Snake (スネーク, Snake) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially confirmed on June 12th, 2018, with his appearance exclaiming "Everyone is Here!" with the rest of the returning roster. Snake is classified as Fighter #31.
David Hayter and Akio Ōtsuka's portrayals of Snake from Brawl were repurposed for the English and Japanese version of Ultimate respecitvely, with the former initially confirming on Twitter that he would be reprising his role as Snake.
Snake is a tall heavyweight character, being tied with R.O.B. and Banjo & Kazooie as the 18th heaviest character. Much like several other heavyweight zoners, Snake has poor overall mobility; while he has above-average traction, falling speed, and fast falling speed, his dashing speed, initial dash, walk speed, air speed, and gravity are all below-average, his jumps are among the lowest in the game, and he is also tied with Simon and Richter for the lowest air acceleration in the game. As a result of his mobility, Snake is highly reliant on zoning and trapping with his projectiles in the neutral.
One of Snake's biggest strengths is his moveset: similarly to a few other characters, such as Young Link, the overall utility provided by Snake's moveset is so considerable that he lacks a single "bad" or "useless" move. An example of this would be his ground game. His neutral attack comes out quickly and is a good anti-pressure tool with good mixup potential. His forward tilt is a 2-hit attack with fast start-up (frame 4) and a decently sized hitbox. It also has high knockback, allowing it to KO at high percents. His up tilt is often considered one of the best in the game due to its deceptively fast start-up (frame 6), very strong KO power, and disjointed hitbox. It is also infamous for being able to be confirmed into by his down throw, which is a true combo at high percents (around 160%). His down tilt is one of his best poking tools, having fast speed (frame 6) and a great disjoint that goes beyond Snake's feet. It also puts Snake into his crouch position on the first frame of the move, making it a great way to evade certain attacks. Lastly, his dash attack comes out very quickly (frame 5) and is a useful approaching option due to its good knockback which even allows it KO at the ledge at very high percents, while it also crosses shields, grants Snake arm intangibility, and has a reasonable amount of ending lag, giving him one of the game's best burst options and making it arguably the best dash attack in the game.
Snake's smash attacks offer a unique set of options. His up smash shoots a missile upwards and the height at which it travels can be increased by charging the move. This makes it great for edgeguarding, ledgetrapping, and as an anti-air. The launcher also has a hitbox that comes out on frame 11. His forward smash, while extremely slow, is incredibly strong and is decently safe on shield due to its relatively low endlag and large hitbox, making it great for hard reads or if the opponent rolls in Snake's direction. Its large hitbox also reaches beyond the ledge and allows it to 2 frame punish opponents. His down smash is fast, has good KO power (especially with the second hit), possesses a disjointed hitbox on both hits that goes beyond Snake's feet and makes it a good tool for 2-framing and edgeguarding, and is relatively safe on shield if its second hit connects.
While Snake's air attributes are poor, his aerials by themselves have lots of utility. Neutral aerial is strong and deals very high damage, making it great for edgeguarding. Its first three hits can also setup into other moves if Snake lands as quickly as possible after connecting one of the hits. Forward aerial is a very powerful meteor smash with great horizontal and vertical range. Down aerial is often considered Snake's best aerial, as it comes out very quickly (frame 3), has decent range and knockback, and deals high damage, with all the hits combined dealing 20% in a short hop. The move also gives Snake a small vertical boost in the air and autocancels in a short hop. Due to its aforementioned speed, it is useful for racking up damage and is a very effective out-of-shield option. Up aerial is relatively quick, has strong vertical power, and a large disjointed hitbox that extends far beyond Snake's legs. Finally, back aerial is fast, deals high damage with powerful knockback, and has long disjointed range along with a high amount of active frames, making it a reliable landing option and a way to escape juggles as well as a potential KO move.
Snake's grab game is also fairly versatile. His dash grab goes a surprisingly long distance thanks to him sliding forward during it. His throws, however, are where his grab game shines. Down throw is unique in that it has the down effect: while this makes it unsafe at low percents, as the opponent can react before he can, it gains enough hitstun at high percents to allow Snake to follow up reliably, with up tilt being renowned as a guaranteed KO confirm at 160%. It is also useful for tech chasing, as Snake can predict his opponent's tech option and potentially rack up more damage or possibly even KO the opponent if the player makes the correct read. His up throw can combo into his up tilt at low percents as a solid damage racker, and his back throw can combo into his dash attack at low percents as well as C4 at mid to high percents. Lastly, his forward and back throws have decent knockback scaling, making them great for setting up edgeguards or, to a lesser degree, KOing at very high percents.
Lastly, Snake's special moves allow for many fantastic options. His neutral special, Hand Grenade, is arguably one of the best projectiles in the game for many reasons. It is infamous for starting on frame 1, which lets Snake instantly escape combos once he is out of hitstun and also makes it to where opponents must be cautious when trying to combo or juggle him in an effort to not get hit by his grenades. Grenades are also very useful for zoning and as defensive options, as Snake can shield while holding one to make pressuring his shield dangerous. They are also very useful for stage control, ledge trapping, setups, and as camping tools. His side special, Remote Missile, is his best edgeguarding tool, thanks to its controllable movement, strong knockback, and low commitment, as Snake can edgeguard opponents with ease without leaving the stage. His down special, C4, is a remote activated bomb with strong power. It can also be difficult to see at times due to its small size and is among the best trapping and stage-controlling tools in the game thanks to how it essentially puts certain parts of the stage "off-limits" and forces opponents to move in a different part of the stage where Snake can continually pressure them. Additionally, Snake can attach it to the opponent if he is close enough, which gives him an opportunity to deal high damage or potentially KO at high percents, especially if used as confirm out of his back throw. It can also be used to extend his recovery by placing one down in midair and detonating it immediately. Lastly, his up special Cypher is his main recovery move and goes a considerable distance and doesn't leave him helpless. It also provides Snake with some damaged based armor, and a useful lingering hitbox that can cover his air dodge to the ledge.
In spite of his strengths, Snake still has noticeable weaknesses, one of which being his frame data. While he does have several moves with remarkably quick start-up (jab, down aerial, back aerial, Hand Grenade, down smash, and all of his tilts), the majority of his moveset has very high endlag, making them easy to punish if missed. While his aforementioned forward aerial and forward smash are quite strong, they have the highest startup lag of their types in the game. His reliance on explosive projectiles in the neutral can be a downside in matchups against characters with energy-absorbing moves, such as Ness, Lucas, or Mr. Game & Watch.
His recovery can also be very vulnerable at times. Though the Cypher does have positive attributes, it can be rather slow and easy to catch. Many moves can hit right though the armor, and if it gets destroyed without Snake taking damage, he will become helpless. This situation can easily lead to a lost stock when recovering low. There is also a period of time after the Cypher is deployed in which it can not be acted out of.
These issues lead to Snake favoring a very high recovery in most situations. Unfortunately, getting back to stage from so far up offers the opponent a large window of time to chase down his landing. To evade a good opponent, the Snake player must consistently mix-up his landing with different movement options and attacks. Mastery of Snake's explosives, falling aerials, air dodges and reverse specials is required for a safe and consistent return to the stage.
Snake also has a notoriously poor disadvantage state. As a heavy character he is still vulnerable to combo strings and juggling. Grenade somewhat mitigates this issue as it can be used as a frame one combo breaking tool. However, this tactic does have downsides. If the grenade activates, Snake will receive damage and knockback. At higher percents, he may end up at a greater disadvantage or possibly lose a stock. Some characters can also hit Snake without ever triggering the grenade. Carelessly thrown grenades can also be used by opponents, who will often have better follow-ups at their disposal than Snake. Finally, none of Snake's aerial moves offer limb intangibility and can be punished due to their noticeable landing lag if they fail to hit an opponent.
Snake can also struggle to kill. Snake's two most reliable killing options (up tilt and down throw) can be rather predictable at times. This is especially true for down throw. High level players know that reaching 159% means a 100% guaranteed death to Snake's next grab. Though Nikita missiles are strong for edgeguarding, many characters have a variety of options to deal with Nikita. This issue can be partially mitigated by shield canceling it after the missile gets hit to activate a secondary hitbox. However, this tactic significantly reduces the damage and knockback of the Missile.
Overall, Snake is a zoning and stage-trapping oriented character with versatile specials and projectiles for forcing the opponent to move into a disadvantageous position. However, this doesn't necessarily mean he is required to stay at a distance to be most effective. He possesses several fast and strong melee attacks, which can easily rack up damage, and keep the opponent off of him. Throughout the first year of Ultimate, Snake achieved impressive results thanks to players such as Ally and MVD. However, after Ally quit competing in Ultimate at the national level, Snake's results have dwindled over time. Nevertheless, he is still generally considered by most players to be a top tier character.
In Brawl, Snake was considered among the best characters in the game thanks to his extreme damage output and knockback, huge disjointed hitboxes, excellent endurance due to a combination of very high weight and great momentum canceling, an excellent projectile and zoning game with his explosives, and a chain grab with his down throw which he could tech-chase. Due to his top-tier status in Brawl (placed 6th out of 38 characters), Snake received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to Ultimate. When it comes to direct changes, Snake has seen significant nerfs to many of his strengths, like his incredible power and large hitboxes, being noticeably toned down. Despite this however, none of the nerfs removed his most important traits that made him one of the best characters in Brawl. Furthermore, Snake also greatly benefits from the universal changes which compensates for most of the heavy nerfs he received, along with buffs given to his projectiles. As a result, he was only slightly nerfed overall.
Directly, Snake has suffered from several critical nerfs to his moveset. His damage output and KO power from Brawl has been toned down, as his neutral attack, forward tilt, down tilt, dash attack, forward smash, and all of his aerials have decreased damage, knockback, or both. As a result of these changes, his damage racking ability and KO potential, while still above average, has been substantially weakened. Additionally, while he still possesses large disjoints in his attacks, his range has been significantly nerfed, as the infamously large hitboxes on his attacks are now much smaller or have been completely removed; his up tilt in particular is the primary example as its controversially large disjointed range has been drastically reduced. Furthermore, all of his explosions can now be absorbed, worsening his matchups against characters with absorption based moves such as Ness, Lucas, and Mr. Game & Watch, and due to his new down smash no longer involving Snake placing a landmine, this removed one of his main tools for stage control. Lastly, Snake's weight is much lighter, now being a heavyweight character instead of a super heavyweight while Cypher can now be destroyed by opponents if their attack is powerful enough, weakening his offstage presence.
Some of the indirect changes have also been detrimental for Snake. The removal of chain grabbing and DACUS have altered Snake's playstyle: the former hinders his down throw's damage racking and tech chase potential which is further compounded by down throw's reduced damage, while the latter eliminates one of his best approaching options. Finally, due to the removal of momentum canceling, as well as Snake's reduced weight and Cypher's vulnerability to being destroyed, his overall endurance has been dramatically crippled, which is further exacerbated by the changes to teching, as this hinders his bomb recovery by making techs impossible to perform at high enough percents. Altogether, Snake is much easier to KO, especially since the changes to hitstun canceling makes him much more susceptible to combos.
However, Snake immensely benefits from the universal changes to Ultimate's game engine. Similar to the rest of the veterans, Snake has had his mobility improved in all aspects, although it is still below average, and decreased landing lag in all of his aerial attacks, giving him landing options. Most importantly however, Snake benefits the most from the universal 3 frame jumpsquat as his jumpsquat is no longer the slowest in the series, massively improving his ground to air transitioning as well as his out of shield game. Additionally, while the removal of chain grabbing hurts his down throw's tech chasing potential, it more importantly improves his endurance as he is no longer vulnerable to highly damaging chain grabs from certain characters, most notably Pikachu and King Dedede. The changes to air dodges and hitstun canceling benefit Snake as well: the reintroduction of directional air dodges improves his recovery by allowing him to get additional distance to the ledge after using Cypher, and the lingering hitbox on Cypher can cover his air dodge, while the changes to hitstun canceling also allow him to utilize his projectiles as setup tools into his attacks much more effectively. Finally, the shield changes and increased shieldstun (especially for tilts) makes his moves safer on shield and harder to punish despite many having lowered damage.
Snake has also received some direct improvements to his toolkit. Down tilt has lower ending lag and increased damage, making it safer as a poking and shield pressuring tool, up tilt has slightly increased KO potential on both the clean and late hit with the clean hit having a longer duration, and his dash attack has both increased base knockback and a lower angle on the clean hit, with the clean hit also having a longer duration, allowing it to setup edgeguard opportunities and making it far more effective as a burst option despite its reduced knockback scaling, especially at lower percents. Snake's aerials have received enhancements as well: his neutral and down aerials' multihits have reduced startup and better linking angles, significantly improving their consistency and potential as follow ups, while down and back aerial can now autocancel in a short hop and full hop respectively. Due to the direct improvements it has received along with Snake's significantly faster jumpsquat, down aerial is much more effective and reliable as a fast and highly damaging out of shield option. Additionally, his smash attacks have also received notable buffs: forward smash has decreased ending lag which makes it harder to punish and safer on shield when combined with the shield changes, up smash has increased KO and ledgetrapping potential, and his new down smash is much faster than its previous incarnation, giving Snake another edgeguarding tool as well as a more reliable way to punish rolls. Furthermore, while down throw is less useful for tech chasing and deals less damage, it immobilizes opponents on the ground for a specific amount of time depending on their percent before the throw, giving Snake guaranteed KO setups at high percents including a KO confirm into up tilt once the opponent is at 160%. Lastly, his special moves have also been given improvements: Hand Grenades have less lag when they are generated and explode faster (the latter can be both benefical and detrimental depending on the circumstance), while C4 detonates faster and has less ending lag in all aspects. The most crucial upgrade however, was to Remote Missile: it is easier to control and much more maneuverabile, reaches its top speed faster, and has less ending lag both when canceled and upon hitting the opponent, vastly improving its utility and granting Snake one of the best edgeguarding tools in the game.
In the end, the changes Snake received has toned down almost all of his strongest traits that are deemed as overpowered, such as his impressive endurance, notoriously high damage output, and most infamously, his disproportionately large hitboxes. However, while the direct nerfs Snake has received are of greater quantity than his buffs, the direct changes have also improved his strengths in specific areas, most notably his edgeguarding, while the changes to universal mechanics has nevertheless improved his most severe flaws in Brawl, such as his aerial game and mobility (both of which were considered to be amongst the worst in Brawl). Snake also retained most of his key traits from his Brawl incarnation: while most of them are much weaker in Ultimate, they remained very respectable comparing to the majority of the cast. Due to this, while Snake theoretically fared much worse than his Brawl incarnation, he remained as a very viable choice in tournaments with players such as MVD, Salem, ScAtt, and Shogun, achieving very strong results with him. His reception has mostly been extremely positive, especially during the game’s initial release, where he was considered to be a top-tier character, with some even considering him to be the single best character in the game. In more recent time however, Snake’s results has somewhat diminished as the meta progresses, due to his best player Ally no longer competing in Ultimate’s national level, and his other best players’ results has become somewhat inconsistent. Furthermore, as the meta progresses, more players have learned to effectively exploit his weaknesses. Regardless, Snake remains as a top-tier contender, similar to his placement in Brawl, and has continued to be a popular choice across all levels of play with great success.
Due to the game's graphical improvements, Snake has a sleeker design, and his overall color scheme is more vibrant. His body suit appears less form-fitting than before, and his overall appearance appears to be more detailed, particularly his hair and bandana. His pupils are also smaller. Altogether, these changes make Snake closely resemble his official artwork for Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection.
Snake's idle animation has been altered. His upper body has been turned to face more towards the screen and he stands more upright instead of slouching.
The majority of Snake's animations are more fluid and polished.
Snake has been updated with features introduced in Smash 4.
Snake has a Boxing Ring title, a Palutena's Guidance conversation, and two new alternate costumes. One is a somewhat shiny, pure black costume resembling the Metal camouflage from Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. The other is a lighter green costume resembling the leaf camouflage from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater.
Snake uses one of his attacking voice clips (or stays silent) when using a smash attack with battering items rather than the voice clip from his forward smash in Brawl.
Snake's previously unused damage yells from Brawl's Sound Test are now heard when taking high knockback.
Snake no longer uses unique sounds on hit for his jab, dash attack, tilts and aerials.
Snake has a new victory animation. He does a spin kick, a side kick, and then finishes in a CQC stance. The pose is a reference to the end of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots when Old Snake fights Liquid Ocelot. It replaces the cardboard box victory pose from Brawl.
Like all characters, Snake's jumpsquat animation takes 3 frames to complete (down from 9), the biggest difference out of the cast. This greatly improves his ground-to-air transitioning and his out of shield game.
Snake's initial dash is significantly faster (1.1 → 1.76), no longer being the second slowest. This noticeably improves his mobility on the ground.
Snake crawls backwards faster (0.4 → 0.5), bringing him in line with most of the other characters capable to crawl.
Snake's air speed is faster (0.94 → 0.987), although it is significantly slower relative to the cast, going from the 19th highest out of 38 characters to the 59th highest out of 89 characters.
Snake's fast falling speed is higher (2.422 → 2.768).
Snake's traction is significantly higher (0.0542 → 0.116) going from the 25th highest to the 16th highest.
Snake is significantly lighter (113 → 106), making him a normal heavyweight instead of a super heavyweight, going from 3rd heaviest in Brawl to tied with R.O.B. and Banjo & Kazooie for 16th in Ultimate, worsening his endurance especially vertically when combined with the removal of momentum canceling and the general changes to vertical knockback.
The removal of chain grabbing noticeably improves Snake's endurance against certain characters.
The 19% damage increase to shields, higher shieldstun and more limited out of shield options make Snake's moves safer on shield despite many of them having decreased damage.
The changes to hitstun canceling both help and hinder Snake. While they leave him much more susceptible to combos (even with his reduced weight) and make his bomb recovery easier to punish, they also grant him setups from his projectiles into his direct attacks, most notably his highly damaging neutral aerial and down aerial. Due to Hand Grenades coming out on frame 1, they also give Snake one of the best combo breaking abilities out of the cast, compared to air dodges and aerial attacks having previously been the fastest options out of hitstun for every character.
Forward roll grants less intangibility (frames 4-17 → 4-15).
Back roll has more startup with less intangibility (frames 4-19 → 5-16), and more ending lag (FAF 34 → 36).
Spot dodge has more startup with less intangibility (frames 2-20 → 3-17), and more ending lag (FAF 26 → 27).
Air dodge grants less intangibility (frames 4-29 → 4-28) and has more ending lag (FAF 40 → 48).
The reintroduction of directional air dodges benefits Snake more than most other characters, as due to Cypher not causing helplessness, he can get additional distance with a directional air dodge after using it.
Combined with the removal of edgehogging, this considerably improves Snake's recovery, especially since Cypher's hitbox can cover his air dodge to the ledge.
All of Snake's explosions (including forward smash, up smash, Hand Grenades, Remote Missile, and C4) can be absorbed.
The first hit transitions slightly faster into the second hit (frame 7 → 6).
The first hit's outermost hitboxes launch opponents towards Snake (80°/88°/80° → 180°), allowing it to connect and lock opponents more reliably from far distances.
The third hit has less startup lag (frame 10 → 8).
All hits deals less damage (4% → 2.5% (hit 1), 3% → 2.5% (hit 2), 7% → 6% (hit 3)), with the latter also dealing significantly less knockback (60 base/115 scaling → 70/58). Combined with its reduced damage output, it is no longer the strongest neutral attack in the game, and no longer KOs until around Sudden Death percents.
All hits have a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.6× (hits 1-2), 1.8× (hit 3)), giving opponents more time to DI the last hit; however, it remains harder to SDI than in Brawl due to the weakening of the mechanic.
The first two hits no longer use set knockback, and instead have less base knockback (30/20 set/100 scaling → 25/20/26/20 base/25/20 scaling (hit 1), 20 set/100 scaling → 28/25/28/25 base/25 scaling (hit 2)), causing them to connect less reliably at higher percents, while hindering the first hit's jab cancel setups until high percents, despite gaining a hitstun modifier of 2 on the fist hitbox.
The third hit has a shorter hitbox duration (frames 10-13 → 8-9), and its total duration was not compensated for its faster startup, increasing its ending lag.
Both hits have smaller hitboxes (7u/6u/5u → 4.5u/4.5u (hit 1), 6u/7u/5u/6.5u → 4.5u/6u/6u (hit 2)).
The first hit and the second hit's grounded sweetspot deal less damage (8% → 4% (hit 1), 12% → 11% (hit 2)), hindering the second hit's KO potential.
The first hit launches grounded opponents at a higher angle (275°/361° → 78°), and has less knockback compared to the previous sourspot, but no longer has set knockback compared to the previous sweetspot (50/30 base/20/0 set/75 scaling → 42 base/0 set/10 scaling). As the sweetspot was larger than the sourspot and outprioritized it, this causes the first hit to connect less reliably into the second hit against grounded opponents overall, despite gaining a hitstun modifier of 2, and removes its ability to trip and lock opponents.
This also means that the second hit's grounded sweetspot can no longer connect after the first hit, further worsening its KO potential.
Against aerial opponents, it launches at a higher angle (361° → 65°), and deals much less knockback (50 base/100 scaling → 20/10) with a hitstun modifier of 2, but the resulting hitstun is no longer enough for it to true combo into the second hit until high percents. This allows aerial opponents to jump or air dodge out of the second hit, and removes the first hit's individual KO potential against them.
The first hit has a higher hitlag multiplier (1× → 1.6×), giving opponents more time to DI the second hit.
The second hit has more startup (frame 6 → 8) and ending lag (FAF 31 → 40). This causes it to hit one frame later after the first hit, despite its marginally faster transition (frame 11 → 10).
The second hit's sourspot takes priority over the sweetspots.
The second hit has more base knockback, but less knockback scaling (55 base/80 scaling → 85/62).
Up tilt deals more damage (13% → 14.5% (clean), 12% → 13.5% (late)), with the clean hit's knockback not fully compensated (55 base/95 scaling → 65/82), slightly improving its KO potential. In combination with the increased shieldstun and more limited out of shield options, this makes it noticeably safer on shield.
The clean hit has a longer duration, with the late hit having a shorter duration instead (frames 6-7/8-13 → 6-8/9-13).
The late hit launches opponents at a higher angle (84° → 95°), and its knockback was not fully compensated for the increased damage (45 base/95 scaling → 50/88), slightly improving its KO potential.
Up tilt has much smaller hitboxes (6u/5u/5u (clean) → 3.5u/2.5u/2.5u (clean, frames 6-7), 7u/5u/6u (late) → 5u/3u/3u (clean, frame 8; late)), and the clean hit's hitboxes are not placed as far (Z offset: 12u/4u/7.5u → 7u/4u/2.5u (frame 6), 10u/5u/2.5u (frame 7), 0u/0u/0u (frame 8)). This drastically reduces its infamously disjointed horizontal range, to the point where opponents have to be close to Snake in order for the move to connect.
It deals more damage (10% → 12%). Combined with its reduced ending lag and the shield changes, this makes it significantly safer on shield.
It has a shorter hitbox duration (frames 6-9 → 6-7).
It deals drastically less knockback (50 base/100/110/100 scaling → 60 base/62 scaling), no longer KOing until very high percentages, despite its increased damage.
The hitbox covering Snake's body has been removed.
The changes to jostle mechanics allow dash attack to connect more reliably at point-blank range, as Snake can no longer run through his opponents.
The clean hit has a longer duration, with the late hit having a shorter duration instead (frames 5-6/7-12 → 5-8/9-12).
The clean hit has much more base knockback, but much less knockback scaling (50 base/85 scaling → 95/45), greatly hindering its KO potential.
However, the clean hit launches opponents at a lower angle (65° → 45°), which alongside its higher base knockback, allows it to set up edgeguards more effectively and makes it much more effective as a burst option.
The Gatling Combo can no longer be performed, hindering dash attack's damage racking ability.
The late hit has less knockback scaling (85 → 75).
The voice clips for Snake's smash attacks have been swapped around. His forward smash uses his previous down smash's clip, his up smash uses his previous forward smash's clip, and his down smash uses his previous up smash's clip.
It deals less knockback (100 base/60 scaling → 66/75), reducing its KO potential despite its higher knockback scaling, especially at the edge.
Snake no longer vocalizes consistently when using the move, and he does so after it has been performed, rather than before. It has additionally gained a new "clicking" sound effect.
Up smash's mortar shell no longer follows a random trajectory, instead always arcing slightly towards Snake's front. While this removes its ability to hit opponents behind Snake, it most importantly improves its consistency, allowing it to be used more effectively for disrupting approaches and edgeguarding.
The move's sound effects are more realistic, replacing the previous move's distinctive "bloop" sound.
The mortar shell deals more damage (10% → 14%) with knockback not fully compensated (90 base/67 scaling → 87/60), improving its KO potential.
The mortar shell travels slightly higher when uncharged.
Due to the changes to hitstun canceling, opponents can no longer air dodge the mortar shell after the first hit, and due to the weakening of DI, they can no longer get out of its range as effectively, allowing it to connect more reliably.
Snake takes longer to act out of up smash (FAF 51 → 55).
The removal of DACUS significantly hinders its approach potential.
The first hit has smaller hitboxes (8u/8u → 5u/5u) that are not placed as far horizontally (Z offset: -2u/8u → 1u/7u), decreasing its overall range especially horizontally, despite the hitboxes now extending vertically (Y offset: 4u → 4u-6u).
The mortar shell has more startup (frame 29 → 35).
However, since the move's total duration was not fully compensated, this reduces its ending lag by two frames.
It has dramatically less startup (frame 61 (setup), 132 (explosion) → 8 (hit 1), 20 (hit 2)) and a shorter total duration (FAF 77 → 45), and launches at a semi-spike angle (88° → 25° (hit 1), 20° (hit 2)), making it much more useful as a close range attack and granting Snake another potent edgeguarding tool.
Due to functioning as a sweeping down smash rather than hitting both sides simultaneously, it can connect both hits at low percents if the opponent is launched backward by the first hit, racking up much more damage (14% → 26%).
It can affect aerial opponents, and no longer damages Snake.
Due to being a direct attack instead of a projectile, Snake can no longer set up an additional trap with his down smash to complement his other projectiles, removing its utility as a neutral and stage control tool, as well as its followup ability. As a result, it is generally much more situational.
Both hits have an immensely shorter hitbox duration than the previous landmine's detector (≈24 seconds → frames 8-10 (hit 1), 20-22 (hit 2)).
Both hits have smaller hitboxes than the landmine's explosion (5u/5u/5u → 4u/3.3u).
The first hit deals less damage than the landmine (14% → 12%).
Both hits deal less knockback compared to the landmine (90 base/58 scaling → 30/87 (hit 1), 30/88 (hit 2)), hindering their KO potential despite their higher knockback scaling.
The hits after the first have less startup (frame 22/34/44 → 18/26/36), with its total duration reduced as well (FAF 68 → 60), allowing it to land all hits in a short hop.
The first three hits use the autolink angle against aerial opponents (120°/60°/100°/75° (hits 1-2), 260°/280°/100°/75° (hit 3) → 367°/90°) and have more consistent set knockback (5/5/40/40 (hits 1-2), 10/10/70/70 (hit 3) → 30/50). Combined with the weakening of SDI and the hits' faster startup, this allows them to connect much more reliably.
Due to the move's reduced landing lag, the first three hits can set up into other attacks against grounded opponents if Snake lands as soon as possible after any of them hits.
All hits deal less damage (6% → 3% (hit 1), 5% → 3% (hit 2), 4% → 3% (hit 3), 13% → 12% (hit 4); 28% total → 21%). The last hit also deals much less knockback (45 base/95 scaling → 25/90), greatly hindering its KO potential, no longer being the strongest neutral aerial in the game (although it remains among the strongest).
All hits except the last have a shorter hitbox duration (4 frames → 2).
All hits have smaller hitboxes (5u/5u/5u/5u → 4u/4u (hits 1-3), 9u → 7.5u (hit 4)) that do not cover as much space vertically (Y offset: 14u/14u/2u/2u (hits 1-3) → 7u/7u (hit 1), 9u/9u (hits 2-3), 13u → 11u (hit 4)) and horizontally (12u/2u/12u/2u → 4u-11u (hits 1-3), 11u → 7u (hit 4)), significantly reducing the move's range.
The removal of meteor canceling improves sweetspotted forward aerial's reliability for edgeguarding.
The changes to hitstun canceling combined with the move's reduced landing lag grant the sweetspot combo potential onstage from low to mid percents.
It deals less knockback (40 base/100 scaling → 35/90), hindering its KO potential, although its sweetspot remains one of the strongest meteor smashes in the game.
It grants Snake a weaker vertical boost (1.2 → 0.8), making it riskier to use offstage and removing its ability to auto-cancel in a full hop.
The sourspot is noticeably smaller (6.5u → 4.7u).
However, because the sourspot outprioritizes the sweetspot, this makes the meteor smash sweetspot easier to land.
Back aerial can now auto-cancel before its animation ends (frame 43 → 40), although it remains unable to auto-cancel in a short hop.
The clean hit's sweetspot is placed on Snake's feet rather than his legs (Z offset: -11u/-5.5u/0u → -4u/-10u). This gives it a more favorable placement, allowing the move to be spaced more effectively, and making the sweetspot easier to land without getting outprioritized by the sourspot.
It deals much less knockback (40 base/90 scaling → 42/43 base/72 scaling (clean), 25/100 → 25/85 (late)), no longer being one of the strongest back aerials in the game.
It has smaller hitboxes, and the hitbox on Snake's back has been removed (5.4u/5.7u/4u → 4.5u/5.4u (clean), 5u/5u/4u → 4.3u/5u (late)).
The late hit has gained a sourspot on Snake's legs akin to the clean hit, which deals less damage (10% → 9%).
However, coupled with its reduced knockback, this allows it to lock opponents for longer.
The changes to hitstun canceling combined with the move's reduced landing lag grant it some combo potential from low to mid percents.
The clean hit has more base knockback, but much less knockback scaling (40 base/95 scaling → 65/72), hindering its KO potential.
The late hit has less knockback scaling (100 → 95).
It has much smaller hitboxes (6u/6u/6u → 4u/4u/4u), and they are placed higher (Y offset: 10u/15u/20u → 15u/18u/21u). While it has marginally longer range above Snake as a result, it also has much shorter frontal range and no longer covers his upper body, making it harder to connect against grounded opponents.
It has an altered animation, with Snake flipping forward before the kick rather than backward.
The hits after the first have less startup (frame 14/25/36 → 10/17/25).
However, the move's total duration remains the same, increasing its ending lag.
Snake gains a significant vertical boost after performing the final kick (0 → 1.2), allowing the move to auto-cancel in a short hop combined with its faster auto-cancel window, and increasing its safety offstage.
Snake is not pushed downwards slightly during the first kick (0 → -0.2).
The first three hits have lower set knockback (50 (hit 1), 60 (hit 2), 80 (hit 3) → 50/35/25 (all)), and the uppermost hitbox launches at a more horizontal angle (80° → 70°). Combined with the weakening of SDI and the hits' faster startup, this allows them to connect much more reliably.
It is much faster when used out of shield due to Snake's significantly faster jumpsquat (frame 12 → 6). Combined with the move's multihits connecting much more consistently, this improves its utility as an out of shield option.
All hits deal less damage (6% → 4% (hit 1), 5% → 3% (hits 2-3), 12% → 10% (hit 4); 28% total → 20%). The last hit also has much less knockback scaling (110 → 80), significantly hindering its KO potential.
It has noticeably smaller hitboxes, with the last hit also having one of its hitboxes removed (6u/7u/7u (hits 1-2), 7u/8u/8u (hits 3-4) → 5.5u/5.5u/4.5u (hits 1-3), 7u/6u (hit 4)).
All grabs have more ending lag (FAF 30 → 35 (standing), 40 → 43 (dash), 30 → 38 (pivot)).
All grabs have smaller hitboxes (4.5u/3.5u (standing), 4.5/3.5u/3.5u (dash, pivot) → 4u/2u).
The changes to aerial grab releases heavily hinder Snake, as he no longer has any guaranteed follow ups out of an aerial grab release (such as dash attack or a regrab) outside of his explosives.
The speed of forward, back and up throws is no longer weight-dependent.
Back throw has more startup (frame 17 → 20), making it easier to DI.
However, it has a shorter total duration (FAF 32 → 31), reducing its ending lag by four frames. Alongside the changes to hitstun canceling and Snake's faster initial dash, this allows it to combo into dash attack at low percents and C4 at mid to high percents.
Snake no longer faces the other way after using back throw.
Up throw has less ending lag (FAF 50 → 48). Combined with the changes to hitstun cancelling, this allows for combos into Snake's up tilt at low percents.
It has gained a hitbox before the throw, allowing it to hit bystanders.
It deals more damage (10% → 7% (hit 1), 4% (throw)); 11% total).
The throw has altered knockback (68 base/60 scaling → 55/130). It deals more knockback overall, especially at high percents, improving its KO potential despite the heavier launch physics.
Due to the new first hit's hitlag, the throw is easier to DI.
It has an altered animation, with Snake shoulder tackling the opponent as he falls.
Down throw has drastically less startup (frame 59 → 35).
However, its total duration was not fully compensated (FAF 60 → 42), giving it six more frames of ending lag.
It deals less damage (12% → 9%).
Due to the removal of chain grabbing, Snake can no longer tech-chase opponents repeatedly with the move, hindering its damage racking potential.
How soon an opponent can act out of down throw is based on their percentage before the throw; it begins immobilizing them for three frames, which increases to four frames at 7%, then by one frame for every additional 17%, until capping out at 13 frames. This hinders its tech-chasing potential at lower percents, but gives Snake guaranteed followups at higher percents, most notably a KO setup into up tilt once it reaches its cap at 160%.
Due to tumbling characters no longer hitting opponents they fly into other than the one that launched them (including projectiles belonging to them), Snake can no longer disrupt opponents or rack up extra damage on them by launching himself with his explosives.
Generating the Hand Grenades has less ending lag (FAF 24 → 22).
Snake can now use his double jump while holding a Hand Grenade, improving its aerial versatility.
The normal throw has more startup (frame 6 → 8 (normal)).
However, its total duration was unchanged, reducing its ending lag.
Hand Grenades operate on a timer of 2.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds.
Thrown Hand Grenades have a lower base damage value (2% → 1%).
The explosion deals less damage (12% → 9%) and has lower knockback scaling (70 → 69), hindering its KO potential.
However, this also improves its combo potential in combination with the changes to hitstun canceling and DI, making it more practical to combo from in a greater amount of situations.
The explosion has a smaller hitbox during its first active frame (20u → 12u).
The explosion has received negative shield damage (0 → -4.5), which alongside its reduced damage output, reduces its shield damage despite the universal increase to shield damage. This weakens Hand Grenades' shield pressuring ability against opponents, but allows Snake himself to shield them more safely.
Shield dropping a Hand Grenade no longer causes other active ones in the air to fall straight down, nor drops Hand Grenades held by other characters.
Remote Missile has one frame less startup (frame 42 → 41).
It has less ending lag both when canceled (FAF 34 → 28) and upon hitting an opponent (FAF 34 → 30).
The Remote Missile reaches its top speed immediately upon being fired, travels faster, and turns much quicker, making it significantly easier to control and hit opponents with.
The changes to air dodges in combination with the move's faster maneuverability significantly improve its utility for edgeguarding, as it can now cover opponents' recovery options much more effectively and force them to use up their air dodges, KOing them at high percents if it hits. This gives it a more defined purpose in Snake's arsenal, no longer being one of his most situational moves.
The weak hit has more base knockback (45 → 50).
It no longer deals shield damage (1 → 0).
The Remote Missile no longer fully stops and drops down when canceled, instead falling in an arc carried by its horizontal momentum.
It uses a different sound when preparing to fire a missile.
Snake can grab ledges out of Cypher, improving its safety.
Cypher can be destroyed by attacks that deal at least 13% damage, worsening Snake's recovery.
Due to the new limitations to teching, Snake can no longer infinitely stall by using Cypher, hitting himself with C4 and then teching on the stage if his percent is too high, hindering his recovery at high percents.
It no longer deals shield damage (1 → 0).
It launches at a slightly different angle (361° → 42°).
It no longer uses set knockback (90 set/100 scaling → 63 base/17 scaling), making it weaker at low percents, but stronger at high percents.
It uses two smaller hitboxes instead of a single large hitbox (6u → 2.5u/3u).
While crouching, Snake can place and detonate a C4 without standing up, allowing him to take advantage of his low crouch while using the move.
Placing it from a crouching position has less startup (frame 20 → 14) and a shorter total duration (FAF 40 → 34) compared to the standing version.
It detonates faster with a longer duration (frames 29-30 → 25-27), and has less ending lag (FAF 40 → 33 (standing, aerial), 36 (crouching)). In combination with the changes to hitstun canceling, this improves its combo potential from low to mid percents.
It no longer deals shield damage (1 → 0).
Dropping it in the air has one frame more startup (frame 15 → 16).
However, its total duration remains the same, reducing its ending lag.
Sticking it to an opponent when Snake is on the ground has one frame more startup (frame 8 → 9).
However, it has much less ending lag (FAF 33 → 25), now matching the wall version.
Meta Knight's significantly worse placement in Ultimate makes the Omnigay technique much less useful.
C4 emits a flashing red light for a few seconds after being placed, increasing its visibility. This allows Snake to keep track of it more easily, but also allows opponents to do the same.
It produces a quieter sound when placed.
Snake kneels when detonating it from a standing position.
Snake can say "There!" in addition to "Now!" when detonating it, which was previously an unused voice clip from Brawl's files.
Snake has a new Final Smash called Covering Fire. It involves him throwing a flare grenade to call an airstrike. He will announce "It's showtime!" if the move is started on the ground, but not in the air. A crosshair will first appear to mark opponents in intervals before five homing missiles are fired at the marked victims. Targets must be marked multiple times in order to send more of the missiles at them. Any missiles not given a target when their mark is placed will simply fly at where the crosshair was at the time. This resembles the way flare grenades are used in Metal Gear Solid V, where a support helicopter could be called to provide backup, with homing missiles being one of the options. The UI for the missiles bears a resemblance to the one used for the FIM-92 Stinger homing missile launcher.
Snake received a mix of buffs, nerfs, and glitch fixes via game updates, but nerfed slightly overall. Update 2.0.0 buffed his already powerful up tilt by increasing the clean hit's hitbox length and reducing the late hit's hitbox. Update 3.0.0, however, was a mixed bag for Snake. His back aerial's knockback was increased, but his up smash gained slightly more ending lag. Hand Grenade and Remote Missile were also nerfed, with the former dealing less shield damage (though this change also buffs Snake, as it is much safer for him to block his own Hand Grenade) and the latter received a smaller hitbox during its descent. Update 3.1.0 improved his neutral attack's consistency, while update 4.0.0 made up throw's collateral hitbox blockable. Lastly, update 7.0.0 enlarged Snake's shield as part of a near-universal buff, and granted brief intangibility to his head when he activates his shield.
Overall, Snake fares mildly worse than he did at the launch of Ultimate, although he remains a very dominating character in the metagame.
Jab (ジャブ) / Straight (ストレート) / Rolling Sobat (ローリングソバット)
2.5%
The Punch + Punch + Kick combo from Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. It comes out fast (frame 3) and is useful for mixups as well as a quick "get off me" option. At high percents, it can even jab cancel into his forward tilt if connected with the hitbox on his fist, being one of the few jabs in the game to be able to jab cancel.
A forward knee-thrust. Pressing the attack button a second time will have Snake follow up with an overhead swing with both arms. The knee slightly launches opponents vertically, making it harder to connect the second hit at higher percents. The second hit uses a large hitbox that is somewhat disjointed, as it goes moderately far beyond Snake's arms. This move is seen during a cutscene in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes when Snake fights Gray Fox.
An upward scorpion kick. One of Snake's best KO options and one of the best up tilts in the game due to its fast startup, decent range, and high knockback. Starting at 160%, Snake has a true KO setup into up tilt from down throw, and can even KO earlier if the opponent's reaction is read after the down throw. It can also be setup into from the first hit of his neutral aerial against certain characters if Snake lands quickly enough. It is the fourth strongest up tilt in the game, only losing to Sephiroth when tippered, Mega Man on its sweet spot and Ganondorf, capable of KOing middleweights starting as low as 100%, making it comparable to an up smash in terms of strength.
A low spin kick while prone. Deals very high damage for a tilt of its speed, coming out on frame 6, and also possesses good disjointed range, with the outermost hitboxes reaching over his foot. It serves as one of Snake's best poking tools in the neutral.
Does a somersault forward. It propels Snake forward a considerable distance, comes out on frame 5, making it one of the fastest dash attacks in the game, has intangibility on his arms for the entire hitbox duration (frames 5-12), and deals good knockback. This makes it one of the best dash attacks and burst options in the game. Has enough knockback to be able to KO at the ledge at high percentages, but not enough to make it a reliable KO move in the center of the stage. The somersault and subsequent transition to crouching are visually identical to those moves used by Snake in the Metal Gear Solid series.
Snake takes out an RPG-7 rocket launcher and aims it at the ground directly in front of himself, causing a huge explosion. It has an extremely slow startup (frame 41), but it is one of the strongest smash attacks in the game, being able to KO exceptionally early. It starts KOing Mario at the ledge as low as 40%, and under 70% from center stage uncharged. Additionally, it is generally safe on shield because it has surprisingly low ending lag for its power, and can 2-frame punish opponents reliably due to its massive hitbox that reaches below the stage. Interestingly, it can be absorbed by moves like PSI Magnet and Oil Panic which makes it one of the few non-projectile moves to have this property.
Snake slams a mortar in front of himself and fires a shell into the air. The slamming down of the mortar knocks the enemy directly into the path of the shell. The movement of the shell is almost entirely vertical, landing directly in front of Snake's position. Charging the up smash does not increase its power, but it increases the speed and height of which it travels. When fully charged, the projectile greatly exceeds the range of Palutena's up smash. The fixed trajectory of the shell, coupled with the fact that charging it doesn't affect the damage, makes this move great for edgeguarding.
A double-sided kick. Launches opponents at horizontal semi-spike angles and deals considerable knockback, with the back hit being much stronger. It is Snake's fastest smash attack, with the front hit coming out on frame 8 and the back hit being moderately safe on shield (-14) for a smash attack. The move has impressive range, as both hits have a disjoint that reaches beyond Snake's feet, allowing the move to 2-frame opponents if timed correctly. The front and back hits KO Mario starting at 108% and 85%, respectively.
Snake performs four kicks in quick succession. At low percents against heavy and fast-falling characters, a short-hopped neutral aerial can lead to a neutral attack, tilts, and a short-hop down aerial. The first three hits can also setup into other attacks if Snake manages to land quickly enough. The last hit is very powerful, KOing Mario at the ledge starting at 112%. Additionally, it deals extremely high damage, being the second most damaging neutral aerial in the game, dealing 21% unstaled and only losing to Bowser's.
A midair axe kick. It has slow start-up and high ending lag and landing lag, but it is a very powerful meteor smash with great vertical and horizontal reach. Connection with the sourspot at the leg results in very powerful vertical knockback, KOing grounded opponents at around 129%.
Snake dropkicks behind himself, planking in the air. Has fast start-up (frame 7) along with very good range and disjointed hitboxes, just like Snake's other attacks, and deals high damage with excellent horizontal knockback when hit cleanly, especially when sweetspotted. It also has a high amount of active frames, making it useful for landings, although its high landing lag makes this tactic risky. It has considerable ending lag like his other aerials, so it is very punishable if it misses. Has sex kick properties. Interestingly, the sweetspot has a weaker kick sound effect than the sourspot, which has a heavy kick sound effect. The sweetspot KOs Mario at 90% at the ledge, and at 126% from center-stage. Autocancels in a full hop.
Snake dropkicks straight upwards, similar to his back aerial. It has fairly fast start-up with good vertical reach and powerful vertical knockback, and its hitbox acts as a large disjoint, as the final hitbox goes much higher compared to Snake's feet. It still has considerable ending lag, like the rest of Snake's aerials, although it can autocancel in a short hop, making it safer than his other aerials as a landing tool.
Snake launches four subsequent stomps below himself. A very fast and powerful damage-racking out-of-shield option, as it has the fastest startup of any down aerial in the series, coming out at frame 3, and like Snake's other aerials and several other attacks, the first three stomps are disjointed, with hitboxes that reach under his legs. The third and fourth kicks add vertical speed, allowing Snake to slow his fall and autocancel the move from a short hop. Oddly, shortly after the first kick, Snake is pushed downwards slightly.
Reaches in front of himself with both of his arms, grabbing and holding his opponent in a restraining chokehold. The grabbing position itself is unique to Snake. Has decent range for a non-tether grab, although it is rather slow for one as a trade-off, starting on frame 8. However, since he kneels down and leans forward to grab the opponent, he can be hit by an attack that wouldn't hit him normally. Based on a similar maneuver from the Metal Gear Solid games.
Snake twists the opponent's arms behind their back then steps forward, and then forcefully shoves them into the ground in front of him. It deals decent knockback for a forward throw, KOing middleweights starting at 160%, and earlier with rage.
Snake performs a sasae tsurikomi ashi[1], shifting the restrained opponent towards him, trips them with a sweep of his leg, and flips them over, slamming them on the ground behind him. It has very low ending lag, allowing it to combo into dash attack at low percentages, and into an attached C4 as a kill confirm at around 90%. It can also KO middleweights by itself at around 148%. Resembles his primary throw from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2.
Snake performs a tai otoshi on his opponent, slamming them back-first. Can combo into his up tilt at low percents, and KO middleweights at around 180%.
Lays the opponent on the floor, putting the opponent into a downed status. How soon an opponent can act depends on their damage. At high percents, it gives Snake guaranteed follow-up options, with the most reliable one being up tilt starting at 160%. It resembles a similar CQC maneuver from the Metal Gear Solid series, in which Snake rendered enemies unconscious by suffocating them.
Snake pulls out a grenade and unpins it. The grenade will detonate after 2.5 seconds. Tapping the B button will have Snake throw the grenade right away while holding down the B button will have Snake to continue to hold on to the grenade until B is released. The distance Snake throws the grenade can be controlled by holding forwards or backward on the stick when the grenade is thrown. Pressing the shield button or taking damage will cause Snake to drop the grenade. It has an instantaneous startup, coming out on frame 1, and because of this, it can negate his otherwise poor disadvantage state, and this makes it one of his best tools overall and one of the best projectiles in the game. Dropped grenades can be picked up and thrown like ordinary items. Snake can have up to two grenades active at a time. Aesthetically, if Snake is standing too close to a grenade when it detonates, he will duck and cover his ears. Kirby mimics this behavior when he uses Grenade as a Copy Ability.
Snake takes out a Nikita missile launcher and fires a remote-controlled missile. The missile can be controlled with the control stick. Pressing the shield button will cause Snake to put the launcher away and stop controlling the missile. One of his best moves for edgeguarding, as it allows him to put pressure on an offstage opponent without putting himself at risk of an attack.
Grabs onto a flying reconnaissance camera and slowly hovers upwards. Snake gains slight armor while hanging on the camera. It does not put Snake into a helpless state, meaning he can continue to perform attacks once the move ends. However, he cannot use Cypher again until he lands on the ground, grabs onto a ledge, or takes knockback. One can cancel the move early by performing any aerial attack, pressing down on the stick, or air dodging. When the move ends, the Cypher will continue to fly upwards and damage enemies it comes into contact with. Activating Cypher will not cancel Snake's existing momentum, so if Snake is falling downwards, the Cypher will have to slowly decelerate him before starting to move him upwards.
Snake bends down and plants a C4 on the ground where he is standing. When used in the air, he instead drops the C4 straight down. Snake can also stick the C4 towards a wall if he is standing near one, or attach it directly onto a nearby enemy. By using the move when a C4 has already been placed, Snake takes out a remote detonator and detonates the explosive. The C4 is one of Snake's most versatile tools; it can be used for KOs, stage control, mindgames, edgeguarding, and more. Snake can also use the C4 for recovery by dropping it in midair and detonating it, blasting him upwards and allowing him to use Cypher again without touching the ground or a ledge. The C4 automatically explodes after 1600 frames.
Snake will toss a flare grenade, exclaim "It's showtime!", crouch, and put his hand up to his ear, which will cause a crosshair to appear onscreen. At the upper left are two bars: one solid, and one made up of 5 segments. The solid bar indicates how much time until the missiles are launched, while the segmented bar underneath represents the missiles: missiles that have locked onto an opponent are shown as red segments, while those that have not been locked on an opponent are shown as grayed-out segments.
The crosshair can be guided to lock on to opponents, marking them with a reticle. Opponents can even be marked with multiple missiles. After the brief duration, the missiles will launch from the foreground, attacking the targeted opponents. The missiles that have not locked on to a target will instead fire at around where the crosshair was last positioned.
Pulls a cardboard box over himself from his left side, then discards it. All of Snake's taunts are a variation of this move, with slightly different animations and timing. The taunt can be canceled by pressing another input, making Snake discard the box earlier. The total duration of the taunts is different because of the different starting animations when Snake puts the box over himself, with his up taunt being the fastest to complete. Once Snake discards the box, it will fall down and hit for weak damage. The box can fall over the edge for a great distance, making it a situational edgeguarding tool, though predictable because of the long duration of the taunt.
Opponents can remove Snake's box while he is hiding under it, but with the exception of Donkey Kong, will be forced to throw it immediately. The box can also be removed by Villager and Isabelle using Pocket. Removing the box doesn't cause the taunt animation to end prematurely.
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Snake's stealth camouflage disengages to reveal himself to his opponent(s). Snake then announces "Kept you waiting, huh?" upon appearing. Taken from the beginning of the Tanker chapter in Metal Gear Solid 2.
All taunts: Puts a cardboard box over himself, which is removable. All three of his taunts are variations of this, though with slight differences in animation and cancelability. When he removes it, any nearby enemies will receive damage.
Smash Taunt: Kneels down and contacts his support team - Colonel Roy Campbell, Otacon, and Mei Ling, and even Slippy Toad (only when in a Smash with Falco) - via his codec. This is possible only on Snake's home stage, Shadow Moses Island, can only be done on characters that were playable in Brawl, cannot be done on Ike's Radiant Dawn costume and is performed by inputting the down taunt command extremely quickly. Snake will hold a pose for a few seconds, then a conversation between Snake and his support team will begin. This can only be done once each round and if the player is hit while Snake is holding his pose before the conversation starts, it is canceled. However, the player can be hit while the conversation is going, though the conversation ends if Snake is KO'd, which, in a nod to the Metal Gear Solid game over screens, causes the character Snake was talking with to shout "SNAAAAAAAAKE!!". It can be done with any number of other players on the screen—if there is more than one opponent, the game will randomly choose one to talk about.
Left: Does a spin kick, a sidekick, and then finishes in a CQC stance, all while saying "Not even close!" ("まだまだだな。", Not yet.). The pose is a reference to the end of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots when Old Snake fights Liquid Ocelot.
Up: Seen in a crouching position from the side, saying "Colonel, mission accomplished." ("大佐、任務完了だ。", Colonel, mission accomplished.) into his codec.
Right: Crawls forward a step and rolls into a crouching position, saying into his codec "This is Snake. I'm done here." ("こちらスネーク、これより帰還する。", This is Snake, returning from here.).
A small excerpt of the main theme of Metal Gear Solid. In the game, this excerpt is used twice: when VR Training is completed, and when Solid Snake is caught and the player earns a Game Over.
Snake has been a very popular character in Ultimate's first year; the PGStats team found that within over 3000 PR ranked players worldwide, Snake was the most popular character [2]. The character’s multiple strengths, including a frame 1 option to break combos, great edgeguarding tools, and guaranteed kill setups at higher percents, enabled mains to develop a vibrant metagame. Through the early stages of the competitive scene, he was widely considered to be a top three character in the game, as characters did not develop proper defensive countermeasures. Following Ally's ban and a slightly slower pace of the game, however, Snake mains were unable to match the same successes as prior. MVD has gotten multiple 49th place or lower placings at majors, Salem has had inconsistent placings and primarily used Hero in bracket, and Shogun held relatively few tournament placings outside of Japan, while his domestic results are not as strong as his international placings. Additionally, players began to discover matchups that he struggles in, such as Mega Man, Zero Suit Samus, and Inkling. Players have also developed more counterplay to his lacking disadvantage state and mobility by respecting his strong arsenal of projectiles and playing more patiently.
In the return to offline competitive play, Snake has been seeing a lot more results than in the months prior to the pandemic. Snake mains, such as MVD, ApolloKage, Ronnichu, and AlanDiss, have been placing consistently well in recent tournaments, with the former winning SWT: NA West Ultimate Regional Finals, as well as placing high in Super Smash Con: Fall Fest and Low Tide City 2021. Due to these results and his strong matchup spread, Snake is widely considered to be a top tier character, or potentially top 10 in the game.
Any number following the Smasher name indicates placement on the Fall 2019 PGRU, which recognizes the official top 50 players in the world in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate from July 13th, 2019 to December 15th, 2019.
Snake's opponents all use projectile weapons. Additionally, all the items that spawn are either projectile weapons or explosives, to go with the theme of the route. OSP stands for On-Site Procurement, which is the condition for many of Snake's missions in the series. The boss of his route, Galleom, fits with the theme due to it using explosive projectile weapons.
A possible reference to Les Enfants Terribles, a government project in the Metal Gear series that creates clones of Big Boss, including Solid Snake himself. The CPU will be the default Snake if the player chooses the green alternate costume.
Snake was among the fighters that were summoned to the cliffside to fight against the army of Master Hands.
During the opening cutscene Snake was present on the cliffside when Galeem absorbed the Master Hands and unleashed his beams of light. While the other fighters were attempting to deflect or dodge the beams, Snake hid in his cardboard box; this obviously proved useless, as a beam of light vaporized him and his box, placing him under Galeem's imprisonment along with the rest of the fighters, except for Kirby (humorously, the box itself is also a spirit that can be obtained in World of Light).
Snake can be found in the Base sub-area reminiscent of his series, where Galleom is fought.
Snake's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Snake has been unlocked. Unlocking Snake 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. His fighter spirit has an alternate version that replaces it with his artwork in Ultimate.
Snake was announced to return in Ultimate on June 12th, 2018, which was also the 10 year anniversary of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Snake is the only veteran third-party character to have his Final Smash completely changed, and also the only one who was not playable in Super Smash Bros. 4
The official Smash Bros. website lists Snake as being the 31st character to join the series, which is coincidentally the same amount of years from the first installment of the Metal Gear series was released, back in 1987, to Snake's return to Smash, in 2018.
Snake shares his Classic Mode unlock tree with Simon and Richter, who are also third-party characters from a Konami franchise.
Snake is the only character in Smash history whose series symbol has been entirely changed: the FOX logo was altered to the "!" Alert symbol from Metal Gear Solid.
This is possibly due to the FOX logo also being the logo for the former Kojima Productions, a studio within Konami responsible for developing Metal Gear games which have since dissolved and reformed as an independent developer.
Snake is the only fighter in Ultimate that will emit a voice line when eating a food item, with phrases along the lines of "Mmhmmm!", "Good!" and "Tasty!". This is in clear reference to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, where Snake will elicit a reaction when eating.
The only other fighter known to perform a similar action is Steve, in which the burping sound effect from Minecraft will play after he consumes a food item.
This is the second time where the Metal Gear franchise crosses over with the Monster Hunter franchise - the first of which was in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker featuring Rathalos, who is coincidentally a boss character and Assist Trophy in Ultimate.
Snake is the least common opponent for Classic Mode routes, as he appears in 3 different routes.
He appears in Wolf's route in Round 6, Pac-Man's route in Round 5, and his own route in the penultimate round.
Oddly enough, unlike other characters, holding the special move button while shielding as Snake does not allow him to angle the shield without triggering dodges (or jumping if tap jump is turned on); he can only do this by holding multiple shield buttons. While this also applies to Inkling, it is because of the special move input while shielding being designated for refilling their Ink Tank.
Snake's stock icon depicts him without facial hair, similar to his appearances in Metal Gear 2 and Metal Gear Solid.
There's a glitch regarding the use of Cypher where if Snake gets fired out of Barrel Cannon or is hit by the tornado in Hyrule Castle, any aerial action performed will leave him helpless. Additionally, if Snake performs a tech, throws an item and lands, or gets knocked down and stands back up, the helplessness will be stored, causing him to lose access to the move while grounded and will becomes helpless once he leaves the ground by either jumping or falling off the stage. This glitch is a carryover from Brawl.
Despite also specializing in explosives and projectile weapons, Bowser Jr. does not appear in Snake’s Classic Mode route.
When fighting off the fifty puppet fighter army as Master Hand in World of Light, Snake is one of the eight fighters fought there, being affiliated with Galeem.
He is also the only one affiliated with Galeem who is from a third-party franchise.
When scanning in a Snake amiibo, he plays his on-screen appearance animation instead of one of his taunts.
Due to the game's graphical improvements, Snake has a sleeker design, and his overall color scheme is more vibrant. His body suit appears less form-fitting than before, and his overall appearance appears to be more detailed, particularly his hair and bandana. His pupils are also smaller. Altogether, these changes make Snake closely resemble his official artwork for Metal Gear Solid: The Legacy Collection.
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