Charizard (SSB4)

Charizard in Super Smash Bros. 4
Universe	Pokémon
Other playable appearances	in Brawl in Ultimate
Availability	Starter
Final Smash	Mega Evolution
Tier	E (42)

“	Charizard Fires It Up!	”
—Introduction Tagline

Charizard (リザードン, Lizardon) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. Its return to the series was announced during a Super Smash Bros. Direct on April 8th, 2014, during which its fellow Pokémon fighter Greninja was also revealed. It is no longer a part of Pokémon Trainer, who, along with Squirtle and Ivysaur, did not return. Shin'ichirō Miki reprises his role as Charizard's voice actor, albeit via re-recorded voice clips that match how it sounds in the Pokémon anime.

Charizard is ranked 42nd out of 54 on the tier list, placing it in the E tier. This is a marginal drop from Pokémon Trainer's placement in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, where he was ranked 29th out of 38 characters, and as a standalone character, its worst placement in the series. Due to now being a standalone character, Charizard's playstyle is much more consistent, and its moveset is no longer burdened by stamina. Fittingly for a super heavyweight, Charizard boasts an array of strong KOing options and impressive endurance, which are supplemented by rage and its varied recovery, respectively. Charizard also boasts a potent grab game that allows for combos, KO set-ups, and even KOing outright; its up throw, in particular, is the second strongest throw of any kind in the game. Lastly, Charizard's overall mobility is quite fast for a super heavyweight; its walking and dashing speeds are among the fastest in the game, while a number of its moves boast minimal start-up lag alongside respectable utility.

However, Charizard has some very noticeable weaknesses. Despite having a number of regular moves with minimal start-up lag, its overall frame data is nevertheless below-average compared to most of the cast. Unsurprisingly for a super heavyweight, Charizard is susceptible to combos and juggling; although it has options to escape from a disadvantaged state, they are easily exploitable.

In the early stages of SSB4's metagame, Charizard endured very poor tournament representation and results, to the point of being widely considered the single worst character in the game. Thanks to consistently receiving very useful buffs via game updates, however, Charizard's tournament presence has considerably improved at a gradual pace, particularly in regional tournaments outside of North America. This success has been reflected by Charizard's current status as a mid-tier character.

Attributes

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Unlike the other playable Pokémon, who are either lightweights (Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Mewtwo) or middleweights (Lucario and Greninja), Charizard is a super heavyweight. Although its overall damage output and endurance are fittingly very high, it deviates from its weight class's archetype in a few ways. The most noticeable of these differences is its hurtboxes and mobility. Charizard does not have hurtboxes on its wings, and they only cover slightly more than the base of its tail. As a result, Charizard's wings and the majority of its tail are effectively immune to opposing hitboxes.

Regarding mobility, Charizard's dashing speed is the ninth fastest in the game, whereas its walking speed is tied with Mewtwo's for the fifteenth fastest in the game. Like Pit and Dark Pit, it has below-average falling speed and multiple double jumps: the former makes it floaty despite its weight and thus enables it to avoid certain set-ups, whereas the latter assists its recovery. However, Charizard's mobility also has very apparent flaws. Its traction is tied with Mewtwo's for the second lowest in the game, while its rolls are among the slowest in the game. By extension, Charizard's below-average air speed hinders its otherwise varied recovery, and its falling speed makes it more susceptible to combos and being KO'd vertically because of its high gravity.

Charizard's greatest strength is its KO potential: thanks to its plethora of KOing options, it can easily and/or reliably KO opponents either on the ground or in the air. Sweetspotted forward smash, sweetspotted back aerial, and Flare Blitz are Charizard's strongest attacks: while near the edge of Final Destination, each of them KO middleweights below 85% and 75% in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, respectively. Alternatively, Charizard possesses a few safer, albeit somewhat weaker KOing options in sweetspotted forward tilt, up tilt, down smash, sweetspotted forward aerial, up aerial, up smash, and up throw.

Out of these weaker KOing options, up smash and up throw are the most effective. Up smash hits grounded and aerial opponents on frames 6 and 7, respectively; deals respectable damage; and reliably KOs either grounded or aerial opponents. Conversely, up throw is the second strongest throw of any kind in the game (surpassed only by Ness' back throw), which enables it to KO reliably, even without the aid of a platform.

Another of Charizard's strengths is the utility of its moveset. Neutral attack is a prime example of this utility: it is among the most damaging of its kind in the game; possesses deceptive speed and range; and is decent at jab canceling. Down tilt, neutral aerial, and forward aerial have significant ranges and fairly minimal lag, which makes them useful for spacing like neutral attack. These three particular attacks also have specific perks: down tilt and sweetspotted forward aerial are useful edge-guarding options thanks to being semi-spikes, whereas neutral aerial is a useful combo starter from low to medium percentages, yet decently safe on shield or when missed thanks to its auto-cancel window and hitbox placements.

Forward smash and up aerial grant intangibility throughout their durations, which essentially enables Charizard to use them to retaliate against incoming attacks. Up tilt and up smash are reliable anti-air attacks, thanks to their ranges and Charizard's wings not having hurtboxes. Down smash simultaneously hits in front of and behind Charizard. When coupled with its quake hitboxes and its sweetspot being a semi-spike, it is very useful for punishing rolls and edge-guarding. In addition to up throw's aforementioned KO potential, the remainder of Charizard's grab game possesses respectable utility: its forward and back throws have decent damage outputs and are reliable for setting up edge-guards, whereas its down throw is a reliable combo starter from low to medium percentages.

The respectable level of utility within Charizard's moveset also extends to its special moves. Flamethrower is a short-ranged projectile that can be angled to safely rack up damage; intercept approaches and some other projectiles; or gimp recoveries. Rock Smash grants 18 frames of super armor beginning on frame 5, which makes it useful against incoming attacks and a somewhat safe landing option. Lastly, Flare Blitz and Fly are both highly protective recovery options. Flare Blitz covers a great amount of horizontal distance, and grants 30 frames of armor that begin on frame 23 and can withstand a maximum of 15%. Conversely, Fly has fairly minimal start-up lag and grants 11 frames of super armor beginning on frame 4.

However, Charizard has significant flaws. Like its fellow super heavyweights, it suffers from a lack of reliable landing options; when coupled with its slow air speed and air acceleration, weakening its landing mix-ups, Charizard has only neutral aerial and Rock Smash as fairly safe landing options. Charizard's neutral game is also limited because of its lack of safety on shield. Although its neutral game has decent defensive potential, it suffers against opponents that can pressure it safely and force it to approach unsafely, such as Zero Suit Samus.

Although several Charizard's normal moves have minimal start-up lag, its overall frame data is below-average compared to most of the cast. This is especially apparent with several of its most useful and/or potent attacks: up aerial and Flamethrower have considerable amounts of start-up lag, whereas forward/down smashes, back/down aerials, Flare Blitz, and Rock Smash each have considerable amounts of start-up and ending lag. In addition, some of Charizard's most useful and/or potent attacks have specific flaws aside from lag. Flamethrower's decay can prevent it from spacing effectively when used frequently. Flare Blitz's recoil damage makes it best used strictly as a punishment option. Forward smash, forward aerial, back aerial, down aerial, and Rock Smash require their sweetspots to KO reliably, whereas up throw's KO potential can be hindered via directional influence.

A few of Charizard's custom moves alleviate some of its weaknesses. Dragon Rush is effectively its best custom move: although it deals slightly less damage and has very minimal KO potential, it hits multiple times, cannot be blocked by opponents when recovering, has less lag, and lacks recoil damage. Rising Cyclone is drastically stronger, to the point that it is capable of KOing most characters under 80%. However, it covers much less distance, to the point that it travels roughly as high as Rising Uppercut. Fly High covers slightly more distance, but at the cost of not dealing any damage. Lastly, Sinking Skull is slightly faster, buries grounded opponents and, when sweetspotted, meteor smashes aerial opponents. However, it does not have any super armor, so it worsens Charizard's already poor landing options.

Overall, Charizard is essentially an "all-rounder" version of a super heavyweight, yet it is also comparable to Bowser in certain ways: its air physics and a number of its moves are similar to his, while its grab game is very useful for combos and KOing. Unlike Bowser, however, Charizard possesses faster grounded mobility, greater moveset utility, and a better recovery at the cost of raw power and balanced aerial mobility.

These traits make Charizard's playstyle require patience like Bowser's, yet deviate from his by requiring an appropriate balance of offense and defense, instead of being largely defensive. Reads and baits can also be very beneficial for Charizard's most potent punishment options, particularly its smash attacks and sweetspotted back aerial. However, its other useful assets enable it not be as dependent on mindgames like Bowser is.

From a competitive standpoint, Charizard is currently placed in the lower portion of the mid-tier. While it had been previously regarded as a bottom-tier character, and even the single worst character in the game before update 1.0.6, the substantial buffs it consistently received from game updates led it to be widely regarded as a potential low-tier or mid-tier character even before its improved results and tier reassessment.

Despite being well-rounded for a super heavyweight, many players cite Charizard as one of the more complex heavyweights to utilize, which was reflected by its generally below-average tournament representation in North America before 2017. Nevertheless, Charizard has managed to achieve sparse but notable results in tournaments outside of North America, such as winning some regional tournaments. In addition, its tournament success in North America began to show improvement in 2017, as shown by Bloodcross and Sharpy placing 17th and 33rd, respectively, at CEO Dreamland.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Charizard has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition from Brawl to SSB4. Direct comparisons to its appearance in Brawl are somewhat abstract because it could not be played as an individual character; however, it is generally agreed that Charizard itself has been buffed. Charizard's playstyle is drastically different from that of Pokémon Trainer as a whole: in general, the loss of its teammates makes its playstyle much more consistent than Pokémon Trainer's, but less capable of adapting to matchups.

Charizard has received some notable buffs. The removal of stamina grants its moveset consistent power, which is further supplemented by the rage mechanic, enabling its wide array of KOing options to become even more potent. Regarding individual buffs, Charizard's grounded mobility has greatly improved: its already fast dashing speed has become the ninth fastest in SSB4, while its walking speed has gone from being the slowest in Brawl to being tied with Mewtwo's as the fifteenth fastest in SSB4.

Charizard's grab game has also improved: up throw is now a reliable KOing option and the second strongest throw of any kind in the game, whereas down throw has been re-purposed from a KOing option into a reliable combo starter at low to medium percentages. Lastly, Rock Smash now grants super armor and Flare Blitz, its new side special, boasts KO and recovery potential.

However, Charizard has also received nerfs. The removal of gliding has greatly weakened its recovery, while Flare Blitz is not as flexible for horizontal recovery as gliding was. Flare Blitz is also burdened with recoil damage, regardless of whether or not it hits a target, and its extremely slow nature makes it very difficult to connect, and it is highly punishable if it misses. Regarding individual nerfs, Charizard's heavier weight, faster falling speed, and slower air speed collectively make it more vulnerable to combos and juggling, especially when combined with the removal of hitstun canceling, which overall does not benefit Charizard much as its combo grab is limited outside of its throws. While some of its moves deal more knockback and are thus able to KO earlier, this in turn makes them less suitable for combos past medium percentages, and despite having stronger KO options, some of Charizard's move such as down tilt, down throw, and Rock Smash, have reduced KO potential. Charizard's aerial game has also seen some nerfs. Not only is its air speed slower, but its neutral aerial has smaller hitboxes, forward aerial is less effective as an edgeguarding tool, back and up aerials are much slower, down aerial has considerably decreased range, and Charizard has lost its glide attack. Lastly, Charizard's overall grab range has been shortened, and all of its grabs are slower, meaning that despite its stronger grab game, Charizard has more difficulty actually getting the grabs it needs.

Aesthetics

• Charizard's design has changed. It has smaller teeth and a slightly less pronounced snout; the corners of its mouth are curved upward; and its wings' metacarpal joints are slightly longer and slightly thinner. Additionally, Charizard's teeth are now white instead of beige; its patagium's interior is now midnight green instead of Persian green; and its tail's flame is now orange instead of vermilion. Lastly, the aesthetic used in SSB4 has resulted in Charizard having a sleeker design, and the orange portion of its skin being more vibrant. Altogether, these changes make Charizard appear virtually identical to its appearance in Pokédex 3D Pro.
• Charizard has received three new alternate costumes.
• Charizard is slightly more expressive. Its irises now shrink during its sidestep and when it is hit or launched. The majority of Charizard's animations are also more fluid.
• Charizard has new voice clips. Its grunts and roars now match how they sound in the Pokémon anime.
• Due to being separate from Pokémon Trainer, Charizard has a new victory pose that replaces the one that involves Pokémon Trainer petting it. Its new victory pose consists of Charizard using its new side special, Flare Blitz, to descend from the air and crash into the ground before striking a pose.
• Charizard's body now faces the screen regardless of whether it's facing left or right.
• Dash's animation has slightly changed. Charizard now flaps its wings while dashing.

Attributes

• Due to the limitations of the Nintendo 3DS' processing power, Charizard is no longer connected to Pokémon Trainer via Pokémon Change or character selection screen input.
  • As a result, Charizard is no longer affected by stamina or type effectiveness (although the former is far more beneficial than the latter), allowing Charizard to be consistently powerful throughout an entire match.
  • However, Charizard can no longer switch to Squirtle (and subsequently Ivysaur) to adapt to different matchups and cover up its own weaknesses.
• Charizard walks much faster (0.7 → 1.2), going from the slowest out of 39 characters to the 15th fastest out of 58.
• Charizard dashes faster (1.8 → 2.0).
• Charizard's initial dash is slower (1.3 → 1), now being tied with Bowser for the slowest initial dash in the game.
• Charizard's air speed is slower (0.987 → 0.92), going from the 14th fastest to the 12th slowest.
• Charizard falls faster (1.35 → 1.4). This slightly improves its vertical endurance, but makes it slightly more susceptible to combos.
• Charizard's gravity is higher (0.085 → 0.11).
  • Despite this, Charizard's mid air jumps are higher.
• Charizard is heavier (110 → 116).
• Charizard's traction is lower (0.055 → 0.04). When combined with Charizard's slower grab and up smash, this significantly hinders Charizard's ability to punish out of shield.
• Rolls have decreased ending lag (FAF 35 (forward)/FAF 36 (backward) → 33 (both)).
• Roll have decreased intangibility (frames 4-19 → 4-18).
• Spot dodge has more startup lag with a short duration (frames 2-20 → 3-18) and it has increased ending lag (FAF 26 → 28).
• Air dodge has less startup (frame 4 → 3) and ending lag (FAF 40 → 34).
• Item throw is stronger (1.198 → 1.208).
• Charizard no longer has hurtboxes on its wings. This makes it harder to hit from above, especially during animations such as its midair jumps, and causes its wing attacks to effectively be fully disjointed.
• The removal of gliding significantly hinders Charizard's recovery. This also means that Charizard no longer has a glide attack, removing Charizard's safest aerial/KO option.
• The removal of meteor canceling significantly improves Charizard's endurance against meteor smashes, as it previously had one of the least effective meteor cancel windows in Brawl, while its down aerial is also a more effective meteor smash.

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first two hits transition into the next hit slightly faster (frame 10 → 9).
  • The final hit deals more knockback (40 (base), 110 (scaling) → 60/130).
  • The far hitbox for the first two hits now takes priority (ID #3 → 0).
  • All hits have a shorter duration (frames 4-7 → 4-5 (hit 1), frames 5-7 → 5-6 (hit 2), frames 7-10 → 7-9 (hit 3)).
  • The far hitbox for the first two hits is smaller (5u → 4.5u) and has been moved closer to Charizard.
  • The hitbox the furthest inside Charizard's body (for the first two hits) has been removed.
  • The final hit deals less damage (6% → 5%).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup lag (frame 12 → 11).
  • Forward tilt has increased base knockback (35 → 40), improving the sweetspot's KO potential.
  • The sweetspot launches opponents at a more favorable angle (361° → 40°).
  • Forward tilt now has two sweetspot hitboxes rather than just one.
  • The sourspot deals less damage (10% → 7%).
  • The original sweetspot has a smaller hitbox (5.5u → 4u).
  • Forward tilt has more ending lag (FAF 42 → 43).
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt's animation has changed. Charizard now slightly fans out its wings while thrusting them upward.
  • The wing hitbox reaches higher (y offset: 28 → 30).
  • Up tilt's hitboxes have been moved backwards (z offset: 2.5 → 0). This increases its range behind Charizard but reduces its range in front of Charizard.
  • Up tilt no longer grants intangibility to Charizard's wings, although since Charizard's wings now lack hurtboxes, this change has no impact.
  • Up tilt has a shorter duration (frames 9-15 → 9-13).
• Down tilt:
  • Charizard's down tilt has an altered animation. While Charizard still thrusts its head forward, it no longer bites.
  • Down tilt now has one extended hitbox rather than three normal hitboxes (3.5u/5u/5u → 3.5u).
    • This makes the move consistently powerful, and it is now disjointed; rather than failing to fully cover Charizard's head.
    • However, this slightly decreases the move's vertical range.
  • Down tilt now has a windbox from frames 5-7.
  • Charizard's neck deals more damage (8% → 10%), although its knockback was compensated (20 (base), 100 (scaling) → 60/60).
  • Down tilt is now a semi-spike (361°/65°/75° → 30°).
  • Down tilt has a reduced trip chance (40%/50% → 30%), although it is still incapable of tripping due to its knockback and angle.
  • Down tilt has more startup (frame 8 → 9) and ending lag (FAF 28 → 31).
  • Charizard's head deals less damage (12% → 10%) and knockback (40 (base), 100 (scaling) → 60/60), significantly hindering its KO potential.
• Dash attack:
  • Dash attack has less ending lag (FAF 45 → 40).
  • Dash attack deals more knockback (70 (base), 50 (scaling) → 100/45 (clean), 45/30 → 100/30 (late)).
  • Dash attack launches opponents at a lower angle (80°/90°/100° → 50°/60° (clean), (80°/90°/110° → 60°/75° (late)).
  • Dash attack has smaller hitboxes (4.5u/4.5u/4.5u → 4.5u/4u (clean), 4u/4u/4u → 4u/3.5u (late)) and it has lost its hitbox, which was the furthest inside Charizard.
• Forward smash:
  • Forward smash's animation has slightly changed. Charizard now swings its head in a more pronounced motion. This new animation increases its horizontal range.
    • However, the move now has two extended hitboxes rather than four normal hitboxes (6u/6u/6u/6u → 6u/5.5u), decreasing its vertical range and making it cover less of Charizard's body.
  • Forward smash deals more knockback (40 (base), 98 (scaling) → 60/94), improving the neck hitbox's KO potential.
  • Forward smash has lost its initial hit, shortening its duration (frames 22-27 (hit 1)/28-30 (hit 2) → 22-24) and making it deal less damage overall (22% → 17%).
    • This also increases its ending lag as its total duration was unchanged.
    • Additionally, the head hitbox has a shorter duration (3 frames → 2) and deals less damage (17% → 14%), hindering its KO potential.
  • Charizard starts charging forward smash slightly earlier (frame 17 → 16).
  • Forward smash has decreased intangibility (frames 22-26 → 22-25).
  • Forward smash now launches opponents at a consistent angle (45°/40°/35°/361° → 45°), no longer being able to semi-spike opponents.
  • The 1.19x damage multiplier against shields, and the increase to shieldstun significantly improve forward smash's shield pressuring potential, although it remains easily punishable on shield.
• Up smash:
  • Due to Charizard's wings no longer possessing hurtboxes, up smash is a much safer anti-air option, allowing it to always beat out attacks from opponents above Charizard.
  • The first hit's upper wing hitbox is larger (4u → 5u).
  • The second hit has less startup lag with a longer duration (frames 17-21 → 16-21).
  • The second hit has larger hitboxes (5.5u/4.5u/3.5u/2.5u → 5.5u/5u/4.5u).
  • The second hit no longer has sourspots on the top of Charizard's wing with lower knockback scaling (100/90 → 107).
  • Charizard no longer slides nearly as far when performing a dashing up smash (although Charizard still travels further than its DACUS variant in Brawl). This makes its hits connect better. However, this hinders its approach potential.
  • The first hit's launching hit has higher set knockback (90/80 → 100) and its angle has been altered (115°/105° → 110°).
  • The first hit's lower wing hitboxes have altered set knockback (60 (lower wing)/40 (middle wing) → 30/60).
  • The first hit's middle wing hitbox now takes priority over the lower wing hitbox (ID#1 → 0).
  • The first hit's middle and upper wing hitboxes have altered angles (100° → 140°/280°).
    • This allows them to connect more reliably into the second hit against aerial opponents.
    • However, this hinders the move's ability to lead into the second hit against smaller characters.
  • The first hit has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 5-11 → 6-11), no longer being tied for the fastest up smash.
  • Up smash no longer has transcendent priority.
  • Charizard starts charging up smash smash slightly earlier (frame 4 → 3).
  • The first hit now only has one launching hitbox, with the hitbox positioned within Charizard being removed.
  • The first hit's middle wing hitbox is smaller (5u → 4.2u).
  • The second hit's previous sweetspots have decreased knockback scaling (110 → 107).
• Down smash:
  • Down smash's animation has slightly changed. Charizard now stomps the ground with one foot, instead of both feet.
  • Down smash has increased knockback scaling (75 (all) → 79 (sweetspot)/85 (sourspot)), improving its KO potential.
  • Down smash can now hit aerial opponents.
  • The sweetspot is now a semi-spike (80° → 33°), improving its KO and edgeguarding potential.
  • The sourspot's angle has been altered (80° → 46°). While this improves its KO potential near the horizontal blastzone, it also significantly hinders its KO potential near the vertical blastzone, as well as its overall KO potential.
  • The sweetspot's have smaller hitboxes (10u/10u → 6u/6u). As the sweetspots are positioned at the end of Charizard's wings, this significantly decreases down smash's range despite the sweetspots being repositioned further horizontally (z offset: 19/-13 → 21/-15).
  • Charizard starts charging down smash smash slightly earlier (frame 3 → 2).

Aerial attacks

• All aerials except back aerial have decreased landing lag (22 frames → 20 (neutral/up), 32 frames → 22 (forward), 35 frames → 33 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial has smaller hitboxes (4u/4u/4u/4u/4u → 3.5u/3u/1.5u/3.5u), as well as losing the hitbox on Charizard's body.
  • Neutral aerial has more startup lag with a shorter duration (frames 8-27 → 9-25).
  • Neutral aerial has decreased knockback scaling (90 → 78).
• Forward aerial:
  • Charizard has a new forward aerial, a downward slash with its claws. Compared to the previous forward aerial, it deals more damage (4% (near)/3% (mid)/2% (far/farthest)/11% (total) → 12% (early)/13% (clean tip)), significantly improving its KO potential despite dealing less knockback than the first hit of the previous forward aerial (70 (base), 100 (scaling) → 35/92 (early), 37/92 (clean tip)).
  • Forward aerial has less startup (frame 9 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 48 → 47).
  • Forward aerial has a shorter duration (frames 9-16 → 8-11).
  • Forward aerial auto-cancels later (frame 26 → 35), now requiring perfect timing to be auto-cancelled in a short hop.
  • Forward aerial has smaller hitboxes (6u/8u/11u/13u → 4.6u/4u/3u/4.8u).
  • Forward aerial launches opponents at a less favorable angle (25° → 361° (early)/34° (clean)), which, along with its lower base knockback, hinders its edgeguarding potential.
• Back aerial:
  • Back aerial has a new animation where Charizard thrusts its tail much further, with its hitboxes being re-positioned accordingly. This significantly increases its range.
    • However, this new animation is longer (41 frames → 52), increasing the amount of time Charizard cannot grab the ledge after using the move.
  • Back aerial deals more damage (9% (flame)/7% (tail)/5% (wing) → 16%/14%/11%), significantly improving its KO potential despite its decreased knockback (30 (base), 130/100 (scaling) → 50/90).
  • Back aerial no longer has an initial wing hitbox, which in turn:
    • Significantly increases its startup lag and shortens its duration (frame 7-9 (hit 1)/10-12 (hit 2) → 14-16).
    • Removes its ability to link into the clean hit, making the sweetspot harder to land.
  • Back aerial has smaller hitboxes (6u/6u/6u/6u (hit 2) → 5u/4u/4u/2.8u).
  • Back aerial has more ending lag (FAF 42 → 46).
  • Back aerial has more landing lag (22 frames → 24).
  • Back aerial auto-cancels much later (frame 24 → 44), removing its ability to auto-cancel with a short hop.
    • Altogether, these changes greatly hinder back aerial's approach potential despite its increased range.
  • The changes to shields as well as back aerial's increased range and damage significantly improve its shield pressuring potential, especially the sweetspot.
• Up aerial:
  • Charizard has a new up aerial. Charizard swings its head in an upwards arc (similar to Bowser's). It deals more damage (10% (clean)/7% (late) → 13%) and has increased base knockback (20 → 30), significantly improving its KO potential compared to the previous up aerial.
  • Up aerial has more horizontal range due to its new animation.
  • Up aerial has much more startup lag with a much shorter duration due to no longer possessing a late hit (frames 6-8 (clean)/9-27 (late) → 12-15).
  • Up aerial grants less intangibility to Charizard's head/neck (frames 6-11 → 11-15).
  • Up aerial has a shorter initial auto-cancel window despite its increased startup lag (frames 1-5 → 1-3).
  • Up aerial has a longer animation (46 frames → 59). This increases the amount of time Charizard cannot grab the ledge after using the move, although it now has interruptibility frames to compensate for its total duration.
• Down aerial:
  • Down aerial's upper hitbox can now hit aerial opponents, increasing the move's upwards reach against aerial opponents.
  • Down aerial has received a late hitbox that deals 8% and launches at a horizontal angle. This lengthens its duration (frames 18-20 → 18-20 (clean)/21-26 (late)).
    • However, the late hit has had its knockback uncompen