Olimar (SSB4)

This article is about Olimar's appearance in Super Smash Bros. 4. For other uses, see Captain Olimar and Pikmin (species).

Olimar in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Pikmin
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	End of Day
Tier	C (21)

Olimar (ピクミン＆オリマー, Pikmin & Olimar) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. His reappearance to the series was announced in a Director's Room Miiverse post on July 12, 2013, which also commemorated Pikmin 3 being released in Japan on the following day. Alph (ピクミン＆アルフ, Pikmin & Alph), one of the three leaders in Pikmin 3, was revealed as an alternative character in a Director's Room Miiverse post on September 11, 2014.

Like in Brawl, Olimar is completely silent, rather than being voiced by Kazumi Totaka like he is in the Pikmin series, while Hajime Wakai's portrayal of Pikmin from Pikmin 2 is once again repurposed for Red, Blue, Yellow, White and Purple Pikmin. Winged Pikmin are voiced by Atsuko Asashi, using voice clips recycled from Pikmin 3. Alph, despite having his own unique voice in Pikmin 3, is also completely silent as well in SSB4, much like Olimar is.

Olimar is ranked 21st out of 54 on the tier list, placing him at the top of the C tier. This is a significant drop from his top-tier placement in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where he was ranked 3rd out of 38 resulting in his worst placement in the series so far. Olimar's signature Pikmin possess an impressive level of respective utility: they grant him respectable KO and damage-racking capabilities, which is further supplemented by Olimar's solid frame-data, as Olimar can make usage of them to deal direct and/or indirect damage via his standard movesets, and by possessing the Pikmin latch onto opponents via Pikmin Throw, respectively.

The Pikmin also grant Olimar a potent grab game: each of them function as disjointed grabs; White Pikmin-based pummel is tied with Shulk's Buster-boosted pummel as the most damaging in the game; Blue Pikmin-based up throw is a viable KOing option at high percents; and Red Pikmin-based down throw is a very reliable combo starter even at high percents. Lastly, his new up special move, Winged Pikmin, functions as a maneuverable, flight-based recovery that can be performed regardless of whether or not Olimar has Pikmin equipped, which makes them vastly superior to Pikmin Chain's tether recovery.

However, Olimar's active Pikmin count has now been halved from six to three due to the limitations to Nintendo 3DS' hardware, which considerably weakens the camping strategies he relied on in Brawl. The Pikmin themselves have also been weakened in a few, yet noticeable ways: Red, Yellow, Blue, and Purple Pikmin have less hit points, which is further compounded by them and White Pikmin dying faster while separated from Olimar. Each kind of Pikmin have also had the majority of their damage outputs lowered, and suffer from somewhat flawed artificial intelligence. Olimar also retains his slow overall mobility; his aerial mobility is especially problematic, as it renders him susceptible to juggling despite his light weight, and causes him to flounder against speed demons, such as Sonic and Fox. By extension, Olimar suffers from poor endurance: the combination of his light weight and low gravity leaves him vulnerable to early KOs, which is further pronounced by the loss of momentum canceling and the introduction of rage. Finally, his offense is still burdened by slow attacking speed and an over-reliance on Pikmin.

Overall, despite his retained and newfound weaknesses, Olimar has still achieved impressive representation and results at all levels of competitive play, thanks to dedicated smashers, such as Dabuz, Shuton, and Myran.

Attributes

Olimar is a small and floaty lightweight with overall slow mobility. In turn, he has a slow walking speed, below average dashing and falling speeds, his air speed is the fourth slowest, and is tied with Peach for the fourth lowest gravity. However, his air acceleration and traction are both above average, while his jump and double jump are both average. Olimar's playstyle is almost identical to how it was in Brawl: he has retained the overwhelming majority of his moveset and animations, yet some moves have been slightly modified. Much like in his home series, Olimar's extremely meager offensive prowess forces him to be reliant on instructing his multi-colored Pikmin to withdraw this glaring flaw. As a result, almost all of his moveset involves Pikmin; this, in turn, can result in his moveset being useful or useless depending on whether or not he has Pikmin. When Olimar has Pikmin, he possesses arguably one of the most unique playstyles in the game, thanks to the Pikmin functioning as both projectiles and separate characters, much like how Luma functions alongside Rosalina.

When used correctly, the Pikmin provide noticeable and effective benefits: they can easily rack up high amounts of damage in short periods of time, they grant Olimar disjointed grabs by running out to grab opponents when choosing to grab, they can carry various items back to Olimar as they run back to him much like in their home series, and they can also help with camping or hindering approaches. Additionally, each kind of Pikmin provides unique and useful effects. Olimar's special moves are also heavily dependent on Pikmin, but they are all beneficial nonetheless. Olimar's Pikmin also function as both disjointed hitboxes and projectiles in a variety of his moveset, granting Olimar some of the longest range relative to his size, as well as one of the best camping and spacing abilities in the game.

Pikmin Throw enables him to hinder approaches or, with a Purple Pikmin, even stop them outright if not shielded. Pikmin Order reorganizes his Pikmin for the proper situation at hand, and thanks to it briefly granting super armor, it can even allow Olimar to briefly tank an attack despite his light weight. Lastly, Winged Pikmin are very versatile: they provide a long-distance and maneuverable recovery that makes Olimar more difficult to KO compared to his fellow lightweights, yet they also allow him to attack while they are carrying him.

With all things considered, Olimar has one of the most damaging playstyles among the cast, as he can KO nearly any character in a short period with wise usage of his Pikmin. For example, Pikmin Throw allots him a large array of options for offense, as it can both zone and get opponents to KO percents quickly; when the thrown Pikmin are not shaken off, they can rack up 10%-30% in a matter of seconds, forcing opponents to carefully plan their approach. Olimar can also have up to three Pikmin at a time in his lineup, which, despite its aforementioned halving since Brawl, can be hard for an opponent to maintain track of, especially with each color boasting unique attributes. Despite being a lightweight, his smash attacks are fairly quick and, while using Red and Purple Pikmin, boast impressive power.

Olimar's disjointed grab range also enables him to disrupt the movements of quick characters or roll-spammers. When combined with his above-average traction, this also grants him an excellent shield grab. Olimar's aerial game is also quite powerful: neutral aerial is a reliable combo starter when SHFF'd; up aerial is useful for juggling, and can even KO outright while near the upper blast line; forward aerial is useful for approaching and edge-guarding; back aerial is useful for edge-guarding, and can even KO outright while near the edge or the left/right blast line; and down aerial is a powerful meteor smash against aerial opponents during its first frame. However, Pikmin can also double as a drawback: due to being treated as projectiles, they can be reflected, which can sometimes hinder Olimar's offense against characters with attacks of this sort.

However, Olimar has noticeable flaws. Chief among them is his slow mobility, which causes speed demons to easily outpace him, such as Sonic and Captain Falcon. As Olimar is a slow character, speed demons can easily catch up and punish him if he tries to retreat to pluck more Pikmin, while Olimar himself finds trouble approaching. In addition, Olimar's poor mobility also makes it difficult to create space to pluck more Pikmin, which is especially prevalent with speed demons. Due to all excluding White Pikmin having less hit points than in Brawl, Pikmin are also susceptible to dying faster. Similar to Kirby, Olimar is also burdened with poor aerial mobility, as his slow air and falling speeds make him easy to juggle and, when coupled with his light weight, to KO. The latter also becomes more prevalent with the existence of rage, since damaged opponents can send Olimar flying even further. Meanwhile, Olimar's poor endurance prevents him from gaining the effective advantages of it. Furthermore, the latter is also another noticeable issue: Olimar is vulnerable to early KOs because of his light weight and floatiness. This is further compounded by his Pikmin-based aerials being burdened with low priority, which makes them extremely difficult to use against edge-guarders.

Another severe flaw is his over-reliance on Pikmin, much like in his home series. Without Pikmin in his lineup, Olimar's smash attacks, up, down, back, and forward aerials, grabs and side special will simply perform nothing, which drastically impairs his neutral game because of them being his most effective attacks. This also leaves Olimar with a total of six moves that deal damage: his neutral attack, tilt attacks, dash attack, and neutral aerial. This, in turn, is further compounded by his forward tilt being the only move out of these that has KO potential, although the move itself is burdened with noticeable lag. As a result, Olimar must have at least one Pikmin with him at all times.

Lastly, some of Olimar's useful Pikmin-based attacks have certain drawbacks: his KOing options have very minimal KO potential while using White Pikmin; each of his grabs have noticeably shorter ranges while using Purple Pikmin; up throw has KO potential exclusively while using Blue Pikmin; down throw's combo potential is exclusively consistent at high percents while using Red Pikmin; and Winged Pikmin's recovering potential deteriorates upon consecutive usage and/or depending on the amount of Pikmin that Olimar carries.

Olimar has a few beneficial custom moves. Hardy Pikmin Pluck makes all kinds of Pikmin more durable at the expense of being plucked at a slower rate. Sticky Pikmin Throw depicts each Pikmin inflicting less damage and covering less distance when thrown, but they remain latched on for much longer and inflict damage at a faster rate. True to its name, Tackle Pikmin Throw makes Red, Yellow, Blue, and White Pikmin function like Purple Pikmin by tackling opponents instead of latching onto them. Mighty Winged Pikmin have less total traveling distance, but the distance is unaffected by the number of Pikmin that Olimar is carrying. Lastly, Order Tackle has all latched on Pikmin deal damage upon being recalled, which grants Olimar another method to deal damage.

Overall, Olimar is a versatile and non-traditional zoner who still retains several of his considerable strengths despite their nerfs, and has even had some traits buffed, mostly regarding his damage output. While his maximum potential damage output was reduced, a smart player can overcome this, especially with the introduced mechanics for maintaining track of his Pikmin, making Olimar a much more reliable character for the player. Olimar's recovery has also been completely revamped for the better, which is generally agreed to have alleviated his other changes. Early in the metagame, Olimar was thought to be one of the worst characters, yet dedicated mains such as Dabuz, ImHip, Angbad, Myran, and Logic have shown that, as in Brawl, he is still a very capable character who retains a very high learning curve.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Olimar was considered to be a top-tier character, typically being perceived as a top 5-to-top 3 character. This was primarily due to the effectiveness of his Pikmin: Olimar possessed six Pikmin available at his disposal, and they overall gave him incredible camping potential. Olimar could easily abuse his Pikmin Throw to restrain his opponents out due to the amount of Pikmin he could have out, and even at close-ranged proximity, Olimar still possessed strong tools. His damage-output was exceptionally high, especially with certain Pikmin, his smash attacks were exceptionally effective, his aerials were powerful, he had a strong grab game with an exceptionally quick and long-ranged grab in addition to possessing combo and KO throws depending on the Pikmin equipped, and he even had a solid defensive option with Pikmin Order. Olimar also had rather respectable KO power, with his Purple and Red Pikmin (in some situations) being particularly powerful. While he did suffer from poor mobility, limited approaching options, a slew of multi-hitting attacks which could be avoided with SDI, and he had an extremely exploitable recovery, these weaknesses failed to impair Olimar too much. Altogether, these factors made Olimar an incredibly dominant character on-stage, making it exceptionally difficult for most of the cast to deal with Olimar. As a result, Olimar has naturally seen a mixture of buffs and nerfs in the transition to Super Smash Bros. 4, although due to his top-tier status in the previous game, he has been noticeably nerfed overall.

The most glaring downgrade includes the halving of his Pikmin, counting from six to three, due to the limitations of the Nintendo 3DS' processing power. As a result, this drastically lowers his general damage output, as well as his camping potential, especially since Pikmin Throw deals less damage (especially with White Pikmin). Both Olimar and his Pikmin's endurance are also worse: as Olimar himself is lighter and his signature Pikmin (excluding White Pikmin) have less HP, and they die faster if they are separated from Olimar. The removal of meteor canceling also significantly hinders Olimar's endurance against meteor smashes, and the changes to hitstun canceling is considered a double-edged sword for Olimar: they indirectly removed momentum canceling, so this means Olimar is much more susceptible to early KOs and combos, with the latter being further pronounced by Olimar's aforementioned lighter weight and the introduction of rage, yet it also drastically improves Olimar's combo game as well, especially with his throws.

Olimar's smash attacks have seen various downgrades: they can all be reflected; forward smash has a shorter duration; and his down smash deals less knockback; up smash, however, has been nerfed the most: not only is it much laggier, possessing increased startup and much more ending lag, but it also suffers from decreased range and power, significantly hindering its utility. Olimar's aerial attacks also deal significantly less damage, with forward and down aerial, in particular, being significantly weaker. Olimar's grab game was also weakened: his grabs suffer from shorter duration, considerably less range to the point of no longer being the longest-reaching grabs in Smash 4, and his standing and dash grabs are significantly laggier, forcing Olimar to rely on his nerfed pivot grab more often, which is further compounded by Olimar's worse frame-data and damage-racking capabilities. His throws with Blue and especially Purple Pikmin are also weaker, which impairs his ability to KO opponents with his throws, especially relative to the cast. Lastly, Pikmin Order has significantly decreased super armor, hindering both its safety and overall versatility. Finally, Olimar's hurtbox is now modeled as a giant orb around him instead of being modeled as multiple hurtboxes around his virtual attire, thus making him drastically easier to hit and, most notoriously, shield stab, especially horizontally.

However, Olimar also received comparatively noticeable buffs, with his recovery being influenced the most: Winged Pikmin drastically outclasses Pikmin Chain for recovering: due to being much more versatile, and the universal removal of edgehogging heavily benefits Olimar. Olimar's White Pikmin have also been improved outside of Pikmin Throw: due to possessing more HP, and most of Olimar's attacks with White Pikmin are stronger (although they are still mostly useless for attacking). The changes to both hitstun canceling and directional influence have also given Olimar greater combo potential with several attacks, such as down throw and his newfound up aerial, the latter of which is now a powerful juggling tool. Lastly, despite his overall damage output being reduced, a fair amount of Olimar's Pikmin attacks (primarily with Red and Purple Pikmin) deal more damage to counterbalance that.

Aside from Olimar's Pikmin, Olimar also heavily benefits from Smash 4's adjusted mechanics: although the removal of edge momentum shifting, in combination of the removal of glide tossing and DACUS has drastically hindered approaches (especially with items), including Olimar himself, Olimar still retains an excellent amount of approaching options, especially with Pikmin Throw and his aerial attacks, so his approach is hindered the least among all characters in the game. The universal growth to mobility also improves Olimar's approach. However, Olimar holds the dubious distinction of being the only character whose air speed remains intact, making it much slower relative to the cast. This is especially detrimental since other characters have received increases to their air speeds at varying degrees. The removal of meteor canceling compensates for Olimar's weakened meteor smash in his down aerial. The weakening of shields has improved Olimar's pressure and shield breaking capabilities against shields via his Pikmin-based attacks, while not compromising his own defensive game due to Olimar's respectable out of shield game and retaining his high traction. This is thanks to latched Pikmin becoming better at damaging an opponent's shield, while the low ending lag on his smash attacks makes them even less punishable on shield, thanks to the increased shieldstun. The introduction of frame canceling has further improved both the safety of Olimar's aerial attacks and approach, allowing it to compensate for the high landing lag on Olimar's aerial attacks. Finally, the introduction of rage drastically improves Olimar's KO power when equipping the right Pikmin for KOs, although this does not compensate for Olimar's reduced weight and the Pikmin's lowered HP.

Overall, while Olimar's recovery and mobility have been improved significantly, Olimar's other flaws were unaddressed, and his strengths were significantly toned down, causing his flaws to be more detrimental. Despite this, Olimar has nevertheless retained most of his useful strengths from Brawl, in combination of maintaining notable buffs from SSB4's updates, thus remaining an above-average character. However, Olimar's buffs have failed to compensate for his more severe nerfs and the changes to the game's mechanics do not benefit Olimar as much as some other returning veterans, which has led to him to be considered one of the most nerfed characters during the initial transition from Brawl, alongside King Dedede, Meta Knight, Falco, Wario and Marth (during the initial release). As a result, Olimar is still a viable character, albeit not to the degree as in Brawl.

Aesthetics

• Olimar's design is now a combination of his traditional appearances in Pikmin 3 and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His slightly smaller nose, helmet's whistle and gray collar; gloves' gray trims; and spacesuit's red and blue connectors are from Pikmin 3, whereas his spacesuit's rivets and three connectors are from Brawl. The aesthetic used in SSB4 has also resulted in Olimar's spacesuit being sleeker, and his boots' red trim; his life-support system's stripe; and his gloves and Hocotate Freight patches being more vibrant, as well as the antenna's light glowing more brighter.
• Olimar's white and green alternate costumes have been updated. The former's suit is now gray, and its gloves are now blue, instead of both being white, while the latter's sleeves and boots are now green instead of white and red, respectively. Instead of receiving new alternate costumes, Alph makes an appearance as an alternate character, complete with his own respective alternate costumes.
• All taunts emit updated sound effects.
• The Pikmin's proportions are now significantly more in line with their appearances in Pikmin 3.
• Pikmin now have more limited cosmetics, as their leaves do not turn into buds or flowers. Additionally, if two or three Pikmin stand in the same spot in Olimar's lineup, it can produce odd results and make it difficult to tell which Pikmin will be used next. Lastly, their idle animations are all synchronized, presumably to avoid any unnecessary hardware strain. This is not present in .
• The Pikmin at the head of the line now possesses a visual indicator in the form of a player-colored arrowhead above it. This allows the player to better visualize which Pikmin will be used next.

Attributes

• Olimar:
  • Olimar dashes faster (1.4 → 1.47).
    • Olimar's initial dash is significantly faster (1.4 → 1.6).
  • Olimar falls faster (1.3 → 1.35). This slightly improves his vertical endurance, but makes him slightly more susceptible to combos.
  • Olimar's gravity is higher (0.06 → 0.068).
  • Olimar's fast falling speed has been increased (1.82 → 2.16).
  • Olimar is lighter (82 → 79), worsening his endurance.
  • Instead of possessing multiple hurtboxes for each part of his body, Olimar now provides a single hurtbox, which is depicted as a giant orb around him. This gives him a bigger hurtbox around his body, making him easier to hit and shield stab, especially horizontally.
  • Rolls have less ending lag (FAF 33 → 30).
  • Rolls have less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 4-16).
  • Spot dodge has less intangibility (frames 3-20 → 3-17) and more ending lag (FAF 26 → 27).
  • Air dodge has less startup lag (frame 4 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 33).
  • Air dodge has less intangibility (frames 4-29 → 3-27).
  • The removal of meteor canceling drastically hinders Olimar's endurance against meteor smashes moreso than any other returning veteran besides Zero Suit Samus, due to him previously possessing one of the most lenient meteor cancel windows in Brawl. While it does also increase the reliability of his down aerial, the move's power has been significantly reduced to compensate.
  • The changes to aerial grab releases benefits Olimar as he is less susceptible to follow-ups out of an air release.
• Pikmin:
  • Due to the limitations of the Nintendo 3DS' processing power, the maximum Pikmin count has been halved (6 → 3). This significantly weakens his camping game and damage-racking capabilities.
  • Pikmin are now plucked in a set cycle (Red → Yellow → Blue → White → Purple), instead of being random and based on terrain. This means Olimar no longer has to depend on certain types of terrain to pluck certain Pikmin. However, this also makes it significantly less frequent to have two or more of the same kinds of Pikmin at once, especially when combined with the reduced maximum Pikmin-count.
  • Pikmin now have somewhat flawed artificial intelligence. As a result, they can potentially fly out of line if Olimar moves too quickly, which prevents combos or follow-ups from being performed effectively. However, this is significantly less prevalent in the version, as their flawed AI only occurs at edges.
  • The Pikmin's safespot distance from Olimar has decreased (6 → 4), making them follow Olimar sooner.
    • However, there is also a shorter distance between the Pikmin's own safespots (6 → 4).
  • All Pikmin have a greater overall run speed (40 → 60 (overall run speed), 2.4 (red/yellow/blue)/3 (white) → 3 (R/Y/B)/4 (W).
  • Pikmin have increased effort (5 → 4).
  • Pikmin have increased follow distance (20 → 23) if they have to change direction.
  • Pikmin follow the previous aerial velocity for a shorter period of time (15 frames → 8).
  • Pikmin have a larger teleport box size (20u → 24u), allowing Olimar to use his Pikmin-based attacks from further away, if he is separated from his Pikmin.
  • All Pikmin, excluding White Pikmin, have decreased HP (9 (Red/Yellow)/14 (Blue)/15 (Purple) → 8 (R/Y)/11 (B)/13 (P)). Pikmin separated from Olimar also die faster.
  • White Pikmin have increased hit points (4 → 7).
  • All Pikmin have increased maximum walking/running speeds (2.4 (Red/Yellow/Blue)/3 (White)/1.5 (Purple) → 3 (R/Y/B)/4 (W)/1.7 (P)).
  • All Pikmin have increased walking/running acceleration (0.075 (Red/Yellow/Blue)/0.12 (White)/0.5 (Purple) → 0.1 (R/Y/B)/0.135 (W)/0.8 (P)).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Olimar's neutral attack has been redesigned: the Rocket Fist's one-two combo.
  • Neutral attack has a shorter duration (frames 4-7 (hit 1)/ 8-10 (hit 1 antenna)/4-6 (hit 2) → 4 (hit 1 clean)/5 (hit 1 late)/4-5 (hit 2)).
  • The first hit has increased set knockback (10 (base), 10 (set), 80 (scaling) → 0/(40/30/35)/80).
  • The first hit now provides a late hit, which deals more damage on Olimar's fist (3% → 4%).
  • The first hit transitions into the second hit sooner (frame 8 → 6).
  • The farmost-hitbox now launches opponents vertically (361° → 80°), allowing it to connect more consistently into the second hit.
    • However, this also removes the farmost-hitbox's ability to lock.
  • The first hit has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u → 2.5u/3u (clean)/2.5u/3.5u (late)), and it now consists of static hitboxes, which overall do not reach as far as the previous hitboxes.
  • The first hit's antenna-hitbox has been removed, which, in turn:
    • Reduces its maximum damage output (5% → 4%).
    • Reduces its range, especially vertically.
    • However, this prevents Olimar from being stuck in hitlag before being able to perform the second hit. When combined with the move transitioning sooner, along with its increased knockback, this means it is no longer possible for the opponent to shield the second hit if Olimar lands the move at closer proximity.
  • The second hit deals less damage (5% → 4%/3%) without full compensation on its knockback scaling (75 → 80).
  • The second hit launches opponents at a less favorable angle (361° → 45°).
  • The second hit has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/2.5u → 2.5u/3.5u), and it now has static hitboxes which overall do not reach as far as the previous hitboxes.
    • This also means that the move can no longer hit opponents behind Olimar.
  • The second hit's antenna-hitbox has been removed, which, in turn:
    • Greatly reduces its maximum damage output (10% → 4%).
    • Reduces its range, especially vertically.
• Forward tilt:
  • Olimar possesses a new forward tilt: the Rocket Fist's wind-up punch. Olimar remains still while performing the punch.
    • This makes it a safer spacing tool.
    • However, this also significantly reduces its range.
  • Forward tilt has less ending lag (FAF 38 → 36).
  • Forward tilt deals much more damage (6% → 11%) without full compensation on its knockback (15 (base), 130 (scaling) → 35/97), significantly improving its KO potential.
  • Forward tilt now consists of a pair of extended hitboxes, which overall cover more horizontal distance relative to Olimar than the previous hitboxes.
    • However, the move is also no longer disjointed due to its new animation.
  • Forward tilt has more startup lag with a much shorter duration (frames 9-18 → 15 (clean)/16-17 (late)).
  • Forward tilt has smaller hitboxes (5u/5u/5u → 3.5u/2.2u).
    • In addition to this, the larger, further-reaching hitbox is only active for the first frame, further reducing the move's range during its later frames.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's looping hits' left-side hitbox now launches opponents towards Olimar (70° → 120°). When combined with the weakening of SDI, this allows up tilt to connect more consistently, especially if the opponent is behind Olimar.
  • Up tilt has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 44).
  • The looping hits deal less damage (1% → 0.6%).
  • Up tilt now only consists of five looping hits instead of seven, which in turn:
    • Shortens its duration (frame 6/8/10/12/14/16/18/20 → 6/8/10/12/14/16), which also further increases the move's ending lag, along with its longer total duration.
    • Reduces its damage, especially when combined with each hit's lower damage (11% → 7.6%).
  • The looping hit's head-hitbox is smaller (5.5u → 5u) and the antenna-hitbox has been removed, significantly reducing the move's vertical range, although the head-hitbox has decreased set knockback (30 → 20) to partially compensate.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt's antenna-hitbox has been removed, which in turn:
    • Shortens its duration (frames 6-12/16-22 → 6-12).
    • Reduces its maximum damage output (8% → 6%).
    • Reduces its range, especially vertically.
    • However, this also means that Olimar can no longer suffer from additional hitlag by landing the antenna-hitbox, preventing the move from sustaining more ending lag in some situations.
  • Down tilt has a longer animation (29 frames → 37), increasing the amount of time Olimar cannot walk backwards after performing it.
  • The changes to hitstun canceling and DI improve down tilt's combo potential.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack's first hit has a longer duration (frames 8-9 → 8-10).
    • However, this also makes it more difficult to connect both hits.
  • Dash attack has more ending lag (FAF 35 → 38).
  • Dash attack has smaller hitboxes (6.5u/4u (hit 1)/5.2u/3.3u (hit 2) → 3.5u (both) and the nearest-hitbox has been removed.
• All of Olimar's smash attacks can now be reflected, hindering their reliability against certain characters, especially against those with reflectors.
• Forward smash:
  • When forward smash is performed on a vertical slope, Pikmin now fly parallel to the slope, instead of directly into it.
  • Forward smash no longer causes Pikmin to fly off edges unless it is initiated close to an edge. This makes it safer to utilize Pikmin near ledges, but hinders their ability to hit opponents below platforms or off-stage.
  • Forward smash without Purple Pikmin has a much shorter duration (frames 11-15 (clean)/16-22 (mid)/23-47 (late) → 11-14/15-20/21-29).
    • Purple Pikmin-based forward smash also has a shorter duration overall (frames 11-15 (clean)/16-20 (mid)/21-25 (late) → 11-14/15-19/20-24).
• Red Pikmin:
  • The clean hit deals more damage (15% → 17.4%) and knockback (10 (base), 96 (scaling) → 30/86), improving its KO potential.
  • The mid-hitbox deals slightly more knockback (20 (base), 90 (scaling) → 33/86).
  • The late hit deals less damage (9% → 7.2%) without full compensation on its knockback (20 (base), 90 (scaling) → 33/86).
• Yellow Pikmin:
  • The clean and mid-hitboxes deal more damage (13% (clean)/9% (mid) → 14.5%/10%).
  • Yellow Pikmin-based forward smash deals more knockback (10 (base), 96 (scaling) → 33/94 (clean), 20/90 → 33/94 (mid/late)), improving its KO potential, especially the clean hit when combined with its increased damage.
  • Yellow Pikmin-based forward smash has smaller hitboxes (6.5u (clean)/5.5u (mid)/5u (late) → 5u/3.75u/3.75u).
• Blue Pikmin:
  • Blue Pikmin-based forward smash deals more knockback (10 (base), 96 (scaling) → 33/94 (clean), 20/90 → 33/94 (mid/late)), improving its KO potential.
  • The clean and mid-hitboxes deal less damage (15% (clean)/11% (mid) → 14.5%/10%).
• White Pikmin:
  • White Pikmin-based forward smash deals more damage (9% (clean)/6% (mid)/3% (late) → 11.6%/8%/4.8%) and knockback (10 (base), 80 (scaling) → 33/94 (clean), 15/80 → 33/94 (late)).
• Purple Pikmin:
  • The clean hit deals more damage (18% → 20.3%) without full compensation on its knockback (20 (base), 95 (scaling) → 33/84), improving its KO potential.
    • When combined with the weakening to shields, this significantly improves Purple Pikmin-based forward smash's shield pressuring potential.
  • Purple Pikmin-based forward smash now launches opponents horizontally (70° → 361°), now matching the other variants of forward smash.
  • The mid-hitboxes and especially the late hit deal less damage (16% (mid)/13% (late) → 14%/8.4%) and knockback (20 (base), 95 (scaling) → 33/84), hindering their KO potential.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash's animation has changed: Olimar only points up once instead of twice.