Cypher

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Snake grabs onto the Cypher.

Cypher is Snake's up special move. He grabs onto the flying reconnaissance camera to recover. It will not make him helpless, but will take away his mid-air jump. One can cancel the ride early by performing any attack (excluding the up special), pressing down, or by airdodging.

If used in combination with his C4, Snake can have nearly infinite recovery (at high percentages he should tech on a wall to prevent being Star KOed).

While using this move, Snake has a special kind of knockback resistance, ignoring the knockback from any hitbox that deals exactly 7% or less. If he uses it from below, he is extremely vulnerable to grabs, attacks and even spikes as it rises very slowly, but the attack must deal over 7% damage for this to happen. If an opponent gets hit by the Cypher after Snake lets go, they will take 6% damage.

If Snake is grabbed during this move, and is not thrown or hit, he cannot use this move again when he struggles free, unless he is hit after this happens. Special grabs will not let him use Cypher again if it grabs him from above in the way their special grab get canceled by the Cypher projectile.

The Cypher becomes an upward projectile after Snake lets go, preferably tapping down or midair dodging.

Origin

Cyphers were the automated flying security cameras that patrolled the bridges between the struts of the Big Shell in Metal Gear Solid 2. Though neither Snake nor Raiden ever used one to hitch a ride, this move is a good example of Snake's resourcefulness and wouldn't have been out of place in a Metal Gear game.

Trophy Description

An unmanned aerial surveillance vehicle used by the U.S. Army. It uses a fan in the center of its body to hover and a camera on its upper fuselage to monitor from the skies. It has a number of models, including the armed Gun Cypher and the remodeled Cypher II. Its small size and continuous flight ability make it extremely effective in guarding against intruders.

Trivia

• Unlike other characters, Snake regains his Cypher if Mario uses his cape on Snake while Snake is still in the Cypher. Snake will still turn around but can use his Cypher again.
• If he leaves the Cypher very close to the ground, he lands with no landing lag at all, but he can't use his Cypher until he leaves the ground, either by walking off the platform (which is a suicidal action) or jumping.
• If he gets footstooled while in the Cypher, it doesn't make him flinch at all, but allows him to Cypher again after leaving the previous Cypher.
• If the player uses the Cypher and quickly lands on solid ground to use it again, the previous Cypher will explode.
• The Cypher is a real-life unmanned aerial vehicles developed by Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. It's also featured in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter.
• In real-life, the Cypher has a maximum weight load of approximately 50 lb, meaning such a maneuver would be impossible.

Snake's special moves

Neutral special	Hand Grenade
Side special	Remote Missile
Up special	Cypher
Down special	C4
Final Smash	Grenade Launcher	Covering Fire