Little Mac (SSBU)

Little Mac (, Little Mac) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. He was officially revealed on June 12th, 2018 alongside and the rest of the returning roster. Little Mac is classified as Fighter #49.

Kōsuke Toriumi reprises his role as Little Mac's voice actor, albeit via reused voice clips from Super Smash Bros. 4.

Little Mac is ranked 81st out of 82 on the Ultimate tier list, placing him in the D- tier. This is a noticeable drop from his Smash 4 iteration, where he was ranked 43rd out of 54 at the lower end of mid-tier. Little Mac possesses a strong ground game thanks to his excellent ground mobility and numerous grounded kill moves. His smash attacks are especially strong as they have super armor on startup and very respectable speed for their power, making them decently unchallengeable. His tilt attacks are also very respectable, as forward tilt serves as a quick and capable kill move, while down and up tilts can be used to set up combos. Finally, his special moves have also seen improvements from the previous game, most notably to Jolt Haymaker, which no longer sends Little Mac into freefall.

To compensate for his strong ground game, however, Little Mac packs glaring weaknesses, most notably when it comes to fighting in the air. Although his recovery is improved from the previous game, it remains one of the worst among the roster due to his low double-jump height, being allowed only one Jolt Haymaker per airtime, and Rising Uppercut's pitiful travel distance in the air. His aerial game is also poor due to his aerial's poor damage and knockback as well as his special moves being weaker in the air. Finally, his average stature compared to the rest of the cast and lack of disjoints give him a notable range problem, which, when combined with his low overall shieldstun outside of down-angled forward smash and sweetspotted up smash, force him to play a linear, risky neutral game, while his high fall speed contributes to his vulnerability to combos, despite granting him decent survivability for a lightweight fighter. Due to Little Mac's extremely polarized nature, he is considered a rather unpopular pick in the current metagame. Despite that, he has still garnered respectable results thanks to the efforts of players such as and.

How to unlock
Complete one of the following: Little Mac must then be defeated on Boxing Ring (the Ω form is used in World of Light).
 * Play VS. matches, with Little Mac being the 20th character to be unlocked.
 * Clear with  or any character in his unlock tree, being the 3rd character unlocked after.
 * Have Little Mac join the player's party in World of Light.

Attributes
Little Mac offers a simple, yet polarized fighting style, performing well on the ground, but poorly in the air. While Mac is rather small in relation to the majority of realistically proportioned characters, he is of average size among the entire cast. This can make him somewhat difficult to hit, but also means that most of his moves have short range, which makes spacing crucial for avoiding punishment.

Little Mac is a lightweight with very impressive ground mobility: he has the 8th fastest walking speed, the 3rd fastest dashing speed, and above-average traction, granting him effective out of shield options. He also has the 3rd fastest initial dash, which has a long duration of 15 frames, giving him a long pivot and an excellent dash dance that is surpassed only by '. His sidestep and rolls are tied with, and Zero Suit Samus' for the fastest in the game, with his rolls giving the third longest distance in the game behind  and. These stats overall translate to him having excellent ground coverage and makes it easy for Little Mac to keep up with and punish opponents contesting with him on the ground, while also giving him fast and effective grounded defensive options. He also has fast falling speed (tied with for the 2nd fastest) and below-average gravity, which collectively give him good vertical endurance in spite of his status as a lightweight. Aside from his great air speed (tied with, , and 's for 13th fastest) and his wall jump, which is the 4th highest, the rest of Little Mac's aerial attributes are notoriously poor: his jump is tied with  and 's for the 5th lowest, his double jump is the 3rd lowest, his air acceleration is tied with  for the 6th lowest, and his directional air dodge travels the least amount of distance. These attributes effectively force Mac to stay on the ground as often as possible to make the use of his excellent ground mobility.

Little Mac's greatest strength is his potent ground game. None of his grounded moves have more than 15 frames of start-up, whereas only his up smash has more than 30 frames of ending lag. Only five non-special moves (forward smash, back air, up smash, down smash and forward air) become active after frame 9, and only the former two after frame 10. His neutral attack, in particular, is tied with Zero Suit Samus' for the fastest move in the game, activating on frame 1 and its minimal ending lag and angles allow it to not only jab lock but also make it and 's neutral attack the only ones in Ultimate that are capable of jab canceling reliably. Despite his somewhat light weight, Little Mac boasts superb KO potential: his forward tilt, dash attack and smash attacks boast high damage outputs and knockback scaling, yet are also fairly fast. Forward smash can be angled, with the downward variant dealing immense shield damage and the upward variant being one of Mac's most effective vertical KO options on the ground. Up smash's coverage allows it to serve as an effective anti-air, and its sweet spot also deals a lot of shield damage. Finally, down smash is a semi-spike with a fairly long range, allowing it to tech chase as well as edge-guard easily against careless or vulnerable recoveries. Besides their speed and strength, Little Mac's grounded moves are also difficult to interrupt, which combined with his high dashing speed gives him an excellent punish game. His tilt attacks boast anti-rebounding priority; this prevents them from clanking with opposing ground attacks provided they're within priority range, allowing Mac to punish opponents very quickly due to his own attacks' high speed. While his smash attacks have normal priority, they instead boast super armor during their use. This offers Mac a unique way of punishing attacks by tanking the hit while immediately retaliating - meaning devastating attacks such as most forward smashes can all be punished. These traits make him arguably the most difficult opponent to directly challenge on the ground for every other character in the roster, including himself.

Little Mac's special moves also have fair utility. Straight Lunge gains distance and power as it charges, deals heavy damage, and boasts light damage-based armor while charging, allowing him to withstand weak attacks before retaliating immediately afterward. As such, it is an effective tool against most infinites and multi-hit moves even while uncharged. The move can also be canceled by shielding, giving it utility for escaping certain combo moves such as Witch Twist, and it can be turned around when released, offering decent mix-up potential and a way to get out of combos. However, Straight Lunge's considerable ending lag limits its offensive utility as it can be easily intercepted or punished, while its defensive utility depends on the character and the attack. This makes it great defensively against characters with low damage output or with reliance on multi-hits, such as Sheik or Meta Knight, but it won't help against opponents with high damage output or on single-hit aerials. Jolt Haymaker propels Mac forward with a leaping punch that travels a fair distance, can be unleashed on command, grants brief intangibility during start-up, and does not lose power when used in mid-air. This makes it useful for tech-chasing, repositioning, and escaping or punishing laggy moves or projectiles, and making it Mac's only useful KO option while in the air and off-stage. Its hitbox is tall enough that it can often clip low-hanging platforms, and catch opponents who are attempting to platform camp him. Unlike in SSB4, it also does not render him helpless, making it a much less dangerous recovery move. Rising Uppercut grants brief intangibility on start-up and travels fairly high when used on the ground. This makes the move an effective combo breaker; combined with the last hit's high knockback scaling, it has a very fast startup and the fact that it doesn't lose power in the air, is also quite potent out of shield and for scoring aerial KOs. Slip Counter is an extremely fast counterattack, making it useful for escaping pressure, especially aerial combos. It is also one of the few counters that slides forward before attacking, allowing Little Mac to get closer to his opponent, or even recover horizontally in response to an edge-guard attempt.

Rounding out his specials, Little Mac has a unique fighter ability called the Power Meter. Displayed over his damage meter, the Power Meter fully charges by dealing 333% or receiving 100%. When fully charged, Straight Lunge is replaced by the KO Uppercut, which can KO any character before 40%. KO Uppercut is also unblockable (barring Witch Time), boasts fast startup, and leaps slightly into the air (allowing it to catch opponents on low platforms such as 's); combined with its immense power, this can quickly turn the tide of a match or further secure a lead if used successfully. It can be comboed into from down tilt at low percents, and is the ideal tech chase option for a defensive player who tends to roll away from Little Mac when placed under pressure. However, Mac loses the KO Uppercut if tumbled after a 4 second grace period (not including footstool jumping), forcing him to use the move quickly. KO Uppercut also has considerable end lag regardless of whether it hits or not, and its short leap can cause Mac to fall off the stage if used while next to an edge, almost guaranteeing an accidental self destruct if not reacted to. As a result, it is inarguably one of the riskiest, yet most rewarding attacks in the entire series.

While considerably weaker than the rest of the cast, Little Mac's air game is not completely useless and have limited perks, which can be utilized for initiating short combos. Neutral aerial is by far Little Mac's most effective aerial: it is the fastest aerial attack in the game and can be spammed, making it a decent combo breaker or to interrupt opponents when jumping from ledge. It can combo into itself, drag down opponents with him as a sacrificial K.O. option, and grant niche combo opportunities into other aerials or Rising Uppercut. It also features a slightly disjointed hitbox in Mac's pelvis, which causes weak upward knockback that is surprisingly excellent for combos thanks to the move's autocancel properties, which will allow it to combo into up tilt, up aerial, or Rising Uppercut. Forward aerial is a semi-spike and is decent for combos or edge-guarding, especially against poor recoveries; it can also initiate combos into Jolt Haymaker offstage as a powerful sacrificial KO. Up aerial is very fast and can autocancel in a full hop, allowing it to combo into moves like Rising Uppercut when landing. Back aerial is the worst of its kind in the game, but is a semi-spike, has fair spacing utility, and sets the opponent up for tech chase situations when used close to the ground. Finally, down aerial is an extremely fast, weak meteor smash that is mainly useful for locking floored opponents who miss a tech, which opens up devastating punishes courtesy of Little Mac's variety of grounded KO moves. It also acts as a highly situational meteor smash, although it is unlikely to be useful outside of surprise gimping. However, his aerials all have short range, poor damage output, and awful KO potential. While his neutral and down aerials can auto-cancel from a short hop, his forward, back, and up aerials cannot. This leaves Mac incredibly vulnerable in the air, as he has no means of properly defending himself beyond point-blank range without exhausting any of his special moves, which are limited to one use until he touches the ground. The low power of his aerials also makes them ineffective for flinching opponents, and Mac's only aerial KO options are indeed his special moves, which are highly likely to result in sacrificial KOs if misused off-stage. This also means that Mac is more severely affected by stale-move negation than most other characters, as he is effectively limited to using little more than half of his moveset in most situations, although his variety of powerful finishers can compensate it to a degree.

Little Mac sports a mediocre grab game; Mac's pummel is among the fastest, but his grabs, while having average range, have moderate startup lag and noticeable ending lag, and the ending lag and collateral hitboxes for his throws limit their ability to KO or start combos. However, they do have some uses: forward throw can followed into Jolt Haymaker from 0%, but requires a read due to the ending lag; down throw can combo into Rising Uppercut, but has some ending lag and is susceptible to DI; his back throw has decent power and can KO at around 130%, but its collateral hitbox weakens it; up throw can combo into Jolt Haymaker at low to mid percents, and forward throw can tech chase at the same percentages. Unfortunately, this translates to his throws having very limited use, as all of them apart from down throw are only effective for creating space. This severely limits Mac's options when attempting to utilize throws, and makes them a risky prospect in the first place when combined with his average grab attributes.

Alongside these setbacks, Little Mac is further held back by a slew of exploitable weaknesses. As expected, Mac's weak air mobility and high falling speed make him incredibly susceptible to gimps from meteor smashes, semi-spikes, and even footstool jumps, especially if he doesn't have his double jump. Compounding this, his directional air dodge has the least distance in the game, and his air dodge's ending lag is only average relative to the cast due to the universal changes to air dodges, since the ending lag depends on the character's falling speed and gravity. Thus, it is not only a situational option while in a disadvantaged state, but also poor as a normal recovery move. Mac can grab the ledge by using a directional air dodge if he is close enough, however, allowing him to cover the remaining distance to the ledge, making it very useful if combined with his double jump and special moves. His special moves are also considerably less effective while in the air. Straight Lunge loses much of its power when used in midair, and its long charge time makes it impractical for recovery. Aerial KO Uppercut is also significantly weaker and blockable, although it still has both KO and Recovery potential. While Jolt Haymaker and Rising Uppercut are Little Mac's most effective aerial KO options, they are very poor for recovery, offering poor travel distance, small edge sweet spots, and minimal intangibility. Jolt Haymaker does not cause helplessness, allowing Mac to follow up with a wall jump, directional air dodge or Rising Uppercut; however, it travels a mediocre distance and can only be used once before landing or grabbing the edge, leaving Mac one of the most vulnerable characters to edge-guarding as he is unable to use it again if he gets hit. Rising Uppercut loses roughly half its travel distance when used in midair, and while aerial Slip Counter can be a good response to an edge-guard attempt and get Little Mac back on stage, it loses its intangibility, can be predicted, and its end lag if unsuccessful is likely to result in Mac self-destructing or getting gimped by the opponent if used at a low enough altitude. As a result, it is most beneficial to attempt to recover horizontally, rather than vertically, which is nearly impossible depending on if Mac is merely launched, or (semi-)spiked. These traits result in Little Mac having more difficulty with recovering than most other characters, being commonly cited as one of, if not the worst, recovery of the cast overall. While his below-average gravity and high falling speed grant solid vertical endurance for a lightweight, they also make him very vulnerable to combos and juggling. Additionally, the super armor granted by Mac's smash attacks still causes him to take full damage and must be timed carefully to avoid being punished. These traits make Mac extremely prone to momentum shifts; his lacking air game and overall frailty allows opponents to easily combo or even zero-to-death him after one mistake, even if Mac was otherwise dominating the match.

Because of these issues, his neutral game, while decent, is predictable, and while he has a good approach due to his excellent mobility, Mac relies more heavily than most other characters on his shield and dodges for avoiding damage and general positioning, both of which can be predicted and easily punished if overused. His short range can be problematic against characters with long or disjointed attacks. While these issues can be mitigated with Mac's impressive ground speed, he also has trouble dealing with camping; his super armor and special moves provide options for dealing with projectiles, but he is still forced to approach, as he lacks projectiles of his own. His short jumps and weak aerial attacks also leave Mac especially vulnerable to platform camping, arguably more so than any other character in the game. While Mac is very effective at tech chasing due to his high ground speed, forward throw and wide, semi-spiking down smash, his combo potential is otherwise underwhelming, which combined with his linear neutral can sometimes make it difficult to safely rack up damage despite his attacks' high damage output. As a whole, Little Mac's poor combo game and lack of true KO confirms require him to win neutral exchanges more often in order to succeed, especially when trying to close out a stock since his most reliable KO options cannot be comboed into effectively at higher percentages outside of Jolt Haymaker or Rising Uppercut. Players must also be careful and know when to attack and play defensively, or else Little Mac could quickly lose the neutral game, and find themselves at a significant disadvantage.

Overall, Little Mac excels with a very specific, methodical playstyle that is reminiscent of a real-life boxer; a defensive bait and punish style, that entails keeping constant control of the middle of the stage, capitalizing on the opponent's mistakes, staying on the ground as much as possible, and utilizing his excellent ground mobility to his advantage. Because of his polarizing strengths and weaknesses, players must reach a higher than average level of play than most other fighters in order to use Little Mac effectively: he can be difficult to utilize despite his straightforward fighting style, as his severe disadvantage state forces him to play extremely carefully, despite his high mobility and power. Players must learn to utilize Little Mac's long rolls, fast air and fall speed, and super armor on smash attacks to approach projectile-based opponents, and take advantage of his powerful ground tools to condition opponents to make mistakes.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. 4
Despite being a lower mid-tier character in SSB4, Little Mac has received a mix of buffs and nerfs in the transition to Ultimate. While he has received good improvements both directly and from game engine changes, he also received heavy nerfs to his combo potential, and is mostly harmed by the universal engine changes, compared to most of the cast who benefit from said changes. As a result, he is considered to be nerfed overall.

Little Mac's biggest buff involves his notoriously poor recovery. Previously notorious for having one of the single worst recoveries in the game, it has been extended and has greater mix-up potential due to readdition of directional air dodges, Jolt Haymaker no longer causing helplessness while traveling more distance, and KO Uppercut granting recovery distance in midair. His attributes have also been modified, as he now has a considerably faster air speed which helps him recover easier, higher jumps which no longer make him as vulnerable to platform camping (while also improving his recovery), and the second-highest falling speed which makes it easier for him to return to the ground. His higher weight not only improves his endurance, but also allows him to benefit from rage more effectively despite its weakening, making him harder to KO when combined with his longer recovery.

Among other buffs, some of Little Mac's ground moves have been improved. His neutral attack is even faster, can jab cancel with more ease, and can now jab lock. His forward tilt connects better on aerial opponents, and down tilt has more range. All versions of forward smash have lost their blindspots, and up smash has more active super armor frames. Straight Lunge now gains damage while charging, can now be shield-canceled, can be turned around if needed, and deals a consistent 30% when fully charged. Aside from its helpless state being removed, Jolt Haymaker also has significantly improved safety on hit. The aerial version of KO Uppercut now has more knockback, improving its KO power (though it remains a highly situational KO option). His grabs have also received much more range and have lost their previous blindspots, no longer being the shortest in the game.

Little Mac also benefits heavily from some of the universal changes. Since the alterations to grounded movement have returned some of the aspects of dash dancing, this grants Little Mac one of the game's best dash dances. The ability to dash cancel into any grounded attack and the introduction of spot dodge canceling arguably benefit him more than any other fighter, as not only he now has access to all his grounded options at any time, he is able to avoid most laggy punishment options and retaliate immediately with his strong grounded game; both of these changes improve his hard punish game. The changes to shieldstun make it easier for him to punish aerial approaches out of shield and make his grounded attacks safer, benefitting his ground-based playstyle, while this is complemented by the universal nerfs to grabs and shield grabs, which now make him more difficult to punish out of shield without a sufficiently ranged move. The nerfs to defensive options (shielding, air dodges, rolls, and spot dodges) further improve his pressure ability and punish game, while he still possesses some of the best defensive options of the cast. Finally, the changes to jostle mechanics now make his attacks easier to sweetspot and much harder to whiff up close, such as Straight Lunge's infamous whiffs at point-blank range in SSB4.

However, the nerfs Little Mac has received to his strong grounded game and Jolt Haymaker are harsh enough to eclipse his useful buffs. His best moves for racking up damage are weaker as his neutral attack, the infinite and up tilt all deal less damage (with the latter being less safe at low percents); the former no longer has anti-rebounding priority, while the latter's lower damage makes it less likely to out-prioritize attacks. Down tilt has more ending lag, reducing its combo potential, especially beyond low percents and weakening most of his damage racking abilities while either narrowing or outright removing some of its KO confirms. Down throw has altered and increased knockback, making it better for combos at low percentages, but worse at high ones. As a result of these changes, Little Mac's grounded game has actually become worse despite his much easier access to his options, as he now has to deal slightly more hits and his moves have less followup potential, while he still lacks useful moves to edgeguard or attack offstage opponents with, apart from down tilt, down smash, and the newly buffed Jolt Haymaker. His recovery has also ironically become less consistent than before, as Jolt Haymaker can now only be used once before landing, making misuse or interception of it usually fatal for him; as a result, his offstage survivability still weighs on the opponent predicting one of few options he is able to use while recovering, especially his double jump.

In addition, despite some of the universal changes improving Little Mac, other indirect changes have harmed him just as much. The increased damage on edge attacks (since they now deal more than 8% throughout the cast) means Straight Lunge's armor can no longer withstand them, removing a mind game option. The nerfs to defensive options to become stale if overused, while letting Little Mac punish opponents more easily, make his defense more exploitable due to his awful aerial game making him reliant on dodges and shielding. The limitation to a single air dodge until a character gets hit or lands on the ground, as well as the higher ending lag on one, is especially notable, as this makes him even more susceptible to juggling if his air dodge is misused, and much more susceptible to gimping despite his improved recovery, as combined with the ability to use Jolt Haymaker once before landing makes it difficult to fully extend his recovery. The changes to jostle mechanics, while making his moveset more consistent, make it easier to corner Little Mac and read his fairly linear approach. However, the removal of perfect pivoting, the universal reduction of jumpsquats and landing lag are the changes that hinder him more than any other character: the former change eliminates his extremely strong micro spacing tactics, while the changes to dash-canceling do not fully compensate for this; the latter two changes benefit his terrible aerial game far less while strengthening most of the cast's aerial games to varying degrees, making him more vulnerable to combos and aerial rushdowns and limits him more to shielding a move or directly contesting them by making use of his smash attacks' super armor to muscle through them, which can be risky.

Overall, despite some changes to Little Mac's awful recovery, safety on shield and the ability to dash cancel moves, Little Mac has lost many of the tools that made him effective in the previous game such as his deadly hit confirms, and is now forced to contend with the rest of the cast's improvements due to the revamped game physics, which leads to a less rewarding and much more patient playstyle then ever before. All of this amounts to Little Mac performing worse than he did in SSB4.

Update history
Little Mac received a mix of buffs and nerfs via game updates, but was buffed overall. Although update 2.0.0 granted inconsequential buffs to his neutral and up aerials, update 3.1.0 noticeably improved him in a number of ways. Neutral attack, in particular, was buffed in three distinct ways. Its hits connect better thanks to improved ranges and, more notably, its first and second hits had their ending lag reduced to the point that it and 's neutral attack are currently the only ones in Ultimate that are capable of jab canceling reliably. Most notably, neutral attack gained an unintentional mechanic that decreased the ending lag of its third hit by 10 frames if it was inputted manually. This oversight gave his neutral attack the ability to combo into itself (via dash-canceling), forward smash, grab, and Jolt Haymaker at low to medium percentages. The sheer effectiveness of this mechanic even resulted in, a pioneer of Little Mac's metagame in SSB4, christening it the "Dreamland Express" as proposed by his Twitch chat.

In addition to neutral attack, Little Mac's ground game was buffed in a few other ways. Forward tilt connects much better against airborne opponents, which was a notorious flaw that remained unaddressed throughout SSB4's lifespan. Down tilt's range was increased to the point that it is actually on par with 's and out-ranges 's. Up smash gained more super armor frames, although its active frames were shortened unintentionally.

Jolt Haymaker received an additional hitbox that increased its vertical range; this not only improved its utility as a follow-up from down tilt, but also enables its grounded version to hit opponents on 's low platforms. KO Uppercut, Slip Counter and uncharged Straight Lunge had their ending lag reduced by varying amounts. Lastly, Little Mac indirectly benefits from the update's changes to shield damage for projectiles, as they make it somewhat easier for him to handle camping.

The Dreamland Express was removed in update. While the other buffs that Little Mac gained in update 3.1.0 were still worthwhile, the removal of the Dreamland Express was still a significant hindrance to his combo potential and his perception in the competitive scene. Following this, update 7.0.0 enlarged Little Mac's shield as part of a near-universal buff, which decreased his vulnerability to shield stabbing. Update 8.0.0 increased the ending lag of both his trip attack and backward rolling tech by 1 frame apiece, which standardized them with the rest of the cast's. Update 11.0.0 undid update 3.1.0's unintended nerf to up smash's active frames.

After an absence of changes, Little Mac received a number of useful buffs via update 13.0.0. Up tilt gained more hitstun, which made it safer on hit and improved its combo potential, particularly into Rising Uppercut for a consistent KO confirm. On a related note, grounded Rising Uppercut gained more knockback, which improved its KO potential. Downward angled forward smash's shield damage output was increased, which helps Mac further pressure the opponent. Uncharged Straight Lunge's knockback was increased, its ending lag was decreased, and it gained the ability to be unleashed and canceled earlier. Altogether, these buffs collectively improve its safety, mix-up, and KO potentials. Lastly, Slip Counter's damage multiplier was increased to the point that it is on par with Gut Check and Counter Throw as the second-most damaging counterattack in the game.

Overall, Little Mac fares better than he did at the launch of Ultimate, thanks to his buffs granting him more potential set-ups, improved consistency, and slightly safer offense.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moveset
For a gallery of Little Mac's hitboxes, see here.
 * Little Mac can wall jump.

Power Meter and KO Uppercut
Deal damage to opponents or receive damage to charge the meter. Charge it to the max to make your neutral special a KO Uppercut. ''Unleash a powerful uppercut that launches opponents. You get various perks for using this on the ground.

Little Mac has a unique fighter ability called the Power Meter, which is displayed permanently above his damage meter. Inflicting and/or receiving damage will fill the Power Meter; when it is full, Little Mac's neutral special (Straight Lunge) is replaced by KO Uppercut. Of note is that the Power Meter is also filled if Little Mac hits a shield or an invincible character, and if he is hit while shielding or invincible. The grounded version of KO Uppercut has multiple perks: it can KO almost the entire cast at approximately 35%, has very minimal startup, grants super armor right before its hitbox appears, and is unblockable. In comparison, the aerial version is significantly weaker (KOing opponents at ≈80%), and is susceptible to both blocks and counterattacks. Since Little Mac leaps in order to throw KO Uppercut, it can also be used as a situational recovery option. However, this is ill-advised unless Little Mac is recovering from a high angle, since KO Uppercut has very high ending lag and does not snap to the edge.

KO Uppercut will replace Straight Lunge until it is used, Little Mac is KO'd, or if he is sent tumbling 4 seconds after he gains access to KO Uppercut.

On-screen appearance

 * Little Mac walks onto the stage while throwing a series of punches before tossing his hooded sweatsuit off. If either of his sweatsuit alternate costumes are being used, he will still perform the tossing animation while keeping his sweatsuit on.

Taunts

 * Up taunt: Turns his back to the screen, bends down, then raises his fist triumphantly. Sometimes, Doc Louis will chime in and say "Hit 'em, baby!" (, Strike, Mac!)
 * Side taunt: Further secures his right boxing glove by pulling its string with his teeth, then resumes his battle stance while scoffing. Sometimes, Doc Louis will chime in and say "Let 'em have it, Mac!" (, Hit them hard, Mac!)
 * Down taunt: Throws a series of punches while facing the screen and then smirking. Sometimes, Doc Louis will chime in and say "Show 'em what you got, Mac baby!" (, Show them your punch!)

Idle poses

 * Shuffles his feet.
 * Shifts his head back and forth in front of his fists.

Crowd cheer
 

Victory poses
Little Mac wears the World Video Boxing Association (WVBA) World Circuit from the Wii version of Punch-Out!! in his victory poses. In Team Battles, Doc Louis will not appear and he will not say anything. In all of Little Mac's victory poses, Doc Louis will say one of the following quotes random depending on which pose is selected and which costume is used:
 * Left: Throws a feint punch against Doc Louis, who stumbles before they both pose with an arm raised while facing towards the camera.
 * Up: Doc Louis bumps Little Mac with his belly before holding up Little Mac's arm, as a referee would after a boxing match.
 * Right: Runs and turns his back towards the screen, shuffles his feet, then throws a spinning uppercut while Doc Louis cheers him on.

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Little Mac players (SSBU)


 * - The best Little Mac player in the United States in the early metagame. He regularly placed top 16 at tournaments in his region, including a 7th-place finish at the superregional . He has also seen some success at majors, including placing 33rd at the majors and.
 * - The best Little Mac player of all-time and the only solo-Little Mac player who consistently places top 64 at majors. His 13th-place finish at is tied for the highest placement for a Little Mac player at a major.
 * - The best Little Mac player in the early metagame, and is still one of the best Little Mac players in the current metagame, playing the character alongside and . His 13th-place finish at  is tied for the highest placement for a Little Mac player at a major.

Tier placement and history
During the early metagame, players had high hopes for Little Mac due to improvements to his notoriously awful recovery and ability to cancel grounded moves. However, Little Mac's changes and the game’s mechanics proved to be detrimental to some of his best tools, especially his ground game, while his weak aerial game, notoriously the worst in Smash 4, was made even worse. Because of this, opinions on Little Mac dropped significantly, with the consensus believing that he is not only a bottom tier, but possibly the worst character in the game.

Throughout the game's lifespan, even in spite of useful buffs and representation from top Little Mac mains such as, , and , his cons have largely prevented him from achieving consistent success in top-level play. Even in the online metagame, Peanut’s strong presence in weekly tournaments has failed to offset his lack of aerial utility and vulnerability to edgeguards, represented by Little Mac proceeding to see low representation in both national level tournaments and Wi-Fi Warrior Ranked tournaments.

As of current competitive play, Little Mac has begun to gain a slightly better reception due to more representation and Little Mac players adapting to the recent meta. While he is still considered one of the worst characters in the game, some players have begun to skeptically see him as a low tier rather than a definitive bottom tier. Overall, professional players still see him in the competitive setting as an unviable character due to the amount of work necessary to perform as him effectively at the highest level of play, with him ranking 81st on the first and current tier list.

: Friendly Sparring
Little Mac's route features opponents that, like him, specialize in. During each Round, every item except the Sandbag is disabled. As such, the Sandbag can be hit, but will only spawn confetti.

Credits roll after completing Classic Mode. Completing it as Little Mac has  accompany the credits.

Role in World of Light
Although Little Mac does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, he was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (sans ) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Little Mac can be found near a city area blocked through a door. To reach him, the player must first complete the Power Plant sub-area so the door can open.

Spirits
Little Mac's fighter spirit can be obtained by completing. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 300 Gold, but only after Little Mac has been unlocked. Unlocking Little Mac in World of Light allows the player to preview the first 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.

Additionally, Little Mac makes an appearance as a primary spirit as Giga Mac.

Trivia

 * Little Mac's Showcase Video has him follow 's motor bike while wearing his pink sweatsuit. This is a reference to the Punch-Out!! series, where Little Mac runs alongside Doc Louis on his bicycle.
 * Little Mac's pose in his official art resembles the pose he performs while using Slip Counter.
 * Little Mac's Classic Mode has a high spawn rate of Sandbag, as a reference to his reveal video where he has a Sandbag in his training ring, as well as usage of similar punching bags by real-life boxers.
 * Like in Smash 4, Little Mac's wireframe alternate costume has dark green hair in-game, as opposed to it being black in his render.
 * In Little Mac's on-screen appearance, there are two inconsistencies that weren't present in Super Smash Bros. 4:
 * The left-facing animation will have Little Mac facing away from the camera when walking into the stage, but after removing said sweatshirt, he repositions himself to face the screen.
 * The P7 alternate costume involving Wire-Frame Mac will show his sweatshirt colored green when he enters the stage, but when removing the sweatshirt, its color changes to pink.
 * There is an animation error in Little Mac’s aerial Rising Uppercut. On the third frame of the animation, his leg becomes contorted, with his calf bent nearly 180 degrees and his foot sticking out of his thigh. This error also appears in Smash 4.