Ganondorf (SSBB)

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Ganondorf in Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Ganondorf
Universe	The Legend of Zelda
Other playable appearance	in Melee
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Beast Ganon
Tier	G (38)

Ganondorf (ガノンドロフ, Ganondorofu) returns in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. His design is based upon his appearance in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (although he isn't as tall as he was in Twilight Princess). He retains his hand-to-hand combat style, and does not use his sword outside of taunts. The Smash Bros. Dojo states that Ganondorf is the heaviest human character in the game, though this is false as in-game data shows that Snake is heavier. He is the only semi-clone to be based on a character from another series.

Despite several of his moves being the strongest of their kind in the game (in terms of damage and knockback), Ganondorf is currently last on the tier list in which several players refer to as the "Ganondorf tier." Many factors lead to Ganondorf's poor placement: his very sluggish moves, terrible out of shield options, an average spot dodge, very limited approach options, poor pressure, poor horizontal recovery and predictable vertical recovery, poor mobility, and the fact that L-canceling does not exist in Brawl. As a result, Ganondorf has a very poor metagame and terrible matchups. He has the second lowest tier drop (behind Jigglypuff), descending 28 spaces from 10 out of 26 in Melee to 38 out of all in Brawl.

How to Unlock

To unlock Ganondorf, the player must either -

• Clear Classic Mode on hard with Zelda or Link
• Play 200 brawls
• Have Ganondorf join the player's party in the Subspace Emissary by collecting the Link and Zelda trophies in the Subspace Emissary.

Note: With the exception of the third option, Ganondorf has to be fought in a 1v1 fight at Final Destination to unlock him.

Attributes

Ganondorf is a heavy, fast falling, very slow character (the 2nd slowest to be exact) with slightly above average range (excluding his grab and up smash, which have very low horizontal range), very strong attacks, including more than one of the strongest attacks in the game. His attacks, whether in the sweetspot or the sourspot, are still very powerful (which actually results in a problem for him, since this doesn't allow him combos at mid percents or higher). Almost all of his moves have above average knockback and can KO as well with priority ranging from moderate to very high. His leg attacks have enough priority to clank with swords and even cut through them (most of the time). His side special grants him launch resistance (only helpful in team battles or FFAS) while he is holding the opponent and it leaves opponents vulnerable for a bit of time if used on the ground, leaving them open for another quick attack being a true set up like down tilt (on most characters), his jab (some that can avoid the down tilt but not the jab) or several characters getting hit by dash attack and side tilt for kills, and even his up aerial on platforms. He can also use it for tech-chases to predict the opponent, for example regrabbing with it or getting a down aerial or down angled forward smash, the damage side special does is fairly low though. In the air, Ganondorf's side special can cause a Ganoncide, although it is situational because even when it's impossible to escape from it or control the trajectory, landing it is very hard work. Ganondorf's moves are arguably the least affected by Smash DI, because he has the lowest number of multi-hitting moves (his down smash is his only move considered to be a multi-hitting move), effectively rendering escape and punishment of his attacks ineffective, although his attacks are a lot easier to shield or dodge. Ganondorf's dash attack provides him with a quick speed boost, and the move is a hard hitter as well and can also KO, but it is easily punished if shielded. Ganondorf's aerials are also very strong; all have high knockback, and his down aerial is an extremely strong, reliable spike (sometimes can KO even at 0%, depending from how far they are from the bottom and how good their recovery is), Ganondorf`s advanced superjump glitch is very situational, but, if done right, he travels higher in the air, useful for an aerial reverse Warlock Punch, his most powerful move. This technique is called the Flight of Ganon.

However, Ganondorf's extremely high power and heavy weight are counter-balanced with many factors. Ganondorf is a tall target, the tallest in the game (though most heavyweights have this problem). His horizontal standing grab range is the shortest in the game (though his pivot grab has good range, but slower start-up). Because of his poor grab range and slow moves, his out of shield options are one of the worst in the game (though his grab is the shortest in the game, it can sometimes still shield grab depending on the range of the opponent's attack and the shieldstun of it), forcing him to rely on powershielding, and because of how much he relies on his shield that hasn't the size of characters like Snake without being able to punish the opponent, it makes him easy to shield-stab with multi-hit moves. Ganondorf can't even take the sky out of shield due to jump lag (7 frames). Ganondorf has very bad air speed, and a very small second jump (though it auto-sweetspots ledges, allowing him to plank). He lacks a projectile and he is easy to camp for those who have a projectile. He can use his forward tilt to clash with projectiles. Ganondorf's overall ground attack speed is among the slowest in the game along with Ike (but 3 of Ganondorf's aerial attacks are only laggy if he lands while attacking; Ganondorf's fastest ground attack is his poor ranged grab which has 7 frames start-up).

His stailing ratio is one of the highest in the game. Many of his moves like his Dash Attack, Down Tilt and his Down Aerial lose a lot of their KO power and damage input very quickly, the KO factor having an even bigger impact. This will give him trouble KOing if he can't land a fresh move. This can be remedied by using moves that don't have the KO power of his other moves like his jab, neutral aerial, and three of his throws(they hit two times) even though it is somewhat predictable and the grab range is short. Although his weight and good momentum canceling allows him to live very long, his slow, predictable and easily gimped recovery does not horizontally travel much distance. In addition to that, it is easy to be hit out of from above (where he has no hitboxes), and most characters can hit him out of his up special (e.g. Falco, at around 90% damage, can spike Ganondor

In competitive play

Super Smash Bros. Brawl Character Matchups

Avg.

Role in the Subspace Emissary

Ganondorf in the SSE

Ganondorf first appears in a control room on the Island of Ancients giving Bowser the coordinates to find King Dedede, who stole Wario's trophies. Later in the same control room Master Hand gives him the orders to destroy the Isle of the Ancients. He then appears in the island base as a hologram and orders the R.O.B. Squad to activate all of the Subspace Bombs they had. When the Ancient Minister gets in their path, Ganondorf presses an override button that forces the R.O.B.s to ignore the Minister. When the Ancient Minister continues to intervene, Ganondorf presses the override button again and the R.O.B.S attack the Ancient Minister, setting him aflame. The heroes attempt to stop the R.O.B.s, so Ganondorf sends a flock of Auroros to distract them. Suddenly, the burning Ancient Minister fires beams from his eyes, destroying the Auroros, and reveals that he, himself, is a R.O.B. who was disguised, and proceeds to help the others fight the advancing Subspace troops. After the Isle of the Ancients is engulfed in Subspace, Ganondorf appears on the Subspace Gunship as it's commander along with Bowser, but he retreats into Subspace with Bowser when the Gunship is destroyed by Kirby and his Dragoon. Ganondorf decides it is the time to betray the Master Hand so he takes out the last remaining Dark Cannon and aims it at Bowser, his own co-captain and the most loyal of Master Hand's henchmen. After shooting Bowser in a surprise attack with the Dark Cannon, Ganondorf kicks the Bowser trophy out of the way and goes up to the edge of a ledge. When Ganondorf presents himself to Master Hand preparing to betray him for complete control of the Subspace Army, he sees that Master Hand was literally a puppet of Tabuu, the supreme leader of the Subspace Army. Ganondorf tries to attack him, but is defeated and turned into a trophy. As he was falling however, he bumped into Master Hand, freeing him from Tabuu's control. Master Hand then attempts to attack Tabuu, but is defeated with ease. When Kirby finds Ganondorf's trophy the resurrected Bowser appears and brutally attacks his trophy as an act of revenge before tossing it aside. If Link and Zelda were rescued, a cutscene will show Ganondorf being revived by Link and Zelda (with a bit of a headache from the abuse treatment) and after Link and Zelda walk away he clenches his fist in anger he then helps the heroes defeat Tabuu. Ganondorf might have been the secondary antagonist of the story (The Ancient Minister does not count, due to him being R.O.B later on and the fact that he does not have evil intentions), due to him being responsible for the destruction of the Isle Of The Ancients.

Exclusive Stickers

These stickers can only be used by Ganondorf or by a select few including him:

• Boomerang: [Weapon] Attack +4
• Bowser (Mario Power Tennis): [Darkness] Attack +21
• Colin: [Specials: Direct] Attack +4
• Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule: [Electric] Attack +31
• Darknut: [Slash] Attack +13
• Epona & Link: [Arm, Leg] Attack +9
• Fierce Deity Link: [Slash] Attack +21
• Ganondorf (Ocarina of Time): [Darkness] Attack +29
• Ganondorf (Wind Waker): [Darkness] Attack +33
• Happy Mask Salesman: [Leg] Attack +9
• Hylian Shield (Twilight Princess): Slash Resistance +10
• Lantern: [Flame] Resistance +7
• Legend of Outset: [Arm] Attack +26
• Linebeck: [Throwing] Attack +20
• Link (Link to the Past): [Electric] Resistance +31
• Link (Twilight Princess): [Slash] Resistance +27
• Link (Wind Waker): [Flame] Attack +31
• Link with Goron Mask: [Slash] Attack +17
• Link's Grandma: [Arm, Leg] Attack +2
• Lon Lon Milk: Launch Power +18
• Midna & Wolf Link: [Leg] Attack +26
• Moblin: [Slash] Attack +15
• Octorok: [Leg] Attack +4
• Petey Piranha (Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour!): [Darkness] Attack +47
• Phantom Ganon: [Darkness] Attack +40
• Piece of Heart: Heart Container Effect +50
• Revolver Ocelot: [Darkness] Attack +17
• Ridley (Metroid): [Darkness] Attack +30
• Salvatore: [Electric] Attack +9
• Shadow Beast: [Darkness] Attack +28
• Sheik: [Body, Spin] Attack +17
• Skull Kid (Ocarina of Time): [Darkness] Attack +7
• Space Pirate: [Darkness] Attack +13
• Tingle (Wind Waker): [Flame] Resistance +24
• Young Zelda (Minish Cap): [Battering] Resistance +16
• Zelda (Ocarina of Time): [Flame] Resistance +18

Costume Gallery

File:Alt-ganondorf2.jpg

Ganondorf's changeable clothing in SSBB

Trophy description

A man who wants to use the power of the Triforce to conquer the world. In Twilight Princess, he gives strength to the Twilight King, Zant, and tries to change the land into a world of darkness. He possesses Zelda, transforms into a magical beast, and attacks Link. In the end, however, Link deals him a finishing blow and defeats him.

• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 64)
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)

Trivia

• Ganondorf is the only playable villain who is never fought in the Subspace Emissary, excluding his dark clone in The Great Maze.
• Though Ganondorf can be the first character unlocked by playing Classic Mode as Link/Zelda on hard, he is one of the last characters to be unlocked when playing the Subspace Emissary.
• Ganondorf is the only character to have three moves with grab hitboxes.
• The sound clip that plays on the Wiimote's speaker when Ganondorf is selected is a sound clip from Melee.
• While Ike has the most meteor smashes in Brawl, two of them are not possible to land on aerial opponents. Because of this, Ganondorf is tied with Diddy Kong for having the most meteor smashes landable on aerials opponents, with four.

External links

• Ganondorf's page on DOJO!!
• Ganondorf Character Guide at SWF
• Ganondorf's hitbox size of each of his moves