Luigi (SSBM)

Overview

Following his earlier appearance in Super Smash Bros., Luigi returns for the sequel once again as an unlockable character. He is currently ranked 14th in the SSBM tier list and second amongst the Low tier characters, however several new elements to Luigi's unique physics give him certain unprecendented advantages in the game.

In conjunction with his Nintendo-writ ethos, Luigi is a floaty character with high jumping and low traction. His recovery is slow, predictable and difficult to master, though lucrative when you do in terms of total distance travelled. His aerial attacks are quick, effective and virtually lag-free. Luigi also has the honor of being the character with the longest wavedash in the game. This allows him to slide across the stage in lengthy increments at speeds nearly as fast Captain Falcon's run. Additionally, due to his floaty nature and low-lag aerial attacks, Luigi's greatest strengths at high level play are the abilities to string together multiple aerials in single short hops and wavelanding aerials for fast and easy mobility along the stage.

Luigi is also a character who relies more heavily on luck than most of the others. With the 12.5% chance of a spontaneous misfire occurring on his green missile attack, he can very easily self-destruct unintentionally on smaller stages. Additionally, in order for his recovery to be at its most effective, Luigi will have had to have performed a tornado (down+B) on the surface of the stage before being sent flying. As such, there is no guarantee that his maximum recovery distance will always be available in combat.

Luigi's advantages and disadvantages are fairly distinct and as the game's depth has slowly been uncovered, his position in the tier list has fallen considerably. Although there is always debate amongst Luigi players, there is a general consensus that Luigi has a difficult matchup against higher-tiered characters such as Marth and Fox. As a result, many of the tournament-seasoned Luigis have either dropped off the professional scene or taken up different characters to keep pace with the steadily intesifying competition.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Long horizontal recovery
• Longest wavedash in the game
• High-damage combos
• Fast and powerful aerials
• High vertical jumping compliments vertical-trajectory ground attacks

Cons

• Sluggish dash and run
• Slow fallspeed, slowing his aerial game
• Poor projectile
• Predictable, slow recovery
• Poor horizontal jump distance
• Poor synergy of his movement (which is best on the ground) and his attacks (which are best in mid-air).