Characters / Super Smash Bros. - Joker

Super Smash Bros. characters index
Playable characters:
64: 01–04 (Starting Roster 1) | 05–08 (Starting Roster 2) | 09–12 (Unlockable Fighters)
Melee: 13–17 (Starting Newcomers) | 18–22 (Unlockable Fighters 1) | 23–26 (Unlockable Fighters 2)
Brawl: 27–31 (E3 2006) | 32–39 (Smash Bros. DOJO!! 2007) | 40–44 (Smash Bros. DOJO!! 2008)
For 3DS and Wii U: 45–49 (Pre-Smash Direct) | 50–55 (Smash Direct and E3 2014) | 56–59 (Remaining Roster) | 60–63 (DLC Fighters)
Ultimate: 64–69 (Initial Release) | New Echo Fighters | 70–75 (DLC Fighters 1) | 76–82 (DLC Fighters 2)
Mii Costumes
Individual Characters: Joker | Sephiroth
Non-playable characters:
Poké Ball Pokémon | Assist Trophies | Enemies | Bosses | Stage Characters | Others

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71 – Joker

The Great Phantom Thief

^{Shujin Academy Outfit}

^{Unmasked Joker with Arsène}

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Xander Mobus (English)

JOKER STEALS THE SHOW!

Home series: Persona

Debut: Persona 5 [PlayStation 3/PlayStation 4], 2016

Nintendo debut: Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth [Nintendo 3DS], 2018

Creator: P-Studio

Publisher: Atlus (owned by Sega)

Playable in: Ultimate
Specials: (normal) Gun, Eiha, Grappling Hook, Rebel's Guard
Specials: (Arsène) Gun Special, Eigaon, Wings of Rebellion, Tetrakarn/Makarakarn
Final Smash: All-Out Attack

"This is Joker. The mission is go."^note "I've infiltrated the theater" in the original version of the trailer shown at The Game Awards.

The infamous masked rebel and main protagonist of Persona 5, the third playable character from Sega, and the first from its subsidiary Atlus. Joker was the first fighter revealed for the Fighters Pass, hacking into the Game Awards on December 6, 2018 to announce his presence mere hours before the release of Ultimate, later being brought fully on April 17, 2019 as part of the Version 3.0 update.

In the year 20XX, a rebellious Japanese high school sophomore with a strong sense of justice intervened to protect a woman from a molester who happened to be a powerful and rich politician - earning an assault conviction in the process. After being sent to a new school in Tokyo to serve out his probation, he soon becomes the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts: a group of seemingly-ordinary outcasts who have awakened to their "Personas": psychophysical manifestations of their rebellious spirits; in doing so, he adopts the code name "Joker", referencing his ability to use multiple Personas, aptly called the Wild Card. With the power of a mysterious phone app and the guidance of a cartoony cat creature named Morgana, the Phantom Thieves dive into the Metaverse, an alternate world born from the collective unconscious of humanity, aiming to steal the distorted desires of corrupt individuals to invoke a "change of heart", enact societal reform, and bring hope to those who cannot fight for themselves. Joker's trademark Persona is Arsène of the Fool Arcana, who attacks with powerful darkness-based spells.

His gameplay style revolves around fast attacks and movements fitting for a thief, utilizing his knife and gun alongside each other to blitz his opponents. Unique to him is his Rebellion Gauge, which, when filled, allows him to summon his Persona, Arsène, to temporarily strengthen his attacks and enhance his specials. The Rebellion Gauge fills very slowly over time, as well as when Joker takes damage: but with Rebel's Guard, Joker can mitigate any damage he sustains while filling the Gauge at a much faster rate. Joker is at the top of his game when he can consistently summon Arsène, timing his use of Rebel's Guard to tank attacks from foes before unleashing the full breadth of his power.

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Special Moves^{Click to show}
Fighter Ability: Arsène

• When Joker's Rebellion Gauge is completely filled, he will summon his Persona, Arsène. While Arsène is summoned, Joker's special attacks take on new properties, and his normal attacks become significantly stronger.

Neutral Special: Gun / Gun Special

• Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Joker whips out a pistol and starts firing forward. On the ground, he can dash forward or back a limited number of times while firing; while in the air, Joker can aim downwards or fire in all directions. With Arsène summoned, the gun becomes capable of firing in stronger three-bullet bursts.

Side Special: Eiha / Eigaon

• Joker launches a curse-element projectile at a slight downward angle that, upon impact, inflicts continuous damage over time. With Arsène summoned, the projectile becomes larger, creates a small explosion on impact, and inflicts more damage over time.

Up Special: Grappling Hook / Wings of Rebellion

• Without Arsène, Joker launches his grappling hook at a slightly-diagonal upward angle, tethering to nearby ledges. It can also function as a moderate-ranged grapple attack. With Arsène, Joker gains the ability to take flight on his Persona's wings, launching himself through the air.

Down Special: Rebel Guard / Tetrakarn / Makarakarn

• Without Arsène, Joker assumes a defensive stance. In this stance, damage he incurs is reduced, and his Rebellion Gauge fills more quickly, allowing him to summon Arsène more quickly. With Arsène, Joker performs a counter that both punish melee strikes and reflect projectiles.

Final Smash: All-Out Attack

• Joker dashes forward to slash at his opponents. If the attack successfully lands, Joker calls in his fellow Phantom Thieves (in one of two groups: Ann, Ryuji, and Morgana; or Yusuke, Makoto, and Haru) and lays the smackdown on their hapless victims. Afterwards, Joker strikes a stylish pose as his opponents explode in a shower of sparks while declaring "THE SHOW'S OVER!" Any victims that have incurred more than 100% damage will be instantly KO'd, and if those KOs result in Joker's victory, the screen will pause on this scene as the battle's results are displayed.

See Joker's page for more information on the character in his origin series.

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A — E

• Adaptational Badass:
  • While no slouch in their home game, both Joker and Arsène take many levels in badassery in the transition to Smash. Joker is depicted with a more agile and hard-hitting fighting style without falling back on his Personas, and even being able to use Skills without a Persona, while Arsène is an absolute beast who can tear through enemies quick when active alongside his user. He can not only help Joker fly — something that was never depicted in their source game — but also has access to both of the -Karn skills that repel enemy attacks, despite not being able to learn them naturally outside of Fusion, and Skill Cards in Persona 5. This is lampshaded in his gameplay trailer, where Ryuji wonders why he's using Arsène and not a more powerful Persona.
  • If Persona 4: The Animation and Persona 4: Arena are any indication, Personas can be damaged, and the damage affects the user (by the user feeling phantom pain, and losing their Persona temporarily, respectively). Here, Arsène is explicitly mentioned to be invincible when summoned (granted, this was obviously done for balancing so that Joker's powered-up form wouldn't give him a bigger hurtbox).
• Anti-Air: Grappling Hook shoots at an upwards angle and has a very long reach, useful for shutting down foes approaching from the air.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Presumably because it would be too distracting otherwise, the Super Move Portrait Attack effect from summoning Arsène only appears if Joker is not currently in the middle of another animation, and if it's a 1v1 match, a CPU-only match, or a match with only one human player remaining.
  • The momentum-halting animations for summoning and expelling Arsène won't happen if Joker is in the middle of another animation, preventing it from interrupting attack strings or saving Joker himself from suffering knockback. Instead, Arsène will just appear right alongside Joker without the flourish.
  • Joker is completely invincible (and, if he was in midair, hovers unmoving) during the animations for summoning and calling off Arsène. Being as these can't be manually controlled and they're rather lengthy animations that would leave Joker helpless if he could be harmed during them, it's only fair.
• Art Shift:
  • Joker's reveal trailer is animated in the same style as his home game. The first half is styled after the predominantly red and black opening cutscene, while the second half is styled after the normally colored other cutscenes of the game. This was actually invoked by Sakurai; as Joker himself wasn't in a presentable state at the time, the choice was made for an anime cutscene to announce his arrival. This gives him the distinction of being the only member of Ultimate's class of newcomers to utilize a different art style for his reveal instead of the standard CGI fare.
  • The start and finish of an All Out Attack also has the same style as his home game.
• Assist Character:
  • Arsène, his first Persona, appears to assist him once he maxes out his Rebellion Gauge. Arsène's presence boosts Joker's reach and attack power, and even changes his Special moves.
  • For his Final Smash, the other Phantom Thieves (except for Futaba and Akechi) show up to help Joker lay a beatdown on his opponents. Only three of them appear at a time, but they randomly cycle between two sets for the animation; The first set has the founding members Morgana, Ryuji, and Ann, while the second set has three of the later members Yusuke, Makoto, and Haru.
• Background Music Override: As with Cloud, Joker's victory theme — the exact same as Persona 5 — takes over the normal post-fight fanfare and endlessly loops. Joker also marks the first time a single character has more than one victory fanfare in the same game; the results themes from Persona 3 and Persona 4 play instead if he wins a match on Mementos while songs from either one of those games are playing.
• Badass Boast: His allies give one on his behalf during his gameplay trailer. Against Nintendo's most famous fighters and an increasingly-large collection of guest stars, will Joker be alright?
  Queen: I mean, he's got a knife and a gun. I'm sure he'll be fine.
• Badass Finger Snap: Eiha and Eigaon are cast via Joker snapping his fingers.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: In addition to sporting a Badass Longcoat, Joker also wears a fancy suit with a button-down waistcoat, handkerchief, and red gloves in his Metaverse outfit. Like-wise, Arsène sports a white cravat, waistcoat, and top-hat.
• Badass Longcoat: Sports a spiffy black longcoat that complements his thief aesthetic.
• Battle Intro: Falls from the top of the screen, much like how the party begins most battles in Persona 5, then tightens his glove.
• Big "WHAT?!": Yells out "WHAT?!" in one of his KO quotes.
• Bond One-Liner: "THE SHOW'S OVER", displayed on the splash screen that appears at the end of his All-Out Attack.
• Bottomless Magazines: He never runs out of ammo or even needs to reload, in sharp contrast to his own game, where gun ammo is the most difficult resource to replenish^note Except in Royal, where ammo automatically replenishes after each fight.
• Bowdlerize:
  • Though not to the extent of Bayonetta, since his gun was totally untouched, some aspects of Joker's All-Out Attack were changed to be more family-friendly. The High-Pressure Blood that occurs when enemies are destroyed is replaced with star sparkles instead, and Morgana's "Time for some bloodshed!" line is changed to "Time for some brutality!".
  • The incident that got him sent to probation, namely trying to save a woman from a molester, is instead referred to by the Tips as "a certain incident".
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: True to form, Joker's reveal trailer featured him blacking out the lights and hijacking Geoff Keighley's presentation during the Game Awards 2018. The reveal echoed Persona 5's original reveal trailer during the 2015 Persona concert, where the lights also went out, with a voice-over from Joker. When the trailer was released online elsewhere, the static effect was kept, but his dialog was slightly altered, along with the Phantom Thieves' discussion after it (wondering why he went all the way to the Game Awards is changed to wondering why he went on a mission alone):
  Joker, The Game Awards 2018 premiere: This is Joker. I've infiltrated the theater.
  Joker, normal trailer: This is Joker. The mission is go.
• Button Mashing: Mashing the special button allows Joker to fire his gun significantly faster than simply holding it down.
• Calling Card: The Phantom Thieves' signature "TAKE YOUR HEART" calling card logo signals Joker's arrival in his reveal trailer, and acts as the logo for the Persona series as a whole in Smash. Ironically, as pointed out by Morgana, Joker received a calling card of his own in the form of an envelope with a Smash Ball-shaped seal.
• Calling Your Attacks: As with other Persona characters in their fighting game spin-offs, he calls out the names of skills Arsène can perform (Eiha, Eigaon, Makarakarn, Tetrakarn).
• Canon Identifier: He just goes by his code name "Joker" in Smash without using his real name^note Ren Amamiya (anime and Dancing spinoff) or Akira Kurusu (manga) (which, in the original Persona 5, isn't static). Funnily enough, this same treatment was applied to the Mii costumes of his predecessors, who are simply referred to as the "Persona 3/4 Protagonist", rather than their own canon names of Makoto Yuki/Minato Arisato and Souji Seta/Yu Narukami, respectively. That being said, his amiibo description uses Ren Amamiya.
• Casting a Shadow: Arsène specializes in Curse magic, just as he did in Persona 5. Eiha and the counterattack of Rebel's Guard both have Joker strike the opponent with dark magic. While Arsène is active, Eiha is upgraded to Eigaon, and several of Joker's normal attacks gain darkness properties.
• Classy Cravat: Arsène sports a white cravat as a part of his Badass in a Nice Suit design.
• Color Motif: Like in his home game, Joker's attack swings, backgrounds, and general aesthetic heavily feature red and black, signifying his heroism, his rebellious nature, and the exciting thrills that come from being a Phantom Thief.
• Combat Stilettos: Arsène's shoes have bladed high heels on them, and he'll use them to kick foes into submission once he's summoned with various stomps and punts.
• Combination Attack: The All-Out Attack is a coordinated Speed Blitz performed by Joker and his teammates. Notably, in his home game, All-Out Attacks require at least one other party member besides Joker himself to execute.
• Comeback Mechanic: The Rebellion Gauge will charge much faster if Joker is lagging behind in a match, whether it be in terms of damage, KO count, or Stock count. One could say that this can allow him to steal away a victory from his foes with Arsène's power.
• Continuing is Painful: If Joker is K.O.'d, most of his Rebellion Gauge will empty. This discourages players from simply eating heavy damage to fill the gauge faster, as they will likely be K.O.'d before Arsène is summoned. That said, there is something of a built-in Comeback Mechanic to balance this out even further; the closer Joker is to defeat, the faster the Rebellion Gauge can fill up.^note As a means of comparison, in a 3-stock match, it takes 70% of raw damage to Joker at three stocks with no use of Rebel's Guard to summon Arsène, while that percentage is reduced to just 30% when he's on the verge of elimination.
• Damage Over Time: Eiha and its upgraded form Eigaon inflict a poison-like effect on foes that are hit, slowly dealing additional damage to them over time.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Arsène uses darkness based attacks and has a straight up demonic face with horns, but Joker himself is a heroic figure.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: His kit is built around dealing multiple attacks on the opponent and then summoning his Persona, Arsène, to finish his opponent off when his attacks are significantly stronger. This is exemplified with his Side Special, Eiha, which is a Damage Over Time skill that is stronger when he awakens his Persona. Without the buffs from Arsène, Joker tends to have trouble getting KOs.
• Defend Command: Rebel's Guard allows Joker to tank attacks, reducing all damage by half while also filling his Rebellion Gauge faster than normal. It changes to Tetrakarn and Makarakarn when Arsène is active.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit: While his Rebellion Gauge will slowly rise while being damaged, you'll want to deliberately take hits while using Rebel's Guard, as it allows you to tank them at half the damage while filling the gauge much faster.
• Devious Daggers: Just as always, Joker prefers using knives as weapons — a first among fighters in Smash, as all current characters who primarily use bladed weapons rely on a sword instead. In Smash, he specifically uses the Silver Dagger, one of the first knives he can obtain in his home game as well as the one he is depicted with in official Persona 5 artwork (seen in-game in his Fighter Spirit).
• Difficult, but Awesome:
  • His neutral special requires a bit more finesse than your typical Special attack, having multiple variants depending on position and input. That said, it's one of the most versatile zoning-based neutral specials in the game when used properly, not to mention that it looks really cool.
  • His Rebellion Gauge requires time to charge up, can only be manually charged with a Down Special that's a command block, and lowers when he's K.O'd. That said, when fully charged, he summons Arsène to act as a Super Mode, and becomes much more powerful.
• Domino Mask: He wears a black and white mask which covers his eyes and a small part of his face. The mask is designed to resemble a bird, which he takes off with (literal) fiery flourish whenever he summons his Persona.
• Downloadable Content: The first member of the Fighters Pass 1 quintet, released on April 17th of 2019. Buying him also nets you the Mementos stage, 11 songs from Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5, and access to his unique DLC Spirit Board, where 11 Spirit Battles for Persona 5 characters await.
• Dramatic Unmask: At the end of his reveal trailer, Joker takes off his mask to both reveal his true face and summon Arsène. This is even a gameplay mechanic; maxing out the Rebellion Gauge has Joker unmask to summon Arsene. If Joker is in his Shujin Academy outfit, The Glasses Come Off instead.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Not Joker himself, but his Grappling Hook. In the original Persona 5, the grappling hook was only used during menu transitions, and never used once during gameplay. The fact that it's a part of his moveset was a preview for Persona 5 Royal, where Joker makes use of the Grappling Hook to get to places that weren't accessible in the original game.

F — L

• Fantasy Gun Control: Is the second fighter on the roster next to Bayonetta to use an actual gun. Granted, it's actually a model gun; the cognitive powers of the Metaverse cause it to function exactly like a normal one, making it by far the closest Smash has to a realistic gun.
• Fighting Spirit: His Persona, Arsène. Compared to how Personas are depicted in other games (such as Joker's own game and the Persona 4: Arena fighting games), Arsène is shown here as much more physically offensive, closely mirroring Joker's own moves and directly aiding him in attacks rather than acting as an independent, Mon-esque ally.
• Finishing Move: All-Out Attack will instantly KO victims with at least 100% damage. If this depletes the last stock of all of Joker's opponents, the screen stays on the attack splash as the results appear, just like in Persona 5.
• Firing One-Handed: Since his other hand is always occupied by his knife.
• Foil:
  • Joker both compliments and contrasts with the next character's default Hero, Eleven. Both are silent protagonist teenagers living normal lives who go on journeys to save the world after being branded criminals by corrupt authority figures. Joker is a more modern character, a dubious Anti-Hero, and has a Dark Is Not Evil theme. Eleven on the other hand is more medieval and is an archetypical hero with a Light Is Good motif. Joker's finale is summoning a Satanic Archetype to defeat an evil god, while Eleven is blessed by a genuinely good god to defeat satanic archetypes. In terms of fighting, Joker limits himself by only using Arsène and curse skills and a down special that is more Boring, but Practical, while Hero holds nothing back and uses a wide variety of elements and spells from a down special, some of which are Awesome, but Impractical in the wrong hands.
  • Joker also acts as a foil to the character that ended the same season of DLC he started, Byleth. Both characters are silent protagonists hailing from RPGs which blend traditional role-playing game action with life simulator and time management mechanics, and possess similar Dark Is Not Evil motifs: Joker as a wanted criminal who outright uses dark magic while Byleth is a mercenary known for their Nom de Guerre "The Ashen Demon". Both gain supernatural power from an otherworldly entity (Igor and Sothis), and become the respective leaders of their Ragtag Band of Misfits. While Joker is a student who hails from modern real-world Tokyo, Byleth is a professor who hails from a medieval universe inspired primarily by European imagery. In Smash, Joker's choice to restrict himself primarily to his Starter Equipment and Starter Mon contrasts Byleth's arsenal being predominantly composed of the various ultimate weapons they (or rather, the house leaders they ally with) wield.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: For a very brief moment when Joker's All-Out Attack begins, his companions are shown to be using their ultimate weapons (contrast with Joker using his Starter Equipment in Smash), which disappear when they jump up.
• Gangsta Style: Several of his animations while using Gun has him firing in this manner.
• Gathering Steam: While Joker has combo potential without Arsène, most of his attacks lack knockback, so he struggles to actually KO his opponents. But with Arsène on the field, Joker gains incredible combo potential, great range, and high knockout ability.
• Gentleman Thief: Exudes confidence and finesse as he goes on missions with or without his troupe of Phantom Thieves. The saturated red in his reveal trailer emphasizes this trait as a callback to his game of origin. However, he is still technically a thief; true to form, Morgana implies that Joker went to the Game Awards to steal an invitation to Smash, meaning that he's the only newcomer to the series who deliberately manipulated events to enter the game rather than being invited. His Persona is even based on Arsène Lupin, the quintessential gentleman thief in fiction.
• The Glasses Come Off: In his Shujin Academy skin, Joker opts to pull off his glasses when summoning Arsène instead of his mask, as a Mythology Gag to Persona 4.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: Befitting of Joker's Anti-Hero personality, Arsène sports black angel wings.
• Grapple Move: Grappling Hook shoots at an upwards angle, and if it hits an enemy while Joker is on the ground, he'll yank them in and toss them away. It can even be used to snatch items from afar.
• Guardian Entity: Joker's Persona, Arsène, is a materialized facet of Joker's psyche that represents his desire to rebel against authority, and can attack his opponents with various supernatural abilities.
  Arsène: I am thou, thou art I. Show the strength of thy will, and rage against all challengers!
• Guest Fighter: The 11th in Smash Bros. series history, the first from Atlus, and by extension of Atlus being their subsidiary, the third to hail from SEGA.
• Gun Fu: His gunshots can be mixed with short dodges and evasive jumps. While in the air, he can perform acrobatic attacks wherein he aims downwards while falling, or spin his body in a wheel motion to pepper foes all around him.
• Guns Are Worthless: It's a fighting game, so natch. Gun's normal attacks only do a few percents worth of damage at absolute best, and it's not as easily spammable as comparable moves like Fox's Blaster. Its real strength stems from its utility, giving Joker agile dodge options, a unique approach tool, and, especially with its souped-up hitstun capability while Arsène is active, very powerful anti-recovery moves.
• Hitscan: Much like Bayonetta's Bullet Arts, the shots from Joker's Gun don't actually count as projectiles, and work in-engine as invisible melee hitboxes with a long range. This also means that they can't be reflected or absorbed by Specials like PSI Magnet, the Star Fox cast's Reflectors, Kirby and Dedede's Inhale, or his own Makarakarn.
• Home Stage: Ultimate: Mementos, the Palace birthed from the masses' collective cognition and the randomly generated core dungeon of Persona 5. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts offer comments in the background, and its normal red color scheme can be changed to fit the yellow and blue motifs of Persona 4 and Persona 3 respectively if a song from either of those games plays in the background.
• Hour of Power: His playstyle revolves around this. Arsène appears when the Rebellion Gauge is filled, and while he is out, all of Joker's attacks become stronger and some of them take on different properties until the gauge is depleted. The intended gimmick is for Joker to rack up damage with speed and tricky tactics until the gauge fills, then use Arsène to finish the enemies off.
• Idle Animation:
  • He twirls his knife in a circular motion.
  • He lowers his knife and twirls his gun in front of his face.
• Immune to Flinching: His Rebel's Guard gives him armor while he uses it, and can allow him to tank combos while active. Unlike other counters/command blocks, Rebel's Guard can be held down longer to absorb more attacks, in theory allowing Joker to build up Arsène in one single go, but it suffers from a massive ending lag if held without anyone hitting him, and it doesn't protect him from grabs.
• Instant-Win Condition: Should Joker hit all of his opponents with his Final Smash when their damage is over 100% each and they're all on their last stock, Joker automatically wins the match, going straight to the results. The screen replicates the one from his home game after an All-Out Attack victory by turning grayscale and gently waving.
• Jack of All Stats: Decent projectiles, very good recoveries, agile aerial options, fairly short melee range, above-average speed, and slightly below-average weight.
• Kid Hero: He leads a team of righteous thieves while being a 16- or 17-year-old high school student.
• Leitmotif:
  • The first half of his trailer is accompanied by the instrumental version of "Life Will Change". The second half instead plays "The Spirit". In his home game, the former song plays whenever the Phantom Thieves send a calling card before raiding a Palace of its Treasure, while the latter plays whenever Joker's Confidants either unlock or level up. In his gameplay trailer, "Last Surprise" (the standard battle theme) and a new remix of "Beneath the Mask" (the nighttime and rainy day theme) play too. When fought as the primary opponent as part of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts spirit, the battle is set to "Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There", the opening theme to Persona 5.
  • His victory theme is taking from Persona 5's post-battle music; however, if Joker wins on Mementos with a track from Persona 4 or Persona 3 playing, his victory theme will be the post-battle music from those respective games. This makes Joker the only fighter with more than one victory theme in the same game.
• Lightning Bruiser: When Arsène is active, almost all of his attacks are greatly buffed and some even have high killing power, with no drawback to his already-great agility and speed.
• Limit Break: All-Out Attack, a Speed Blitz that Joker performs alongside his fellow Phantom Thieves.
  Joker: Ravage them!

M — W

• Mana Meter: The Rebellion Gauge. It fills up slowly over time, but fills itself more when Joker is damaged or when he blocks an attack with Rebel's Guard. Once it maxes out, Joker can temporarily summon Arsène in order to power up his attacks and change his Specials.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Joker is a more explicit Magikarp Power fighter than Lucario due to his Rebellion Gauge mechanic, as his playstyle revolves around blocking enough attacks and lasting for a while in his weaker normal form, then laying on damage once his meter fills up and he can summon Arsène to improve his attack damage and change his Specials into stronger variants.
• Meteor Move: When he's active, Arsène adds a meteor-smashing foot stomp to Joker's down aerial.
• More Dakka: While his normal gun attacks can only fire in three-round bursts at max, his special aerial gun attacks have him rapid-fire a stream of bullets that only end when either the input is canceled or he finally lands on the ground. He can also do this standing while Arsène is active.
• Mythology Gag: To a hilariously dedicated extent, especially knowing that Sakurai personally loved Persona 5 and has some personal fondness for the series since Persona. The number of references to the Persona series as a whole proves it:
  • His reveal trailer's premiere at the Game Awards 2018 features the Phantom Thieves literally stealing the show, hijacking the theatre's presentation screen, just like with Persona 5's initial reveal at the 2015 Persona concert. This is also similar to how the Thieves sent Shido their Calling Card in their home game via hacking into Japan's air waves.
  • In his reveal trailer, the other Smash fighters are depicted similarly to the Shadows from Mementos, revealing their true forms after initially appearing as black, blob-like monsters with white masks. This continued into his gameplay reveal, where most of his victory screens show him winning against other dark-themed characters (Dark Link, Dark Samus, Dark Pit, Ganondorf).
  • During Joker's reveal trailer, he's shown doing a mission alone while the other Phantom Thieves commentate over his actions, not unlike during Persona 5's Action Prologue.
  • At the end of his reveal trailer, Joker summons Arsène, who says the Persona series' famous Arc Words, "I am thou, thou art I.", just like when Arsène, and every other protagonist's Persona in the series, was initially awakened.
  • A shot in his gameplay trailer has him perform a spinning jump in front of a full moon, similar to the end of the Action Prologue of Persona 5 where he busts through a casino's stained glass window with a similar jump.
  • The gameplay trailer sees him in his Shujin uniform sitting in the "Humble/Shack" room of the Tomodachi Life stage, not unlike the ramshod LeBlanc café attic he spends Persona 5's story living out of. Piranha Plant is there with him, alluding to the potted plant the player has the option of caring for.
  • The gameplay trailer's Stinger has him make off with King K. Rool's crown. A crown is the form initially taken by the first Treasure the Phantom Thieves steal in their game. The same stinger ends with him also stealing Wario's bike. In Persona 5, Makoto's initial Persona, Johanna, takes the form of a motorbike, while a model bike can be purchased as a gift.
  • As the announcer begins to explain his Persona mechanic in the official gameplay reveal, Joker is framed in a way that causes his pistol to shine and stand out in the dark, in possible reference to the Evoker pistols from Persona 3 that were said title's method of summoning a Persona.
  • The Rebellion Gauge is styled after the SP Meter from the original Persona 5, and works in a similar manner, being the fuel for Arsène's attacks. In his home game, there are skills and accessories that regenerate SP each turn, similar to how the Rebellion Gauge fills up.
  • While Arsène is active, he appears semi-transparent as he follows behind Joker, and turns solid when performing an attack. This is identical to how Personas appear in P5 — semi-transparent when selecting an attack for them, and turning solid as they perform the attack.
  • Joker's up special when Arsène is active is called Wings of Rebellion, which are Arc Words used whenever a Confidant is unlocked in Persona 5.
  • Morgana appears during all of Joker's taunts.^note This is disabled in matches with 5 or more combatants. During one, he wears Wingding Eyes, just as he did a handful of times in P5, such as when he freaks out over finding Kamoshida's Treasure, while another has him say his ever famous, "Looking cool, Joker!".
  • The Grappling Hook Joker uses to recover without a full Rebellion Gauge is based on the one he used to swing throughout the menus in the original P5, and even made minor appearances in some of the Palace cutscenes, though it was never used in gameplay. In fact, gameplay-wise, it wouldn't have any importance in Joker's home series at all until Royal.
  • His All-Out Attack is almost exactly as it was in Persona 5, complete with Futaba or Morgana announcing the attack. Ending a match with it directly transitions the final shot into the victory screen, exactly like Persona 5.
  • Speaking of, the line he says when starting the Final Smash, "Ravage them!", is a quote he uses in Persona 5 when either finishing off an enemy or striking their weakness with a Persona's skill.
  • His unique win poses are taken wholesale from how they appear in Persona 5 when finishing a battle. One of his win poses has him board the Morganamobile just like when finishing a battle in Mementos, and the background of the victory screen gains Mementos' creepy blood-roots when that happens. Unlike the other two win poses with Morgana, he can be seen scratching the back of his head sheepishly, a nod to the win pose he has if winning a battle by himself. Normally, his victory music is the one from Persona 5, but if he wins a battle on Mementos while a song from Persona 3 or Persona 4 was playing, the background of the victory screen changes to blue or yellow, respectively, and it plays the victory themes from those games instead, similar to how those themes play when Joker when wins a battle in Persona 5 while wearing DLC costumes based on the corresponding games. Like Cloud, the song also loops continually on the victory screen. In addition, the announcer doesn't announce "Joker wins!" at the end if he does; just like P5, the Phantom Thieves will throw in praise for Joker's win at the victory screen, followed by one last comment from the man himself when the results are brought up. One such comment ("Begone.") is the exact same Pre-Mortem One-Liner he gives to Yaldabaoth before finishing him off at P5's end. In the Japanese version, one of his victory lines is an affirmative "Yosh" — something he frequently said in the Japanese version of P5 whenever something good happened.
  • His white costume for his Joker outfit is based on the colors of Goro Akechi, a.k.a. Crow of the Phantom Thieves, who is the only one of the group not to appear in Joker's Final Smash or Mementos. Probably because of his Guest-Star Party Member status in the vanilla version of Persona 5.
  • Joker's other colors in his Phantom Thief garb besides his normal outfit and the Akechi palette represent the primary colors of the previous Persona games: purple for Revelations Persona, red to represent the Persona 2 duology and 5, blue for Persona 3, and yellow for Persona 4. Alternatively, the blue color palette could represent Jun Kurosu (the original Joker), who wears a blue school uniform and has dark hair as well.
  • Joker takes off his glasses in his school uniform when Arsène is active, bringing to mind his predecessor Yu Narukami from Persona 4.
  • Eiha and Eigaon are both attacks that Arsène has canonically used: Eiha is one of his initial skills, while Eigaon is part of his massively buffed appearance in the Action Prologue. The latter even creates the same vortex-like pillar.
  • Eiha and Eigaon's Damage Over Time properties are presumably a reference to Revelations Persona, aka Persona 1, wherein Eiha and its ilk dealt continual damage to the target over the course of several turns.
  • If Arsène is summoned during a one on one match, a match with only one human player, or a CPU only match, a special portrait cut-in will appear. This is the very same one that appears in Persona 5 whenever Joker lands a Critical Hit.
  • Successfully attacking Joker while Arsène is present causes the Rebellion Gauge to deplete faster, effectively reducing his active time on the field. This mechanic is a close stand-in to the Persona Break mechanic from Persona 4: Arena, where attacking a Persona enough times would cause them to temporarily disappear and lock their user out of moves that need them present. The Rebellion Gauge's Comeback Mechanic properties serves as a stand-in to another Arena mechanic: Awakening, which triggers a powered-up state when a character is closer to defeat.
  • If Joker taunts while Arsène is active, Arsène makes a pose identical to the one in his promotional artwork for Persona 5.
  • Several of his animations closely resemble his motions from Persona 5. His double jump resembles his dramatic Super Window Jump from the prologue of P5. He snaps his fingers when using Eiha, just like when using an item in his own game. His downward tilt has him perform a baseball slide, similarly to how he can slide under security lasers in P5. Some of his movements for Gun closely resemble his acrobatic Leap and Fire techniques from his Down Shot ability in P5. His backwards dodge is a showy backflip, just like he does in 5 when dodging dungeon hazards, while his sidestep looks identical to his in-battle dodge animation. His trip and sleeping animations are nearly identical to his animation when knocked down after suffering a strong attack in P5 encounters. Rebel's Guard has him assume the same stance used when selecting a Persona attack, complete with flaming mask and aura around his feet, albeit slightly modified to show him guarding with his forearm similar to his normal guard animation.
  • He keeps his Character Tic of habitually tightening his gloves, seen in his on-screen appearance, his up taunt (where he imitates his "The show's over" All-Out Attack splash screen), and his team battle win pose when he's not in front.
  • His gun appears to be his default firearm from Persona 5 — a Norinco Type 54, identified in Persona 5 as a "Tkachev". He also wields the Silver Dagger found in the first Palace. In contrast, his fellow Phantom Thieves use their ultimate weapons in his All-Out Attack.
  • Many of both his and his teammates' lines are modified or taken wholesale from Persona 5, with the voice clips rerecorded by their original voice actors.
  • In addition to borrowing his mask and hair, Kirby gains red eyes when he copies Joker, referencing Joker's alternate eye color in Persona 5's opening and All-Out Attack splash screen.
  • In Persona 5, gun skills needed to be repelled with Tetrakarn rather than with Makarakarn despite being ranged attacks. This is reflected through Joker's Gun attacks here being classified as physical attacks, meaning that they not only ignore reflectors, but they trigger a Tetrakarn (as well as Palutena and K. Rool's default counters) in a Mirror Match.
  • His Classic Mode route is themed after the Shadows that he regularly fights. After each battle, an enemy from the previous one acts as his CPU ally for the next one, alluding to how Joker can recruit the Shadows as his Personas through Hold Up negotiations. His second-to-last fight has him battle a giant Incineroar while "Rivers in the Desert" plays, a nod to the boss fight against the grotesquely-muscular Samael/Masayoshi Shido in P5. The final battle against Master Hand and Crazy Hand takes place on Omega form Mementos with "Our Beginning" playing, referencing how the bottom depths of Mementos serves as The Very Definitely Final Dungeon of Persona 5, and the music is taken from the last phase of the game's Final Boss fight.
• Noodle People: Arsène is gangly, his legs being longer than the rest of his body.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: It's stated that he got his invitation by swiping it from an unknown recipient.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: His civilian name has been given as both Akira Kurusu and Ren Amamiya in official material (the former through the manga, the latter starting from the anime and used subsequently in the dancing spinoff), with Ren Amamiya seemingly preferred by Atlus. In this game, Joker is solely referred to by his thief codename with no mention of his civilian name.
• Palette Swap: Joker has a few notable alts; his sixth outfit colors his Phantom Thief garb in a palette that makes it resemble the outfit Goro Akechi, codename Crow, wears as a member of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, his seventh alt replaces the Phantom Thief outfit with his Shujin Academy uniform, and his eighth alt is a white variant of that outfit that resembles the summer uniform.
• Phantom Thief: Joker is the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, who perform Heel–Face Brainwashing on their enemies by stealing their twisted and evil hearts in the Mental World of the Metaverse. His Persona, Arsène, is also based on the Trope Codifier, Arsène Lupin.
• Player Character: Much like the Pokémon Trainer, Robin, Corrin, the Hero and previous Persona protagonists such as Yu Narukami, Joker is the avatar the player uses to interact with everyone in his game of origin.
• Power Gives You Wings: Arsène acts as a Super Mode for him, and Arsène himself serves as the wings.
• Production Foreshadowing: Joker's normal recovery move, Grappling Hook, references the then-unreleased Persona 5: Royal, an Updated Re-release of Persona 5, where a new game mechanic has Joker use a grappling hook to traverse through Palaces and gain access to areas that were not in the original game.
• Public Domain Character: Arsène is based on the titular character from Maurice Leblanc's Arsène Lupin novels, making him one of a few entities in Smash to not technically originate from a video game.
• Rebellious Spirit: A Central Theme of Persona 5 is fighting against corrupt authority in order to bring about reform for society, with the Phantom Thieves' Personas and very outfits being born from their will to rebel. This is reflected in Joker's moveset via the Rebellion Gauge, which, in both a symbolic and literal sense, allows him to gain the power needed to strike back against oppressive foes.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Downplayed. Joker and Arsène have a black and red color motif, emphasizing his identity as a rebellious Anti-Hero thief rather than The Cape.
• Red Is Heroic: He's strongly associated with the color red. His gloves are bright red, and many of his backgrounds, attacks, and aesthetics are red-tinted. Arsène's coloration is also predominantly red.
• Reverse Grip: Unlike in Persona 5, Joker wields his knife in a reverse style here, complete with Weapon Twirling when idle for long enough.
• Rule of Cool: Out of all of Joker's Personas, unless you've heavily min-maxed him with certain Fusion methods, Arsène is one of his weakest. Why does he opt for him rather than a stronger one? Ann says no one cares about that and thinks Arsène is awesome. Plus traditionally, the anime adaptations of P3, P4, and P5, as well as spin-offs like Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth and Persona 4: Arena, have elevated the protagonists' starter Personas to similar heights in various manners.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: His Shujin Academy uniform is one of his alternate colors, coming in form of its canon design and a white variant. Joker's mask is replaced with his glasses, which he takes off when Arsène is active.
• Shock and Awe: While Arsène is active, Joker's up-tilt (and, strangely, only his up-tilt) gains electric damage.
• Shout-Out: His downward guns that you can fire both on the air and on the ground resemble Dante's Rain Storm, also, the way Arsene is summoned as a spectral entity standing behind Joker and buffs his attacks resemble Nero's first Devil Trigger.
• Slide Attack: His down tilt is one, based on how he slides under security lasers in his home game.
• Speed Blitz: During the All-Out Attack, Joker and his comrades move and attack so fast that they appear as black blurs.
• Starter Equipment: Joker in Smash uses the weapons he initially starts out with in Persona 5. This includes Arsène, who in P5 is the player's starting Persona that invariably gets replaced by stronger Personas after the first dungeon. Conversely, the other Phantom Thieves in Joker's All-Out Attack all wield their ultimate melee weapons.
• Super Mode: Filling up the Rebellion Gauge causes Joker to summon Arsène. While active, Arsène buffs almost all of his attacks, his dodge rolls become marginally better, Rebel's Guard is replaced with the powerful counter attacks Tetrakarn and Makarakarn, and Joker exchanges the Grappling Hook recovery for hitching a ride on Arsène's wings.
• Super Move Portrait Attack: Similar to the original Persona 5 when an enemy was about to be hit with either their weakness or a critical hit, a special cut-in portrait will appear when Arsène is summoned, and the All-Out Attack features portraits for both Joker and his partners-in-crime.
• Sword and Fist: Mixes up his knife strikes with various acrobatic kicks, including a football kick/side kick combo for his dash attack and a corkscrewing drill kick for his up aerial.
• Sword and Gun: Along with his knife, his other primary weapon is his pistol, which he uses with athletics and grace rivaling Bayonetta's.
• Trash Talk: One of the chattier fighters in the game, he punctuates many of his attacks with insults, such as "You're mine!" when snatching a foe with Grappling Hook and a smug "Not enough" when countering with Tetrakarn. The rest of the Phantom Thieves join in on it during All-Out Attack and his victory screen.
  Ryuji: Ha! Losers!
• Unexplained Recovery: Unlike his fellow DLC fighter Piranha Plant, Joker had to be captured by Galeem for him to be present in the Phantom Thieves of Hearts collective spirit and to possess a puppet of himself for said fight. However, just like Piranha Plant, him being a DLC character means he has no legitimate role in World of Light and is automatically unlocked after freeing 10 fighters, leaving his recovery unexplained.
• Victory Pose: Joker's victory screens are taken directly from Persona 5's victory screen, which has Joker run in a circle around the battle field. The color of the ribbon reflects the player or their team's colors. Finally, one of the Phantom Thieves will make a comment.
  • Morgana bounces around before following Joker as they run around the field.
  • Morgana transforms into the Morganamobile and picks Joker up as they drive around the field.
  • Morgana bumps into the fourth wall before running with Joker.
  • If Joker takes his opponent's last stock with All-Out Attack, the game plays the results screen over the finishing touch.
  • Uniquely, Joker's victory pose if he is on the winning team but not the lead player reuses his up taunt and idle animation in lieu of one of his existing victory poses.
• Wall Jump: Fitting for a speedy thief, Joker's capable of wall-jumping. Surprisingly, this is one of the few acrobatic stunts he didn't pull off in his home game.
• Wolverine Claws: Once summoned, Arsène will complement Joker's knife swings by swiping with his clawed hands.
• Wreathed in Flames: Arsène is constantly surrounded by blue ethereal flames.

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