Green Missile

The Green Missile (, Luigi Rocket) is Luigi's side special move since Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Overview
The move can be charged for about three seconds, and once let go, Luigi launches himself sideways like a rocket, with the distance and damage being based on how long the move is charged. At full charge, the move can reliably KO under 150%; however, it is not often used to KO due to being extremely predictable and taking too long to charge. Despite this, it still remains a very powerful KO move.

The move is essential to Luigi's recovery. Because of Luigi's atrocious air mobility (having the worst air speed in the first two games and the 2nd worst in the latter three, in addition to an up special that provides no horizontal movement), he cannot return to the stage reliably if he is sent far offstage. Green Missile allows him to cover significant horizontal distance and does not render him helpless, allowing him to use his double jump and up special to return to the stage. Additionally, the move has a small amount of intangibility upon release that can potentially protect Luigi from opponents' edgeguard attempts (a trait which only applies to regular Missiles in Melee and Brawl and misfires in SSB4 onwards). However, the move has a noticeable amount of ending lag and leaves Luigi vulnerable when using it, making it very susceptible to edgeguarding, especially if the opponent is willing to endure the hit to reduce the distance Luigi travels. Thus, it is crucial to mix things up to avoid becoming predictable.

The move also has a small chance to "misfire", an effect officially known as Overzealous Green Missile. A misfire's distance and damage will not be affected by how much it is charged, with both being greater than even a fully charged regular Green Missile. The probability of misfiring is for  Melee and Brawl and  for SSB4 and Ultimate. When one occurs, the move's animation will have a noticeable fire/rocket effect. In Melee, Luigi's eyes will close as if he was struck, as opposed to being halfway open during a normal Green Missile; SSB4 introduced a unique sound effect, and Luigi spins as if reeling in Ultimate. In Smash 4 onwards, Luigi can never misfire in Home-Run Contest.

A misfire can allow Luigi to cover significantly greater horizontal distances than normal; however, as implied by the name, a misfire is not always beneficial. For example, if the move is aimed at an opponent who dodges and the move misfires, Luigi will likely travel horizontally a long distance off the stage regardless of the move's charge, making it very hard for him to get back on (as well as leaving him vulnerable to edgeguarding). In Melee, the spontaneous misfire fires Luigi extremely far, nearly three times the distance of an uncharged Green Missile and farther than the length of, potentially causing an SD. This has been toned down from Brawl onwards to about twice the regular distance, meaning a SD will generally not occur while Luigi is onstage.

As Luigi's regular up special recovery move, Super Jump Punch, gains no horizontal distance whatsoever, CPU Luigis in Melee are coded to use the Green Missile instead to recover. However, even at CPU level 9, they will never switch to the Super Jump Punch once they drop below the level of the stage, which will always cause them to uselessly repeat the Green Missile over and over below the edge and result in an unavoidable SD. This is most visible when fighting a CPU Luigi on Mushroom Kingdom II. Additionally, the CPU will never charge the move, making it even more likely to come up short. High-level CPUs in Brawl are capable of properly combining the two recovery moves (though lower-level ones will only use the Super Jump Punch).

Super Smash Bros. Brawl allows Luigi to hold this move at full charge indefinitely. If a partially charged one hits a wall, there is a 40% chance (50% in later games) that Luigi will get stuck for a brief moment and have to pull himself free, accompanied by a spring noise as his body bobs up and down for comedic effect. Also added in Brawl is the lesser-known fact that the move gives Luigi a slight vertical boost if used right after a jump. This may be related to Luigi's normally slow falling speed. If the trick is used when Luigi is metal or is wearing a Bunny Hood (both of which increase a character's falling speed), the boost will be much higher. Additionally, the move is now capable of sweetspotting the ledge, significantly improving its safety and reliability provided Luigi is parallel to the stage. Aesthetically, Luigi now shouts upon firing.

Super Smash Bros. 4 still allows the move to be held at full charge, but if Luigi's on the ground, he will cancel the move automatically via a panting motion after a certain amount of time, leaving him vulnerable for a short time. The move also lost its ability to sweetspot the ledge, making it a less safe recovery overall and meaning Luigi will generally have to combine it with Super Jump Punch as in Melee to reliably snap to ledge. The vertical boost gained from using the move right after a jump is retained from Brawl. Additionally, the move has a new aesthetic sound while charging, which resembles the whistle of a kettle boiling. Aesthetically, unlike in past games where Luigi orients himself to his left whenever he uses the move, he now always faces towards the screen during its whole animation.

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the move is almost the same as the previous games in which it appeared, but his energy effect now moves toward him than away from him, and his stance is changed. He also spins if he misfires. The move travels farther compared to previous games; misfiring, however, no longer gives any height. This makes the move likely to send Luigi under the stage if used while Luigi is already close to or considerably under the ledge. The move was given slightly reduced endlag in a patch, making it slightly safer to use.

In Melee, an uncharged Missile will travel farther if the control stick is tapped, rather than just held, during the input. In SSB4, Green Missile will also charge faster and deal more damage in the same manner as Skull Bash. In the same game, the indicator of Luigi's charge is shortened from 6 to 5 flashes, and the damage is increased from 6% to 9%.

The move is similar to Skull Bash, though Skull Bash cannot misfire.

Customization
Special Move customization was added in Super Smash Bros. 4. These are the variations:


 * 1) Green Missile: Default.
 * 2) Floating Missile: The move charges up at a much quicker rate, and flies forward in a straight line, for a longer period of time (although it goes the same distance). Compared to the regular Green Missile, opponents take knockback at a steeper angle if they are hit (361 -> 30). However, the move has noticeably lower damage (6-21 -> 4-18) (25 -> 23 misfired), subsequently killing much later even in spite of the said steeper knockback angle.
 * 3) Quick Missile: Luigi flies faster and travels noticeably further than normal, significantly aiding his recovery. However the move has marginally longer charging time, somewhat increased landing lag and reduced damage (6-21% -> 5-20%) especially when misfired (25% -> 20%) and as such it kills later. In addition, the variant has a 7% misfire rate (down from the default 10%) and a 75% rate of sticking in walls if moving fast enough (up from the default 50%).

Origin
The move is unique to Smash Bros., as Luigi has never used a move like this in any game. Luigi has been known to have a comical style though, as mentioned on the official Smash Bros. website, which could explain the Green Missile's rather silly execution.

Like the Egg Roll and Whirling Fortress, the Green Missile has appeared in games released after its introduction in Melee. Luigi would later use this move as one of his attacks in ', and he also uses a similar move in '. Luigi (and Princess Peach) did a similar move in ' episode '.

Trivia

 * As noted above, Green Missile's charging stage gains notable vertical distance when used immediately after a jump in Brawl onwards. Luigi Cyclone shared this property until Ultimate. When these two moves are combined with his usual recovery move (optimally in the order jumped Green Missile→jumped Cyclone→Green Missile at apex of height→Super Jump Punch), it becomes possible for Luigi to travel absurd distances aerially, being able to easily perform many stage jumps, including clearing the entire Online Practice Stage and traversing Temple aboveground.

Technical details

 * Luigi (SSBM)/Side special
 * Luigi (SSBB)/Side special
 * Luigi (SSB4)/Side special
 * Luigi (SSBU)/Side special