Mr. Game & Watch (SSBU)

Mr. Game & Watch in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Universe	Game & Watch
Other playable appearances	in Melee in Brawl in SSB4
Availability	Unlockable
Final Smash	Octopus
Tier	S+ (4)

Mr. Game & Watch (Mr.ゲーム＆ウォッチ, Mr. Game & Watch) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was confirmed alongside Greninja and the rest of the returning roster on June 12th, 2018 during E3 2018. Mr. Game & Watch is classified as Fighter #26, the last fighter number of the Super Smash Bros. Melee veterans.

As in his Super Smash Bros. 4 incarnation, Mr. Game & Watch reuses his sound effects from Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl for Ultimate.

Mr. Game & Watch is ranked 4th out of 82 on the current tier list, placing him in the middle of the S+ tier. This is a drastic improvement from his placement in Smash 4, where he was ranked 38th out of 54, and is his best placement in the series, as well as the largest improvement for any veteran between games in the entire series, which also makes him the highest-ranking veteran from Melee. Mr. Game & Watch's most notable strength is his unrivaled out of shield game: Fire is arguably the most effective out-of-shield option in the game, as it possesses quick startup at frame 3, with large hitboxes that are positioned on both sides of Mr. Game & Watch, allowing him to effectively punish moves that are the slightest bit misspaced. In addition, Mr. Game & Watch also possesses a strong combo game rooted from his baiting and punishing with up special, into multiple follow up hits such as his highly damaging up aerial, which also serves as an amazing juggling tool. Complimenting his combo game is his KO potential, with very strong tilt attacks, as well as smash attacks that are safe on shield due to their low ending lag. His ledgetrapping is also among the best in the game, with an indefinite attack in the form of Chef, which significantly complicates an opponent's ability to get back on stage and gives Mr. Game & Watch edgeguarding and gimping opportunities. Finally, Oil Panic allows Mr. Game & Watch to deal with zoners and projectile users, as it acts as both a reflector and an absorption based move, and if fully charged, can be released on an opponent for a KO.

However, Mr. Game & Watch possesses some notable weaknesses, the most significant being his extremely poor endurance. He is tied with Squirtle for being the third lightest character in the game, making him susceptible to early KOs. Aside from up special and down aerial, most of his defensive options are underwhelming, as his other aerials are slow, his double jump is floaty, and his rolls and dodges are short-reaching. Finally, his neutral game lacks effective zoning options while his attacks have very short range outside of a few disjointed attacks, and as such, he has a poor approach game and has more trouble fighting against swordfighters and characters with better disjoints.

Overall, Mr. Game & Watch fits the archetype of a glass cannon. He is a character that can deal out damage quickly, has several strong KO options, and can be annoying to properly hit due to spammable attacks and a strong out-of-shield game. However, his weak endurance and poor approach options means he has to play patiently, lest he gets KO'd before the opponent. His playerbase has also steadily grown as the metagame progressed, with players such as Maister and Miya achieving incredible results.

How to unlock

Complete one of the following:

• Play VS. matches, with Mr. Game & Watch being the 52nd character to be unlocked.
• Clear Classic Mode with Pikachu or any character in its unlock tree, being the 6th character unlocked after Isabelle.
• Have Mr. Game & Watch join the player's party in World of Light.

Mr. Game & Watch must then be defeated on Flat Zone X (the Ω form is used in World of Light).

Attributes

Mr. Game & Watch is a short lightweight whose attributes make him stand out from other characters of his weight class. He has the 18th fastest air speed, the 13th fastest air acceleration, slightly above-average walking speed, average dashing speed (with an above-average initial dash), and is tied for the 5th highest traction. However, he has very low jumps, the 5th slowest falling speed, and below-average gravity. As a side note, he has a very low crouch that allows him to evade many attacks like Marth's Shield Breaker and Simon's forward tilt.

Unlike most other lightweights, Mr. Game & Watch possesses attacks with large and/or disjointed hitboxes and has dozens of powerful KO options. All of his smash attacks have very high power and low ending lag throughout, with each of them possessing unique attributes. Forward smash is among the strongest in the game if sweetspotted while having low endlag and good range, with the sweetspot being safe on shield. Up smash is similarly strong, and comes with full-body invincibility while the hitboxes are active. While it has a slow startup, it has minimal endlag and is completely safe on shield. Down smash sends opponents at an awkward semi-spike angle offstage, while its sweetspot buries opponents long enough to lead into a forward smash, even at medium percents. It also has a very large hitbox, allowing it to easily 2-frame many recoveries, and acts as an excellent punish option on rolls. Like his other smash attacks, down smash is safe on shield when spaced properly. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch possesses an excellent arsenal of smash attacks.

Outside of his smash attacks, Mr. Game & Watch's other moves also boast strong KO potential. Forward tilt comes out quickly, has a lingering hitbox, sends opponents at a semi-spike, and kills under 120% by the ledge. Down tilt lowers Mr. Game & Watch's hurtbox to match his crouch, allowing him to whiff-punish certain attacks. It also possesses high power and semi-spikes opponents offstage, leading to edgeguards and killing outright at 100%. His new forward aerial's explosion kills opponents at 120% by the ledge, while his back aerial now sends at a flatter angle with enough power to KO below 100% offstage. The clean hit on down aerial boasts a powerful meteor smash that can KO below 40%, while the late hit deals enough knockback to KO under 130%, and even sooner if it connects near the top blast zone, courtesy of the move's vertical launch angle. The move's low ending lag allows it to be used as a potent edgeguarding and landing option, giving him a deadly mixup game in the air at all times.

Oil Panic is used as Mr. Game & Watch's primary defense against camping and projectiles, as it both absorbs energy-based projectiles from moves such as Mega Buster and PK Fire, and reflects items like King K. Rool's Blunderbuss and Peach's Turnips. This can lead to massive advantages against certain characters who rely on projectiles in their playstyles. Oil Panic also has the notable ability of carrying over the charge to subsequent stocks, which can be used as a lethal finisher and even as a mindgame. The area in which Oil Panic can absorb projectiles is also deceptively large, which allows Mr. Game & Watch to store energy into Oil Panic merely by standing close to just the edge of any energy-based projectile. Finally, Oil Panic is also a potent combo finisher with nearly instantaneous startup lag, with its fairly large, lingering hitbox coming out on just frame 2, as well as extreme knockback that can kill at single-digit percents when at max power (power is dependent on projectiles absorbed). It is also notably difficult to defend against a fully charged use of it, as the lingering hitbox can still hit spot dodges if timed even slightly off, and a powerful enough charge can break a full shield, allowing Mr. Game & Watch to punish with one of his powerful smash attacks. For all of its strengths, however, Oil Panic has the glaring weakness of being filled with extremely weak moves, such as ZFox's Blaster. This causes Mr. Game & Watch to fill Oil Panic extremely quickly, rendering its defensive value useless, and forces him to either hold onto a weak use of it or dump it without purposefully damaging the opponent to use it again as a defensive tool. In addition, a full Oil Panic cannot absorb or reflect any projectiles, making Mr. Game & Watch more vulnerable to projectiles unless he releases the oil spill.

Mr. Game & Watch also has a very potent combo and aerial juggling game. Down throw combos into Oil Panic, Judge, and neutral air at low percentages. Chef can deal massive damage if multiple 'food' projectiles hit, allowing it to get around 30-40% off of a single edgeguard. The pan also hits opponents into the stream of meat through a semi-spike, and at high percentages, can launch opponents fast enough to miss the food entirely, leading to more ledgetrapping. Chef's speed and pattern make it extremely difficult for certain characters to recover, such as Ganondorf or Mario. Not only does Chef deal massive damage, but landing the move allows Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with a grab, neutral aerial, forward tilt, dash attack, and even Judge. Up tilt, though having worse range, deals high damage and combos into neutral aerial and Judge at low percentages. Once Mr. Game & Watch has his opponents above him, he can juggle them for massive damage using his up and neutral aerials. His up air acts similarly to Mega Man's up air, pushing opponents upwards, albeit with much less force. All in all, Mr. Game & Watch's strong KO power is also paired with very damaging combos and juggles.

Lastly, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a fantastic recovery option, as well as large, long-lasting, and disjointed aerials. This means that he is a formidable edgeguarder and is extremely hard to gimp himself. His up special, Fire, has frame 3 startup, invincibility in its early frames, impressive recovery distance vertically and horizontally, and a strong upwards hitbox on its initial hitbox, with decent launch power horizontally, allowing for early offstage KOs if it hits opposite the blast zone. This makes it deadly, as it can stage spike unwary opponents while also easily gimping characters with poor recoveries, like Chrom. It is also an extremely useful combo breaker and the game's uncontested best out of shield option due to its fast startup and invincibility, which is further complemented by it not rendering him helpless. His back aerial, Turtle Bridge, is a large, long-lasting, disjointed multi-hit move that has high knockback at the final hit. The move's large disjoint beats out a lot of recoveries that have hitboxes, and the multi-hit nature of the move makes it hard to tech for stage spikes and often drags opponents stuck in the move closer to the blast zone. For many characters, getting hit with Turtle Bridge is often fatal offstage, as the move lingers long enough to shift the opponent closer to the blast zone before dealing the final knockback on the last hit. On the ledge, Chef punishes ledge hangers and covers getup attack and rolls (hit by the pan), forcing opponents to jump. This can easily allow Mr. Game & Watch to follow up with neutral aerial and force the opponent back offstage. His new forward aerial can be comboed into with Chef and has strong KO potential on its own. Lastly, his up air has the notable quality of having no set limit on its distance, making it arguably the best juggling option in the game. Overall, Mr. Game & Watch is extremely deadly off the stage and at the ledge to all characters, even including himself.

Despite these strengths, Mr. Game & Watch possesses a few notable weaknesses. He is tied with Squirtle being the third lightest character in the game, which, along with his floaty movement, makes his horizontal and vertical endurance terrible, preventing him from surviving at very high percents in the long run. Rage makes this even more of a burden, since damaged opponents can abuse it to send Mr. Game & Watch flying even earlier, while his light weight prevents him from surviving long enough to abuse his own rage. In addition, despite having disjointed hitboxes, his overall range is mediocre. This is further compounded by the fact that many of his disjointed attacks, like down tilt, up tilt, and forward smash, have underwhelming range for a disjoint. Because of this, characters with swords, like Marth and Cloud, can easily keep Mr. Game & Watch at arm's length and stop his approaches.

While his new forward air possesses more damage and knockback, it has very low priority, so any move that deals damage can hit the bomb and make it disappear. This makes it unsuitable for approaching and forces Mr. Game & Watch to approach with his back air instead. It is also a much more situational move in general due to its higher lag and delayed hitbox, as the bomb will only explode upon touching the ground or waiting for half a second. Additionally, none of his aerials can auto-cancel in a short hop and he lacks effective zoning options in neutral. Due to this, he has a somewhat lackluster neutral game and a rather poor approach. While Mr. Game & Watch's down throw and up throw are good at starting combos, none of Mr. Game & Watch's throws can KO until at very high percents; his strongest throw, down throw, only KOs effectively at around 200%. Finally, he has a mediocre defensive game; outside of down aerial and Fire, most of his defensive options are underwhelming, as his other aerials are slow, his double jump is floaty, and he possesses slow and short-reaching rolls and dodges.

All in all, Mr. Game & Watch is a very powerful glass cannon with unique properties to a majority of his moveset, and is universally believed to be among the most potent glass cannons in the game. He possesses extremely high damage output and powerful KO options while being very vulnerable himself, but is compensated for his extremely low endurance, poor approach and mediocre defensive game with an incredible recovery, a brutal combo and juggling game, great edgeguarding, oppressive offstage presence, and explosive power through his smash attacks and Oil Panic. Overall, his strengths considerably outweigh his weaknesses, making Mr. Game & Watch one of the most fragile characters, but also among the most oppressive in all of Ultimate.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4

Mr. Game & Watch has received some of the most noticeable changes of any veteran in the transition to Ultimate, as several of his animations have been altered to change his appearance to the games they originate from when he performs them. This has led to a massive overhaul in his moveset that goes beyond changes to aesthetic appearances, as many of these moves have been mechanically altered and, in some cases, completely reworked altogether in their purpose and utility. As a result, Mr. Game & Watch has undergone a large mix of buffs and nerfs in his transition to Ultimate, arguably the most out of any other returning veteran; however, while these changes have weakened a few of his most powerful tools and set-ups from SSB4, they have also greatly improved several of his more underwhelming moves in his toolkit from the previous game, and the changes to game mechanics have benefitted these changes as well. As a result, Mr. Game & Watch has been dramatically buffed overall.

Mr. Game & Watch's KO and edgeguarding potential have been drastically improved, since a majority of his regular moves, including forward and down tilts, all of his smash attacks, and back and down aerials, have much stronger knockback; this drastically tones down one of his main weaknesses from SSB4. His smash attacks have also improved beyond higher power — down smash now has faster startup and can now bury grounded opponents when sweetspotted, allowing it to lead into follow-ups and KO confirms, and its long range and burying time make it the best move of its kind. Forward smash is even easier to sweetspot than in SSB4, while up smash has faster startup with increased duration and now renders Mr. Game & Watch himself completely invincible during the attack, as opposed to just his head and foot.

His attacks have also increased utility overall. Changes to neutral aerial's first hits allow them to link together more reliably and catch opponents above him more effectively, and the move's reduced landing lag means it can now be used as a landing option and set-up tool (notably having a KO confirm into down tilt at high percentages), while retaining its decently strong knockback, allowing it to be used as an emergency KO option. Forward tilt has a much longer duration, making it an effective option for both 2-framing and spot dodging, and up tilt's hits connect into each other much more reliably, improving its consistency. Chef's trajectory can now be controlled, which makes it much easier to catch opponents who are trying to reach for the ledge, and it is now more effective at keeping control of the neutral game. Oil Panic can now reflect physical projectiles in addition to absorbing energy-based projectiles (though it doesn't increase their power), and Judge's numbers 5, 7, 8, and 9 have improved. Mr. Game & Watch now sports a much more disjointed dash and pivot grab, giving it effective reach. However, his up special, Fire, has seen the most improvements; it now has a frame 3 hitbox that replaces its windbox from SSB4, which launches opponent directly upwards, and can even be comboed up with a neutral or up aerial at low percentages to keep juggling opponents. Because of this, it is now infamously considered both the best up special and the best out of shield option in the entire game.

Mr. Game & Watch has gained two new attacks in his forward and up aerials. Forward aerial now depicts Mr. Game & Watch dropping a bomb in front of him; compared to his old forward aerial, it posseses stronger knockback and damage output, as well as much more versatility, as its explosion can cover the entire ledge of a stage, it can be used as a combo starter at low percentages, as a shield pressuring tool, and a landing option (as it is much safer on block). Meanwhile, his up aerial now depicts Mr. Game & Watch shooting a single puff of air upwards as a projectile, functioning very similarly to Mega Man's up aerial; this projectile has much more vertical range than his old up air, and is more reliable for trapping opponents in it. It, combined with his neutral aerial, now gives Mr. Game & Watch more respectable juggling potential.

However, Mr. Game & Watch has also received a few notable nerfs, most notably to his two most potent strengths from SSB4 — his up smash and down throw setups. Down throw now deals much more knockback, removing its follow-up potential at higher percents. Despite the startup reduction, extended hitbox duration, and increased knockback to up smash, it has lost all of its invincibility frames during the move's startup, making it much less effective as an anti-air, and allowing opponents to challenge it more easily.

Many of Mr. Game & Watch's new animations have resulted in reductions to hitboxes for several of his attacks, including forward tilt, up aerial, up tilt, and most notably, his down tilt, the latter of which is now incapable of hitting aerial opponents altogether. This tones down Mr. Game & Watch's deceptive reach and requires him to be closer to opponents more often than before to land hits. Judge #9's effectiveness has also been halved, since instead of not having SDI at all, it now has a double SDI multiplier, and when combined with the hit's high hitlag, makes it much easier to prepare for and reduces its effectiveness for early KOs. His new moves have also come with drawbacks; while his new forward aerial possesses more utility than his old one, it has much weaker priority to the point that the bomb disappears if it gets hit and the hitbox does not completely cover it, making it a riskier option to challenge opponents in the air with when combined with its increased ending lag. His new up aerial has also lost all of its KO power, which, compounded with the changes to his down throw, effectively removes his "Toot Toot" KO confirm from SSB4.

The alterations to gameplay-based mechanics both strengthen and impair Mr. Game & Watch. The ability to perform an attack out of a run has improved the newfound utility of his grounded attacks further, and now gives him access to very quick KO options he previously didn't have access to. He also possesses drastically increased traction, which, combined with the improvements to Fire, gives him a much stronger out of shield game, which was a weakness he suffered from in SSB4. However, while the universal increase in mobility benefits him, several other returning veterans now boast overall quicker mobility to varying degrees as well, making it hard for Mr. Game & Watch to catch up with them and easier for them to eventually hit him. This problem is especially noticeable due to the increased prevalence of speed demons in Ultimate. The changes to air dodging mechanics and reintroduction of directional air dodging give Mr. Game & Watch an option to either extend his recovery in a pinch, or perform a single directional air dodge as a short-ranged recovery without the necessity of using Fire, but this has also resulted in his air dodges becoming some of the slowest in the game, making them susceptible to punishment should one be performed recklessly. Finally, the weakening of rage improves Mr. Game & Watch's endurance, but due to his surprisingly good survivability for a lightweight, this also weakens his ability to reap advantage from it with his plentiful, powerful attacks such as Judge #9.

Overall, Mr. Game & Watch generally retains much of his bait-and-punish playstyle from SSB4, though the adjustments and increased utility he received to several of his attacks, as well as his significantly improved KO power, have led him to become a lot more effective compared to his fellow lightweight brethren. Though he retains some of the same issues from SSB4, namely his poor endurance, short range (despite being disjointed), and a lack of reliable approaching options, his numerous buffs now generally compensate for these issues. Because of this, Mr. Game & Watch performs drastically better in Ultimate than in any of his previous appearances.

Aesthetics

• Mr. Game & Watch's appearance is largely unchanged from SSB4, though his outline is thicker and a darker gray and his feet are slightly larger.
• The following moves temporarily alter Mr. Game & Watch's appearance to resemble the characters from the Game & Watch games they are based on:
  • Neutral attack (Greenhouse), forward tilt (Lion), up tilt (Flagman), down tilt (Manhole), forward smash (Fire Attack), down smash (Vermin), up aerial (Spitball Sparky), all throws (Ball), Chef, Judge and Oil Panic.
  • This significantly changes most of Mr. Game & Watch's attack animations both functionally and aesthetically, and it makes him more expressive overall.
• Mr. Game & Watch's walking animation has been changed, now looking less flippant.
• Like in Melee, Mr. Game & Watch now makes a noise when getting KOed, and he also has a new sound for getting Star KOed. Both use the sound of his up and side taunts.
• Mr. Game & Watch has a new victory animation where he juggles balls using his appearance from Ball. This replaces the victory pose where he jumps up and down.
• Mr. Game & Watch's mouth is open during his clapping animation, similar to his Melee appearance.

Attributes

• Like all characters, Mr. Game & Watch's jumpsquat takes 3 frames to complete (down from 5).
• Mr. Game & Watch runs faster (1.5264 → 1.679).
  • His initial dash is significantly faster (1.5 → 1.98).
• Mr. Game & Watch walks slightly faster (1.1242 → 1.18).
• Mr. Game & Watch's traction has been significantly increased (0.06 → 0.131), now tied for the 5th highest in the entire game.
• Mr. Game & Watch's air speed is slightly higher (1.12 → 1.176).
• Forward roll has more ending lag (FAF 30 → 31) and 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 30 → 36).
• Spot dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3).
• Air dodge has more startup (frame 2 → 3) and significantly more ending lag (FAF 32 → 60).
• Air dodge grants more intangibility (frames 2-26 → 3-28).
• The reintroduction of directional air dodges improves Mr. Game & Watch's recovery more than other characters', as due to Fire not causing helplessness, he can get additional distance with a directional air dodge after using it.
• Mr. Game & Watch has his hurtboxes modeled to match the new animation changes made to his attacks. This increases his hurtbox size for some of his attacks (notably Chef and up tilt), but reduces it for others (notably down tilt and neutral attack).

Ground attacks

• Neutral attack:
  • The first hit transitions into the neutral infinite faster (frame 12 → 7).
  • The first hit and infinite have altered angles to keep opponents closer to Mr. Game & Watch (83°/85° → 361°/180° (hit 1), 74°/40° → 361° (infinite)), and the latter has gained a hitstun modifier of 4, allowing the move to lock opponents and connect better.
  • The infinite's finisher deals more damage (2% → 3%), with its knockback scaling not fully compensated (180 → 160).
  • The infinite has gained a shieldstun multiplier of 10×. This allows it to lock opponents into their shields between each hit, and thus pressure them more effectively, without allowing opponents to cancel shieldstun like other neutral infinites, as the move pushes them out of range before they can shield 10 hits.
  • The finisher has a larger hitbox (5.5u/4u → 6u/4u), and its farthest hitbox is placed higher (Y offset: 8.5u → 9.5u), improving its vertical range.
  • The first hit's outer hitbox no longer deals enough hitstun to prevent opponents from shielding the rapid jab.
  • The first hit has smaller hitboxes (5.5u/4u/3u → 3.8u/4.3u), with the hitbox that reached behind Mr. Game & Watch being removed.
  • The first hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.5×), making it easier to SDI.
  • The infinite deal less damage per hit (1% → 0.8%).
  • The infinite no longer uses set knockback (5/10 set/100 scaling → 12 base/20 scaling), causing it to connect less reliably at high percents.
  • The finisher has considerably more ending lag (FAF 24 → 35).
  • The first hit no longer uses set knockback (5/10/20 set/100 scaling → 25/20 base/22/15 scaling). At high percents, this causes it to connect less reliably into the infinite, but gives it a guaranteed jab cancel followup into Fire thanks to the latter's faster startup.
  • The infinite has a higher hitlag multiplier (0.5× → 0.7×), but a lower SDI multiplier (1× → 0.8×).
• Forward tilt:
  • Forward tilt has less startup with a longer hitbox duration (frames 10 (clean)/11-17 (late) → 8-9/10-20).
  • It deals more damage (10%/9% → 12%/10% (clean), 4% → 6% (late)) with knockback partially compensated only on the clean sweetspot (100 → 96), improving its KO potential.
  • The late hit has significantly more knockback scaling (100 → 135/120). Combined with its increased damage, this grants it KO potential.
  • The move has smaller hitboxes (4.8u/4u → 4u/3.5u (clean), 4.5u/3.5u → 3.3u/2.8u (late)), the sourspot does not extend as far (Z offset: 5u-16u → 7u-12u, Y offset: 4u → 4.5u), and the sweetspot has been moved towards Mr. Game & Watch and does not extend as far vertically (Z offset: 16u → 15u, Y offset: 4u-7u → 4.5u-6.5u). This reduces its range overall.
• Up tilt:
  • Up tilt has less ending lag (FAF 36 → 34).
  • It grants intangibility on Mr. Game & Watch's hands throughout the entire move, as well as his raised arm during each hit's active frames, allowing it to beat out opposing attacks more effectively.
  • The first hit uses weight-independent set knockback (20 base/125/127 scaling → 60/80 set/100 scaling) and launches opponents at lower angles (100°/115° → 170°/145°), now being specifically designed to connect into the second hit. This allows the move to consistently deal its full damage and provide a higher frame advantage over the opponent.
  • The second hit launches at a more vertical angle (115° → 75°). In combination with the move's reduced ending lag, consistent two-hit nature, and Mr. Game & Watch's faster jumpsquat, this considerably improves its combo potential.
  • The second hit has more base knockback (30 → 50), but less knockback scaling (127/125 → 117), improving its KO potential overall.
  • Both hits' flags have smaller hitboxes (5.5u → 4.5u).
  • The flags appear on each side of Mr. Game & Watch instead of above. This increases the move's horizontal range, but reduces its vertical range.
• Down tilt:
  • Down tilt deals more damage (6% → 9%) with knockback not fully compensated (40 base/125 scaling → 45/112), drastically improving its KO potential to the point it is the strongest down tilt at the edge (KOing at around 90%), and one of the strongest down tilts from center stage (KOing at around 130%).
  • The hitbox is placed higher, and it has gained an additional hitbox that extends much farther vertically (Y offset: 1.5u → 2.1u-9.3u), improving its coverage in front of Mr. Game & Watch.
  • The move has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 43).
  • It has a shorter hitbox duration (frames 6-11 → 6-8).
  • The windbox has been removed. This deprives the move of its juggling capabilities and potential recovery interruptions (such as when used against Ike's Quick Draw), and it can no longer hit aerial opponents as a result.
  • The hitboxes are much smaller (2.5u → 1.2u/1.2u), and extend farther horizontally, but are placed closer to Mr. Game & Watch (Z offset: 12u-18u → 6.7u-16.8u). This reduces their horizontal range overall, and gives them a much less favorable disjoint due to Mr. Game & Watch leaning in further during the attack.
• Dash attack:
  • The hitbox has been moved closer to Mr. Game & Watch (Z offset: 6u → 5u), reducing its horizontal range.
• Forward smash:
  • The sweetspot deals more knockback overall (48 base/91 scaling → 46/97), and launches at a lower angle (52° → 48°), improving its KO potential.
  • The move has gained an additional sweetspot hitbox inbetween the sourspot and existing sweetspot (5.3u → 2.9u/5.3u), while the sourspot has been slightly reduced to compensate (3u → 2.6u). This makes the sweetspot easier to land.
  • The sourspot has less base knockback (44 → 42).
  • All hitboxes have been moved closer to Mr. Game & Watch (Z offset: 11u → 7.8u (sourspot), 17u → 12u/16u (sweetspot)) and upwards (Y offset: 3.5u → 5.3u (sourspot), 7.2u → 6.8u/7.8u (sweetspot)). Additionally, he doesn't lean forward as much. This reduces the move's horizontal range, but increases its vertical range and gives it a more favorable disjoint.
  • The sourspot no longer has a sound effect on hit.
• Up smash:
  • Up smash has less startup with a longer hitbox duration (frames 24-25 → 21-25), matching its Brawl counterpart.
  • It grants full invincibility to Mr. Game & Watch, rather than only to his head and frontal limbs.
  • It has more knockback scaling (93 → 98), improving its KO potential.
  • It has a significantly shorter invincibility period, matching the duration of the hitboxes (frames 4-25 → 21-25). This prevents it from negating opposing attacks much earlier than the hitbox comes out, as well as during the whole period it is charged.
  • The hitbox has been moved lower (Y offset: 12u-10u → 9.5u-8u), but also extends farther horizontally (Z offset: −3u-6u → −6u-5.5u). This noticeably reduces its vertical range, but increases its horizontal range, especially behind Mr. Game & Watch.
  • Mr. Game & Watch faces away from the camera when using his up smash to the left.
• Down smash:
  • Down smash has less startup (frame 15 → 12) and ending lag (FAF 42 → 38).
  • The sweetspots bury grounded opponents, allowing them to followup into several other moves, including stronger finishers at high percents.
  • The sourspot has significantly more knockback scaling (65 → 80), allowing it to KO under 150% from the center of Final Destination.
  • All hitboxes extend farther to both sides (Z offset: -4.8u-4.8u → -5u-5u (sourspot), -12u/12u → -14.2u-−12.2u/14.2u-12.2u (sweetspots)), increasing the move's horizontal range and making the sweetspots easier to land.
  • The sweetspots are smaller (5u → 4.5u), slightly reducing their vertical range.

Aerial attacks

• Neutral, back, and down aerial have less landing lag (12 → 7 frames (neutral), 19 → 18 (back), 28 → 22 (down)).
• Neutral aerial:
  • Neutral aerial auto-cancels earlier (frame 44 → 42).
  • All hits have significantly longer durations (frames 7/12/17/22 → 7-10/12-15/17-20/22-23), much like the move's Brawl iteration.
  • All of the move's hitboxes except the first hit's fish hitboxes are stretched horizontally (Z offset: 1.8u → −1u-6u/−1u-6u (hit 1), −9.5u/9.8u/1.8u → 9.6u-10.8u/−7.5u-−8.8u/−1u-6u/−1u-6u (hit 2), −11u/13u/1.8u → 13.3u-13.6u/−9.9u-−9.7u/−1-6u/−1-6u (hit 3), −11u/12.7u → −10.2u-10u/1.8u-3.4u (hit 4)) and vertically (Y offset: 17.9u/21u → 20.7u-21u/17.9u-18.3u (hit 2), 11u/12.5u → 12.4u-13.6u/11u-12u (hit 3), 1u/1.5u → 1.5u-2.9u/2.4u-1u (hit 4)), increasing the range of each hitbox.
  • Due to its reduced landing lag, it has greatly improved combo potential, even allowing the multi-hits to set up into moves such as down tilt and forward tilt at KO percents.
  • The first three hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.8×), making them harder to SDI out of.
  • The first three hits launch at different angles, with the first two using autolink angles (160°/160°/90° → 165°/165°/367°/105° (hit 1), 160°/150°/367°/105° (hit 2), 145°/140°/120°/120° (hit 3)), and all of their hitboxes deal weight-independent set knockback (30/30/0 → 30/30/30/45 (hit 1), 30/30/20/20 (hit 2), 30/30/15/15 (hit 3)), improving their linking ability and preventing opponents from falling out at higher percents.
  • The move deals less damage (5% (hit 1), 4% (hits 2-3) → 3%; 17% total → 13%).
  • The last hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 2×), making it easier to DI.
  • The first three hit have had their large hitbox replaced by two small ones (5u → 2.5u/2.5u (hit 1), 5u → 3u/3u (hits 2-3)).
• Forward aerial:
  • Mr. Game & Watch has a new forward aerial: he holds a bomb in front of him and drops it straight down, based on Mario's Bombs Away. Uniquely, the bomb functions as a projectile, exploding half a second (30 frames) after it is dropped or when it hits the stage. The move consists of both hits; one in front of Mr. Game & Watch when he drops the bomb, which deals 3% damage, and the other on the bomb's explosion, which deals 12%. The bomb does not explode upon hitting an opponent, and any attack that hits it will cause it to disappear.
  • It deals more damage if both hits connect (11.5% → 15%).
  • The explosion has significantly more knockback scaling (86 → 101), which alongside its higher damage output than the previous forward aerial improves its KO potential.
  • Due to its new properties, it has increased vertical range below Mr. Game & Watch.
  • The delayed explosion significantly improves the move's safety as a landing option against shielding opponents, to the point it is nearly impossible to punish after shielding it, despite its increased landing lag. It also grants the move combo potential, and allows it to hit offstage opponents below the ledge.
  • The explosion has a much larger hitbox (5.5u → 10u).
  • The move has more ending lag (FAF 45 → 48) and landing lag (15 frames → 17).
  • Its initial auto-cancel window has been removed.
  • The hit in front of Mr. Game & Watch has a much smaller hitbox (5.5u → 2u), noticeably smaller than the bomb. This drastically reduces its range, despite being placed slightly farther horizontally (Z offset: 9u → 9.3u).
  • Both the initial hit and explosion have a much shorter duration (frames 10-25 → 10-13 (bomb), 44-45 (explosion)), and the bomb's susceptibility to being canceled out by opposing attacks leaves Mr. Game & Watch completely vulnerable if it trades with an opposing attack. This makes the move significantly less effective for attacking and approaching directly.
  • Both hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1× → 0.5×).
  • The initial hit uses set knockback (30/10 base/86/80 scaling → 30 set/50 scaling) and a hitstun modifier of 5, in order to link consistently into the explosion when close to the ground.
  • The explosion launches at a higher angle (361° → 45°). This further improves its combo potential, but makes it less effective for edgeguarding.
• Back aerial:
  • The looping hits consistently use an autolink angle (366°/25° → 367°/367°), allowing them to connect reliably, despite the outermost hitbox dealing more knockback overall and the innermost hitbox no longer using set knockback (30/0 base/0/40 set/40/100 scaling → 0 base/100 scaling).
  • The looping hits have a lower hitlag multiplier (1.5× → 0.9×), allowing them to transition faster.
  • The last hit deals more knockback (30 base/170 scaling → 35/185), improving its KO potential.
  • The move can no longer be frame canceled. Its reduced landing lag does not compensate, hindering its combo potential and safety on shield.
  • The landing hit launches at a lower angle (68° → 58°) and deals much less knockback overall (90 base/120 scaling → 95/60). In combination with the removal of frame canceling, this removes both its combo potential and its ability to KO at realistic percents.
  • The move has a slightly altered animation where Mr. Game & Watch has his legs positioned to the side of his body rather than below it.
• Up aerial:
  • Up aerial has been reworked: it shoots a single puff of air that functions as a projectile, flying straight up and hitting multiple times, much like Mega Man's up aerial.
  • Due to its new properties, it has much more vertical range, making it a more reliable followup option.
  • It has a much longer duration (frames 6-12/20-22 → 9-14/15-20/21-26/27-32/33-36/37-42), significantly improving its juggling potential.
  • The looping hits launch opponents more inward (94° → 97°) and use set knockback (20 base/60 scaling → 63/55/40 set/100 scaling), and the move no longer causes hitlag (1× → 0×). This allows for all hits to connect more reliably and makes them nearly impos