mode trophy in Melee.
SSBM Trophy: Things are looking up for the Eternal Understudy; he's even picked up his own rival in Waluigi.
Cowardly Lion: Luigi may be scared out of his wits most of the time — well, at least here in Smash from Melee onwards — but that won't stop him from kicking some ass like the best of them.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Luigi is clumsy and cowardly, but his slippery skills can make him a bigger threat than his more composed brother.
Dance Battler: Whatever Negative Zone is, Luigi starts it by doing a strange elaborate dance routine to some trippy music, and it in turn compels opponents to taunt more frequently.
Difficult, but Awesome:
- His recovery in every game since Melee. It can be great if his three moves capable of recovery are mastered and utilized together, but is otherwise poor. The Luigi Cyclone (Down Special) in particular can be used to fly up even higher than his Up Special, Super Jump Punch, but it requires mashing the special attack button ridiculously fast.
- To bring out his Super Jump Punch's full power, you need precise spacing and timing (the hitbox is really small), but successfully landing it rewards Luigi with a powerful attack with the potential KO at low percentages.
Divergent Character Evolution: Luigi started out as a straight Moveset Clone of Mario with the former's only unique move being his dash attack, but in later games, the green machine gained a significant amount of changes. Among other changes, in Melee, Luigi's jab ends with a butt thrust instead of a kick, his side smash is a knifehand jab while Mario's is a burst of fire from his hand, his forward air became a quick karate chop while Mario kept his heavy fist swing, and his down air kept the same twirling kick base as Mario's, but changed to a single hit attack while Mario's remained a multi-hit move. Luigi also received a side special, Green Missile, which resembles Pikachu's Skull Bash and has no similarities to Mario's Cape. Brawl made a few animation changes for Luigi, such as his down smash changing to him lying down and sweeping his body around while Mario retains the "breakdance", and with Mario's down special changing from the Mario Tornado to F.L.U.D.D., only 2 of Luigi's specials and a few of his normal moves were similar to his brother's. For 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate decloned Luigi even further, with several animation changes on things that still resembled Mario's animations (such as him doing the Scuttle during his jump, his run looking more like it does in Luigi's Mansion, and his backward jumps doing less flips) and a new tether grab using the Poltergust G-00's plunger, making it debatable if he can even be considered a semi-clone by this point.
The Dog Bites Back: Right at the beginning the Super Mario Maker trailer being demonstrated as a brand new DLC stage for 3DS/Wii U, it shows Mario using his dash attack on Luigi for particularly no reason at all. In one part of Luigi's character showcase trailer for the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate shows Mario dangling on a ledge of a platform for dear life where Luigi approaches his brother struggling, making us believe that he'll possibly assist him... only to use his down taunt that meteor smashes him off the stage.
Domain Holder: His Negative Zone in Super Smash Bros. Brawl has multiple Reality Warper effects on his opponents.
Early-Bird Cameo: Luigi's Poltergust in Ultimate is one for the Poltergust G-00, specifically the Suction Shot as his grab and Slam as his back throw.
Elemental Punch: His Fire Jump Punch becomes one if it connects to his opponent at close-range, which results in Luigi sending his aggressor sailing incredibly high into the air (which can potentially lead into a KO) with a powered-up incendiary attack from his fist.
Face Your Fears: Luigi is well known for his fear of ghosts and other paranormal creatures, and his Ultimate Classic Mode path, "Luigi's Nightmares", is a string of fights against scary characters, culminating in him facing off against Dracula.
Family-Unfriendly Death: He gets his spirit slashed out of his body during Simon and Richter's trailer in Ultimate by Death itself. Thankfully, Simon showed up to intervene.
Fight Dracula: His Classic Mode route in Ultimate culminates in him fighting against Dracula.
Fighting Clown: His attacks fall squarely on the silly side, like using his butt or shooting himself like a missile.
Fireballs: His Neutral Special has him throw a Fireball like Mario. It's different from Mario's in that it just floats forward instead of obeying gravity, and it's colored green. One of his fireball customs in 3DS/Wii U, however, give him a variant with a bounce more powerful than Mario's fireballs.
Fish out of Water: When tasked to capture ghosts, he's a natural at this. Unfortunately, he's not so good at combatting supernatural corporeal beings like living mummies, as he finds out in Simon and Richter's trailer in Ultimate.^note
Flanderization: In the Luigi's Mansion games, Luigi tries to face his fears to defeat ghostly enemies, especially King Boo, and save his friends trapped inside haunted mansions. Due to all of the scary ghosts, his fear is understandable; but in his introductory cutscene in the Subspace Emissary, Luigi acts nervously and cowardly in the presence of the adorable and harmless Waddle Dees. The exaggeration of Luigi's fearfulness and and his slapstick is also shown in gameplay when it comes to his animations and expressions: sure, he's shy, clumsy, insecure, has low confidence in himself, is often the butt of jokes and gets scared easily, but this is just the surface level of his character. In Smash, however, he appears to be almost constantly scared, which makes his attacks look like they're not deliberate, but instead makes them come off as erratic and desperate attempts to protect himself, and some attacks, all his victory animations and his down and side taunts show the comedic antics in which he is involved and little else.
Foil: As of Ultimate, he serves as a foil to Falco.
- Similarities: Both Glass Cannon characters are Moveset Clones of Mario and Fox, both who were part of the original eight starting roster fighters from Super Smash Bros (64). Both characters have since been subjected to Divergent Character Evolution since their debut games.
- Differences: The differences between Falco and Luigi lie in that fact that Falco's moveset is more similar to Fox than Luigi's moveset is to Mario. This makes sense given that both Fox and Falco hail from the same Shoot 'Em Up franchise, and that Fox and Falco rarely have games showing their actual hand to hand combat skills. Meanwhile, Luigi's moveset post Brawl are inspired from the Luigi's Mansion series, a spin-off set of games with Luigi as the main character. Additionally, the relationship between Fox and Falco are more akin to Red Oni, Blue Oni Bash Brothers whereas Mario and Luigi are a Sensitive Guy and Manly Man Sibling Team.
Force and Finesse: Some of Mario and Luigi's specific smash attacks and aerials are primarily focused on how they prefer to land their physical blows as the former likes to make use of his fists while the latter has swift swipes. For Mario, his Forward Smash involves a small fiery explosion of flames from his palm, while Luigi's is a quick jutting sideways knife hand. Luigi's forward aerial is a quick mid-air karate chop, which can be seen as an optional combo starter, unlike his brother's, which is a powerful lunging slam dunk of a mighty punch that'll plummet any opponent downwards.
Foreshadowing: In 64, Luigi appears in both the "How to Play" demo as well as the 1P Mode, making it rather obvious he's playable.
Glass Cannon: He has frighteningly fast and powerful attacks that can combo into each other well with finishers that can knock away with under 100% damage. However, he has poor and slow mobility (which also leads to a very predictable recovery), and because of his terrible traction causing him to slide far when shielding attacks, Luigi really can't punish shielded attacks. This makes it hell for Luigi to approach (especially in Brawl), and the shielding issues give him a very poor defensive game.
Goomba Stomp: Leaps completely above Mario and directly steps right on top of his head, which sends him plummeting into the water below on Princess Peach's Castle in Melee's Adventure Mode.
Ground Pound: Starting in 3DS/Wii U, Luigi's down throw has him throw the enemy to the ground and do the traditional butt-first Ground Pound on them.
Ground Punch: The Burial Header variant of his Super Jump Punch removes the attack on the jump while doing damage on the way down.
Home Stage:
- 64: Peach's Castle.
- Melee: Mushroom Kingdom and Mushroom Kingdom II, though the latter is more used in single-player modes.
- Brawl: All debuting stages from his series^note, minus Mario Bros. due to its association with R.O.B.
- 3DS/Wii U: All stages from his series^note.
- Ultimate: Luigi's Mansion.
Idle Animation:
- He scratches the back of his head.
- He tugs on his nose, stretching it until it snaps back into position.
Leitmotif:
- In Melee, it's Mushroom Kingdom II to continue his second banana theme.
- In Brawl, Luigi's Mansion his theme from his home series. In Ultimate, he gets a more upbeat remix to it.
Limit Break:
- Negative Zone in Brawl, which inflicts enemies with various debuffs and status effects, while buffing Luigi.
- In 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate, he pulls out the Poltergust, and sucks up enemies all around him before popping them away.
Lovable Coward: Luigi may be easily frightened, but he has a good heart and many, many fans.
Megaton Punch: Other than spawning a single coin from an enemy compared to Mario's Up Special, his particular variant of the Super Jump Punch involves launching his opponent skyward with massive damage that has fiery properties which is one of his most powerful KO moves... whenever he's at an extremely closer range that is. In a nutshell, it's mainly Luigi's equivalent of the Falcon Punch but with vertical knockback.
Meteor Move: His down taunt (Brawl onwards, it's his only taunt in Melee) can Meteor Smash if you hit the opponent while they're hanging from the ledge. He also has his down aerial, which will knock the opponent downward if hit just right. His down tilt can meteor smash in Brawl only.
Manchild: Downplayed, but his taunts include a whole photo shoot session within a few seconds. Also, "Bang bang!"
Moveset Clone: The first true clone in the series; Ken's reveal trailer in Ultimate actually notes he could be considered the original Echo Fighter. In the original game, he shared all 3 specials and all his neutral moves except dash attack with Mario. Thanks to Divergent Character Evolution, this didn't stick.
Mythology Gag:
- Luigi assumes the poses from his official artwork for Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and the boxart for Luigi's Mansion during his up taunt.
- In The Great Mission to Save Princess Peach!, Luigi wore a blue hat, blue overalls, and a yellow shirt. This color palette returns in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate as one of his palette swaps.
Not the Intended Use: While his side taunt is rather comical, it can be an alternative method of dodging attacks. It was even used during the opening for 3DS/Wii U, where he uses it to drop below Ganondorf's Warlock Punch, and in his character trailer for Ultimate, where he uses it again to dodge Ryu's forward smash.
One-Hit KO: A timed Fire Jump Punch while inside the Negative Zone will mostly be this. Curiously, the down taunt can be this as well when inside the zone and with a light enough opponent. It can also be this as a Meteor Smash in Brawl and 3DS/Wii U.
Open Secret: 64 didn't even bother to hide the fact that he was a secret character. Not only does he appear as the punching bag in the "How-to-Play" video, he also appears with Mario on stage 4 of 1P Mode well before you unlock him as a character. Ironically, he'll probably be the last character you unlock due to the method needed to unlock him.
Palette Swap: His notable palette swaps include Fire Luigi and one based on Waluigi, orange based on the cover art for NES Pinball, and blue from the cover of NES Mario Bros. In 64 and Melee, he had one which gave him his palette from the original Super Mario Bros., complete with tan skin.
Pinball Projectile: Not as noticeable as his brother, but his fireballs can indeed bounce off of walls and floors like Mario's fireballs do. The Bouncing Fireball custom in 3DS/Wii U also functions identically to Mario's.
Playing with Fire: His fireballs, missile, and sweet-spotted Super Jump Punch.
Practical Taunt: His down taunt can Meteor Smash, and KO offstage characters at 0% in Brawl and 3DS/Wii U when performed against midair or ledge grabbing foes. Problem is that it's so slow, leaves Luigi vulnerable, and it's hard to hit.
Production Foreshadowing: Simon's trailer shows Luigi with the brand new Poltergust G-00 with its plunger-shooting ability from Luigi's Mansion 3 before the game was officially announced.
Secret Character: One of the original four in the first game, and is usually grouped together with Captain Falcon, Jigglypuff, and Ness for this reason. Together with Jigglypuff, he has also stayed consistently unlockable through the series, only being a starting character in both versions of the fourth game.
- For N64: Complete Break the Targets with all of the starting characters.
- For Melee: Finish Stage 1 of Adventure Mode with the seconds digit ending in 2, then defeat Luigi and Peach in the following battle and finish the run; or fight 800 VS. Matches.
- For Brawl: Have him join you in The Subspace Emissary by clearing "Subspace (Part I)", clear Classic Mode without continuing, or fight in 22 brawls.
- For Ultimate: Have a Cumulative Wait Time of 5 hours and 20 minutes, beat Classic Mode with Mario or anyone in his unlock tree five times, or find and defeat him in World of Light.
Security Cling: Does this with Pikachu in Kazuya's promotional art.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Mario's Manly Man. This is taken even further here than in the Bros.' home series, with Mario acting like more of a serious, stoic leader, and Luigi being his usual cowardly self and having all sorts of extra wacky mannerisms.
Shotoclone: Just like Mario, with his fireball Hadoken and his Fire Jump Punch Shoryuken and Luigi Cyclone Hurricane Kick.
Shoryuken: His Super Jump Punch, though it works a lot differently compared to Mario's. It's a very good KO move, but it requires close space and precise timing.
Sibling Team: He pairs up with Mario in the 1P mode of 64, some events, and if the player chooses to do so.
Signature Move: Super Jump Punch, despite originating from Mario's moveset, is strongly associated with Luigi in the Super Smash Bros. series due to it's rather different properties and satisfying effects when properly landed. There's also his Practical Taunt which can be considered as another signature move.
Status Buff: Luigi himself is able to knock opponents a little further than normal while inside the Negative Zone's sphere.
Status Effects: The Negative Zone's main purpose is to incapacitate or hinder the opponents by inflicting these while inside the Sphere of Destruction, making them easier to finish off.
Stock Sound Effect: In 64 and Melee, his voice is merely Mario's pitched up. In Melee, his Luigi Cyclone voice clip is directly ripped from Mario's Mario Tornado in 64, from quality right down to the pitch.
Successful Sibling Syndrome: Luigi's Final Smash in Brawl, the "Negative Zone", is implied to have been generated because he has lived in his brother Mario's shadow for so long.
Supernatural Martial Arts: Heavily on the martial, minimal on the magical, like his brother.
Throw the Dog a Bone: He was one of the characters who could rescue the others in the final parts of the Subspace Emissary when the majority were turned into trophies by Tabuu, making him one of the six characters who will stay in your final party if you miss or purposefully don't rescue the others. Those six are also always a part of the ending sequence for the same reason.
Took a Level in Badass: From the fourth game onwards, Luigi’s cowardice was slightly downplayed. In the AKB48 commercial, he's seen fighting the Miis alongside the likes of Mario, Samus, Mega Man and Bowser. He isn’t even afraid or reluctant to do so, and even sports a Death Glare! In Ultimate, he confronts his fears of the supernatural by fighting Dracula, and has a surprisingly aggressive expression when charging his Green Missile attack.
Use Your Head: His Up Smash, grab attack, and his Side Special, the Green Missile, all have him headbutting opponents to attack.
Vocal Evolution: In the original game and Melee, his voice clips were just high-pitched, sped-up Mario clips. Starting with Brawl, Luigi was voiced as his own character, with the distinctively deeper tone from his home series, though he has the same voice actor.
Weapons That Suck: His Limit Break in 3DS/Wii U is the Poltergust 5000 from Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, Ultimate updates it to the Poltergust G-00 from Luigi's Mansion 3, which is also now used in his grab.

10 – Ness

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nessssbu.png

The PSI Powerhouse

^{3DS/Wii U}

^Brawl

^Melee

⁶⁴

Voiced by: Makiko Ohmoto

Home Series: EarthBound

Debut: EarthBound [SNES], 1994

Creator: Creatures Inc. (formerly known as Ape Inc.)

Publisher: Nintendo

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, Ultimate
Specials: PK Flash, PK Fire, PK Thunder, PSI Magnet
Final Smash: PK Starstorm

"Okay!"

The hero of EarthBound, Ness is a kind child with psychic powers, born and raised in Onett, Eagleland. He was sent on a quest by Buzz Buzz, a time-traveling rhinoceros beetle from the future, to learn the Eight Melodies and stop the evil Giygas from taking over the world.

Ness enters the fray with a bat and yo-yo from his game of origin, already giving him some decent offense. However, his main draw is his skill in PSI, with many attacks taught to him by his fellow psychics, Paula and Poo. Ness is a fighter whose special attacks can make him quite the terrifying player, if one can get used to his strange methods of actually using them.

Special Moves^{Click to show}

See EarthBound: The Chosen Four for more information on the character in his origin series.

Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: When Ness uses his Final Smash, PK Starstorm, he pronounces the attack as "starSTORM" rather than "STARstorm", which Lucas uses.
Adaptational Badass: To an extent. While Ness was certainly never a weakling by any stretch, in his home game, his PSI abilities are focused more on healing than combat. Paula taught him PK Fire and PK Thunder in preparation for Smash, and Poo taught him the secret of PK Starstorm. Slightly reversed in Ultimate, since Paula and Poo join him when he uses PK Starstorm.
The All-American Boy: What he was designed to be, coming from the game that's set in Eagleland.
An Ice Person: One of his custom neutral specials in 3DS/Wii U replaces PK Flash with Lucas's PK Freeze.
Art Evolution: Not Ness himself, since he only appears in one game, but his PSI powers went from being represented through generic flames, lightning bolts, and explosions to being decorated with the abstract shapes from their respective animations in the original EarthBound.
Ash Face: His intro animation has him appearing covered in soot, which is what happens if you collide into something while running up for a PSI Teleport in his home game.
Assist Character: The Ultimate version of PK Starstorm has Paula and Poo assist in the attack.
Attack Reflector: The bat he uses for his forward smash attack can be used this way.
Awesome, but Impractical:
- The only way you're going to hit someone with a fully charged PK Flash is if there are a 3rd or 4th player to keep each other busy, the opponent is incapacitated, or as an edgeguard to catch an opponent returning to the stage.
- PK Thunder as a recovery move, since it has an extra "step" to the process that, if interrupted (such as the opponent merely jumping into it), will cause Ness to fall to his doom, though this was changed in 3DS/Wii U. It also tends to fail horribly in tight vertical corridors or below one-way platforms. Ultimate remedies this a little by adding an arrow in front of Ness to show where he will be launched.
- PK Starstorm in Brawl was so segmented with the falling meteors that at any level higher than casual play, it could be very easily dodged with one or two hits at best. Thankfully, 3DS/Wii U's version condenses it into a consistent beam that's nigh unavoidable and behaves similarly to Lucario's Aura Beam in Brawl. Ultimate reverts to the Brawl version but makes the falling meteors harder to dodge.
- Using PK Thunder to launch Ness at an opponent can deal incredible knockback and KO very early, however because it leaves Ness vulnerable (or off the stage in which case he's screwed) and requires quite a bit of startup, it's best used if your opponent is incapacitated or as a last resort.
Badass Adorable: He's a young child taking on some of the best fighters in Nintendo's stable.
Balance Buff: His recovery move got a significant one in the 3DS/Wii U games, as it can no longer be interrupted simply by jumping into it upon startup. While it can still be interrupted, especially if the opponent can reflect or absorb the attack, this makes it much harder and riskier to attempt to stop Ness's recovery than in previous games.
Batter Up!: His forward smash involves him swinging forward with his bat.
Battle Intro: Literally explodes onto the screen using PSI Teleport, then shakes off the resulting soot.
Black Bead Eyes: As with most characters in his series.
Berserk Button: Though he doesn't show it on his face, he is pissed when he discovers that Porky has returned, and is tormenting another innocent kid (Lucas). One PK Flash later, and the statue explodes.
Big Damn Heroes: In his first appearance in The Subspace Emissary, Ness saves Lucas from Porky by using PK Flash to destroy the statue chasing him. Much later, Lucas goes on to return the favor in his reveal trailer as Downloadable Content for 3DS/Wii U when he saves Ness from the clutches of Bowser, this time by using PK Fire.
Butt-Monkey: He gets mercilessly beaten up by the other fighters in Lucas's trailer for 3DS/Wii U. That is, until Lucas steps in and seemingly repays the favor from last game.
Breakout Character: To a certain extent - Ness' home series was far more obscure before being included in Super Smash Bros., but his appearances in this series has led to greater exposure, including the original game finally being released outside of Japan 26 years after its initial release. Ness himself is generally considered a staple character of Smash nowadays, as well as being more prominent as one of the faces of the Mother series than the original game's protagonist Ninten. In the games after Melee, Ness tends to be among the first characters unlocked, likely due to this trope.
Calling Your Attacks: "PK Flash!", "PK Fire!", "PK Thunder!", and "PK STARSTORM!!!"
The Cameo: Ness and his friends will appear in the background of Magicant. Unlike Toon Link or King Dedede, Ness will appear even if he's on the battlefield at the same time.^note
Canon Name: In EarthBound, players could name Ness whatever they wanted, although Ness existed as the first "Don't Care" option. Super Smash Bros. canonized Ness' name, a trend that would continue with future characters that could have their names chosen.
Character Catchphrase: "Okay!"
Child Prodigy: His unlock message in 64 calls him a child genius, and psychic powers are generally associated with super intelligent people.
Chromatic Arrangement: His three offensive specials in order PK Fire (neutral B, later side B) is red, PK Thunder (up B) is blue, and PK Flash (new neutral B) is green. Somewhat appropriately, PK Fire is fairly straightforward (The Hero) PK Thunder is an unconventional and highly technical recovery move, or a player guided projectile (The Smart Guy) and PK Flash is slow moving but is one of his most powerful attacks at its maximum (The Big Guy) matching the stereotypes of the trope.
Composite Character:
- He uses PSI moves (PK Fire, PK Thunder, and PSI Magnet) that originally belonged to Paula and Poo, and has Poo's signature PK Starstorm as his Final Smash. This is justified as Ness was primarily a healer in his home game, so incorporating moves exclusively from his learnset wouldn't translate well. In-Universe, one of his trophies states that Ness's teammates trained him to use their moves so he could be prepared for Smash.
- As a in-series example, Ness receives all of Lucas's special moves as custom specials in 3DS/Wii U. Oddly, this didn't stop Lucas himself from returning as Downloadable Content.
Death from Above: PK Starstorm, Poo and Kumatora's move in his home series.
Difficult, but Awesome: Particularly in the first game — his attacks' hitboxes were a bit disjointed (not as bad as some later characters, but in the original, it was quite noticeable), he had some awkward ways to get his moves to work, and his saving maneuver was the one of the hardest to use. However, he also had insane power, incredible jumps, was the only character that could regain health by absorbing enemy attacks, and anyone that could use PK Thunder as a recovery move well had the ability to use one of the most powerful saving maneuvers in the game. Ultimate has put him back into this category with his PSI Magnet being given a hitbox, giving a level of utility comparable to Fox's reflector/“shine”. It requires a lot of practice to use well, but if mastered, the move can now be used for combos (especially since it doesn't scale to damage), momentum cancelling, and air stalling for better mix-ups.
Energy Absorption: His down special, PSI Magnet, causes energy attacks to heal him by the amount they should have damaged him, making him one of only seven characters who can heal on their own (Mr. Game & Watch with Judge #7, Lucas with his own PSI Magnet, Wii Fit Trainer with Deep Breathing and Sun Salutation, Mii Gunner with Absorbing Vortex, Robin with Nosferatu, and Hero with the Heal spell are the other six). More potent in the original game, where any projectile, physical or energy, would be absorbed by the move (with the exception of Link's boomerang).
Fire, Ice, Lightning: He has fire and lightning by default, and in 3DS/Wii U he can get ice through character customization (replacing his own PK Flash with Lucas' PK Freeze), with each mapped to a different button combination press.
Gratuitous English: Speaks English, but is voiced by a Japanese voice actress. Justified, as he's supposed to come from a parody of the United States.
Heroic Sacrifice: Performs one by shoving Lucas out of the way of a trophy beam, taking the hit himself.
Home Stage:
- 64: Due to a lack of stages from his series, Dream Land for having a similar whimsical chibi aesthetic, and potentially a stand in for the dream land Magicant.
- Melee: Onett and Fourside, though the former is more used in single-player modes.
- Brawl: New Pork City.
- 3DS/Wii U: Magicant in 3DS, Onett in Wii U.
- Ultimate: Onett in Ultimate's website and his unlock battle, his fight in World of Light though takes place in Magicant.
Idle Animation:
- He looks from side to side.
- He Places a finger to his temple, then points forward.
I Miss Mom: His Ultimate Classic Mode in Japan mentions him being homesick. Ness could cure this in his own game by talking to his mother.
Improbable Weapon User: He fights with a baseball bat and a yo-yo.
Kid Hero: One of Smash's youngest contenders at about 13 years old, and described as such in Lucas' event match in Brawl.
Killer Yo-Yo: His up and down smashes have him using his yo-yo.
Leitmotif:
- In Melee, Mother despite him not appearing in said game.
- In Brawl, Snowman is his unique Credits theme.
- While 3DS/Wii U doesn't heavily associate characters with music, it's notable that Smiles and Tears, his theme from his home series finally makes its debut. It was planned and scrapped for Brawl.
- Ultimate uses Mother once again, the theme of his first stage, or the 3DS/Wii U version of Magicant.
Light 'em Up:
- PK Flash is a green ball of light that gains power the longer it's on the screen. Hard to hit with, but it's very powerful when done.
- PK Starstorm is his Final Smash, calling down meteors of light onto the arena with a slight diagonal arc to them.
Limit Break: PK Starstorm, a meteor shower that was Prince Poo's Signature Move in EarthBound. He summons Paula and Poo to his side when using the attack in Ultimate.
Magic Knight: Though his special moves are entirely PSI-based, most of his other moves are more physical.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter:
- His down smash attack is one of few to strike in back of him before striking in front of him. It, along with his up smash attack, can also damage opponents while the moves are being charged.
- In 64, Ness was by far the least standard fighter of the cast, with an unusual up special that had to be controlled and was the only fighter in the game that could heal without the use of items.
Meteor-Summoning Attack: His Final Smash, PK Starstorm, calls down a hail of blazing asteroids that bombard the stage, dealing considerable damage to any fighter they hit.
Mind over Matter: A few of his regular attacks are PSI-boosted, and he uses this as a means for his double jump.
Mythology Gag: Ness' Classic Mode in Ultimate is essentially the events of his game in reverse, starting in Magicant with a battle against himself and ending in Onett. The Japanese title of this route calls him homesick, which would happen in EarthBound when he started to miss his mother and home.
Palette Swap: In 64, he has a blue-and-white striped shirt with a blue capped, as a double reference to his pajamas and his younger self found in Magicant, as well as a yellow-and-black striped shirt resembling both the Gigantic Ant as well as the Japanese Baseball team (the Hanshin Tigers). In Brawl, he gains a white shirt with red sleeves based off of Fuel from Mother 3 as well as a shirt with a Mr. Saturn sprite. 3DS/Wii U gives him shirts based on Master Belch and EarthBound's checkerboard-patterned main menu screen.
Player-Guided Missile: Ness's "PK Thunder" is a fully-steerable bolt of electricity. Starting with Melee, he also acquires "PK Flash", which can be guided left or right before detonating it.
Primary-Color Champion: Wears a red cap and sneakers along with a blue and yellow striped shirt as his Iconic Outfit.
Psychic Children: Ness has a wide array of psychic abilities ranging from teleportation to pyrokinesis, and he's still in school to boot. Thanks to his appearance in Smash, he has become one of gaming's most iconic examples of this trope along with Lucas.
Psychic Powers: He'd hardly represent his home game without them.
Playing with Fire: PK Fire is a little lightning bolt that erupts into a small pillar of fire upon impact, which hits the target multiple times and sometimes even locks them in place as a result. PK Starstorm in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate sets opponents ablaze.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Kicks, his down tilt can be rapidly spammed. His neutral attack is a series of rapid successive punches.
Secret Character: One of the original four in the first game, and is usually grouped together with Luigi, Captain Falcon, and Jigglypuff for this reason. The only games where he is playable from the start are Melee and the Wii U version of the fourth game.
- For N64: Beat 1-Player Mode on Normal difficulty with just three lives.
- For Brawl: Have him join you in The Subspace Emissary by clearing "Subspace (Part I)", reflect 10 projectiles, or fight in five brawls.
- For 3DS: Complete Classic Mode on any intensity or fight in ten vs. matches.
- For Ultimate: Play the game briefly (he is the first character to be unlocked), beat Classic Mode with Kirby or anyone in his unlock tree once, or find and defeat him in World of Light.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Manly Man to Lucas’ Sensitive Guy.
Shock and Awe: PK Thunder takes the form of a string of lightning that can either be used to hit something, or to hit Ness himself as a recovery move that also does damage. Literally a Player-Guided Missile.
Squishy Wizard: Ness has a very strong projectile game, aided by powerful aerials and throws that are all enhanced with PSI. He can be hard to use though. His unwieldy recovery move doesn't help.
Use Your Head: Up until Ultimate, Ness' up aerial was a headbutt.
Vocal Evolution: Ness's voice has gone through changes since his appearance in 64, but he sounds deeper and older in 3DS/Wii U and Ultimate, compared to his more high-pitched voice in Brawl.
Weaksauce Weakness: If his second jump wasn't enough to reach the edge, Ness' only recovery move is using PK Thunder on himself. If anyone intercepts PK Thunder before it hits him, he's doomed. This can be averted if Ness uses the "Lasting PK Thunder" variant, which doesn't disappear if it hits someone. Also downplayed as of 3DS/Wii U, where this no longer works upon the startup part of the attack.

11 – Captain Falcon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/captainfalconssbu.png

The Supersonic Slugger /
Supersonic F-Zero Pilot

^{3DS/Wii U}

^Brawl

^Melee

⁶⁴

Voiced by: Ryō Horikawa

Home Series: F-Zero

Debut: F-Zero [SNES], 1990

Creator: Nintendo

Publisher: Nintendo

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, Ultimate
Specials: Falcon Punch, Raptor Boost, Falcon Dive, Falcon Kick
Final Smash: Blue Falcon

"Show me your moves!"

Captain Falcon is an F-Zero championship racer and renowned bounty hunter, frequently standing up against rival bounty hunters and the nefarious Black Shadow. Much like Fox, Captain Falcon makes his first playable appearance outside the wheel, borrowing his moves from Smash's original beta concept before its crossover aspect was realized. Along with said moveset came a memorable Hot-Blooded personality unique to this iteration.

The captain provides a fast, powerful playstyle that favors getting up close with several strong attacks, though it's still possible to best him if he leaves an opening. His most well-known attack, the Falcon Punch, is rather slow to start up but is more than capable of launching foes with its sheer, burning power.

Special Moves^{Click to show}

See F-Zero for more information on the character in his origin series.

Adaptation Personality Change: Looking at his characterization in his home series after Smash Bros. can be jarring, as F-Zero firmly establishes him as a blunt, comically serious bounty hunter, while Smash Bros. has him as a Hot-Blooded and somewhat campy Toku Hero.
All-American Face: Subtle, but he's a musclebound, heroic Manly Man hailing from a series that originally took inspiration from American comic books.
Art Evolution: In 64 and Melee, Captain Falcon's design is taken from F-Zero X, but in 64, his racing suit is purple, while in Melee onwards, it is a dark navy color (smilar to Zoda's Death Anchor in X), instead of having his trademark blue color. His design from Brawl onwards is unique to Smash, having two separate pauldrons instead of one, his scarf now hangs out like Blood Falcon, he now wears kneecaps like Baba, Dr. Clash (X) and Roger Buster (GX), and the palms on his gloves are white instead of being entirely yellow.
Animal-Themed Superbeing: More obvious in Smash, as in his home series, he never displayed any superpowers (outside of ace driving skills).
Awesome, but Impractical: His FALCON PUNCH is very powerful (and just fun to use because it looks cool and hearing Captain Falcon is hilarious), but it's too slow to hit anything without good planning and it leaves him vulnerable. Further exemplified in 3DS/Wii U, where it's much weaker and has more ending lag.
Badass Driver: Naturally, this comes with the territory of being from a racing game series. This skill comes into play for Captain Falcon's Final Smash where he runs you over at mind-numbing speeds.
Bare-Fisted Monk: Fights purely using punching and kicking attacks, though a few of them have fire properties.
Barehanded Blade Block: In the trailer introducing Robin and Lucina for 3DS/Wii U, he does a variation by parrying Lucina's sword with the back of his hand.
Battle Intro: Rides onscreen in his Blue Falcon, then jumps out as it drives off. Uniquely, the jumping animation differs depending on which way he's facing; he just vaults out if facing right, but throws in a frontflip if facing left.
Big Eater: In Min Min's trailer, he heartily slurps down a Mintendo bowl of ramen, and a tweet by Nintendo Versus after the reveal has him apparently engaging in a ramen-eating contest against Min Min.
Big "YES!": When successfully pulling his up special move, Falcon Dive. He also yells "YEAAAAAAAH!" in Melee after "defeating" Bowser in Adventure mode prior to the potential Giga Bowser fight.
Breakout Character: Thanks to Smash, Captain Falcon became one of the more popular Nintendo characters despite the obscurity of his home series, and got his share of Ascended Memes and spotlight appearances both in Smash and in other Nintendo games (such as Mario Kart 8, where he can be seen on billboards proclaiming "Show me your moves!").
Bring It: Two of his taunts are this. His first taunt since 64 and his down taunt in Brawl onwards commands opponents to "Show me your moves!" while saluting. His side taunt from Brawl onwards also provokes opponents to "Come on!" with an outstretched hand.
Calling Your Attacks: "Falcon Punch!", "Falcon Kick!", and "C'mon, Blue Falcon!".
Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: He's more or less a stereotypical campy American space superhero as seen through Japanese eyes.
Car Fu: His Final Smash has him slamming his opponents with his Blue Falcon at full speed.
Character Catchphrase: His most prominent one is "Show me your moves!"
Close-Range Combatant: Like Donkey Kong, Captain Falcon has no projectile game whatsoever, but compensates for it with overwhelming mobility coupled with a plethora of hard-hitting attacks.
Clothing Damage: Downplayed in Ultimate, but if you zoom in on his racing gear, there are several scratches shown, presumably from wearing it all the time as well as the battles he's been in.
Cool Car: The Blue Falcon.
Cool Helmet: A red racing helmet adorned with a golden falcon emblem.
Cool Starship: Falcon Flyer.
Curbstomp Battle: Implied to have given one to Chrom in the Lucina/Robin reveal trailer. It starts with the Ylissean Prince on the ground defeated while the Captain looks no worse for wear. He was even still able to get the upper hand on Lucina.
Cutscene Power to the Max: In Robin and Lucina's debut trailer for 3DS/Wii U. In a fight involving him against the three heroes of Fire Emblem: Awakening, he apparently curbstomps Chrom off-screen, and on-screen, he parries several attacks from Lucina with his bare hands, and is about to Falcon Punch her when Robin intervenes.
Death or Glory Attack: His signature Falcon Punch has a lot of build-up to it, making it easily punishable either by a quick attack, or in the worst case by a Counter-Attack special move. If it hits however, it will hurt.
Difficult, but Awesome: His forward air, affectionately nicknamed "The Knee Of Justice". It has consistently been the most powerful aerial attack in the series and is visually entertaining to watch, but it can be rather difficult to land the necessary sweet spot. 3DS/Wii U in particular added lag before and after the attack while making it much stronger. If you manage to time it correctly, the Falcon Punch falls in that category too, despite its shortcomings.
Elemental Punch: A couple of his attacks, like his Falcon Punch and Falcon Kick, are fire elemental. His forward aerial is electric elemental instead if sweet-spotted, and he gains a custom variant of the Falcon Kick that gives it the electric element as well.
Explosive Punch: His Falcon Punch is literally powered by an explosion in the shape of a falcon.
Eye Lights Out: Falcon's "eyes" on his visor become roughly dimmed as its crackling and malfunctioning while Kazuya tosses his lifeless body off of a volcanic cliffside.
Glass Cannon: While Falcon is heavy and quite durable, he cannot be played defensively due to his vulnerability to combos and consistently poor recovery. To be played well, he must constantly maintain offensive pressure on the opponent.
Gratuitous English: Voiced by the Japanese Ryō Horikawa in all versions, speaking English with a fake American accent.
Glowing Eyes: Not biologically, but in later games, the eyes on his visor glisten. They even change color via corresponding with the alternate colored costume he's wearing.
Hidden Depths: If the Smash trailers are anything to go by, the captain can make a mean bowl of noodles. Even Min Min (a professional ramen chef) thought it was delicious!
Home Stage:
- 64: Due to a lack of stages from his series, Planet Zebes.
- Melee: Mute City and Big Blue, though the former is more used in single-player modes.
- Brawl: Port Town Aero Dive.
- 3DS/Wii U: Mute City in 3DS, Port Town Aero Dive in Wii U.
- Ultimate: Port Town Aero Dive.
Hot-Blooded: In direct contrast to his home series, where he is usually The Stoic.
Hunk: From what we can see of his face, he isn't too bad-looking, and he has the Heroic Build typical of this archetype. Both his home series and the F-Zero anime show his face in full occasionally, and he's a very rugged-looking man.
Idle Animation: He thrusts his fist or his elbow out in a battle pose.
Immune to Flinching: Heavy Raptor Boost is an outright sluggish variation of his Side Special that's slower in both range and speed but exchanges those aspects for possessing super armor for the duration of the attack.
- His Raptor Boost also gives him some slight knock-back resistance in Ultimate during its' start up.
Large Ham: He delivers no lines subtly.
Leitmotif:
- Mute City, which has an original rendition in Melee, Brawl, and 3DS/Wii U; the last remix is also used in his Ultimate trailer.
- Fire Field, which plays in his Classic Mode credits in Brawl and Ultimate, as well as his introductory stage in The Subspace Emissary.
- In Ultimate, the new F-Zero Medley appeared on the website pre-release, and is used as both his normal and World of Light challenger approaching themes. The song incidentally is mostly a remix of Fire Field.
Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: He has a gun in the holster on his belt, which he never uses (he has never been seen using it in the F-Zero storyline either, discounting a comic that came with the first game).
Lightning Bruiser: He's very fast, has some of the most powerful moves, and has one of the best endurances. Despite his nerf, Captain Falcon still fits the Lightning Bruiser build in Brawl.
Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: Captain Falcon mostly uses fire for his elemental attacks, in contrast to the electrical attacks used by Zero Suit Samus, his rough Distaff Counterpart and rival through Event Matches.
Limit Break: Summons the Blue Falcon to run over opponents.
Meteor Move: His down aerial and Side Special Raptor Boost (when used in midair) will Meteor Smash. In Melee, hitting the opponents with the upper hitbox of his down aerial causes the target to launch at a slightly different downward angle that makes it so the game doesn't recognize it as a Meteor Smash, preventing the use of the mechanic that allows cancelling the knockback of Meteor Smashes and makes it a spike (the strongest in the game). In 3DS/Wii U, he gains a third one with his up strong attack which will meteor you if he lands it on the heel of the move once it starts moving down.
Moveset Clone: Downplayed Trope. In 64, he and Samus had the same neutral aerial, down smash, floor attack, forward/up strong attacks, ledge animations, and dash attack. He has since then gotten some new moves, specifically a new down smash and neutral aerial, but still shares the same dash attack, up strong attack, and floor attack with her. Albeit with altered physics on each.
Mr. Fanservice: In 3DS/Wii U, the good Captain's suit becomes noticeably tighter, about as much as much as Samus and her Zero Suit. This gives a very detailed look at his muscles, buttocks, and even his crotch.
Mythology Gag:
- Similarly to Luigi, one of his alternate costumes resembles the "Bart Lemming" version of Falcon from the anime.
- His seemingly baseless moveset is a remnant of the prototype title Dragon King: The Fighting Game (before it became a Mascot Fighter), where it was the moveset for the one character programmed in at the time.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His Story-Mode entrance in Brawl has him take down an R.O.B.... along with most of Olimar's Pikmin.
Non-Standard Character Design: His official character art from 64 gives him much more realistic and human body proportions than the art for the other characters. Even Link and Samus, who had realistic body proportions in their home games, are given more stylized looks in the Smash 64 art. Averted with the in-game models, which give Link and Samus designs more faithful to their home games, and with all character art from Melee onward.
Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Lucina's and Robin's reveal trailer in 3DS/Wii U starts off with Chrom lying in defeat and Lucina attempting to hold her own after facing Captain Falcon in battle.
Ornamental Weapon: Captain Falcon carries a laser gun in his leg holster, but unlike in his home series, where he rarely uses it, in Smash Bros., he never uses it, even as a Special Move.
Palette Swap: One of them is his evil clone Blood Falcon. Another one is based on fellow F-Zero racer Jody Summer, and later, a gold costume that may be inspired by Dr. Stewart.
Power Creep, Power Seep: While Captain Falcon has always been a bounty hunter at the peak of human fitness who not need to use that thing in his holster often, best seen in the comic enclosed in the original F-Zero manual and GX. In Super Smash Bros, Captain Falcon has explicit superpowers, mainly the ability to channel fire and electricity throughout his body, as well as to create explosions after saying "YESZ". In F-Zero, there is no indication that Captain Falcon had super powers. However, the popularity of Falcon's Smash moveset resulted in a song lyric in GX referencing the Falcon Punch, and F-Zero: GP Legend incorporating Falcon's superpowers.
Playing with Fire: Several of his attacks involve fire in some form.
Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "Show me your moves!"
Primary-Color Champion: Dons a tightened dark blue racing suit along with a red colored Cool Helmet, while also sporting a pair of white-ish yellow gloves, yellow boots, and lastly, a yellow Scarf of Asskicking.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: As his standard combo, using only one hand.
Real Men Wear Pink: One of his Palette Swaps.
The Rival: To Samus as well as Lucina. In Samus' case, the good Captain is frequently pitted against her in Event Matches and the like. In the latter's debut trailer, she's seen facing off against him in revenge for seemingly having beaten up Chrom. To a lesser extent, Robin and Chrom are this to him too.
Scarf of Asskicking: From Brawl onward, he lets his yellow scarf hang out while going toe-to-toe with the strongest fighters.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The intro to World of Light shows him unsuccessfully trying to escape in the Blue Falcon upon seeing the other fighters getting curb-stomped.
Secret Character: One of the original four in the first game, and is usually grouped together with Luigi, Jigglypuff, and Ness for this reason. However, he has alternately joined the starting roster in both Melee and both versions of the fourth game.
- For N64: Beat 1-Player Mode in under 20 minutes.
- For Brawl: Have him join you in The Subspace Emissary by clearing "Outside the Ancient Ruins", fight in 70 brawls, or beat Classic Mode in under 12 minutes.
- For Ultimate: Have a Cumulative Wait Time of 1 hour and 40 minutes, beat Classic Mode with Fox or anyone in his unlock tree once, or find and defeat him in World of Light.
Shock and Awe: His forward aerial, the aforementioned Knee Smash. Also one of his Falcon Kick custom variants in 3DS/Wii U.
Signature Move:
- His Neutral Special, Falcon Punch. Snake's CODEC Conversation in Brawl, Palutena's Guidance in 3DS/Wii U, and several of his trophies mention it, and it's found its way into his home series.
- To a lesser extent, his forward aerial, Knee Smash. It's powerful, flashy, one of the few standard attacks in the series to be consistently named, and his only move that wasn't cloned once onto any version of Ganondorf.
Spear Counterpart: Is a collective male counterpart to both versions of Samus within the context of Smash; he's a space-faring bounty hunter, has a red helmet like regular Samus and shares a few of her move animations, and has a blue bodysuit, a handgun and a gender-appropriate (and larger-than-life) "sexy" disposition similar to Zero Suit Samus. Fittingly, the two hunters have been depicted as rivals in various Event Matches.
Super-Speed:
- He was the fastest character until Brawl, where he was slowed down and Sonic was introduced.
- One Melee event has Falcon running on a track while F-Zero cars are zooming by and the entire game speed is literally hyper speed, making Falcon possibly as fast as Sonic for that one level.
Supernatural Martial Arts: Fights entirely using punches, kicks, and knee attacks, many of which are imbued with fire or electric properties.
Terse Talker: As part of his bizarre Engrish-y like speech pattern, none of his quotes in Smash are particularly lengthy or complicated.
Toku: As an animal themed hero in a mask and bright colored costume, his moveset and mannerisms are inspired by this genre even if it contrasts with his main series portrayal. It's also rumored that his moveset is partially taken from the original Dragon King beta since he's the only one with a body type that matches the prototype characters.
Trademark Favorite Food: While his definitive favorite is unknown, he really likes ramen noodles.
Truth in Television: Did you know that his Knee Smash is a legitimate Muay Thai fighting move? Well, now you do. The same knee strike has even been used in other fighting games, such as for Sagat's Tiger Knee.
Wall Jump: He can do this maneuver the same way everyone else does or with the Falcon kick.
White Gloves: More like white and yellow gloves.
The Worf Effect: In Lucina and Robin's reveal trailer for 3DS/Wii U. Unlike most trailers though, he has no trouble fighting Lucina after defeating Chrom. In fact, had it not been for Robin, he would have won without a scratch.
- This, unfortunately, happens to him in Kazuya's introductory trailer, as he's one of the many skilled fighters that were defeated by his staggering amount of his martial art combat prowess.
Your Size May Vary: In the F-Zero games, Captain Falcon is pretty tall, around 6 feet tall. Smash Bros. makes him a bit shorter, making him close to Samurai Goroh's height.

12 – Jigglypuff (Purin)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jigglypuffssbu.png

The Sleepy Singer /
The Delightful Balloon Pokémon

^{3DS/Wii U}

^Brawl

^Melee

⁶⁴

Voiced by: Mika Kanai (Japanese), Rachael Lillis (English), Guilaine Gilbert (Smash 64 and Melee; French), Virginie Demians (Brawl onwards; French), Mara Winzer (Smash 64 and Melee; German), Dina Kuerten (Brawl onwards; German)

Home Series: Pokémon

Debut: Pokémon Red and Blue [Game Boy], 1996

Creator: Game Freak

Publisher: Nintendo

Playable in: 64, Melee, Brawl, 3DS/Wii U, Ultimate
Specials: Rollout, Pound, Sing, Rest
Final Smash: Puff Up

"Jigglypuff!"

The Balloon Pokémon. Jigglypuff has accompanied Pikachu across the entire Smash series. Jigglypuff is known for putting others to sleep with its singing, and its elastic properties can allow it to float similarly to Kirby. It used to be a pure Normal type, but has since become a Normal/Fairy type as of Generation 6.

This fighter brings a silly and seemingly weak moveset with surprising potential to the fray. At first glance, Jigglypuff is among the weakest and lightest characters in the series, instantly getting sent flying if its frail shield were to break. However, it has several viable attack and movement options in the air, and the aforementioned elasticity enables it to have one of the best recoveries out of the entire cast. This Pokémon can be easy to punish but, with enough skill, can easily rise above its competition.

Special Moves^{Click to show}

See Pokémon: Generation I - Bulbasaur to Parasect for more information on the character in their origin series.

Adaptational Badass:
- In the games, it's a mid-stage Pokémon whose notable trait is that it can sing to lull opponents to sleep. It's more of an annoying supportive Pokémon in terms of use, though it does gain some power as Wigglytuff. (However, in the anime, it did memorably instigate a bitchslap fight with Clefairy.) In Smash Bros., it's a Lethal Joke Character with an amazing air game.
- In a move-specific example, Rest in the Pokémon games is a non-damaging move where the user heals itself at the cost of falling asleep for two turns. While Smash removes the healing component, Rest, when positioned just right, is now an incredibly powerful damaging move...somehow, since all Jigglypuff does is fall asleep, and the opponent is launched into the air.
Ambiguous Gender: Jigglypuff have no Secondary Sexual Characteristics between males and females. The latter is the more common gender in its home series (75% on the gender ratio as opposed to the males' 25%), and its Palette Swaps give it hats based off the female protagonists from its home series, but there has never been solid confirmation on this particular one's gender.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Pound is one of the moves which does shield damage, a property several moves have allowing them to do extra damage to shields exclusively. Just two or three Pounds can level a shield.
Art Evolution:
- In previous games, its design was chubbier and had bigger eyes similar to its early artwork. In the fourth installment, it's drastically redesigned to resemble its Pokémon X and Y model instead. Its eyes are far more expressive than its previous incarnations, as in not being fully open all the time and showing emotions. It's also quite a bit larger than usual.
- 64 through Brawl gave Jigglypuff a color scheme◊ similar to that of the anime's Jigglypuff. 3DS/Wii U changed it so that Jigglypuff resembles its in-game, non-Shiny color scheme◊ more.
The Artifact: To this day still, it retains the same English voice from 64 (despite its voice actress not doing any Jigglypuff voicing in the anime since Pokémon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire). In fact, its voice clips are rather low quality compared to the rest of the cast. This isn't the case for Japanese or any other language.
Badass Adorable: Don't let its adorable looks fool you: Jigglypuff is a very dangerous fighter when used properly.
Battle Intro: Pops out of a Poké Ball.
Charged Attack: Rollout, which gains power and speed depending on how long you hold the charge for. The charge ranges from "harmless taunt" to "balloon-shaped rocket".
Close-Range Combatant: Jigglypuff is this. Unlike most close range combatants in Smash, its ground game's poor, with slow movement and weak attacks, and it's one of the lightest there is. However, this is compensated with a terrific aerial game. It has one of the best air speeds and powerful aerial attacks, being able to "jump" 5 times in the air (together with Pound to extend airtime) to practically guarantee a comeback onto the stage, and some of its attacks are deceptively far-reaching.
Continuity Cameo: That hat it wears is that of Leaf, Red's (aka the Pokémon Trainer's) female counterpart. Pikachu wears Red's original hat and Jigglypuff wears Leaf's. The same is true of another palette swap: while Pikachu received Calem's hat and sunnies, Jigglypuff received Serena's.
Critical Failure: Jigglypuff is the only character that can self-destruct if its shield gets broken, like popping a balloon. It's particularly devastating in 3DS/Wii U due to the weak shields in that game.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Jigglypuff's most powerful move is falling asleep, but the move is super effective!
Death or Glory Attack: Rest, as silly as it might sound. Its Down Special move, it puts Jigglypuff to sleep for a few seconds, leaving Jigglypuff exposed for a good deal of time, which is practically suicide at high enough damage (since, you know, you fell asleep). However, if it's activated as close as possible to the opponent, they will be sent rocketing upwards, making for a quick (and hilarious) finisher at the appropriate damage. Due to its minuscule range, but obscene power, it's a Difficult, but Awesome move in execution.
Dub Name Change: Named "Purin" in Japan. Also changed in French (Rondoudou) and German (Pummeluff); as such, it was the only playable character to be dubbed in the French and German versions of the first two games. Other countries use the English name.
Forced Sleep: Sing will put nearby opponents to sleep, but not ones that are off the ground.
Foreshadowing: Despite being an unlockable character in Melee, Jigglypuff still appears in the opening movie.
Fragile Speedster: An odd example in that Jigglypuff is one of the slowest characters on the ground, but is among the most mobile in the air. It's also among the lightest characters in the series.
Glass Cannon: In Melee, its aerial game is incredible, with the fastest air speed mixed with fast and powerful air attacks; and to top it off, its Rest is a nigh One-Hit KO attack, provided it strikes. However, Jiggs is very light, and will be sent flying easily. It has slightly better endurance in Brawl, though its offensive capabilities are severely reduced. Both its offensive capabilities and its endurance were reduced in SSB4. Ultimate makes it return to be this trope more or less.
Grandfather Clause: Around the time the original game was released, Jigglypuff was a recurring character in the anime (and replaced Nidorino in the opening of Pokémon Red and Blue). While it still has some level of popularity in Japan, since then, Jigglypuff is rarely used in any marketing and has become less relevant as the generations go by. Despite this, it still keeps its spot in Smash Bros., unlike Young Link, Pichu etc who were removed as more modern or relevant characters from their franchises took their place, though it has come dangerously close to being cut several times.
- Interestingly, Jigglypuff again became a recurring character in the anime in the months before Ultimate was released.
Home Stage:
- 64: Saffron City.
- Melee: Pokémon Stadium and Poké Floats, used interchangeably in single-player modes.
- Brawl: Both debuting stages from its series^notePokémon Stadium 2 and Spear Pillar.
- 3DS/Wii U: All stages from its series^note.
- Ultimate: Pokémon Stadium in Ultimate's website, its fight in World of Light though takes place in Mushroom Kingdom U, and its normal unlock fight takes place in Saffron City.
Idle Animation: It turns to face the other way.
Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress: Rollout is a very powerful and very fast move when fully charged, but you can't turn around in mid-air, so if you roll off the edge... yeah. 3DS/Wii U allows you to finish the Rollout sooner if you hold the other direction while airborne, giving you a chance to get back on the stage, but the timing is rather strict.
Leitmotif: Ultimate gives it the Pokémon Center theme for its character trailer, Road to Viridian City for World of Light, and Saffron City (the N64 main Pokemon theme) for their standard approach.
Lethal Joke Character: According to Word of God, Jigglypuff was originally intended to be a Joke Character, with its weak attacks, light weight, popping like a balloon and losing a stock on a shield break, and its Up Special lacking a recovery effect. However, its very strong aerial mobility and attacks (which give it access to some lethal combo techniques) and its trump card in Rest will make sure YOU will be the one hitting the mat. These strengths make up for Jigglypuff's flaws in some games more than others, notably 64, Melee and, to a lesser extent, Ultimate.
Limit Break: Puff Up, which expands Jigglypuff to absurd levels, causing it to push foes off the stage.
Magic Music: Its singing, which induces sleep.
Martial Arts Headband: One of its alternate outfits in Melee.
Mirror Monster: When Jigglypuff uses Rest on a stage with a reflective floor in Melee, the reflection's eyes remain open.
Mon: The Balloon Pokémon.
Meteor Move: Down air in 64.
Moveset Clone: An interesting example in Jigglypuff's case in 64: while its special moves are unique, its regular moves, as well as its jumps, and even its taunt, are very similar to Kirby's. This has become less pronounced as the series progressed however.
Nerf: In 64 and Melee, Jigglypuff ended up as a terrifying Glass Cannon. In Brawl, its strong attacks were weakened and/or slowed down, with Rest requiring more damage to score KOs with it, and is also significantly more difficult to hit with. 3DS/Wii U remedies the nerfs to Rest, but its other weaknesses are further pronounced by its ground game becoming even weaker, plus Jigglypuff's recovery advantages were reduced by the general improvements to other characters' recoveries (as well as its own becoming worse), and the new shield mechanics completely work against it (although they let Pound break any shield with less than 70% health), making its shield jump that much more of a problem. Also, its strengths like its air game were nerfed.
One-Hit KO:
- Rest can do this at low percentages; as low as around 25% in Melee, 75% in Brawl, and 50% in 3DS/Wii U.
- If Jigglypuff's shield breaks, it will immediately fly up straight into the air and cause it to get KO'd unless it hits a solid ceiling, in which case it will stick around spinning for quite a few seconds before falling back down.
Optional Boss: One of the three secret fighters that can be unlocked via The Subspace Emissary, where it is never fought in the main campaign and can only be found off the beaten path.
Our Fairies Are Different: While trophy descriptions for 3DS/Wii U do mention that it's now a Normal/Fairy type as of Pokémon X and Y, it remains largely the same for Smash Bros..
Palette Swap: Like Pikachu's, they come with hats. The bow on the back of its palette swaps in all games, the flower by its ear starting from Melee, Sleep Kirby's hat and Leaf's hat in Brawl, Serena's hat and Nurse Joy's in 3DS/Wii U. Also, in Melee, another of its alternates was a crown that looked a lot like Peach's, and it had one where it had its Shiny palette in Brawl.
Pink Is Feminine: Subverted. Jigglypuff's body is a pale pink color, and its alternate costumes have it wear an array of different feminine hats & accessories, but its gender has never been officially confirmed.
Pintsized Powerhouse: More so in Melee than in any following game, but its Rest is always painful.
Pokémon Speak: It's a small, cute playable Pokémon in this series, so this is pretty much a given.
Power Creep, Power Seep: In Pokémon, Rest is a non-damaging move meant to remove status conditions and restore HP. In Smash, it is somehow extremely powerful, and a near One-Hit KO in Melee.
Resting Recovery: Completely averted for its normal variant of "Rest". In its home series, Rest can recover health but in this series, it cannot.
Retcon: Jigglypuff was originally a pure Normal-type before X and Y made it part Fairy.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: It's small, pink, and has big blue eyes.
Rolling Attack: Rollout, its neutral special from Melee onward, which can be charged up to make one nasty attack. Just don't accidentally careen off the edge. Incidentally a rock-type move in its home series.
Secret Character: One of the original four in the first game, and is usually grouped together with Luigi, Captain Falcon, and Ness for this reason. In fact, it's the only one of the four of them that remained consistently unlockable throughout most of the series, the Wii U version of the fourth game notwithstanding:
- For N64: Clear 1-Player Mode on any difficulty.
- For Melee: Fight in 50 VS. Matches, or clear Classic or Adventure Mode on any difficulty (if Mario has not yet unlocked Dr. Mario in Melee, he will challenge Doc instead).
- For Brawl: Fight in 350 brawls; have it join you in The Subspace Emissary^note; or clear The Subspace Emissary, finish Event Matches 1-20, then finish any Event Match.
- For 3DS: Complete 120 fights; or collect 30 piece of custom equipment.
- For Ultimate: Have a Cumulative Wait Time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, beat Classic Mode with Kirby or anyone in his unlock tree two times, or find and defeat it in World of Light.
Signature Move: Sing and Rest are strongly associated with Jigglypuff.
Sizeshifter: Puff Up makes it grow to absurd sizes. Better grab on to those ledges! ...Or don't, as its final shout will send any nearby opponent flying.
Stock Sound Effects: Rachael Lillis's recordings as Jigglypuff are still used in future games, even after Lillis was fired from the show.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The bow on the back of its palette swaps in all games, the flower by its ear starting from Melee, and Leaf's hat in Brawl, Serena's hat and Nurse Joy's in 3DS/Wii U. Also, in Melee, another of its alternates was a crown that looked a lot like Peach's. It's implicitly female, but unlike Pikachu, it never got any Secondary Sexual Characteristics so its gender is not completely confirmed.
Too Fast to Stop: Once Jigglypuff starts a Rollout, it won't stop until the charge peters out. This becomes a problem if it has to turn around, which removes the move's hitbox and leaves it vulnerable while turning. And let's not get started on rolling off the edge...
Your Size May Vary: An average Jigglypuff is about 1'08", not much bigger than Pikachu. It too has been scaled up for size◊.

Characters / Super Smash Bros. 64 - 09 to 12

Voiced by: Charles Martinet

Voiced by: Makiko Ohmoto

Voiced by: Ryō Horikawa

Voiced by: Mika Kanai (Japanese), Rachael Lillis (English), Guilaine Gilbert (Smash 64 and Melee; French), Virginie Demians (Brawl onwards; French), Mara Winzer (Smash 64 and Melee; German), Dina Kuerten (Brawl onwards; German)

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Characters / Super Smash Bros. 64 - 09 to 12

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Voiced by: Charles Martinet

Voiced by: Makiko Ohmoto

Voiced by: Ryō Horikawa

Voiced by: Mika Kanai (Japanese), Rachael Lillis (English), Guilaine Gilbert (Smash 64 and Melee; French), Virginie Demians (Brawl onwards; French), Mara Winzer (Smash 64 and Melee; German), Dina Kuerten (Brawl onwards; German)

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