Olimar (SSBU)

Olimar in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Pikmin
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	End of Day
Tier	A+ (18)

Olimar (ピクミン＆オリマー, Pikmin & Olimar) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside Diddy Kong and the rest of the returning roster. In addition, Alph (ピクミン＆アルフ, Pikmin & Alph) returns as an alternate character alongside Olimar. Olimar is classified as Fighter #40. Olimar uses Pikmin to assist him in attacking his foes, with a core playstyle revolving around managing and using his various Pikmin combinations to his advantage.

As in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. 4, Hajime Wakai's portrayals of the Pikmin from Pikmin and Pikmin 2, as well as Atsuko Asahi's portrayals of the Winged Pikmin from Pikmin 3, were repurposed for Ultimate, while both Olimar and Alph remain fully unvoiced.

Olimar is ranked 18th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the A+ tier. This is a noticeable improvement to his placement in SSB4, where he was ranked 21st out of 54. Olimar is unique as a vast majority of his moves aren't from him, but rather his disjointed Pikmin, each of which with their pros and cons. These Pikmin are all useful in their own right, with red and purple being good at dishing damage, blue being good for throws, yellow having larger hitboxes, and white doing more damage while latched. Furthermore, all Pikmin save purple latch to the opponent when Pikmin Throw is used, dealing damage over time. He also has a decent edgeguarding game, with his aerials being good for such a purpose (especially with purple Pikmin), while has has an option for avoiding pressure with Pikmin Order. Finally, his smash attacks all have utility, with his up smash in particular being his best combo starter provided he has the necessary Pikmin. This results in Olimar having one of the best camping games amongst the roster, as he can force opponents to make decisions around removing Pikmin, lest they tack on unnecessary damage.

For his strengths, however, Olimar has some weaknesses, the most notable being how helpless he is without Pikmin. Without Pikmin, a good chunk of his moves do not possess hitboxes, leaving him with very few usable moves. This, combined with his lightweight status (being tied for the seventh lightest character in the game), gives him trouble should he find himself at a disadvantage. Further compounding this issue is the fact that he can't replenish Pikmin easily against fighters who can juggle him easily, as Olimar cannot use Pikmin Pluck while airborne. Finally, Olimar struggles against several fighters with longer disjoints or access to a reflector, as they can either wall him out or deny his neutral entirely.

Overall, Olimar is an unorthodox zoner who works best when the player is mindful of their Pikmin management and spacing, creating a high learning curve. He was immensely popular in the early metagame and was considered one of the best characters during this time, thanks to the performances from players such as Dabuz, Myran, and Shuton. Though nerfs gradually dwindled Olimar's playerbase, he remains relevant in newer metagames thanks to performances from players such as Candle and uame.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Olimar being the 48th character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Mario or any character in his unlock tree, being the last character unlocked after Dr. Mario.
• Have Olimar join the player's party in World of Light.

Olimar must then be defeated on Distant Planet (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes

Olimar is a small, floaty, lightweight character. He has the 33rd slowest dashing speed, 8th slowest air speed, 32nd highest air acceleration (tied with Duck Hunt and Inkling, among others), very low gravity, low traction (tied with Diddy Kong), below-average falling speed, and above-average jump height. Due to these attributes, Olimar has below-average mobility for the most part.

What sets Olimar apart from the majority of the cast is that his stronger attacks do not come from him. Instead, he utilizes Pikmin to perform disjointed attacks and function as projectiles to attack opponents from a distance during his smash attacks, most of his aerial attacks, and his side special move. Olimar starts with 3 Pikmin at the start of each battle, and can have up to 3 at any given point. Each Pikmin has its own hit points, and will die if they receive too much damage or fall into a blast zone. Pikmin are obtained in a specific order: Red, Yellow, Blue, White and Purple, then back to Red. Winged Pikmin also appear via Olimar's up special move, although they lack hurtboxes and hit points like the other Pikmin.

Pikmin Pluck, Olimar's neutral special move, enables him to gain Pikmin when used on any solid surface in the event he has fewer than 3 Pikmin available. It is very laggy in the air, somewhat quick on the ground, and best used when spaced out. Pikmin Order, Olimar's down special move, can be used to call all Pikmin back quickly. It is a very quick and efficient cycling tool for getting to a desired Pikmin that has already been plucked. It also grants super armor during its first few frames, although this can be risky to use as a strictly defensive measure due to the super armor's minimal amount of frames. It will also function as a combo-breaker in dangerous situations.

Winged Pikmin, Olimar's up special move, is a very flexible recovery option. The Winged Pikmin can be moved freely around the air, and their travel can be canceled with an aerial attack. However, canceling the Winged Pikmin will render Olimar helpless. Additionally, consecutive use of the Winged Pikmin will tire them out, reducing their travel distance and maneuverability. Although sporadic usage of the Winged Pikmin will prevent them from tiring out, their travel distance and maneuverability will still worsen depending on Olimar's lineup of Pikmin: Purple Pikmin are the heaviest, whereas White Pikmin are the lightest.

Olimar's side special move, Pikmin Throw, boasts excellent utility and is his primary damage-racking option. Olimar throws his Pikmin forward. The thrown Pikmin, except for Purple, cling to the target and deal elemental damage over time. Purple Pikmin don't cling to opponents and instead deal a single strong hit as they are in the air. If they don't land on a target, they become miniature, independent hurtboxes that run back toward Olimar. When clinging to the opponent, they can be killed or damaged by certain moves, such as a down smash that covers the user in a hitbox. However, this can be used to an advantage, as the Pikmin can be used to block certain moves such as Charge Shot, even when clinging to Samus. Pikmin Throw can also be used to get rid of unneeded or less useful Pikmin to get to a desired one if a different one needs to be plucked.

Each Pikmin has different properties that both affect how they interact with moves and Olimar's inputs. Red Pikmin have average projectile range, deal the second-highest damage, have the fire effect, reduce throw knockback, and are immune to fire attacks. Yellow Pikmin have an arcing path with slightly lower range, have the electric effect, have a larger hitbox (≈50% larger compared to the other Pikmin), and are immune to electric attacks. Blue Pikmin have average projectile range, higher throw power and damage, have the water effect, and are immune to water attacks. White Pikmin have the longest projectile range, deal the least direct damage in exchange for the most cling damage, and have the darkness effect. Purple Pikmin have the shortest projectile range, but deal the most damage and knockback, and do not cling to opponents, but act as a standard projectile with knockback instead.

Olimar's neutral attack is a one-two combo that is quick overall, and is best suited for low percent set-ups into his down tilt, a grab, and Pikmin Throw, or if used for jab locking. His forward tilt is a wind-up punch that is laggy overall and his slowest tilt attack. However, it possesses respectable power, making it useful for creating space, and, more notably, it is his only non-Pikmin attack that can KO at reasonable percentages. Olimar's up tilt is a simple spinning hop that is best suited as an anti-air move, yet it can also be followed up with an up aerial at low percents if the opponent fails to DI properly. Olimar's down tilt is his most useful tilt attack: it is a lunging tackle that can start combos at varying percents, 2 frame punish reliably, function as a pseudo-crawl, and is his best spacing option in most scenarios thanks to its quick start-up.

Olimar's aerials have great utility despite his mediocre air speed. His forward and back aerials are great for edgeguarding thanks to their wide arcs. His up aerial is effective for juggling and combos into itself at low to medium percents, whereas his down aerial can meteor smash in its earlier frames while still possessing a weaker lingering hitbox in its later frames, thus making it a solid tool for denying juggles. Furthermore, using Olimar's Pikmin-based aerials cycles through his Pikmin, which can be either a blessing or a curse depending on the situation. Olimar's neutral aerial is his only aerial that does not use Pikmin, and thus has much less range. However, it still has some utility as a niche combo tool and landing option.

Olimar's throws are disproportionately powerful for a character of his size, specifically while using blue Pikmin. His up throw is a reliable KO move above approximately 130% with blue Pikmin (having very high base knockback). It can potentially set up juggling scenarios, while down throw combos reliably into forward aerial at low to medium percents and Pikmin Throw at higher percents, meaning that he can get very large amounts of damage off of a grab. Both his forward and back throws can kill at the ledge at about 130%, and also can set up edgeguards and ledgetraps. (Note: Blue Pikmin drastically increase the knockback and damage of throws. White Pikmin increase the range of the grab itself, while Purple Pikmin lower the grab range. Red Pikmin make throws deal decreased knockback, making them more useful for combos starting from a grab.)

Having a relatively long range for a character of his size also makes Olimar great at camping out and approaching hand-to-hand combatants, such as Captain Falcon or Wario, and further accentuates his strong punishment game. All of Olimar's aforementioned qualities give him a strong damage-racking capability to complement his zoning-focused playstyle.

However, Olimar has some noticeable weaknesses that counterbalance his strengths. One of his most notable weaknesses is his lack of defense without his Pikmin. Although they can be plucked rather quickly, he can only do so when on the ground, and there is still enough time to punish Olimar if he doesn't secure his space before gaining more Pikmin. His physical attacks themselves also provide niche/situational utility compared to his Pikmin moves and have significantly less range. Therefore, he is at his greatest disadvantage if the opponent manages to keep him airborne and within his space due to the very short range and limited scope of his physical attacks. On the flipside, his recovery becomes noticeably worse when he does have Pikmin; as a result, he may have to resort to casting them aside if it improves his chances of recovering safely, and thus ridding himself of major defenses.

Olimar's below-average dashing and air speeds also make him susceptible to rushdown-oriented fighters overwhelming him while he's at a disadvantage. This, in turn, is compounded by his difficulty escaping a disadvantaged state without Pikmin. Finally, Olimar's zoning capabilities are severely hindered by characters with a reflector, as Olimar's side special is both a projectile and his primary damage-racking move. On top of that, all of Olimar's smash attacks do damage solely through the use of Pikmin as projectiles, making a reflected smash attack potentially deadly, even at low percents.

Overall, Olimar is a versatile zoner who fights in an unorthodox way, managing his Pikmin. Due to his poor disadvantage and his need for careful cycling and management of his Pikmin, he generally cannot afford to be reckless in his play.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Olimar was buffed overall in his transition from SSB4 to Ultimate, with several aspects of his core playstyle being buffed and further improved by Ultimate's universally adjusted mechanics.

Each Pikmin's various attributes have been improved. Red and Purple Pikmin deal more damage on average, Blue Pikmin's throw strength has been drastically improved, White Pikmin deal even more damage when latched to an opponent via Pikmin Throw, and all aerial attacks that involve Pikmin have more range, especially Yellow Pikmin, which improves their usage on spacing. These changes further strengthen Olimar's already respectable damage output and zoning abilities. In addition to this, all of Olimar's Pikmin-based aerials now have transcendent priority, which allows Olimar to trade moves much more safely than in SSB4, which eliminates one of his biggest flaws from that game.

Olimar's grab game has been noticeably buffed as well. His grab has much more range, which can now be extended depending on the number of Pikmin he has with him, and all of his throws deal more damage on average. As mentioned before, Blue Pikmin's increased throw strength means Olimar now possesses some of the most dangerous KO throws in the game, with up throw in particular having the potential to become even stronger than the likes of Mewtwo, Charizard, or Incineroar. Other notable buffs include to up smash, which has less ending lag to the point it has gained combo potential at low percents (heightening Olimar's out of shield game), and Pikmin Pluck, which is faster overall. Finally, in terms of universal changes, Olimar's mobility, while still below-average, has been improved via faster dashing and air speeds.

However, Olimar received some slight nerfs. At the cost of their stronger attributes, Pikmin are even easier to KO in general; they have slightly lower HP, are now left vulnerable to attacks if Olimar gets hit with a move with enough knockback, they can be hit by moves that Olimar already shielded or perfect shielded, and dead Pikmin temporarily becomes the active Pikmin in Olimar's squad upon their death. The former two changes make it harder for Olimar to keep his Pikmin alive, forcing him to replenish them more often. In comparison, the latter two changes worsen Olimar's consistency for punishing opponents.

Olimar's down throw launches opponents at a more horizontal angle, making follow-ups less reliable. In exchange for a longer range, Olimar's grabs tend to have more ending lag, making them riskier to throw out. His recovery also became less abusable as a result of the travel distance of Winged Pikmin now being further reduced with consecutive use, as well as its regeneration time being slower. Despite his faster mobility, Olimar now possesses one of the slowest initial dashes in the game, due to other fighters' initial dashes getting far more substantial buffs than his. Finally, Olimar's hurtbox is taller vertically, making him easier to hit.

Overall, Olimar's oppressive damage output and camping abilities have been improved further. However, this comes at the cost of Pikmin's fragility becoming even more pronounced and Olimar himself becoming more susceptible to punishment. He has also received some noticeable nerfs in game updates, which have affected his initial performance and made him less oppressive, despite also receiving a few important bugfixes. In the end, however, Olimar's buffs outweigh his nerfs, and he is considered to be better in Ultimate than in SSB4.

Aesthetics

• Due to the aesthetic used in Ultimate, Olimar's model features a more vibrant color scheme. His proportions have been adjusted; he has a slightly smaller nose and eyes, and his skin tone is paler. His spacesuit and life-support systems have more subtle detailing, and his helmet has a more glossy sheen. The new detailing is also expressed by Alph.
• Olimar's antenna has less independent physics, allowing it to move more naturally.
• Olimar's helmet cracks after taking a certain amount of damage, but will quickly be repaired. It also appears cracked when he is Screen KO'd.
• Olimar now only jumps twice during his up taunt, shortening its duration.
• Sidestep and ledge-hanging's animations have changed.
• Pikmin now always face the screen regardless of which direction they turn.
• Pikmin now have trails that match their colors when attacking, like in the Pikmin games.

Attributes

• Olimar:
  • Like all characters, Olimar's jumpsquat animation takes three frames to complete (down from 5).
  • Olimar walks slightly faster (0.9 → 0.945).
  • Olimar dashes faster (1.47 → 1.617).
    • Olimar's initial dash is also faster (1.4 → 1.606).
  • Olimar's air speed is slightly faster (0.82 → 0.861).
  • Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 4-15).
  • Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-16 → 5-16) and more ending lag (FAF 29 → 34).
  • Spot dodge has less ending lag (FAF 26 → 25).
  • Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 3-27 → 3-29).
  • Air dodge has drastically more ending lag (FAF 32 → 57).
  • Olimar's hurtbox is modeled around his body instead of being a giant orb around him. This effectively gives him a smaller hurtbox around some parts of his body, making him harder to hit.
    • However, Olimar has a larger hurtbox vertically.
• Pikmin:
  • All Pikmin have less HP.
    • Red, Yellow: 8 → 6.
    • Blue: 11 → 8.
    • White: 7 → 5.
    • Purple: 13 → 11.
  • Pikmin can be swallowed.
  • Pikmin can get stuck on platforms if they were plucked beneath them, making it impossible to use them for attacks for a while.
  • Pikmin in Olimar's squad are no longer intangible directly after Olimar gets hit with a high knockback move, making it possible to kill the Pikmin and send Olimar offstage without any Pikmin.
  • Pikmin can die from hitboxes that Olimar already shielded or perfect shielded, making it very hard to punish the attack.
  • When a Pikmin dies, it becomes the active Pikmin in Olimar's squad, making it impossible to use Pikmin for attacks for a short while.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • Hit 1 has less ending lag (FAF 30 → 20).
    • Its angles have been altered (361°/80° → 361°/180°) making it a more consistent jab locking tool but hindering its jab canceling potential.
  • The second hit hitboxes have been moved inwards (Z offset: 7/13 → 6/10), reducing its range. Oddly, the animation has not been properly altered, and so suggests the move has more range than it actually does.
  • Hit 2's sweetspot is closer to the sourspot, and the sourspot is bigger (2.5u → 2.8u). Due to it taking priority over the sweetspot this makes the sweetspot much harder to land.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has a bigger hitbox (3.5u (clean)/3.5u (late) → 5u/4.5u).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 45 → 39).
• All smash attacks:
  • The damage multipliers when using smash attacks with red or purple Pikmin have been increased (Red: 1.2× → 1.4×, Purple: 1.4× → 1.6×).
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash deals more damage when using Red or Purple Pikmin.
    • Red: 17.4% (clean)/12% (mid)/7.2% (late) → 20.3%/14%/8.4%
    • Purple: 20.3% (clean)/14% (mid)/8.4% (late) → 23.2%/16%/9.6%
  • Forward smash has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 43).
  • Forward smash's clean hit has a shorter duration, with the mid and late hits having a longer duration instead (frames 11-14 (clean)/15-20 (mid)/21-29 (late) → 11-12/13-19/20-29).
• Up smash:
  • Up smash deals more damage when using Red or Purple Pikmin with knockback scaling compensated.
    • Red: 15.6% (clean)/12% (weak)/13.2% (late) → 18.2%/14%/15.4%, knockback scaling: 83/74/78 → 72/64/68
    • Purple: 18.2% (clean)/14% (weak)/15.4% (late) → 20.8%/16%/17.6%, knockback scaling: 81/72/78 → 72/64/68
  • Up smash has significantly less ending lag (FAF 56 → 40), increasing its safety and giving it combo potential.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash deals more damage when using Red or Purple Pikmin.
    • Red: 13.2% (clean)/10.8% (late) → 15.4%/12.6%
    • Purple: 15.4% (clean)/12.6% (late) → 17.6%/14.4%

Aerial attacks

• All aerials have less landing lag (15 frames → 13 (neutral), 15 → 9 (forward/back), 30 → 18 (up/down)).
• All aerials involving Pikmin have transcendent priority.
• All aerials that involve Pikmin have more range.
• The damage multipliers when using aerials with red or purple Pikmin have been increased (Red: 1.2× → 1.4×, Purple: 1.4× → 1.6×).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial's hitboxes are smaller (loop: 3.5u/2.5u/2.5u/3.5u → 3u/2u/2u/3u, last: 5u/4u/4u/5u → 4u/3u/3u/4u).
• Forward aerial:
  • Forward aerial deals more damage when using Red or Purple Pikmin.
    • Red: 10.2% → 11.9%
    • Purple: 11.9% → 13.6%
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial deals more damage when using Red or Purple Pikmin.
    • Red: 12.9% → 15.1%
    • Purple: 15.1% → 17.2%
• Up aerial and down aerial:
  • Up aerial and down aerial deal more damage when using Red or Purple Pikmin.
    • Red: 10.8% → 12.6%
    • Purple: 12.6% → 14.4%
  • They auto-cancel one frame later (frame 30 → 31).

Throws and other attacks

• Grabs:
  • All Pikmin in Olimar's squad will be used at once for his grab, significantly improving its potential range. The more Pikmin he has, the greater the range.
  • All grabs have slightly more startup lag (frame 10 → 12).
  • Attempting to grab near a ledge using Pikmin that were plucked just before that will cause the grab to have no hitbox.
  • All grabs' ending lag is changed and depends on the amount of Pikmin in Olimar's squad.
    • Standing: FAF 50 → 42/48/57 (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Dash: FAF 53 → 50/58/69 (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Pivot: FAF 36 → 45/52/61 (1/2/3 Pikmin).
• Pummel:
  • Pummel is a quick knifehand thrust from Olimar himself.
    • Pummel has much less startup (frame 11 → 1) and ending lag (FAF 21 → 7) and deals more hitlag (5 (Red, Blue, Purple)/6 (White)/8 (Yellow) → 10)
    • It deals less damage (4% (White)/2% (others) → 1%).
      • As such, Olimar can no longer benefit from the damaging pummel of White Pikmin.
• Forward throw:
  • Forward throw deals more damage when using Blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
    • Red: 5.6% → 5.6%/6.1%/6.7% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Yellow, White, Purple: 7% → 7%/7.7%/8.4% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Blue: 11.2% → 11.8%/13%/14.2% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
• Back throw:
  • Back throw deals more damage when using Blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
    • Red: 7.2% → 7.2%/7.9%/8.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Yellow, White, Purple: 9% → 9%/9.9%/10.8% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Blue: 14.4% → 15.3%/16.8%/18.3% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
  • Back throw deals significantly more knockback when using Blue Pikmin.
• Up throw:
  • Up throw deals more damage when using Blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
    • Red: 6.4% → 6.4%/7%/7.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Yellow, White, Purple: 8% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Blue: 12.8% → 13.5%/14.8%/16.2% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
  • Up throw deals significantly more knockback when using Blue Pikmin, being the strongest up throw in the game.
  • Up throw has a more exaggerated animation.
• Down throw:
  • Down throw deals more damage when using Blue Pikmin and when Olimar has multiple Pikmin in his squad.
    • Red: 6.6% → 6.6%/7.2%/7.9% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Yellow: 8% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • White: 7.8% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Purple: 8.4% → 8%/8.8%/9.6% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
    • Blue: 12.2% → 12.8%/14.1%/15.4% (1/2/3 Pikmin).
  • Down throw sends opponents at a more horizontal angle (90° → 60°), reducing its combo potential.

Special moves

• Pikmin Throw:
  • Pikmin that latch onto opponents deal more damage (1.1% → 2% (Red, Yellow, Blue), 3.7% → 4.7% (White)).
  • Pikmin take fall damage when thrown and landing on the ground.
  • The removal of multiple player slot glitch and changes to jostle mechanics no longer crashes the game with Pikmin Throw.
  • Opponents make a discomforted facial expression (the same expression used by poisoned fighters) when a Pikmin is latched onto them.
• Winged Pikmin:
  • Winged Pikmin travels a significantly shorter distance with consecutive uses.
  • If Pikmin are in certain animations while using Winged Pikmin, attempting to use them for aerials will cause the attack to have no hitbox.
• Pikmin Order:
  • Olimar orders his Pikmin much sooner (frame 12 → 2).
  • Pikmin Order has less ending lag (FAF 21 → 18).
  • Olimar gains super armor sooner (frame 6 → 2), much like in Brawl. This improves its use as a defensive tool and as a combo breaker.
    • However, it also has a shorter duration (frames 6-12 → 2-7). This effectively increases the move's ending lag despite its reduced total duration.
  • Pikmin Order's whistling animation is less exaggerated. This new animation is shorter (39 frames → 33), decreasing the amount of time Olimar cannot grab the ledge after performing the move in the air.
• End of Day
  • End of Day has been drastically sped up, with the Hocotate Ship crashing onto the stage almost immediately after the move's cutscene.
    • This gives the opponent less time to avoid the explosion, especially those who are buried.
  • The explosion has less knockback scaling (140 (sweetspot)/125 (sourspot) → 120/105).

Update history

Olimar received a mix of buffs, nerfs and glitch fixes via game updates, but was noticeably nerfed overall. Update 2.0.0 fixed an infamous glitch which allowed Pikmin to double the strength of the spirit multiplier, causing attacks with his Pikmin to deal massive amounts of damage under the right circumstances. However, he received a glitch in this same update that caused all of his smash attacks to no longer increase in damage while being charged. While this glitch was fixed in update 3.0.0, this update also introduced another glitch that causes reflected Pikmin to inflict damage onto himself after they've returned to him, leading to the possibility of unintentional self-destructs caused by Olimar using moves that boast a great amount of KO power. The changes made to the shield mechanics in this same update also harmed him by making his smash attacks less safe on perfect shield. In addition, like with many other projectiles, his forward smash and Pikmin throw now deal less shield damage, although the amount of shieldstun went unchanged.

Update 3.1.0 was, by far, the update that nerfed Olimar the most. The size of Olimar's hurtbox has been enlarged, making him easier to hit even while shielding. His forward and up smashes had their ending lag increased, with the former smash attack also having its clean hitbox harder to land due to its duration being shortened. This same update also noticeably reduced the Winged Pikmin's overall travel distance when they are used consecutively, hampering his recovery. However, update 4.0.0 undid update 3.1.0.'s nerf to his clean forward smash's duration.

Like many other characters, Olimar's shield was enlarged in update 7.0.0, which compensated his larger hurtbox by both fully covering him and making him less vulnerable to shield stabbing. Update 8.0.0 buffed End of Day's KO potential and range. Prior to update 10.0.0, if Olimar tried to use an aerial attack out of Winged Pikmin after using forward smash or Pikmin Throw, the move would act as if there were no Pikmin. This bug had plagued Olimar since SSB4 and was finally fixed in 10.0.0, indirectly buffing Olimar. Update 12.0.0 would buff the clean hit of forward smash once again by slightly increasing its duration at the negligible cost of making its mid hit have a slightly shorter duration.

Due to Olimar's strongest traits being toned down, he fares much worse than he did at the launch of Ultimate; however, he is still considered to be a very solid and viable character despite the nerfs.

1.2.0

• Olimar has been affected, although the changes are currently unknown.

2.0.0

• Fixed a glitch where Pikmin would apply attack multipliers twice when using spirits.
• Created a glitch where smash attacks would not have their damage outputs scale when charged.

3.0.0