Fox (SSB4)

Fox (, Fox) returns as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. 4. He was one of the characters confirmed to return in the game during the E3 2013 trailers on June 11th, 2013. He was also among the first wave of amiibo figures that are compatible with SSB4.

As in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, reprises his role in the Japanese version with his re-recorded voice clips of the game. Mike West, who voiced Fox in ' and reprised his role in the 3DS remake, ', now voices Fox in the English version, replacing Jim Walker from Brawl.

Fox has been ranked 7th/8th (tied with on the last SBR tier list) in all versions of the tier list to date, placed in the A tier on the final tier list. This is a noticeable improvement from his previous position from Brawl where he was ranked 15th of 38 characters as an upper mid tier character, and marks Fox's return to being ranked as a top tier character, like in Melee. Fox's strengths include very quick mobility, a fast and transcendent projectile in his, and an anti-camping move in his. Altogether, these grant him one of the fastest and safest approaches in the entire game and allow him to easily keep up with almost any opponent. Fox also boasts a versatile combo game thanks to his quick, low knockback moves, along with capable KOing power, with a quick and powerful finisher in his up smash.

However, Fox's fast falling speed, high gravity, subpar air speed and light weight make him one of the easiest characters to both combo and KO, making him prone to momentum shifts. His recovery, while long-distanced, is linear and predictable, allowing for players to edgeguard him. His grab game is also poor, as his throws lack utility due to having no follow-ups past medium percentages or being realistic KOing options. The introduction of rage further burdens Fox, as the efficiency of his combos drops dramatically with it, as well as becoming even easier to KO.

Regardless, Fox's weaknesses are not enough to keep him out of the top tier, which is evident by his high tournament representation, such as from, and Fox has attained great results.

Attributes
Fox fits in with the "hit-and-run" archetype, as he has very fast grounded movement and above average frame data. Fox's mobility is proficient overall: he possesses the third fastest walking speed, the fourth fastest dashing speed, below average air speed but high air acceleration, the highest gravity and the fastest falling speed out of the entire cast. Despite his falling speed, he is also one of the lightest characters in the game (sixth lightest).

Along with his mobility, his attack speed is remarkable. Most of his moves come out in fewer than 10 frames, and some, such as his up smash, also boast terrific power. Though his aerials have noticeable landing lag, they have favorable auto-cancel frames, with his up and back aerials auto-cancelling in a short-hop, and the latter two deal high knockback as well. Fox's frame data grants him a formidable approach, as he can pressure and poke with his tilts and aerials without leaving himself open to punishes. His, despite being nerfed, is an invaluable tool in Fox's arsenal. Its rapid-fire abilities and range give it great utility in zoning, camping, forcing approaches, and racking on damage. All of the above factors give Fox a powerful neutral game.

Another shining strength is Fox's combo game. All of his tilts and aerials are capable of starting combos. His up tilt can combo into itself at low- to mid-percents, and can lead into his aerials at higher percents. Dash attack deals vertical knockback, leading into aerial combos and juggles. Due to its high hitlag, down aerial has reduced landing lag if it connects, allowing different follow-ups at a variety of percentages. Fox's down throw is also a reliable combo-starter at lower damages. Forward aerial has several set-ups, and if Fox lands while doing the move, he can jab lock the opponent with low-angled forward tilt, and may extend the combo after they are forced into their neutral get-up. Fox can also forward air an opponent offstage and fastfall, which can lead into a footstool and kill extremely early.

Fox has good KO power for a character of his weight class. Up aerial is quick, powerful, and has a wide auto-cancel frame, making it relatively safe. Forward smash, while fairly weak, has moderate start-up and ending lag and long range. Down smash can catch opponents off-guard and gives them little chance to DI, along with its decent power and semi-spike angle. Back aerial has low start-up and is a deadly semi-spike as well. Finally, Fox's most potent KO move is his up smash, with minimal start-up and powerful knockback. He also has a few notable set-ups into it, as both his neutral and down aerials can combo into it at high percentages.

However, Fox has a few weaknesses. His recovery, while far-reaching, is average at best. Fox Illusion is fast and grants long horizontal distance, but is linear and can no longer be shortened. Fire Fox can be angled in any direction, but is also linear and slow. Though Fox Illusion can now be followed up with Fire Fox, his recovery is nonetheless predictable. His very high falling speed and low weight leave him at the mercy of meteor smashes, and he usually cannot survive them even at lower percentages. In addition, similarly to, Fox's walljump is highly situational and grants minimum vertical and horizontal distance.

Despite having several high-power moves, Fox sometimes has difficulty KOing his opponent. Most of his finishers are easily predictable even in spite of their speed, most notably his up aerial and up smash. Up aerial is hard to land without an air dodge read, and because it is commonly used to rack up damage, it is prone to staling. Back aerial and down smash have short reach and durations, and the latter is punishable. Forward smash is one of the weakest of its kind. His most reliable KOing move, his up smash, is difficult to connect without a read or set-up. It also has 45 frames of ending lag, making it extremely unsafe on shield. A majority of his moves also have somewhat short reach in comparison to other characters, forcing Fox to often be up-close to inflict damage most of the time.

Fox's grab game is quite mediocre. His down throw is easily DIed even at low percentages, and none of his other throws can combo effectively. He lacks a reliable KO throw, which further hinders his ability to close out stocks, and this gives him trouble against foes who continuously shield his finishers and set-ups. Fox does not have a particularly strong edgeguarding ability. He cannot maneuver effectively offstage due to his fast falling speed and slow air speed. He lacks a meteor smash outside of a pseudo autolink meteor in his fastfall forward air, and his aerials either have long durations, high ending lag, or both. In such situations, because of his falling speed, Fox often has to use Fire Fox to return to the stage, which is risky and can backfire if the opponent survives the attempt.

Finally, Fox has terrible endurance. His light weight and high gravity allow many characters to KO him below 100%. Not only that, but his falling speed leaves him extremely susceptible to combos, though less vulnerable to juggles. Thus, he loses the main advantage that light-weights possess while suffering from their most glaring weakness. Some characters can easily rack up 50% on Fox off of one combo, a prominent example being, and he along with other characters can potentially bring Fox to KO percents with one or two combos. His aforementioned recovery issues only exacerbate Fox's frailty. Since Fox aims to rack up heavy damage but can struggle KOing, he is in even greater danger of losing his stock to opponents with heavy rage, and his endurance prevents him from making effective use of the mechanic.

With custom moves on, Fox does gain good benefits. Impact Blaster behaves similarly to how his Blaster did in SSB in that it fires slower, but deals more damage, knockback, and makes the opponents flinch similarly to 's. Charge Blaster fires a single, powerful laser that has slower start-up, but deals good damage, hitstun and knockback. Wolf Flash, originally belonging to, propels Fox at 35° instead of only horizontally like Fox Illusion does and it can also spike airborne opponents. Flying Fox does not go as far and deals no damage, but has almost no start-up and propels Fox faster, making it harder to gimp. Twisting Fox does not fly as far and propels Fox slower, but has less start-up, sucks opponents in, and is much more powerful, KOing as low as 60% off the top blast zone. It also grants a large momentum boost, making it just as good for recovery despite the lowered distance.

Overall, Fox is a very capable character due to his great grounded mobility, fast attack speed, strong combo game, decent finishers and no crippling weaknesses aside from his poor endurance, poor horizontal aerial movement and linear recovery. He has attained excellent tournament representation, being used by high-level players such as, and he has strong results at all levels of play.

Changes from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Fox received a mix of buffs and nerfs, but despite being directly nerfed from Brawl to Smash 4, several universal changes benefited Fox significantly more in SSB4. Fox's neutral game is less effective, with increased lag on his aerials and a weakened camping game due to the removal of auto-canceling on his Blaster. This means Fox can no longer safely bait as many bad approaches from his opponents. Additionally, his general damage output and frame data were nerfed and some of his finishers (such as up smash) have been weakened. He is lighter, and the changes to hitstun canceling combined with his higher fall speed and gravity makes him even easier to combo and worsens his endurance. One of his most significant nerfs was to his, which can no longer allow him to stall in the air effectively due to its drastically increased ending lag, no longer has intangibility on startup removing its ability to break combos and can no longer semi-spike, making it much less effective overall now being near useless outside of reflecting projectiles.

However, Fox benefits from the general changes of SSB4 enough to overcome these nerfs. This most notably includes the removal of chain grabbing, which was a major reason for his mid-tier placement in Brawl, and early hitstun canceling, which restores his ability to perform short combos with some of his more versatile attacks, such as his up tilt and neutral aerial. Additionally, while Fox's neutral game was nerfed, it still remains better than most due to his retained mix-ups, excellent foxtrot and short hop and his overall mobility. Fox also benefits from a better jab cancel at higher percents, which can set up KOs more reliably. His recovery has also improved, with Fox Illusion no longer leaving him helpless and Fire Fox traveling farther. Fox benefits from the untechable reeling animation arguably more than any other character, as it now allows Fox to combo his weaker moves (such as down or neutral aerial) into his smash attacks for a K.O.

As a result, he is considered to be much better relative to the cast than he was in Brawl despite his moveset being noticeably worse, reflected by his much greater tournament success compared to Brawl with many more dedicated mains pushing his metagame.

Ground attacks

 * Neutral attack:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward tilt:
 * Up tilt:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down tilt:
 * Dash attack:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Forward smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Up smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:
 * Down smash:

Aerial attacks

 * Neutral aerial:
 * Forward aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Back aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Up aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:
 * Down aerial:

Throws/other attacks

 * Grabs:
 * Throw lasers:
 * Pummel:
 * Forward throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Forward throw:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Down throw:
 * Floor attacks:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Front floor attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Back floor attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Edge attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:
 * Trip attack:

Special moves

 * Fox Illusion:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fox Illusion:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fox Illusion:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fox Illusion:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Fire Fox:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:
 * Landmaster:

Update history
Fox has been slightly buffed overall in game updates. His jab cancel was weakened and his jab lock was completely removed, though his and  were improved. Fox also does not seem to be notably affected by the changes to the shield mechanics brought about by updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1.

 1.0.6

 1.1.0

 1.1.1

 1.1.4

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

Most historically significant players
See also: Category:Fox players (SSB4)


 * - One of the best Fox players in the United States. His best results came from the second half of 2017, with placements such as 5th at and 7th at . He is ranked 67th on the PGR 100.
 * - First broke out onto the scene by placing 9th at defeating  and . He has since been a regular at SoCal events at majors, including placing 9th at  and 13th at, ultimately ranking 98th on the PGR 100.
 * - One of the best Fox players in Japan after switching to the character in mid-2017, placing highly at several notable Japanese events including 4th at and 9th at both  and . He is ranked 97th on the PGR 100.
 * - The best Fox player of all-time who was also a top 10 player for most of the game's lifespan, ultimately ranking 8th on the PGR 100. Although he never won the major, he came the closest, including placing 2nd at and 3rd at.
 * - The second-best Fox player of all-time who was in contention for the best in 2018, especially following a string of strong results which included placing 4th at, , and . He is ranked 43rd on the PGR 100, the second-highest Fox player on the ranking.
 * - Co-mains Fox alongside and was one of the best Fox players throughout the game's lifespan. He most notably used Fox to place 9th at both  and . He is ranked 49th on the PGR 100.
 * - One of Japan's best Fox players of all time, regularly placing in the top 16 at Japanese events including 4th at and 7th at both  and . He is ranked 82nd on the PGR 100.
 * - Mainly active in 2015 and was the best Fox player in Japan during that time, most notably winning the over  and . Although rarely active since then, he was still considered one of Japan's best Fox players, ultimately ranking 75th on the PGR 100.
 * - One of the best Fox players in the world from 2015 to 2016, regularly placing well at SoCal events such as 5th at and 17th at . Although his results have since declined, he has still seen occasional success, such as 33rd at  upsetting, and as such is ranked 92nd on the PGR 100.

Tier placement and history
During the game's release, Fox was considered a mid-tier character by the SSB4 community. Players believed the reductions to his overall damage output, the weakening of his up smash, the heavily increased landing lag on his aerials, the loss of Blaster auto-cancelling and shine-spikes, and his increased frailty resulted in him being worse than his Brawl incarnation. However, they slowly reassessed their thoughts on the character, as the removal of chaingrabbing and edge-hogging and the heavy changes to hitstun cancelling would prove beneficial to Fox, as such mechanics plagued him in Brawl. Opinions on Fox improved further as players discovered the first two hits of his jab could perform infinites and easily combo into other moves, including his main finishers. As a result, a massive amount of Fox players rushed into the competitive scene and quickly gained results, with many spamming the infinite as their battle strategy. Ultimately, this "infinite" carried even casual players to victories over experts. While nerfs to his jab in patch 1.1.0 removed the infinite and reduced its combo utility, his results continued to improve thanks to the efforts of players such as, , , and most notably , who consistently ranked in the top 10 on global power rankings. In addition, Fox also notably benefited from the nerfs to and, who were among Fox's most challenging match-ups prior to their nerfs.

These points have led Fox to be considered a top tier character by the community as the metagame advanced, which is reflected on him ranking at 7th on all iterations of the 4BR tier list. This also makes Fox the only character to consistently stand on the same placing on each iteration of the tier list (although he shares the spot with on the fourth and final tier list). However, some smashers such as and  have claimed that Fox should be ranked higher on the tier list due to his dominant results and overwhelming advantage state, with both players ranking Fox among the top 5.

Solo Events

 * All-Star Battle: Regulars: Fox is one of the opponents fought in this event. All the opponents are starter characters that debuted in Super Smash Bros.
 * Behind Enemy Lines: Fox must survive against and  for 1 minute. All characters start at 200% damage.
 * Up to Speed: must defeat Fox,, and  in a high-speed 1 stock battle.

Co-op Events

 * Keep 'Em off the Ship!: Fox and must prevent a group of es from landing on the stage. The opponents have more stock on higher difficulties.
 * Visiting Onett: Fox is one of the opponents fought in this event. The opponents are outer space-oriented characters or characters from other planets.
 * The Ultimate Battle: Two players choose a character and must defeat the entire roster.

Trivia

 * Fox has three English voice actors in both versions of Super Smash Bros. 4. He has Mike West for his battle voice and the Orbital Gate Assault Smash taunts, Jim Walker for the Lylat Cruise Smash taunts, and Steve Malpass for the Corneria Smash taunts.
 * However, despite his current Japanese voice actor being Takashi Ōhara since Star Fox 64 3D, Kenji Nojima reprises Fox in Japanese by the time of both Smash 4 and Star Fox 3D's release dates. This trait is also shared with.
 * Super Smash Bros. 4 is the only Smash Bros. game where Fox is not holding his Blaster in his official art and also the only game where he is not featured in the boxart of both versions.
 * Fox is the only top tier character in Smash 4 to have never changed position on any tier list, staying at 7th.
 * Fox is the only character in SSB4 whose normal falling speed is higher than 2, at 2.05.
 * This is also the first iteration where Fox has the fastest falling speed out of all characters in the game.
 * In, Fox will appear to have two upper jaws if the game is paused right after getting hit, but only while using an attack that makes him visually open his mouth. This appears to be a graphical error similar to the "double mouth" glitch experienced by.
 * In, there's an animation bug for the first two his of Fox's jabs where his forearms will detach from his model. This is hard to see due to the visual whiffs.
 * Additionally, Fox has an expression bug with his down taunt where his blinking expression overlaps with his neutral expression of paused after he performs the second beckoning gesture.
 * There's one more expression bug where if Fox grabs a edge with Fire Fox, his eyes disappears during his edge catching animation.
 * Fox and are the only two characters whose clapping animation are slightly different in between the two versions. In Fox's case, his tail remains stiff in the Wii U version while it moves around freely (just like in Brawl) in the 3DS version.

Fox (SSB4)