Isabelle joins the battle from Animal Crossing: New Leaf! She uses various trinkets from around the village to battle. Her side special, "Fishing Rod," not only allows her to snag and bring opponents closer, it can also be used as a recovery move.
Isabelle (しずえ, Shizue) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. She was announced as a newcomer at the end of the September 13, 2018 Nintendo Direct in tandem with the then-untitled Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While she shares many moves with Villager, Isabelle is not an Echo Fighter, and is instead a semi-clone. As such, Isabelle is classified as fighter #68.
Although Isabelle speaks Animalese within her home series and reveal trailer, she is completely mute in Ultimate.
Isabelle is a moderately short and floaty lightweight with slow overall mobility. As an Animal Crossing character, Isabelle is similar in many aspects to Villager; however, she has faster grounded and aerial mobility, is lighter and floatier, and cannot wall jump. Moreover, Isabelle also has multiple attacks that are unique to her (such as all three of her smash attacks), while even the moves she shares with Villager have different animations and altered functionality.
Isabelle's grounded moves, while not the best, have some utility. Neutral attack is Isabelle's fastest grounded move, and while it is a weak single-hit move, it can be used to combo into her smash attacks at high percentages, and can also be used to jab lock opponents reliably; forward tilt is useful for spacing thanks to its decent knockback and range, while also serving as a situational KOing move at higher percents near the ledge; up tilt can be used for combos and juggles thanks to its relatively fast speed and low knockback; down tilt possesses decent range, while the sweetspot close to her is a respectably powerful KOing option at high percents; and dash attack is a projectile that can be used off of platforms against opponents on the ground or on lower platforms, and it can also be used near the ledge for edgeguarding or potentially as a 2 frame punish. Her smash attacks also have some utility as well: forward smash is her strongest grounded KOing option if sweetspotted; up smash hits twice and is her best vertical kill move; and down smash is a semi-spike that can be used for KOing near the ledge, edgeguarding, and 2 frame punishes.
Isabelle's aerials are also useful as well, and all of them can autocancel in a short hop as well. Neutral aerial is Isabelle's fastest aerial, and it is a sex kick that can be used to combo into Isabelle's other moves or break out of combos. Forward and back aerials have her fire slingshot projectiles that are useful for approaching, spacing and edgeguarding; back aerial has slower startup but less ending lag than forward aerial, and is stronger as well. Finally, up and down aerials have her always swing two turnips as opposed to also one or three like Villager, making them more consistent overall; up aerial is a good follow-up from up tilt, is useful for juggling, and the clean hit can even act as a situational KOing move near the upper blast line, while down aerial's clean hit is capable of meteor smashing if sweetspotted, while otherwise launching opponents on the Sakurai angle, enabling it to be used for edgeguarding. The inability to tech grounded meteor smashes also gives sweetspotted clean down aerial limited combo potential at higher percents as well.
Her grab game also has some utility. Isabelle uses a net as part of her tether grab, which has a longer range than a normal grab, but more startup and ending lag as a result; however, Isabelle does not have a grab aerial in spite of her long-ranged grab. Isabelle can also use her grab to pocket items as well. Pummel is useful for racking up damage against grabbed opponents, down throw can be used to initiate aerial combos, forward throw can setup edgeguards by throwing opponents off the stage, and back throw can be used to KO near the ledge. Up throw, however, is Isabelle's least useful throw.
Isabelle sports versatile special moves. Her neutral special, Pocket, allows her to steal an opponent's projectile and send it back at them, helping to discourage projectile camping against her. Her down special, Lloid Trap, has her planting Lloid into the ground. Lloid Trap will active whenever an opponent walks over Lloid or can be activated manually, making it useful for surprising opponents. Her side special, Fishing Rod, is a command grab that allows her to grab and throw opponents from distances farther than her grab can, and it also functions as a tether recovery as well. Her up special, Balloon Trip, provides incredibly long vertical and horizontal distance, though it travels a slightly shorter distance than Villager's version. This, in addition to her Fishing Rod's great horizontal distance, gives Isabelle an outstanding recovery.
However, Isabelle is held back by her many flaws. Many of Isabelle's moves, despite being disjointed, lack range outside of her forward aerial, back aerial, and side special. Although she has faster mobility than Villager, she is still slow, and her lighter weight and slower falling speed renders her easier to KO and juggle in comparison while also giving her a harder time landing against opponents. Isabelle's KOing power is notoriously very poor, as her forward smash—her only reliable KOing move suffers from a punishable amount of ending lag, has infamously short-range in spite of being disjointed, and has a very weak late hit that only deals 8%, and similarly to forward smash's aforementioned late hit, other moves such as up and down smashes are too weak for KOing at reasonable percents. Her damage-racking potential is also poor, as she has very few effective combos (such as up tilt > up tilt > up air) and her damage output and frame data are below-average. Isabelle's grab game is also a bit mediocre and worse than the Villager's throws because they keep the same stats that the Villager's throws had in SSB4. Isabelle's grab, while possessing a decent range and the interesting trait of being able to pocket items, is slow. Her throws also have limited utility, as they have nonexistent combo potential outside of down throw, while her back throw is her only throw that is able to KO at a realistic percent, though it is still weaker than numerous other back throws. Isabelle's mediocre mobility and generally poor range gives her a lackluster approach and a weak neutral game, amplifying her poor KOing ability even further. As a result, Isabelle struggles to reliably KO her opponent, while she is easy to KO due to her floatiness and somewhat lightweight.
Many of her special moves have major flaws. While her Fishing Rod is a versatile command grab with a very good range, it is flawed in many ways. Unlike all other grabs in the game, it is unusually capable of being shielded and suffers from a lot of ending lag, making it very punishable. Lloid Trap is also somewhat flawed, as it disappears after only 10 seconds, can be destroyed with most attacks, and some characters can even run through it without getting affected. While Isabelle's recovery is very long-distanced, she has no way to defend herself while using Balloon Trip, due to the move lacking a hitbox, and popping the balloons will render her helpless, meaning that despite her recovery being fairly good on paper, it is easily edgeguardable in practice. Finally, Isabelle loses certain of Villager's most important tools for zoning in the neutral game, namely Lloid Rocket and Timber, making her noticeably worse at zoning than her counterpart.
Overall, Isabelle is a more well-rounded character than Villager, having inferior zoning and camping ability, but better mobility and a more reliable set of standard attacks in comparison. However, her standard attacks still suffer from a mixture of poor range, poor damage output, or both, and she has inferior survivability due to her lighter weight and slower falling speed. Because of this, she is often seen as an inferior counterpart to Villager. This has resulted in a negative competitive reception, as many top professional players view her not only as an inferior counterpart to Villager (who by himself has rather mixed competitive reception and poor tournament representation), but also potentially as one of the worst characters in the game. Her tournament representation reflects this, as it is very poor in all regions, and her most significant results are either from the very early days of Ultimate's meta, or her being used as a secondary or pocket to other characters. However, due to her low popularity in tournaments, it is debatable whether Isabelle is actually a poor character, or her representation is poor simply because of dedicated mains. As such, her true standing in the meta remains to be seen.
Isabelle has received a mix of buffs and nerfs via game updates, but has been buffed overall. Update 1.1.0 decreased the landing lag of up and down aerials, whereas update 1.2.0 granted Dream Town Hall invulnerability in order to prevent opponents from canceling it at its very last second. Update 2.0.0 fixed several infamous glitches, such as the infinite Assist Trophy glitch and Slingshot Crash, and enabled neutral aerial to auto-cancel earlier. Update 3.0.0 nerfed forward and back aerials' shield damage as part of the general nerf to projectiles. More notably, this same update modified Fishing Reel in two ways: its hook gained the ability to catch an opponent while it is idle, thus granting it a guaranteed set-up a 2 frame punish, but at the cost of having significantly less active frames. However, update 3.1.0 undid these changes to Fishing Rod.
In update 4.0.0, Isabelle received a number of worthwhile buffs. Her rolls travel farther, which compliments her defensive playstyle. Neutral attack, which was near-universally viewed by players as one the worst moves of any kind in the game, received a number of changes that noticeably improve its utility. Both up smash and Fishing Rod's up throw became stronger KOing options, thanks to their increased knockback scaling. Lastly, Fishing Rod and Lloid Trap had their lag decreased; in particular, Lloid Trap's decreased start-up lag enables it to function much better against most opponents that dash over it.
Isabelle's rolls travel a longer distance (2.25u → 2.85u).
Neutral attack deals less knockback (21 base/38 scaling → 14/30), has a lower SDI multiplier (1× → 0.5×) and deals more hitstun (8 frames → 14), allowing it to chain into itself more reliably and making it safer to use.
Up smash's second hit has more knockback scaling (111 → 116).
Fishing Rod has less startup lag (frame 25 → 21) and can be reeled in faster (frame 50 → 46).
Fishing Rod's up throw has more knockback scaling (62 → 66).
Lloid Trap has less startup lag once activated (frame 11 → 9). This means most characters can no longer run over it without getting hit.
The rehit interval was increased to compensate (8 frames → 9), which can result in fewer hits occurring when catching opponents partway through the attack.
Adjusted variables related to Fishing Rod's ledge tether range (14, 10, -3, -10 → 20, 25, -3, -10), in order to improve its reliability as a tether recovery.
Whacks the opponent with a toy hammer. This move is a single-hit jab with very low knockback. At low percent, the move can hit multiple times due to its speed and low endlag. Can lock. At high percents, it can combo into tilts, down smash, or pocket.
Swings a Candy Umbrella horizontally, much like Villager. Compared to Villager's, it launches at a slightly lower angle and higher knockback growth, but more ending lag.
Pulls a weed out of the ground, much like Villager. Compared to Villager, this move's sweetspot deals slightly more damage, while the sourspot deals considerably lower damage. It also has marginally less ending lag than Villager's, but a shorter hitbox duration.
Similar to Villager's, but with a brown pot instead of a potted sapling. As such, the pot will either break or bounce off the ground after hitting it. The hitbox on the pot disappears after bouncing off the ground. When used near a ledge, it will fall off and continue to have a hitbox. Compared to Villager's, the pot does not travel as far, but the move has less ending lag.
Fires a party popper forward. Strong, but has noticeable ending lag (27 frames) and poor range despite being disjointed. Somewhat fast startup at frame 14 and has two hitboxes: a small hitbox close to Isabelle and a bigger one farther away from her. It's her most reliable KO option, but the clean hit only lasts 2 frames and its late hit only deals 8%, thus failing to KO at a reasonable percent.
Blows her whistle, causing a do-not-enter sign to spring up from the ground in front of her. It has 2 hits that connect into each other. Can combo into up aerial at low percents, but is a very weak up smash.
Splashes a pail of water back and forth, similar to Inkling's Slosher, but considerably faster and with less range. Sends opponents at a very low angle.
Swings turnips above her head. Unlike Villager's, she will always swing two turnips, making it more consistent but removing the chance of getting more knockback with three turnips.
Swings turnips below her body. Similar to her up air, she will always swing two turnips, making it more consistent than Villager but removing the chance of getting more knockback with three turnips. Hitting clean with the ends of the turnips will meteor smash opponents; any other part of the turnips will launch opponents horizontally.
Swings a net down in front of her, much like Villager. As such, using her grab on an item will cause her to pocket it. Notably, all four of Villager's throws were altered somewhat on the transition to Ultimate, with Isabelle's throws retaining Villager's throw properties from Smash 4. Isabelle's dash grab also has 1 frameless startup that Villager's.
Tosses the opponent out of the net with an overhead swing. Its low knockback scaling makes it best suited for throwing opponents off the stage to setup edgeguards.
Pockets projectiles and items, similar to Villager. After pocketing a projectile, using the neutral special input will produce and use the projectile. Using neutral special with a pocketed item will put the item in Isabelle's hand.
Casts out a fishing rod. The distance is cast depends on whether or not it was inputted while flicking the stick. It can be left out for about 5 seconds before Isabelle will automatically begin to slowly reel it in. Pressing the special or attack button will automatically reel it in completely at any time. When an opponent is captured by the fishing rod, she reels them in and can throw the opponent in one of 4 directions. The forward, back and up variants can kill at high percents, while the down variant can combo until high percents. The damage dealt varies, but what determines it is currently unknown. The fishing rod can also be used as a tether recovery and can also grab items. Unlike normal grabs, it cannot grab opponents through shields, even when reeled in.
Sits on a swing with two bunny balloons. Nearly identical to Villager's variant, and grants a lot of distance, though it travels a shorter distance than Villager's. Pressing or holding the special button will cause Isabelle to rise. Pressing the attack button will cancel the move while propelling her slightly upwards. If canceled with the attack button, the next use will only have one balloon until landing on stage.
Plants the Gyroid Lloid into the ground. When someone steps over him, or when the down special is inputted again, Lloid shoots out vertically, dragging the opponent with him. If nothing happens for 10 seconds, the trap will disappear. After taking 8% damage, not counting the 1v1 multiplier, he will explode, which will damage Isabelle if she is near the explosion.
When activated, Tom Nook and the Nooklings come and build a town hall, trapping opponents that got caught in the Final Smash. Once the town hall is completed, it explodes, causing high knockback and damage. While similar to Villager's variant, it deals more knockback and damage. The final hit is also faster.
Up taunt: Isabelle waves her hand while looking toward the screen. Based off of the Greetings emote.
Side taunt: Isabelle claps her hands while facing the screen. Based off of the Delight emote.
Down taunt: Isabelle dances, waving her arms in an inward circular motion while stepping in place. She then jumps up, and lands facing the screen with her arms spread out. Based off of the Complete emote in Happy Home Designer.
Up: Waves goodbye to a Lloid as he flies upwards in the background, then turns toward the camera with a pose similar to her official render.
Right: Dusts herself off, jumps twice, and poses triumphantly with her hands on her hips. Her end pose is based on the "Pride" emotion from the Animal Crossing series.
A remix of the first "Phrase" of the original Animal Crossing theme for the Nintendo 64 and GameCube, slightly sped up.
When Isabelle was first revealed, there was a glimmer of hope for the character due to her similar neutral and campy patient playstyle with Villager. On release, she was considered to be generally effective, as she shared some abilities from Villager: her slingshot was considered a good option for zoning and/or approaching and edgeguarding, and her Pocket prevented camping from other zoners. Her unique tools were also considered: Lloid Trap functioned as an effective tool for stage control, and could also force reactions from her opponent or set up an aerial combo, while Fishing Rod became rather notorious for dealing with recoveries and being rather difficult to deal with, especially at lower skill levels.
However, Isabelle's representation quickly dropped after the first few months, with players considering her not as good of a character as initially imagined. In addition to sharing the same weaknesses as Villager, Isabelle has additional flaws that hinder her (such as her infamously short smash attacks), while her camping game does not benefit as much to Ultimate’s engine.
As a result of these factors, Isabelle has not made a significant impact in tournaments and has little representation throughout Ultimate's current metagame. This is also exacerbated by the fact that she is outshined by her original counterpart, Villager, who is also struggling in the meta with limited representation, despite being considered a better character than her. Due to Villager’s stronger presence and Isabelle’s weaknesses, numerous professionals view her as one of the worst characters in the game. On the other hand, a few other players believes the character is underrated and has potential due to her strong camping game and effective ledge tools. Furthermore, dedicated players such as Nery, kept, and Lv.1 use her as either a solo main or a secondary and have placed well at both a regional and national level. Finally, update 4.0.0. gave her several buffs to her moveset as well as the "Wobbelle" technique, which traps the opponent at ledge with a jab until kill percent. As of now, her true tournament viability and tier placement in the meta is questionable.
Isabelle's opponents are composed of nearly every female challenger that appears in Ultimate. The only base roster female characters absent are Dark Samus and Spiky-eared Pichu.
Although Isabelle does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, she was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.
She can be found near a small town on a secluded road, that requires the spirit of Kapp'n (Wild World) to be driven through a tunnel to reach. Freeing her unlocks a path to the town.
Isabelle's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Isabelle in World of Light allows the player to preview the spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with the fighter's artwork in Ultimate.
•Defeat the main fighter to win •Hostile assist trophies will appear when the enemy's at high damage •The enemy favors side specials •Only certain Pokémon will emerge from Poké Balls (Goldeen)
Isabelle is the fourth character to be announced in Ultimate that was previously featured as a Mii costume in Super Smash Bros. 4, the others being Inkling, Chrom, and King K. Rool. Additionally, she uses a party popper in her forward smash, which is used in the Mii Gunner outfit based on her instead of an arm cannon.
Isabelle is also the third character to become playable after previously appearing as an Assist Trophy, after Little Mac and Dark Samus.
The Nintendo Direct that revealed Isabelle as a playable fighter was supposed to air on September 6th, 2018. However, an earthquake struck Hokkaidō, Japan that day. Its aftermath prompted Nintendo to postpone the Direct—and by extension, news of Isabelle's inclusion in Ultimate—by one week, out of respect for those affected by the tremor. This makes Isabelle the only playable character in the series' history whose reveal was explicitly delayed for any given reason.
Isabelle's reveal trailer initially appeared to be a reveal trailer for a new Nintendo Switch installment of the Animal Crossing series and was followed by an actual teaser trailer confirming such a title (later named Animal Crossing: New Horizons) for 2019.
Tom Nook is even seen watching Isabelle's own trailer on his computer, before telling the audience he has to get back to work, in order to prepare for the upcoming game.
This is the second time an upcoming Nintendo game has been teased through a character reveal trailer, the first being Luigi's Mansion 3, which was teased by Luigi's new Poltergust in Simon and Richter's reveal trailer.
In her reveal trailer, Isabelle opens a letter inviting her to join Smash Bros. that is enclosed in an envelope with a wax seal in the shape of the Super Smash Bros. logo. This is a callback to Villager's reveal in the first trailer for Super Smash Bros. 4.
There is an error on Isabelle's page on the Smash Bros. Ultimate site where her Animal Crossing symbol is the same color as Villager's (a dark green), instead of chartreuse, her background color.
Isabelle is the first newcomer in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to be from a franchise that had their first character introduced in Super Smash Bros. 4. Her inclusion also makes Animal Crossing the first franchise with a single character in Smash 4 to receive another playable character, the other being Street Fighter.
Strangely, Isabelle's reveal trailer shows that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was then still Rating Pending, even though the rating had already been revealed to be rated E10+ at the time. Whether this was an error on Nintendo's part or ESRB's part is unknown, though European trailers kept the PEGI 12 rating.
In a Famitsu column, Sakurai noted that because Isabelle and Villager have significantly different proportions and personalities, it was not possible for Isabelle to be Villager's Echo Fighter, and therefore she was developed as a unique character[1], although she still shares many moves with Villager. This makes Isabelle the only character so far whose reasoning for not being labeled as an Echo Fighter has been explicitly confirmed.
Isabelle is the only character in the base roster whose official confirmation was not part of a Super Smash Bros.-centered Nintendo Direct. Instead, she was revealed as part of a general Nintendo Direct.
Isabelle, Joker, Terry and Byleth are the only characters in the series with a grab that can be blocked, the former's being her Fishing Rod and the latter three's being Grappling Hook, Buster Wolf and Sword of the Creator, respectively.
Up and down aerials have less landing lag (12 frames → 9).
Created the 
Fixed item collided with two 
Slingshot attacks (forward and back aerials) deal less shield damage.
