Back by popular demand, Snake brings a ranged fighting style unlike any other fighter in the game. His Final Smash locks onto an opponent and fires five homing missiles.
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's portrayal of Snake from Brawl was repurposed for the English version of Ultimate, with Hayter initially confirming on Twitter that he would be reprising his role. Akio Ōtsuka reprises his role in the Japanese version, with his voice clips being recycled from Brawl as well.
Snake is a tall heavyweight, being tied with R.O.B. and Banjo & Kazooie for the 18th highest weight. Much like several other heavyweight zoners, Snake has poor mobility overall; he has the 59th slowest run speed, the 66th slowest initial dash, the 70th slowest walk speed, the 57th slowest air speed, and is tied with Simon and Richter for the lowest air acceleration in the game. These attributes make him very reliant on his zoning and trapping with his projectiles in the neutral.
One of Snake's biggest strengths is his fantastic moveset, which, similar to other characters like Young Link, is considered one of the best in the game due to him lacking 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 "get off me" tool. His forward tilt is a 2-hit attack with fast start-up 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 it's deceptively fast start-up, 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. His down-tilt is his least useful tilt, but still has good range and speed. Lastly, his dash attack comes out very quickly and is a useful approaching option.
Snake's smash attacks offer a unique set of options. His up-smash shoots a missle 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, as the missle itself does decent knockback. His forward-smash, while extremely slow, is incredibly strong, making it great for hard reads or if the opponent rolls in Snake's direction. His down-smash is fast and has good KO power, while also hitting on both sides of him.
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. Forward aerial, while slow, is a strong meteor smash with great range. Down aerial is 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 shorthop. The move also gives Snake a small vertical boost in the air. Due to it's aforementioned speed, it can be used as a potent out-of-shield option. Up aerial and back aerial are both long ranged and strong, although due to Snake's playstyle and mobility, they aren't used quite as much as most of his other moves.
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 places the opponent on the ground in a downed status. This makes it unsafe at low percents, as the opponent can get-up attack before he can react. However, at high percents, it gains enough hitstun to allow Snake to follow up with an up-tilt as a guaranteed KO confirm. His up throw can combo into his up-tilt at low percents as a solid damage racker. Lastly, his forward and back throws have decent knockback scaling, making them great for setting up edgeguards or straight up KOing at very high percents.
Lastly, Snake's special moveset allows for many fantastic options. His neutral special, Hand Grenades, are 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 as zoning tools and 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, and just using them 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 it's 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. 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.
In spite of his strengths, Snake still has noticeable weaknesses, one of which being his frame data. While he does have several moves with quick start-up(down aerial, Grenades, up-tilt, forward-tilt), the majority of his moveset has very high endlag, making them easy to punish if missed. His forward aerial and forward smash, while very strong, have among the most lag of their types in the game. Also, while Snake's recovery is overall above-average and goes a considerable distance, is still easy to edgeguard for many characters. Lastly, his reliance on explosive projectiles in the neutral can be a downside in matchups against character with energy-absorbing moves such as Ness or Mr. Game & Watch.
Overall, Snake is a zoning and stage-trapping oriented character with versatile specials and projectiles for forcing the opponent to move into a disadvantageous positon. However, this doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't have to stay at a distance the whole time, as he possesses several strong melee attacks to rack up damage easily and keep the opponent off of him. Throughout the first year of Ultimate, Snake achieved very strong results thanks to players such as Ally and MVD. However, after Ally quit competing in Ultimate, Snake's results have dwindled over time due to other top Snake players achieving lesser results. Despite this, he is still considered a high tier at worst, with many still believing the character has top tier potential.
In Brawl, Snake was considered among the best characters in the game, and for a while, he was considered the second best, only behind Meta Knight. This was due to his extreme power and damage output, 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 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 been significantly nerfed overall due to many of his strengths, like his incredible power and large hitboxes, being noticeably toned down, however, none of the nerfs removed his most important traits that made him one of the best characters in Brawl. However, Snake also greatly benefits from the universal changes which compensates for most of the heavy nerfs he received. As a result, he was slightly nerfed overall and remains a force to be reckoned with.
The most notable buffs he received were to his previously slow mobility, no longer being among the slowest in the series, although it is still below average. The universal 3-frame jumpsquat and Snake's improved air speed give Snake better options when transitioning from the ground to the air, while the reduced landing lag on all of his aerials gives him landing options. In addition, many of his moves have been given reduced startup (e.g. neutral and down aerial's multi hits) or end lag (e.g. down tilt), or even both (e.g. down smash). His Remote Missile is significantly faster and more controllable making it a stronger tool against opponents who are off stage and his C4 is overall a faster and stronger tool. Finally, the removal of chain grabbing significantly benefits his endurance.
However, Snake also received many glaring nerfs as well. Due to Snake's very high weight being reduced to be more in-line with similarly sized characters, the removal of momentum canceling and given that Cypher can now be destroyed, his overall endurance especially while offstage is much weaker. In addition, while his ground game still remains strong, it has been nerfed in several ways; his neutral attack has less range and is significantly weaker, his forward tilt has less range, deals far less damage, the first hit has been altered removing its ability to trip and the second hit is slower and weaker. His up tilt's infamously deceptive horizontal range has been reduced, and the explosions from his explosion-based attacks can now be absorbed, worsening his matchups against Ness, Lucas and Mr. Game & Watch. While he has seen some improvements to his aerials, they are all weaker (especially down aerial) and many of his attacks have much smaller hitboxes or the hitboxes were removed altogether, worsening his range, although he still possesses large disjoints in his attacks. As a result, his extreme power and KO ability from Brawl, while still above average, was weakened significantly, removing jab 3 and down tilt's KO potential and making almost all his attacks weaker. The removal of DACUS and the Gatling combo severely limit his approach options despite the aforementioned increase to his mobility. Lastly. while the removal of chain grabbing improves his endurance, it also means that he cannot chain grab with his down throw severely reducing its damage racking and tech chase potential.
The nerfs outweigh the buffs, making Snake theoretically worse compared to Brawl, but he still retains multiple key traits from his Brawl incarnation, and as such remains 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, and is considered as a top-high to even top-tier contender similar to his placement in Brawl.
Aesthetics
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 has two additional alternate costumes, increasing his total to 8. 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's idle animation has been altered. His upper body has been turned to face more towards the screen and stands more upright instead of slouching.
The majority of Snake's animations are more fluid and polished.
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.
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'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 81 characters.
Snake's fast falling speed is much 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 considerably lighter (113 → 106), going from 3rd heaviest in Brawl to tied 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 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 improves Snake's recovery more than other characters', as due to Cypher not causing helplessness, he can get additional distance with a directional air dodge after using it.
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.
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 compensated (55 base/95 scaling → 65/82). 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 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.
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.
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 52 → 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.
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%).
It has altered knockback (90 base/58 scaling → 30/87 (hit 1), 30/88 (hit 2)), weakening the first hit's KO potential compared to the landmine, but strengthening the second hit's.
Aerial attacks
All aerials have less landing lag (30 frames → 16 (neutral), 30 → 19 (forward, back), 22 → 15 (up), 30 → 20 (down)).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Snake no longer faces the other way after using back throw.
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). In combination with the move's reduced ending lag and the changes to hitstun canceling, this allows it to combo into up tilt at low percents, while improving its KO potential at very high percents.
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%.
Edge attack grants more intangibility (frames 1-21 → 1-27).
It deals more damage (8%/6% → 9%), and no longer uses set knockback (110 set/100 scaling → 90 base/20 scaling), making it stronger at higher percents.
It has noticeably less range (6u/5u/4.5u/3u → 4.5u).
Special moves
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 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 remains the same, reducing its ending lag.
Hand Grenades operate on a timer of 2.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds.
The explosion deals less damage (12% → 9%), hindering its KO potential, but improving its combo potential in combination with the changes to hitstun canceling. It has also received negative shield damage, which alongside its reduced damage output weakens Hand Grenades' shield pressuring ability, 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.
The extended invincibility on throws makes it more difficult to perform the Omnigay.
C4 emits a flashing red light for a few seconds after being placed, improving 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.
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: Twin Snakes when Snake fights Gray Fox.
An upward scorpion kick. One of Snake's best KO options due to its fast startup, decent range, and high knockback. Depending on the opponent's damage, this makes a great follow up from down throw. It can also be used as an out-of-shield option.
A low spin kick while prone. Deals decent damage for its speed, coming out on frame 6, and it also possesses good disjointed range, with the outermost hitboxes reaching over his foot.
Does a somersault forward. Moves Snake forward by a large distance, it comes out on frame 5, making it one of the fastest dash attacks in the game, it has intangibility on his arm for the entire hitbox duration (frames 5-12), and it can combo into itself at low and mid percents. This makes it one of the best dash attacks and burst options in the game. Has a reasonable level of knockback, but not enough to make it a reliable KO move. 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. 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.
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.
A midair ax 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 leg results in a very powerful vertical knockback.
Snake dropkicks behind himself, planking in the air. Has fairly fast start-up along with very good range and disjointed hitboxes, just like Snake's other attacks, and very high damage excellent horizontal knockback when hit cleanly and especially when sweetspotted. It has considerable ending lag like his other aerials, so it is very punishable if it misses. Has sex kick properties.
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 disjont, 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.
Snake launches four subsequent stomps below himself. A powerful damage-racking out-of-shield option, as it has the fastest startup of any down aerial in the game, 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. Somewhat fast and has low ending lag and decent range. 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 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. Resembles his primary throw from Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2.
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, gives Snake guaranteed follow-up options, including his up tilt. 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. 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.
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.
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. His up taunt is the fastest to cancel, his down taunt is the slowest, and his side taunt is between two of them speed-wise. When he removes it, any nearby enemies will receive damage. The damage ranges from 1.8% to 3.1%. The box can also be picked up and thrown by opponents, although any character will automatically throw the box once it is picked up. The box falls a considerable distance when removed over a ledge, making it a possible edgeguarding option.
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, 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. This taunt only works against the characters who were present in Brawl. Any characters introduced in Smash 4 and Ultimate, as well as ones introduced in Melee who were cut from Brawl (i.e. Pichu, Dr. Mario, Young Link, Roy, and Mewtwo) do not have unique codec conversations. Additionally, Ike's codec conversation will not play when he is in his Radiant Dawn costumes.
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 character has many obvious strengths, including a frame 1 option to break combos, great edgeguarding tools, heavy weight, guaranteed kill setups at higher percents, and so on. At some points, he was widely considered to be in contention for being a top 3 character in the game. Following Ally's retirement, however, Snake's results have notably dropped. MVD has gotten multiple 49th place or lower placings at majors, Salem has also had inconsistent placings and primarily uses Hero in bracket and Shogun has relatively few tournament placings outside of Japan. It's clear that Snake is a top tier character, but with the premier Snake main now gone, the character's results (and possibly potential) have somewhat stagnated. At worst, Snake is a high tier, according to MkLeo, due to these reasons.
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.
Mr.R (#44) - Co-mains Snake with Chrom and is considered the best Snake player in Europe. Placed 3rd at Expand Gong 4 and 9th at both 2GG: Prime Saga and Collision 2019 using Snake as one of his characters. Has a win over MkLeo.
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 also fits with the theme due to it using projectile weapons and explosives during his fight, or it may also be a reference to how Galleom resembles a Metal Gear.
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.
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 500 coins. 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. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.
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 returning third-party character not to appear in Super Smash Bros. 4.
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.
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.
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.
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 was introduced after Smash 64, is unlockable, and is third-party.
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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